Chapter Text
"K-kyoudai?! P-please, hold on. Just a bit more... don't give up just yet! I beg of you!"
Kiyotaka frantically said, tending to the wounds and preventing any more blood to spill out. It was all in vain, his friend's life ebbs, barely responding to the pain he's experiencing. More blood soaked Kiyotaka's trembling hands.
"Kyoudai, look at m-me, l-look at me straight in the eyes, alright?! Don't even think of closing them!"
Kiyotaka held his friend's face with one hand. His vision was greatly obscured by his tears, but he determinedly fixed them right into his lilac eyes. He feels like his heart is being forcibly wrenched out of his chest upon seeing him genuinely struggle to even lock gazes with him.
"I w-will eternally owe you for s-saving my life, b-but I can't help but blame myself if y-you die!"
Kiyotaka pressed his palms on the wound once again, hoping for a miracle...
"Why... why... why?!"
He felt a hand weakly grasp his wrist. Kiyotaka tensed up, and looked at him. It seems like his breathing becomes more labored every passing second. His friend doesn't utter a single word, but the message he is trying to convey is as clear as day: Thank you, but there is nothing else you can do anymore.
And with that, he closed his eyes as he took his last ragged breath.
It took seconds for Kiyotaka to fully comprehend the situation. When it finally sets in, his tears streamed down his face like a broken dam. His sobs and screams are blocked away by his immense despair. He clung on the body, cradling and embracing the corpse and sobbing at the crook of its neck.
He blubbered incomprehensible sentences, a thing Kiyotaka would never allow himself to do. But at the death of the sole person he deeply cared about, he wanted to get the words he longed to say out at once; in the midst of his tears.
"Why did you do that?!" "I do not understand!" "Why did you leave me?!"
"I love you, yet I cannot save you,"
The screaming and crying took several minutes. Then, something inside of him snapped. He looked up, and saw his readings neatly arranged atop his study table. Maybe, just maybe, he could...
"No," he muttered to himself "I cannot do it,"
He gingerly put the corpse down the floor. Looking at his surroundings once more, he contemplated the solution he has come up. He took a deep breath, shuddering at the thought. A few tears slipped out when he breathed out. He must give this a chance. To repent for all the guilt welling up in his chest. Perhaps this will bring him back.
"But..." he thought, taking a thick, hardbound volume, flipping through the pages "It's the only way I can see,"
His eyes landed on a particular page. Doing it will throw away everything he has worked hard on. His hopes of being a State Alchemist. Redeeming his family name. His dreams for the future. His goal of being the very best out of nothing.
But everything seems so meaningless without him. A person to love and share victories with. Someone to look forward to. A close confidant, an invaluable ally.
"I hope it is not too late..."
Kiyotaka placed the body on the bed, as if making sure the body is comfortable in its lying position. He ruffled its matted, bleached hair, muttered something about the situation being alright soon enough, planted a kiss on its forehead and smiled sadly. After placing the open book on the floor, he took a chisel from a work table nearby.
Gripping the chisel with his left hand as if his life depended on it, his stance wavered. His breath hitched, and more teardrops fell on the hardwood floor. He shook his head, asserting himself.
"This is for him,"
Without any more hesitation, he struck his right palm with the chisel. He screamed in pain as fresh, bright pink blood flowed out of his hand. Deciding to not dwell on the pain, he knelt down and began to work on what would be his most brutal and inhumane work of alchemy to date.
With the blood leaking out of his hand, Kiyotaka drew a huge circle. He struggled to not smudge the circle in any way, as he used his right index finger to draw out the exact symbols and writings in its exact locations.
When the wound and the blood starts to dry up, he would simply grab the chisel and bury its blade into the wound again and again. To him, the immense pain meant his guilt and his sins forgiven bit by bit.
Dizziniess starts to set in, as he is losing more blood.
"Just a bit more..."
Upon completion of the highly-detailed transmutation circle, he stumbled backwards after an attempt to sit down. He is slipping away fast and he must commence before it's too late.
Before he could pass out, he slammed his palms on the floor.
Sinister dark purple light began to emanate from the circle, tendrils of it crawling out and slowly wreathing Kiyotaka's entire body.
"R-rebound?!"
Never have he experienced such immense pain in his entire, short-lived life. It feels like his skin is being seared and torn at the same time. As if he is being eviscerated, piercing through his insides. As if soul is being ripped out of existence.
"It hurts, it hurts, kyoudai, it hurts, it hurts! It hurts so much, it hurts, kyoudai, help me!"
He screamed till his vocal cords get torn. The word kyoudai involuntarily slipped out of his mouth several times, as if saying it will prompt his soul brother to spring back to life and rescue him. Tears and snot ran down his face. The pain he feels is pushing him over the edge, going over the maximum threshold of pain his body is allowed to feel. He cannot seem to hear the voice from their front door.
"Ishimaru-kun! I heard you screaming, what's wr-- Oh my goodness, what's with all this blood?! I-i'll ask for help right away, h-hang in there!"
And then, everything is gone. Everything became an expanse of blinding white.
Kiyotaka stopped screaming. The pain has stopped. He tried to stand up, but he was still a bit woozy.
"K-kyoudai? What just happened, I..."
"Hello!"
A loud voice called out, a voice eerily similar to his own. There is a familiar edge to it. Naturally, this caused him to look up and straighten his posture.
In front of him is a massive stone gate. He cannot understand its appearance, but he would only describe it as how would the Gates of Hell would look like. Dark purple tendrils peek out of it every once in while.
At the gate is a white silhouette, sporting a grin. Looking closely, the figure is just the same height and body structure as him.
"W-who are you?" Kiyotaka asked.
"Good question. I'm glad you asked," the figure gleefully replied. Its voice really resembled his own - that is, if he decided to poorly imitate his kyoudai's manner of speaking.
"I get called by a lot of names. Let's just say, I'm the World, and the Universe. I am the Truth, which makes me God, as well. I am everything, in singular form," the figure rambled "But most importantly..."
The figure grinned as it "revealed" itself. He looks exactly the same as him, with the obvious exception of stark-white hair and literal flames burning within his ruby-colored irises.
"... I am you,"
Naturally, Kiyotaka gets appalled by this revelation. "If that is so... then...?"
"Yes, you have crossed the line that one should never even think of treading," the Truth replied. "You have committed a terrible sin,"
"I--" Kiyotaka blanched, but was immediately cut off.
"You are quite lucky. His soul is still within the Gate, unharmed," the Truth asserted sinisterly. "However, this will require a great price,"
His hair lost the white color, gradually turning into black. The fire in his eyes faded. The Truth, now bearing Kiyotaka's exact appearance, smirked deviously.
"You wish to call someone's soul back to life in exchange of your own," the Truth said "Unfortunately, that is not enough,"
Kiyotaka felt strange. He looked at his own hands, and was horrified when he realized his entire body is being surrounded by black tendrils once the Truth assumed his appearance.
"What's h-happening to me?!" he blanched.
"You asked for this. Now, the toll has been paid," the Truth declared
"I-i don't understand!" Kiyotaka cried.
"As you can see, you are not just asking for his life back," the Truth said, sporting a deranged grin "You are also asking to remove the existence of his death, to an extent,"
Kiyotaka finally realize the weight of his gamble. But then, he realized it is too late to back down. He would have to take responsibility of his own actions.
"Foolish child, very hopeless..." the Truth muttered. "Perhaps, if someone were to defy the odds of this situation..."
As he is being dragged forward, the Gate opened its doors. Waiting for him is pitch black nothingness, dotted by piercing purple eyes. Tears streamed out of his eyes once more, as he managed to see a familiar figure at the corner of his eye, just before the gate closes on his back.
"I did it, kyoudai, I saved you!"