Asahi felt numbing pain throughout his entire body from overexerting himself, most especially his arms and legs. Being beaten by those bullies in his past was a piece of cake compared to what he was experiencing right now. The adrenaline coursing through his veins gradually disappeared from his system, and he could only groan in pain as the hulk-phant turned what’s left of its rage-filled eyes towards the lad.
At that moment, all he could think of was his family that he left behind in Japan, along with the ‘could-haves’ and ‘what-ifs’ of every turning point in his life that lead him to this moment. As the monster was about to crush him under its bloodied feet, Asahi also couldn't help but think back on all those foreign emotions he felt while he repeatedly struck the beast’s nape and also the pink threads that formed from his hands that were now gone. He guessed there’s no use thinking about those now that he’s going to meet his maker any minute now.
…Except he wasn’t going to do that, actually. A loud howl echoed throughout the night, and it was unlike any wolf or canine-based animal back from his world that he knew was capable of doing. Asahi was filled with more dread when he thought the monsters called for more back-up but was surprised when he found out that it was a call to retreat. All the monsters he and his classmates were fighting immediately went to the source of the howl without question, making a beeline straight towards the bus and their makeshift camp, destroying what was left of them, and disappeared into the depths of the forest.
He didn’t know what to feel or think about it at first, but the next few moments of piece hit him like a truck. All the emotions he kept bottled inside him gushed out of him like water from a destroyed dam. Tears streamed down his face before he even knew it and he was on all fours as he couldn’t let his classmates see him in such a pathetic state. He could see glimpses of Kogen in the darkness wearing some sort of armor, what the heck was that? He could also hear Ayana, lively as ever despite the situation she was in. Asahi’s own moment of piece didn’t last long as he remembered one crucial person.
”Sasuke? Sasuke!” He called out with a hoarse voice.
”Where’s Kunio and the others? Sasuke!” He used the bloodied dagger to support himself in standing up, though it was proven hard by his wobbly and weak knees. He opted to crawl towards the direction where he remembered Kunio brought Sasuke and led the others to safety during the fight, using the last of his remaining strength to go into the forest as he would use a long sturdy stick he could find to aid him in his walking.
Exhaustion dogged his efforts, but emotion saw him power through. As Kogen and Ayana gathered themselves, possessed as they were by their own concerns, Asahi stumbled off into the forest, disappearing from view. His heart was pounding. His head was pounding. His lungs were pounding. But his senses were intact, guiding him through a world of darkness that was nevertheless bright, leading him half-instinctually to the trail of blood he could smell.
Right. Sasuke was bleeding. Even if it was internally, he was still bleeding. All he had to do was follow that trail, follow that scent, and…
The pink-haired youth stumbled out from the brush. Moonlight filtered out from the canopy, natural lighting that chased away the strange filter that had passed over his vision, allowing him to see what laid at the end of the trail. It wasn’t Sasuke. It was Tsubaki. Laid out upon soft grass, her breath rasping out from slightly-parted lips. Her dark complexion now ashen, blood oozing out from the bandages around the stump of her arm. Beside her, Akito sat, holding onto her remaining hand, his own countenance inscrutable as his thumb pressed against her wrist. Feeling for her pulse, perhaps. Waiting for her death, perhaps.
At Asahi’s arrival, he turned his gaze upward.
“Can you do anything?”Could he?
Asahi gulped looking at the sorry state of Tsubaki. She probably got trampled by the stampede of those bastard hell-spawns or perhaps got hurt by other creatures in the area while they were fighting. Regardless, it looked like she was about to die anytime now. He looked at his hand and flexed his fingers, remembering how these weird pink threads appeared from his fingertips. It's probably worth nothing, but it would probably mean something if he tried.
”Hold on… He grunted with effort as he shakenly got down onto the ground, sitting near Tsubaki's head. He hovered his hands at the sides of her head and concentrated, fighting through the tiredness to will himself to manifest those threads again. They slowly wriggled out, slowly swaying in the breeze like tentacles finding something to catch. Through Asahi's will, the threads latched onto Tsubaki's head and he concentrated even further to do anything that might save his classmate.
One by one, the threads slipped in between strands of hair before connecting to the scalp. It was like spidersilk, gossamer and yet durable, the pink-hued lines pulsating as the bond between the two strengthened. One bead of light shot through the link. Then another. Another. Another!
It was reminiscent of cars down a highway at night. It recalled pearl beads sliding from one end to another. It reminded of fiber optic cables, shooting data downstream at light speed.
It
hit Asahi at light speed. Unfiltered by consciousness, sensation flooded his brain a second time, a deluge of recent memories, emotions, and pain. He relived the crashing of the bus, felt the crushing terror of being forever separated from family, the sudden awakening forced upon a human being as light seared through their flesh and rendered them without an arm. That was it. The opening salvo from those Ten-Eyed creatures had taken Tsubaki’s arm. And now, he felt it too. The searing, throbbing, draining sensation of a fresh wound that oozed out blood.
Asahi felt sick.
The torrent was unending. He could hear Akito distantly, calling out to him, but the words were blurred between the storm of discordant half-thoughts and feverish half-dreams. His mind was being drawn into Tsubaki’s nightmare reality. He was melting away, swept in the flood.
He had to anchor himself, before he lost himself.
Asahi groaned in pain from the barrage of all these familiar yet alien emotions, memories, and even flashes of ideas all at once. So many voices, a hundred people talking and shouting at the same time coupled with noises of different kinds. Worst of it all was he could also feel the extreme pain Tsubaki was experiencing, and he cried out in so much pain with tears streaming down his face. It was all so much, too much for him, as he even felt he was going to throw up.
"No… N-No… He groaned with effort, keeling over Tsubaki with his entire body tensing and the veins on his temples forming. Despite all that, there was no way he was going to let himself be defeated by this. He didn't endure years of bullying, side-eyes, backstabbing, beating, and heartbreaks just to lose over something like this.
Asahi focused as hard as he could. He imagined himself walking through a storm. The heavy rains poured down on him and the strong winds kept pushing him back but as long as he steeled himself, he knew he'll eventually make it to its center, the eye of the storm. All he needed was to just keep moving forward.
With his own sense of ego as his anchor, Asahi powered through, rooting himself in traumas that were unique to him, experiences and feelings that could only come from him. Gradually, drop by drop, the deluge gave way, until blessed serenity reigned.
They were separate individuals. Connected, yes, but separate. He could terminate this connection whenever he wished. And through this same connection, he could take and he could give. What were bonds to him?
Transactional.
It was all too surreal for him, to be able to experience something like this in such a foreign world. He could
feel Tsubaki in a way that was incapable to be described by words. Even so, he strangely knew what to do at the same time. He was connected to her and vice versa though it seemed he had the upper hand here. He felt no fight back from her, he could peak into the deepest parts of her mind, discover her secrets, her shame, her regrets. Asahi smiled to himself. Forget super strength,
this was true power to him.
Alas, he felt Tsubaki's connection starting to fade even more as she neared death. It looked like his experimentations will have to wait for the future. For now, he concentrated on that forge within him, that weird concentrated mass of energy that gave him and a select few of his classmates superhuman abilities and powers. He took a portion of that power and shared it to her through their connection, wondering if it would help her.
Gradually, Asahi could see that Tsubaki was stabilizing. Her wounds closed up, scabbing over. Her blood seemed to be ‘refilling’, in the same impossible way that Duncan hadn’t died of blood loss just 12 hours ago. Her breathing itself calmed, while her heart began to regain its strength. It was working. It was working!
And yet, it was so
slow as well. Whatever he had chosen to give, it hadn’t been anything that resembled a portion of his own regenerative or physical capabilities. As if a program running on a machine with lower specs, the functions themselves were still being executed properly, but at speeds that did not match anything else.
It would be a long time still, until she was out of the woods. For now though?
Akito’s voice finally registered for the pink-haired youth.
“Is she going to make it?”As he shared a portion of his power to Tsubaki, Asahi could feel himself getting weaker. He panicked at first but then remembered that this power was the one giving him superhuman levels of stamina and healing, the only thing allowing him to still be able to walk and talk despite his situation. Now that the power itself wasn't 100%, the pain and exhaustion he's feeling seem to gradually increase. Without the power, he'd have been passed out a long time ago.
Thankfully, he could feel Tsubaki's wounds start to heal and her internal bleeding start to stabilize, albeit it was too slow for his taste. Perhaps it was due to her body not suitable enough for whatever kind of power Asahi and a handful of others had.
"I… I think she will." Asahi managed to grunt through the exhaustion creeping in.
"She's still far from being fully recovered, b-but I think she's out of the woods for now…" He steadied his own breathing and took lots of deep breaths.
"I-I can't stay here for too long. The others might need my help too. W-Where are they? Where is Sasuke?" “They’re gone.” A pause, a furrowed brow. “We fell behind and got lost.”
Asahi grimaced and groaned a bit from sharing his power with Tsubaki. He could feel her recovering gradually but it was not enough. If he broke their connection now, she won't be able to survive through the night. Hours of being at the brink of total exhaustion just to give her a fighting chance at surviving…
"Okay… Okay, okay. He took a deep breath and looked at Tsubaki, beads of sweat dripping down Asahi's face.
"Akito, stand guard and protect us. It looks like I'll have to spend the entire night making sure Tsubaki is fully recovered. Can you do that?"The youth nodded.
The next morning came. Those who were at the camp will see the trio of Asahi, Tsubaki, and Akito walking out of the edges of the forest into view as the sun started to show itself. Tsubaki, despite missing a hand, looked like she was far from the doors of death. She will need a couple more hours of rest to totally recover, but the worst of her injuries were healed thanks to Asahi's powers.
She and Akito were supporting a weakened, sleep-deprived, and exhausted Asahi between them who could barely walk on his own. While he had all his powers to himself again as it allowed him to start his own self-recovery, his limbs were still sore and he could really use some shut-eye after spending the entire night saving Tsubaki.
"F-Find the others…" Asahi managed to croak in his weakened state as the others were discussing plans on what to do next.
"Strength in… Numbers… Find them… Must, find him…" He said before slumping forward and finally passing out.
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