Author: reilin
Title: Last Kiss
Fandom: Huntik Secrets & Seekers
Characters: Zhalia Moon, Klaus
Word Count: 1458 (W)
Rating: PG15
Genere: Drama, Slice of Life, Missing Moments, Songfiction, What If?
Note: Klaus' last moments from Zhalia's POV. From the episode "The Vampire loses its fangs". A songfiction inspi' by the Italian Song "L'Ultimo bacio", sung by Carmen Consoli. Hope you like it! R&R, please!
Disclaimer: Huntik characters belongs to uncle Iginio Straffi and to Rainbow SpA; "L'Ultimo Bacio": from the album "Stato di Necessità" by Carmen Consoli © 1999 WMA - lyrics by Carmen Consoli.
L'Ultimo Bacio
LAST KISS
Magica quiete velata indulgenza
dopo l'ingrata tempesta
riprendi fiato e con intenso trasporto
celebri un mite e insolito risveglio
[Magic quiet veiled indulgence
after the ungrateful storm
you catch your breath and with an intense movement
you celebrate a famous and unusual awakening]
It's really all over now... Everything is silent: the battle at Vlad Dracul's castle is over and it is time to leave.
"Wait here while I go to retrieve Lok and Sophie," Dante tells you, without even looking at your face. You nod and bow your head, while he walks away from you.
You feel tired, exhausted: this fight has not only put a strain on your body, but also and especially on your mind. You close your eyes and the images of the day just passed by go through your mind: at the end, you have shown yourself to Dante and the others for who you really are. You have betrayed them, nearly killed'em ... the fact that in the end you decided to stay at their side, turning permanently your back to Klaus and the Organization does not absolutely mean that you are not guilty in front of their eyes: you know it well, and you remember it to yourself by biting your lower lip.
A sound like a strangled voice awakens you from your thoughts, you look around, trying to figure out where does that lament comes from.
Mille violini suonati dal vento
l'ultimo abbraccio mia amata bambina
nel tenue ricordo di una pioggia d'argento
il senso spietato di un non ritorno
[A thousand violins played by the wind
the last embrace of my beloved little girl
in memory of a pale silvery rain
the ruthless sense of a no return]
"Klaus!" you exclaim with surprise, recognizing your mentor in the shape of the man lying on the ground covered in blood. "He must have thrown himself off the roof of the castle to avoid the petrifying gaze of King Basilisk" you tell yourself while you carefully get closer to him.
He breaths heavily, his old shoulders are hunched in pain, and his gaze is empty, absent: two tears fall on your face as you lean on him and know he's dying.
He turns to you, and plants those disquieting and ungrateful eyes of him in yours, then, after a few interminable seconds, a barely audible hiss escapes from his lips: "Zhalia ..."
More tears come from your eyes without you notice them, without you can do anything to stop them: you hold his hand and try to smile in a reassuringly way, but you can't hide all your pain.
"My child, I'm dying," he says imperceptibly touching your hand, and he seems to laugh, he seems peaceful.
Despite all the evil he has done, even though he has inculcated into you false ideals and illusions, you can't help but remember with infinite sadness and gratitude that autumn evening of many years ago, when he reached out to your hand and took you away from those always cold and dark streets: raindrops that were falling from the sky seemed like silver wires, just like Klaus's hair ... He took care of you and told you about a great future, and you were so happy that your head was turning round and round.
"Klaus, hold on please, do not ... don't go," you beg him, your voice is breaking with tears.
He extends a hand toward up to you to caress your face: "You were such a docile girl, Zhalia ..." he tells you, then his eyes half close and become like two thin cracks, where you can notice all his disappointment, "now you've become a woman, how I wish time had stopped at that time ..." his voice is now very similar to a strangled cry, as his hand moves away from your face, leaving an imprint of his blood on your cheek.
"Forgive me, Klaus ..." you plead, and try so hard to convince yourself that this won't be your last goodbye.
Di quei violini suonati dal vento
l'ultimo bacio mia dolce bambina
brucia sul viso come gocce di limone
l'eroico coraggio di un feroce addio
ma sono lacrime
mentre piove
[Of those violins played by the wind
the last kiss my sweet girl
burns on your face like lemon drops
the heroic courage of a fierce farewell
but these are tears
while it rains.]
Your mentor's body is struck by shocks: why is he softly laughing to the point of running out of breath? You look at him with a worried and questioningly glance, that he seems not to notice because he's too busy at sneering to the point that now his voice is broken by violent coughing spells that make him fold on itself.
"Klaus ...?", you call for his attention, while you're shivering by genuine bewilderment.
It is at this precise moment that the man's hoarse voice, now reduced to little more than a gasp, says those words you didn't want to hear, but hard and heavy as boulders they come down to your heart: "Forgive you, Zhalia? I took you with me when you were all alone in the world and you were dying in hunger ... I raised you as you were a daughter of mine, I bet everything on you, and you repaid me becoming Dante Vale's puppet and the Huntik Foundation slave ... look at me, Zhalia: it's your fault that I'm dying! You know you're rotten inside, you know that people like us could never be accepted by people as Vale and the other Foundation seekers ... despite of that, you wanted to try to redeem yourself by turning your back to me, betraying the Organization ... you were my greatest mistake, Zhalia Moon: I should have known right away that you were good for nothing, a weak person destined to anything else than dragging yourself from one failure to another. I die for your hand, Zhalia Moon, but it remains you a life sadder than death itself: you'll see that your friends seekers will turn their backs and you will be alone again because people like you are not allowed the luxury of redemption ... " .
The sound of the words pronounced by the seeker reaches your ears like a sentence without appeal: you feel inside yourself that he's right down the line ... you're an insignificant person who cannot help but make mistakes and hurt those who held out her hand to you. You feel tears burn on your face like lemon drops, while you're kneeling in front of the only father you've ever known, you head down, unable to hold back the sobs that shake your whole being.
After having excitedly uttered this phrases full of anger, Klaus is shaken by strong attacks of coughing, so that a trickle of blood flows from his mouth and his breath becomes more difficult and crackling.
"Zhalia, I will never forgive you ..." Klaus hisses, then a rattle shakes in his throat, followed by a heavy and noisy last breath, his eyes become glassy, the lines of his face and his limbs relax, falling in the heavy abandonment of death.
Klaus died, he left you alone with your feelings of guilt, you won't forget his last words full of bitterness. Your cry, which until then has been subdued and quiet, is now desperate and it convulsive bursts into sobs, as if someone ripped the heart from your chest, as if in front of your eyes eternal darkness had fallen. You lean on him to embrace his dead body and you continue to cry until you lose track of time and space: there are only your salty tears, the groans of pain and Klaus' body that loses its vital heat every passing minute.
After you have cried until you lost all your strengths, you can finally return to dominate yourself somehow. With a gesture of extreme piety, your fingers close Klaus' tired eyelids on his eyes now lifeless, then you bend over him and lay a quick kiss on his forehead.
"Thanks for everything, Klaus," you whisper, before you stand up, hoping with all your whole self that, wherever he is now, he can hear you. Now it's time to face the consequences of having always lived in lies. Probably Klaus was right: you have spotted yourself with so many faults which it can't be forgiven: however, you have decided that you will give it all to atone for your mistakes and become a better person, so that the sacrifice of his life hasn't been in vain.
Although you know you've been left alone again in the world, you feel inside yourself a new strength: for the first time in your life you are truly yourself, and somehow you will be able to rebuild your life on authentic foundations. You wipe the tears from your face with the back of your hands and you walk to the main entrance of the castle, ready to face the first test of your new life: to support the eyes of those who until a few hours ago considered you as part of their team of searchers and friends.