You'll Be Alright

I wrote this as an AU where there are no ghouls.

"Kaneki!" I gasped in horror, watching him fall to the ground. Heart pounding, I raced over there, stifling a sob as I fell to my knees. There was a giant hole in his side, and blood was beginning to pool around him.

"Shit, shit, shit!" I muttered, fumbling around for something, anything, that would help.

A weak hand grasped mine, halting my movements. Kaneki smiled a bit, tears coursing down his face.

No, this can't be happening. I finally got him back, and now... now... I couldn't finish the thought.

"Kaneki, you're going to be fine. Give me a minute, and I'll call Mr. Yoshimura, and he'll fix this. Yeah, he can fix this," I rambled, pulling out my phone and dialing Mr. Yoshimura. The phone rang and rang, but nobody answered. Eventually, the call went to voicemail, and I left a message, hoping it would be found in time.

When I tore my gaze away from my phone, I saw that Kaneki had shut his eyes, and I started freaking out. "Come on, Kaneki! Don't shut your eyes! You can't leave me now!" I said frantically, my hands moving toward his face.

He sighed a bit, and opened his eyes. Relieved, I started crying. Kaneki lifted his hand and wiped the some of the tears off my face, but that only made me cry harder.

His arm fell back to the ground, and I gently grabbed his hand, hoping someone would be able to help him before he... before... No. He's not going to. He can't. He can't, not when... I pulled myself out of my head when I realized his grip on my hand was fading.

I glanced around the street. Deserted. Nobody was there. Nobody would help. Nobody can even see what's happening right now.

Kaneki looked at me and murmured something, smiling. Then he shut his eyes.

"Kaneki? Kaneki! Come on, wake up! Open your eyes!" I shouted. No response. His hand was completely limp in mine.

"No, no, no. This... No," I repeated. I reached over to shake Kaneki. "You can't leave me like this, you idiot," I whispered, tears streaming down my cheeks.

Someone had heard me shouting and came rushing over. "Is something wrong?" they asked, apparently not noticing how... how... how Kaneki was...

I turned to the person, and started sobbing. They sat down next to me and started rubbing my back, and only then did I notice who the person was. It was Mr. Yoshimura, who had apparently been out shopping.

Wordlessly, I shifted a bit and pointed behind me, figuring he could see.

"Oh..." I heard him gasp. He pulled out his phone and made a quick call.

I laid down on the ground, dizzy. I think Mr. Yoshimura said something to me, I couldn't hear anything, couldn't acknowledge anything. Just knowing that Kaneki was lying there, bleeding out if not already... dead, made me feel like puking.

Just as the moon started rising above the horizon, an ambulance arrived. The paramedics gathered Kaneki up on a stretcher, and they managed to haul me up too. On the ambulance, they checked his pulse. It was extremely faint, but present.

Immediately, the paramedics hooked Kaneki up to some weird machines. They kept yelling things back and forth to each other. I just sat there, staring at Kaneki.

What was that saying again? Hope for the best and prepare for the worst? I nodded to myself. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what it is. Though this is Kaneki, so I don't even need to prepare for the worst. Kaneki will survive this, no matter what. He always does.

At some point, somebody checked on me. They nodded, and said something, but I couldn't focus, couldn't see, couldn't hear them.

After we arrived at the hospital, a team of doctors rushed off with Kaneki. Before leaving, one of them told me that he was going to have surgery. I followed this doctor for as long as I could, and then I sat on the floor outside the doors they entered.

After what felt like hours the team of doctors came out of the doors again. The one I talked to earlier looked down at me and nodded. I jumped to my feet and asked if I could see Kaneki. To this, the doctor said, "Come back tomorrow, when we can be sure that Kaneki is up for visitors."

I grinned, relieved. Kaneki would be alright! Overjoyed, I left the hospital.

After I was gone, the doctors began whispering among themselves.

"Do you think we should have told her?"

"Will the boy even make it through the night?"

"Poor things. I pity both of them."

"Could we have helped more?"

"There was no way to help him more, not with all that lost blood."

I came back as soon as visiting hours at the hospital began.

I approached the nurses' station. "Do you know what room a boy named Kaneki is in?"

The nurse on computer duty glanced up at me. "Kaneki? Are you sure that's his name?" she asked.

I nodded, confused. The nurse looked sorrowfully at me and murmured, "He passed away last night. I'm sorry for your loss."

I stood there, shocked. Kaneki was... But he was fine last night! He can't be... dead... Why does the world just hate us? What kind of sick joke is this?

We had a funeral for him later that week. So Kaneki really is gone. Just... how?

Numb with grief, I didn't cry. I just sat there, staring straight, unable to look at my friend's casket.

He was lowered into a grave, and after the first shovel swing, everybody left.

"Hey, miss. You should go now too," one of the grave diggers told me. I shook my head a bit and continued watching them fill the hole with dirt.

When the diggers were done, they walked off, and I laid down next to the freshly dug grave. Curling in on myself, I started sobbing.

A week later, mourners finally found me lying next to Kaneki's grave... dead.

Not the best story, but thank you for reading.