Written for RivaMika Week, Day 6 on Tumblr
Prompt: Crossover - RivaMika with Kara no Kyoukai
Writer's note: I tried to rush, but still ended up missing the deadline for RivaMika week, just by a bit. Regarding the story itself - originally this was a much longer and more complex idea, and was supposed to have a happy ending like how KnK actually ended, but I cut it short in my attempts to meet the deadline. So much for that. -_- I will probably rewrite it at least into the proper ending sometime soon.
"This is your knife, isn't it? Sorry, I got it a little dirty."
Callously, Lio Shirazumi tosses the dripping blade at her feet. It clatters to the floor, staining it with red. Mikasa bends over to pick it up mechanically. The smell of fresh blood assaults her – the smell of his blood. She could never forget it, from that rainy night all those years ago – the night she had tried to kill him.
Only then she had failed, and in despair had tried to kill herself instead. That too, had failed. And now… just when she had decided to live, to heed his warning to turn back from the path of murder for both their sakes, he was dead.
So… you're gone now, Levi…
She knows Lio is coming towards her, but makes no move to defend herself. Lifting the bloodied knife, she closes her hand around the blade and holds it close to her heart. Levi's blood is still warm against the cold steel, and she grips it tightly, as if by this action she could touch him once again.
I won't forgive you, Levi's voice echoes in her head.
Lio reaches her in a leap, his claws raking down the side of her kimono and tearing through the flesh of her leg. Spinning around he attacks her again, shredding the cloth and skin of her other leg as the blood splatters across the floor. She feels the pain, but it seems far away compared to the pain of the fading warmth in her hands.
Kill Lio, and there will be no turning back, Mikasa.
Lio lunges again, this time moving higher. His monstrous nails rip through the sleeves of her jacket and gouge into her arm. Streams of blood gush forth anew, nearly invisible against the deep red leather of her jacket as they drip down her elbows and join the vivid puddles spreading at her feet.
She can see Lio coming a fourth time and knows it would be easy to stop him in a single motion, but she cannot bring herself to move. How could I kill him, when it's the last thing that you asked of me? Now those words are all I have left of you.
Her eyes overflow with tears, trailing down her cheeks and onto her hands stained with his blood. But I am glad. You were always there for me, ready to pull me back when I was lost, ready to accept me. And even though I never said it, those times with you were the happiest of my life.
Lio rushes towards her for a fifth time, aiming for her neck, and she knows this will be the last. The end of all things, of joy and sorrow, peace and pain, of the truth and lies of her existence without Levi by her side.
Those days… were truly like a dream
Thank you
But… I'm sorry
I know that I've lost everything already
But even then
Even then…
…I can't forgive the one who killed you.
Snapping back to reality, she activates her cursed eyes. Lio is a blur running towards her like a wild animal, angry red lines crossing all over his body, showing her where he will break. Gripping her knife, Mikasa's body moves almost on its own. One slash – his remaining arm flies off as he screams in agony. Two slashes – his right leg is cut clean at the knee and he stumbles. Three slashes – the other leg is detached at the hip, his torso hitting the ground like a sack of rotten potatoes. Mikasa flips the knife smoothly in her hands and plunges downwards into his chest, stabbing through the very source of his existence.
In the silence, she looks upon the corpse of the beast. There is no blood running out of the wounds, yet he is undeniably dead. Such is the mercy granted by the power of her eyes – an abrupt stop, an ending with nothing left to spill out. A mercy which escapes her, as the last of her strength gives way and she falls to the ground, into the endless rivers of her own blood and sorrow.
Levi… I can't go home anymore… there is nowhere left for me to go.
Outside, the rain falls, and once again she feels the despair of that night so many years ago.