Short Stories and Ideas

It's Now or Never

Thin wings flapped against a frigid gust of wind. The setting sun halved grey pavements with fiery slivers of crimson, but the bite of the winter night (though it was only three o' clock) had settled deep into the foundations of the towering apartment blocks.

Next to the to grass by the red bridge above the river, three men conversed. One held a button of some sort as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Truly, it was a shame it had come to this. Four guessed it was inevitable. After all, what else could those like him do? Five had left them already, as had the other ten. Maybe he should have taken more risks (as if he hadn't already). Maybe, just maybe, he should have taken that step – that one single step over that line of fiery crimson. Just seventeen, after all. There could have been so much to live for, so much more. Had he just taken that jump into the water with Seven's arm in his grip. But Seven never really liked the scent of chlorine. How he wished he had ran – ran instead of getting on that damned motorbike instead (maybe then he wouldn't have had to drive so far from Seven all the time). 

"A smile like the sun and eyes like ice", is what she had always called it. Four was never quite sure whether that meant both him and Seven or just him alone. And yet, that fiery crimson of the setting sun always seemed to fall just on Seven. (After all, ice would melt under the glare of the sun).

Maybe they had taken it too far. But nobody ever died, so what should it matter? Seven was with him, after all. Seven, with that button that would end that streak they always felt was a point of pride (Five never cared much about others, anyways). But maybe, Four wished it had gone another way. Maybe they would not have to stand here, facing that man with the bothersome whirring of choppers inching closer (still far, the others hadn't heard them yet). Maybe they would not hold the weight of destroyed building after destroyed building and trudge ahead on the hope that they would not have to kill. 

Ad maybe it was selfish, to want a little cottage on the top of a hill with Seven and Seven alone. After all, what could he possibly deserve?

(the whir of choppers neared)

But it was now or never.

Darkness

Four supposed it was a blessing.

Seven had not noticed the helicopters until the air flung his hair from his sight. And maybe that was why Four lay on the ground now, with a hole where his heart would be.

(And god, how he cursed that one-track mind of his)

He fell, and he fell, to his knees until they cracked against that lifeless grey of the pavement.

Four

Four

He was gone.

With a shaking hand, he leaned towards Four and cupped his cheek. It was still warm. Four had always burned hot in the winter.

Maybe that was why he let out an anguished yell at the sight of Four's twisted limbs (And he had fallen with such a dull thud, too.)

And as he mourned the "what if's", he realised.

It was now or never.

A button was pressed.

In the distance, a bang echoed.

Seven dropped, limp on top of Four.

And two birds flew towards the last dregs of the setting sun.

If you can tell, this is clearly a retelling of the end of Zankyou no Terror (I think this counts as a huge spoiler, right?), with Twelve renamed to Four and Nine renamed to Seven (because I wrote this for school and this can't be too obvious of a fanfic lol). I changed their personalities slightly, because my headcanon is that Twelve is a total sociopath, or at least exhibits some serious signs of it, but Four here is a little more sane, if not a little too prone to hindsight. Zankyou no Terror's Nine is a very interesting character – despite him being the more antisocial of the two, I always felt he was the more empathetic one.

I wrote this for one of my exams a while back (found it while looking through my old english books), and I have to say, it's one of my most successful pieces of writing, especially considering the timespan (I like to think I did a good job with the perspective – word choice was my main way to express this.) 

Thank you for reading!