/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>45301616 (part 2)
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… I could've stayed on the ground, crying, like I did earlier today.

My whole body hurts, my stomach rumbles, eating itself alive; adrenaline escaping my body through the many wounds—aside from the bloodied gash on my head, all were small, though cumulative—, my legs feeling weak. Yet, as I hear sobbing so close to me, it's like the flip of a switch, light shining in my eyes… It aches so, so very much, but I slowly get onto all fours, breathing a mess, darkness still a tarp encapsulating all over me, Moon eaten, though the sieging red eyes are unmistakable. My eyes are on the babies laid on the soft grass.

For the second time, the world slows down to a crawl.

Unlike the first, this one is much more dire: bleeding so much, head vertiginous, about to trip over at any given moment, two defenseless babies clearly also battered by all the sharp maneuvering and hits I couldn't graze or dodge properly, their small wings folded around them as if blankets… So cute, it puts a smile on my bloodied face~

… I breathe profoundly, laboriously getting on my feet, mind wandering: Leaving these two here to be eaten and gored would be my best chance of survival.

It's cruel, so cruel, but also the truth…

It's a cruel world, and they've been put through so much pain already… Though it's also a very beautiful world.

I'm sure they haven't seen this beauty yet.

… I'd like to show it to them…

As I finally stand up over them and stare at the looming wall of predatory eyes, Suzu's words return to me, words about responsibility; then Anon's on what sweet Hana meant to him, hope… Then Mokou. I still haven't apologized for lying. In the lack of a moon, her eyes shone red and illuminated the path.

It would be easy to let myself be crushed by all this: odds; slander; whispers; mistakes old and new…

… I gave in to the pressure, let myself be stomped by this world…

Danmaku in my hands produces gusts of wind, illuminating the area in a menacing heaven blue.

But this is not about just me anymore.

"God, please…" I whisper.

The monsters finally get onto me, a crashing tsunami wave… And I fight all of them to protect these innocent children, hovering over them as the only wall between life and death—body weak and broken, yet of a spirit that has never been stronger—, attacking and defending, never leaving their sides, shadows of danmaku and spellcards dancing over the babies as they watch their sole protector fight an infinite horde of beasts of night and mindless youkai, blood and carcasses littering the area as my last stand continues… And it continues on, and on, and on.

Help never came. No one descended from the skies to save me in this dire moment… To be in the Forest of Magic during the night is a mistake few want to commit and many would regret.

I do not regret it.

I should've… But I do not.

The beasts were restless, and as the hours blurred together, I committed mistakes, got hit hard, and almost crumbled multiple times under the assault from all sides, bleeding and fatigued…

But I never fell.

I never stopped being their wall.

… And as day breaks, I stand amidst an ocean of blood and corpses, some of them fading in a black mist; others simply dead bodies that'd return to dust.

I wanted to fall and never get up again.

Birds chirped with the rising sun and, heavily breathing, knuckles busted and covered in a layer of muck and blood, I gently picked up the newborns from the ground, their skin pale and heartbeats weak… But alive. Beautifully alive. I was too dehydrated to cry. "Hey," I say, my voice raspy and knifing my throat. "… Sorry for lying to you two about a meal, bath and a comfy, warm bed. Didn't expect the night to go like that, heh…" I giggle to myself and, with some effort, can feel the closest presence to the west…

3 whole miles to the west.

I'm dehydrated, haven't eaten in almost 40 hours, bled the entire night, and am standing on willpower alone.

I breathe in, then breathe out, looking at them… The boy opens his small eyes and looks at my face…

… And sweetly giggles.

I fondly smile.

"Very funny, I know…” I nurture them close, eyes soft. “Well, let's get going, shall we?” Despite wanting to lie down and never move again, I fly those 3 miles.

… Because that's what you would do… Isn’t that right, Anon, Suzu?

My vision is blurred, time passes, I move, body begging to give up; a house; tiny, floating humans building it… I couldn't properly discern it, but they looked worried upon seeing me.

No danger. Safety.

With a smile, I collapse, always shielding the babies.