Leaving the desolate land, where a great battle had just taken place, two foes walked side by side. As they both walked away from the battlefield neither of them spoke, the pink haired female warrior, Lyuze and the man who was most known for killing the sun called the moon, Casshern. Lyuze pressed on her stomach with her left hand, as the injury sustained from Leda hindered her movement. She was damaged, and to what extent she did not know but she kept on.

Warm. She suddenly noticed something, something she missed while the adrenaline of the battle just passed had blinded her, her hand was pressed against Casshern's chest, and she could feel how warm he was, such a thing was very strange for a machine. For a moment she stared at him. What was he? This was something she still couldn't figure out. He was the murderer of her sister, the cause for all the world's suffering. He was a man, who didn't know who he was, a man who didn't know what he had done, but only had been told time and time again. A man, drowning in guilt over something he had no recollection of, and a man struggling hard to learn how he could repent and atone, how he could heal the world, and himself. He was often in his own world, his own mind, trapped, searching for those answers.

At first he did not notice her glance. He was lost in thought, first over why Leda and his dopple-ganger, Dio, were obsessed with his destruction and over why they wielded such anger and hatred towards everything, robot and humankind alike. His gaze, which had always been locked forward, while searching for his past, fell onto the gentleness of the hand pressed on his chest. He did not look at her, he dared not to. He felt remorse simply for touching her. She despised him, as seemingly everyone else did, and rightfully so. He took away her sister. He may not have had any memory of doing so, but as she had reminded him, that did not absolve him of his sins. For everywhere he looked, he could still see the lasting blanket of death he cursed the world with: the ruin, the inescapable death that decayed metal as if it were rotting flesh. And as heavy as his wrongs against her weighed, her hand was gentle upon his chest, only the weight of her body. He was surprised that she would even allow him to help her. But in her touch, through the cold fleshy metal she had, he could feel no malice or anger. Only the deep passion she displayed in vowing to stay with him, to push him to save the world, to force him to never give up fighting and searching until those too weak to do so on their own would be saved, saved from ruin.

How could he have done anything like that, she asked herself, as she looked at his blue eyes, from the corner of her view. It was a question that came up so often. She had followed him on his journey, at first as if stalking her prey, readying herself for an opportunity to avenge her sister, but as time passed, she came to see passed her blinding rage, and even save this supposed demon from injury. At first her excuse was that she wanted to kill him herself, but lately, that reason was not good enough, no longer did she desire his demise. As she traveled behind him, watching his every battle, how much he suffered with each life he took, villain or not, she came to do what he did despite all the despair around them; she dared to hope.

'No, it can't be,' she thought looking away from him. It was impossible that this beast would be the reason she dared to hope. In this moment of confusion, of swirly and circling thoughts, she grew angry.

The gentleness he felt had been replaced with some darker feelings. He could feel something conflicted her, but he said not a word, he was not one to speak as if he ever knew anything.

"Urh!" She grunted in pain as her hand moved from her stomach to her ribs. A sharp pain shot through her body, the damage was greater than she realized. It was no surprise. If what the Brai King said was true, Leda was every bit as strong as Casshern was.

"Lyuze..." Casshern said, concerned.

"I'm fine." She replied coldly to his concern. "I just need to rest for a moment."

She left his side and sat down on the ground and pressed her back on a rock close by as he looked at her. He looked at her and through her with those eyes. Those sad eyes. She could tell from his demeanor that he took the blame for her injury just as he took blame for everything around him, even the incidents beyond the ruin itself. This angered her greatly. That someone like him took pity on her. That he was so arrogant as to think she hadn't made the choice to fight alongside him. Rather than voice her anger, she simply looked away, and ignored his gaze.

He noticed her coldness growing, and instead of inquiring, he took more blame and chose not to upset her more. He assumed her anger was because of her disgust of him.

"I won't leave until you're ready." he said taking a seat and purposely facing a different direction. His consideration of her feelings angered her even more. She pressed her teeth together.

What was he doing? Saying such things. She wasn't so weak as to need his support. She didn't need him to wait for her. She didn't need him to look away. She wanted him to face her. To grow a spine. To stop taking every little thing as his fault and his burden to carry. She suddenly stopped herself in her own thoughts. What had she been thinking?

Suddenly a sharp pain shot through him as he grabbed at his stomach and fell to his side.

"Erh!!" He cried. The air around them grew dense as energy emitted from his body. This was a sight not unfamiliar to her. Whenever he was injured his body would soon completely heal, but the process of healing was always painful. It was as if that was one of the ways the world asked him to atone. His body, was immortal, and with every injury he sustained he was cursed with a painful healing process. He could not die, but he could not live, always suffering as if his own guilt manifested it self through such means. He was a man who wanted to die but could not. He had asked for death, invited it in, he had offered his life up to Lyuze as payment for his crimes against her and against the world. It had been rumored that his death would bring life anew. But try as she may, and try as anyone else did, he did not die. It was almost as if his purpose on the planet was not over. And this purpose, she did not know. And neither did he. At first, when she noticed this, when they were complete enemies, she found enjoyment in it, she knew it was malicious but his suffering assured some sort of payment for her sister's death, but as time went on, she found herself pitying him... as he pitied her.... As he fully healed, he sat up again, slowly pressing himself off of the ground out of the dirt.

"Ehrooo." Came a small howl not too far away. And out of the gusting breeze of dust created by the winds and the vast desert around them came the man's robotic canine, Friender. The dog was always alert, alert to falseness, he always, like the little robot girl, Ringo, cut to the heart of the matter. The mutt walked to Casshern and observed the man silently, then sat beside him and laid his head down, as if to say to the man that he was not alone, that he understood.

The pink haired girl sat there and observed the scene. Observed with curiosity. It was not too long ago, that this man killed the dog's family in a fit of madness, and here he was, offering up his support.

'I'm no different,' she thought. Time and time again, when he was called to battle, she had fought along side him. She had made up ground for him, protecting whom he could not protect. Confusion riddled her thoughts. There was another point she didn't understand. He protected those who were too weak when he was in the right mind, it was only when he was endangered and lost control of himself that he went beyond killing those who would kill others. If he were a cold blooded murderer, he would not concern himself with the safety of anyone other than himself. But he did. He even showed concerned over someone like herself, who at one time was hell-bent on killing him. He fought, and fought, and suffered and suffered to protect as many people as he could, to allow them to live, to hope for a better tomorrow, for a world cleansed of the fear of ruin. For these things he fought, for these things he searched even though it was painful, even though it tore at his soul, he bared forward.

'Damn him,' she thought. Why did he have to be so noble? Why couldn't he be the monster she had envisioned, the demon for whom she trained tirelessly all her life to hunt and kill. She suddenly felt wetness on her hand. She realized. She was crying. Crying for Casshern. For herself. Over time she had lost a part of herself: the part that wanted him dead. To see him fail. Now above all others, she wanted to see him succeed. To save the world, everyone, and himself.

Ccccccrrrrrr.

She looked down at her hand that held her ribs.

"Lyuze." Came a call from Casshern.

She looked up at him and then quickly away, realizing she still had tears coming down her eyes.

"You're terrible..."

He looked at her with his sad eyes again.

"Casshern."

His sadness turned to confusion. This was the first time since their first meeting that her calling of his name was not filled with venom.

"Not everything is your fault."

"Lyuze..."

"Don't you know I made the decision to help you in that fight. Even as powerful as you are, you wouldn't have been able to protect everyone."

Something felt strange in her voice. He couldn't pinpoint what it was.

"You're so powerful, but you're still so weak. I understand why. You waver because you don't know. Because you don't know who you were, because you're always looking back. But you can't do that anymore because I know who you are."

Tears came again, but now she didn't try to hide.

"You're not the one who killed Luna."

Casshern's eyes widened. What was she saying, she so vehemently hated him for killing Luna, and causing the ruin which ultimately took her family, but now, here, what was she saying, why was she saying it?

"That person is no longer you. Remember what you said? You would die to protect those who were too weak, to force Dio to leave humans and robots alike out of his path of destruction. That is who you are now!"

Friender took a look at her, and he knew what he had to. He sensed the inevitability in her voice and the desperation to let her enemy know how she felt. He started to move away and before he left out of sight, he looked back one more time and the pink haired warrior, then with a quick gallop disappeared again into the sand breezes.

Casshern didn't move, he could feel the importance of what she was saying.

"Cold, heartless, unmerciful, death itself... these are what I pictured when I first thought of you.... a killer...."

"Lyuze...."

"But now...Casshern. I don't see that. Not when I look at you."

Her face which was always so cold and so guarded softened.

"Casshern, I forgive you."

This was it. This was what she wanted to say. What she yearned to say, it was truly a release. For her. For her to admit to herself what had been true for some time. For him... it was daunting. He stood more speechless then usual, what had just happened? He had heard it, it was so sweet to his ears, so pleasant to his soul, so warm to his heart. Tears formed in his eyes. He had searched for this as well. It was a release, a moment of lightness. He was absolved of one of his many sins. He looked at her, and she looked at him. they knew from the depths of each other's eyes that this moment was true.

"I forgive you." She said almost smiling.

He couldn't move, he was still shocked.

"Lyuze...I..."

A moment passed, neither said anything. But it did not last long, as the reasons for her words became apparent. The inevitability reared its hideous visage.

Ahkuh kuh! The pink haired girl covered her mouth with her other hand, and as she lowered it, Casshern could see it was covered in her blood.

"No!" He said. "When did the ruin...?" He had wondered why Leda had asked if he wanted to see Lyuze die, he did not think her injury was so serious. He wanted to go to her, but he couldn't, she wouldn't let him near. He could sense it. She was too proud. She was happy, as if she could feel the pull of him towards her, but she knew he was being considerate again.

"I don't know if Luna is still alive or not... but promise me..."

She was losing strength now.

"You'll never give up and become stronger, so you can find a way to save the world."

"Lyuze..." He stumbled for words. How could he promise her, he still didn't know how.

"Promise me." She looked at him, right through to him, steadfast, unyielding, and he found no other way.

"I promise."

Ahkuh kuh kuh!!!!

She looked away and smiled, for the first time since they met. She actually smiled a real smile, from deep down and every fiber of her being. There was humor to it as well, as if she thought fondly on something.

"To die alone..." She said sadly. "That's what I had feared the most, and I thought it was going to come true when my sister died..."

He felt guilty again.

"But now...with you... here... " She said turning to look at him once more. He looked at her sadly again. She shook her head no, letting him know, she didn't blame him. She smiled again in it's briefness, it lifted more weight off of him. And he could see his reflection in her eyes. Her hands suddenly fell to the ground. Her eyes lost it's life as she became motionless.

"Lyuze." Casshern started. He reached out for her. But griped his hands tight, remembering his promise to her.

"Eooooo!!!!" Came Friender's howl calling out to his master. Casshern walked away towards his friend's call but before leaving he turned around again to look at her. His ray of hope in all the darkness he created around himself. Her eyes were now closed, but she retained her smile.

"Thank you, Lyuze." He walked on, on towards the future they wanted, towards a future of hope, towards a future with no ruin, where she could keep smiling, as he left his former self, the killer, the guilty, behind, his figure disappeared in the breeze of the dust. As he shed his layer as her killer, they were no longer enemies. They were more.

THE END