I wrote this for Twelve Shots of Summer: Quarter Queller.
This is my first foray into the TSoS, so I'm super excited. Well, here we go!

Never-Ending
Twelve Shots of Summer: Quarter Queller

Shintaro opened his eyes, and found himself staring into nothing.

He was surrounded by darkness, an overpowering haze of shadows clouding his eyes. Uneasiness stirred within his stomach, making him feel nauseous. Where was this place?

He squinted into the gloom, trying to ignore the strange sounds clicking and whirring all around. He knew the sound fairly well, having once taken apart a clock as a kid in a fit of boredom. However, it was more than that. Somehow, that sound - it was vaguely familiar, just at the edges of his consciousness. The grinding metal gears in bronze, silver and gold. A familiar clang of bells. The faintest feeling of a memory.

His head felt heavy. He grasped it in his hands, his black hair falling into his eyes. That sound! Make it stop!

The bells were no longer in his memory. They surrounded him. They reverberated through his head. The sound bashed through his skull.

Bang! Clang! Bang! Clang! Ding! Dong!

Each clash of metal drilled into his head and into his mind.

Thoughts, images, phrases, people, laughter, tears, memories. It poured into him until he could take it no more, and as it kept coursing through his mind, he remembered. These weren't new memories. These were old ones, very, very old. They were his memories, no doubt about that, but they weren't from this time. They were from another time, and the time before that, and even beyond that.

They were memories of previous timeloops that he had experienced. Him and his friends – the Mekakushi Dan, a strange group they were, but by God, they were there for him and his sister when no one else was – had been repeating the entirety of their lives over and over without realising what was happening, and every single time, it had ended in their deaths on a specific day, August 15th. No, death was the wrong word. In every loop, they were murdered.

Memories rushed to the surface and he covered his mouth, the overwhelming urge to vomit overtaking him.

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The murderer who wore the face of his friend, a maniacal grin stretched on his lips, pointed at the white-haired girl, Mary, who slumped on the ground behind Shintaro.

The bodies of their friends lay around them, limp and lifeless. Dark red stained the concrete.

He sneered. "How magnificent! Even now, Queen, your ego permits you to selfishly cower behind your "knight" during this "grand finale". Now," he extended his hand out towards her, "If you want your little friends to be saved, then use your monstrous power!"

Shintaro glanced behind at his friend. Tears leaked from her wide eyes and dripped down her cheeks, which glistened with the beginnings of scales growing on her skin. Her pupils began to turn red.

"S-Stop…" she croaked hoarsely, "I don't…I don't want my friends to die!"

Her flowing hair flared up and broke out into spikes, almost wing-like against her form.

Shintaro didn't fully understand what was going on, but he felt a rush of terrible foreboding. "Mary, stop!" he shouted.

For a moment, she hesitated.

That moment was where it ended.

"My, my, I can't have you doing that." The murderer pointed his pistol right at Shintaro's chest and pulled the trigger.

Intense pain filled him, and then, he knew no more.

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Timeloops. Constant, circling, weaving strands of time that looped together like knotted threads, repeating events and changing experiences. His memories went so far back that he could barely comprehend it. How long – just how long, had he and everyone else been stuck like this, trapped in an infinite loop? How long had Mary been turning back time to save them?

How many times have they died?

He felt weak at the thought. He tried to take a step forward, but stumbled forward into the darkness. He expected the cold feeling of the gears spinning beneath his feet, but it never came. A pair of pale hands caught him and gently steadied him upright.

"So, you remember everything." The other person's voice was high and clear. It was a voice that he would've known anywhere.

Shintaro looked up, only to find himself staring into the scarlet eyes of a girl in his old school's female student uniform. Her brown hair fluttered in the cold air, and she smiled.

Ayano, he found himself thinking instinctively. Her smile was as pretty as ever. His old classmate, his friend, the girl that he had… He reached out reflexively to touch the side of her face, only to freeze and recoil.

Because Ayano was dead.

She had died two years ago, but he remembered it like it was yesterday. Sitting in the dull classroom, like any other day, only to see people carrying white flowers to her desk. He remembered the evening news, which had officially announced that she had committed suicide. He remembered that it was his fault (if only he had noticed her pain).

His mouth was dry. He struggled to get the words out. "You're not Ayano."

The girl, if it was possible, smiled even wider, and stepped back, enough for him to get a clearer view of her. "Clever as ever, Shintaro." She inclined her head, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "How could you tell?"

He scowled at her, pushing his hands into his pockets. "Ayano's dead."

"So are you," she pointed out. Her mouth twitched like she was amused, but her eyes glittered in a way that made him wary. "You'll have to try harder than that, you know."

"You're also not wearing her red scarf. She never went anywhere without the damn thing." It should have been his first warning sign, really. Then again, he had to admit with a sigh, it showed just how desperate he was. He missed her badly.

The girl in front of him seemed callous to his troubles. She gave a light giggle, in the voice that made his heart ache. "Then, do you know who I am?"

Of course he knew her. He stared at her, and his new – no, terribly old – memories flashed in his head. He knew her, much better than even he would have thought. After all, she was the source of his powers, the reason why he was able to remember everything he's ever seen.

"You're…the power that Mary gave me many timeloops ago," he said slowly. "The Snake of Retaining Eyes."

As if his words were a spell, the girl form changed shape, morphing into a long black silhouette that curled around him. Its presence was unreal, almost like smoke. Its bright eyes peered at him unblinkingly.

It flicked its tongue. "That's right," its voice – still much like Ayano's– echoed in his head. "It's been too long since we talked like this. Though it's unfortunate that it is in these circumstances." It regarded him seriously. "It's a pity that your ability was only triggered after the fact. As of right now, the Snake of Clearing Eyes has succeeded in its plan, and the Queen, your friend Mary, is about to reset time once more."

"The Snake of Clearing Eyes," Shintaro murmured. "That's the being who killed me." He touched his chest, near the area where the bullet had pierced his skin.

"Yes," the Snake of Retaining Eyes replied softly. "And when you're reborn, you won't immediately remember the previous loops again. You'll have to find a way to trigger your ability, before it's too late."

"And if I don't?" His mouth went dry.

"Then everyone dies." It said simply, "And the loop continues on. The Queen may reset time, but she never remembers it. There is nobody who can change the future."

It knelt its head down to his eye-level, and stared at him. Its eyes were deep red, like a burning fire that threatened to turn everything in its path to ashes. "Nobody, that is, except you. It has to be you, Shintaro. You can choose whatever path you wish."

They stared at each other. The cold icy grip of fear grabbed a hold of him. He had never been a fighter, not in his entire life, and never even in any of the timeloops that now lived in his memories. The thought of what was coming ahead scared him to death.

You know, Shintaro? They say that red is the colour of heroes.

He touched the fabric of his red jacket.

It suits you!

Ayano's words from long ago echoed in his head. No Ayano, he told her silently, Even now, I'm not a hero. But…

The faces of all his friends came to mind.

They were loud and obnoxious kids. All they did was pull him into nonsensical "missions" like dragging him out to go to the amusement park, when he was perfectly satisfied to just hide in his room and mess around on the internet. They were a pain in the ass, and that was on a good day.

But it was because of them that he was even able to go out at all, instead of holing up in his house. As ridiculous as their gang seemed, they were the reason he could start to look forward to his every day.

A new image came to mind, the image of them smiling and laughing, in spite of the hard times they had all been through.

His Snake urgently hissed and flicked its tongue once again. "Time is running out. A new timeloop approaches. Now that you remember the secrets of this never-ending tragedy, what will you do?"

He clenched his fists. He wasn't a "hero", but there was only one thing he could really do. Only one way that this "story" could end.

Shintaro looked his Snake in the eye. "I was given this power for a reason. This time, that Clearing Eyes bastard will be the one to pay. I'll make sure that this never-ending summer finishes for good."

The bells around them began to ring once more. Everything began to fade to white, but even in the blinding light, although it was a ridiculous notion, he could've sworn that he saw his Snake smile.

"So this is your answer. Your memories may be lost, and this time may be lost, but don't lose sight of those feelings when you make your new start. Go forth, and don't turn away your eyes. Face forward, even in the unrelenting summer heat."

And with that, everything was gone.

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Shintaro woke up with a groan. The alarm clock beeped annoyingly. He fumbled around for the button to turn it off. His eyes took in the date on the digital time.

August 15th.

He didn't know why, but something about the day filled him with familiar dread.

I've been wanting to write some KagePro fanfiction for a while, so this was the perfect opportunity.

This is my first one-short for TSoS. The prompts were [Approach] and [Down to the Foundation]. Thanks for reading!