New Hope

New Hope - Chapter Twenty-Eight

Hajime stretched as he got up, rubbing his eyes.

Izuru's eyes flashed as he stabbed a woman in the throat.

He slowly got up, ignoring Nagito's still sleeping body, and headed down to the kitchen to eat. He stayed away from the toaster-

The suited man screamed, as Izuru forced his hand, clenching a metal fork, into the powered on toaster, sending a lethal shock coursing through his body.

-and grabbed a croissant.

"Hajime?" Sonia-

Izuru laughed as the blonde hair turned bloody.

-called out to him.

"Y - yeah?" Hajime gasped, backing away slightly.

"We're all worried about you. You've been avoiding us for two weeks now. Apparently you've even started to avoid Nagito-"

Blood spattered across the pure white snow.

"-it's just not like you."

"I... I know! I just-" Hajime started to shake, confused and upset. Without anyone realising, he picked up a tiny knife from the counter behind him and shifted his body, so the knife went securely up his sleeve.

"Hajime." Izuru called, feeling how overwhelmed Hajime felt. "Let me take control."

"NO!" Hajime screamed, bolting up the stairs, his half eaten breakfast tumbling, forgotten, onto the kitchen floor.

Flashes continued to burst into his mind with every step he took. Guilt surrounded him, like it was a sea, and he'd fallen into it with no life belt to save him. It consumed him.

It had been like this for two weeks.

Hajime wasn't sure he could take it for much longer.

He burst into his room, waking up Nagito. His soft, half-asleep smile faded away quickly once he spotted Hajime.

"Hajime...?" Nagito whispered, upset at how afraid Hajime looked. "I... I'm here for you..."

"NO YOU'RE NOT!" Hajime screamed at him, backing up against the door, hands clawing at his face and eyes. "YOU'RE AFRAID OF ME! I'M EVIL - THE PURE EMBODIMENT OF DESPAIR!"

"No... no Hajime, you're not..." Nagito tried to persuade him, but Hajime wasn't listening. With a strangled scream, Hajime flung back open the bedroom door, and rushed away, Nagito sprinting after him.

---TimeSkip---

You're evil...

You killed me...

I'm DEAD because of you...

Izuru...

Izuru...

Izuru...!

HAJIME.

Hajime screamed, hands reaching to clutch at the sides of his head and kept running. He had no idea where he was going, the images of all the people Iz - he - had harmed flooding into his mind. People, with families, hopes, dreams, beliefs, all dashed away because of one man.

One evil, heartless man.

All of a sudden, he stopped at a lake. The lake was shallow, but beautiful, with clean, peaceful water. The tranquillity made Hajime feel like his breath stopped from sheer calm.

And then, in that moment, Hajime knew what he had to do.

I'm sorry Nagito...

Not speaking a word, Hajime slowly removed the knife from his sleeve, and gracefully walked into the water. As he walked, time seemed to slow down, these moments which would become the last of his life seemed to want to last as long as possible.

He continued to walk until the water was up to his chest. The water went no deeper than that, so he'd simply have to make do. Hajime knew of people who did 'self-harm' but Hajime had never done anything like that. The most he'd been exposed to was when Nagito 'died', with the inflicted wounds on his thighs.

Hajime had never self-harmed before, nor did he ever plan to.

No - he decided this upcoming wound would be his last.

He raised his knife up high, plunging the arm he intended to hit and drag vertically across with it underneath the water, to try and stop the blood from going everywhere.

"HAJIME!"

Hajime's heart jumped into his chest. Nagito... Nagito was here?!

Well...

... It was too late.

"I - I'M SORRY NAGITO!"

Hajime swung the knife down...

And it impaled... a hand?

Hajime stood in shock, knees shaking, and watched as blood dripped from Nagito's hand, onto the water's surface, making small ripples in the water.

"N... NAGITO!"

...

Okay.

I know this was extreme.

But hear me out.

People with mental illnesses don't just get better. This stuff takes time. And Hajime had been suffering with his past this entire fic. He made some progress, but when he saw the tapes all those horrid thoughts came flooding back, causing his past self to merge with his present one, combining memories into an overwhelming state of hatred and despair, sort of like PTSD.

It all became too overwhelming for him with the mixture of pain and guilt, and he decided he didn't deserve to live. I know that it may seem sudden, but I really tried to make it obvious throughout the fic that he was suffering with this problem. While the main plot line is about everyone waking up and Nagito and Hajime discovering their feelings for each other, THIS is the hidden plotline, the one sneaking under the entire story. I hope it didn't seem to rushed.

Anyway, we passed 3K! That's amazing! Thanks for your support guys!

I'll see you all tomorrow morning for the next chapter.

But for now...

Peachy out! 😊