A/N: Sorry again, Minako fans. Somewhat a part of Smile? but not exactly. It could be a stand-alone, so it is.

Also took me two hours and twenty minutes to write this in one sitting. I can finally sleep.

Pharos was standing in a hospital room where Minako stayed. He wanted to be here and he could not be anywhere else. His whole world was Minako. My dearest.

The hospital was like a second house to Minako. She was staying here for the night, and then she could leave here and return to her house. Her house, and not her home. They didn't consider her a part of the family.

They considered her a living legacy.

At school, things were not too good. She always got bullied and she didn't even fight back. No one helped her. Pharos wished he could. He could only be here to keep her company for the night, for an hour. Is being a transferred student bad? Why do other humans hate her? Why is she not caring about herself?

"You are thinking about why I got bullied again, right?"

Pharos needed some time to realize Minako was talking to him. Minako with her big red eyes, sitting on her hospital bed as usual. She enjoyed the soft hospital bed. A hospital room was far better than her house could ever be.

"Yes," he admitted. "It wasn't fair."

"It is as fair as the world can be," Minako said. She looked at the bandage on her limbs. "I am weird, so I am punished."

"You're not weird." Though you need help.

"I don't need help." Somehow she could guess his thought. "I am weird in the eyes of others, and that is what matters."

As long as they thought she was different than them, they wouldn't stop bringing her pain.

"It is not painful. Don't worry about me." Minako smiled.

Every time she smiled, Pharos became worried. Because everyone else got it all wrong. She smiled to run away from their eyes. She smiled so that her pain could be hidden.

"People don't want me there. I'm trying to make them stay away." Minako already knew how. It was to smile. It was to treat humans like coffins.

Coffins don't talk, and they couldn't think. When surrounded by them instead of humans, Minako smiled in a way that Pharos liked. She was happy for his freedom and her own.

Still, she had a life. She was a being in the other world different from his. She couldn't stay here forever.

"You can't keep living like this…" Pharos said. A girl enjoying the space-time where even her own existence was insignificant, it was just wrong.

"I could go join the Blacks." The black things always crawled and crawled under the moon. They never bothered them. Some humans were foolish enough to not become oblivious, and they had to pay by transforming into a different being. They crawled and crawled. Miserable things.

"You can't go join them," Pharos said. Minako was special. How could she think of joining the lowly beings?

"Then what should I do to keep living the life I want?" Minako asked. "If I can't, guess I'll die."

"You can't die, Minako." It was the truth and not an assurance or a plea. Pharos wondered if it was too soon to tell her, but he told her anyway. "You can't die."

"Why?"

"It is the nature of the Earth. A fact." Pharos sat on the bed next to her. "We're here together. As long as I'm with you, you can't die. It is impossible. Death could never harm you."

"... What if you leave me...?"

Pharos froze. It was a murmur, but he could hear each and every sound she made like a whisper to the ear.

"What if you are gone, Pharos?" Minako looked up. "What if you leave?"

"What if I… leave you," Pharos whispered that. He went silent. He had never imagined leaving his world. Minako kept staring into his eyes, and Pharos was afraid. He did not know the answer either.

He knew for certain that she could not die if he were to stay by her side. And the opposite, if he were not there by her side, would it be certain…?

"... I'm not sure, but I won't let you die when I am beside you. I'll make you happy."

Minako slowly nodded. Pharos felt the need to reassure her.

"I'll be your friend. I'll protect you. You won't die like them, I promise." Pharos promised with all the pride he had. That was all he had.

"I won't die… like my parents." Minako held her hand out as if to touch him. "I won't die if I'm with you."

Pharos gave a sad smile. "You can't touch me, you know that."

"I want to," Minako said. "How do I?"

Pharos opened his mouth but stopped himself. No, not yet. She was too young. She was ruined enough with him being there. "Someday, you'll know."

"Don't you want to touch me?"

I do. "I can't, and you know that. I'm a prisoner."

"I'll help you out," Minako said without hesitation. "How do you come out? Tell me how."

"Someday," Pharos said.

"When?"

"Someday."

"When?"

It pained him so much, but she was not ready. Pharos felt like it would involve the place he remembered. And now that she was away from there, she shouldn't be back. He didn't know much, but he knew it would be a bad idea to go back to that place. "Please be patience. Wait for now, okay?"

Minako frowned but she nodded. "I will wait until you tell me."

Minako was too kind. Her wish was to help him, and he was happy she wished to help since no one else could. He felt guilty, but he needed her, but she was too young, and he didn't want to use her, but she wanted to.

He never wanted her involved, though she was involved in every way. He knew right from the start. Their fate was bound.

"... You need to set me free," Pharos said. "When you are older, I will tell you how."

Only that could make it possible for them to touch. He was the resident of her, the world. He needed to get out of this prison, so he would be independent and they could hold hands as she wished. Like friends. They both had to wait until then.

Minako nodded with a smile, and Pharos smiled as well. It wasn't ideal but the best thing he could do for her.

My dearest. My captor. My only friend, and my whole world.