"Selfless"
by Persephone of Abydos
Author's Ramblings: I'd like to thank my namesake, her husband, and the drunken rabid plotbunny who inspired this. This, like "Smile," is a spritzer—a twistfic, essentially. I hope you enjoy it, especially the ending. It'll all make sense….
Disclaimer: I just play with them.
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My karma is shit.
The white walls were too bright for his mood. Even the fluorescent lighting mocked him, taunting him with thoughts of illumination and everything associated with it.
Why am I still here?
He prayed to every deity that it hadn't been painful for her, yet he knew it had been. In his mind he could still hear her screams reverberating off of every centimeter of those too-bright white walls. The shrill, agonizing pleas for it all to end…. He cringed.
Why?
His hands shook as he noticed the dried blood caked on them for the first time. His eyes widened. Guilt wracked his soul, and he slumped against a wall.
It's my fault… I did this to her.
He looked up when he heard footsteps. The harbinger of news was approaching, the man draped in teal with the white mask—the man he simultaneously dreaded and anticipated. He could not bring himself to ask the questions to which he so badly needed the answers.
"Sir? Your wife is stable…. She's lost a lot of blood and her body has been stressed, but I do believe she'll make it. She'll definitely have to take things easy for a while, though."
His eyes brightened considerably. His hopes growing, he swallowed and asked, "And the baby?"
"…The baby didn't make it."
Turn off the sun.
[I can turn it back on.]
"Wh-what?"
"I'm so sorry, sir. Your daughter didn't live. The cord…was around her neck. I'm so sorry. I assure you we did everything we could."
Pull the stars from the sky.
"My first baby girl…. I won't get to walk her down the aisle."
[I can put them back.]
What?
"I'm so sorry, sir."
[The stars. I can put them back.]
Put them back?
[I can restore your daughter's life.]
Who are you?! How?!
"Sir? Are you alright?"
[All you have to do is give me your life in exchange for hers. She will live and you will die.]
"Nurse! Get this man a wheelchair!"
Anything for my baby girl. Anything for my baby girl…
[It shall be done.]
Who are you?
[I am called Naraku.]
"Sir!!"
My daughter will live…and I will die. Heh, I still won't be able to walk her down the aisle.
"SIR!!"
[You were right, you know.]
What?
"HIGURASHI-SAN!"
[Your karma is shit.]
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