Chapter Text
The city glowed by lantern light, roofs and treetops illuminated by the moon and stars.
He stood atop the church, shadowed by the bell tower. Even seeing all the life below did not ease his pain. You could have still lived down there if I hadn’t…
His breath stuttered and he covered his eyes. It was still vivid in his memory. Holding his lover’s hand… waiting through the final breaths…
I could have saved you. I could have changed your life forever. But I…
His body trembled with unshed emotion.
But then his head popped up as he heard the clicking of shoes upon the rooftop.
“It’s just me,” came the familiar voice, and he shuddered out a breath.
“Were you worried?” he murmured, directing his gaze once more toward the city.
“Perhaps a little.” His friend stood beside him, watching the people below. “I heard what happened. How she reacted was… cruel.”
He let out a small laugh. “She merely sped up the inevitable, I guess.”
His friend’s eyes turned to him.
“I would be feeling this pain whether he died by her hand, my own, or even nature just… taking its course.”
His friend stepped closer. “Why did you not turn him?”
He closed his eyes, lowering his head as he whispered, “Because I was afraid. What if he would come to hate me? What if he would come to hate himself?”
“Shigure,” his friend quietly said, “I don’t think he had it in him to ever truly hate you. I watched your romance blossom into something truly beautiful. He already accepted you.”
“Accepting me and becoming like me are not the same thing, Ayame.”
“No, I know.” Ayame slipped an arm around the other’s waist in a loose hold. “But I believe he could have accepted himself with time.”
“How much time would that be though?”
Ayame shook his head. “We will never know now.”
They watched the city slowly quiet down as more turned in for sleep, and soon the only signs of existence were the lanterns, still glowing.
“Maybe one day he will return to you,” Ayame said after a few minutes.
Shigure snorted. “Right. Reincarnation is a myth.”
“Don’t be so certain.”
“With how long we have been alive, I don’t think we have ever met the same person after death.”
Ayame shrugged. “Perhaps it just takes time for the right vessel.”
“Vessel, huh?”
“Are bodies not just containers for souls?”
Shigure let out a sigh. “I don’t know.” He finally looked at Ayame. “But his soul is already gone. That I am sure of.”
Ayame gave him a smile. “We will see, I suppose.”
Shigure closed his eyes for a moment before gazing up at the stars.
He was certain. Reincarnation was not real. And his friend’s attempts would only cause more pain if he grasped that false hope. His lover was gone. And nothing was going to bring him back.