Snowing Christmas
The blonde knight watches his sister, just as she stares at the window, watching the snowfall with healed eyes. In the back of his mind, he is aware of the clock ticking away, a countdown to that new, "special" day of the year. The uneaten cake sits on the table, four plates set out, the frosting as white as the crystals gently falling outside. His sister waits for the sound of the doorbell that he knows isn't coming.
"He would cry if he heard you say that," he had said to Takatori Mamoru, but wonders if it was true. From the punk-like teen Rook, Ran had changed into an angry, brusque person, casting aside his old identity the way a snake (he's not a butterfly, that implies fragility) casts aside its skin, throwing out even his name.
Then, as time dissolves ice to water, the angry persona "Aya" had been smoothed away to form a calmer, sadder personality, like shards of glass soothed by the tide. Though "Aya" had gained what he had sought, it was impossible to back out, to return to the normal, peaceful lifestyle. He had to keep killing, a fate that Yuushi was glad he had been spared from, until he, in the end, had died.
Yuushi wonders exactly which of the personalities "Aya" had developed was really him, then wonders if it even matters. In the end, that bastard had broken his promise, dying before ever joining his sister to see the snowy Christmas Eve together. Yuushi joins his sister at the window, and the thoughts fall as placidly as the snow.
In a different country, far away, snow makes its graceful descent from the heavens, casting white snow on red hair, and red blood on white snow.
AN: Ack, it's so bad . Ah well. The promise refers to the conversation Yuushi and Aya had with Rex and Queen, and Aya promised to come spend Christmas with Yuushi's little sister (who was getting operated on to restore her sight). In that, they mentioned how nice it'd be to have a snowy Christmas. I made Yuushi not know that Aya's alive in New York, and currently bleeding to death after a stab wound.