touch me and I'll kill you

17

"I'm sorry that I have to do this to you..." a voice spoke. Chuuya couldn't make out the expression. He just knew that the voice was sad. He reached out his hand to touch the person but his hand was much smaller than he remembered. Was this a dream?

"It's going to make you lonely and sad but I brought you into this world and I don't want to watch you leave it." Was this his mother?

"For the tainted sorrow..." the voice continued muttering words that Chuuya couldn't quite remember. "In its torpor dreams of death.-" 

"Can't be remedied, and the sun sets. But for the setting sun, no longer human, thy will be done." 

Child Chuuya listened to the words without fully understanding them. "It will be hard for you to love, my dear, and maybe even impossible," she cried, giving him a squeeze. "But one day, I hope, that the lives you've taken to save yourself will be of use. Mine the very first..." She pulled away and held her hand close to his face. "One day, maybe they'll find a cure. I love you-" she said, touching his bare skin and withering away before him. 

"I think I have an idea on how to break the curse-" Chuuya could hear the whispers of conversation. His eyes opened but he felt incredibly weary all of the same. Slowly but surely his brain connected the dots. 

"No..." he muttered, reaching out to grab Dazai's sleeve. "You can't..." 

"Chuuya?" Dazai turned around and grabbed his hand.

"It's not a curse..." Chuuya coughed. "It's a cure..." he coughed. "Take me outside." Dazai nodded and picked him up, carrying him outside. He placed him on the ground and Chuuya took off his gloves, putting his hands flat on the ground. The entirety of the grass around him withered away up to the very trees at the end of his yard. 

"You're not...pale anymore..." Akutagawa stared. 

"I thought I was cursed but really I'm sick," Chuuya plopped down on the grass and stared up at the sky. He reached out to grab a cloud in his vision and then looked at his hand. "My mother cast a spell on me to take the life out of things I touch to save my own. She couldn't find the cure to the sickness I had. Because of you two doing all of the cooking I haven't been accidentally touching plants lately and I don't really need to go outside and amuse myself by seeing if I'm still cursed or not. I haven't been taking as many lives and the sickness I have caught up." 

"...so if we break the 'curse' you'll still get sick and-" Akutagawa couldn't finish his sentence. 

"Did you really think of a way?" Chuuya sat up and looked at Akutagawa. 

"My ability," Akutagawa gestured to the creature coming out of his clothes. "Eats through anything. I thought maybe it could eat your curse for you..." 

"Then wouldn't it eat my sickness as well?" Chuuya pondered for a moment. 

"No, it's too dangerous," Dazai refused. "What if it doesn't eat the sickness too? What if it makes the curse worse?" 

"I think it could be worth trying..." Chuuya said. 

"No...you said so yourself...it's a cure, not a curse," Dazai shook his head, refusing to allow him the option. 

"Dazai...come here," Chuuya gestured for him to come closer. Once he did, Chuuya grabbed his shirt and pulled him down. He whispered something in his ear that Akutagawa couldn't hear. Dazai's eyes lit up and his face turned bright red. He stood up and took a step back, gesturing to Chuuya. 

"Okay...try it." 

"But-" 

"Do it!" Dazai insisted, eyes sparkling. "It's necessary!" 

"Right..." Akutagawa stiffened at the sudden change in attitude but summoned his ability to fully form along his arm. Its mouth opened wide and swallowed Chuuya whole for a moment. 

"Are you sure you can pinpoint what to eat or not eat?" Dazai asked, having second thoughts. 

Akutagawa closed his eyes, taking a deep breath in. "I just have to concentrate."