Time Isn't an Ally [Book 3, BoyxBoy]

Time isn't an Ally [Chapter 1]

Joe's POV

Alone. That's how I felt. Without Izazya, I was nothing. Nothing but an empty shell; I contained no emotions, no thoughts of my own, nothing. I couldn't think, or even move - despite my desperate mental please to my body, asking it to pick me up from the foetal position I had assumed on the floor. I closed my eyes, hoping this would all be a nightmare.

It was dark; so very, very dark. Darker than anything I had ever seen. As I stumbled through the darkness, I felt a feeling in my chest; telling me to run. I bit my lip and stopped, stabilising myself.

"H-hello?" I asked, as you do when you're being an idiot. This was like one of those horror movies where the person is being followed by something and they're suddenly eaten. I gulped; please don't let that happen to me.

I began taking slow steps forwards, my arms outstretched so that I didn't hit anything. And then, the scene suddenly changed. A hellish scene, where I was stood on the edge of a cliff. We were more than likely in a cave, or worse; the centre of the earth maybe? The dark brown walls were alight with dancing oranges; reds and yellows, there were flames at every wall, surrounding the area around me, not to mention the ones behind me at the bottom of the hellish drop. I looked back in front of me and I could have screamed. There stood Izazya, his clothes tattered; his face scarred and burnt, along with the rest of his skin, his hair had clumps missing, dotting his skull with bald patches. I felt nauseated just looking at him.

"Izazya," I breathed, swallowing back the bile building in my throat. "W-what happened?" his facial expression changed, his lip curling upwards as he snarled, a hell-like growl erupting from his throat and echoing over the crackling of the fire.

"You didn't help me, that's what!" he screamed. I felt my eyes widen, tears threatening to break out of the confinement of my eyes.

"I couldn't!" I pleaded as hestared me down with his murky-green eyes; nothing like his usual bright green ones. "Izazya!"

"It's too late now, Joe." He laughed; the sound was a distorted one. "You left me to die."

"No!" I shook my head defiantly. "You're the one who left!"

"I left, and you didn't even follow me." He growled, "You could have come with me!"

"I didn't know!" I cried.

"It's too late." He stepped forward until he was practically pressed against me. I whimpered quietly, feeling his icy cold breath wash over my face. He grinned. Some of his teeth were missing, leaving black gaps, the rest of his teeth were horrid shades of yellow and black, compared to his usual pearly-whites. I swallowed hard, staring at the monster that was the one person I loved, the one I trusted with everything; even if I had only met him a month or so ago. He looked back at me, his green eyes alluminated by the dancing colours of red, yellow and orange around us. The swirling colours made his eyes glint in a menacing way, a way in which made me think get your ass moving, he'll kill you.

He then brung his foot forwards and with the slightest of touch, sent me flailing backwards. Normally, I wouldn't have even moved at a force like that, but this sent me over the edge of the cliff. I screamed, managing to just catch the ledge as I fell with my hand. This was like one of those movies where someone's hanging off the edge whilst there's a massive battle going on above them... Except, there was no battle this time. I struggled to keep myself there as Izazya stepped forward, crouching infront of me, watching me struggle, a sadistic grin on his face as he watched.

"Izazya!" I yelled, gasping and trying to keep my grip on the ledge. "Izazya, please!" He laughed at my plead for him to help.

"Why should I help you?" he spat angrily, snarling his words. "You never helped me!"

"I couldn't you asshole, why can't you understand that?" I yelled back. His lip curled up and he stood up. I knew this was it now.

"Fuck you, Joe. I hope you go die in hell." He growled, the irony being that we were in hell, before kicking out. His boot hit me in the face and I yelled in pain, my grip loosening on the ledge. His other boot shoved on my fingers and I yelped in pain. I gasped as my fingers slipped from the edge and yelped as I began the free-falling spiral down into the pit below.

"Izazya!" I yelled, suddenly sitting upright. I looked around, breathing heavily; it were as if I'd just ran a marathon. It took me a minute to realise that I was still in the apartment, on my own, on the floor in the hallway. Right where he'd left me. I shook my head, willing the tears to not fall, but eventually, they were unstopable. I wiped them each time they began running down my face and tried to man up. I really did. But I ended up curling up on the floor, letting the tears pass.

Half an hour later, I stopped crying. I decided to get up from the floor and walk around the apartment, maybe find soemthing to take my mind off what had happened. I walked into the bedroom; I wasn't tired, and it would make me realise how lonely I was. I walked into the living room; nothing but a couch. What was I supposed to do there? So, I moved off to the kitchen. I wasn't hungry, so that was a waste of time. There was nothing to do on my own here. I walked back to the living room and sat on the sofa, silently. The silence in the apartment gave me chills as I thought of what would of happened if Izazya hadn't left so abruptly last night.

We'd have cuddled on the sofa all night. Maybe I'd fall asleep on him and he'd have to carry me to bed like they did in those romantic and sappy movies. But, knowing Izazya he'd choose to pour a cold bucket of water over my head and I'd be scared to sleep for the rest of the holiday. Then, the next morning, we'd cuddle again, and maybe have breakfast in bed. We'd spend the day sat on the floor talking about anything; the topics wouldn't really matter. We'd just get to know each other better; what our likes and dislikes were, and what had even brought us to like each other. We'd generally just enjoy the others company. 

The day after, we'd spend the day exploring and being stupid; a normal day for us. After that, who knows. I had run out of ideas, I wasn't as creative as I could have been if he were with me.  

I walked to the fridge and grabbed a beer, taking the lid off and gulping it down quickly. I grimaced at the taste and drummed my fingers against the glass, deciding on my next move. I didn't know what to do with myself; stay in case he came back and this had been a joke, or go home?  

I placed the beer bottle in the bin and walked into the bedroom, grabbing my phone from the bed side table; I couldn't help but smile at the screen saver. It was me and Izazya, he had his arms around me and we had taken the photo from an 'Ariel view' as he had called it. I remembered holding the phone up and concentrating on finding the button. Izazya had a cute look on his face; a mixture of innocence and confusion, his lips were parted slightly and his eyes were wide. On the other hand, I had my tongue stuck out of th corner of my mouth in concentration as I took the photo. I grinned. We'd be like that again soon. I dialled my fathers number and held the speaker to my ear. He answered on the fifth ring. 

"Joe?" he asked. 

"Hey, dad." I replied. 

"What's wrong son?" 

"I need you to come pick me up. I'm in the Red Shell Hotel, on the coastline." I said slowly. I heard my father pause. 

"What are you doing there?" he asked. 

"I'll explain when you get here." 

"Okay," he said nervously. "I'm on my way." The line clicked off and I slid my phone into my pocket before walking to the bedroom to pack away our unused things.