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If You Want Survival

~~~~~ Inspired by Don’t Mess With Me by Temposhark

“…it only takes two facing mirrors to construct a labyrinth.”——————— Jorge Luis Borges, “Nightmares”, Seven Nights

Faced off, no one could have told the two boys apart. Nor could anyone have told what they were thinking. Was the terror in their eyes a sign that they realized the danger they were in? What little physics each boy knew said that coming in contact would only spell trouble. 

They didn’t need science to know that though.

They knew the depths of each other’s minds, and that was enough to warrant caution.

Were they waiting for the other to flinch? Were they waiting to wake up from what was obviously an impossible dream?Were they afraid of the outcome?

As their minds churned they each realized how this might play.

Building underneath the honest terror was a slow boiling disdain. Neither boy could have explained the sensation, only that each was aware the other must be feeling it too.  

In the way. 

Each considered walking away. Maybe there were some things too strange in this world to ever be possible — Some things that even the infinitely open mind of Mikado could not accept even as it stared him in the face. 

“Is your goal up there..”

”..Or down there..”

To escape the ordinary. To not get left behind by this ever hungry city. One had to constantly be adapting even to the strangest of existences. 

Neither boy would have noticed, but to the horror of any onlooker each had a cold smile twisting on their lips.

A shared thought passed between them. A quiet, dangerous realization.

One stepped forward, pressing their bodies together, whispering in the other’s ear, “Together?” The other boy slid one hand into the other’s, clutching it tightly.

“Together.”

Unfortunately for the city and everyone who lived within it’s confines no one was looking that day when an impossible pact was formed. The people of Ikebukuro lived their ordinary lives, blissfully unaware of the fate they were rushing towards.

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[[ I remember reading somewhere that drabbles are only supposed to be around 100 words long, but I still feel kind of bad about how short this is. And I sort of altered the ending. Initially I was going to have them seal the deal with a kiss, where they each bit each other’s lip — so like sealing a contract with blood. But I wasn’t sure how you’d feel and I wanted the ending to be as subtle as the rest of the piece was.