Third POV
"I killed them all."
Those fours words felt like bullets shooting through both Takemichi and (Y/N). Here they were both thinking that Mikey would tell them that these allegations of him killing everyone from Toman were crazy, all lies, ludicrous. But, no. Their worst fears were confirmed when those four words left his lips.
Manjiro Sano had killed everyone from Toman, and he didn't seem to be all that bothered by it.
The Hell's Angel was just frozen in her spot, it was like her mind had gone into a fog. Never in a million years would she ever think this was the Mikey that would come to be a monster that would kill those he cared for. This was a stranger, this wasn't the same person she grew up with. She refused to believe that this was the same person. She and Takemichi just stayed in their stunned silence as Mikey finally revealed why he wanted the former first division captain there.
"That's why I need you now, to end this. To end it all," the former commander told the crybaby hero before reaching into his pocket and pulling something out.
He soon tossed it to the ground, the item clicking and clacking against the dirt. And that's when Takemichi realized that Mikey had just thrown him a gun. He wanted the crybaby hero to end it all. And what he meant by that was that Mikey wanted him to end his life.
"Takemitchy, pick up the gun," he instructed the time-leaper to do as he started making his way down from his metallic throne and right up to Takemichi.
The crybaby hero had tears pouring down his cheeks at this point. He never realized how much of a dark place that the commander had fallen into. It was almost too hard to believe, and he was frozen in his spot just as the former commander stood just about a foot away from him.
"This is the place where I want it to come to an end, the end of my dream," he spoke, that content smile still on his face.
This is the place where he wanted to die. It was place that was special to both Shinichiro and (Y/N), it was the place that symbolized the beginning of so many things. Now, he wanted it to be the place where it all ended.
The dual color haired girl couldn't even begin to comprehend what Mikey was saying. He wanted someone to kill him, he wanted to die, because he was going to kill again. It was a lot to take in, he had succumbed to the darkness that she had promised to keep him away from. And that...hurt more than anything that she could possibly imagine.
And Takemichi wasn't about to follow Mikey's orders. He refused.
"No! No, you can't ask me to do something like that to you! Don't say things like that! Saying that doesn't even make any sense! I came all this way to find you and when I do, you ask me to kill you? I won't! Why would I when the only reason I came here was...was because-"
"Because you wanted to see me? Hakkai said something similar to me just before he died," the former Toman commander recalled very calmly, talking about Hakkai's death like it meant nothing to him.
In the burning inferno of the church where he had taken the former second division vice captain, Hakkai really didn't seem all that afraid. He had said that it had been a good ride while it lasted and that he wished it could've lasted longer with Takemichi, with (Y/N), with everyone. But those words didn't seem to faze Mikey one bit. He just stared on blankly, not seeming to care as he turned and left the burning building, leaving Hakkai to meet his fiery demise.
Oh, her poor baby Kai. The (h/c) and white haired girl was finding it harder to keep herself calm. But hearing someone she cared for deeply killing another that she cared for deeply was like she was caught between a rock in a hard place. She was mad, she was sad, she just wanted to help. Because again, this wasn't Mikey. It wasn't her Mikey. And the crybaby hero shared her same thoughts exactly.
"Mikey...how could you?" He asked his old friend.
How could he take the lives of those who he cared about in such cruel ways? It didn't make any sense. People didn't become brutal killers like that for no reason. There had to be some sort of explanation behind this.
Mikey stayed silent for a moment before looking up to the sky above through the hole in the ruins' roof. Somehow, him doing that raised the already high tension even more.
"Turns out, it not easy to achieve a dream. Especially when you lose the one you love the most in the process. Then it all becomes meaningless. I set out to build a whole new era of delinquents. And Toman was the supposed to be the vehicle to achieving that dream. But one day, the day she died, the whole thing went south," the commander started to explain.
"Yeah, but she..." Takemichi started to say.
But he halted himself. Because he knew that Mikey could flip on a dime if someone proclaimed to know the Hell's Angel better than he did. The crybaby hero had experienced that firsthand. It wasn't fun. But at the same time, he knew that she wouldn't have wanted this to happen. Mikey would've respected her wishes, even if she was gone. Her death would've certainly hit the Toman commander hard, but Takemichi didn't think it would lead to something like this.
It was just as Mikey said, without her around, he just couldn't handle himself. He couldn't drive the darkness that was trying to consume him away. It was just merely impossible at this point. If he couldn't have (Y/N) at his side, if he hadn't been able to keep his promise to her, then what was the whole point anymore? If she wasn't around, then what was the point of going on?
"The first time I killed someone, I didn't even feel a thing. Right then, I realized something. Pretty much any problem somebody has in life can be solved by just killing someone," the commander went on, a chill running down the Hell's Angel spine when she heard that.
As much as she didn't want to be a sponge, she just couldn't control herself from taking all of this in. Sure, she could only imagine what her death would do to her friend, but at the same time, she didn't think it would drive him to the point to kill. She had felt the same pain that he did, and she found comfort in those around her. It didn't prompt her to want to go and kill everyone.
So she couldn't understand what drove Mikey to this point.
And it didn't help when he looked back at Takemichi with a smile on his face that resembled one from when they were younger.
"So now I just kill anybody standing in my way," he admitted almost cheerfully, like it didn't matter one bit of he killed those he found to be getting in his way.
That was when (Y/N) really, for the first time, ever felt scared of Mikey. She felt her heart stop altogether as she brought a shaky hand up to her mouth while shaking her head.
"No, that's not...that's not my Mikey," she stuttered in denial.
That right there, that wasn't Mikey, that was a monster. Any trace of hope that she had of her closest friend not being a killer went down the drain. She was now convinced that it was Mikey that had killed everyone, as much as she wanted to keep denying it, there was just no point in doing so anymore.
Takemichi, he just felt mad. He knew Mikey and he knew that this wasn't how he was. And he was going to prove it. The crybaby hero soon glared as he lunged forward and grabbed the slightly shorter man's shoulders, trying to snap him out of whatever the hell this was.
"I know you don't really believe that! I know you're still the same Mikey! And Mikey would never say that!" He yelled, sort of shaking the commander to snap out of this.
"Stop that, you don't know," Mikey growled quietly, keeping his head down.
He didn't know a damn thing. He couldn't ever understand the point of darkness that had consumed Mikey. No one could, and no one ever would. But there was one thing that the former Toman commander seemed to have forgotten. And that was Takemichi's determination.
"No, you're wrong! I do know! I can see it in your eyes, you haven't changed at all!" The crybaby hero continued shouting.
"Stop it," Mikey stated once again, this time in more of a warning tone.
He didn't want to keep hearing it. The Mikey from before was long gone, there was no bringing him back. But Takemichi's tenacity wasn't going to allow the commander to just step away just like that. He could see that deep down, the real Mikey was still here.
"I can't believe it! I won't! Mikey, please! Stop all the killing and remember who you are!" The crybaby hero begged the commander as he shook his shoulders.
But Mikey had heard enough. He quickly made his move, grabbing the collar of Takemichi's t-shirt, lifting him off of the ground with his incredible strength before slamming him back down. Before the crybaby hero could comprehend what was happening, he soon felt the former commander get on top of him before shoving another handgun right into the crybaby hero's cheek.
"Manjiro, stop it!" (Y/N) screamed as she snapped out of her state of shock, quickly lunging forward to try and push her old friend off of the crybaby hero.
Even if she knew she couldn't touch them, her instinct to jump in between them just kicked in. She didn't care anymore. She wanted to make this all stop. God, she wished she had the power to just be a poltergeist and be an invisible force to just push Mikey off of Takemichi. But she couldn't, she just couldn't. So, she was just desperately seeing her hands go right through the former commander the multiple times she tried to get him away from the crybaby hero.
"What the hell kind of freak are you!?" Mikey roared down at the former first division captain.
Takemichi didn't say anything. He just kept his teary gaze right on Mikey, looking him dead in the eye. The commander just seemed to hold his gaze as tears started to fill his eyes, then, something Chifuyu told him right before his death started to ring in his ears.
The commander had already shot and killed Baji in the same tunnel where he had lured Chifuyu, and like Hakkai, the first division vice captain didn't show much fear when Mikey pressed the gun up to his forehead. And his last words stuck with the black haired commander.
He told Mikey to look into Takemichi's eyes the next time he saw the crybaby hero. And he said, with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face, that those eyes would never lie to him. That didn't stop the commander from putting a bullet in Chifuyu's head, thinking it was just bullshit. But now that he was here with the crybaby hero, Mikey didn't want to admit it, but he could see what the former first division vice captain meant.
"Quit looking at me like you see right through me," the commander demanded as more tears welled up in his eyes.
At that moment, (Y/N) seemed to see it. There was a battle between good and evil going on within her friend. There was the dark side that had prompted him to commit all of these crimes, and then there was his good side that wanted to stop it. He didn't want to do this and live with what he had done, he just wanted to put an end to it so that he wouldn't hurt anyone ever again.
"Pick up the gun, Takemitchy. Either kill me, or I kill you," Mikey gave the crybaby hero an ultimatum.
Takemichi wanted to help the commander. He knew that the real Mikey was still in there, that much was clear by the tears falling from his dark eyes and onto the crybaby hero's cheek. He just stayed silent, refusing to pick up the gun and kill Mikey. This was like his last chance to try and get the commander to snap out of it.
But he was cutting it really close. Because the former commander soon sat up and kept his gun pointed at Takemichi.
"There's no going back to the past," he declared darkly before pressing the gun right up against the crybaby hero's cheek, seeming to be ready to blow his head off.
And that's when the dual color haired girl just snapped, her tears beginning to come to her eyes as she gasped sharply while trying to get all of this to end. She was clawing at nothing as she stood next to the two, trying, hoping, and praying for this to be all over as her breathing became heaving.
"Stop, stop, stop, MAKE IT STOP!!!" She begged and screamed as she tried to grab the gun.
*BANG!*
"AHHH!!"
A gunshot mixed with the girl's scream was heard before there was complete silence. And it was like everything stopped right then and there. The Hell's Angel shot up to her feet, her hands covering her mouth as she tried to catch her breath. Takemichi laid motionless on the ground as he felt something wet on his cheek.
"Are you alright!? Are you hit!?" Naoto's voice came to his ears.
Turning around from her spot with her hands still covering her mouth, (Y/N) saw the younger Tachibana pointing his gun up right toward where Mikey had been. Looks like he had fired the shot, but the two of them hadn't yet processed that, though his trigger's voice seemed to snap him out of it.
"I'm, uh, alright," the crybaby hero confirmed that he was unharmed.
He might've been alright, but he felt a weight on his stomach that just stayed there. The smell of iron mixed with gunshot smoke filled his nose, a scent he was very familiar with. Takemichi had to turn his head just a little bit, and that was enough to see Mikey's body slumped off to the side, lying motionless on the ground.
The Hell's Angel soon slowly turned back around and she saw the pool of blood forming right near her fallen friend's head. And that's when it hit her that Naoto had just shot Mikey in the head.
"Mikey! No! MIKEY, NO!!"
"MANJIRO!!"
Both Takemichi and the dual color haired girl quickly rushed over to Mikey's fallen figure, the crybaby hero going to pick up the injured man as the girl crouched down on Mikey's other side.
"Takemichi, get away from him!" Naoto alerted the crybaby hero as he started running over to him.
He wasn't sure if Mikey would get back up and shoot Takemichi. But something stopped him. The detective soon spotted the gun that was in the injured man's hands. And that's when he noticed a crucial detail, a very crucial detail.
"The safety's still on. He never intended to shoot," Naoto concluded, kind of astounded that Mikey never had any intention of shooting and killing Takemichi.
Could it be that he had expected Naoto to be there? Well, it didn't matter now. Because now, Takemichi was holding a severely wounded Mikey, fearing the very worst.
"Come on and breathe! Mikey, breathe for me!" The crybaby hero begged his old friend, feeling something warm run down his arm and hand as he held Mikey's limp body.
He couldn't take it anymore. This was not what he had set out to do. He wanted to convince Mikey that he wasn't the monster that everyone made him out to be. And now, he was holding his friend's dying figure in his arms, a gunshot wound to the head bleeding profusely. The crybaby hero's breathing became erratic as his shoulders went up and down as he struggled to get a good breath. All he could do was hug Mikey's head close to him.
"MIKEY, NO!!" He shouted to the sky, wanting this all to be some sort of nightmare.
(Y/N) was in no better condition. She felt like she did when she watched Chifuyu get shot, when Baji appeared to be dead, when she had to leave Draken, it was that awful feeling of despair and fear all mixed into one ugly emotion. She couldn't even find her voice or move, she just felt her tears pouring down her face as she heaved in and out, almost gasping.
"Naoto Tachibana...is that you? Thank you....for shooting...because Takemitchy...wasn't going to do it," Mikey weakly thanked the detective, his voice barely audible.
"Mikey, don't go," Takemichi cried, feeling the life slip away from him as he held his old friend in his arms.
But Mikey didn't seem to be afraid. In fact, he was grateful that his life was coming to an end. He was still able to manage a smile as he looked up at the crybaby hero.
"At last...it's finally over. My life was nothing...nothing but suffering. But I can finally...finally be with Chi-chin again," the former commander spoke weakly with tears in his eyes.
That was honestly what he wanted more than anything. He wanted to see (Y/N) again. He had gone twelve, miserable years living with the memories of her death, the horror of finding her bloodied and bludgeoned body lying on the ground in that warehouse. Mikey wanted to be able to see her again, to hold her again, to feel her love, and hear her voice again.
The Hell's Angel soon started crying even harder hearing her old friend say that. She hated the fact that he had been suffering all of these years and she couldn't fix him. She hated that her friend felt like he had to be alone in this, she hated that she acted the same way, feeling as if maybe she was one of the reasons for that. After she died, Mikey didn't have that support system that he could lean on when he needed to. And she hated that.
"Don't talk like that. It doesn't have to be over 'cause I can change things. I can bring her back," Takemichi began speaking desperately, all of the different things going through his head, things that he could do differently when he went back in time.
He could make sure the dual color haired girl was safe, he could make sure Mikey wouldn't turn into this dark version of himself. He had the ability to do so now, and he wanted the commander to know that.
"Takemichi, stop-" Naoto tried to get the crybaby hero to stop from revealing his secret.
But his voice fell upon deaf ears. He was too desperate at this point.
"See, I can travel to the past. I have this crazy power. I promise I'll do whatever it takes, Mikey. I can make sure this isn't our future! I swear! I'll never give up or stop trying! So don't give up! Don't say it's all over! I can fix it!" He kept telling Mikey to keep him from slipping away.
"Oh, baby..." (Y/N) gave Takemichi a sympathetic look as she reached out and placed her red nailed hand on his cheek, even if she couldn't touch him.
She could tell he was blaming this on himself for not doing what he felt like was enough to prevent this all from happening, and that couldn't be further from the truth. He had done so much good, and she wanted him to see that. This, this had to be something out of his control. She didn't know what it was, but she certainly knew that this wasn't on him.
Telling Mikey about his time-leaping abilities seemed to be his last chance to get the commander to stay, to keep fighting for his life. But, it was far too late for that yet, it brought him some comfort as he was able to let out a smile.
"Thank you...Takemitchy. You tried to comfort me and...it makes me happy to hear that. Even though I know it's a lie..." the commander told the crybaby hero, believing that none of it was true and that it was nothing more than just Takemichi trying to bring some comfort in his last moments.
It made him feel happy that there was still someone left in this world that believed in him, that believed he still had good in him despite what he had done. There was still someone that didn't think he was a monster. That's just what he needed in his last few moments.
Letting out another gasp of air, Mikey soon leaned his head more into Takemichi's palm, feeling something he had wanted to feel for so long. It made him smile, despite his life coming to an end rather quickly.
"Takemitchy....your hand, it's so warm," the former commander told the crybaby hero as he looked back up at him one last time.
And then, something amazing happened. As Mikey felt the last bit of his life slip away, he saw something glowing very softly right beside him. Turning his head ever so slightly, the former Toman commander finally got his wish that he had held onto for so long. Takemichi didn't quite understand what Mikey was seeing, as far as he knew, there was nothing there. Oh, but there was, and the commander had never felt happier as his tears flowed down his cheeks.
"I see her...Takemitchy....I see Chi-chin," Mikey managed to get out one last sentence as he started to reach out to where the girl was crouched.
Takemichi then watched as the light in his old friend's eyes finally went out with his hand falling limply to the ground, beginning to hug his dead body close while the Hell's Angel witnessed something rising out of her friend's body. She wasn't even seeming to comprehend that he could now see her until she saw his hand reaching out to her, but it was more of a ghostly form. It was his spirit.
Wanting to touch her closest friend, the dual color haired girl didn't really hesitate to reach out and this time, she was finally able to touch something. (Y/N) watched as Mikey grabbed her hand, his spirit looking like what his body looked like. His spirit soon pulled her up from the ground, and she just kind of let it happen. A part of her was still stunned at what had just happened, and the other part just wanted to comfort him.
The two friends soon stood up, and Mikey just kept smiling. The smile that was the one she recognized, that was the Mikey she knew. There were still tears running down her cheeks as she felt his warmth in her hands. This was what he had dreamed of for so long, to be able to see his love once again, to be able to touch her, to be able to hold her.
Finally, he'd be able to do that. The former Toman commander soon pulled the now slightly shorter girl in close as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders while she continued letting out small sobs just as she gripped his sweater with her hands. She understood that she was hugging the one that killed all of her friends, but this was Mikey that she was talking about, and she knew that there had to be something else going on. That, and there was still that part of her that didn't want to believe that this was what he had become.
"No, no you're not supposed to be... Don't leave..." she peeped through her hiccups while she continued to grip his sweater, begging him to just stay with her to see if she could get some answers.
But, Mikey only stayed silent as he started to disappear and fade away in a cloud of small of soft, golden orbs. Once he was about gone, the former commander finally pulled away and gave (Y/N) one last smile before he completely disappear to meet his maker. That left the girl even more distraught than she was before, not even trying to suppress any sort of emotion that she was feeling.
At this point, Shinichiro had come into the building when he started to sense that things were going downhill. He stood back as he watched the Hell's Angel turned around, tears still streaming down her face, her eyes seeming to be begging the eldest Sano brother for any sort of indication that this was just some sort of cruel joke.
"Ichi, please, tell me this isn't how he is! He can't be! That's not the Manjiro I know!" She pleaded with him, coming up to him, putting her hands on his shoulders, and putting her head on one of them as she continued to sob.
She just wanted this all to be some sort of nightmare, just something that wasn't a reality. She didn't want her close friend to become a monster that killed others that simply stood in his way, that wasn't how he was raised. And she had no idea what would ever prompt him to do such a thing.
Shinichiro couldn't say anything. Because he knew this was reality, and he couldn't stand the thought of actually telling her that because he hated seeing her cry this much. He hated seeing this heartbroken expression on her face, the horror of what she had learned, he hated it all. That's why, he could only say this to her as he placed his hands down on her shoulders.
"(Y/N), listen to me," he started to try and get her to calm down just a little bit.
Which seemed to do the trick as she looked back up at her first love with teary eyes. She wanted him to tell her that this wasn't reality, that's all she wanted at this point. But, she could tell by the look in his eyes that that wasn't going to be coming out of his mouth. Instead, the black haired man simply moved his hands from her shoulders to her face, holding it steady as the two made eye contact.
"Just know that you're his guardian angel. And he thinks of you that way too," he told her, wanting her to see that this wasn't something she could've prevented in this timeline.
And it was the truth, the times he had watched over his little brother, he knew how Mikey viewed the most important person in his life. (Y/N) didn't even comprehend what that meant, but it looked like she wouldn't have any more time to ask questions. Because she started to notice that the same orbs that had made her friend disappear appearing at her feet as her hair started to be gently blown by an invisible breeze while her feet started to leave the ground.
It was time, and Shinichiro knew it as he held the girl's arms when he felt her grip his shoulders. She wasn't ready to leave just yet as she shook her head.
"No, no, I don't want to leave you!" The (h/c) and white haired girl yelled as she pleaded with whoever was working this.
She had just watched one of her closest friends die right in front of her, she wasn't ready to leave her first love that she had waited so long to see and be with once again. But this wasn't where she belonged, and Shinichiro wanted her to see that. She still had a life that she needed to live, because she was going to do so much good in this world. Besides, it wasn't like he'd be leaving her any time soon.
Keeping ahold of her arm, the former gangster, himself, reached up and placed his hand on her cheek one last time, leaning his forehead up against hers as she continued crying, keeping that smile on his face.
"Hey, I will always be here with you. You won't be able to see me, but I'm always here," his last words to her were before he finally had to let her go.
(Y/N) soon felt him release her, causing whatever force was at work to lift her up into the sky as Shinichiro disappeared from her sight the further she flew up into the sky, the image of his grin imprinted into her mind.
"ICHI!!" The Hell's Angel screamed out his name before feeling something take over her body, a major amount of fatigue.
It was like someone was cradling her in a large hand, urging her to just relax. And it wasn't like she could fight it, as hard as she tried to. The dual color haired girl soon felt herself lay down on something comfy and warm, and she had no control over how heavy her eyes were feeling. The girl found herself drifting off to sleep, but there were still those four words echoing in her head. Those words that would changed everything.
You're his guardian angel.
2006
One second, Mikey was sleeping peacefully with the Hell's Angel snuggled up by his side. And then, the next thing he knew, he felt her jerk away from him. That prompted him to immediately become alert and awaken, turning right toward the dual color haired girl. He could see her kind of flinching in her sleep, making small whimpers under her breath. Anyone could see from a mile away that she was having nightmare. And that got Mikey to quickly take action.
"Chi-chin. Chi-chin, wake up!" (Y/N) heard her name being by that familiar voice calling out to her as she felt someone shaking her shoulder.
"AH!" She finally woke with a screech, sweat dripping down her face.
And she couldn't catch her breath, her chest feeling tight as she could be heard gasping for air. Putting a red nailed to her chest, the Hell's Angel tried to breathe, but she just couldn't. Her fear of what she had just seen and witnessed was taking over, growing stronger by the second.
Mikey could sense that she was having a panic attack and quickly jumped into action as he leapt out of the bed, rushing to crouch in front of the dual color haired girl as she sat up in bed, her hand still placed on her chest as tears started welling up in her eyes once again. The agony of not being able to breathe was getting to be too much, sounds were nothing but echoes at this point.
"It's okay, Chi-chin, breathe. Just breathe, I'm right here," the pale blonde boy spoke comforting words in a soft tone to try and calm her down.
But it didn't seem to work at first, the tightness in her chest just got worse. It wasn't like she was scared of Mikey from what she had seen in her nightmare, but that fear of him slipping away from her fingertips. That horror was consuming her, much like it did when she had to witness Kisaki kill Chifuyu and shoot Takemichi. And it wouldn't go away.
"Manjiro...*inhale* *exhale*... I can't..." the dual color haired girl gasped, feeling her airway close up the more she tried to breathe.
Even with her friend that she knew right in front of her, for some reason, it didn't calm her down. She just couldn't stop her heart from racing like crazy, she couldn't. Not after what she saw and heard from everything.
Mikey had never seen her like this before, not since the Bloody Halloween where Baji almost died. This was something different though, he could sense it. It was heartbreaking to see after how happy they had all been the night before. Right now, the pale blonde boy just wanted to get her to calm down so she didn't hurt herself.
"Hey, it's okay. Just watch me. In...out," the Toman commander coaxed her to do, taking in a deep breath before letting it out.
Then, miraculously, something clicked in the girl's head where her brain finally allowed her to calm down enough to copy Mikey, slowly beginning to take in deep breaths and letting them out. After a couple times of doing that, the Hell's Angel finally got a good breath in, and that's when everything started to calm down and relax a little more.
But that's also when her emotions started to boiling over too, feeling Mikey rub her waist as she looked down at him through her messy locks. Seeing that light in his eyes that had always been there since they were little made her relieved, but at the same time, she was scared it would disappear any second and that she wouldn't be able to bring it back.
The commander watched as her tears started streaming down her face before she buried it in her hands, her sniffles loud and clear. Softening his gaze like he had never done before around others, the pale blonde boy reached up and placed his hand on the side of (Y/N)'s face, feeling her tears run through her fingers.
"I'm here, Chi-chin. Just let it out," he whispered comforting words to her as he put his other hand on her other cheek while bringing her head down to lean against his forehead.
He had never seen her like this before. And as far as he knew, she wasn't one to have nightmares that would scare her awake like this. He kind of noticed that her anxiety seemed to have gotten worse ever since their fight back in October. Mikey didn't know how to fix this though, and that killed him if it brought the girl that he loved so much to tears when she wasn't really a crier.
But he was all she needed in order to help calm herself down. Knowing that he hadn't changed in this timeline brought some comfort to the Hell's Angel because she knew that he was still the same and didn't have that murderous mindset. And she wanted to make sure that never, ever happened as long as she was around.
After a couple of minutes of her crying and getting everything out of her system, the dual color haired girl finally took her hands away from her face, wiping her eyes with her fingers while sniffling still.
"I need...to ask you something," she then said to the commander still crouching in front of her.
"Anything. I'll do anything to make you feel better," Mikey didn't hesitate to respond.
He'd do anything to make sure she'd smile again. Because watching her like this and feeling like he couldn't do anything was painful. More painful than anyone could ever imagine.
"Can you...just promise to stay with me? I want you to stay with me, I don't care what we're going through, I don't care if you think you're doing something really shitty, I want you to stay with me. I just...need you to be with me," the Hell's Angel finally requested of him.
No one would be able to get to him if the two of them stayed close. Because she could read him like a book, she could tell what was on his mind when others couldn't. And she had the ability to snap him out of whatever kind of darkness was consuming him.
He was her friend, one of her closest friends. And she loved him deeply. If she lost him, that might as well kill her. It'd be something she wouldn't be able to handle.
Mikey, well, he was caught a little off guard by this sudden request, like she was scared he'd just leave her and never return. He knew that she didn't have anything to worry about, but clearly, this night terror had given her a completely different story.
Rubbing his thumbs against her damp cheeks, the pale blonde boy put a comforting smile on his face as he got up on his knees and wrapped his arms around the girl's shoulders, embracing her tenderly as she reciprocated, gripping the back of his shirt. She held him tight, not wanting to let go of this warmth.
"You don't even have to ask. I was already planning on staying by your side, no matter what. You don't ever have to be scared of me leaving you. Ever. I promise you that, (Y/N)," he promised her, using her first name in order to make sure she knew that he was serious.
And she believed him, she really did. So why wasn't that pit in her gut going away? Maybe it was because she had just come out of this nightmare. She just had to remember that Mikey always kept his promises to her, and that she just had to allow herself to believe in him.
Finally, with that thought just repeating in her head, the dual color haired girl was able to get in some decent breaths and calm herself down, even with tears still gathering in her eyes and flowing down her cheeks.
After a couple of silent moments of the two just hugging, the pale blonde commander kind of pulled away from her just a little bit before taking her head into his hands, and placing a passionate kiss on her forehead.
"I got you, my Angel," his soothing whispers reached her ears, which in turn, seem to calm her beating heart and anxiety.
The next thing she knew, the dual color haired girl just felt her fatigue take over her body. But it was much more soothing and comfortable this time than it was in her dream. She didn't fight it, didn't feel the need to.
Mikey kind of felt her fall asleep in his arms, which made him feel better. Still, he couldn't help but to wonder why she was suddenly having these awful dreams. She wasn't one to get them all that much, so it was odd.
Kind of cradling her sleeping figure in his arms still, the pale blonde boy carefully stood up and laid the Hell's Angel back down on her pillow, covering her back up. She looked a lot more peaceful now that she had fallen back asleep, best to just leave her to for now.
Glancing over at his clock, Mikey saw that it was already time for him to be awake, so he let out a small groan before heading over to his closet to get ready. BUT HE WANTED HIS FREAKIN' CUDDLE TIME, NOT TO GET READY FOR THE DAY!!!
Well, he wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep now because he didn't have anything to eat, so he might as well just get dressed.
And he was kind of hasty about it too because he didn't want to wake the girl up since she looked like she needed all the sleep she could get. Miraculously, even though the clumsy commander had accidentally dropped a couple of things, (Y/N) hadn't stirred from her slumber.
In fact, when Mikey returned to just sit beside her for a little bit and hold her hand, the dual color haired girl hadn't moved a single inch. All that was moving was her side, slowly moving up and down since she was sleeping on her side.
The Toman commander gazed down at her before carefully taking a seat on his bed right beside her, gently taking ahold of one of her hands that was emerged from the blankets.
She looked peaceful, a whole lot more peaceful than a little while beforehand. And her friend was determined to keep that peace, even when it came to his precious food.
"Mikey! Come on! I've been calling you for breakfast-"
"Emma, shut up!" The commander hissed at his sister when she came barging into his room to get him.
Safe to say she wasn't too impressed with her older brother barking at her like that because she was the one to make all of his food and had to deal with his complaining when he didn't have anything to eat in the morning.
Emma was soon glaring at Mikey, raising her spatula in preparation to smack the shit out of him for speaking to her like that.
"What'd you-" the younger sister cut herself off from assaulting her brother when she saw the lump still under the covers.
As she got closer, she could see Mikey holding a sleeping (Y/N)'s hand as he glared back at her with an 'I told you so' expression. Now she understood. But she was surprised.
"Wow, Hachi's still asleep?" Emma asked as she peered down at her sleeping sister figure.
If she knew anything about the (h/c) and white haired girl, it was that she wasn't one to sleep in if she could help it. Usually when she stayed over, the Hell's Angel always offered to help out in the kitchen, get Mikey up, and do some chores around the house.
So when the time to make breakfast came around, the Sano sister found it odd that she had beaten (Y/N) to the kitchen. But she really didn't think too into it until she came to her brother's room.
"She was having a nightmare earlier. Took a lot out of her. It was like she collapsed as soon as she calmed down," her older brother explained as he kept his gaze on the sleeping girl, making sure she didn't stir from all the sudden noise.
Didn't do a thing, the Hell's Angel was still in a very deep sleep even as Emma crouched down on the floor by her head.
"Poor thing. She told me she wasn't having them as often, so she thought they'd stopped for good," Mikey heard his sister suddenly say as she ran her fingers through the Hell's Angel's bi-colored hair.
Which caught him off guard as he turned his eyes from the sleeping beauty to his little sister with a bit of a shocked expression.
"She's had these before?" The commander inquired, making sure he heard his sister correctly.
Why was he now just hearing of this? Well, he kind of knew the answer to that question. Now that he thought about, there were times in recent weeks where he had kind of noticed the dark spots under her eyes, and she would kind of zone out sometimes. That wasn't quite like her, but the commander thought it had something to do with her healing from the Bloody Halloween.
Clearly, that didn't seem to be the case as Emma nodded her head to confirm her brother's question.
"Yeah, but I had to force her to tell me when we were having lunch one day. She was literally about to fall asleep at the table. But she wouldn't tell me what they were about," the Sano explained as she took her hand away from (Y/N)'s head.
It was probably the week after her birthday when the the dual color haired girl and her went out to lunch go have a little girls' day out and to celebrate with just the two of them. And then, within the snap of a finger, while Emma was talking about her school life when she noticed her older sister figure nodding off unintentionally.
The blonde girl quickly knew something wasn't right when she saw (Y/N) do that. She wasn't one to just doze off like that in the middle of that day, so when Emma finally snapped the dual color haired girl out of it, the blonde girl wasn't going to allow the Hell's Angel to just say that she was fine. And eventually, she finally got the stubborn hard head to crack, listening as the (h/c) and white haired girl explained the nightmares she had been having on and off for the past few nights.
Mikey had no idea that any of this was going on. He knew that the events of the Bloody Halloween were hard on the sleeping girl in front of him, but he didn't think it was this bad. And he was a little angry at himself that he hadn't noticed earlier. Perhaps he could've done something so that this wouldn't have happened.
"I'll go make her something for later," Emma then said as she stood up and started making her way to back to the kitchen in order to make her dear friend something that would be easy on her stomach.
But Mikey stayed silent, his gaze still fixated on the sleeping Hell's Angel. He wanted to know what was causing his friend to have these nightmares. He wanted to know just what was going on with her.
Letting out a sigh through his nose, the pale blonde commander put his hand on her head, gently stroking her long hair as she let out kind of a blissful sigh through her nose, slightly snuggling into her friend's touch.
Mikey's gaze softened as he kind of leaned down a little closer to the sleeping girl.
"What's going on in that head of yours, Chi-chin?"
Timeskip
Takemichi quickly came back to the future right after that whole nightmare. In this time, he really hadn't been gone all that long, probably a couple of days. But after seeing all of that, it felt like he had been gone for an eternity. And the first thing he wanted to do was to go straight to (Y/N)'s house. He had to make sure she was alright. Even if he knew that this wasn't the time where she had been killed, the fear that she'd be gone was still very much there.
Putting his raincoat on, the crybaby hero quickly dashed out the door and made a B-line for the Hell's Angel's house. The storm raging outside seemed to imitate the emotions whirling around inside of Takemichi. The boy didn't even seem to mind the hard raindrops that were hitting him in the face as he sprinted. He just had to get over to her house, he had to.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Takemichi came across her home. And he was relieved to see that there were lights on through her windows. Looks like there was someone home. It took away some of his stress to know that someone appeared to be home, but that didn't take away all of the anxiousness he was feeling.
"Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay," the crybaby hero quietly pleaded as he went straight up to the girl's door and knocked a couple of times.
That fear that she could be gone made it seem like every second was a minute, an hour, an eternity. It was agonizing. Luckily, the blonde boy soon heard footsteps coming to the door along with the clacking of claws on the tile near the entrance. And now, he heard the clicking of the lock before watching the doorknob turn before he eventually saw the door open. And there she was, standing in the doorway as she looked at Takemichi. And she seemed to know exactly why he was there.
"Hey," the blonde boy softly greeted the dual color haired girl as the two just stared on at each other.
"Hi," (Y/N) returned the quiet greeting.
The two of them just kind of looked at each other, both of them seeing that the other knew what had happened in the future just by gazing into each other's eyes. Takemichi could even see the slight dark spots and redness under her eyes. The two didn't say anymore before they both took a couple of steps toward each other before wrapping their arms around each other.
She didn't even care that he was soaked from the raging storm outside, right now, she just felt some comfort in knowing that he was alright and that they could now talk and trying to figure this thing out.
The crybaby hero just had to keep holding the girl tightly in order to calm himself down. He was so glad that she was still here, and he didn't want to let anything bad happen to her. Plus, he could tell that she had seen and heard everything. And that had to be more painful for her than anything, so he wanted this embrace to try and take this pain away from her.
After a couple of silent moments, the two pulled away from each other before (Y/N) went over and shut the door behind him so that the rain wouldn't come in any further. She seemed to also let out a sigh as she ran a hand through her hair.
"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting the future to look like that," the dual color haired girl finally spoke as she turned back toward the crybaby hero, making her way into the living room area where Takemichi was also standing.
And like he had suspected, he knew she had seen everything.
"It doesn't make any sense. I mean, in all the other timelines, Kisaki was the one that turned Mikey into an evil psychopath," the blonde boy started trying to go through what could've possibly happened to make Mikey become like that.
"And he killed that bastard along with everyone else...that just wasn't him," the (h/c) and white haired girl trailed off as she shook her head.
God, she needed to sit down. Because this was going to be a lot to take in and speak about. Even if she hadn't told her pale blonde friend what her nightmare was about, this was the first time she had spoken verbally about what she had seen in her dream.
Takemichi could see that this was going to be hard on the Hell's Angel to talk about because this was one of her closest friends that they were dealing with here. This friend that had been with her through a whole lot of shit, which was also why she was going to be such an important factor in this. So, the crybaby hero was just going to have to be careful with how he approached this.
Watching as the (h/c) and white haired girl sit on the couch with Tiberius at her side, the crybaby hero made his way over to her and sat down beside her.
"Ange, can you think of anything that might've pushed him to do this? You know him better than anyone else," he started out softly as he watched her put her head in her hands before raking her fingers and nails through her hair.
"No, I literally can't think of anything. I mean...I get that he'd be messed up after my death, but not enough to kill everyone," (Y/N) adamantly stated, knowing her friend wouldn't do something like this even if she had been killed.
Mikey wouldn't do something like that. She knew that he knew it was wrong, and that he would try to hold up the wishes of those that are deceased, not act against them. He wasn't a killer, both her and Takemichi knew that. Which is why it didn't make any sense to either of them as to why he had become a serial killer when the crybaby hero went back to the future.
But (Y/N) couldn't get one thing out of her head, one image. And that was the way Mikey's eyes looked in the future in both the picture Naoto had shown them and the real-life future Mikey. All she could do was shake her head to try and get that image out of her head.
"That wasn't him, Takechi. That wasn't the Mikey that I know, that I grew up with, that started this whole thing. He wouldn't kill people he cares about. I mean, I don't even care about my own death in this because of what I heard him say," she ranted, still in disbelief that that monster was her friend.
However, what scared Takemichi was when he heard the Hell's Angel say that she didn't care about dying. That made his heart stop right then and there.
"No, don't say that!" He finally yelled as he hastily lunged over and grabbed her shoulders, catching her off guard completely as she stared at her friend with a wide eyed expression.
He wasn't one to have outbursts like that, so for the crybaby hero to suddenly yell like that, she knew she had really crossed the line with what she had just said as her eyes softened while Takemichi put his head down to hide his forming tears.
"Please, Ange, don't say that about yourself. We all still need you around, because you keep us all going. You're so important to all of us that if you were to die....I don't know what I'd do," the blonde boy practically begged of her as he shut his eyes tightly, feeling his tears fall from his eyes while he leaned his head against the girl's shoulder.
Seriously, she was the reason people were still alive and fighting for what was right. She kept the peace, she kept people sane, she kept people happy. If (Y/N) were to die, not only would that affect the crybaby hero's life, but everyone else's as well. He knew, he knew that Mikey wouldn't be able to go on if she wasn't there any more.
And the crybaby hero would be at a loss without her. He had come this far, if he had lost her now in such a horrific manner, the blonde boy didn't think he'd be able to live with himself. He'd never forgive himself.
Seeing that she had kind of chosen the wrong words, the dual color haired girl decided to try again as she placed her red nailed hands on the crying boy's cheeks, using her thumbs to wipe away his tears.
"I didn't mean it like that, Blondie Boy. It's just...I've always been the one to protect and make sure things don't happen. Just handled my own issues later. I don't think I can ever change that about myself," the (h/c) and white haired girl explained what she had truly meant.
That's how she had always been. It had been a habit of hers since she was a little kid. Sometimes, (Y/N) wondered if she was just born with that protective instinct. That instinct to want to fix everyone else before herself was always there. Honestly, if everyone else was happy, then that would fix all of the Hell's Angel's problems.
Still, she knew she had to think of herself too. But it was just hard to break a habit that had been there for so long. However, that didn't mean one thing.
"But, I won't let someone kill me like that. I'm not going to allow someone to do that where it'll hurt other people," she declared to Takemichi as he looked back up at her.
Her voice had kind of changed tone too, it was deeper when she said that. Takemichi knew that voice, he knew it to be one where she was hiding something, or she was planning something in her head.
Now the crybaby hero wanted to know something. He knew she hadn't said anything about her dreams that she had whenever he went back in time, and that made him think of something as he kind of started to scoot closer to the dual color haired girl.
"Ange, truthfully, if I didn't know about you dying, would you tell me? Even with you knowing about my time-leaping abilities?" He asked her, looking her dead in the eye.
Dammit, why did he have to read her like that? The crybaby hero had become very good at it too, he could always tell what she was thinking, how her mind worked, he had really kind of cracked the code that many couldn't.
Well, (Y/N) couldn't lie to him, because she was done keeping secrets that she believed she could handle on her own. Especially after what had happened and the hell she had been through with Taiju.
Taking in a deep breath through her nose, the dual color haired girl finally answered.
"Honestly, I feel like I've traumatized you and Chifuyu enough, so to keep you from worrying yourself sick, I wouldn't. But, you've learned to kind of read me and tell when something's up, so you probably would've gotten me to crack eventually," she admitted before slowly nodding and looking down at the floor.
Those images of Chifuyu being absolutely terrified about her being in Black Dragon along with Takemichi's despair as his future self just stayed engraved into the Hell's Angel's mind. It killed her to know that they knew what was going on, yet when they tried to help, she just pushed them away.
She thought she was doing this for their own protection since she too, had been kind of traumatized by seeing how the future really was where people she loved were dead.
She just....didn't want to be the cause of it by leaning on others and having them be involved with her issues.
But the crybaby hero thought that was nonsense. He could sense that she didn't do it to hurt people, he knew that. But the dual color haired girl simply didn't and couldn't allow herself to lean on others. It probably came from years of wanting to keep people close, to keep them from disappearing.
Much like her parents.
The crybaby hero soon reached over and grabbed one of her hands, encasing it with both of his as she looked back up at him.
"You don't have to handle this on your own, Ange. You've protected everyone for so long, so now it's our turn. I know you won't stop worrying, and I'm not asking you too. I just...don't want you to handle everything on your own anymore. It's like you told me, 'you're not alone in this'," he repeated the very words she had said to him when he had revealed to both her and Chifuyu that he was a time-leaper.
Which kind of surprised her a little bit as her (e/c) eyes widened a little bit. For some reason, that seemed to make her feel just a little better, made her feel a little lighter because she just needed to hear that. That's probably what she needed to hear after seeing what she had saw and having someone to tell this to helped to relieve her anxiety.
Finally, she was able to let out a smile as she squeezed the blonde boy's hands with her own.
"Look at you taking the words right out of my mouth," she kind of joked a little bit with a much light hearted tone.
It lightened everything up. The mood had been so dreary like the weather outside. It made Takemichi return her smile with one of his own. The two of them then softened their gazes before leaning their foreheads against each other, the crybaby hero using one of his hands to place on her slightly warm cheek as they closed their eyes.
"We'll figure this out, I know we will," he promised her.
He'd figure it out somehow, he had to figure something out. Because he didn't want to go back to that future where everyone was gone. He wanted that future to be erased from history for good. And the Hell's Angel agreed as she pulled away, feeling his hand slip from her cheek just as she began to run her fingers through his slightly damp blonde locks. Just like she had always done.
"I believe you. And I believe in you," she told him.
She believed in him with all of her heart. Sure, the road to get to the end goal was probably going to be a very long and twisted road, but if (Y/N) knew anything about Takemichi Hanagaki, it was that he never gave up. He just had that tenacity about him that she could feed off of. Besides, he had done what he had set out to do before and didn't give in, even with the odds stacked against him. That's why she always would believe in him.
And she really had no idea how much those words meant to him. To have someone believe that he wasn't a complete failure meant more than she'll ever know. However, the crybaby hero didn't have time for any more tears. Because he soon saw the dual color haired girl begin to sway back and forth a little hit, her eyes rolling back as she began to fall backwards.
Takemichi got scared by that and called out to her while steadying her by her shoulders as she kind of used him as a balance of sorts.
"Sorry, I'm a little dizzy," she told him in a slightly weakened voice.
She didn't know where it came from. She felt fine one second and the next, her friend looked like a blurry blob as her head started to feel like it was spinning.
"Here, take it easy," the crybaby hero helped her out by putting a hand behind her head and slowly laid her down on the couch with a pillow beneath so that she'd be more comfortable.
Guess her nightmare took more out of her than she realized. Her body was just exhausted from it all. She just wanted to fall asleep and be in this comfy haven full of clouds. As she laid on the couch, she just let her fatigue take over once more as her eyes slowly began to close.
"Sorry...Blondie Boy, I'm just a little...tired," her voice trailed off as she finally fell asleep.
Takemichi could tell she was exhausted, and he could only imagine what those dreams did to her. He figured if he had fixed the future, she wouldn't have these nightmares any longer. They were starting to do a number on her health, and he wanted to free her from that darkness.
As he watched her sleeping figure for a few more minutes, his blue eyes incredibly softened, the crybaby hero soon began to kind of run his finger over the scar that marked her eye, kind of trailing it down to her cheek before moving some of her long locks out of the way and tucked them behind her ear.
"Just rest, Ange. I'll handle the rest."