Lost in Forever (P, IO)

Altar was alone...for the most part, that is. He was sitting on the ledge of the training towers, legs dangling haphazardly over the side, slowly eating away at a blue popsicle he had bought. It was a strange flavor, but he couldn't even vaguely remember the name of it. The vendor selling them had said something about sea salt, he thought. Then again, his memory had always been keen to playing tricks on him.

As he licked idly at the popsicle, Tenebris, Altar's dragon, would be flying around in the sky, shedding his skin and releasing the ash from his coat. He was supposed to be training, but neither him nor Altar felt in the mood for it. Altar felt strangely...alone out here. He was half-tempted to summon Maya simply for the company, and to test his hand at summoning, but figured it would be best to stay that for now. Knowing her, she'd be pissed at being brought simply for conversation. She didn't seem very friendly. Then again, their first meeting she had tried to kill Altar, but that was in the past now. Hopefully.

The sun was slowly drifting downwards past the horizon line, spreading varying shades of orange and red around the sky. Altar would let out a sigh and look to Tenebris, flicking his now empty popsicle stick off the side of the building. Not like it would hit anyone on the way down or anything.

Haru’s dreams brought him back to his time as a genin. The younger Haru was sitting on his bed, a puppy that was recognizable as Timber curled at the foot of the bed. He was holding his face, as if crying. The view switched to the first person, and Haru suddenly felt an intense burning sensation is his left eye. This was his adjustment to not having two byakugan. He remembered the pain vividly.

The younger boy stood up, stumbling to the bathroom, looking into the mirror, his left eye, the fake byakugan, was not where it was supposed to be. Instead, a bloodshot, coal black eye stared back at him. The eye pun as three tomoes formed, each stinging like a hot pin being twisted through his eye.
 
He gasped in pain, turning on the sink and washing his eye, trying anything to make the pain stop. The eye burned, and he could faintly hear voices, many of them. One of which he recognized vaguely…
”You have dishonored us. You must become whole once more.” Came the voice, the one that seemed familiar echoing over the rest.
”Dad?” Haru asked faintly.
 
Haru was pulled out of the dream, a cool breeze sending shivers down his spine. Where was he? He looked around, unsure of his surroundings. He was hanging from a cable, dangling over the streets. He rubbed his head. A throbbing pain shot through him as he brushed what seemed to be a bruise, and a pretty major one at that.
 
It came rushing back to him. He had tried to climb the cable, just as Altar had. The cable, which was adjusted for Altar’s weight, stretched too far, and caused Haru’s head to crash into the concrete, before stringing him up to sleep with the blood flowing to his head. He felt his sharingan eye. Still a searing pain remained.
 
He began to climb the cable, working his way up quickly. It took him just over a minute to get to the top, pulling himself to safety and dropping the weights off his body. To his surprise, Altar was sitting there.

”Not now, kid. I’m done teaching for awhile.” He said, not looking at Altar.

Altar was beginning to get somewhat bored, and so he had decided to look around the humble rooftop. Of course, he didn't find much, but what he did find intrigued him. He hadn't remembered Haru taking the cable and weights from their last training session off the roof. However, they were nowhere to be found. He tried to remember if Haru had moved them somewhere, but the only thing that came back to him was static and fog, the memories barely even there. Altar let out a sigh, and proceeded back to where he had been. As he did this, he noticed a cable tied to the railing of the building. So, someone else had found use for the cable. Altar would walk up to the cable, about to peek over to see who was climbing it, but as he did, someone came over the side of the railing. Looking to see who it was, Altar immediately picked out the mismatched eyes and staunch white hair of Haru. Well, speak of the devil and he shall appear, it seemed.

Haru turned to Altar after taking off the training weights and unstrapping the cable, and made a comment about not teaching him for a while. While he made this short comment, Altar would scan over his body. There didn't seem to be much physical wear from climbing the cable, a sign of the vast physical difference and experience between the two. This made Altar wonder if he would ever reach the level Haru was at now. It was his dream, but not all dreams were reached.

"No, no, i'm not here to train. I'm just...here, I guess. Hard to explain. I kinda got tired of just sitting in the plains, and despite all the giant buildings dotting the sky and getting in the way, the view from this place is amazing." Altar would say, turning to look at Haru.

"So then, what are YOU doing here?"

Haru sighed.
”Reflecting.” He said, his hand going to his sharingan, his other eye moving to Altar’s byakugan. HIS byakugan. It was now, in this moment, that all of his mistakes had caught up to him. He never should have let Daniel take that eye, hell, he never should have given it to Altar. He wasn’t going to take it back from the kid, but he at least wanted to as himself. As Haru Hyuuga. He had stuck so many needles into himself and injected so many other people’s blood, he was barely even himself any more. How could he not see that until now? He glanced back at the ledge. There was no rail where he had climbed up, it was just an open ledge. A fall from this height would kill him, easily. He felt in his pocket. His soul amethyst was still there.

”Look, Altar, I need a favor. This eye, this sharingan… it’s killing me. I can’t stand it anymore, I just want to be whole again. I’m not gonna take my byakugan from you, but will you take this from me? I can hear voices, telling me to get rid of it, making it burn like it’s frying my brain… I’m bringing shame to my family by simply having this eye…” He practically begged to Altar as the pain spiked again. ”Will you take it? I can’t just destroy it, I won’t let myself waste it, but I can’t just have this laying around…”

Altar's eyes widened as Haru began speaking, somewhat begging him to take his Sharingan, saying things along the line of wanting to be whole again, going on about how he was shaming himself and his family by not being pure. It almost seemed as though he was going insane, hearing voices and his mind burning. Altar truly didn't know what to say. He had never seen Haru like this, so urgent and in such pain that he was begging. So, Altar merely nodded.

"I'll take it, if you're sure you don't want it. As long as you're sure you'd be okay without it...I can understand wanting to be pure and whole. If you're not yourself, then you're left as no one. A shell of your former self and of your former glory." Altar would say, waiting for Haru to, presumably, knock him out and begin the transplant.

Altar stopped himself, a feeling of recognition coming over him. This was not the time, nor the place. This would need to wait, as much as he hated to say that, as the prospect that Haru was offering him excited him.

"Not now, actually. I feel this should be done more...officialy. So, i'll see you later." Altar would say, giving a small wave to Haru before leaving the towers.

~Exit~