A void of inky black cut a sharp contrast to the blazing light you'd set out to investigate. That was the impression you were getting.

That and falling. Why were you falling? The ground's supposed to be there...

Wait, is it [i]falling[/i] or [i]floating[/i]?

You're not sure...

A general weightlessness. That was a fair compromise. Combined with this... expanse, perhaps, of black, you figured this was what it might be like in one of those isolation tanks you've heard about. Or some strange astral projection crap that you'd always been a bit too leery of trying.

Or.

You vaguely feel yourself frown, halfway robbed of even your own kinesthetic sense.

This could be death. If the soul and consciousness were left behind after the mind and body passed, this was very similar to what you were afraid death might have been like.

Drifting in inky silence, barely able to feel or think, alone.

Forever.

[color=fff79a]"Fuck [i]tha[/i]— Huh?"[/color] you begin to say, in your usual eloquent manner, before your weight returns to you.

Well, in a sense. It was more like you had a sense of it again. Something had caught you in the dark.

A whole bunch of bright blue somethings, as you realize you can see the difference of looking through and not looking through your beloved shades again.

In some manner that felt halfway between simply trying to and physically moving yourself, you turn to face the darkness below, noting with some confusion that it's a bunch of small butterflies that have somehow commiserated to support you.

And there was a whole bunch of nasty gold eyes down there.

[i]A simple test; can you state your name?[/i]

[color=fff79a]"Uh..."[/color]

You were sure at this point that, no, this wasn't what death was like any more. Death never turns into a trip this weird, you were pretty certain. Voices in your head was a maybe, but...

[color=fff79a]"Who's asking?"[/color]

[color=f7941d][i]You.[/i][/color]

...

[color=f7941d][i]You don't get it, do you?

You've never had to before. Really, being attached at the hip like that...[/i][/color]

An pitch-colored hand, with its form only shown by the blue light of the butterflies, grasps towards you, and you feel ice run through your veins as its inexorable advance towards your aloha-shirted form sets every alarm bell on fire.

[color=fff79a]"I go by Aloha-kun, that work?"[/color]

You say it hesitantly. Like you had to give an answer for a test you half-studied for, and were fairly sure of it intellectually, but didn't really understand the subject material.

...You [i]were[/i] pretty sure you got called that, right?

The hand seems unabated by this information. If anything, it speeds up.

Raw instinct takes over, and the closest thing you have on hand is swung to meet it even as you dodge, batting it away and feeling like you just hit something that was simply [i]wrong[/i].

What the hell?

[color=fff79a]"Not happenin', buster..."[/color] you growl. Last thing you needed in this weirdass scenario was to get grabbed and have your soul sucked out, or something like that.

>dying and leaving your bro alone in the world
>any year

In spite of it all, you manage a wry grin even as you scramble to your feet, but it doesn't reach your shade-obscured eyes.

You had a bro you cared about. You didn't want to leave him to his fate.

You knew that.

But... that wasn't the question. "Some guy with a friend" is no proper answer to that sort of thing.

You knew that.

...Aloha-kun. The best friend your friend could ever have.

That wasn't an answer either.

You knew that.

[color=f7941d][i]Always looking out for everyone else leaves no time to look in, you know.[/i][/color]

The voice echoed around you... or within you? You couldn't say.

[url=http://vocaroo.com/i/s164q47DdWND][i]Maybe rephrasing it will work.[/i][/url]

Your voice catches in your throat, even as the onyx arm resets its course towards you again.

Why didn't you know that?