Outside the Dream (A Junjou Romantica Fanfiction)

Embrace

Outside the Dream (A Junjou Romantica Fanfiction)

Chapter Nineteen: Embrace

Enjoy!

A/N: Sorry for the wait on this one, bros. Real life happened. I tried to get this chapter done as quickly as I could, so forgive any mistakes.
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Usagi's POV:

I acted before I even comprehended what I'd saw. I leaped forward, jumping farther than I ever thought possible. The hood of his white sweatshirt brushed across the tips of my fingers as he took a weightless step, just out of my reach.

"MISAKI!" I screamed, Rin was crying beside me, reaching for him desperately.

No, I could still get to him, I could still save Misaki.

His hood was disappearing from my view alarmingly fast, but I fell down into my stomach, reaching over the ledge with a hyper-elongated arm. His hood, that had just been out of reach not even two seconds prior, was back in my perimeter. My fingers outstretched, hooking around the material of his jacket. His body weight pulled down abruptly as I halted his fall, but a sickening snap flew to my ears. My index finger had broken.

I bit back a painful yelp, and looked over the ledge. Misaki was hanging at my fingertips like a rag doll, slamming against the brick walls. His head was limp, looking at the concrete ground 50 feet below.

But he wasn't dead.

"Misaki, Misaki angel, please give me your hand! I can't hold you!" I begged as I felt tears spring from my eyes.

"Let go," he said.

"Stop it Misaki! Give me your hand right now!" I offered my other hand down to him, urging him to take it. My broken finger was throbbing painfully, but it was beginning to prickle with numbness. Even if I couldn't use it later in life, I was thankful for the help it was giving me now.

"Usami-Sensai, I can help!" Rin chimed in, dropping down onto her belly. She stretched her arms to their limit and tried to grab at Misaki, but he suddenly flailed out of her reach.

"Let me die," he said dully, still not looking up at me.

"I'm serious! Misaki please! I-I can't hold you much longer please give me your hand so I can pull you up!" Warm tears pierced my cheeks as they slid down my face in cold January air. I was falling apart, seeing him like this. Seeing the love of my life with seemingly no will to live hurt my heart to no end.

Misaki tried to wiggle from my grip, which resulted in sharp surges of pain shooting up my arm from my finger. "Agh, Misaki! M-my finger is broken, please stop moving and give me your hand!" Impatience rushed into my voice that came out sounding like anger. The boy whose life dangled at my very fingertips looked up at me with eyes that were glazed over like newly cut glass. Those eyes that shared the contrast of an expertly polished jade now sat like bullet holes in his head. His brown hair dangled over his face and whipped in the wind. It lacked its normal color, it seemed dulled, malnourished. His skin was pale, like he hadn't seen the sun in weeks, and darkened at the bags surrounding his eyes. But what scared me the most about his appearance - even more than his lack luster eyes, even more than his undernourished colored hair or his pasty skin - was the expression they were all twisted in.

He looked at me in a way that I would have imagined a boy to look at his father whom had left the child's vicinage for years and finally returned. He looked at me with stupor, dismay, affliction...

Hate.

"Please," he whispered.

I shook my head austerely, to the point I should have pulled a muscle in my neck. But as much as I tried to resent it, I became increasingly aware of his hood slowly sliding down my deadened fingers. My other hand griped the ledge tight so I wouldn't fall with him, it was my ballast, and that as well was beginning to overpower me.

"Misaki, I will sooner fall with you before I let you go," my words broke with sobs and groans of pain. I squeezed my eyes together, tears escaping my lids.

Rin inhaled abruptly, and I opened my eyes to see her excitedly snatching up Misaki's hand, which he had lifted up and offered to her.

After a swift countdown from three, we hoisted him up, back onto the roof. Before we even had a moment to appreciate him being safe, I took him in my arms and locked him in an embrace that he wouldn't be able to escape from.

"Usagi," he sobbed into my shoulder and wrapped his arms tightly around my back. We both cried softly for a time, until I finally pulled away with my hands cupping his crying face. I touched my forehead to his and exhaled a long breath, as if eradicating all the pent up dramatics.

"Misaki," I breathed.