Author's Note: Recently finished reading the Sandman series (I started it forever ago and just never got the last two books) and omgz I loved it. Naturally I had to go write a crossover fic. XD There are little snippets of other characters running into the endless in my doc but for now this is all you get. :P I may post other chapters at some point, such as the one I started with Seishirou having a little chat with Death. ^-^ In the meantime, here's a little talk between Kamui and Destiny. :P
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There, standing on the edge of an exposed beam, was a man in a hooded robe that concealed nearly all of his face. Kamui had the sense that he should be afraid of him, and yet he only felt weary acceptance as he walked across the beam and sat down at his feet.
"So you know how it all ends then don't you?" He asked softly, not even sure where the words were coming from. Certainly he had not consciously thought them.
"And what do you mean by 'it all'?" The man asked in a deep, dusty voice that echoed with the ripples of possibilities of all the things that could have happened and never would.
"The world." Kamui gestured vaguely at the lights of the city before them.
"That is hardly 'all' that there is." The man softly admonished.
"Whatever." Kamui realized he was being extremely rude to someone who probably should merit utmost respect but found he could not address the figure politely. However when the echoing silence of an unanswered question stretched on between them, he swallowed his pride and asked again, more carefully, "You know how the world ends though, don't you?"
A few more seconds of silence stretched on before he replied. "I was here before the first spark flared to life in a great void, here to bear witness to the births and deaths of countless suns and stars and of the planets and their inhabitants, here to see the first bird take flight, knowing the first joy of soaring unbound through the sky, here to see the first spider weave its silver net and capture its first, struggling prey. I was here for the first great love, and for the first great betrayal. I was here when the first great civilization labored beneath a hot sun to the peak of their own shining glory and I was here when it faded away into dust, long-forgotten by those who live today."
Kamui held still, unwavering as the infinitely deep voice continued.
"I am here now to see this world standing on the brink of its own demise, as so many worlds before it have stood. I am here to bear witness to an outcome that has long since been foretold and not yet been written."
The boy gripped at the iron beneath him, hoping that there would be some hint in the words as to what that outcome would be.
"And I shall be here, eons after this planet has been consumed by the sun that once allowed life to flourish on its surface." The man concluded heavily.
"Except that's not really an answer is it?" Kamui turned at last to face him with an irritated frown.
"Destiny answers to no mortal."
"Who does Destiny answer to?" Kamui asked warily.
"Himself."
Kamui turned this over in his mind for a bit. "And those chains are heavier than the ones binding you to that book aren't they?"
"No." Destiny replied softly. "They are, in fact, just as heavy."
"Did you choose those shackles?"
"No more than you chose yours."
The boy sighed, losing himself for a few minutes in his own thoughts as the wind softly ruffled his hair, clinking together the metal chains binding Destiny to his book. "Is there really only one future?" he asked at long last.
"Of course."
Kamui was taken aback by this blunt response. "Really?"
"Only one future will come to pass."
Kamui thought this over carefully. "But there are many possibilities as to what that will mean?"
"No. There is only one."
"So then what is it?" Kamui pressed.
"That I cannot tell you."
"Then why are you here?"
Destiny turned to face him and Kamui strained to see his eyes hidden beneath the hood of his robes but darkness shrouded them from view.
"To bear witness." He replied simply.
"Well if the future's going to be the same no matter what, then why does it matter if I'm around or not? Why does there need to be a 'Kamui'?"
"For the same reason there needs to be a king in a game of chess."
"I- What? Who are you then? The player?" Kamui retorted angrily.
"No."
"Who is then?" Kamui demanded. "Is there just some unseen god toying with all of us like this is some kind of sick game to him?"
"There are and have been and will be many gods, some seen, some unseen, but they do not control your fate."
"Well then who does?"
"It is not a question of who."
The wind picked up slightly with a slight tang in the air that warned quietly of a storm in the distance. Kamui could not help but notice that the pages of the book did not so much as rustle in the breeze.
He opened his mouth to ask another question but before he could get the words out, Destiny shook his head.
"I am needed elsewhere."
And with that he vanished, leaving Kamui to wonder if it was merely coincidence that their paths had crossed this night. Then a distant voice whispered in his memory.
There is no coincidence. There is only…
"Hitsuzen." He whispered to himself, and the word was like a lullaby.
