Heat radiates up, piercing through Zaizen’s shoes as he trudges along, sand and sharp pebbles shifting in his wake. This whole place is heat and darkness and jagged edges, and Zaizen can’t stand it much longer.
“You’re still there, right?” Zaizen asks, his head facing stubbornly forward at the steep incline ahead of him.
“Of course I am,” Chris says. “Where else would I go?”
Zaizen huffs, though there’s some relief in it. “Just making sure. I’d hate to go all this way to come out of it with nothing.”
“And I’d feel absolutely terrible for inconveniencing you,” came Chris’s voice, and in his mind’s eye Zaizen can just about imagine the subtle eye roll that Chris would wholeheartedly deny ever doing. He almost laughs, almost, but can’t quite make the situation seem funny.
He wants to look back and see Chris standing there so, so much.
“Hey, uh…” Zaizen stalls for something to say, reaching for something that isn’t quite there. “Are you… this is dumb.”
“Say it anyway.”
Zaizen frowns. “So, you’re a ghost, right?”
There’s silence. A long one. Part of Zaizen’s brain imagines Chris, his lips pursed and staring onward quizzically, silently judging.
The other half of his brain whirls off into panic that Chris is no longer there and that he’s talking to himself; that he braved hell and cheated death for nothing.
Finally, Chris speaks. “Yes. Generally, that’s how dying works.”
Zaizen lets out a breath he didn’t know was trapped in his lungs. “Shut up. I told you it was gonna be dumb.”
Chris sighs, and Zaizen finds even that comforting. “Was there any more to that line of thought?” Chris asks.
“Well, I was just thinking,” Zaizen says. “Are you… I mean… Are you also walking? Or are you like… I mean… just sort of floating around?” The silence stretches out again, but this time Zaizen decides to be proactive about it. “I already know it’s a dumb question, stop staring at me!”
“I wasn’t,” Chris says.
“You definitely were!”
“Really?”
Zaizen huffs. “Yeah, with that look.”
Chris sighs. “What are you talking about?”
“The one, you know.” He waves a hand vaguely, hoping the gesture reads just as well from behind. “Like you’re judging me like I’m a lab rat or something.”
“That’s not a look I give.”
Zaizen stops walking, and frowns.
“Zaizen?”
“I didn’t, you know, mean it in a bad way. I guess,” Zaizen mutters. Something about it strikes him as wrong, the way Chris has been talking, replying, and he can’t quite put a finger on it. Can’t tell if he’s right or if it just seems that way because of the heat and paranoia of this place.
“Of course I know that,” Chris says, and Zaizen analyses even that. But it’s not his skillset, analysing is what Chris does, but… Zaizen feels like he knows Chris as well as he knows himself, and yet suddenly, he can’t decide if that’s something Chris would say, if the tone is right.
What if it isn’t? What if he’s been tricked? He wants nothing more but to look back and…
“Zaizen, we should keep going,” Chris says.
Zaizen shakes his head, and yet the doubts stay steadfastly needled into his temple. “Alright. Yeah, alright. Let’s… let’s keep going,” he says, but the words ring hollow even to him.
FILL: TEAM MIYUKI KAZUYA/MIYUKI KAZUYA, T
Tags: major character death, supernatural elements (ghosts, literal hell)
Word Count: 561
A remix of
Heat radiates up, piercing through Zaizen’s shoes as he trudges along, sand and sharp pebbles shifting in his wake. This whole place is heat and darkness and jagged edges, and Zaizen can’t stand it much longer.
“You’re still there, right?” Zaizen asks, his head facing stubbornly forward at the steep incline ahead of him.
“Of course I am,” Chris says. “Where else would I go?”
Zaizen huffs, though there’s some relief in it. “Just making sure. I’d hate to go all this way to come out of it with nothing.”
“And I’d feel absolutely terrible for inconveniencing you,” came Chris’s voice, and in his mind’s eye Zaizen can just about imagine the subtle eye roll that Chris would wholeheartedly deny ever doing. He almost laughs, almost, but can’t quite make the situation seem funny.
He wants to look back and see Chris standing there so, so much.
“Hey, uh…” Zaizen stalls for something to say, reaching for something that isn’t quite there. “Are you… this is dumb.”
“Say it anyway.”
Zaizen frowns. “So, you’re a ghost, right?”
There’s silence. A long one. Part of Zaizen’s brain imagines Chris, his lips pursed and staring onward quizzically, silently judging.
The other half of his brain whirls off into panic that Chris is no longer there and that he’s talking to himself; that he braved hell and cheated death for nothing.
Finally, Chris speaks. “Yes. Generally, that’s how dying works.”
Zaizen lets out a breath he didn’t know was trapped in his lungs. “Shut up. I told you it was gonna be dumb.”
Chris sighs, and Zaizen finds even that comforting. “Was there any more to that line of thought?” Chris asks.
“Well, I was just thinking,” Zaizen says. “Are you… I mean… Are you also walking? Or are you like… I mean… just sort of floating around?” The silence stretches out again, but this time Zaizen decides to be proactive about it. “I already know it’s a dumb question, stop staring at me!”
“I wasn’t,” Chris says.
“You definitely were!”
“Really?”
Zaizen huffs. “Yeah, with that look.”
Chris sighs. “What are you talking about?”
“The one, you know.” He waves a hand vaguely, hoping the gesture reads just as well from behind. “Like you’re judging me like I’m a lab rat or something.”
“That’s not a look I give.”
Zaizen stops walking, and frowns.
“Zaizen?”
“I didn’t, you know, mean it in a bad way. I guess,” Zaizen mutters. Something about it strikes him as wrong, the way Chris has been talking, replying, and he can’t quite put a finger on it. Can’t tell if he’s right or if it just seems that way because of the heat and paranoia of this place.
“Of course I know that,” Chris says, and Zaizen analyses even that. But it’s not his skillset, analysing is what Chris does, but… Zaizen feels like he knows Chris as well as he knows himself, and yet suddenly, he can’t decide if that’s something Chris would say, if the tone is right.
What if it isn’t? What if he’s been tricked? He wants nothing more but to look back and…
“Zaizen, we should keep going,” Chris says.
Zaizen shakes his head, and yet the doubts stay steadfastly needled into his temple. “Alright. Yeah, alright. Let’s… let’s keep going,” he says, but the words ring hollow even to him.