"Vengeance"

-----------------

Do you not see the emptiness of your aspirations? Or have you been blinded by the temptation of faith?

Sono toki, ame ga futteita. Ni nen mae watashi no kokoro wa shinda hazu... (At that time, it had been raining. My heart was supposed to have perished 2 years ago...)

...

The heavens cried without holding back their tears, just like that faithful day so long ago.

"I'm thankful for what you've done, but I cannot go away with you now, or ever again."

It was not the answer that he had expected. Blackwing had come to her searching for something to fill the emptiness in his heart, for since that rainy day two years ago, the regret that hung heavy in his chest had dragged his once polished pride into the sifting mud with each new step that he took forward. He had come seeking the woman that he had wrongfully wounded for retribution of his sins, for forgiveness, for mercy. He came seeking peace. Instead, she only did the worst thing possible by refusing to grant him the charity that he so desperately sought.

"... why, Chang-Mi?" he said slowly. The monotonous drone of the raindrops battered his jacket and trailed in dying drops from the clean, sterile mask that he wore upon his face. Only two others stood on the school rooftops that day; the gunman, Joon Ho, and the invincible killer, Millina. Neither said a word as they waited behind their companion, the legendary traitor of the Kuruda gang, Chang-Mi Baek, but they watched him patiently nonetheless.

"...why?"

Deep inside, he yearned so badly to say so much more. The love that he had betrayed both to her and to himself two years ago strained against the confines of his chest, bursting with want and desire to be freed from its caged prison. He wanted to tell her everything, and if nothing else, he wanted this one person in his life to not hate him so. But nothing more would come to his lips. Those words that he had had to force down so long ago had now settled in his gut to rot, wasting away as his emotions slowly broke apart.

"It has nothing to do with the Kuruda or the Juliannes, with this useless war, even with you and me," said Chang-Mi softly, her gentle voice prying open the dying light to his soul. "We simply cannot relive the past, Blackwing. You made me very happy back then, but I learned that I could not simply mull on something that was no longer there. The world will go on changing without us, and this is something that we must accept within ourselves if we are to change with it."

"It doesn't have to change," he protested, urgency rising in his voice as he stepped forward to confront the woman. "I haven't changed. I'm still here."

But Chang-Mi only shook her head sadly, letting the heavy drops of the storm cover her face in god's tears. Slowly, she approached him, and he could only watch in fear as she raised her hand through the wet haze to caress the ivory surface of the mask that he had pulled in front of his eyes. His body flinched as the pressure from her thin fingers pressed against the flesh of his cheek beneath the cold guise, but he could not respond no matter how hard he tried, his body riveted to the ground like a statue by the sheer terror that ran throughout his trembling frame. She had always been a little shorter than him, but on that day it seemed as though he had to strain his neck to look up at her radiating visage that had calmly approached him through the fog of death.

"No," she said, wrapping her fingers around the sides of the pristine vizard and unhooking the straps. "It can't ever be the same. That world is something that I left behind long ago, and I will never be able to return to it's warmth ever again."

The mask noiselessly clattered on the concrete rooftop beneath the droning of the rain, and Blackwing never noticed for he was too enticed by the scintillating gaze of the woman he loved. At that moment, he wished that he could be weak. He wished that he could cry, that his body would respond to the burning pain etched within his soul. But he could not. And like a stone, he could only stare back at her helplessly, letting the rain pour down his face like the tears that he could no longer bear.

"People are like that," she whispered softly, touching his cold cheek gently with the ends of her fingers before slowly pulling back and drifting away like a ghost. "I couldn't spend my life chasing something that had already left me. I had to move on... I had to live. But we've both evolved into something different since that day. I'm not the person that you knew back then, and neither are you. No matter how things were in the past, it's still the past and nothing we do now can ever bring it back. That's why I can't go with you, Blackwing. We can't live out an empty shell of something we had and lost. I have to be able to stand by myself now, and I can't turn back until I find out how to do so on my own."

And turning back to the future, Chang-Mi Baek walked off into the misty oblivion once again, leaving a broken man alone in the midst of the bleak storm.

...

"Tashika ni

ii koto tte tsuzukanaikeredo

iyana koto ga, hitotsumo nakattara

ureshii koto ga, wakaranai kamoshirenai.

Tashika ni

Nikurashii hito ya mukatsuku hito wa heranaikeredo

Kiraina hito ga, inakunattara

Sukina hito ga, wakaranakunachau kamoshirenai.

Sore jya, iyadashi,

Daiichi, tsumaranakunaru."

("Surely

good things do not continue to exist forever

but if there were never any bad things

we may not understand happiness.

Surely

the people who we hate and the people who agitate us will not decrease in number

but if there were no people who we disliked

then we may cease to understand those people who we love.

That is no good,

and most importantly, it would make our lives dull.")

--- Yuriko Usami, Umareta Himitsu (From "Genki o Dashite")

...

The stars twinkled in the cold night air as a single man stood before the sacred throne of a Goddess. A thick cloak adorned his shoulders as he stood upon the endless sky and watched the universe turn in place far down below. The stars had not stopped crying since the day the archangel had shown himself upon the plains of man once again, and he could only weep along with them because he knew how helpless he truly was before this power that could not be stopped.

"End of the world..."

He shook his head in disdain as he turned back to the royal seat to address his master. His blood had run cold of emotions long ago, but the concern in his dark eyes could not be hidden no matter how hard he tried.

"I must go then, my liege," he said humbly, bringing a closed hand to his chest as he did so. "The wheels have begun to turn from the sin that I have brought upon myself. The stars have already told me what I must do, and with your approval I shall take my leave."

But was that really true? If it was all just fate, then surely the meeting with the seraph had already been foreordained by a greater power. Were they all simply destined to die no matter what they did? No matter how hard he tried? He himself had believed that he could change that when he threw himself to the mercy of his would-be killers, or had that action already been seen by someone who already resided in the heavens?

She simply nodded silently, her words painted in song and noise that flowed into his ears like warm summer air. And he bowed respectfully, waiting until he had brought himself back up in full before turning about to leave. She already understood his duty better than he understood it himself. If nothing else, maybe she could help guide him back to..."

"Sei."

The name was spoken crisply and cleanly in the empty chamber, and the glow that it held lit up the entire room like a sun. To any normal person, such a beautiful voice would have caused them to swoon beneath the speaker's sacred radiance. But for Sei, such a voice made him whirl about in shock and horror, for the Goddess seldom spoke aloud, let alone to somebody such as himself.

"Y... yes, my liege?" he answered shakily, completely unprepared for an actual conversation with his master. Her words were usually reserved for only the most revered of creatures to bring deserved praise, or for the most vile when such the need arose to strike fear into those people's hearts. Usually, a simple telepathic response was more than enough to send him away with his duties for the day, but today was the first day that she had actually spoken directly to him out loud.

"... he's come for me, hasn't he?" she said quietly, though even then her voice continued to fill the chamber with her overwhelming presence. And Sei could only stand there as fear leaked back into his closed heart, surprised that her words were so reserved, so frail for someone like her to utter...

"... yes, my liege. It would appear that way."

And she simply nodded in silence, the light about her throne returning to its former state as she rose her head to face him once again.

"You know what you must do, Sei."

"Yes, my liege," he replied, bowing quickly before turning to step out into the world once more. His steps were brisk and carried him out of her chambers with what would have otherwise appeared to be direction and haste. However, inside his heart, the feelings were much, much different. It was not that he was anxious to carry out his duty at all. Rather, he moved at such speed only because he feared that Goddess who had dared to show such a weakness to his own face...

...

People have always feared fate. But even within the mythical explanations of what drives this preordained sense of destiny, there is always a stronger power whose will guides the weaker beings. Theoretically, strength guides destination whether that be for oneself or that of another. So there is another word that can describe this type of behavior of one who resides himself to his designated future.

Apathy.

...

The air seemed to hold its breath as Kouryuu silently wove about the dark silhouettes of towering pines on feet that seemed to barely touch the ground. About half an hour had passed since she and Asimov had split off from the main group to scout ahead, only the bare minimum of navigation and communication programs remaining active in her mind so as to savor her remaining energy as much as possible. So far she had found nothing, but the forest was also far more quiet than it should have been. Moving almost became a chore for the rebel as she made painstaking effort to create as little noise as possible, but against the dead silence of the silent grove around her, even the smallest of movements seemed to echo throughout the timberlands. There should have been something more. Perhaps crickets, or maybe an owl. If insects and small animals could survive in the broken cities and desert wastelands, then this lush haven should have been abundant with their numbers. Yet, nothing came to her ears. That only meant that those creatures might have already sensed a bigger threat within their midst and were smart enough to keep quiet. Perhaps she was the only one still oblivious to its ominous presence.

"How are things over there?" she said as she relayed a quick message to Asimov.

"It's pretty quiet on this side," replied the golden warrior in a steady voice. "I've been fanning out to the west a bit to see if they might be trying to flank us, but I haven't seen any trace of Yoshiki or Toy's men at all. I think we may have a good chance if we continue on in this direction. How about you?"

"Nothing yet," said Kouryuu, stopping for a second as she scanned the crooked shadows for traces of movement. "But I don't quite think the situation is in my favor either."

"Meaning?"

"It's way too quiet," she said. "I haven't been able to physically see a trace of a tracker or soldier, but you could almost swear that I'm the only one out here right now if you listened to the air. Even the trees are quiet, like someone sucked the breeze out of the air."

"It could just be you," he joked lightly. "You were pretty high strung before, I wouldn't discount that it's just your own overzealous perception getting the better of you."

"Maybe, but... this just doesn't feel right."

Kouryuu had to fight the urge in her hand to reach back and wrap her fingers comfortably about the hilt of her blade. Every instinct in her body cried out that something was not right with the environment that she had immersed herself in, but there was nothing that she could do to prove it. She had certainly been on edge lately, could Asimov's words hold the truth? It certainly would have been easier to accept that hypothesis. However, inherent recognition ended up winning out over logic as she quickly grasped the end of her weapons and pulled the cool steel out into the cold night air.

"If we already know that the western route is clear, I suggest we veer off in that direction. I'm getting bad vibes on this side, I'm going to regroup with the others as soon as possible."

"Sounds good to me, I'll continue where I am now just to make sur---zzzzvvzzvv"

Kouryuu's forehead creased as his last words suddenly faded out into static, becoming completely incomprehensible in seconds.

"You're going to have to repeat that last part, I didn't quite catch what you said."

"zzvvvvzrrrvvzz......"

Before she knew it, even the white noise had disappeared into nothingness, and she was left alone once again in the silent, unmoving woods. But why had the signal simply disappeared? The line shouldn't have been able to be jammed by their enemy, it was a private connection similar to the one she used to communicate with Double. She kept a firm grip on the communication program itself, but it was almost as if there were nothing there, a black hole in the midst of her computer sucking up the information that she fed to it without reservation. Nothing seemed to be malfunctioning, and her computer was otherwise acting perfectly normal. Maybe she had simply been too late in realizing her predicament. Perhaps she had already become the unwitting prey of a certain predator in the woods.

Her second sword swung free of its scabbard as she took both weapons in hand and listened closely to the dead timbers about her. A simple steel blade would probably do little damage against anything more than a human being and she dared not infuse them with plasma energy both for the sake of preserving her own meager reserves as well as keeping her position a secret from Yoshiki's soldiers. Still, it gave her a little more hope to feel the familiar grip of her weapon close by. It was always the little things that counted.

She quickly adjusted her vision to compensate for the lack of light, and the forest would have otherwise lit up with activity once her sensors fleshed out all heat-emanating subjects in sight. However, the area didn't change a bit, remaining as pitch black as the starless sky above. For a minute, the rebel wondered if that program had failed as well, but a quick glance down at herself showed that such was not the case. Her own body lit up quite nicely beneath the dark heavens, though her surroundings emitted absolutely no sign of life or warmth at all. There should have been something out there. Anything. But it did not make sense that she was suddenly the only living creature walking this pathway, no matter how far she strayed from her companions. A chill ran along her body as she tried to stay calm, her hands shaking a bit at the thought of being completely isolated in this temporal rip in reality. This was not a reasonable analysis of the situation. There had to be something out there causing this disturbance, there was no other explanation. She just had to find out what it was before she fell before whatever persona had dropped her in this situation in the first place.

Kouryuu's entire body whirled about in one fluid motion as her ears pricked to the slight sound of disturbed foliage behind her. Even as her arms slid back to attack her unknown foe, she had already spotted her enemy as a dark figure silently mocked her beneath the eves of a giant pine. It's features were shrouded by the darkness that fell about it, but its frame lit up like a beacon in her sensitive vision.

"Soko ka!" ("There!") she whispered vehemently as her right arm threw her blade like a javelin towards her prey, the sword landing with solid thump directly in the center of its target. A fiery blue wire traced the weapon's path as the rebel tugged her target towards her to finish it off, but the weight on the end suddenly grew unnaturally heavy as she abruptly realized that she had completely missed her mark. Instead, her sword was halfway impaled through the massive trunk of a softwood with no sign of her imaginary foe anywhere. A hard yank on the line quickly brought the blade twirling back to her hands, but a brief rustling from the rear told her that the hunter was already prepared for another assault. It must have been amazingly fast to be able to circle completely around her without leaving a trace of its movement. The previous evasion of her sword alone was enough to show that this opponent was far stronger than she could have ever expected. She was going to have to be quick if she wanted to---

"You're quite decisive when it comes to acting first and asking questions later, aren't you?"

The voice was so close to her that she swore the man's breath had graced the back of her neck. Half driven by fear and half by instinct, she immediately twirled about towards the source of the sound and bounded backwards as she brought her sword down in the place where her enemy's head would have been. Seconds before it would have impacted, the sky flared with a brilliant luminescence and the rebel felt the end of her blade catch hard on something very solid. She tried to reorient herself within the confusion, but the only thing that reached her ears was a deafening roar that sounded like the blast exhaust from a rocket engine. Still temporarily blinded by the scintillating light, she quickly lashed out with her remaining weapon at her unseen enemy, hoping to strike it down before it finalized its assault. However, she might as well have been striking a steel wall with a wooden stick, for not only was her strike deflected completely without giving way to her own strength, but her opponent also struck back with enough power to send her sword sailing into the woods faster and harder than she had thrown it earlier. Without actually initiating it's own offensive, her foe had just rendered her defenseless. This one was far out of her league, and if she was even going to hope about retaining her livelihood, it certainly wasn't going to come from a head-on confrontation.

"I understand that you are in a tight predicament at the moment. Regardless, I think you could have been a little more hospitable considering my circumstances for visiting you."

Kouryuu blinked at her opponent's words, and in the next instant the world was plunged back into darkness as the mysterious light from above vanished as abruptly as it had appeared. Before her eyes appeared a single man wearing a jumpsuit and full pantaloons, a jar of wine tied cleanly to his belt. His right arm was outstretched, the fingers of his hands wrapped tightly around her sword as if it were nothing more than a toy, and in his eyes was the gaze of a dead man, someone who had already resigned their soul to a greater fate across the universe.

The rebel's vision adjusted much faster than a normal human being's would have in such sudden conditions, but she still paused for a brief second as she scanned the newcomer's features in disbelief, memories flooding back into her head as her expression of surprise changed into one of anger.

"I remember you," she said bitterly, and she snatched her blade away from him violently as the man calmly released his digits from around the steel edge. "What did Asimov call you, the 'Ambassador of the Sacred Goddess?' Did you come to try to finish that business you started with us earlier?"

She took a step back and dropped into a fighting pose, but the man did not move, his hand still stiffly suspended in midair from holding back her blade. Though she had prepared for the worst, she was surprised to find that he simply lowered his arms to his side, dropping back in a relaxed position as he leaned up against one of the nearby tree trunks.

"For simplicity's sake, you may call me Sei," he said calmly. "I understand that we did not meet in the most peaceful of state of affairs in our last encounter, but please recognize that I come to you today with no ill will intended."

"You tried to kill us," shot back Kouryuu defensively. "I have no reason to believe that you're telling me any kind of truth."

Sei simply nodded in understanding.

"Touche, a reasonable response. But you must understand that my purpose and my very existence revolve around the duty of preserving order by the Sacred Goddess' decree. Regrettably, I was unprepared for the predicament I encountered when we last met, and perhaps I was wrong to have made such a hasty assault. Today, I must act in accordance with the mistakes that I have made in the past, and that involves assisting you in this journey you have embarked upon."

However, the rebel would not drop her stance as she watched every movement he made with the closest observation. She found it hard to believe that their one-time enemy would suddenly have a change of heart, especially given their current situation. They were already weak and separated by their confrontation with Yoshiki. If nothing else, now would be the perfect time to finish them off.

"Forgive me if I find your presentation hard to believe," she said somewhat sarcastically. "But I'm afraid that I'm not giving credence to your claims. In my eyes, I still don't believe that we've done anything so outrageous so as to gain your mercy. In fact, didn't we just take out one of your boys a while ago anyways? I don't think the Sacred Goddess would be too pleased to learn that we took down one of her angels, no matter how far over the edge he was. You're going to have to give me a lot more proof than that if you want me to believe what you're saying."

"This world, this universe, is not made of constants, Kouryuu," he said bluntly. "Though it is surely more comforting to think of things that way, people and the very environments around them change with every passing second of existence. Sometimes this change is so miniscule that we can barely notice its occurrence, and sometimes it is so jarringly enormous that we can not help but reel back in shock."

Kouryuu's face scrunched up in confusion as she loosed the stiffness with which she held her killing edge.

"How do you know my name?" she asked carefully. "I don't recall telling you at all."

"My vision is beyond the reach of mortal creatures," said Sei simply. "At any rate, you must not take the western route. Your enemy has already called for reinforcements from the border of SenShuBaan and you will be cut off if you veer off in that direction. For now, the eastern path that you have been scouting is your best option. It will buy you some time from the soldiers that pursue from your flank and rear, though you must hurry if you are to reach the border before they discover your position."

"And like I said, you're going to have to give me a lot more proof than that if you want me to believe what you're saying," said Kouryuu stiffly. "For all I know, you may just be luring us into a trap."

"Then let the stars show you for themselves," he said as he reached out towards her forehead with his long fingers. "They cannot lie, neither to you nor myself. Perhaps they will succeed where my own words have failed."

The rebel flinched back reflexively as her once-enemy lightly pressed the ends of his digits against her forehead, and she nearly panicked as her entire vision was blanketed by a blinding light not unlike the one she had encountered earlier. However, the haze lasted only a second before vanishing into thin air this time, and when she opened her eyes again she was shocked to discover herself floating nearly a mile above the place where she had been standing only a moment before, the world turning slowly beneath her levitating feet as the stars suspended her in the endless sky. Movement suddenly entered her field of vision as she spotted a large gathering of figures flying over the treetops from the north. She immediately saw the large, hulking figure of Yujin amongst their numbers, accompanied by an even larger mecha whom she had never seen before. Was it a new unit? Had Toy employed the force of even stronger warriors to flesh them out of these woods? Her mind immediately switched to her own party as she scanned the dark greenery for Zero and others, finding them directly south of her enemy's position. Even though they had a decent amount of distance separating them from the hunters, it was painfully obvious that at their current speed Yujin's party would eventually overtake them. Her eyes quickly scanned over to the west and she discovered that a surprisingly large troupe of soldiers similar to the ones that they had encountered in their clash with Yoshiki in the volcano was closing on them with alarming speed. At this rate, Sei's advice would certainly be the best route of action. By taking the eastern pathway, they would simultaneously veer enough off track so that Yujin's forces would run parallel to their own flight of escape as well as avoid encountering this new threat from the west. But was this really the reality of their situation or was Sei merely showing her what he wanted her to see?

Her vision filled with the blinding flash once again, and before she knew it, she was staring blankly at Sei's cold features once again as he calmly retracted his hand from her face.

"As you can see, you do not have much time," he said. "I suggest you hurry and inform your friends of their predicament, otherwise your enemy will surely catch up to your rear within an hour."

Kouryuu lowered her sword to her side, her grip growing loose as she no longer sensed danger from this man before her. Yet, something in mind continued to resist giving in to his advice, staying wary of this one who had changed alliances so suddenly.

"Can I really believe you?" she asked hesitantly.

"I won't force you to, and I certainly won't kill you if you don't," said Sei stolidly. "I am here to help guide you in the right direction, but it is up to you to decide whether you will follow my advice or not."

"Then tell me why you're doing this," she said. "If you really want to help us, then there must be reason. Show me that much, and I can take your guidance without regret."

For a second, Sei simply stared at her passively, his narrow eyes dark with the coldness of death. Almost as if guided by an outside force, his hand suddenly swept down to the bottle at his hip, popped to the top off and brought the jug to his mouth in one swift motion. Seconds passed as he finished his drink and cleanly wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His eyes leveled back to the rebel's as he refastened the bottle at his waist, and before she knew it he had already turned away to leave.

"Everything is for the sake of the future," he said. "The things that I do now are simply a set of events that have already been paved out on a path towards things to come. It is not that I have any likeness or hatred for you and your companions. Rather, these are simply the things that I have been destined to do."

For a second, the words did not even register correctly in Kouryuu's head. For a second, she did not realize that the man before her had already began to depart into the dark trees and off to a new destination. The only thing that registered was that this man, this servant of God, had just set her off to a doom foreordained and that he expected her to play along in a game that was already decided.

"What are you trying to say?" she retorted, suddenly oblivious to the volume of her voice echoing throughout the black forests. "That the only reason you're helping us is because it's decreed by some sort of stupid fate?!"

Sei stopped in his tracks, but Kouryuu was too angry to stop anymore.

"You heartless bastard, you'll kill us when its convenient for your own purposes, but you'll come back with your arms wide open whenever something changes to offset your previous opinion. You goddamn hypocrites! Is this how your "sacred" Goddess works?! Maybe you'll come back to kill us later on after we've done whatever deed it is that you're keeping us alive for!"

A soft light filtered between the branches above as the stars seemed to come out in the sky once again, and beneath their gentle glow, the servant of the omnipotent being slowly turned his head back, though he did not have the courage to look the rebel directly in the eye.

"Fate..." he whispered softly, and finally tilted his head back just enough to stare at Kouryuu with a cold gaze. "At one time, that's what I would have called it too." He watched the expression on her face change from rage to soft confusion as he turned his body to face her in full. "Some of us find it comforting to think that the mistakes we've made in life were destined to be, and thus it could not be our fault that we failed to live up to the expectations set forth by others and ourselves. I was one of those people, and when I came to be the way I am as a servant of God, I undertook whatever was asked of me without judgement or care, for that was what I honestly believed that the undeniable will of God had decreed for my soul. I thought it was comforting to believe in one, single, absolute power. However, I've come to realize that that's all it really is: power. And perhaps... even upon the surface of that indomitable, invincible power lies a fragile place that makes them just like the rest of us, that's makes them vulnerable to all the other things people fear and suffer. It was then that I thought that perhaps the ones who deny the concept of fate are truly the ones at solace with themselves..."

She watched as the corners of his mouth suddenly and unexpectedly tilted up slightly in a sad smile, and before she could say anything else, he turned to walk away once again without looking back a second time.

"You are the ones who will change the world, Kouryuu, for fate only exists for those who believe in it... for those who surrender their lives to the will of the strong..."

...

The storm grew to such an intensity that the crashing notes finally began to meld themselves upon one another in a white wall of sheer noise. No longer did the chaos of the symphony make itself apparent as the harmonies grew lost beneath a disordered jumble of notes, for now everything in existence slowly began to faze out into nothingness, completely dominated by itself as a single smooth and steady tone grew forth from the many that were played. And slowly, the melody emerged once again in the distance, conquering the chaos with its soft, consistent tune...

...

The dark clouds that had obscured the sky hours before finally began to give way to the setting sun as the slow train of Falcoon's rebels trudged away from the broken city of Sonarant and north towards the empire's capital itself. Edge quietly rested in an open top wagon amongst several boxes of scattered supplies and food, vacantly staring up at the sky as he lost himself in the white noise that filled his ears. With Shinnuki's death, the wizards connection to the human world seemed to slowly fade away as the once grandiose city began to crumble apart. Somewhere far, far away, a scattered band of rebels had climbed one of the town's craning towers and set their explosives at the heart of a massive engine that seemed to call forth the lighting from the sky and use its precious energy to corrupt the land beneath it. However, Edge was not there to see it, nor did he care when the last survivors let out a cheer of victory when the beautifully grotesque sculptures began to fall down to the tainted earth. He felt painfully numb as he let himself slouch down carelessly beneath the setting sky, and no matter how he tried, he could not bring that horrible feeling to go away even though he clenched his fist so tightly that his fingernails rendered forth the tender flesh of his palm and let the blood trickle down upon the dirtied wagon planks.

Before his very eyes, the rest of the world began to disappear as enormous cracks the size of the planet's tectonic plates split open in the purples heavens above. The pieces fell in bits of tiny gravel at first, coming down upon the tired, dying creature below like a gentle rain. But slowly the entire beast lost hold of its sanity and the jagged pieces of crusted sky began to slowly descend down the surface below, shattered and broken, to never climb up into the endless blue once again. He watched as the gigantic rock-like shards exploded into the planet's crust, churning up endless clouds of smoke, but he was oblivious to it all. Even as the sharp boulders threatened to bury him as well, his dark pupils would only stay fixed on the darkness left behind after everything had fallen away, the black, illimitable darkness that never seemed to end no matter how far he strained to fly...

A small jolt brought him back to his senses as he felt the wagon jump over some scattered stones, and though his vision was quickly brought back to the real world, the deadened feeling in his body did not go away quite so quickly. He wanted to get up, to walk around, to be able to laugh it all off and head off into the happy sunset like a fairy tale superhero. But what if there really was no sunset waiting for him no matter how hard he wished and how hard he tried? What if this place was really just the same as Akuji... the same as the world he left behind? He didn't want to believe it, but did he really have a choice?

If he believed in something that didn't exist and felt its bitter disappointment in the end, the pain would only be that much greater. If the wide universe was truly the same no matter where he went, perhaps it was better to reside himself to the inevitable fate that awaited somebody such as himself.

Perhaps it was better to be crushed by the falling sky rather than run from his inevitable demise...

...

"Ashita [shinu] to wakatteitemo [kakugo] ga aru kara koufuku nanda! [Kakugo] wa [zetsubou] wo fukitobasu kara da!"

("Even if one is to [die] tomorrow, they have prepared themselves and can therefore achieve happiness! This is because [preparation] has the power to push away the [despair] of men!")

--- Father Enrico Pucci, Jojo no Kimyouna Bouken: Stone Ocean (Book 80)

...

"Shizuru...?"

Mikaeru's voice came timidly as Edge slowly raised his head to find her staring at him worriedly from the back of the cart as she gently lifted herself onto the rough wooden surface. He wished so badly that he could show her some sort of expression, a smile, a tear, even a look of anger, but nothing came through his stone face as his listless eyes absorbed her sympathy with complete indifference. Nothing seemed to matter here anymore, for he already knew where he would be in the end.

"Are you okay? You haven't moved from here at all since we left Sonarant," she said, and Edge wished that he could find the words to reply in return. After he had torn Shinnuki to shreds, he had lie there for what seemed like days before enough strength returned to his limbs to allow him to pick himself up from the shattered road and trudge back towards the entrance of the ghost town to meet his companions. The rebels forces had welcomed him back with cheers and open arms at first, but it only took a second for them to realize how much of a mistake that was. Caked in blood, both that of his own as well of his enemy, he had treaded the ground towards the encampments like a lifeless zombie, ignoring everybody and everything until he had found a place to sit down and rest. They said that he looked like a dead man with the way he looked up blindly at the sky, and nobody had been brave enough to approach him with either good or bad news until now.

"Shizuru, say something," pleaded the windrider. "Did something happen back there? What did they do to you?"

He watched her sad face silently beg him for an answer, any kind of answer. A dark, horrible creature within told him that what he said truly did not matter at all no matter what the words were, but eventually he found his stiff, cracked lips giving in to the tears gathering in the corners of eyes.

"Nothing happened," he said wearily, and he abruptly realized how weak his body felt after moving for the first time in hours. "Nothing happened at all..."

"Then why are you being like this?!" she exclaimed, and the salty water flowed down her cheeks against her will as she climbed closer to his still form. "We... I'm worried about you. I know that you hold up so many of us on your own back, but we're all here for you! I'm here for you! We're all worried about you because you've helped us so much before, and now we want to help you too. But you have to let us help you, Shizuru, we can't do anything if you never let us get close!"

... help...?

"Please, Shizuru," pleaded Mikaeru as she grabbed his shirt sleeve and tugged on it needfully. "Just let me know that you're okay... just let me know you're okay, and that will be more than enough for me."

That horrible creature shouted gleefully that he could cry his heart out or strike her in rage, but neither action would matter at all for he could not escape the destiny that awaited his optimistic soul. It said that he did not even need to reply at all, that he did not need to waste his energy needlessly fighting against something that could not be won against. And yet, a small, insignificant voice deep within his heart said something different through tear-choked words. This one reminded him that there were still people who cared for him, even if he no longer cared for himself. Mikaeru cared for him, and she cried for his sake even at this very moment. It told him very quietly and very softly that he at least had those reasons to speak, no matter how much it hurt him to do so...

"I'm... I'm sorry," said Edge gently, weakly, and Mikaeru looked up to him with a bit of hope. "I'm just very, very tired right now. I want this war to end."

"We all do, Shizuru," she said with a smile, rising slightly as she spoke. "Nobody said it would be easy."

"Everyday I see the same things," he said. "Everyday I take another life and I watch my own allies die for what they believe in. But what if there's nothing at the end of the road to make all of these murders worth anything at all? Or even worse, what if there was never an end to wish for in the first place?"

"Ssssh..." cooed the windrider, and gently she took his head and rested it in her lap as he lied down helplessly on her warm thigh. "Just rest for now. You've fought so hard, but you can't carry everybody at once."

"Sometimes I feel like I can't even carry myself, let alone the ones who I care about the most."

"We all feel like that sometimes," she said as she stroked his stiff, blood-caked hair. "But we just have to get up and try again. It was never falling down that was the problem. It's getting back up that takes real courage. And even though we've all been beat down time and time again, we never gave up, and we waited for this chance to fight for our freedom."

"What if there's nothing waiting for me after this war is over? Or what if this war was never meant to have an ending in the first place and we're only destined to kill each other endlessly until there's nothing left on this poor earth to live?"

"Sssshh... just rest..."

"... I just want to be at peace, Mikaeru..."

"It'll all be over soon, Shizuru. Just a little longer, and it will all be over..."

...

He awoke from his sleep as though roused from reality and dropped back into a nightmare. Edge rose his head from the hard wagon surface only to realize that they weren't moving anymore and the rebels were running about in a frenzy all over the place. Slowly, he rose up and stood on the elevated surface, and what he saw gripped his chest with amazement. The sun slowly rose again in the distance as morning dawned upon a wide valley that seemed the glow with the lushness of wild grasses and twisted trees that grew up into the sky on sturdy trunks of hardwood. Amidst all of this shone hundreds of thousands of sparkling stars that each glittered with dark brilliance, and he looked a little closer, he saw that it was the sunlight reflecting off of the polished armor of hundreds of thousands of Shin's warriors, each one already wielding their weapon at hand, ready to die to defend their dark lord. Their numbers must have spread out for miles, covering every inch of the valley as the land eventually slanted upwards into the depths of an enormous town that spread out just as far, the tops of its intricately carved structures jutting out over the top of the smooth, stone walls that surrounded it. And still behind that lie the caste, a massive stone monstrosity that seemed to consume the heavens themselves with its sheer size and dark presence. Gnarled spires and huge towers seemed to stick out from every angle of the cursed structure as it twined into the purple morning air, and even as Edge watched it from his place upon the wagon, he could already feel the enemy that awaited him within the black fortress.

Thousands of rebels lined up on either side of him with their weapons held tightly in hand. Each of them looked only forward, for this was a day that they had anticipated and feared ever since they had set out on the field of battle. If they fell now, they would lose everything. They would be annihilated, their cause trampled beneath the boots of their enemy. Years, perhaps decades might pass before a new generation rose up to challenge the reign of their conqueror, or perhaps this time their cause might finally be destroyed for good. They knew every bit of this. They knew that death was something that would come to many of them in this long, hard journey. And yet, every one of them was already prepared to die because they were confident and loved that which they fought for. Amongst their scattered numbers, amongst the young and old, the men and women, there was no deviation from their undying faith. As the young boy watched the ragtag band of warriors defiantly face off against the steel clad soldiers of Shin with nothing more than an iron gauntlet or a rusty pitchfork, he could not help but stand in awe at resolution with which they stepped forward into the future.

To his left, Falcoon was watching him with frozen eyes that still managed to burn with fire. Edge looked at him to say something, anything, but the man only nodded in his direction and turned back to the lines of men ready to die. Falcoon, the cold, fearless man who had led these fallen angels so far would not give the final cry of war to end the day. He had already done all that he could for them, for Edge himself, and now the last duty for the weary combatant was to simply watch and join them in celebration or in death. And even though Edge's body rebelled as he stepped up to the rickety wooden raining of the cart and braced his foot on its shaky top, he knew that he had to be the one to make the first move. It was like Falcoon had told him. He had to be whole to follow what he wanted. He had to fight until the very last drop of his foe's blood had been spilled into the earth's maw. Only then, could he reclaim his wife, his vengeance, and his happiness. Only then, would he ever be able to rest in peace.

Time suspended itself forever as he braced himself against the old cart and leapt into the air like a bird, soaring on the winds as the momentum carried him ever upwards. For a single moment, he rose above them all, his friends, his enemies, this world in which he had found his moment of happiness. For a single moment, he thought about the exhaustion that claimed his body and mind, the future that might never come, and his wife who waited for him just beyond those granite walls. For just a moment, he took it all in and held his breath. And then, as he began to fall back down to earth, diving down into the infested valley below, he knew that he had to fight it out until the very end. And whether he found that happiness or his heart died forever, he would finally be able to rest and find the peace that had eluded him for so long.

Just a little longer.

He only had to hold on for a just a little longer...

...

I just want to stop hurting so badly...

...

Blood rained in every direction as Edge tore straight into the enemy ranks, his arms falling down upon their armored hides with a power that tore apart their bodies like paper dolls. A short sword came flying straight for his head out of the corner of his eye, but it stopped dead in midair against his gravitational field just as he let loose a thundering punch the completely cleaved a man's head from his body. In one swift motion, he tore a long sword from the corpse's cold grasp and the floating blade out of midair and whirled about in an exotic dance of the swordsmanship forms that came to his head with such deadly ease. In seconds, each of the stolen weapons grew ablaze with a faint blue aura that served as an anti-gravity field. Under normal conditions, such a move would only push away Edge's opponents upon contact, but the young boy swung the cutting edges with such speed and force that they simply cleaved apart anything that came in their path, literally separating all matter that their master bade them to with his bare hands. The red liquid of life spilled forth all over his body as he filled the battlefield with crimson gore, but no matter how weary he thought his body might be, his feet would not stop from moving forward and his hands would not cease their gentle motions of murder. Deep within his soul, he yearned for all of this to end, and nothing would stop him until he finally got that thing that he sought after so badly.

Behind him, he could hear the rebels cry out in unison as they charged down after him with their hearts on their sleeves, and a bit of pride rose up in his heart to know that he was one of them. For them, this was also the day that would bring around their peace in one way another. Before the sun set, none of them would ever be terrorized by Shin ever again, and it did not matter if they won or lost. Lived or died. The only thing that was important was that they had tried... that they all fought for the things they believed in... right...?

The surrounding warriors abruptly backed off as a thousand arrows suddenly plunged through the air to greet his eager flesh. All it took was a bit of gravity influence under the spot where his opponents had retreated to turn around the assault on his attackers, and for those who did not perish beneath the steel hail, the young boy had already dashed within their midst with both arms flailing. Siege machines and majestic mechanical toys soon joined the fray as steam-powered tanks launched iron-clad explosives in his directions, but they too fell beneath his relentless onslaught. His entire body glowed with the power granted to him through Akuji's influence as he flew forward on weightless feet and effortless wove about each and every projectile that was lobbed in his direction with effortless ease. When he reached the massive wheels of one of the metallic contraptions, a single touch was all it took to degravitize it from the planet's pull and effortlessly heft it into the air like a pebble. Some of the surrounding men stood locked in place as expressions of shock and horror popped open on their faces. Others took off running in terror at what otherwise appeared to be an exhibition of inhuman strength. But Edge noticed neither, and as he threw the tank into the nearest siege machine and sent both reeling in an explosion that rocked the stained battlefield, he was already moving forward once again with only the black exterior of the castle in his eyes.

"Watch it, Shizuru!"

Mikaeru's voice came accompanied by a fresh gust of wind at his back, and even as he turned to find her facing off with a horde of soldiers behind him, he watched as a stray throwing blade was cleanly deflected to the side by her attack, presumably having originally been aimed for his head.

"Don't get careless!" she said strictly. "I know you're eager to get up there, but you can't charge into things too blindly."

"I know," said Edge as he knocked back an oncoming warrior. "But I also know that you're here covering my back, so I've got nothing to worry about."

"We're a team, right?" said the windrider with a grin, and he envied her. Even here, even in the blood of her enemies, she would still smile for a friend. "As long as we stick together, we'll be perfectly fine. I'll make sure that you see your wife again, I promise!"

Edge couldn't help but smile himself at her kind words. He didn't know just how much of that would be true, but he wanted to believe in it nonetheless. If nothing else, it gave him strength as he plunged into the hordes of his enemy again without rest.

With Mikaeru to cover his back, he was able to concentrate exclusively on carving a path through the teaming masses directly to the front gates instead of having to fend off soldiers on all sides. Though the windrider's magic was not quite as powerful as his own abilities, she was still more than able to hold her own despite the overwhelming odds, and together the two quickly carved their way towards the front gates of the empire's capitol.

"I can see the others catching up!" said Mikaeru behind the young boy. "They're making incredible progress now that we've taken out their siege machines, and even the empire's soldiers can't hold them back any longer. We're gonna make it, Shizuru! We can do this!"

When he heard those words, he felt as though he was flying. They had all come so far for so long and every step of the way had been so hard because he never knew if it would be all for nothing. And now, as he tirelessly plowed through endless miles of his indomitable foe, the end was finally in sight, and he knew that it wasn't all impossible after all.

"We can make it," he whispered to himself. And then louder, his voice rising as the ground beneath his enemies trembled with determination. "We can make it!!!"

And it was at that very instant that he felt hot blood splash on the back of his neck, and a second later, an iron arrow imbedded in his shoulder.

He immediately erected a gravitational force field wide enough to encase both him and Mikaeru as he turned about to lend his companion assistance. Surely they could not prevent every single enemy attack from hitting their mark, and even though the arrow stung as he ripped it from his flesh, he refused to feel the pain for he was resolute in letting nothing keep him from his goal. The black castle was just up ahead, looming over him like a dark monument of the destruction that had ripped through these people's land. All he needed to do was reach out and crush it, and this war would be finished. He could finally lay everything to rest.

He wanted to believe all of that.

But it was hard to do so when he found his friend lurching forward with a clean, circular hole carved through the middle of abdomen, her intestines spilling out onto the ground in a putrid pile of pus and blood.

"Mikaeru..." said Edge slowly, not quite sure what to do. His body began to move forward to help her even though he knew not how he might do so, but the windrider raised her hand towards him with astonishingly quick speed, holding him back just enough from assisting her.

"I'm fine," she spat out, her voice shaking as she talked. A violent cough racked her body as she struggled to stay standing in the slippery puddle of gore that had poured out beneath her feet, but she held her position like a true soldier as she straightened up a bit and continued to talk. "Go, you fool! Your wife is just ahead of you, go and save her like you promised!"

"But... but you...you..." said Edge as his body quivered uncontrollably, but he could approach no further for Mikaeru's invincible will held him at bay with just a single hand. "I can't, I have to help you!"

"It's a mortal wound, Shizuru," she said, and she finally fell to one knee as strength began to ebb away from her dying body. "I’m already dead, you have to go on!"

"I'm not just going to leave you!" pleaded the young boy as he felt pain well up in his heart again. "We... we have to stick together, right? You said it yourself, don't go back on your words now! I can get you back to the others, okay? We'll get you back and somebody will know how to fix you up---"

However, Mikaeru had already fallen to both knees, and though her body heaved with weakness as death slowly wrapped its shroud around her shoulders, her hand never fell, and she would not let him weep over her dying corpse.

"Don't sacrifice everything just for me," she said. "This is war, and like in all wars, people must fall before others can rise up into glory. I am only one of many, and I won't make that big of difference in the larger picture. But you must not spill tears over my death now! You must be strong, for you, for the others, for your wife. You have much more to live for than I do, so you should make the best of it."

"No, Mikaeru!" he said, but he already knew that he could do nothing. He never had a chance, for this had always been waiting for him in the end. Wasn't that right? For he and mankind was simply fated to hurt and suffer no matter where he went because that was all he knew how to do...

"I... I don't regret anything," she whispered softly. "Even though I'll die today, I tried, didn't I? That's what really counts! I tried..."

And finally her hand fell without a sound, joining her body as she finally descended into death.

Edge could only stare at her broken frame for a second, completely oblivious to the raging battle around him as soldiers smashed their weapons against his shield to try to obliterate the last soul within. He remembered when Yoshime had found her friends taken from her, how she had cried with sorrow at their deaths. He too wished he could cry so that he could express the sadness that welled up within, but he felt so empty that he found that he could not, as if somebody had cruelly ripped away the insides of his very essence and left a black, gapping hole in its place. He searched the empty grounds for something, anything to give his deceased companion. No matter how hard he had tried to push her away, she had always come back to help him back up again. Even though he was simply a stranger in this bizarre world, she still greeted him with open arms and a chance to reclaim his life. This woman named Mikaeru... she had done so much more for him than simply be a companion or a fellow soldier. She had been a friend. And now she was gone. Forever.

Suddenly, that black emptiness was no longer empty as the crimson haze poured in like an ocean let loose in a flood meant to cleanse the world. It only seemed to trickle in slowly at first, but then it flowed in without hesitation, and before he knew it, he was already overflowing with the rage as it spilled out over the tops and onto the ground below, staining the earth red like the blood of his friend.

For one second, he tread water and gasped for breath above the scarlet waves, trying to hold what was left of his sanity close to him lest it become lost in the endless sea. But when he looked up, only one figure filled his vision, only one man watched him motionlessly through the crackling azure haze that held all the other flailing soldiers back in their place. Only one man smiled at him with a malicious grin, his hands covered red in Mikaeru's blood.

Kannuki.

And then he let himself drown beneath the fury of the ruby brine without hesitation...

The shield dissolved in midair and the teaming masses screamed out in triumph as they moved in on their remaining prey for the kill. Edge simply stood motionless as nearly a dozen and a half black-armored knights raised their swords and axes high into the air to bring down upon his head, his hands growing lax as he left go of the two blades which had already carried him so far. He waited as the weapons began to descend towards him, growing close to his cranium as he watched patiently. He waited. And finally, he exploded.

His fist rocketed backwards like a missile and smashed into the closest soldier's skull with a sound that rung across the entire battlefield like the toll of a bell. Though this first attack did not glow with the spark of gravitational energy, it cracked the metal helmet in half nonetheless, and the man was dead the second the clenched hand crushed his brains against the insides of his own skullcap.

The next few seconds seemed to pass like hours as Edge gracefully wove about his opponent's weapons like a dancer, interrupting his beautiful rhythm only to bring his fists down upon his enemy with divine retribution. Gradually, he watched as time seemed to pick up again, and new waves of eager men rushed in to his arms to embrace death. He held back for none of them as he let the gravitational field of the universe body fill him with power, and bloody bits of flesh and bone flew up all around him as his enemies' bodies literally pulled themselves apart in his wake. He flew into their endless numbers like an angel of death, raining doom upon his enemies as he arms fell down again and again with the force of gods. And before he knew it, everything had sped up so fast that he was only a blur in the wind, slaughtering these still, helpless prey as though they were nothing more than cattle. He didn't care though, and he didn't stop, for as the white rage exploded in his mind over and over, only a single feeling filled his broken body no matter where he looked.

Hatred.

The ground thundered as his feet smashed back into the ground, the earth buckling beneath the force of his landing as a massive crater spread out beneath the young boy's wrath. The soldiers fled from him now, terrified of the power that he held in his clawed hands. However, one still remained amongst their dwindling numbers who continued to hold his ground just outside the pit that Edge had just landed in, and now he was the one whom the young boy truly wished to destroy.

"KANNUKI~!!!" screamed Edge as the air around him erupted in a hail of lightning sparks, bolts of electricity playing off of his body like fire.

"Did I piss you off, boy?" said the general behind confidently crossed arms, his bloodshot eyes already bordering on insanity. "Did I take something away from you that you want back?"

All around them, chaos erupted as Falcoon's rebels flooded the area with a roar of determination, tirelessly locking themselves in battle with Shin's battalions as they struggled to reach the gates of the empire that had held them back for so long. Yet, neither man noticed any of this, and the air around them grew bright with the energy that they summoned into their bodies as they prepared to die.

"Then come and get it, Shizuru!" laughed Kannuki with a roar of laughter. "COME AND GET IT!!!"

The ground exploded in a shower of rocks as Edge launched himself forward with a mighty cry, but before he could even reach the object of his vehement animosity, he suddenly realized that Kannuki was already hovering over him with his right fist cocked back like a gun, and the blow that followed sent him crashing back into the ground as he bounced across the cracked surface uncontrollably like a pinball. Even as he loosely found his footing in the torn soil once again, he could already feel the general hovering over him as his shadow suddenly blocked out the light of the rising sun. However, before the man could land a second blow, an invisible force smashed into his gut and sent him hurtling into the sky at Edge's mental command even as the young boy picked himself up from the rubble. He watched with eager eyes as the body began to fly back down to earth, and as his body instinctively pinpointed his enemy's exact location, the heavens seemed to split open above as the burning light of God burst forth to deliver his vengeance. A horrible smile of violence leapt forth upon Edge's face as he swept his clawed hand down towards the ground, and upon his calling an enormous bolt of lighting tore through the morning clouds and pounded Kannuki back into the ground with a deafening roar. But it wouldn't be enough. No. Nothing could be enough for what that man did.

His power burst open as he swept up into the air and watched the trails of smoke rise from the place where Kannuki had landed. Just as quickly, he was already descending back down towards the ground, his entire body burning like a ball of flame as his blue aura leapt up all around him. Down below, the smoke suddenly seemed to suck in upon itself as the air burned with light, and before he knew it an enormous ball of energy three times his size was already rocketing in his direction. Edge only flew faster though, and as the mighty fireball came up to burn him into cinders, he reeled back his arm and effortlessly smacked it out of his way with a single backfist, his speed never failing as he finally spotted his grinning foe hiding within the midst of the clearing haze. He smashed into the ground with a gravitational wall of energy that would have crushed a normal human being, but seconds later he was greeted by a fierce cross hook to the face, his enemy ceaselessly rising up again for the kill. This time he held his ground, and even as he dug his feet into the ground to hold himself back against the mighty blow, he launched a fearsome attack of his own as his clawed hand lashed out and smashed against his opponent's head with enough force to topple a mountain. The valley echoed with the impacts of their fists as they crashed against one another again and again without fail, ignoring the damage inflicted from each other's assault. Edge didn't even care how much he got hurt anymore as another fierce hook caught him squarely in the side of the head. The sea overflowed his mind with red now. All that mattered was causing this man as much pain as possible. Pain. Hatred...

"It doesn't matter how long it takes to kill you, because I plan to savor every second of this!!!" laughed Kannuki as he brought both hands down upon the young boy's head in a hammer punch that sent him sprawling. "I'm going to make you suffer for what you did to me, even if it means keeping you alive for as long as I can. Nobody hurts me, nobody violates the body of Shin's most powerful general and lives! I'll have you begging for mercy before I'm through with you, I want to hear you cry you little son of a bitch!!!"

He stopped as he watched Edge's wavering form lurch back in midair, the boy's hand reaching forward and defiantly grabbing onto the front of the general's armor in an effort to keep himself standing, and the general simply roared with laughter as he collared the quarry with his own gauntleted hand.

"What's this?" laughed Kannuki as he drew back his fist to finish off his helpless prey. "Are you truly more frail than your bark would make you seem?"

"Not really," hissed Edge, his head suddenly jerking upwards with a hideous look in his eyes. The bright light that flared out from the young boy's vision made even the general freeze in troubled shock, and as Edge's hand grasped the man's armor so tightly that cracks began to play all about the surface, the clouds high above began to part once again, the breath of retribution burning between their dying wisps. "Now die."

The bolt of lightning that smashed down was so gigantic that it completely immersed both figures in silhouettes of fraying flesh. Most bolts of electricity emitted from the clouds lasted only a fraction of a second before disappearing into thin air once again, but under Edge's influence, the stream of crackling energy did not cease once it hit the ground, and though the boy himself was virtually immune to his own power, the prey that he held tightly at hand was certainly not. Kannuki's mouth opened in a silent scream as his eyes widened in horror and his hands desperately fought against the electric shock to try and pry his opponent's grip away from his body. However, Edge was simply too strong and the endless cascades of pure electricity were frying his internal organs too quickly for him to think, and so his degenerating voice box locked itself in the ghastly scream of a dying man as he spent the last of his breath regretting his inability to break free from his mortal enemy.

The massive bolt of lighting finally twinkled out of existence as the clouds began to close in upon themselves once again, and Edge continued to twist his body back in ecstasy even as he released the shriveled husk of the man who had so cruelly taken his friend's life. The sea was gone now, drained out of his body just as he had drained the life from Kannuki's flesh. And yet, the empty hole remained, and he knew not of a way to ever fill the void up once again. Even as he forced himself to straighten up, his feet wearily carrying him away from the searing flesh of the man whom he had just killed, he could feel the black darkness eating away at his insides like an invisible cancer, slowly consuming every bit of his soul until only scattered bits and pieces remained in the vacant dusk. Mikaeru was gone now. Nothing could ever bring her back no matter how hard he wished or cried. And he had been helpless to save her... just like his son.

"I can only go forward from here," he whispered softly as he watched the rebels clash with the empire's soldiers all around the valley below. The castle of the great enemy whom he had never met in his life lay just before him. His wife waited for his return in those towering spires, as did the comfort and peace that he sought after so badly. He had to finish this. He had to get up and try again. That was what really counted, no matter how much he hurt inside...

The dust beneath his feet gently spread aside as he lifted himself into the air. He watched as the rebels pushed on without regret down below and knew that he had to do the same. No matter what waited for him within those unhallowed walls, he would follow this trail down until the very end. For himself. And for her, because she always believed in him.

And as his body launched itself across the morning sky towards the open gates of the chambers of hell, an orange ball of fire began to climb high into the cold air of dawn, the beginning of a new day casting itself over the bloodstained battlefield of revolution.

...

End "Vengeance"