𝑯𝑨𝑳𝑪𝒀𝑶𝑵 𝑶𝑩𝑳𝑰𝑽𝑰𝑶𝑵 •𝒃𝒙𝒃•

EPILOGUE

AN: Lemme just say this straight up. I regret nothing.

He stood still as the sun's blaring light washed over him. The stone looked cold—like the sun's light could never warm it up. Just like it could never warm him.

The names engraved on the stone's once smooth surface almost seemed like they were mocking him.

Him.

The only one who was left.

Him.

The one who was left alone.

Him.

The one who was left behind.

He reached his hand forward, fingers not even brushing over the words which brought him pain—too much pain.

Namikaze Aizen.

They had never found his body—even after thirteen years. He pulled his hand back, cradling the clenched fist to his chest. How was it that, after all this time, he could never forget him?

Never forget his face. Never forget his voice. Never forget his laugh.

It's been thirteen years and he was still caught up on him. He, a 28-year-old-man, can't forget a 15-year-old boy's smile.

That boyish smile.

They had their moments of happiness...and those moments never lasted long. Maybe, just maybe, if Kakashi had gotten to him sooner—if he had stopped whatever had happened from happening—maybe they would be standing here today, side-by-side, mourning their lost friends.

But no, Kakashi was alone, mourning them all.

Aizen had never been close with people. The ones with which he was were all dead, and nobody remembered him—nobody except Kakashi. To everyone else, he was a shinobi just as every other shinobi was.

But he was so much more.

So, so much more, at least to Kakashi.

To Kakashi, he was everything.

Their relationship had been rocky at the beginning. Both boys having different opinions and those opinions clashed...a lot. Then, just as the cloudy weather of their relationship cleared, a thunderstorm was revealed.

Hanae was gone.

Obito was lost.

Rin went next.

And then, finally, it was Hikaru's turn. Aizen's last standing point crumbled beneath his feet, and only the stormy sea awaited him below.

It was a thunderstorm that raged for years.

A thunderstorm in which Kakashi almost got lost.

A thunderstorm in which Aizen ended up getting lost.

Not even Minato—his precious aniki—could save him.

And now, as he stood before the stone, he couldn't even cry. He could only hurt in silence. Hurt and wait for the pain to subside. It never did. It was always there.

Silent.

Waiting.

Waiting for the moment in which he would be too weak—too broken—to stop himself from thinking of what ifs. Too broken to stop himself from remembering his face.

Those moments were there more often than not.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, preparing to say goodbye in his head, when he sensed someone.

Someone was watching him.

"I know you're there. Come out." His voice rang out, but he did not turn around.

Soft footsteps approached him. The person remained quiet, and Kakashi could guess that they were an ANBU.

"Did the Hokage call for me? She normally doesn't send ANBU."

Upon not receiving an answer, Kakashi turned around. He had never seen this person. He slowly trailed his eyes over their appearance, before he felt his blood run cold.

Vibrant hair blew in the wind. He took a small step back, eyes widening in disbelief at the sight before him. "You..." he trailed off, the words getting stuck in his throat. "...Akashi?"

A pale arm reached up and the mask was taken off.

Violet eyes stared back at him.

•

Lost times are never found again.

•

AN: Damn did it take me long to finish this. I can only say that I'm so glad it's finally done because if I had to write this for a while longer I'd lose my mind. (I did drop it for around 8 months because I simply COULDN'T keep writing it. It became too tiring)

As some of you may know, this is my second Naruto story, the first being 'When the Wind Blows' and as some of you may have read 'When the Wind Blows' you will recognise the name 'Akashi'. For those who didn't read it, 'Akashi' is the 'oc' for it. It isn't necessary to read 'When the Wind Blows' but it would mean a lot to me if you do, especially since I have ANOTHER story planned that has all the characters from both 'Halcyon Oblivion' and 'When the Wind Blows' in it. It would make matters less confusing if you read both, so I highly recommend it.

I don't know when I'll start posting the chapters for the new story because I wanna take a small break from writing, a few days or so.

Also *snorts* there were some people who made guesses as to what the end of 'Halcyon Oblivion' would be like, and 98% were wrong, but there were a few people who were suspicious of 'Halcyon Oblivion' and connected the dots (which I expected more people would do, but I guess most of y'all don't think outside of the box) that it was the prequel for 'When the Wind Blows'. Props to those people, even as I don't remember your usernames or anything.

Lastly, I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I didn't, because let's be honest here, the more I wrote the more did I find myself disliking Aizen and the actions that he took and the way that he thought. He was a hypocrite who didn't care for others the way they cared for him. I did intend to end this story this way ever since the beginning, but man I didn't expect I'd literally grow to dislike my own 'oc' like this. I guess there's a first for everything. The way I wrote Aizen was intentional, and I don't condone his actions nor the way he treated those around him, especially not Kakashi whom he claimed he 'loved'. Kakashi deserved better, but he too failed to understand that what he and Aizen had was not 'love' as Kushina had said.

That is all.