Can a single event change a character's personality? Their actions? Their identity?

These questions continue to taunt me. For the past days, I was constantly thinking of "What if-" and "What would happen if-" situations about a couple of animes, shows, stories, and games I have watched and played.

And suddenly, I came up with an idea for a crossover one day. And apparently decided to write a few pages about it.

So, I present to you one of the prologues to my new story, Regret, Rebirth, and Reclaim. I might post the second one if I have time, or if there is reasonable support for the story.

Regardless, I hope all of you will enjoy what is to be read. With that said, let us begin.

And 3...2...1...begin.

Prologue #1

No matter where she looked, she saw the colour black.

The sky was pitch black, visibility at its lowest. The ground was covered with black fog, enveloping everything in its path. Shadows crept along the ground, despite the lack of sunlight. Buildings were abandoned, the inhabitants having fled the area when the darkness had first spread.

She grimaced. Running, hiding, it would do them no good. By the time they would come in contact with it, the madness would have already taken over their minds and bodies. They were lucky if they had an immediate death: survivors of madness were considered vessels of hell itself.

She pressed on, venturing deeper into the fog.

The second time she stopped was when she caught sight of her hometown.

It was completely destroyed. Obliterated, ruined, reduced to mere pieces of debris. Bodies of the town's citizens were scattered everywhere, covered in severe injuries that were presumed to be the cause of their death.

She hesitated to think these were self-inflicted injuries, and shuddered at the thought. Given what the madness could do, it was unlikely for it not to be the cause of their death. In their current situation, the possibility of resisting the madness was very low.

She tried not to look at the corpses, tried not to recognize anyone she knew. But every once in awhile, a body would be identified as one of her classmate's, either mangled in the debris or surrounded by their own pool of blood..

Biting her tongue to distract her from the sight of distraction and brutality, she steered her gaze forward and staggered towards her destination: her school.

If her hometown was the remains of a battlefield, her school was the remains of armageddon.

By now the fog had disappeared, allowing onlookers to take in the amount of destruction. Buildings were decimated, rubble was scattered everywhere, pieces of metal were sticking out of the ground; the scenery was similar to one of a wasteland. Nobody would be able to remain in this environment, let alone survive.

And yet, despite her head screaming at her to not do anything stupid, she knew that he would be here. She knew that her journey would eventually come to an end, and she accepted the truth.

Taking a deep breath, her pulse rapidly increasing, she ventured towards the center of the destruction, the place where he would be found.

True to her words, she found him in the middle of the wreckage staring at the moon, blank eyes matching his blank expression.

Well, she presumed it to be the moon since it appeared as a mere ball of black. After all, the moon had been the setting of their last battle, her friends helping her fight against-

She grimaced. Her now dead friends, she corrected herself. They had all perished during the battle, despite the confidence they had when they had set out to rescue him. And even when she promised them everything would return back the way they used to be, she failed them, only to helplessly watch every single one of them fall to their doom.

Shaking her head, she returned to the present, only now noticing him slowly approaching her, weapon out and held firmly in his grasp.

Despite her condition worsening, she smiled when she saw him. A happy smile for knowing he was safe, and a sad smile for knowing it was almost time for her journey to end.

When he was in arm's length, she made her move.

Pushing herself forwards, she mustered all her strength to run at him. His reaction was expected; he directed his weapon towards her, cautious of what she would do next.

The look of surprise appeared when she pushed his weapon straight through her chest, stabbing her directly in the heart. Blood spouting out of her wound, she weakly continued her way towards him before finally pulling him into a hug.

The look of realization came next when he realized what he had done. The look of horror quickly followed after.

Her strength quickly leaving her, she managed to get a brief look at him. Face dripping with tears, eyes widening in horror, the boy yelled her name out of desperation, pleading for her forgiveness for what he had done.

Idiot. Even after all of this, he still blamed himself for everything that happened. This was one of his weaknesses, and this was the reason why she loved him.

Placing a hand on his now wet cheek, she barely managed to croak out a few simple words. Yet despite how quiet her voice was, he heard her message and shakingly nodded his head, his body still shaking from his crying.

Her journey was now finished. It was time to go.

Her eyes slowly closing shut, she took one final breath before Death would claim her life. Before she would join her friends and family, one single thought remained in her head.

Forgive me...