Chapter Text
Doom woke up with the sun, as he always did. The sky painted the landscapes with a red-ish shade, making the already burning desert look and feel even hotter. At least the heat made it easier to keep the fire alive for the nights that were too cold to even breathe properly.
He reached for his mask on instinct and put it over his face, the air purifier didn't work anymore, there wasn't really a reason to put it on, but he found confort in the orange overlay the vizor gave him. For last, he slipped on his boots and got up.
He exited the tent with groan, his still injuried leg protesting against leaving the semi comfort of his torn sleeping mat. But he ignored the pain in his bones and started walking to their food stocking tent.
He walking in and started looking over the cabinets and chests. It wasn't exactly full, it wasn't exactly empty, they would still need to hunt very soon. He wonders if they'll be able to find some fish demons, Ice-hot seemed to really like them.
He grabbed an already cut piece of meat, some demon fat, and a pan. Then he paused for a moment, tasting the air, it would rain soon, he should put the pots on the floor to stock up on water. He grabbed the pots too before getting out.
The fat sizzled as he put the meat on he pan along with it, the smell came up immediately, infesting the air. Demon meat smelled horrible, and tasted even worse.
The meat seemed to be always bleeding, the dripping of the repugnant sewer green liquid that came out of it never ending. And the color made it look even less appetizing, a sickly vomit green with bits and pieces of moldy grey making it impossible to really tell if it has actual mold or not, especially with the light cover of fur that covered it even after taking off the skin. And the taste could be only described as weeks old ox liver left outside the freezer in the heat of summer.
It was horrible, but it was all they had.
A sound of a zipper being open brought him out of his disgust for the food he was making and directed his attention to the boy coming out the tent next to him. Ice-hot was rubbing his good eye to chase away the sleepyness, his half black half white hair a mess, and his nose scrunched up in disgust at the smell all around them. Doom couldn't blame him.
"Morning." He said with his usual bland voice, walking forward to sit on the rock next to Doom's.
"Morning. Today's breakfast is almost ready." Doom said, leaning forward to flip the meat, making the smell even stronger. "It's going to rain today."
"Good, we're running out of water."
"I know."
The silence that followed would probably be considered awkward for the common folk, but it was actually very comfortable for the two of them. Not there was common folk in the camp, it didn't have anyone at all...
Once the meat got done they cut it in half and ate it in silence, mostly because there wasn't much to talk about. It was just the two of them, the only people still alive in the world, any story they could tell one another was already told, any new experience they had was shared, and any new thing they encountered was encountered together, talking to eachother would be the same as talking to a mirror, so they saved their breaths.
It wasn't long before they finished eating, they preferred to just get it over with instead of taking their time because the food was just that awful, especially for Ice-hot, who grew up in a higher class than Doom did.
They stayed there after they finished, waiting for the rain to come so they could clean the blood under their nails and the dirt stuck in their hair, to feel at least slightly clean. And somewhere along the way, Ice-hot's head ended up on Doom's lap, as it always did.
"Is it about your brothers, sister, or mother this time?" Doom asked in an slightly gentler voice than usual, he'll never understand why anyone would miss their families, but he understood it hurt. Doom wishes he hurt like that for his own family, but he couldn't, he tried.
"Brother." Ice-hot whispered slowly, after some seconds he specified. "Oldest."
"I see." Doom nodded, and it was the end of that.
Rain came and went like it always did, weak, fast, and burning. But considering all the pots were filled to the brim by the end of it they couldn't really complain. They could never complain, because they were alive, and whatever kept them alive was already more than all the others had, so they couldn't complain.
Sometimes, though, Doom lets his mind drift alway to less than pleasant thoughts, in those times he asks himself why they're still here. Living didn't really have much meaning anymore, what dreams could the only two people alive have? A profession? Why? Noone here to work for. Children? Not unless they suddenly found a way to defy biology. A relationship? Maybe marriage? Sex? A first kiss? Not with his brother in arms that's for sure.
They had no reason to live besides eachother, and maybe that's what the meaning of life is.
They say hell is other people, but so is heaven, so what's the difference? There is none. A heaven without people wouldn't be a heaven anyone would be happy to live in, no matter how anti social. In a hell with millions of sinners you at least have someone to share your suffering with. And that's the meaning of life, he sees it now, he used to think loneliness was the only way he wouldn't hurt but now he sees that it's the opposite. Heaven is other people, earth is other people, the meaning of life is other people, and until he's the only person left standing he'll still have a reason to live.
At least, that's what he found while wondering alone at night, before the days started to blurr together and the rest of he tents were slowly taken down and burnt in honor of their fallen brothers and sisters. It's hard now, to follow that ideology. Earth is now hell, a hell with no one, no one besides two teenagers with way too little experiences to last a life time of stories.
But Ice-hot's here, so theres still meaning to life, so Doom will live, live until there are no more reasons to. Because that's what life is.
Their night was uneventful as always, they laid in their respective mats and pretended to sleep until it stuck. Both of them have too many problems to sleep easily, somehow that's comforting.
He wished that's how the night stayed, he really did. He wished they could have just kept living their boring days that blended together and passed through in silence, it didn't.
It started with a loud crash followed by a roar. Doom really wasn't in the mood to deal with a demon right now, but really, what other option did they have.
He quickly got up and out of his tent already with the AK he slept with in hand. Ice-hot followed right after.
The demon was big but he recognized it's type, a crab demon, one of the least awful ones tasting wise. They would have food for weeks with that one.
Although the demon was covered in a hard shell the joints and face were basically paper, pretty easy to win if you avoided it's punches.
"I'll take care of the joints, you aim for the face." Doom said, taking the knife off his belt and throwing the AK to Ice-hot, who nodded.
He jumped one, two times with one foot, and then did the same with the other despite it protesting when he did it, before sprinting forward. He dodged a claw as soon as he got close enough and tried to reach for the legs. Sadly the crabs were one of he more clever demons around so it realized what he was doing and aimed at him with a another punch.
The moment the punch hit the floor Doom was quick to push the knife towards the joint, a deafning scream was his reward.
The fight continued with Doom dodging and stabbing whenever possible and the shots from Ice-hot ranging in the air every few seconds, most of them missing the demons head with how fratic it was. It wasn't until ten minutes in that there was finally a good enough opening. Doom buried the knife between the empty space in the demons knee and used his foot to help dislocate it. Blood gushed on his face and the demon screamed so loud it left his ears ringing. The demon fell foward to his hands and Doom rolled out from under him before he was crushed, just then, the shots stopped. Ice-hot must be tired, that's okay, Doom would just kill this one alone.
He used the demon's last good leg to climb to it's back and held onto it's shell once it tried standing again, he was able to thrust the knife deep into it's neck before it started thrashing and falling back. As soon as Doom jumped down he was ready to take the reserve glock from the back of his belt and finish the job. He was ready, until he realized where the demon was falling on.
The weapon tent.
His eyes widened and he reached forward purely on instict. "WAIT-
He could hear and feel his ears ringing.
His whole body hurt, his bones cracked when he moved and the air was knocked out of him. He tried taking a deep breath only to begin coughing his lungs out.
His body shook as his lungs burned and his spine dug into his now sensitive skin. Sitting up with much difficuty after the coughs calmed down lightly, he could see his that his previously injuried leg was now mangled and numb, at least that wasn't hurting too.
He paused for a moment, letting his lungs take in air, the smell of burnt crab demon was strong, and so was the smell of gunpowder. His non mangled leg was definetly broken, his back was skinless, he could feel the side of his face burning, and he was pretty he couldn't move the eye on that side. Well, if he survives, at least he and Ice-hot matched now.
He laid back on the floor. Speaking of where was Ice-hot? Normally he would already be by Doom's side patching him up and crying over his possible death. He'll probably here soon. He told himself and closed his moving eye, ready to rest for a while.
That thought didn't stay in his head for long. Not when another cough was heard. A muffled cough.
Before he could even begin to think his arms were already dragging him towards the sound. He could feel his abdomen be scratched raw by the floor beneath him. His nails were being left behind in the dirt with how harshly his fingers dug but he didn't care, he couldn't even feel it, not with how fast his arms were moving.
The sound had stopped once he reached where it came from, a still burning tarpaulin.
He dug his fingers even harder into the dirt and bosted himself forward to throw the cloth to the side. Beneath it he could hear breathing but couldn't see a person, so he kept digging.
He threw away pieces of wood from the cabinets and drawers they used to put the knives, metal from the standing shelves they put the bombs, and even the remains of the guns and bullet cartridges they kept on the floor for easy access until he could see hair sticking out from under another piece of cloth.
He took it out to see the face of his brother in everything but blood looking up to him, miraculously not yet dead.
"Ice-hot! Calm down i'll take you out from under there!" Doom said starting to grab at the rubble covering his brothers body. He didn't recognize his own voice, panicked and high pitched. He rarely sounded like that, he rarely had a reason to sound like that, the last time he sounded like that was when... No he can't think like that right now!
He could faintly hear Ice-hot's voice weakly call out to him. But it wasn't until he screamed that Doom finally stopped. Looking at what he was holding, he understood the scream. A hatchet, or whatever remained of one, was plunged deeply in what Doom could only guess was Ice-hot's stomach.
"Fuck." Ice-hot muttered weakly, his voice so hoarse it sounded painful to speak.
"No." Doom whispered. "No, no, no. Not like this. Please not like this." He repeated over and over under his breath. His eyes wattering and tears falling freely for the first time in his life.
"Doom." A weak mutter called out to him.
"Ice-hot." He responded, voice shaky and wet.
"Tell me about heaven."
".... What?"
"Heaven... What is it?" Ice-hot reached out a hand from under the rubble, pointing at the cross that was now fused with Doom's skin. "I... Never... Never understood... When you... Whenever you mentioned it... I never... Understood."
Doom stopped moving, after a few seconds he grabbed Ice-hot's hand. "... It's a good place... A good place where good people go... When they die..." He started, trying to pull from any of the information he memorized back when he was just a kid, with only the bible and the nuns as his company. "Heaven is... Heaven is above the sky... Bu- but it's not on space, it's above that too... A- and when you've done good and regretted the bad you did, you go there, and theres no suffering. Theres no pain or suffering anymore..." His speech was interrupted by sniffs and hiccups, but Ice-hot seemed to understand it pretty well.
"That's sounds nice." The dual haired boy smiled. "I hope... I go there..."
"You... You will... Of all the people in this earth... You were the best one..." Doom dragged himself to hide himself on Ice-hot's chest, his heartbeat was so weak, do weak it was sickening. "You were the best one Ice-hot."
"Shoto... My name is..."
"Shoto..." Doom repeated. Ice-h- Shoto nodded.
"It means... Burn and... Freeze."
"It's a good name... I- i'm Izuku... It means t- to be born..." He hasn't used that name in years, and yet, it felt natural to say. Izuku... It felt human.
"That's a good name too... I'll have a son... When i'm in heaven and... And i'll name him izuku."
"... I would be honored... I would honored to have the same- the same name as an angel."
Shoto smiled brightly at him. Doom... Izuku tried to smile back, but it only came out like a grimace. It didn't take long for Shoto's smile disappear as his muscles relaxed and the light in his eyes started leaving.
Izuku felt the need to scream, so he did, he screamed and screamed on the top of his lungs until he couldn't anymore. Everything hurt, the cross burned against his skin and his stomach hurt so fucking much it made him delirious.
Life was other people, hell was other people, heaven was other people. Life is gone... He grabbed the hatchet stuck on Shoto's stomach and pulled it out, blood gushed on his face as he did but there was no scream or groan. Corpses don't feel pain after all. Angels don't feel pain.
His shaky hands brought the hatchet to his neck and pressed it until he could feel it cut. Life was gone now. He pressed it harder.
And harder.
And then.
He sliced.
As soon as his back fell to the ground his eyes opened. Rain... It was raining, and he was on his stomach...
It was raining and he was laid on his stomach, and it hurt, it hurt a lot. But not like it did before. He could feel his legs. They hurt, but he could move them, both of them. And... And there was a light... There was a light coming towards him. And a human silhouette holding that light. An angel.
He closed his eyes. Huh, maybe he was going to heaven after all. Maybe he'll even see Shoto there.
The last thing he heard was a siren.