Fragments of Us - Soukoku Oneshots

8. Nightmares of Corruption 💔

The clock on the wall ticked softly in the background, a quiet reminder of the late hour. The room was dim, illuminated only by the faint glow of the moon filtering through the window. It cast silvery shadows across the furniture, creating an illusion of tranquility. But for Nakahara Chuuya, peace was a distant, elusive concept. In his waking hours, peace was always just out of reach, and in his sleep, it was an impossibility.

Chuuya lay on his side, his body curled slightly, one arm slung loosely over the pillow. From the outside, he looked calm; breathing steady, face relaxed. But beneath the surface, a storm raged. A storm he could not outrun. One that lived in the depths of his subconscious, pulling him down into nightmares that had become all too familiar.

In the depths of his mind, it was always the same. Corruption.

It wasn't just a power. It was a force of nature, wild and uncontrollable, surging through him with a violent fury. It set his veins ablaze, searing him from the inside out. Every nerve felt like it was burning, like he was being torn apart, cell by cell. The darkness that surrounded him in these nightmares was endless, suffocating. It pressed down on him like an unbearable weight, a crushing force that left him gasping for air in a void of nothingness.

And, as always, the same fear clawed at him: he couldn't stop it.

He could never stop it.

The power spiraled out of his control, dragging him past his limits, past his own humanity, into something destructive, something monstrous. No matter how hard he fought, it was always the same outcome: devastation. And no matter how many times he heard Dazai's voice in his mind, calling to him, grounding him with the touch of "No Longer Human," it never felt like enough. It was always too late.

But tonight, the nightmare was different. Worse. Dazai wasn't there.

There was no one to pull him back, no one to stop the inevitable. Chuuya screamed into the void, but no sound came out. His voice was swallowed by the endless dark, his body twisting and convulsing as the power flared, burning him alive from the inside. The ground beneath him began to crumble, disintegrating into dust as the Corruption spread, consuming everything in its path.

He was alone. Utterly alone.

And in the real world, Chuuya's body responded.

On the couch, Dazai watched him. His sharp eyes flicked from the clock to Chuuya's sleeping form, the stillness of the room betraying the storm brewing beneath the surface.

He hadn't planned to stay tonight. Lurking in Chuuya's room wasn't a habit, but tonight had been different. There had been something in the air; an unspoken tension, an unease in the way Chuuya had carried himself. After years of fighting side by side, Dazai had learned the signs, subtle as they were. Chuuya never talked about it, never let on when something was wrong, but Dazai knew. He always knew.

Corruption was never far away.

Even when it wasn't active, it lingered, coiling around Chuuya's subconscious like a venomous snake, waiting to strike. After using it, the aftereffects clung to him like a poison, creeping into his dreams, dragging him into nightmares so vivid, so visceral, they became another battlefield. Dazai had seen it too many times, and he knew that tonight would be no different.

Here it comes.

Chuuya's face twisted in his sleep, a soft, broken sound escaping his throat; low, pained, and raw. It was a sound that cut through the stillness, sharp and jagged. Dazai was off the couch in an instant, crossing the room with quick, silent steps. He crouched beside Chuuya's bed, his gaze narrowing as the tremors in Chuuya's body grew worse, the nightmare tightening its grip.