Bonvenon

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Dawn—

"Fin..."I heard her call my name.

"Yes?" I had been wondering to myself again, so much has gone by since I first met this girl and told her her fate years ago. Some times, she's just too independent for me to handle, but I cannot blame her, she has lived a hard life.

"Fin, do you think that...that I'm going to...win??"

"Of course! Have confidence in yourself, like you used to..." I told her in a reassuring voice.

She looked up at me with eyes full of fear and loneliness, cutting me off in the middle of my sentence for the first time since I've met her. "That's what Chiaki and Yakimish said," she whispered, "but you all know well that there is a chance that I would fail. You just want to make me feel good. I've never had confidence in myself and I think I never would either..." She trails off, letting silence fill in the empty space left behind those harsh remark of hers.

Pretending to be mad, I told her: "That is not like you, come on, cheer up!"

A smirk came upon her face. "Do you really think that I could still be what I was before??"

Sighing, I flew up to her, resting on the windowsill beside her palm. Looking up at her sad face, I said in a whisper so soft that only she could hear what I'm saying. "Listen, I want you to close your eyes and think. You know very well that we all have faith in you, and you know deep in your heart that you can make it." I flew out of the window, knowing that her glaze was following me through the sky, which was dyad pink by the setting sun.

Night—

"......" The moon shone brightly through the silent dark night. I stared down at earth, enjoying the peacefulness that the night brought along. -What is she going to do?- I wondered. –No one knows what the other face of Lord is up to...not even the infinity Lord himself...surely there has to be a way...- I drifted off in thought while staring into the darkness of the sky. Suddenly, I heard a flutter of wings behind me. With out looking, I knew that it must be Yakimish. Only he would be able to find me in this dark mist.

"Everything is going to turn out fine Fin...we all could do with more sleep after what we have gone through today though..."

I sighed; knowing that he was telling the truth, but I somehow just couldn't manage to sleep now, the memory still haunted me...Yakimish, who always could read my thoughts, reassured me in a much softer voice that none of this was my fault, it was just fate. I smiled and hugged him and we flew away, leaving behind me the peaceful darkness...

Morning—

"Ohayo gozaimasu!!" She walked out of her room, her face shining. "Come on, we have a long hard day ahead, so what are you guys staring at???" she was addressing to me and Yakimish, for we both were staring at her in disbelief...

I was about to scream out: "HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU RECOVER TO A HAPPY MOOD SO FAST?!?! YOU JUST MADE EVERYONE WORRY ABOUT YOU!!!" When I heard a snort come from behind her.

Chiaki, with that annoying smirk of his printed his face was looking at me in a way that meant: "Didn't Yakimish do the same to you at that time?"

Feeling a small blush forming on my face, I turned away. Yakimish looked at Chiaki as if he was going to kill him while she stared at us innocently, having not the slightest idea what we are thinking about.

Chiaki smiled again and broke the silence. "So...what are we waiting for? We still have to prepare for today!!"

After breakfast, when we were waiting for her to get changed, I tugged at Chiaki and said in a low voice so that only he could hear. "Arigato...She really needed that..."

He just laughed and said in a half jokingly tone: "You don't have to thank me, I didn't do it to make you feel good. I did because I just couldn't stand it when she was sad or scared. I care about her too you know. And anyways there is no way that she is going to go to battle today with a bad mood. At least not if I can help it..." His eyes trailed off to the direction where she had disappeared into the room. I smiled, knowing that I would be able to trust him, for I had a feeling that I would not be able to be at her side any longer, a feeling that everything would end soon for me ...too soon maybe...

"Ok, I'm done!! Come on!!" She called from the door. A huge sweat drop formed behind Chiaki's head.

"How...HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU MANAGE TO GET THERE WITHOUT ME NOTICING?!?!" He looked at her with disbelief.

"Meh...must I let you know every thing that I do?" She smiled deviously.

"......" We all fell silent, huge sweat drops forming behind our heads.

She looked at us with those pure innocent eyes again...too innocently.

"Aww...never mind...you are just unbelievable sometimes..." Chiaki sighed, leading the way out. She smiled, knowing that she had won this one.

"Mmm.... It's so nice to be home I again!!!" I flew around the palace, smelling the flowers, breathing in the fresh air, happy and filled with joy.

"Ne, Fin-chan it's been a few hundred years since you last came here right?" She looked at me smiling, those beautiful orbs dancing with happiness, those eyes that once cried because of me...

"Hai..." I tried my best to not let my voice sound hurt, but I gave up. There was no way that I could just forget those days, those days that decided my future, the says that decided my fate, that gave me the life that I live now. "But I don't regret not to be able to come here for all that time...If it wasn't for that, Fin would never have been able to meet you right?" I smiled at her, knowing that this comment would not make her worry no more. "And anyways, it was Fin's own choice to not come here...for my own reasons..." I blushed, and stole a quick glance at Yakimish.

She blinked, then gave me that beautiful smile of hers, the smile that had stole away the heart so many people..."Hai!!!!" She squeezed me with all her might, giving me the tightest hug ever...

"..."Yakimish was sweat dropping behind us. "Ne, Fin-chan you sure that you can still breathe?!"

"Yakimish!!!" I yelled at him, "It's just so typical of you to say a thing like that! Hmph...Fin no talk to you no more!" I turned my back to him and flew to her shoulder. "Fin no like rude guys like you!" I made a face and turned away.

"So, should we get going now?" Chiaki, who had been watching with a smirk broke the silence and reminded us of our mission, the reason that we are here...

"..." There was no response from her.

"Ma..." Just when I was going to say some thing to comfort her, she came back to normal. "Sure! Why not?? Kami-sama is waiting for us too...It wouldn't be nice to have him wait for us right?"

It's that smile again, brighter than the sun, warmer than the rays...Your smile which lights up heaven, your smile that is the light inside Kami-sama, your smile, the smile of the reincarnation of Jeanne D'Arc, the smile of Kami-sama's only power left, of his only love....

Let your power decided our fate...

I flew with her, knowing that she would have to shed no more tears, for now, she will never be alone in this world...I believe in that Chiaki now, although he is still rather annoying sometimes, but he took good care of you when I left, if it wasn't for him, there would be no doubt that your never going to forgive me again; and Myaoko, she would always be with you, no matter what happens...you know that is the truth; Kami-sama would be with you too; and for me, I would never leave you again, to pay up for the tears that I made you shed...My best companion, Kusakabe Maron.

So let us face this fight...together....

Battle Field—

"We're there..." I whispered, staring into the darkness that once was my only hope. Now that I was back where I'm supposed to be, this darkness felt different...it felt cold and unfamiliar, as if all those years that I had spent here was just a dream, a nightmare that came true...

"So Jeanne, or should I say, Maron, you have come to accept this challenge...I thought you would have ran away from fear at this time..." A dark voice echoed throughout the place.

Suddenly, red in the face, she spoke. "You...you..." I thought that she was being mad, but I didn't have the courage to comfort her in-front of the two Lords that I both have betrayed, and I could never do anything to the Dark Lord, after so many years...I know him better than anyone else, I know his loneliness...

"You......BAKA!!!" She shouted.

Silence....blinks....Then came the furious shout from the Dark Lord himself, who for once, had lost his temper. "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!?!"

"..." Silence again. Suddenly she raised a finger and pointed to the Dark Lord, saying: "You need to go see a doctor. Maybe if you be nice and ask Chiaki he would introduce you to his father. You need to check that hearing of yours..." saying this, she shook her head. "Very bad hearing you have there...if you don't believe me ask anyone here. I bet that they all heard very clearly what I just said...tsk tsk tsk..." she trailed off, shaking her head.

I could see that everyone was trying their best not to laugh. If the Dark Lord had appeared in his body form then there is no doubt that his face must be scarlet now...NO ONE ever says that kind of things to him, that was for sure.

He tried to cover that up and pretended to not have heard that comment by evil laugh. He did not want to loose his coolness. "Ahh...so, your still behaving like spoiled brat before you die? How sad..." Another roar of evil laughter followed. Then, forbidding her to talk back and piss him off again, he did the smartest thing that he could think of—turning to speak to me...."And you there Fin, you couldn't forget the memories of this stinky Heaven heh? Including that baka boyfriend of yours...."

I kept silent. He had spoken right into my weak part...but somehow I knew that Maron would not take that no more, nor Chiaki and Yakimish. Even if I was too afraid to protest, my friends would hold me back without me having to say anything.

As I predicted, that was the last straw for Maron. "HEY THERE YOU FREAKING BAKA COWARDLY LONER!!! SHUT THAT SMELLY MOUTH OF YOURS THIS SECOND AND GET ON WITH THAT BAKA CHALLENGE OF YOURS BEFORE I PISS OFF AND KICK YOU IN THE ASS!!!"

"......."Silence again....Every one was waiting to see the Dark Lord's reaction.

I took exactly ten minutes before the great Dark Lord could fully control his emotions and talk. Still, his voice was shaky. "Freak...you...you'll pay for that...." The tension in the room rose.

"Hahaha...." To everyone's surprise, she was LAUGHING....We stared at her, thinking that she must have gone crazy. She was laughing so hard she had to hold on to the wide-eyed Chiaki. After a while, she leaned on Chiaki and whispered something into his ear, which made him smile. He hugged her and then Looked up, facing full face to the Dark Lord, the expression on his face back to the serious.

"So...are you too scared to continue? You can butt out now, we don't care..." He smirked. "If not," he added in a rush, so that no one could cut him off, "Then let the battle begin...."

"......Fine" And from there, it began....

finfari

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