Disclaimer:
D.N.Angel belongs to Sugisaki Yukiru. This is very likely an alternate ending to the anime because I've yet to watch until the end. This story also adopts some things from the manga – namely that Dark falls for Riku instead of Risa. Any OOC-ness is deeply regretted. I only own this plot. Thank you.
Full Summary:
One Shot AU-ish The Black Wings was about to be sealed and there was no way for him to ever return to this world again. However, all this time, she had not known. There was no second chance for him anymore and he was going to confess. Even if it meant being totally and utterly destroyed in the process.
The impossible had been done. The Black Wings was going to be sealed. He and Krad would never appear again to curse the Niwa and Hikari bloodlines ever again. The three hundred year long battle between them would be ending soon.
Very, very soon.
He was now separate from Daisuke. Not exactly in a corporal body, but not exactly a spiritual identity either. Daisuke could still touch him but Dark figured that it was because they had once, in the not too distant past, co-existed in the same body. He wondered if anyone else could… if she, Harada Riku, could…
Dark could feel his 'body' slowly fading as his magical energies were being drawn back into the Black Wings like something falling into an endless black hole. But he was reluctant to go. Oh, he would not fight against what he had willingly chosen to do, but she was still tying him down to this world. She had finally known that Daisuke and he were the same person, but she still didn't know one thing and he was determined to let her know.
Even if it meant depleting his own energy to the point of no return in the process, he would still let her know. There was no stopping him. He would let her know about his true feelings.
"Dark! What… what are you doing?" the familiar voice of his partner traveled to his ears.
"Going to find Riku."
"But Dark, you'll be using up your life energy even more! You… you may be permanently destroyed if you do that!"
"I know that… but it doesn't matter now. She has to know." Then turning to face his other half and very good friend, he allowed a wane but sincere smile to curve his lips to express all he truly felt without words. "Sayonara, Daisuke. Don't think I'll be able to see you afterwards…"
With that the purple-haired man spread his jet-black wings and started his flight down to the ground where a large crowd, consisting of both the police and the public, had amassed to watch the strange on-goings around the museum.
"DARK!! NO!!"
The people around her were talking in frantic tones, all wondering about the strange cyclone and light that surrounded the museum. The last they had all seen was the Kaitou and another being similar to him, but in white and with blond hair instead, flying into the museum engaged in a furious battle.
Riku felt Risa clutch her hand tighter. Her younger twin was immensely worried for Dark. She couldn't say she didn't feel the same… though for slightly different reasons. Risa had always been infatuated with Dark, while for her, it was because she now knew for certain that Dark was Daisuke and Daisuke was Dark despite their earlier efforts at concealing the truth from her. If anything happened to Dark, it meant that Daisuke would be hurt too. The Kaitou was in Daisuke's body after all.
Riku didn't think she'd be able to take it if Daisuke landed up badly injured or worse… She forced herself to stop that train of thought. Dark and Daisuke have been through so much already… they've faced that other being before too. They'll be fine! She squeezed Risa's hand both as a gesture of support and to comfort herself.
Suddenly, the incessant chatter around her changed. Everyone was now looking up in the sky and exclaiming in surprise.
"Isn't that Dark!?" someone to her left exclaimed, pointing at a shadowy figure in the night sky.
Squinting slightly, Riku realized that it was indeed the Kaitou. But there was something off about him. Dark didn't look… solid. He seemed like he wasn't in a physical form… Riku felt a chill fall upon her, draping over her chest and freezing her heart to the core. No… it couldn't be… Daisuke! He was still alive, right? Right!?
Up in the air, Dark's amethyst eyes searched the crowd frantically to find his target. Riku was here. He knew it. But where exactly? He had to find her soon for he didn't know how much longer it would take for a) the sealing to complete or b) him to completely deplete his life energy until he was destroyed and not merely sealed away into the artwork. In the recesses of his mind, he could still feel a faint pull from Daisuke's anxious mind despite their separation. The redhead was trying to call him back to prevent him from overexerting himself.
'Sorry aibou, but I have to do this.'
Then he caught sight of her. She was standing near the fringe of the crowd with Risa. Good. It'd make finding a place to stand a lot easier. Dark wasn't too inclined to find out if he would pass through other corporal forms. He streaked down towards Riku, ignoring the cries of surprise from everyone else. When he was near enough, Dark spread his wings out to slow his descent as he touched down neatly beside the Harada twins.
"Yo," he greeted letting his customary smirk slide on his face, trying to maintain semblance of his usual self in front of everyone.
"Dark-san! You're okay!" Risa cried, being the first one to recover from seeing Dark again. She slipped past her sister and made to hug Dark even though Dark was trying his best to hint for her to stop. But to her and everyone's shock, Risa passed right through the phantom thief as if he wasn't there at all.
"Dark…-san…?"
"What's going on, Dark?" Riku asked. "Where's Daisuke?" She was out of her mind with worry and barely maintaining her calm facade. More so after she just saw that Dark was now intangible.
The smirk slid off Dark's face despite his best efforts to keep it in place. I shouldn't be surprised at all… She likes Daisuke after all. "Daisuke's fine… he's safe at the museum."
Riku let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding. Oh thank god. The tension and worry were leaving her. But wait… did that mean Dark and Daisuke were separate now? Didn't Daisuke tell her that they couldn't be separated until she accepted that both of them were one and the same and could still love them both? So… so why…
As if reading her mind, Dark answered her silent queries, "Circumstances have changed, Riku. After tonight, the Niwa family will be forever free from their curse. Kaitou Dark will never appear again."
"What? Why?"
"The Black Wings is being sealed as we speak. I'm already fading away… being reabsorbed into it, as you should be able to see. After this, everything will return to normal. Daisuke will no longer turn into me."
"You came all this way just to tell me that?" She couldn't keep the incredulousness out of her voice. In all honesty, Daisuke could tell her that after the whole thing was over… unless Dark wanted to reassure her that Daisuke was all right? But that didn't explain the unfamiliar expression on Dark's face.
Dark let out a harsh, bitter laugh at Riku's words. Damn, but they still hurt even after all this time. "You really do hate me, don't you Riku? I'm disappearing forever and you're still so cold towards me. Deciding to seal Krad and myself is the best thing I've ever done for you and Daisuke, ne? You don't have to force yourself to like me and Daisuke won't be heartbroken. Then in a few years time, I'll be forgotten permanently and there won't be anything around to bring back painful reminders… Everyone will be happy." Except me. How the mighty have fallen… he added silently and sardonically.
During any other normal circumstances, Riku would have retorted something extremely scathing back at Dark. But this time, she could see the wounded look in those amethyst orbs and if she did that… It'd be like kicking a badly injured puppy. Had she really wounded him with her words in the past? He always seemed so… carefree. Like nothing would affect him.
He's the opposite of Daisuke, a voice in her mind reminded her.
Which meant that while Daisuke wasn't that skilled at hiding his emotions, Dark would definitely know how to do that – perfectly. Oh god…
"I-"
Dark cut Riku off. He hadn't had much time left. He could feel the strain of keeping a visible form already. He was going to have to do this quickly. "Shh Riku, I want you to listen to me and not say anything until I'm through. I don't have much time left… I just want you to know that I really like you. Despite everything, I'm still not sorry about taking away your first kiss. Although it was just to keep you quiet, I felt this jolt of something that night. Ever since, I've been watching you through Daisuke and I guess I grew to like you even more."
"Sometimes, I really wish I wasn't just a magical being that only exists in the blood of the Niwa family males. I've been living such a life for three hundred years already… I'm mostly used to it although there's always this dull ache there, which I try to ignore. I don't know what it is that makes you so special, Riku. Maybe it's because you don't fall head over heels in love with me just because I'm Kaitou Dark, unlike other girls. Maybe it's because you're convinced that I'm just a thieving pervert no matter how I try to change your mind. Whatever it is, I cannot stop how I feel."
"It hurts to not be able to be someone you love, y'know. It hurts even more because that special someone will forget you in time to come because you're not real… I'm not real, never have been… I'm just something transient… passing through this world but not staying long enough to make an impact on the one I love. It'd never mattered so much to me before because I know I'd return in the next Niwa generation if they have a son, but this time, no matter what happens, I won't be brought back again. And I… I don't want to be forgotten…"
Riku was speechless. Dark had confessed his love to her. Even more than just that, he had practically poured all his inner thoughts, his true feelings out to her. Telling her everything, showing her his vulnerable side. She could feel – even if it was just a tiny bit – of the emotional pain he had been and was still going through all this while. And it was all because of her.
She was so caught up in her shock that she almost missed hearing what Dark said next. "Can I request something from you Riku? Before I leave?"
"O-okay…"
"May I… kiss you?" Please… Let me have a last memory to hold on to…
Riku swallowed a little nervously, but nodded an agreement. The pleading in Dark's eyes was just too much for her. There was no way she could've said no to him. Not with that look and what she had just heard. Even though she had seen Risa being unable to touch him, if a kiss was what Dark wanted, she'd let him have it.
She closed her eyes as Dark's face drew closer. A second later, she felt lips placed gently upon her own and an arm wound round her waist. The kiss was different from that last time, it felt ephemeral and somewhat surreal. It was genuinely Dark this time. It was his true essence because he was no longer in Daisuke's body. Dark didn't feel solid against her, yet she knew she wasn't passing through him… why?
But Riku found that she couldn't really concentrate on figuring it out. Perhaps it was the raw emotion she was feeling through the kiss that made her lose herself in it and respond. All she was aware presently was that she was allowing herself to be kissed by Dark and allowing said kiss to deepen without any resistance whatsoever. She would've been loath to admit it, but this time she could really say that being kissed by Dark was an experience she'd never forget. Her hands moved of their own accord to grasp his arms, as if to hold him there.
'I love you Riku. Don't forget me, please…'
Whether that was really Dark speaking or just a figment of her imagination, Riku didn't know. But either way, she replied to the plea. 'I won't ever forget you Dark… I promise.'
Then she felt Dark pulling away from her and she opened her eyes. To her shock, Dark's form looked even more translucent then she had remembered moments before. There was only one explanation for it and Riku found herself not wanting the Kaitou to disappear. However, she was only a normal girl. She didn't have powers to change Fate. Dark was smiling at her, not smirking, but giving a true smile, which lit up his handsome features even more. But she still saw a lingering sadness in his eyes.
Riku realized that she hadn't told him what she had wanted to because he had cut her off earlier. "Dark, I don't hate you… I don't think I ever truly did."
At her words, the remaining sadness lifted and his amethyst eyes were lively – perhaps even more so than before – again. However, at that moment, Dark felt a sharp, almost violent tug on his form and he knew he was going to be completely sealed in a matter of seconds. It didn't really matter that much now though… He had heard the words he wanted from the girl before him. It wasn't a confession of undying love; but she didn't hate him.
And that was enough.
Riku, too, knew that this was going to be the last seconds she would see Dark in all of eternity. As she watched, helplessly, Dark began to dematerialize at an even faster rate. He was almost transparent now and if she wasn't so focused on him, she could've not even seen him at all. Oh god why? It was so unfair. Dark didn't deserve to have such an existence. Nobody should've been subjected to his destiny. Nobody…
There was a gentle brush across her cheeks just under her eyes. The touch was like the caress of the wind, fleeting and almost non-existent. But she felt it, and it alerted her that she was crying silently and that Dark had wiped away the tears that had spilled. She could see the glistening tears seemingly hovering in front of her, but those were Dark's hands her shed tears were resting on.
"Arigatou Riku…"
No! No! It isn't really happening! It isn't!
But as much as she tried to deny it, it was useless to doubt her eyes. Most especially since everyone around her was also stirring to life because they could see that Dark was growing fainter and was most definitely never returning again. There wasn't a way to explain it. Even if Dark hadn't said a thing, everyone watching knew instinctively that this was the last goodbye and the legend of Kaitou Dark would end tonight…
Then he was gone.
Completely.
And her captured tears were falling through the air…
Falling…
Falling…
Until they disappeared into the ground, forever lost.
First ever D.N.Angel fic, starring one of my OTPs... That is unfortunately kind of one-sided in this situation. Much thanks the the wonderful seal-chan for beta-reading and giving me some ideas! A sort of sequel/companion fic is planned too. Hope you all enjoyed reading this!
carzla