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[[For maximum effect listen to this while reading.]]
"Kongo-sensei has said many times that nothing lasts forever, and I wish from the very bottom of my soul that he is wrong. But I was once again proven wrong today."
Under the numerous white covers laid two figures, both with beautiful, red hair. One was masculine, clearly a male with the way his body was built. His hair was deep crimson and reached his lower back, while the other figure, female judging by her body, had much longer and wilded hair that wasn't as deep red as the male's hair. The two were nude, holding each other closely and talking in low whispers to each other, rather it was Y/N who told Padparadscha stories of what happened in her absence.
"Antarcticite is no longer with us, but Phosphophyllite is working really hard to bring her back," Padparadscha giggled at Y/N's appraisal of his BFF, confusing him slightly, "What?"
"Nothing, I'm just happy you weren't lonely without me," she happily replied, surprising Y/N slightly, "I remember you always being lonely whenever I was active."
"I wasn't lonely," she chuckled again at Y/N who childishly pouted at her comment, "So... you're not mad at me, I hope."
Padparadscha blinked in slight surprise before she laughed softly, softly caressing Y/N's cheek, "Of course not. I'm hardly here, it's not fair if I keep you all to myself."
"But..." he wished he could find words to counter her argument, but even if he did Padparadscha placed the tip of her finger on his lips as a way to tell him to shut up and enjoy the moment.
"I don't want you to be lonely, got it?" despite the smirk clearly present on her face, the tone of her voice was stern.
Y/N found himself nodding in agreement at her selfless command, if that's what she wanted then he will happily follow her wishes and do his best not to be lonely again. Not many words were exchanged after their small talk, they opted for a more... physical show of affection.
"Padparadscha's body appeared to be working better than any time before. And I, the hopeless fool that I am chose to believe that this time would be different. That this time she would stay by my side, and we could finally live together... forever..."
Y/N and Padparadscha were now walking outside of Y/N's room, in fact, they were outside of the school grounds in general and appeared to be taking a stroll across the many fields of greenery that surrounded their home from all sides. The red-haired girl carried an obsidian sword on her shoulder, brandishing the weapon like a toy.
"Been a while since I held one of these," offhandedly commented Padparadscha as she swung the katana for the last time before swinging it over her shoulders, resting both of her hands on it.
"How are you feeling?" asked Y/N, still unsure whether Padparadscha should be moving around so much.
But Padparadscha waved off his concern, "I'm fine, I'm fine, relax!"
The crimson-haired male sighed in response but didn't press the matter further. Instead, he talked and talked with Padparadscha, completely disregarding anything else. Nobody approached them, which was surprising in its own right considering he wasn't the only one that wanted to talk with the red-haired beauty.
"Sadly, that wouldn't happen. Not yet..."
Their peace didn't last long however, the almost mundane appearance of a sunspot certainly attested to that. From the blackness emerged what could only be described as an average Lunarian invasion force. It didn't seem special in any sense of the word.
As the Lunarians quickly readied their bows, Red Matter quickly pooled off of Y/N's body and created a nigh-impenetrable shield in front of himself and Padparadscha, "I'll take care of this."
"Let me in on some of the fun too!" but the girl had other ideas and she, quite literally, left Y/N in the dust by rushing into battle, blade drawn and a smile plastered on her face, "Come on!"
With an exasperated groan, Y/N too charged at the large Lunarian construct floating high in the sky. His speed was nowhere near Padparadscha's, neither was his physical strength, but that measurement was done when not counting the excessive amounts of Red Matter liquid his body was capable of producing. So he used his unique body structure to his utmost advantage, producing more Red Matter in a single moment than before. Six massive arms in total came to be on his command.
"The Lunarians appeared out of nowhere. But, it surprisingly wasn't them that caused my heart to break yet again."
Y/N and Padparadscha could be seen chatting again as Red Matter slowly seeped back into Y/N's body, the quickly fading bodies of the Lunarians slowly fell from the sky behind them. The two were unbothered by the quickly disappearing Lunarians and simply struck up a conversation. The threat had been eliminated, there was nothing left for them to fear now.
"Don't run off like that, please," Padparadscha heartily laughed in response to Y/N's worried tone, if she were to suddenly stop functioning properly while fighting then... Y/N dreaded the outcome.
"Oh, will you give it a rest already? I'm just having some fun! You were having fun too, I can see you smiling you know~?" Y/N's only response was a sigh of defeat, sometimes, there was simply no winning with Padparadscha.
Just as the two were nearing the school for Padparadscha's scheduled check-up with Rutile, a yawn escaped the red-haired girl, "Are you okay?"
"Just tired a bit, who knows whose fault that is," she gave Y/N a pointed look, the male had the decency to blush and avert his gaze, "You really go all out don't you."
"Oh, hush, don't act like you didn't enjoy it," Padparadscha just smirked at Y/N who tried to think of a better comeback but ultimately failed to do so, "Sigh, any-"
-THUMP-
"Me... no, not just me. I and Rutile were both counting on crystalised Red Matter to keep Padparadscha awake. Corundum, let alone pieces of padparadscha are scarce and hard to find. So we hoped Red Matter would prove to be a sufficient substitute... We were wrong."
Y/N stood there, for a good few minutes, just blanky staring in front of him, down at the ground where the unmoving body of his dearest lied. His mouth was slightly open, but no words came out. There was only the sound of passing wind, and nothing else. Not the sound of Padparadscha's voice, and not the sound of Y/N's voice either. His voice all but left him... He wanted to believe that this was all just another hallucination, just another bad dream...
"It is exactly how I told you it would be," came the dreaded voice Y/N didn't want to hear or even think about at this moment.
Y/N didn't reply, he couldn't reply to his mirror image, to a mere hallucination of what his future entailed, "Now do you see? Nothing lasts forever. Feelings are mortal, and in the end, neither happiness nor sadness really matters. In the end... all that you are left with is nothing, that is why all things must die."
Y/N finally locked eyes with his mirror self who stood in front of him, an unchanging look adorned his features. He was neither sad nor was he happy. He was apathetic, something Y/N never wants to become. What is the point of living if you can't experience happiness? What is the point of happiness if there's no sadness? Was their existence truly this cruel? No... that couldn't be...
"You question your own existence. You question your own morality and mortality. Your questions... cannot be answered by Kongo. The answers... lie above the clouds," and with those final words, the emotionless visage of Y/N disappeared, along with his body.
"I waited for so long just to see her again... Why doesn't happiness last forever? I hate it. I HATE IT! Why can't I just stay happy?! Why can't Padparadscha just stay with me?! WHY?!"
"Sigh, guess not even this was enough..." came the voice of Rutile as Y/N gently placed Padparadscha's prone body back into her wooden coffin.
It wasn't just Y/N's heart that was in pieces, Padparadscha was Rutile's best friend and partner, of course, the doctor herself was feeling tremendous amounts of sorrow. That feeling of sadness was amplified by the bitter expression that Y/N wore. She wanted to comfort him in any way she could, but she knew words wouldn't suffice, not this time. So her actions would have to speak for themselves. Y/N blinked when he felt Rutile's hand interlock with his, but he didn't question it, at least not out loud.
"The answers Kongo-sensei cannot answer lie above the clouds..."
Y/N now found himself standing outside of the entrance of the school, overlooking the green fields of grass with a lifeless look in his eyes. But he was not alone, again. This time his companion was his dear friend, his best friend. Phosphophyllite, who was using her sword as a cane, keeping both of her hands on the back of the handle.
"You wanted to talk to me about something, right?" stoically asked Y/N, startling Phos for a quick second.
"Er, yeah... Remember that big Lunarian from the other day?" she received a hum of agreement from Y/N, "I overheard Kongo-sensei call it Shirou."
Y/N remained silent in response, taking in the information without a verbal response. Phosphophyllite knew conversations with Y/N would be a lot less colourful now, but now both of them knew what they must do if they plan to get answers about the Lunarians, and that is to ask the beings in question themselves.
"...So do you have any plans?" awkwardly asked Phosphophyllite.
"...Yes," simply replied Y/N, but before he could say anything else both of them noticed a sunspot appearing by the coast.
"Which is?" both of them mobilized instantly, rushing to the scene to be the first ones there.
"If I can't get answers from anyone here, I'll get my answers from the Lunarians," Phosphophyllite was surprisingly understanding of this and just nodded along, content with the answer.
"Both I and Phosphophyllite knew that our answers would never be answered here. So we did the next logical, yet the reckless thing we could. Captured a Lunarian."
Phosphophyllite and Y/N were both surrounded in a dome of Red Matter, hundreds of arrows desperately trying to pierce through, yet none had the necessary piercing strength to do so. Despite clearly being in danger, none of the two Gems paid the attacking moon people any mind. Instead, their attention was completely directed towards a single, captured Lunarian whose neck Y/N squeezed with enough force to nearly make its head pop like a balloon.
"Talk dammit!" but alas, the captured Lunarian only wheezed, unable to formulate words.
No matter what Y/N tried the Lunarian would simply not talk, so he squeezed tighter and tighter. Just as his hands were about to crush the Lunarian's neck did it utter a few syllables. Incoherent gibberish, but a form of communication nonetheless. But sadly for both Y/N and Phosphophyllite, the Lunarian could only withstand so much pressure before vaporizing.
As the last molecules of its body vanished Y/N let out an uncharacteristic curse of anger, "GODDAMMIT!"
In a blind rage at his failure to extract any information, he shaped the outer shell of Red Matter that was protecting them into spikes and instantly destroyed every Lunarian in the vicinity. Phosphophyllite merely sweatdropped at Y/N's lack of self-control and sighed, already thinking of what to do next. And that something was to learn more about Lunarians...
"Even if it takes me a hundred years, a thousand years, I won't stop. I want answers. But most importantly... I want her by my side..."
[[THE END]]
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