1/31/2010

We won

SEES worked together and fought with their lives. We weren't sure if we'd come out victorious but hiding in our rooms, awaiting the end of mankind is not the route we planned. Nyx wanted to destroy us.

But,

We are not the humans wishing for the end. Our wills are stronger than what Nyx believed.

I smile, or I thought I have. I'm not entirely sure. My mission, my goal to prevent Nyx being released leaves me exhausted. I know I exist, but I can't feel it. Am I dead? A soul floating in blackness?

"You've won."

I hear a familiar voice speak to me from the black abyss.

"Ryoji?"

"You got what you wished for, changing fate to your liking."

As joyful the news is, I can't shake this feeling, this...empty feeling.

"Where am I?"

A heavy silence followed, making the tension grow within me.

"I'm...dead aren't I?"

"..."

Maybe it's what I've wanted all along. I had no purpose, I shifted from one school to the next, my parents were deceased and I'm forced to fend for myself. I moved forward by chance, not by choice.

Yet, the further I've went, learning the trials SEES and those around me faced, I can't help but fight against this feeling. This incessant need to sleep forever, to lose consciousness forever.

"Ryoji."

"Yes?"

"I can't."

We've won and I know what lies ahead from now on. Regardless, I wish to live, stay close to my friends, friends I've created this year who I can call family.

"I need to return."

"If you leave, another vicious cycle will come for mankind once more."

Leaving on this note would be heartbreaking. I'm not the same teen who entered Tatsumi Port Island wishing to go through another school year and be filed to another school. I've made a promise with friends, bonds I won't ever take for granted. I want to fulfill said promise with them.

"Then give me time, it's all I ask."

"Time?"

"I've signed a contract and took the burden of all responsibilities of my actions, correct?" This abyss I'm in illuminates, a spark off in the foreground. That's when I notice his smirk, understanding my intentions.

"Your will's powerful, the universe itself guiding through you. You gave your life for humankind and your soul shall eventually be used to seal me, never losing your goal."

This dimension grows brighter. Then this light blinds all I can see.

"Your will alone will keep you alive. But know even that has limitations."

"It's alright, I understand my terms."

I finally open my eyes, feeling myself return. I see my comrades, every single one of them rejoicing at my survival. Aigis' the most effected in the bunch. I glance upward to watch Tartarus fade away, to never return. The moon recovers its original shape.

Even if I smile to them all, I can feel it, my time's ticking away like an hourglass.