Goodnight [Decim x Ghost!Reader]

(www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yoI9N… Please listen while you read!)

A look,

a simple glance,

an unspeakable pain to the chest,

and that was all it took.

Immediately, you knew.

You were dead.

You expected no comfort from him, as his glassy eyes surveyed the scene. Your opponent shrieked, clutching her head and tearing her hair. Despite boasting her skills in this bizarre choice of game, she possessed not the strength nor the endurance to face the truth; that she too was dead.

Dead...

You swallowed the aching lump in your throat, and your legs turned into jelly, tingling and trembling. The world seemed to spin around you into nothing, memories of your life replaying in the theater of your mind.

Blood.

A scream.

A pair of maddened eyes.

The gleam of a knife.

Streaks of red across the wall.

You perceived yourself in the cracked mirror, a hollow of what you once were, shattering, falling into nothing.

It was taken from you, this gift of life bestowed on you. It slipped through your fingers like sand.

Your heart twisted. The pain engulfed you until you lost breath.

Or was this your heart?

Did such emotions reside even in death?

The girl at war against you crumbled to pieces. She thrashed. She screamed. She lunged at the silver haired supervisor with ravenous intent. With a wave of his hand, and a grunt from her throat, she was suddenly halted, levitating in mid air. You caught a glimpse of silver wire attached to her, keeping her in place as a puppet.

“I am quite sorry,” came low, monotone voice.

“Let me go!!” she shrieked. “Let me go, you freak!!”

“I am afraid that is out of the question,” he replied, white face revealing no emotion. “You have lost the game, and now comes the final judgement.”

“No! No!! Fuck that!! I don’t want to die!!”

But, we’re already dead...

That little whisper echoed in your mind as you, at last, fell to your knees.

Dead...

Dead...

Recollections of your beloved family and friends flashed to the surface of your mind: your job, your college, all your joy and strife.

All of it...

...for nothing?

All of it...

...gone just like that?

And swiped away by some sick beast of a human...

You had so much, so much you wanted to offer, so much you wanted to live for.

Did you do something wrong?

Was this some punishment for an unknown sin?

What was it for?

Did your life mean nothing?

Decim stood and watched you ruminate. You seemed so calm, so quiet, but he noted the agony in your red-rimmed eyes, the hunch of your back, as if carrying a load far too big, the trembling of your shoulders, as if ready to be completely and utterly crushed.

Despite his cold exterior, he felt his heart ache for you.

Once your opponent regained her composure, releasing her from his prison, he slowly approached you. You raised your head.

“What,” you more stated rather than inquired.

With no words as a reply, he simply took your hand and pulled you from the cold tile. You were surprised most certainly by this gesture, but the tears continued their journey down your cheeks.  You glanced away from his intense gaze.

“I...,” you managed to speak just a little, your throat constricting in pain. “I just had so much to live for...”

He merely hummed in reply.

“But...it’s all gone,” you covered your soaking face with your palms. “I...I just miss them. I miss them so much...”

He observed, almost with a hint of fascination, at your tears. A strange urge to hold your face and  wipe them away washed over him. You had lived a fulfilling life, one that was cut off far too soon.

And he admired that.

Instead, he pulled you into him, pushing your head against his shoulder. You gasped at the movement and froze, completely unsure of how to respond.

And in a voice softer than a breath, he said,

“You can rest now. No matter what, you did the best you could.”

Your eyes widened. “Wh...Wha-?”

A palm came to the back of your neck, up and down, in a slow, soothing rhythm.

“You lived a fulfilling life. You did the best you could.”
Strangely enough, the tension in your chest eased away with each exhale. His voice, though soporific, contained just a hint of warmth, one you could cling to.

And as he continued these small ministrations, you clung to him, hiding your face in his vest scented with alcohol, and wept until you possessed no strength left.

Your opponent, empty and seeking comfort, crawled to his side, gazing up at him as a lost child would.

“You did the best you could,” he said again, placing his free hand atop her head. “Both of you.”

With little to nothing left inside you, you found yourself on the verge of drifting away.

Strangely enough, a peace entered your broken heart.

You cared not where you ventured from here.

Just as long as you could carry that peace of mind with you, and strangely enough, this man, Decim, the arbiter, could grant that to you.

“You can rest easy now,” he told you once more.

And finally, you closed your eyes.



~Goodnight...