Hope no longer forlorn
The mirror laid in wait, and the mirror slept. Eons it slumbered, safe within the Reikai's vaults, or so it thought. It was almost never used, and when it was, the user usually backed away once they discovered the price. Oh, a few times people went all the way; suicidal vengeful people, or those asking to be reunited with a dead lover in their next life. The mirror granted every wish, true or false, good or evil, trivial or important. Its task was not to judge, but merely to obey.
Then it was stolen by a red-haired thief with sad green eyes. The mirror was curious, insofar as it was capable of being curious. The thief felt young, but he also felt old, and there was something strange about his energy; it fluctuated from human to youkai to human erratically.
And so the mirror set out to delve into the mind of its thief. In uneasy dreams it probed deep into his mind – Kurama, his name was, but also Youko and Shuuichi, and this the mirror found interesting – and learnt his deepest secrets.
It was ready on the night of the full moon, and when he woke it the mirror showed him the face of his mother. He had his wish ready, and when the mirror heard it it felt a faint surprise.
Not once in its millenium-old existence had it been surprised.
An immortal son, a dying mother. The mirror had been prepared to grant his wish, to make his mother immortal and take the son's life to do it. But he wished, not for her health or for her to not die, but for her happiness.
It was a complex wish. No one had ever wished for someone else's happiness before, and so, quicker than time itself, the mirror swept into the mother's mind. The results caused it some dismay, for all she wanted was for her son to be happy.
The mirror, caught in paradox, sought a solution to the problem. Ah, yes. The man, the one with a son who bore the same name as hers. It would not be so difficult for the mirror to transfer her affection from one Shuuichi to another. Thus it would fulfill all the requirements. Resolved, the mirror struck into the son's energy, white crackling bolts stripping him of his life force.
What was this? There was another there, willingly offering his life in exchange for the son's. A stranger, giving his life for another's? The mirror investigated. Beneath the determination lay a painful sense of inadequacy – if he doesn't deserve to live, why do I? – the boy thought. Which troubled the mirror, because now it had two people, each wishing for another's life. The paradox had extended again.
But there was another conflict brewing within the mirror. A strange part of it that insisted on a course so radical that it overran everything the mirror had ever done; yet it would nullify the paradox and leave the mirror intact.
And so it rejected their energy, drawing upon its own stores of life-force to grant the son's wish. It was a noble deed, both by the son and the boy, and the mirror did not regret breaking its self-imposed rule to grant their wish. It told the boy as much as he peered into it, stunned and hopeful.
And as its consciousness returned slowly to its dormant stage, the mirror was conscious of being…………
Content.
A/N: cheesy title I know, but hey. Review, please!