Eternal

We are sun and moon, dear friend; we are sea and land. It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is: each the other’s opposite and complement."

- Hermann Hesse

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Standing on the cliff's edge and gazing into the distance at the brilliant, orange toned sunset, deep breaths dragged in and out of his lungs, full of the scent of a coming storm on the wind and heavy from the salt of the sea. Long, dark eyelashes meshed together as he let his heavy eyelids fall closed, tossing his head back, brown waves tousling as the wind played through them. A smile tugged at the corners of lips that were chapped and bloodied from the abuse of anxious chewing.

Raising his arms and extending his fingertips, he let himself step forward, his heart racing as the delicious thought of plummeting onto the rocks and being consumed by the waves below over took his mind. Nothing mattered but this. His final moment.

Surely this would sate the ever present hunger in his belly. The longing for some sort of meaning.

All thought left his mind the moment he felt a heavy arm settle across his mid section and the drag of a knife placed over zealously against his thoat. Chocolate eyes shot open, his gaze fixating once more on the sunset.

He didn't struggle, there was no need. The pattern of the breath in his right ear and the feeling of the intruder's chest rising and falling as it pressed against his back told him everything he needed to know.

"So, we find ourselves here again." The draw of his lips became uneven as his mouth curved up at the left edge, a smirk working its way over his details in the waning light.

"So it would seem." The voice in his ear was low and tired, annoyance evident in every syllable. Before he could answer, he was lifted up, his feet leaving the cliff's edge in one fluid motion as the man holding him backed up and pivoted, the knife never wavering as they moved.

He attempted to turn his head to the right to meet his assailant's eyes, but was met only with the brush of rough wool and silky hair against his cheek. A scoff met his ears as the knife left his skin in one quick stroke, nicking him just enough to leave a stinging reminder of its presence, the faint tang of the scent of blood mingling with the evening breeze. He found himself tossed unceremoniously to the sparsely grassed dirt that made up the top of the cliff, his wrists protesting painfully when his body landed face down, arms outstretched, his reaction time not quite fast enough to catch himself with a better method.

Pushing himself off of the ground and into a squat, he leaned back and studied the face of the man who had interrupted his reverie, maimed him, and unceremoniously dumped his body. The same man who had done this dozens, hundreds of times over the years. Across the centuries.

Cold, hard blue eyes glared back at him and held his gaze. Red curls framed and danced around a face half shrouded by the shadow of the dark hood of the cloak draped around his shoulders. His arms were crossed over his chest, the knife still in his right hand, glinting and gleaming in the remaining light, red dancing along the edge.

"Who told you where to find me, Chuuya?" Another scoff from the redhead, as if the answer were so obvious he shouldn't have bothered asking.

In a way, perhaps that was true.

"The Oracle told me I needed to search. But the sea informed me of where you were." Moving to crouch beside him, Chuuya reached out and grasped the brunette's chin firmly, studying his face for any trace of the slightest lie.

"And what, dare I ask, were you doing out here, Dazai?"

Chuuya practically spat the name from his mouth, the bitter undertone betraying the fact that experience had taught him that the answer would likely be a half truth at best. It landed on Dazai's ears like a slap to the face, but the brunette grinned at the redhead, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head, causing Chuuya's gloved grip on his chin to slip, releasing him, for the moment.

"The Oracle worries too much. I was merely trying to remember a story I once knew by heart.

"One you know all too well."

Chuuya stiffened at his words, recollection washing over him as the scene he had relived so many times began to replay again. Turning his face away, he stared out at the sea as Dazai's words crashed into his ears and washed over him like the waves.

"Tell me, Chuuya. The story of how the sky loved the sea."