The Otherwordly

[ 0 6 ]

Freedom had become one with lack of guilt. It felt like falling.

Somewhere far, far below him was the ground, and when he touched it the impact would kill him. His fears lay there, with the impact, for now he felt only the air rushing past him, whistling in his ears. A dull roar which drowned everything out.

Pain throbbed somewhere on his body, but he registered it only dimly.

Careful of the blood, he thought coolly, I could slip.

One slip would mean death.

Later he would realize that the ground was not far below him, but right under his nose, and he was blind to it.

-

Something was very wrong.

Hajime was missing something, something vital. Without it, it was difficult to breathe, and the world was monotone. He was empty.

He was missing Oikawa.

The bond was so dull that in its absence the burn mark on his arm throbbed. There were no emotions in his chest which weren't his own, detangled from Oikawa's. It should have been refreshing but Hajime wondered if this was what he'd felt like before any of this happened; empty.

All day he was anxious. When a classmate sat down beside him at a lecture, he jumped. When customers came up behind him as he stocked shelves at work, he started, dropping the can he'd been holding.

It was near closing where he lost the ability to maintain any semblance of normalcy; a searing pain cut into his side and he blanched as it burned white hot and kept burning. The bond was still faint, but it was a wound that cut through space and time.

Somehow, Hajime made his way to the front and muttered an excuse to Ukai. He must have looked bad, because his manager let him go without complaint. He let himself out the back door and found himself standing in the very back street it'd all begun.

Perhaps if he could go back in time, he'd never set foot outside that door to take out the trash.

Fumbling with his phone, he managed to dial the number Sugawara had given him, back when he'd been desperately clinging to the notion that all of this, with Oikawa, with the supernatural, was temporary. He took a moment to breath, thumb hovering over the contact icon.

Finally, he clicked it. The phone rang only twice before someone picked up. A pause, then, "Iwaizumi?" It was Sugawara's voice, and Hajime sighed in relief despite himself. In the blur of pain, Sugawara had a comforting presence.

"What's wrong?" Sugawara asked.

"It's Oikawa." Hajime begun.

"He hasn't done anything stupid, has he?" Sugawara said wryly, "your three months are up, almost exactly."

Hajime looked up at the sky. It was indeed almost closing time; if it were a Sunday, Ukai would just be hauling out the rubbish for collection.

The pain in his side seemed to double, and beneath it all he could feel the ache of the handprint on his shoulder. His silence must've said it all.

"He's... Somewhere far away."

"You're still bonded?"

"Yeah."

"Then we're obligated to help you." Sugawara stated simply.
"He's hurt." Hajime said, "badly, I think."

"And you can feel it? I'm on my way."

Hajime's vision spun and he fought to stay awake. Fully he could hear a voice on the other side of the line, but he didn't know how much time had passed when someone supported him from behind. He forced his eyes to refocus. Hinata was there, and Sugawara, and Kageyama.