Disclaimer: I do not own the Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch manga, nor do I own the anime or the GBA games, of which belong to Hanamori Pink.
It was over. It was all over.
Lucia collapsed to her knees, her lithe form shaking as she desperately tried to contain her sobs, hot tears stinging her eyes as she fought them back. The last rays of hope she had possessed had been shattered thoroughly, like brittle glass thrown onto rock, and just like shards of broken glass, she had been cut upon trying to pick the pieces up. She tried not to give up — she was all that was left, if she despaired, all was lost — but a treacherous voice mumbled her inner fears, that she was already done for, and that there was no way of winning.
She cursed herself, her weakness, and slammed her tightened fist onto the ground, nearly smashing her microphone in the process. Useless, the blonde shouted at herself, her tears blurring her vision, biting down heavily on her lower lip, already abused from her self-loathing. Her breathing shallow, erratic, the last princess lowered her head, hiding her tear-stained face in the shadows cast by her golden hair. Her pearl pulsed dully in response to her anguish, and in return, Lucia felt herself break.
"Why?" she whispered weakly, her voice hoarse, shaking. "Why?" Her fist slammed down again and she screamed in anger at her own uselessness, knowing quite well that she was damning herself to the same prison that her companions were in.
She remembered why they were like this, knew it quite well, in fact, for the past few hours had burned themselves eternally into her mind. The blonde could remember the seven mermaid princesses wandering blindly through the maze of corridors, silent, grim, and the tension between them thick enough to cut with a sword. Her faithful hippocampus guardian had wandered not far behind, white wings tucked tightly at each side as the white creature manoeuvred forth. On his back had been her unconscious music teacher, one Mitsuki Tarou, Sara's former lover, and the hippocampus trudged forth, carrying the human with him as he did so.
She wasn't sure what had happened, exactly, but somehow, the gathered group of princesses had gotten into a massive argument about who was to blame for the entire situation. Slowly but surely, they turned on each other, and foolishly, it led to them separating to find their destination on their own. She vaguely recalled one of them - it certainly wasn't her, though - snapping and blaming Sara for everything that had happened thus far. The orange princess hadn't been very happy with that accusation, and then, it lead to a violent disagreement between the princesses. She could still hear Rina shouting at Karen, and Hanon pushing the blame onto Noel, with Coco somehow turning the tables and arguing heatedly with Karen as the indigo princess changed tracks to shout at Rina and Sara.
She had snapped, turning on all of them and calling them out for their actions. Unexpectedly, it had led to Hanon accusing her of shirking responsibility for Kaito. The words had stung her like physical blows with a weapon, and momentarily stunned, she hadn't responded to her. The rest of the princesses had caught on, and each of them started to shove the blame onto her, and shocked to the very core by their accusations, she had remained silent, unspeaking as she tried to process what had been going on. She hadn't spoken another word until they had screamed and shouted at her, and left, storming off.
Only then, had she recovered her senses, with fresh tears stinging in her eyes and sobs threatening to spill from her lips, but by then, she was alone, in the cold, empty halls that left her with a heavy sense of foreboding. Then, she had wondered if it had been entirely her fault, her fault for having fallen for Kaito, her fault for everything. She hadn't let the thought linger long enough to get an answer, instead resuming walking in a random direction. Against her better judgement, she set off to find her friends instead of continue on her path.
At least, she had comforted herself, she still had Hippo with her as company. The world proved that it worked against her soon enough, for as she wandered another hallway, she chanced a glance back and noticed that Mistuki had been having mild difficulty in breathing, and true to her nature, she found herself worrying for the human teacher's life. Foolishly, she urged her white companion to get him to the surface world, where he would be safe enough, if she succeeded in her mission, unlikely as the prospect seemed to her right now. Her request was initially met with heated disagreement by the hippocampus, who placed her as his first responsibility, but pleading for his to reconsider had the guardian finally agree and leave.
How, she wasn't sure, but eventually, after much wandering through empty halls, alone, this time, she finally found her way back to the throne room, by some miracle. At first, she had felt faintly relieved, but then, she had seen what lay inside. Horror then overwhelmed her, and it had led to her current state of cursing herself while sobbing uncontrollably. The horrible truth echoed in her mind, a cruel, sardonic reminder of why they should have never separated in a manner as brash as they had. 'Strength in numbers', 'together we stand'... all advice that they should have followed.
Lucia cursed once more, finally raising her head to look at her friends through tearful eyes. All six of the princesses were encased within the same glass pillars that Coco and Noel had been in previous, and even the two that had been shattered by Hippo with his weapon held no trace of even having been broken once before. The princesses looked peaceful, like they were asleep, but the faint traces of blood on their skin didn't go unnoticed by the blonde, nor did the large slashes in Hanon and Coco's sides. She cursed her uselessness, her inability to help. Alone, she could do nothing more, not even help her friends.
Blinking away the tears that clouded her vision, she whispered a quiet apology to her friends, feeling her strength drain away from her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw him, leaning on the throne with his arms crossed over his chest, watching her with a passive face. She bit back the angry scream that threatened to leave her, and remained quiet. She didn't sing — without her friends, it would have been futile, for what could she alone do? But she was reminded of the way that her friends had so readily turned on each other, and the princess couldn't help but wonder, if the group hadn't argued — if they hadn't started blaming each other — would they had succeeded in their task? With the strong, clashing personalities, and the remaining grudges they all carried, Lucia knew the answer, and it beat at her waning confidence.
Suddenly feeling exhausted and helpless, her microphone slipped from suddenly slack fingers, falling to the ground with a clatter. Her eyes filled with fresh tears, and she bit down on her abused lower lip to stop herself from sobbing. She looked away, even as she saw the dark violet glow of the bolt of energy that her enemy held. Even though she could feel the raw power that he emanated from where she was, she didn't even flinch. She didn't bother moving when he released the energy at her.
She cried out when it hit, sending her slamming back into the ground a few meters back. Blood started dying her dress a dark scarlet, and she finally released a loud, heart-wrenching sob as she laid on the cold floor, quite willing to let herself die. Tears clung to her lashes, dripping down her face as she cried helplessly. Suddenly, she felt herself being gently pulled into an embrace, and her eyes fluttered open, seeing him above her, crimson eyes soft as he ran his hands through her hair.
"Hush, princess," he whispered to her, oddly soothing, for some reason. "It won't hurt for long."
A sob escaped from her lips as she stared back at her enemy, though she saw black slowly envelope her vision. She could feel him stroking her hair, and the blonde choked back another sob, knowing that it was all over. Her eyes slowly fluttered shut, her body slowly going slack in his arms. Her world descended into darkness, and the last thing Lucia remembered was the faintly smiling face of her enemy.
Sweet merciful Aqua Regina... that was dark, probably the darkest thing I've ever written. Well... uh... I've run out of things to say, other than my obsession with Gaito/Lucia makes me put it in even a dark fic that probably ends with Lucia dying of all things... Yeah, I'm twisted.