Could he, Ryuk, understand?
What it meant to be sealed for a thousand years.
Could he understand the pain of returning after a thousand years just to be faced with his world having been reduced to nothing but desolation?
Or could he understand what it felt like to be the sole, last surviving individual of a once-powerful ancient race?
These questions were asked by none other than Ryuk himself, and as he looked at her, the words he was to speak halted in his throat, and he quieted down instead.
The truth was, anything he could say right now to comfort her would look nothing but hypocritical, for he couldn’t understand any of what she had gone through.
Perhaps if Endearth had been destroyed by Zar’kul and his Knull armies, maybe then he could have understood what it means to lose your world.
But Endearth never got destroyed.
How could one who had always succeeded understand the pain of one who has failed?
And for that, he remained silent until she spoke a single word that shook Ryuk’s heart.
It was a simple command that left no room for argument, but one which he couldn’t grasp.
She had made it clear she would never let him go, and now she was asking for him to leave?
"I don’t need to know more about Theth’Vorgath, nor do I care about your relationship with him anymore. You can leave now," she said once more, her back turned against him.
All Ryuk’s cell wanted to do at the moment was instantly speed away.
He could return back to Ammamora and everything that had happened: him entering the gate and ever meeting this monster...
All of it could be a dream that was just too real.
He could return to his normal life, returning to making something of himself in Ammamora.
"What..." he suddenly called out, but halted.
Still, it was enough to turn her attention.
"What about my blood, though? You said it’s too rare to let go, didn’t you?" he asked, a question that made her irises quiver, but it soon settled, turning even colder—and she spat out:
"I’ll find a better one. Leave!" she said.
But instead of retreating, he took a single step, and in a blink, he was just a couple of inches away.
"I won’t leave," Ryuk said, in the same tone she had used to ask him to leave.
A tone that held no room for argument.
"I... said..." she spoke slowly, every word dripping with fiery anger.
"LEAVE!" she roared, and in the next moment, her hands shifted back with a speed faster than lightning, claws instantly appearing and then—
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP
The space before Ryuk rippled as a claw tore through the air.
KAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
A terrifying shockwave exploded through the air, blowing his hair erratically behind him, but it hung just an inch from his face.
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The two exclamations rang out, from the system and in Odette’s mind, as she watched her claws pause just 5 centimeters away from cleaving through his face.
But what was shocking was that both his hands were by his side, and he had never made a move to block.
’An invisible barrier!?’ she asked herself, but when she saw the single stain of blood that moved out from his nose—
’No, it’s not a barrier. It’s... It’s me.’
Her claws had halted by themselves in the air.
A groan of anger left her lips as she tried to force her hands to continue in their path, but they halted when the sound of a single step forward rang in her ears, and then—she felt his embrace.
Her dark irises slowly widened with realization, followed by her outstretched claws spasming mid-air, and then, slowly, they fell.
Her knees seemed to have gotten weaker, resulting in her collapsing onto the floor, but it was almost like the same was true for him, as he followed her down.
"I do understand what it feels like to be the only one left."
"Nor... do I understand what it feels like to have my world destroyed," he whispered—softer than anything she had ever heard.
"But I do understand... no one deserves to be left alone ..."
"No one deserves to go through so much pain, all alone."
The words brought back the tears.
Tears she couldn’t explain.
They weren’t nostalgia for what was, nor were they anger for what had been.
She couldn’t put into words what the reason for her tears was.
But even though she felt weaker than she had ever been, it couldn’t erase it all.
"You don’t know me..." she forced out through the gaps in her teeth.
"All that has happened to me... I must have deserved." Her hands shifted into claws, folding tightly into her palm—but it came once more, softening the tight feeling.
"Maybe you’re right," he replied.
"Maybe you truly were a monster deserving of all this pain..." he said, as he parted from the hug, turning to look her right in the eyes.
"But... even for a monster..."
His hands stretched toward her face, and for some reason, it never occurred to her to dodge them.
"Perhaps... It’s not too late to... start all over again...correctly," he said with a smile, as his fingers wiped off her tears.
But they only spilled harder and harder.
"You can’t start all over again, Odette."
"And this time... you will have the most tasty blood in the universe willingly following alongside you, hmm?" he said, with a foolish, goofy smile.
It was a stupid notion.
She knew anyone in his shoes could tell it was so stupid.
Yet somehow, it was so heartwarming that even through all the pain in her heart, she found a reason to smile.
"So... what do you say, Odette? You think... we can both start all over again?" he asked.
But less than a split second later, a deep embrace that almost broke his backbone, draining all air from his lungs.
"YOU’LL BREAK MY BAC—"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
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In and Out_SnowySmoos