Archive of Our Own ^beta

The space in front of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad tore apart with a cloud of boiling black smoke as they were watching it unfold in confusion and terror. Their conversation on the progress ceased immediately, none of them unable to say a word, standing helplessly in sight of a new threat.

And then the smoke swirled on itself, sucked by an inexplicable force in its center. A silhouette appeared, its body covered in ashes of their regrets and its eyes piercing them with cold, blank stare.

They got into their fighting positions, explicitly stating the bewilderment fallen upon them. And only Yukari Takeba stood still, her eyes wide, glistening, her lips curling slowly in a faint smile. She took a soft step forward, then another one to the silent confusion of her teammates who lowered their weapons.

She was slowly approaching the figure she immediately recognised as her deceased lover, Makoto Yuki, his body motionless, idling, waiting patiently. His chest wasn’t rising nor falling, lungs filled with black tar of her grief. She outstretched her hand; his name escaped her lips in awe.

"Don’t!" Aigis screamed in desperation, and Yukari heard rushed steps coming from behind her. She didn’t say a word, and by the power of her thought her teammates were violently pushed away by the large flap of Isis’ wings. The steps were replaced by thuds, clanks and painful moans as their bodies gave in to the laws of gravity.

Yukari didn’t care, the only sound she could hear was silent whisper from within her lover’s body, his lips not moving. The figure outstretched its hand, inviting her to join in, and their fingers touched slightly before it grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her in with it into a thick black smoke. She left, swallowed.

She was nowhere.

Opening her eyes slowly, Yukari found herself in a blank space. It was too dark to see anything, and she closed her eyes again, giving in to other senses. She felt hot pressure against her back, tired, tattered breathing above her ear. She smiled softly when her chest was embraced by strong arms of her lover, and she comfortably exhaled his name, recalling him, drowning in the warmth of his touch.

Though she couldn’t see, she could feel, and this touch was everywhere on her body, from the top of her head to her the tips of her toes: hot, wet, sliding touch under her clothes, tearing the fabric to shreds, melting her skin, draining her blood, severing her muscles and breaking her bones with no sound. The black tar of her grief and lingering regrets was oozing from her pores, bubbling, then vaporising.

Unable to feel any pain from this brutal reunion, she was in bliss, whimpering with pleasure as her body was disintegrating, dissipating in words, whispers and blue sparkles like glistening fireflies.

She was nothing.

Yukari opened her eyes again, the curious human being she was, and saw his smiling face inches apart from hers. She smiled brightly, tears gathering at her lower eyelids, blood foaming from her mouth, as she received a final kiss from his freezing cold lips before being sucked into the void, her flesh carcass broken apart.

She was-

Back in the dormitory, the members of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad were desperately searching for their lost teammate, checking every room and calling out her name in terror. The last door was the door to His Room, and Mitsuru Kirijo, with a silent agreement from everyone, gently opened it. With a loud click cutting the frozen atmosphere like a hot knife cutting the butter, they entered it cautiously.

Yukari was sitting motionlessly on the floor beside his bed, one arm clinging to the bedsheets, knuckles white from pressure. She was muttering, her voice deep and disturbed, and the words, undistinguishable, resembled the mumbles of an unknown entity in pain.

Mitsuru kneeled before her, her eyes moist from fear, and she took her face in her hands. She was freezing cold, her skin sickeningly pale as if she was emptied of blood by a mysterious power. The leader tried to talk to her, gently, to bring her back to her senses, then turning up the volume of her voice, but the lifeless eyes of the grief-stricken girl reflected nothing. Her dry eyes wouldn’t reflect even the faces of her friends in front of her.

Nobody dared to move an inch from their spot, as Mitsuru was begging Yukari to come back to her senses, to snap out of it, to continue their journey for the answer together. The leader helplessly looked at the rest of the team, everyone observing the floor, overwhelmed by guilt.

"What’s happening?" Mitsuru’s voice was shaking as she spoke to no one in particular. The reply to her plea came from Metis.

"She found her Answer," she stated coldly before turning around and leaving the room. Gasps and sobs rolled around the still space of His Room as a strong wave, as Yukari started to smile foolishly, exchanging her existence in misery for the eternal bliss.