Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Laura Marling's "Alas, I Cannot Swim", her song "Night Terrors" from said album, nor Eyeshield 21.

Sena didn't remember a lot about being dead. All he remembered was waking up on a park bench in the early morning hours. There were candles circling them, dying out with jittery, guttering flames, and there'd been one, already long since burnt out, on his chest next to Juumonji's head where the blond finally slept, listening to Sena's beating heart.

It didn't seem to matter that Sena didn't remember all of death; the magic that brought Sena back and placed his soul into a clay husk that flaked away into his flesh had rewound time or rewrote memories, leaving Sena and Juumonji the only two who knew of Sena's unfortunate passing mere months before.

At night, though, Sena thought that those "mere months" must have been horrific.

At night, Sena would wake up to Juumonji's screams of terror; the raw fear and anger and anguish.

At night, Sena didn't know what to do. It was his fault, after all, that Juumonji had suffered.

There were flashes that Sena remembered. The voice (though, honestly, Sena would be alright forgetting that one). He remembered feeling shackled on the shores of death. He remembered watching Juumonji sculpting his body and being tormented by the demons taking the shape of their friends.

So, when Sena was woken by Juumonji's screams, he pulled himself up, knees to his chest, cradled his own head with his arms, and kept watch. There wasn't much he could do, really. He could wake him, if he did, Juumonji wouldn't go back to sleep, but if he let him suffer, there was a small chance the dreams would subside and Juumonji would be able to rest for the remainder of the night. Maybe one night in twelve that worked, though.

So Sena kept his vigil at Juumonji's side, occasionally whispering to the window he once watched through, and occasionally whispering to his lover, "If they want you/They're going to have to fight me."

Thus concludes Clay. Thank you all for following with me on this journey through life and death, with especial thank yous to both Bragi151, for gifting me this storyline and editing everything for me, and Nightmaric for their continued support. I'd love any feedback you'd care to leave me, and, also, as a reminder, I am accepting songs for Running to the Beat prompts; nothing that would show up on a Pandora station dedicated to Taylor Swift, please. Personal preference.