Warnings: Angst

Notes: Soulmate AU in which you see everything in black and white until you lock eyes with your soulmate, at which point you see everything in color. However, when your soulmate dies, the world fades back to black and white.

~

     It was laughable, you and Ayato had been in the same classes in night school for so long, years even, but not once had you ever locked eyes with each other, you had no need. You were both used to living in black and white, much like everyone else at the school, that you weren't bothered about finding your soulmate, and seeing the colors. You wanted it to be a surprise when it happened, the moment would be magical, and perfect, and would come without you looking. 

      So, when you were leaning on the brick wall in the Sakamaki garden, admiring the monochromatic hues of the rose garden, after being sent as the newest sacrificial bride, you were shocked to hear your named called.

     "(Y/N)?" A familiar voice called, you'd heard it often enough in your classes, and you knew it'd only be a matter of time before you ran into each other. 

     But as you turned, what you were not expecting was for the air in your lungs to be whipped out by the force of the color soaking back into the once dark and dreary world. 

      His eyes were incredible.

      Green.

     "Your eyes..." You murmured out quietly, and you almost wanted to laugh, a warm bubbling feeling in your stomach and chest. Your soulmate had been right there for years, but you'd just never looked in each others eyes. 

     "You have pretty (E/C) eyes, (Y/N)." Ayato said, his verdant eyes glittering, facing pulling into a wide grin as he eyed you up and down in all of your colorful splendor. God, you were gorgeous, how hadn't he noticed this before? Color just made everything richer. And you were his.

    He pulled you tightly against him and closely admired the soft shade of pink that tinted your cheeks, and he swore he had never felt so proud. 

-

     He was proud, and he made sure everyone knew about it. He'd brag about you all the time to his school friends, his brothers, anyone he could get to listen. He'd gush about all the colors, and exclaim how you were the one who brought this, you were the best thing to happen to him, and he'd proudly exclaim how even though every girl was now in color, your colors shone the brightest. 

    He felt stupid for leaving it so long, how the hell hadn't he seen all this before? It made him feel uncharacteristically sick when he thought of how he had almost let you slip right through his grip, how he nearly spent his whole life in black and white, how he never met the one person who taught him what love was. 

      He was so sure and hopeful, everything would be perfect. He had you at his side, and the world was beautiful. He thought nothing could ever change that. But he forgot one deciding factor.

     You were human, and humans could die.

-

     He knew you were unwell, you'd been staying home from night school, and he reluctantly had to leave you each night for his studies. Of course, humans got ill, but he'd had the very same illness, and he'd been perfectly fine, but he forgot how much weaker humans were. 

     He knew you were getting weaker and weaker, but he and the brothers thought nothing of it. It has to get worse before it gets better, right? Not once had he considered you might actually die from this, no, you had a long, beautiful life together ahead of you.

      So, sat around a table in the canteen with his brothers at school, his gut began to clench when he took a glance at his brother Kanato.

      "What are you staring at me for, brother...?" Kanato murmured, burying his face in the top of Teddy's head, staring at his brother in suspicion. The rest of the eyes drew towards Ayato, and they took startled notice of his wide, horrified eyes.

      "The colors..." He muttered, his throat closing up in panic, trapping any other words deep inside him. Somehow, he knew what was happening, but he didn't want to believe it, it couldn't be happening, surely? Humans were supposed to live much longer than your (age) years of age. But sure enough, the lilac of Kanato's hair was fading back into a dull grey, and Ayato just watched in horror as the purples around him began to drain away, fading to grey or black, before the blue began to suck away, Shu's eyes fading back to a deep black, absent of all color.

      Ayato shot up from his seat, stumbling a few paces before he thought to teleport, and in a moment, he was stood outside the doors of the mansion. 

    "(Y/N)! Hold on!" He yelled desperately, slamming the doors open, and sprinting up to the stairs, taking them two at a time as the green hues faded away, the yellow beginning to become nothing more than tints of white, and light grays. 

     He barreled down the hall, stopping outside your door, desperately jiggling the handle in an attempt to open it with his shaky hands, as all color seemed gone. The door burst open, and there you were, nestled under the grey blankets, or, should they have been blue?

     He dropped to his knees next to your bed, grasping one of your warm, clammy hands in his own, his breath catching in his throat. You were awash with color still. The only thing left in his monochrome world. He wondered how you were still colored, was there still hope? But he knew there wasn't, as even your vibrant colors began to fade, but he begged all the same.

     "(Y/N), God, please, don't leave me..! Please, stay with me! Dammit, I can't go back to black and white, I need you, (Y/N)," He choked on his words, feeling his eyes sting with tears. He was never one to cry, nothing ever made him cry. Except you. The only good thing he had in his life, the one person who came in and changed everything, and made life beautiful. But now, it was fading. "I... I can't live without you, (Y/N), I love you, dammit..."

      "I'm sorry, Ayato..." You rasped out, and his eyes shot open wide, his hand gripping yours tightly, taking in your sad smile once more. "You'll learn to love again... You'll see color again, Ayato, I promise..." 

    "I don't care..." He hissed out through clenched teeth, and you could see the glassy sheen over his verdant eyes, the last color you would see would be the beautiful emerald of his eyes. how you loved his eyes. 

      There was a long moment of deadly silence, as your colors continued to fade, as Ayato struggled not to choke on his tears.

       "The only colors I want to see are yours..." He said as the last of the rosy pink faded from your cheeks, and the world fell back into monochrome once more, and he thought on how cruel this was. You had been snatched away from him.

      His soul mate was gone. The only girl he had ever loved. 

       He was alone. 

~