Trio Maxwell-Chang (trio) wrote in fictionaltrio, @ 2007-09-15 11:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | mamiya chiaki, the girl who leapt through time |
[The Girl Who Leapt Through Time] Broken Choice
Title: Broken Choice
Author: trio
Rating: R
Warnings: descriptions of accidental, violent death, alternate universe, angst
Word Count: 415
Summary: Chiaki could not save them both.
I heard the screams and wails, the way her voice turned ugly with grief. I saw the way she collapsed to her knees, body seeming to almost cave in on itself with guilt. I vowed to make it right.
I was with him when we heard of Makoto's death. I saw the way he closed off, losing the spark that was so perfectly him. I treated the bloody knuckles and stayed near when no one else would approach. And when haunted eyes peered at me from behind his glasses, I vowed to make it right.
It should've been such a simple thing, really. I didn't need the whole world to cooperate... I just wanted to control our little portion of it. I only needed it to work long enough to shape two lives, but the last leap I made, I had to choose. What is so very difficult about saving two people... the two people I care about most in the world?
It didn't matter, though. I knew it when I saw the time device cracked and broken on the floor, a hair's breadth from my hand as I knelt over her. My last jump had destroyed it, and she wouldn't ever understand just what I'd given up. I thought... that would be enough. I thought that we'd have the time I never thought to believe in. I thought here and now, her pinned under me on the science room floor, was the best way to make her understand.
I can still taste her lips on mine, that faintly salty sweet that was simply her. I can still remember the way she shoved me up, yelled at me and ran before I could stop her. I can still remember running after her, shouting 'wait' and 'stop' like they might have some magical effect on her. But it was useless. She reached her bike before I ever did, unlocked it and jumped on without a simple check, leaving me to scream her name after her, still running.
I've never wanted to control the world. But I thought I could control time just enough. I thought somehow, I could make it before she did. Instead, I only made it far enough to watch the sickening crunch of metal slamming into flesh. The train tossed her like a ragdoll, and when she lay crumpled before me, I could do nothing. My jumps were used up, the charges gone thanks to me.
Makoto... should I have chosen you?