A/N: Yea! The one-shot of this plot bunny . By the way, this is the sequel to my other story, "Broken Angel" and you do need to have read that before reading this. So I'll probably ignore your review if it says "I don't know what's going on", unless it is made clear that it was something in this story: not just because you haven't read the other one.
Disclaimer: I do not own Godchild or The Cain Saga; those belong to the wonderful Kaori Yuki. I also do not own the song "Slept so long" by Jay Gordon, it belongs to him.
Blah talking/narration, [blah lyrics, ---------- scene change.
Warning: This has mild tones of Yaoi; if you don't like then don't read.
One final thing, I dedicate this one-shot to Momo Flint, for finding the song to go with this chapter, and for giving me a reason to write this fan fic. Thank you. So without further ado, the conclusion to "Broken Angel".
"We're going to have a tea party in the flower garden, aren't we?"
The darkness in the hallway was suffocating; it surrounded everything and allowed absolutely no light to penetrate it. Cain couldn't even see his hand in front of his own face.
[Walking
Waiting
Alone without a care
Cain's stab wound had finally stopped bleeding, luckily the injury had not been deep, and he walked carefully, a hand outstretched in front of him to prevent from running into anything. Cain knew that every step he took was another step closer to his father and another step closer to his inevitable death. It was going to happen, he knew it; the black shadow that had followed him around his entire life was finally going to claim the victim it had always wanted.
[Hoping
And hating
Things that I can't bear
The only thing Cain could hope for was a safe and happy future for his sister and all his friends. That's why he had to kill his father, for their sake… and Riff's. He couldn't bear to think of him right now. If he dwelled too much, the man would prove to be a distraction.
His thoughts where cut off when he turned a corner and fire light shown through the opening at the end of the passage. Cain ran to the opening stopping short as he came closer. He walked into the seemingly empty room; it had absolutely no furniture and the walls were bare. The source of light came from a large, lit, fireplace; big enough for a man to fit in.
"So I see you finally made it. Shame, that must mean you have disposed of Riffael, such a waste, oh well."
The haunting voice floated down to Cain from a balcony right above the door Cain entered from.
He whipped around to face the man who had made his life a living hell, Alexis Hargreaves-The card master; flanked by Jizabel Disraeli-DEATH, and Ida-MOON.
[Did you think it's cool
To walk right up
To take my life
And fuck it up
A huge and unexpected anger ripped through Cain as he looked up at the man who had ruined his life before he was even born. He had only done two kind things to his son in Cain's lifetime: introduce him to Riff and die. However Alexis had screwed both of these things up.
"Why didn't you just stay dead? Why couldn't you just leave me alone for once?!"
[Well did you?
Well did you?
Cain's anger came rushing out as he finally asked the questions he had wanted to ask his father ever since he had learned that he was alive.
His father just gave Cain a cold smirk.
"Because, I hate you Cain, and you don't deserve to live a happy life where you're surrounded by people who love you. Jizabel."
At The card master's command, the ash-blonde man jumped from the balcony and rushed forward producing one of his ever-on-hand-scalpels and pressing it lightly to Cain's throat, effectively pinning him to the wall next to the blazing fire place.
[I see hell in your eyes
Taken in by surprise (surprise)
Cain looked into Jizabel's amethyst eyes, a look of hatred and pain mixed into one of love and pleasure.
"You know Cain; Jizabel has been dying for this moment ever since he met you." Alexis said as he descended the stairs.
Despite the obvious cloud of insanity that was Dr. Disraeli's life, Cain felt a small but true connection with this man he knew hated him with every fiber of his being. However, this didn't stop Cain from having hatred of his own; Disraeli had ruined a lot of things, including the first and last woman he ever truly loved.
Right now Cain didn't fear death, he would do anything just to end his father's evil. Cain moved quickly, he grabbed the doctor's wrist and pulled it away from him and used the momentum to throw Jizabel aside. Cain may not have been the most athletic person, but that didn't mean he couldn't be strong, and the element of surprise didn't hurt either.
[Touching you makes me feel alive
Touching you makes me die inside
Cain rushed towards his father; the other just smirked and let his son push him up against the wall, gun to his head. Cain glared up into his father's eyes; eyes he had once hoped might express some sort of caring, though they never did.
"Are you going to do it, Cain? Can you really pull the trigger and kill your own father?"
Cain wanted to scream; why the hell was everybody taunting him like this? Riff had had said the same thing only 10 minutes ago! He had killed a lot of people, some by accident, some indirectly, and some he never wanted to die had succumbed to the black shadow that constantly stalked him.
However, Cain didn't get a chance to test his father's theory, a hand grabbed Cain's shoulder and roughly tossed him away from the card master. He had completely forgotten MOON was still there.
Cain hit the wall hard, pain shooting up his left leg. He felt something warm trickle down his scalp from where he had hit his head, but he didn't give it a second thought as he saw a rope attached to the wall next to him that led to a chandelier sitting right above where his father and MOON stood.
Quick as a flash, Cain took Riff's dagger and cut the rope securing the heavy light fixture. It fell and smashed to the ground, dust flew everywhere. When the air finally cleared Alexis stood next to Jizabel glaring at Cain.
"You're just bent on killing those useful to me aren't you, Cain?"
[I hate you
Cain looked over to the fallen chandelier to see the body of Ida lying crushed under it. A sudden anger filled Cain as he thought of how indifferent his father was to those who would die for him. Before he could say anything, a flame from one of the candles in the chandelier touched the carpet on the floor, instantly lighting it up and causing a fire to spread.
"Now look what you've done, Cain," his Father mocked, but a look of true panic flashed across the doctor's face and he turned towards his father.
"Card master, we have to get out now, before it's too late."
Cain was confused: why would it be too late? Most of the structure was stone, and stone couldn't burn. Alexis saw Cain's confusion and smirked.
"This entire building is laced with gunpowder; Inserted inside the walls at specific points to make sure nothing's left; we had to ensure an easy way to get rid of it if something went wrong." Turning towards Jizabel, Alexis said, "Jizabel, why don't you stay here and keep Cain company, I'll take the other way out." Jizabel stared at his father. "You mean stay here and die?"
The Card master smirked. "Precisely."
Only a month ago, Jizabel would have welcomed the thought of death, especially for his father, but that was before Cassian had… had left. Now he wasn't as sure.
Before he had a chance to even respond, someone crashed through the window and rolled onto the floor. The person stood quickly, the light of the fire shinning on none other then Cassian.
"You! Why are you here?!" Alexis asked.
Cassian didn't respond, he just ran over to Jizabel, grabbed his wrist.
"Come on Jizabel, I'm getting you out of this insane asylum." Cassian said, pulling Jizabel towards the window.
"You don't think I'm just going to let the two of you walk out of here, do you?" Alexis started for them, but Cain crossed the fire and lunged towards his father, taking him by surprise, and providing a distraction for Cassian to practically drag Jizabel out the window. Now it was just Cain and his father.
Alexis pushed Cain off of him and glared into the eyes of his son. Cain was about to say something when the sound of footsteps running down the hall towards the room cut him off. Cain and his father both turned to see a bloodied, but very determined, Riff standing across the fire that was threatening to engulf the room. Alexis smirked.
"Ah, good. You, Riffael, can be my scapegoat. I order you to kill Cain."
Riff only shook his head.
"I'm sorry Lord Alexis, but I cannot kill my Lord Cain."
A great burst of joy and hope filled Cain at Riff's words. Could this really be his Riff?
Alexis sneered. "Then you can die with him."
The elder Hargreaves made a move towards Riff, but stopped at the sound of a gun being cocked. Alexis turned to see Cain pointing his gun straight at Alexis. The man smiled knowingly.
[I've slept so long without you
It's tearing me apart too
"Go ahead, Cain, shoot me. I doubt you could. You're not that kind of person, are you, Cain? You couldn't shoot your own father, not even for the one you love. You're already tainted by killing your mother; you don't want the sin of killing me too, do you?
[How'd it get this far
Playing games with this old heart
Cain's hand shook, and slowly let it fall to his side.
[I've killed a million petty souls
But I couldn't kill you
He couldn't do it. He'd killed so many others, indirectly or not, on purpose or completely by accident; but when it finally mattered, when it came to the man whom he used to adore, he couldn't do it.
"I thought as much. You're too weak, Cain." Alexis turned back towards Riff, drawing his gun and pointing it right at the butler's head. The man didn't have any way to protect himself, nowhere to hide.
Bang
The sound of a gunshot echoed through the room.
[I've slept so long without you
Alexis twitched, the gun falling out of his hand as he crumpled to the ground. Cain dropped his gun, now empty of its last bullet.
"I guess you don't know me as well as you thought."
The young Earl fell to his knees as realization of what he had finally done sunk in. Quickly he felt a pair of strong arms encircle him and hold him against an equally strong chest. Cain looked up to see worried blue eyes staring back at him. Cain's voice shook as he asked the one question he feared the answer to.
"It's you, right? You're Riff, right? My Riff."
Riff smiled softly. "Yes Cain, it's me."
Riff helped the boy stand up and looked around the room; the fire had spread quickly and it was amazing that the building hadn't exploded yet, but they where almost out of time.
"We're going to die here, aren't we, Riff?"
Riff shook his head. "I hope not Milord; come with me."
Riff led Cain over to a place in the wall known only to a few.
-------------------------------
From several streets away from the tower, people could see the fire clearly. Oscar and Crehador stood with the gathered crowd hoping beyond hope that soon they would see the figure of Cain running towards them. Their hopes where shattered as the building blew into a million pieces, damaging buildings around it and deafening the shocked people of London.
-------------
In a small flat in the lower part of town, there sat a man with long ash blonde hair. He just sat, staring out the window at where the tower used to stand; he was so out of it that he barely noticed the door open and a man with short red hair enter, placing some food items down in the kitchen before going to sit in one of the few chairs in the room.
Cassian didn't like the fact that Jizabel hardly said anything to him these days, but he had to admit, the man was making progress. Only yesterday, he had smiled briefly when a bird landed on the window sill and looked up at him. It was small, but it was more then he had done in over two months.
Someday, Cassian was sure, he would make enough money to move them to a house in the country where they could have all the animals Jizabel wanted. Then, maybe just maybe, he would take notice of Cassian again and direct one of those small smiles at him too.
-------------------------
On a foggy London morning, a cloaked figure walked up to the Hargreaves estate and knocked on the door. A bright young maid with orange hair and freckles opened it.
"Hello, Emily, will you please show me to Lady Hargreaves?"
The maid nodded and shut the door behind the man. She took his cloak and led him to the tea room where Oscar and Mary Weather sat in a peaceful sort of silence. Mary looked up when the man entered the room.
"Hello, Crehador. Why don't you come in and sit down."
The man did as asked and sat in one of the empty chairs.
"Did you bring me any good news?"
"No, I'm sorry; there is still no sign of them anywhere. There wasn't anything left of the building, only rocks, and no one has seen them for a long time."
Mary let out a sigh.
"It's been a couple of months. I'm not sure if we'll ever find them, but maybe they'll find us. Until then, I guess we'll just keep living our lives as normal as possible."
Oscar just listened to this exchange; none of it any more surprising or different than all the others that revolved around this subject. Personally, he couldn't see how any one could survive that explosion. The only reason he and Crehador were alive was because they couldn't go forward to follow Cain. Crehador knew about the gunpowder from JUSTICE. After the explosion, the three spent so much time together, they were practically living together. Poor Mary: after the "disappearance" of her brother, she was the only Hargreaves in the direct line to inherit the position of "Lady Hargreaves". It was too much for an almost-eleven-year-old girl. Luckily, she did have Neil, Crehador and himself, but he knew that no matter how strong she looked, she cried when she was alone. She really missed her older brother and head butler.
The conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Miss Mary, there's a letter here for you." The voice of Emily spoke softly from the door.
Oscar thanked her, taking the letter and, returning to his seat, gave the letter to the confused blonde. Mary opened the plain envelope and pulled out the letter. Her eyes moved across the paper and, when she was through, she had to read it over again just to make sure that what she had read was true.
-----------
Kilometers away from London, sat a house. It was a good size, but still modest; this house was set a fair distance from a dirt road that rarely saw any activity. Trees surrounded the house, giving the already secluded location more privacy; only the backyard was open.
In it was a moderate garden filled with flowers and fruit trees of all kinds. The most striking feature of the yard was the small lake set right up at the edge of the garden, leaving a narrow space between the water's edge and the stone pathway leading through the garden.
This space was occupied by a picnic blanket that had the remains of lunch sitting at one corner and a couple relaxing in the middle. They deserved it, after all. Besides, they had already sent the letter, so they should enjoy their peace and quiet before they had company.
The black haired man let out a content sigh as the white haired man beside took his hand and intertwined their fingers. The blue eyed one smiled softly as he felt his companion's head rest on his shoulder, and as the pair sat staring out across the lake, the peaceful scenery around them, it finally sunk in that, there, where the air was clean, and social status didn't matter, their future was finally free of the omnipresent shadow that had covered their past.
The End
A/N: Oh my god it's done, and only 2 days before the 8th volume comes out Sigh of relief
This is Cassian in Cassandra's body, just couldn't fit that little reminder in the story without it sounding weird. ;