[Fic]: Latent
Title: Latent
Fandom: Ze
Rating: G
Summary: For the September 1st prompt "1. we stay because we don't know where else to go" from 31_daysAU
Disclaimer: Ze and its characters are not mine.
The child was silent. Asari watched him silently for a moment and then left, relieved and disappointed that he found very little resemblance between that child and that Shoui that he had lost.
"You're not going to accept him?" Waki's voice catched up to Asari before he could make his escape. "Again?"
"He's not Shoui." Asari walked past Waki, hoping that the darkness of the hallway hid the expression on his face. That was not Shoui. Asari had lost Shoui long ago.
The dead couldn't be brought back to life.
"Kotoha thought otherwise," said Waki. His eyes trailed to the paperdoor that Asari kept shut, light spilling from a small crack. "You didn't even try talk to him?"
"No," Asari said, and left before Waki could say anything else, before anymore words would weaken his resolve and reopen the wound that he finally managed to keep closed after Shoui's death.
The child never called Asari once, even long after he had used kotodama and had been informed that Asari was to be his kami. Asari ignored him at first, but then curiosity and longing pulled him to his feet, to where the child with Shoui's name was, and Asari had watched the child from a distance. Day by day, the child's resemblance to Shoui grew, and Asari wasn't sure if it was because the child was approaching the age when Asari first accepted to be Shoui's kami, or if this was only an illlusion created by his yearning.
Yet
Illusions or not, Asari had no choice. Even if that child wasn't Shoui, ugly hope still gnawed at his heart. He could only stay.
Even after death, Shoui still managed to bind him.
Asari came to the child that night. The child was covered from head to toe with bandages, and Asari was reminded of the first time he came to Shoui.
"You'd used kotodama without using a Kami," Asari pulled down his mask, appearing in front of the child for the first time. "You're really reckless," and then the words seemed to lodge in his throat, but Asari forced himself to say the name that had been hiding his memory for too long, "Shoui."
There was a moment of silence, and then the child opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Tears and hope and awe and despair and everything that Asari remembered when he had first looked into Shoui's eyes were there, and then, the child spoke, "Don't you hate me?"
Before Asari could reply, the child gasped out, "Asari," and the world was pieced back together, once more.
Fandom: Ze
Rating: G
Summary: For the September 1st prompt "1. we stay because we don't know where else to go" from 31_daysAU
Disclaimer: Ze and its characters are not mine.
The child was silent. Asari watched him silently for a moment and then left, relieved and disappointed that he found very little resemblance between that child and that Shoui that he had lost.
"You're not going to accept him?" Waki's voice catched up to Asari before he could make his escape. "Again?"
"He's not Shoui." Asari walked past Waki, hoping that the darkness of the hallway hid the expression on his face. That was not Shoui. Asari had lost Shoui long ago.
The dead couldn't be brought back to life.
"Kotoha thought otherwise," said Waki. His eyes trailed to the paperdoor that Asari kept shut, light spilling from a small crack. "You didn't even try talk to him?"
"No," Asari said, and left before Waki could say anything else, before anymore words would weaken his resolve and reopen the wound that he finally managed to keep closed after Shoui's death.
The child never called Asari once, even long after he had used kotodama and had been informed that Asari was to be his kami. Asari ignored him at first, but then curiosity and longing pulled him to his feet, to where the child with Shoui's name was, and Asari had watched the child from a distance. Day by day, the child's resemblance to Shoui grew, and Asari wasn't sure if it was because the child was approaching the age when Asari first accepted to be Shoui's kami, or if this was only an illlusion created by his yearning.
Yet
Illusions or not, Asari had no choice. Even if that child wasn't Shoui, ugly hope still gnawed at his heart. He could only stay.
Even after death, Shoui still managed to bind him.
Asari came to the child that night. The child was covered from head to toe with bandages, and Asari was reminded of the first time he came to Shoui.
"You'd used kotodama without using a Kami," Asari pulled down his mask, appearing in front of the child for the first time. "You're really reckless," and then the words seemed to lodge in his throat, but Asari forced himself to say the name that had been hiding his memory for too long, "Shoui."
There was a moment of silence, and then the child opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Tears and hope and awe and despair and everything that Asari remembered when he had first looked into Shoui's eyes were there, and then, the child spoke, "Don't you hate me?"
Before Asari could reply, the child gasped out, "Asari," and the world was pieced back together, once more.