Shimmer baby, shimmer on,

One more slice and I'll be gone.

Shimmer baby, shimmer bright,

Take me now into the light...

Sora gazed longingly at his father's hunting knife resting on it's stand on the mantle. The blade was so smooth... so sharp... so perfect. It wasn't much longer now. Sora looked over to the mahogany clock hanging on the wall. 'Fifteen minutes...' he thought. He stood from his lying position on the floor and went upstairs to his room. He slammed the door shut behind him, leaning on it and sliding down to the floor, his eyes were welling up with tears yet again. "I hate today..." he mumbled under his breath, he looked up at the calendar on the wall: Feburary 14th. Contrary to what one may think, it wasn't because it was the day of nauseating chocolates and pollen-filled flowers, oh no! Well that wasn't the main reason anyway... 'It's been a whole year... A whole fucking year!!!'

"WHY CAN'T I GET OVER YOU?!!" he screamed, slamming his fists into the ground, and finally letting his tears fall. He closed his arms around his torso, digging his nails into the tanned flesh of his upper arms, causing blood to well up around his fingernails. "I need you..." he whispered.

"Sora? Honey, are you alright?" called a sweet voice from the other side of the door.

Sora clenched his teeth and took a deep breath, "Yeah, I'm fine mum," he called back.

There was a brief silence. "Alright, your father and I are going out. Might be late when we get back, so dinner's in the kitchen. Stay safe!" she called back, then the sound of the door closing.

The brunette boy stood shakily, making sure his legs wouldn't cave in beneath him. He carefully made his way over to his dressing table, opening one of the drawers and digging to the bottom. There it was. Resting at the bottom, Sora found an all-too-familiar piece of crumpled note paper, he carefully unfolded it to see the even more familiar handwriting. He read it over for the thousandth time:

To my dearest Sora,

I know that we've been friends since before we could walk, and that we share this bond that can compare to no other, and that you would look for me to the end of the world if I ever went missing. I know. And that's why I'm writing you this.

By the time you get this, I will be long gone. Don't search for me. You are in danger of the darkness and I have to protect you, I have gone to a place where this danger comes from, I am going to defeat it. For you.

Sora, I know I never told you this in person, and I will probably never be able to. But I love you. And I always will. You are the one that will keep me fighting, and no matter what happens, my heart will always be safe with you.

Don't forget me.

Riku.

P.S. Happy Valentines.

Sora's eyes were burning with fresh tears, they always did. 'Damn you Riku...' he thought as he felt the salty water roll down his cheeks. He stuffed the note back into it's hiding place and swung the door open, running out of his room, down the stairs, and into the lounge room. The first thing that caught his eye was shimmering silver on the mantle, reflections of wild flames from the fireplace dancing hypnotically along the curved plane. He stumbled towards it and snatched it from it's resting place, finally falling to the ground as it all became too much for his fragile body. "Riku... Riku, I need to see you..." he sobbed to the empty room. "If you can't come and see me... then I'll just have to come to you!" he screamed, bringing the knife up to his wrist. He dug it into his arm before swiping it away, leaving a deep crimson gash in his arm. He screamed in pain as the cold metal slid between the now open sides of his flesh, blood was now dripping onto the ocean blue rug, staining it with deep red pools. Sora sat the knife further down on his wrist this time, letting it dig into the skin slightly before pulling away again, leaving another deep wound to bleed out his pain. The brunette boy lifted the knife to make another slit.

"Stop!" a voice yelled. Sora froze, he knew that voice. He looked around frantically, his vision becoming hazy and warped.

"R-Riku?" he started. The room was empty. 'Hallucinating... I must be getting close...' he thought absently. He attempted to stand but the blood loss made him lose all coordination and fall backwards. He squeezed his eyes shut had he waited for his head to make contact witht he floor. But something stopped him.

"Sora!" a voice shouted. The brunette sruggled to open his eyes, but when he did, he was sure he was dead. There, hovering above him, was Riku. The silver-haired teen was holding Sora up with his ivory muscles, his eyes were wide with fear as he looked down at the boy.

Sora continued to stare at what he assumed was an apparition in front of him. How it was holding him up was beyond his slowly shutting down mind. "R-R-Riku..." he whispered, struggling to find words. He just continued to stare in amazement. Yes, this was Riku, but he looked different. For one, he had large white wings sprouting out of his back, he had a halo of thorns floating above his head, and a sheet wrapped around his body in the style of the Ancient Greeks. He was beautiful. "Am I dead?" he choked out.

Riku raised an eyebrow as he pulled the boy into a standing position again. "No, not yet... But with your arm like that..." he mumbled. "Damnit Sora! Why did you do this?!" he shouted suddenly. Sora mumbled a quiet, sad apology and dropped his head. Riku's expression softened. "Give me your arm..." he whispered. Sora did so with some difficulty, the loss of blood was making him weaker by the second. "Per diligo ego vigoratus... Ego sacrificum meus pectus pectoris..." the angel whispered. The deep slits going down the brunette's arms slowly mended themselves back together, making the skin beautifully bare again. Not a scar, not a scratch.

Sora's eyes widened as he watched his wounds healed before him, shocked expression looked up at the silver-haired teen. "What was that?" he gasped.

Riku half smiled, "Angel magic, I guess..." he chuckled. His expression suddenly turned serious, "It really takes a lot out of an angel, you know? Why did you do it?" he said in a calm tone that was still somehow scary.

Sora's eyes stung the familiar sting of tears for the third time that night. He tried to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat. "I... I just wanted to see you again..." he whispered, turning away from the other boy.

Riku just stood there in shock for a moment, before grabbing a handful of Sora's cinnamon locks, pulling their faces closer together, looking each other in the eye. "I am not worth your life!" he growled under his breath, turning away. His voice was stern but Sora vaguely heard a tone of pain in his voice. A single shining tear fell from the angel's aqua eyes, slowly rolling down his cheek.

"You are to me..." the brunette said, kissing away the tear that had come to rest on the other's cheek.

The angel looked back into the crystal blue eyes, smiling warmly. "Thank you... But I have to go soon."

Sora's eyes switched to fear instantaneously, "No!" he cried, "You can't leave me! It's been a whole year since I last saw you, and you cant leave me now!" he hugged the other's pale waist.

"I'll see you again..." he hushed reassuringly.

"How?" the crystal blue orbs looked up ino the aqua ones, they were still filled with fear, but there was a glimmer of hope in them.

The angel cupped the living boy's cheek, "I'll find a way... I promise."

"I-I love you, Riku..."

"I love you, too..."

~x~x~x~

Sora awoke to the sound of birds chirping loudly outside his bedroom window, he ran a hand through his messy hair. 'Was it all a dream?' he thought. He looked at his normally scar covered arm as of a week ago, the skin was tanned and smooth. Not a scar, not a scratch. He sat up and looked around, before his eyes stopped at his pillow. In the middle of the pillow was a single white feather. 'Riku...'