COTE one shots

Kiyotakas time travelling adventures : V - Finale

I actually tried to write on this one, so pls vote, much appreciated.

I felt myself transport through time again, and I felt, it would be my last. Mainly because of the place I ended up in.

I still felt the lurch in my stomach, something I normally felt after all my times messing with...time. Here, the air smelt even more similar, of old wood and dust. This was the smell of home, and oddly, I felt happy seeing it again.

Wanting to escape back into the past, I realized how much the present truly meant, and it felt nice cracking open the creaky front door to my house. The floorboard creaked beneath my feet like they always did.

I headed down towards the basement, still unaware of what significance travelling here meant. And then my eyes widened. I saw, working on the time travelling device, me.

It was my younger self, hunched over controls. My eyes were wide open with concentration, and I was aware this was the latter part of my completion of the device, the one I held clutched within my hand.

I choked a sob, seeing the difference in me before I had gained the weight of the knowledge of time travelling, of learning what messing with time could do. Was this my punishment?

I took a step forward. I wanted to call out to myself, ask for me to stop what I was doing. But I knew, that if I stopped

myself

I would forget everything. I would forget all the time travel, all the places I had seen, all the mistakes I had made and all the conflicts I had resolved. I'd lose the rush of hopping through history without a care in the world, feeling omnipotent and high. 

And worst of all, I would lose everything I had learned, all the steps taken towards understanding time itself. 

But then again, what if I didn't stop myself? What if finishing the machine now, in this moment, broke time completely? What if the ripple effect of that final step tore everything apart?

The closer I moved, the more I felt a tug in my chest, the pull of something much bigger than me.

My younger self was too focused on the device, and the last piece was almost in place. I then, against all the burden of my thoughts, lashed out.

"WAIT!"

I looked at myself

"You," I said "Who are you? How did you get here?"

Wait this is confusing as fu-

I'm gonna refer to him as Kiyo2.

I felt a knot in my stomach as Kiyo2 looked at me.

"Why do you look like me? Just, a lot uglier." he commented.

"Ouch. Anyways, I'm you from the future." I commented.

Kiyo2 scoffed, dropping into a fighting stance.

"I don't buy your bullshit ugly me."

Was I really going to fight myself? Well I can finally lose to someone. Kiyo2, as expected, moved like me, and it was obvious he was trying to keep me away from the machine.

We both had a lifestyle of fighting ingrained in our bones, and it was going to play out. However, this was me I was fighting. And I was well aware of how I fought. 

I knew I always threw a jab at the face to start, as proven when Kiyo2 did the same. Hence, I dodged it easily, the air whooshing by me. Kiyo2 sneered, before continuing to barrage me with kicks and punches. I threw one back, and my fist connected into his ribs.

Sending a counter, Kiyo2 kicked me against the wall. Can't predict myself fully huh.

"I don't know who you think you are, but don't think you can stop me when I am so close."

"I don't think, I know." I smirked.

I continued to circle myself, and Kiyo2 was becoming aware of my brilliance in martial arts. I tried throwing a flurry of kicks centred at his face, but it was for naught. 

He sweeped me down to the floor and I fell.

"I can do this all day." He commented

"I know, I know."

Kiyo2 sent a dirty hook to my jaw, and I felt myself get rocked back as he held me in a deep choke. I tried my best to get out of it, but I knew I was about to pass out from lack of air.

"H-Honami, is, s-single." I managed to huff out.

Kiyo2 immediately loosened his lock, a shocked expression on his face.

"What did you just say-"

I elbowed him in the face, finding the opening I was so desperately craving for. He fell to the floor, before screaming at me.

"I've come so far, you can't take this away from me! Not now!"

"Listen, you don't know what your doing with this-"

"Yes I DO!" Kiyo2 retorted "And I'm not letting some dimwit version of myself stop me from doing so."

I scoffed, before realising that perhaps I was sent here so I could remind him-remind myself-that sometimes, letting go is what needs to happen. You can't fix everything.

"I'm sorry, but being through that time machine, experiencing the different parts of human history. It really opened my eyes, and I have come to realise it isn't worth it. It destroys you as a person, it exhausts you."

"SHUT UP!"

"As they say Kiyotaka, let the past be the past."

I kept him on the floor before rushing over to the machine. I ignored kiyo2s anguished cry for me to stop as I stomped on the device. 

Then, everything went blank again.

****************************************************

"Dude are you alright?" Sudo inquired

I looked around the place, I was in my basement again.

"Yeah, what happened?" 

"I checked the cameras, you started rolling around on the floor and punching nothing, and then your time device blew up."

"The fuck."

"Yeah that's what came to my mind too. I was telling you not to carry on with that thing, it's going to destroy you mentally and physically."

I stared at Sudo. I had no recollection of me fighting the floor, or any time machine that I was working on. But deep down, it felt as if I shouldn't question it. As if it was just meant to happen.

"You wanna get some coffee man?"

"Sure Sudo."

I stood up, and decided I wasn't going to try to alter with something far beyond my mortal compass.

I wasn't him.