GOOD BOY MaiTake

Limbo

"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal."

"It's the best future isn't it?"

"Your long journey ends here."

"I WILL NOT LET YOU DIE!"

"This is why I never wanted to meet you. I didn't want this to happen."

"Please put me in peace."

"SHUT UP! WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS LIKE THIS?!"

"Please help me... Takemitchy."

∘∘∘∘∘

Mikey sat in Takemichi's studio apartment, a hand resting against his exhausted face as he leaned into the comfy recliner. He was tired and stressed out. The room was dark and it was immediately obvious someone was helping Takemichi keep it together because Kokonoi had reported that the man was currently falling apart.

'He isn't eating. He isn't leaving his home. The men I've stationed outside his home say he's suffering night terrors... he's screaming for you to stop dying.'

'Thank you, Koko.'

The Mikey that Takemichi caught through the window of the abandoned bowling alley wasn't the same Mikey that sat in Takemichi's apartment. That Mikey was darker and more far gone than the Mikey that was current. This Mikey would never shoot his Takemitchy.

That Mikey made a mistake and it was enough for this Mikey to understand that he never wanted to kill Takemichi. He recognized something that younger him didn't. He now understood that Takemichi wasn't just his dear friend, or someone who embodied his brother's ideals. Takemichi was someone he'd never erase from his life and the dreams he's had the last week were enough to prove it.

No, he's always dreamt of Takemichi, he's always wanted Takemichi to be with him, but these dreams weren't exactly dreams were they? He remembered, while laying in the shower, Takemichi said that Naoto, his previous trigger, regained memories from past timelines when Takemichi returned to the present.

So this is what had happened then? 

When Mikey had felt his Takemichi appear in the past years ago he knew he had to have been the trigger-- and for the last ten years he had agonized about how awful his life must have been to be able to become his trigger. What the hell did he do in the future to make him regret everything from this moment forward? Is what he'd ask himself anyways.

The dreams revealed to him the depth of Takemichi's own insanity. He was bleeding out, dying from bullet wounds Mikey had inflicted, and still promising to save him, his killer. Takemichi was dying because of Mikey and he was still chasing after him.

Mikey now knew that he could do anything and Takemichi would accept him.