Race Against Time

As I witness Suruyus expression, I couldn't help but feel this upset feeling in my chest. I'm not typically the one that feels bad for others or whatever, but something about it was bad. I felt guilty, oddly enough. "So why would our memory worlds be connected? Is there some reason for that?" I question, as I look up at Heasa, my guardian angel.

Heasa nods in response to my question, then she holds a finger up in the air. "There's a reason, though it's very rare, and I've only ever seen it a couple of times. The reason your memory worlds are connected, is because you two are basically soul mates." Heasa reveals to me, causing Suruyus eyes, and my eyes, to widen with shock. Once she gave me the answer, I felt slightly disbelieved. The only reason I even considered it as a possibility, was because of everything that's happened after my death. Anything is possible at this point.

"No way..Soul mates?" Suruyu turns around, and faces Heasa, while pressing her finger against my chest. "With him? We haven't talked in ages. If I have a soul mate, I don't think it's him..." She argues with a bit of a sad-mad tone. It made me want to do something about it, but I wasn't sure what.

"I'll explain it later. For now, me and Tsuki should go. The god of souls could be coming at any moment now. Though I do wish you the best in your journey." Heasa says to the others. When she did, Suruyu and I made awkward eye contact with eachother. I wanted to say something, but it was like the words wouldn't leave my mouth.

I'm going to come back to my body eventually. While she's dead forever. She'll go to the afterlife, or be reincarnated. Either way, we won't see eachother again, atleast for a long time. "Heasu.." I call Heasus name, while looking down at the floor.

"Yeah?" Heasu responds in a questioning tone, while everyone looks at me. "Let Suruyu help me in defeating whatever evil this is, so she can go back just like me. You'll take her right?" I plead, before looking up at Heasu with worrisome eyes. Once I asked that question, everyone stared at me with shocked eyes, especially Suruyu.

Suruyu moved infront of me. By the look in her face, I could tell that she was angered by my comment. "You finally talk to me..and it's after we're both dead. Then you think you're going to decide my destiny? My fate?" Suruyu questions me in a very serious tone. I could hear the shakiness and trembling in her voice. It makes both of our guardian angels look at eachother with awkwardness surrounding them. "That was never your call. And it's especially not, now. I'll decide whether or not I'm reincarnated, going to the afterlife, or whatever." Suruyu explained to me, and I could see that her tears started to water up, though she immediately rubbed the water away.

After her explanation to me, she turned away from me, and faced her memory. Awkward silence filled the air, while I stood, not knowing what to do. Should I leave her here, and go back to my life? Or should I stay, and risk being caught by the god of souls before I come to terms with the life I lived? I mean, I was never heroic, not ever. So what should I do?

Suddenly, while I was in my thoughts, a woman barged into the restaurant, with arched eyebrows, and anger in her eyes. We all watched, as the woman marched to the table where young Suruyu and her friends were. "Didn't I tell you to come right home after school? You thought I wouldn't find you or something?" The woman said to one of Suruyus friends. In the corner of my eye, I saw Suruyu stare at the situation unfold, in a saddened state.

"We should go.." Heasa whispers into my ear, though I oddly didn't want to. I wanted to see what happened.

"But mom..I was just hanging out with my friends and I-" One of Suruyus friends argued, before the woman grabbed her by her hair, and yanked her from the chair that she was sitting in. "What the hell?! Let go!" The other friend yelled, while Suruyu sat in her seat with fright in her eyes.

The woman didn't listen, and she kept gripping her daughters hair while pulling her out of the restaurant, despite the pleading and begging that her daughter and friend was doing. Oddly enough, younger Suruyu sat in her seat the entire time. While the Suruyu next to me, had a tear fall down her eye.

I couldn't help but feel worried about her in this moment. Like I said, I'm not some hero, but maybe somewhere in my heart, I have compassion. "Sur-" I was beginning to call out to Suruyu, before some tall man barged into the restaurant. We all froze in a shocked manner, as we stared at the man. He was atleast 7 feet tall. He had long black hair, with eyes that looked like he didn't sleep in ages. He also had a long black cape surrounding his entire body.

"The god of souls..." Heasa and Heasu said in sync, while looking at the man. "Your time has come..join me now, or be taken by force.." The man demanded, in a very deep voice, despite his skinny stature.

"Tsuki! Suruyu! Run while we hold him back!" Heasu and Heasa yelled with extreme panic in their voice, before they swiftly rushed over to the god of souls, pushing him away from the door.

Urgently, I sprinted over to the door, to escape the restaurant that we were in. That's when I noticed that Suruyu wasn't by my side. I turned to look around as quickly as I could, while breathing hard with a pounding heart. That's when I saw her, standing frozen, while looking down at the ground in a defeated way. "Suruyu come on!!" I screamed out to her, while Heasu and Heasa began to struggle with holding the god of souls back.

"You guardian angels always desperately try to slow down the inevitable. It's not going to work!" The god of souls screamed out to them, before I rushed over to Suruyu, grabbed her hand, and quickly sprinted out of the restaurant with her.

The moment we ran out, we were inside of the city. The city that we grew up in. There were cars driving on the streets, and pedestrians walking on the concrete sidewalk. What caught my attention, was the fact that the sky was this rainbow color. It was so trippy. "Tsuki, let me go!" Suruyu screamed, before I started sprinting down the sidewalk, to get away from the god of souls.

"Run away as fast as you can!!" Heasa screamed out to me in a panic, before the god of souls pushed both of our guardian angels off, and started chasing us down the street. I continued to grip tightly onto Suruyus hand, while we ran and ran for dear life. "Stop fighting the inevitable. Your time has come!" The god of souls screamed, before he used some form of telekinesis to throw the cars at us that were driving on the street.

At this point, I was breathing extremely heavily. I felt my heart beat faster than it ever has before. "Watch out!" I warned Suruyu, as one of the cars were about to hit her. She turned around and faced it, while it was so close to hitting her, before I yanked her closer towards me to dodge it.

The world was crazy, because despite all the chaos he was causing, the pedestrians around us weren't effected at all. They were nothing but memories, though the more I ran, I noticed that some areas in the world were white. I assumed that those were places that I don't remember, or places that I haven't seen before.

"Come on!" I urged Suruyu, as we ran up to one of the borders. I looked down at the water below us, while I heard the god of souls approach closer to us. "We're gonna have to jump!" I yelled while looking at Suruyu. Suruyu proceeded to look at me, then over at the god of souls that were about to catch up to us.

"What're you waiting for, come on!" I begged, before Suruyu snatched her arm away from me. "What did I tell you?! You don't determine my fate!" She screamed at me, while I looked shocked and panicked. I didn't know what to do. At this rate, she would become a lost soul, unable to be reincarnated or go to the afterworld.

"Do you want to become a lost soul?! Is that what you want?! You don't want that! You'll be stuck forever for eternity, alone! Don't you understand that?!" I questioned Suruyu, with frustration. Before Suruyu could open her lips and respond, the god of souls grabbed her arm, and pulled her towards him.

"Damn it!!" I screamed, before Heasu ran over and bumped into the god of souls. This knocked Suruyu from his hand, which knocked Suruyu into me. All of that, made us trip over the edge, and begin falling into the water. "Tsuki!!" Heasa called out to me, while the two of us were only seconds away from falling in.

Before I knew it, my body hit the water, and I was beginning to sink. My eyes were closed, but my consciousness was still there. Somehow, it felt kind of peaceful. Drifting away with no worries or troubles. The more I sunk, the darker the water around me grew. ""Tsuki, do you want to play with me? I just got this cool game for our new system, and I was wondering if you maybe wanted to play with me."

"I'm busy in here. Ask your dad or something. Plus, aren't you like 12? You can play by yourself."

"Please come back Taiyo! I want to help you, but I can't if you won't let me in!"

"Why do you sound so worried about me? We haven't talked in years. You literally disappeared out of my life without any explanation.."

I heard those memories. They were slightly muffled, but the more I heard of my life, the more I started to frown and grow uneasy. "Tsuki! Tsuki! Tsuki!!" I heard someone screaming my name, but it was so mumbly, and hard to hear. Everything around me was dark, and it sounded like it echoed. Suddenly, I opened my eyes while letting out a bunch of deep breaths.

"Thank god!" Heasa called out to me with a big smile on her face. I looked around in slight panic. We were on the beach for some reason, and the sun was shining bright on us. There were clouds in the sky, and even birds that followed.

"Where am I? And where is Suruyu?" I slowly sit up from the sand that I was sitting on top of, while looking around. "I-I don't know..after you fell into the water, I rushed after you. I pulled you out, and here we are. Though I wouldn't worry too much. Since your memory worlds are connected, it's possible that you'll find her again." Heasa spoke to me with optimism.

I looked down at the sand, with troubles in my heart. "That's if she wasn't taken by the god of souls.." I respond to Heasa, causing her to look at me with worry. "I know you care about her, or it seems like you do. But remember why you're here, and remember your goal. You have to focus on yourself right now. As your guardian angel, I have to make sure that you go down a good path. And that path is not being a lost soul. Do you understand?" Heasa asks me, while looking at me with a serious look in her eyes.

After talking to me, I looked up at her for a second. I could feel the seriousness inside of her, and I knew that she meant every word. "Okay.." I respond quietly.

After I responded, I saw what seemed to be a younger version of myself who was around 7, running with my actual dad. The moment my eyes caught a glimpse of this, I knew exactly what was happening. I knew this day, and I knew what I was feeling during that day.

They were having fun, throwing around a football under the sun, and laughing. I watched as this memory unfolded before me, with a very bitter-sweet feeling. "My father.." I say quietly, while looking over at my dad. He was laughing, holding me. And I was doing the same for him.

The more I watched, the more memories of me and my dad started to unfold infront of me. Memories where the both of us were happy. Memories where we were smiling, and living life like there was no tomorrow. Looking back on it, it didn't seem like there was a single day where I wasn't happy around him.

"You had the biggest smile.." Heasa said to me, while she watched alongside me. "Yeah.." I respond back to her. I felt like my vocal cords were being restricted, and I felt my eyes start to water. After that, I appeared in my room. I could tell that it was the room from when I was younger. I was 8. Plus there was the fact that my old self was sitting on the bed. "Wait..." I say quietly with a frown, before I slowly stand up. "I remember this day.." I say.

My mom then walks into my room, along with another guy, that wasn't my dad. My mom had a bigger stomach, because she was pregnant by the guy next to her. "Hey there. I heard a lot about you." The man spoke to the younger version of myself. My younger self looked at him with hesitant eyes.

"Okay.." My younger self responded in a slightly accepting tone, as he walked up to the man, and did a handshake with him. My mom on the side, watched the both of them with a hopeful smile.

"I remember feeling very weird at the time. My mom and dad had broke up months before this. And I just remembered being so confused. Like why is this man here that isn't my dad? And why was my mom pregnant by him?" I question, while watching the memory go on. Then, the room around me started to change once more. This time, my little brothers toys were all around my room.

My eyes widened, as I looked at my younger self play the game on my handheld. "This day.." I say calmly, before the memory starts to go on. My mom walks into the room, with a broken expression. She looks dead at my younger self, while He looked worried.

"What's going on?" My younger self asks my mom, as he slowly moves down the handheld game that he was playing on. While watching, I started feeling way too many emotions. I turned away from the memory, and proceeded to walk out of the room, so that I wouldn't see it all happen again.

I walked out, feeling the pressure all over my skin. Feeling my heart race from outside my chest. When I walked out, I ended up outside, surrounded by the rain. I was standing in a place full of grass. "Tsuki.." Heasa called out to me in a worried tone, as she gently flew over towards me.

"I can't do it.." I say to her, while staring out into the distance. She proceeded to fly closer to me, placing a gentle hand on top of my shoulder.

"You have to come to terms with the life that you lived. This is the only way you can go to the afterlife, and reunite with your family. I want to take you to the aftworld, but I can't if you don't come to terms with it. I won't have the ability, as that's the most important thing." Heasa explained to me.

"I can't do it!" I yelled back in response to her. She looked at me with so much worry, as the rain continued to fall down on us. It stayed silent for a moment, before I started to hear the sounds of a funeral from behind me. I slowly turned around, and saw my younger self, with my mom, attending my dads funeral.

"I will show you..I will show you the life that you lived..it may be painful, and it will bring back a lot of bad memories. But, this is the path that you'll have to take." Heasa spoke to me, as I slowly walked towards the funeral that took place. I stopped, and stared at the younger version of myself, with eyes of guilt.

"Are you ready?" Heasa asks me calmly. I continue to stare at my younger self, with eyes of uncertainty.