Two Lost Souls - One shared fate - A Post-Canon Ghost AU

Prologue: A Flyboy With Broken Wings

I entirely blame a certain someone who has told me several times how the library in England she studies at looks similar to the New York Public Library. That's how I got the idea for this story.

Eiji could still hear his ankle shattering sometimes. The earsplitting sound that made him wake up screaming or left him trembling if he was awake. He would never forget that sound. That sound meant that his world had ended. Everything he had ever hoped for, wished for, longed for. It took some weeks until the harsh truth dawned on him. Until he couldn't pretend any longer nothing had happened and had to face reality. When reality began to sink in. At that point it all came crashing down on him. Not at once. It came slowly, sneaking in like a poison that slowly killed you from the inside over time until he was nothing more, but a human shell, a puppet with cut strings. A body without a soul. Empty. Lifeless. Emotionally dead. At that point he had just shut himself in his room, refused to eat or talk to anyone and just lay in his bed, hiding under his blanket because nothing in his life mattered anymore. A flyboy with broken wings. A canary who can't sing.

His parents were worried, he was aware of that. He just didn't care at the moment. All he wanted was to be left alone. After some weeks his parents finally lost their patience and forced him to see a therapist. Eiji just agreed to it because he was too numb and too lazy to fight with them. He didn't talk to the therapist, either. He just sat there with vacant, indifferent eyes and didn't say anything. Big surprise. If he wanted to talk, he would talk to one of his friends, not a complete stranger that didn't even know what pole vaulting was. After some weeks the therapist gave up, prescribed him some pills and told his parents apparently that maybe a fresh start or a change of scenery would help him get better again.

His mother had obviously called Ibe and had told him what had happened. Because a few days later, he really came all the way just to see him. Ibe couldn't hide his astonishment when seeing him, staring at him wide-eyed in complete disbelief. He apparently looked that bad, huh? But Eiji saw the relief on his mother's face when he left the house for the first time in weeks. He only did it because he wanted to speak to Ibe alone. Ibe had always listened to him and knew about his situation at home. He was like a big brother to him, not a father. Since he wasn't that much older than him, it was easier to talk to him. If he was lucky, he wouldn't judge him as his family did.

Moreover, Ibe had taken all those photos of him, watching him pole vault for weeks. So he desperately hoped that Ibe would understand better what he had gone through and how much this accident had destroyed him. That this had been so much more than a mere sport to him. It was his way to fly, to escape from here and be truly happy for a moment. Pole vaulting made him feel alive and completely free. He could forget everything around him for a fraction of a second.

How his father was in hospital and would eventually die. How his mother was flirting with another man right in front of his eyes. How he had to take care of many things at home and take responsibility since his sister was too small. How he could never go out with friends because money was tight and he just couldn't afford it or even find the time for it.

Pole vaulting had been the only thing that had put a smile on his face. The reason he got up everyday. And now everything was over... His scholarship would be revoked any time now and he would have no other chance than to quit college and find a boring and underpaid job. All the dreams he had, they didn't matter anymore. He would never achieve them anyway... so why even bother trying?

"Eiji, what the hell happened to you? You look awful. Like you haven't slept or eaten for weeks.

Eiji smiled sadly, knowing what was coming now. Eiji had really hoped that Ibe wouldn't tell him what all the people had told him before, proving that they didn't understand his circumstances at all: