you are the world.
as you lay dying in a hospital bed
we take a moment to breathe in
(we do not know this is a dangerous thing yet)
the air free of the chemicals and beeping and rushing we have grown accustomed to
we try and eat something that is not bland
the shops are closed
as you are dying, the world is dying with you.
when we had first arrived, the staff had thought i was old
they had me sign paperwork and give medical information for your stay as your next of kin
they looked in my eyes and saw my future
(Apollo was God of prophecy and medicine both)
knew i would command your fate into the ground
knew i would not condemn you to that terror of cremation
your family arrives
(black birds following armies, knowing that a feast will be served)
they always do, for matters they consider important
first arrives your sister
(i forget which one)
she is kind to me, of course
she dances around the obvious, of course
she is surprised that my mother and stepfather are there,
although she tries to hide it
at some point, there is a meeting around whether or not
you would want to have donated yourself to help others
(why is that information not already available?)
i don’t know for certain what you would say, but i tell them to do it anyway
(forgive me, for not asking)
(forgive me, for not saying hello)
(forgive me, for waiting until i was grown to talk)
your sister tries to give you your Last Rites while my family is away
the Priest, the Doctors, they all tell her no
she tries anyway
(i understand, she is trying to help)
(i understand, she does not know you)
your Mother arrives.
(so does her husband and my uncle)
i don the armor ive been welding for my (your) life (death)
I greet her with respect, we go through the motions of grief before death
(i do not give her my True Name, i do not eat of her food, i do not give her any debts)
(i am a changeling child, i know her kind well)
i prepare myself for real battles to begin.
the rest of the players trickle in
the family
your friends
(your friends go through your house, giving most to me. neither side asks, so no debt is owed)
(i do not have to go myself)
(it is one less battle to fight)
my mother becomes my second-in-command easily, as if she never even stopped
she is water, flowing and changing
she is rock, steady and tethering
here is how the war is fought
in uncomfortable hospital chairs, we talk, your family and i
your mother takes charge on her side
i take charge on mine
we are outnumbered, but we have legal power over your decisions
and their time is running out.
as per the rules set long ago, we must remain respectful. polite.
they are your family. they raised you. you are their precious son.
(you were born out of wedlock. you abandoned the faith. you raised a queer.)
my mother abandoned you. my stepfather must hate you. your friends are irrelevant.
(you were my mother’s best friend. you got my stepfather to branch out. your friends built a boat to burn for you)
but me? i am your child. you are my precious father, my world, who i am losing.
so when i tell them that you would want to be buried without a box, to feed the earth and let the worms eat your flesh?
they cannot oppose me directly.
most of your family ignores your brother, my uncle
they can’t understand the words he says so they think him infantile
when they aren’t ignoring him, they are Handling him
they tell him you are dying in little words
“Pete isn’t going to be around anymore soon”
they say in falsetto tones
they do not let him grieve. they do not let him love.
i do not let the rage boil under my skin
i do not let myself mourn that with your passing he will be taken away as well
it will not help him. it will not help you.
i often can’t understand what my uncle says either, but that’s not new
the wind likes to play tricks on me, tying words into knots before they reach my ears
i am one of the few that treats him like the eldest child he will soon be
he is one of the few that treats me like the child i shall still be for two years yet
so between battles, sitting amongst the corpses of words, we sit in silence,
and we draw
your death is scheduled
it has to be, to harvest what they can from you, to save who they can
there is ceremony to what comes after
they bring the body up, and we walk down the hall with it
doctors and nurses line the halls, giving respect to what we have lost
giving respect to what you have given that will save others
the only sound the whole way is my uncle’s sobs
i don’t know if he hates that it was a child, your child, who was the one comforting him
and so the world ends.
the funeral seems dull in comparison to the honor walk
sure, your family made a scene,
but my mother took the narrative back
and anyway.
by that point the fight was over
your wishes were respected
i had won.
the next day,
we went home.
and we didn’t come out.
and so the world ends.
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Shigeo stared at the test. The math test he took two days ago. His test he got 100% on.
Mob could count on one hand the amount of math tests he'd scored perfectly on - and ironically enough, they were all back when every problem could be solved with counting on one hand.
The success made him nauseous, he felt his powers writhe a little harder under his skin.
He watched his math teacher walk back up to the front of the room, his eyes alight and with a proud smile on his face. "This past test had a class average of 84%, eight percent more than the average of last test!" He cheered, and his eyes met Mob's for a split second before darting away. He felt his stomach churn. "You all did so well, Congratulations!" He clapped his hands as he said it, and Mob flinched at the sound.
The teacher kept talking, moving on with the lesson while everyone tucked their tests in their bags. Mob stared at the 100% in bright red marker for another few moments before moving to do the same.
When class let out, Shigeo went straight to Spirits and Such. The building was like a lifeline for the past half week, not that he'd admit that because of the stupid reason.
He went up the stairs two at a time and then opened the door without knocking. Reigen was sitting at his desk, and his eyes met Mob's when he entered. "Right on time!" He said, the same as he had yesterday, and the day before, and almost every other day. "There aren't any appointments today, but since sixty percent of our business comes from walk-ins, there's still hope!" He declared, before going back to what was probably a photo exorcism from the consistent dragging and clicking of his mouse.
Shigeo dropped his backpack on the floor beside his desk before he sat down and pulled out his test.
"Shishou?"
"Yes?" Reigen immediately turned his full attention to Mob, and he swallowed.
"I got a math test back today…"
Reigen's smile shrunk, his eyebrows scrunching in pity. "Oh." His expression picked back up. "Well, bad marks aren't the end of the world - math can be tough, but not understanding it doesn't mean you can't still--"
"It's not that." Mob interrupted, because he knew Reigen was never upset by it. "I got a hundred on it."
Reigen nearly fell out of his chair, the old plastic making a concerning creak as he righted himself. "A hundred?!" He was out of his desk and looking over the paper on Mob's with all the disbelief and wonder of someone who was just told that God existed and he worked at the local MobDonalds. "As in One Hundred percent?!" Flipping through the three stapled pages of the test, a smile growing wider and wider on his face.
Mob wanted to smile too - he didn't, but he wanted to. He looked up at his master, waiting for his final comments.
"A hundred percent - even if you cheated, this is amazing, Mob." Reigen said, and he looked so happy for him. "Whatever you did, keep doing it." His posture straightened, and with a firm hand on his shoulder. "The trick about school is, it isn't to teach you how to read fast or multiply and divide negative and theoretical numbers or all that nonsense - it's to teach you to learn. Nowadays with the internet, you can get information anywhere, but once you learn how to understand and retain that information, the world is yours." He said wisely, ruffling his hair at the end. "It seems like you've figured out how you learn, Mob."
How Mob learns. How he learns.
His math teacher slapping him across the face every time he got a question wrong, telling him he was a waste of effort.
He got 100% on his math test, for the first time in years.
Making him apologize on his knees to the tree out the window for providing him oxygen.
He finally got a good mark on a test.
"It seems like you've figured out how you learn, Mob."
Oh.
Everyone laughing as he shakily did long division on the chalkboard.
So he needed them to be…
"In this world, you are worth less than trash."
So he deserved it.
Milk on his head, blood on his hands, creek water in his shoes.
So he's worth more there.
"Mob?"
He looked up at his teacher, who still had a warm hand on his shoulder.
Red blood on his white shirt, red ink on his white paper.
"You're right, master."
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