( drabble ) blue screen

[moes]

Out of the blue, unexpectedly, out of scenic nowhere, Shion Sonozaki turns on the televion to a channel that she's lucky to see every now and again. A channel that she'd much rather like to ignore because of the sheer concept of the show that played every now and again. It was called Airlocked! and it was, supposedly, a work of fiction where actors would be brought somewhere, trapped together and be forced to kill one another.

It's that kind of tagline that makes Shion almost think, almost remember another time, another place, another Fragment...

But what makes her pause is what shows on the screen in today's episode, of a familiar face: angry, frustrated. She'd seen him in other episodes before, and there were times when she just thought that it was just a dream, a hallucination, and she shut it off and went ahead to do something else.

Today, though, her eyes are peeled to the screen. Because that voice isn't just familiar: it's his. It really, truly is, and she can't help but think that maybe, for a second, it would be just some actor with a similar face and voice.

But her doubts are foiled when she hears that conversation.

"Yuri, what have you done?"

That's fine, at first. Yuri's not an uncommon name, after all. But it doesn't help that the yelling is all too familiar, the fact that he talks about the ice rink - something that she knew about him, back then, in that place that she can only vaguely recall at times. Those memories are just dreams that are trapped in the back of her mind; things that barely trickling into the recesses of her mind and she finds herself paying much closer attention now, especially when she hears those words.

"You'd better make this worth it, Plisetsky. Make it count."

Ah.

Ahaha... she laughs, and laughs, and laughs and laughs until she can't take it anymore, her eyes wet with tears that she doesn't even bother to stop. This is a conversation that she shouldn't be hearing. This is a conversation that's a heart to heart between two men, two friends, and she absolutely hates how it's all twisting her heart because this sort of conversation is sounding like a death sentence.

And she hates it.

Because now she remembers seeing something like this, elsewhere. And it's repeating again, isn't it? The cycle of life and death in a way that seems so unfair. That makes her heart sink and feel completely useless through the screen.

The fact that she can't do anything hurts and she's grabbing the edges of the screen, leaning close to that she can see. She's so terribly glad that Kasai isn't here, otherwise he might think her mad. Maybe she's already gone mad, but it's not important.

Shion Sonozaki wants to see him live at all costs.

So she watches the screen intently, pouring her emotions out, wiping her eyes, and making sure she can see this clearly, cheering him on quietly in her heart. Come on, Yuri, you've got this. And it's when he makes that strike that actually gets the Overseer that makes her cheer for him. She doesn't care if Yuri plans on killing him. In fact, she'd be rather proud of him, because she knows that unlike her... this doesn't seem to be for completely selfish reasons.

And she's happy, momentarily.

The moment's over rather quickly in the flicker of an eye when a blade goes right through Yuri's chest and the hands on the sides of the screen grow limp.

She remembers something she's said before.

"There's only three of you left, so you better not die, okay? Especially you."

"If we ever meet again, in another life where I don't make the same mistakes... I would have liked to have known you more."

Her mouth gapes slightly open, but she can't work the words out of her throat. She can't say anything because she fears that if she says a single word, that would be confirming the reality of the situation.

No, no, not again. She doesn't want this again. This is just sheer torture. Is that what they wanted out of her the moment this channel started to show up? She doesn't know. She can't tell.

It may not be the same Yuri that she knows, but it doesn't matter.

It's still him. He still died. He's on the floor, cold. Lifeless. A hollow shell of a corpse, and suddenly—

Shion screams. She doesn't know how long it lasts, but she keeps on going until her voice runs dry and soon after she's sobbing again, hands falling to her sides as she nearly crumples onto the ground.

"I hate this," she murmurs under her breath between choked sobs, her voice raspy as she's forced to accept the scene that's now burned into her retinas once again.

Maybe her wish just wasn't meant to come true.

Maybe Yuri Plisetsky is fated to always die whenever Shion Sonozaki sees him. Sometimes, there are no happy endings.

( drabble ) again

[moes]

Sometimes, travelling the 2ch boards was a mistake.

"Hey, Cloud," the raven haired girl known as Inaba Himeko spoke while still sitting at her computer desk clicking away as she stumbled upon some of the new video game news. Sometimes she didn't like having Cloud see information about himself in new video game related stuff, but at the same time, she couldn't help but be a little curious. "Do you remember any of this stuff? About fighting wars... besides the Holy Grail War."

The person whom she called Cloud that she was talking to soon materialized next to her, wearing his usual black outfit that Inaba would only recognize from Advent Children and he was her very important Saber.

Shaking his head at the question, he folds his arms and crouches down a little lower so he could see the screen a little more properly. It seemed to be some sort of trailer for a new video game called Dissidia Final Fantasy NT. "Why do you ask?"

Cloud's voice, to Inaba, was calm and soothing as always. But she couldn't help but sigh in relief when she heard that he didn't have those memories. "Thank fucking god." Of course, that didn't exactly explain her reasoning behind it all. "And no reason. Just curious."

Just going to click that window closed...

"That sounds like a lie, Master."

...and busted. Of course he'd be able to figure her out rather easily; it didn't help that he called her 'Master' instead of her actual name, even though they were alone. It was probably the sigh, but no matter. She eventually gets up from her seat and grabs Cloud by the hand to get him back up on his feet, grinning from ear to ear, although there's something about the way she smiles that's a little sad, too.

"I guess you got me," she admits, laughing a little sheepishly. "But I'm not telling you. And you're not allowed to look up the game or its trailers, got it? You're banned from it. If you look it up, I'll never forgive you."

Even though she knows that Cloud is strong, there are times when she wants to protect him, too. And by keeping that secret, she can protect him in her own way, too. He doesn't need to know of a story that isn't real, after all. But even if it was fiction, there's parts of it that just might hurt him again, in a way that she doesn't want to.

But even if she needs to protect him... she'll still have to play the story when she gets the game at one point, won't she? Now that's a dilemma that she won't be able to easily solve.

All she needs to do is never let him go. If she does that, he never needs to fight in those wars. Ever.

"Alright, Inaba," Cloud manages, easily forgiving her but still a bit suspicious. "But you better not be asking because of some weird perverted thing you found about me online."

And that's when Inaba's cheeks glow a bright red, retorting with, "It has nothing to do with that, you idiot! Now get out of my room!"

This was, yet again, another ordinary day for the Master and Servant pair.