A Second Chance (Akira x Ryo)

Chapter 17: Departure

Picture credit: PrinceGrotesque on DeviantArt

[Third Person]

The next morning, Ryo was abruptly awoken from his sleep at 7am from the alarm his parents had set. However, it didn't feel like he had slept at all.

After his "dream", the hellish nightmare had scared him awake. Ryo had glanced at the clock to see that it was 5am, breathing heavily and covered in a cold sweat, before gulping and attempting to fall asleep again, praying he wouldn't return that dark place he feared so much. He did end up falling asleep once more, but it was far from a deep slumber.

Ryo looked to see his mom groaning and shutting off the alarm, before shaking his dad awake. "Rise and shine, you two! We can't miss our flight today."

None of them bothered to shower that morning; only eating a light breakfast and brushing their teeth before piling into the car to make their way to the airport once more, this time dressed in pajamas.

Ryo looked a mess walking into the airport, and felt it too. His hair stuck up in all sorts of directions, while dark bags rested under his tired eyes. His feet dragged on the floor as he lazily pulled his luggage behind him. He wouldn't be surprised if he received a few concerned looks and whispers, but he was too worn out to notice. The only thing that shook him from this state was the sudden ring of his phone.

[Akira would like to call]

The blond hesitated a moment. Did Akira really want to talk to him? No, he did, but did Ryo deserve it? Was he really brainwashing the other to love who he shouldn't? Thoughts from his nightmare pooled into his head as his thumb hovered over the accept button. However, despite his thoughts, he subconsciously accepted the call.

"Good morning, Ryo! I assumed you'd be at the airport right now, so I woke up early to talk to you before you left."

"Ah, hello Akira. That was nice of you."

"...Ryo, are you okay? You sound like the life has been sucked out of you."

"It's nothing, I just didn't sleep well last night."

"Nightmares?"

He thought of God's words. "....no. It was just the hotel mattress. There was no way I could sleep well on that thing." He added a light chuckle, hoping it would drop Akira's concern.

"..okay. I'm just worried, that's all. You haven't really talked about any nightmares lately, so I just assumed they went away. I hope you don't keep those things to yourself; I know how hard it can be to try and tackle something alone."

"It's okay, Akira. My nightmares have gone away thanks to you. Don't think about them anymore." Ryo quickly changed the subject. "So do you know when your parents are getting back?"

"Ah, let me check." Rustling of what Ryo assumed was a calendar could be heard on the other end of the line. "They get back in 3 days. I'm probably going to try and prepare a nice dinner for them."

"That's so kind of you. See, this is why I love you."

Ryo could practically feel the other's blush as he spoke. "A-ah.. it's nothing.. it's only dinner. I- um.. oh. I love you too."

"I've got to get going now, alright? I'll call you when I'm in America."

"Alright! Have a safe flight!"

"Like I can control that."

"Oh my god. Just be safe, idiot."

"Bye, dork."

Ryo smiled to himself, his worries temporarily erased as Akira's voice echoed throughout his head.

However, this sweet bliss was brief, and Akira's voice became twisted. "You really think I love you?"

Ryo gasped, earning a confused look from his Dad. He shook his head, assuming he was just tired after getting hardly any actual sleep that previous night.

Finally, the plane arrived and they all boarded, Ryo happy to find himself a window seat. He sat next to his mom, and his dad took the aisle seat. Almost as soon as the plane took off, he was alseep again.

~

Darkness.

Ryo sat up, looking around him and panicking. "Fuck. Fuck, not again."

He stood up, pacing back and forth. "I am asleep. None of this is real. I'm asleep on a plane. I'm going to America. This isn't real."

"But it will be."

Ryo whipped his head around to see the Akira from his dream the night before, walking towards him with an unnatural smile on his face.

"What do you want?"

Akira only chuckled, shaking his head. "I want you to stay the hell away from me, that's what! Poor, poor Akira. Brainwashed into a fake love he thinks is real. Stay away from him. Stay away from me. Stay away from us!"

Ryo stepped back. "No. That's not true. I love him. He loves me. This world is different from before. We'll be happy."

"Akira will only be happy if you leave him! And you really think you deserve to be happy?"

Ryo closed his eyes, but Akira's image still burned into his head. "No. No! You're not Akira!"

"You think you can escape this? You deserve to suffer! You deserve this pain!"

"No! NO! NO-"

Ryo blinked. He was being roughly shaken. "Wha-?"

His mother stopped, a concerned look on both her and his father's faces, along with a good portion of the plane.

His dad quietly explained. "Nightmares."

Ryo sat with wide eyes. "I screamed out loud? What did I say?"

His mom sighed and rubbed circles into his back. "You kept screaming 'no' and 'stop'. It sounded like you were being tortured. It was horrible, really! Are you okay?"

He leaned back, hesitant to even blink. "Y-yeah. It's alright."

"Ryo you were literally screaming your lungs out. It doesn't sound like you're okay."

Ryo took a shaky breath and leaned back in his seat. "Don't worry, mom. I'm just tired. It was just a regular bad dream, not anything like my nightmares from before."

She looked unconvinced, but Ryo didn't look like he wanted to talk about it, so she didn't press.

Ryo didn't sleep for the rest of the plane ride, resulting in him being very tired when he arrived in America. He was out of it, and didn't remember much of the process in getting from the airport to their new house. When him and his parents stood outside of the house, the sun was about set. At any other point in time, Ryo would have acknowledged the brilliant rays that reflected through the windows as they stepped inside. But now, it just felt like the sun was shaming him. It felt like everyone was shaming him.

When his parents showed him to his room, he didn't unpack. He merely dropped all of his stuff to the floor and flopped onto the bare mattress. He didn't sleep, he just stared. He didn't think; he didn't want to. He didn't call Akira to let him know that he had arrived safely.

He felt empty. He kept telling himself the same things in his mind.

Akira loves me. We love each other. My mind is just playing tricks.

But then, his dreams would haunt him and infect his mind.

You don't deserve to be loved. Remember what you did? Do you really think you deserve a second chance? Do you really think you can make Akira happy?

And so, he didn't think. He couldn't. If he did, he was afraid he'd go insane and claw his brains out. He was afraid to talk to Akira; he was afraid of the Akira in his dreams. He was also afraid of awakening Akira's cursed memories from the past.

In this moment, Ryo Asuka had never felt so alone in his life.