Experience Tumblr Like Never Before
It happened in an instant.
Yuu woke up in a coffin, gasping in desperation and fear. The darkness swallowed him whole, rendering him unable to see.
Escaping that coffin when it was set ablaze by a cat-like monster marked the first adventure for Yuu.
Yuu's first reaction to this new world was like a child setting his gaze upon a brightly lit Christmas tree, eyes sparkling with bright lights and stars.
It was wonderful, colorful, and out of this world. It was like a dream.
His limbs trembled when he stepped into the new world, hands lifted before his eyes as though to question if everything was real.
And it was real. What Yuu felt and experienced was enough to tell that it's all real, and that was enough for him for wanting to stay even though it was just an abandoned ramshackle dorm, far from the luxury he had ever known.
He felt alive as magic burst like fireworks and danced to a rhythm his new friends orchestrated. Even if Yuu was magicless, he was happy all the same.
While it's true that his new life was sometimes faced with foes, obstacles, and antics caused by his friends, he didn't mind it at all. This is what he thought normal life should be like.
The pain that was inflicted on him, he cherished those as well. Perhaps it's strange to keep them as a reminder for most people, but for Yuu, it's not.
Maybe it's borderline crazy or just some weird coping mechanism.
Even if at some points he was asked by his friends about it, Yuu, whose being had been exposed as an anomaly for being magicless and from another world, could only smile.
Let it be his only secret.
Call him a weirdo, call him any other unusual names so hurtful and all Yuu could do is laugh like it was the funniest thing in the world.
And Grim, beloved Grim. Naughty and spoiled, he truly cherished his furry companion. The warmth he emitted and the annoying yet endearing personality.
It can be said that he made Yuu's life even better than before.
What Yuu experienced here was something that he yearned for but could never say out loud. It's not that he didn't have the freedom to do so. It was just the weight of his words was so burdensome.
He let his same wish go out with a puff to every birthday candle snuffed, watched as his hope grew and perished and began anew. The small piece of cake in his mouth tasted bland every year he forced himself to eat.
It was only now that his wish had been heard and granted and he wanted to stay here for eternity where he could live without being scared and weak.
He wanted to have fun every day. He wanted to laugh and eat food that had never been so delicious in his whole life before. He wanted to wake up in his home with Grim snuggling by his side and greet his friends with smiles without worry.
He wanted to do what he couldn't do, to try everything even if he failed miserably, to run and to dance, to explore and feel and wear the most luxurious clothes without the Swords of Damocles dropping over his head at any moment.
He wanted to cry but he had already cried enough, he wanted to smile twice as much without faking it.
He stayed and stayed… . . . …and stayed.
Until what happened during Idia's overblot and Malleus's shook his peaceful life. The seed that was left behind without any water and light burst open from its coat. The plants branched out at the tragedies unfolding before his eyes, poking deep inside his head and heart where he kept the darkness sealed.
It touched the parts Yuu wanted to hide. The dream he lived in wavered and the truth bared its fangs, glinting threateningly.
Yuu began to miss home.
He missed his family who was always by his side, through sorrow and pain, without fail. Even if he knew that they were also a bit unwilling to see him some days.
But Yuu understood. He had no choice but to do so.
Yuu knew his wish was very selfish. Maybe that's why the Blue Fairy didn't grant it at all because Yuu was hesitant in his heart. Because granting that wish meant he had to let go, never to see them again.
It's true that he wished to be happy, never to worry about a thing.
But he also wished that they could be happy too. Together or without…
For the first time in his new life, nothing felt the same anymore. Every adventure had Yuu thinking of his family.
It was not fun anymore.
And Yuu, who wished for things to stay like this forever, finally grew up. A person who used to fit with his peers like puzzles or like a Mad Hatter to Wonderland became Alice who wanted to go home.
He was out of place and out of time.
His heart kept yearning for unreachable things but the first wish was granted so what's wrong with keeping hope that another will be granted as well?
That's what Yuu did and he was back to square one.
Truly, he was a very pitiable person from the beginning.
He kept wishing and wished and wished–
–until Yuu woke up with a gasp, eyes blown wide open only to shut tightly when bright lights penetrated his vision.
A familiar scent of sterilization invaded his nose followed by a numb sensation in all limbs.
People in white coats surrounded his bed while holding certain devices that must have aided in bringing him back to life if the heart monitor that began to stabilize was any indication.
Although muddle-headed, his gaze managed to spot Grim, his beloved doll that was sewn terribly and barely resembled a cat. He was slumped next to the books filled with fairytales set on the desk next to his hospital bed.
Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, and so on…
Yuu knew long ago what it meant to wake up in that coffin.
He was well aware that Twisted Wonderland is just another name for Neverland and Neverland is just another word for the afterlife, where the lost boys go and never grow up until the end of time.
He was ready to accept it but in the end…
He had made another wish and whispered it to the wishing star for the Blue Fairy to hear. A wish similar to Geppetto's yearning for a child, and in respond, Pinocchio, who was made of wood, was brought to life.
And he was indeed back to life. Back to the reality that he was reluctant to face every morning. Back to being a burden, stuck in the bed with white walls and limbs that couldn't move and senses that dulled over time as he festered in that place.
And it's all because Yuu didn't want to see his family cry over his coffin.
Yuu wanted to live even if it was painful. At least, until he's the only one left.
It was closest to a Happy Ending that Yuu could think of for a story like his, one that was truly fitting for a very selfish person.