[Complete] Graduation Day

[evocalize]

Title: Graduation Day
Characters: Minato Arisato, Aigis
Pairings: -
Type: Angst
Summary: Life is a tough teacher, and you sometimes never find your answer until you actually leave.
Word count: 1003

I.

The wind feels so nice... He nods his head silently as he lies on her lap, listens to her say that this is the first time that she has experienced spring. He wants to say that she has really changed, but the words that have once come easily to him are lost in the mire of exhaustion that has swallowed up much of the past month and her smile has already faded by the time he finally thinks of the exact words to make her happy.

She says then that this season will eventually pass and that she's finally learned what it means to live, how it's all about accepting the inevitable and not running away. There is a lot more that she says that he is proud of, even though he can barely hear her by now and his vision of her is getting blurry, graying out as if she's singing him a lullaby and he's about to fall asleep.

She smiles again as she talks about her wish to be his strength and protect him, but even as tired as he is he can see that her smile is forced- as if she wants him to see that she will be strong for him. It takes him all of his strength to simply reach up and brush away the tears forming at her eyes and all of the kindness left in his heart to smile for her, tell her that everything is going to be alright.

When she holds his arm afterwards like she never means to let go of him, she says that he's right and that she should feel happy, her words happily interrupted by a resounding "Heyyyy!" as their friends run up to the rooftop to meet them again. The last words he hears from her are happy ones, about how she now has friends too and that people can find meaning in their lives in anything, even if it's something simple like taking care of another person. He feels the same way as she talks about her desire to always protect him, thanking him for everything and giving her blessing to him to rest while she watches over him.

The last thing he feels before he drifts off to sleep is the gentle spring sunlight that warms his body, the very last thought he has is that he's content.

It's Graduation Day, and Minato Arisato has found his answer to life.

II.

It was her first time experiencing spring, and she was astounded by how much she had come to experience and feel the same things that he did, breathing in the fresh and salty air and letting the wind gently tease her hair while she tended to the boy resting his head on her lap. It was all she could have ever wanted ever since she realized her real reason for being with him, and yet...yet there was always something else that had haunted her ever since she had been broken down for the second time.

Death. It came for everyone and it was as inevitable as the passing of each season, always present, always hiding in the shadows. They have had many brushes with death, but never had they come so close to it as when they- he, she reminded herself though the decision had been unanimous- had chosen to fight against Nyx and challenge death itself. In the end, only he had been able to stop Nyx and everyone had thought that something had happened to him, only for him to return safely.

They had been happy. And then they had forgotten, all except for her- and now that she thinks of it, him too.

Though living after that had sometimes become painful, she had finally begun to understand what people took for granted, what it meant to live to the fullest...thinking for herself, not running away, accepting the inevitable...all things would end, but what mattered wasn't the destination but the journey itself.

And his journey was about to end.

She couldn't forget that he had already disappeared on that fated day and returned as if nothing had happened, and it was with growing sorrow that she had watched him from a distance, observing how he had quietly smiled and laughed with the friends that didn't know and the friends that didn't remember, how he had stopped going outside after a while, retiring to his bed as soon as he returned. In spite of the smiles he had shown to his friends and the laughter they had shared over the silliest jokes he had returned day after day to an empty dorm, glancing at the empty sofas each time before walking away.

To her it had been the surest sign that he had stayed for a reason and yet- and yet...without realizing it, she had begun to cry for her precious friend and it shocked her when he brushed away her tears and said that everything was going to be alright. She knew deep down that he was both right and wrong but she couldn't bring herself to say anything about it, not when she knew that he had already found his answer to life.

The words she said to him then were sincere and hopeful, yet she also found herself saying what she thought he might have wanted to hear the same way he said things that others wanted to hear. She wanted his last moments to be happy and she was duly rewarded with a gentle smile on his lips as she promised to stay by his side and talked about how his friends were going to be here soon.

It should have been a happy moment.

That day should have been the best day of their lives.

But that moment was snatched from them as soon as he had fallen asleep, their hopes shattered as they realized that their precious friend would never wake up again.

It was Graduation Day yesterday, and Aigis had lost her answer to life.