No.6 AU-Spoliers-Nezumi/Shion-Sad-Character Death(Permanant)
Nezumi sang Shion's soul away and waited for his own to drift away as well, only it didn't. Nezumi shook as he took a deep breath and stood on wobbling legs, turning away from Shion's body to limp from the reckage that would entomb Shion forever. He stumbled as he climbed out from the hole that the officials had used to imprison Elyrius and let himself fall again to his knees when he saw the broken wall of No.6, it was over, No.6 was gone, Shion was gone, and his third option was staring him in the face, he wished Shion could see it.
Nezumi let the tears fall down his cheeks unchecked for a moment, scrubbing his arm across them when the dog barked, expecting Inukashi to be standing there ready to mock him. Instead that dumb dog of Shion's was standing there, Shion's coat tied against her back, like the dog hadn't gone to Inukashi when Shion told her to, Nezumi had an idea of what he would find when he unwrapped the coat, and indeed, there it was, the little baby that Shion had risked his life to save.
'Inukashi sent you to Shion didn't she?' Nezumi asked, knowing it was true as the dog leaned against him briefly before letting Nezumi stand, the child held in his arms.
Nezumi looked back at the ruins of the Correctional Facility before turning forwards, walking away from the remains of No.6 adn the Facility, 'Let's go, dog.'
The baby cooed as Nezumi walked and Nezumi felt a sad smile crawl onto his lips, *Only Shion.* he thought.
~I'm sorry~ The little black rat delivered to Shion's mother.
Karan cried and mourned for the son she had thought she would see again.
Nezumi smiled as he watched the little boy that Shion had saved run around from one thing to another, chasing after butterflies, dragonflies and once the child had shoved a toad in his face, but that smile, innocent and trusting, reminded him so much of Shion that he never could stay mad at the child for very long.
'Daddy! Daddy!, Look!' the child shouted, pointing up at a blue bird, 'What's it doing, Daddy?'
'Most likely sitting on her eggs, sweetie.' Nezumi replied, holding his hand out to the child who grinned and ran back to him to grab his hand.
'Daddy?' The child asked.
'Yes?'
'Where are we going?'
Nezumi hesitated, 'To see your Father.'
'Really?' The child squeeled excitedly.
'You remember what I told you, right? About what happened to No.6 and to your Father?' Nezumi asked, looking down at the frowning child.
'You sang his soul away, like you used to do for Auntie Inukashi's dogs.' The child replied, blinking brown eyes at him.
Nezumi nodded, stopped and knelt infront of the child, holding his hands in his.
'Shion died to free No.6, most people won't know this, they weren't there and I couldn't go back, not then, even now I don't want to but I told Karan that I would be at Inukashi's wedding.' Nezumi told the child, 'Had Shion actually Fathered you like most people Father children you would call her Grandmother. Much like Saku and Inukashi are your Aunts, but they were not Shion's sister, or mine.'
The child nodded, 'Like you're my Daddy, when other little kids have Mommys.'
Nezumi smiled as he stood up and began walking again, 'You have a mommy too, little Mouse.'
'She died to save me?'
Nezumi nodded, 'Like your Father almost did.'
'Do you miss Father?'
'Everyday, little Mouse, everyday, but he gave me you, not intentionally, but here you are with me, so I can't leave yet, I have to wait for you to be ready.' Nezumi explained, 'And I don't regret much of the last seven years, Shion would have loved you, like I do.'
The child grinned and held his arms up to the man, 'Carry me, Daddy?'
Nezumi returned the smile and lifted the child up, resting his cheek against the child's soft brown hair when the child laid his head on his shoulder, the child's breathing evening out as he fell asleep, body geting heavier as he became dead weight.
Nezumi looked up at the moon through the thin branches of the fledgling trees that had begun growing just outside of what remained of No.6 after Shion's death, 'I'm trying Shion, I'm trying.' he whispered to the silent moon.
Wind blew across his back, pushing him forwards, 'Yeah, yeah, you were right. Always with that damn third option, well, I'm working on your other third option, I always thought that it would be you and me together, alive or dead, you proved me wrong, yet again.'
Nezumi let his eyes close as the wind seemed to swirl around him before it died as the ruined wall of No.6 came into view. Nezumi sighed and walked to the small group of four that was waiting to greet him, Inukashi, Rikiga, Karan, and that little girl Karan had adopted after No.6 was destroyed and it was proven that she was an orphan.
Karan smiled at him, her hand running through the sleeping child's hair, her eyes sad, remembering another little boy with brown hair.
'I still can't believe that you raised the kid.' Inukashi muttered as she hugged him.
'I can't believe you and Rikiga are getting married.' Nezumi returned.
'Hey!' Inukashi screamed.
'Shut up. My Mouse is sleeping.' Nezumi quieted her.
Inukashi started laughing uncontrollably, 'Little Mouse, Hahaha, only a Rat would call a child a Mouse.'
'Shut up.' Nezumi said softly.
Rikiga set his hand on his Fiancee's shoulder, 'Inukashi.'
'What?' Inukashi asked as she stopped laughing, looking between Nezumi and Rikiga, her eyes widened and she looked away, 'I thought you might want to stay with Karan, but she and Rikiga agreed that you might be more comfortable at our apartment, so I'm staying with Karan until the wedding.' The girl hesitated, 'Will... will you sing at the wedding? I know you haven't since S... since he died but...'
'Only for your first dance.' Nezumi said shortly.
'Okay.' Rikiga nodded, 'Let's go get you settled in, we'll give you a tour tomorrow, and Karan offered to watch your Mouse if you want to go see...'
'He'll come with me, I already told him we were going to see his Father.'
Karan sniffled.
'I'm sorry, if you don't...' Nezumi began.
Karan waved his apology away, 'No, I just never expected to hear someone refer to him like that, I'd love to be the child's grandmother.'
Nezumi smiled and nodded, 'Thank you.'
'You really have changed.' Inukashi murmured.
'Well, you and Rikiga are Auntie and Uncle.' Nezumi teased before he became serious again, 'Children tend to change you, that and Grief.'
The group let the conversation fade into comfortable silence as they walked, Rikiga lifting Lili in a practiced move as she stumbled when her eyes drooped a little more than they had been when Nezumi arrived, she fell asleep quickly on his shoulder and Nezumi smiled a little, it seemed that Rikiga might be a good Father eventually, Nezumi looked at his own unexpected child, he never expected he would be good at this, never even thought about it, not with the way he had lived before Shion.
It had been Grief that had named this child after a dead man, Grief that had had him calling the child Shion, and then one year the child had looked up at him with too wide brown eyes and he couldn't call him Shion anymore, couldn't call him by a name tinged in Grief and blood and regret so he had taken to calling the child his Mouse, his little Mouse. That first month he, like Inukashi, had laughed at the irony of a Rat calling a child a Mouse, but it had stuck and Mouse hadn't minded, especially after Nezumi had told him why, had told the small boy the story of how he came to be with Nezumi instead of his mother, had told him the tale of how he had met his Father, and how naive that Shion had been, how innocent, how refreshing, and how easy it had been to fall in love with him. How he hadn't even noticed it until the day they broke into the Facility, the day Shion had died, and how he had never told the other that he loved him.
Yes, Rikiga and Inukashi are engaged, no I have no Idea how it happened. A lot can change in Seven years.