Love
'Claim my mind?'
'That would be nice.'
Becoming a vegetable meant he would not feel pain.
Empty.
Surely that was better than what he was experiencing now?
It felt like his heart was being slowly peeled and he couldn't do anything to stop the agony. The pain increased each moment he continued to exist.
…Each moment he thought about Celeste.
And how he had suffered the terrible backlash that was the other side of love.
Hate.
'Ah…'
As he stared at the tenebrous scythe in the Reaper's grasp, Alden's thoughts automatically turned back to the time when he was still innocent, untouched by the scars of this world. Untouched by complicated relationships, duties and responsibilities.
Untouched by… life.
Alden sighed internally.
Oh, how he wished to become that little kid practising backflips again, surrounded by the warmth of his parents. There was no Apocalypse, no death, no pain.