'Ello, peeps! Blade here with another story that's not a contest entry! Wow! Simply amazing, Blade! Everybody's so flattered! Shut up, me...anyways, this is actually a sequel to a contest entry of mine, specifically my Mystery Contest entry Don't Leave, Cloud, because a friend of mine demanded this to be created. She said, "Let there be Clorrin!" ...and there was Clorrin. So yeah. I had to save that relationship somehow after destroying it in the prequel, and this is pretty much what she and I came up with. I recommend that you read the prequel to this before reading this, though truthfully you guys don't really need to read the other to understand this one. Nevertheless a little background information is always a good thing to have in a back pocket. Anyways, enough about my shameless advertising, hope you guys enjoy this story, especially you, Ginta!

Please note that M!Corrin takes on the name of Carrigan while F!Corrin is Corrin.

The Epilogue

The rain still did not let up even as the hooded figure made his way through the alleyway. He shivered involuntarily from a sudden blast of cold wind that blew the rain into his pale face to obscure his vision. Yet he simply dug back into his jacket for protection, one hand shoved into a pocket. Despite the obvious opposition, the young man continued to push forward. He knew that he couldn't go home without finishing his most important errand.

His left hand was the only part of his body that moved erratically, not on its own will however. It tightened its grip on the large suitcase as the young man yanked the unwieldy thing through the rough terrain. It didn't help that the suitcase was quite heavy, adding to the hooded figure's struggle. The young man refused to give up though. He plowed right through the rain with the two brick walls on either side acting as guards. He wasn't sure how long he had trekked this road but he was certain that nobody else knew either. It was too late, or too early depending how you want to look at it, for anybody to be awake at this time, and that was what the blonde man was counting on. He kept his eyes forward, unconsciously counting the steps needed to reach the end of the alleyway. Once he was out of that dreary place he planned to head towards the bridge that led to the outskirts of his town. And simple as that, Cloud would be free.

Fate was ever so kind to him to give him a second chance.

A frown crossed the young man's face as something unforeseen caused him to stop in his tracks. However his dark hood made it difficult for the woman blocking the entrance to his exit to see his expression. Not that she cared. After recent events she was more than happy to rain on Cloud's parade. The confident woman stood with one hand on her hip, the other holding on the umbrella sheltering her from the rain. Though a smile graced her face her eyes told a different story. Steely with a hint of cunning, those gray orbs accused the blue ones of an evil deed. The blue eyes returned with their own sense of innocence. For a while only the splatter of rain on the concrete ground filled the air with their chatter. Finally the interloper pushed her glasses up with a smug hand.

"Why…fancy meeting you out here, Cloudy."

"I could say the same thing, Bayonetta," the former police officer muttered. Bayonetta tilted her head, allowing her still smug smile and daring eyes to show. Other than that small movement, nobody took the initiative in action, only in words.

"Are you taking a little trip to nowhere with that little suitcase of yours?" she asked.

Cloud moved his head slightly to glance briefly at the black thing on his side. By now it was soaking wet from the falling rain. Despite the sight of the darkened suitcase, he didn't seem to be disturbed that all his things inside would reflect the recent weather. The blonde man switched his attention back to the bartender. A shiver went down his spine, one that wasn't caused by the freezing mixture of wind and water. He found himself secretly hoping that she didn't sense that. He felt like Bayonetta always had a subtle way of finding a person's dirtiest secrets.

"Yes," he finally said in a terse voice. Seeing how Bayonetta remained still in her position, Cloud gathered some of his nerves to take a few steps forward. His suitcase thumped awkwardly behind him. The whole way his heart pounded in his ears, and a familiar feeling of dread returned. However this sensation was more menacing than comforting. After the young man covered half the distance that separated them, the beautiful woman spoke again:

"Why start your trip so early, Cloudy? Why don't you wait until morning? I'm sure the weather wouldn't be as depressing as it is now."

Cloud stopped walking once more. His lips tightened slightly as he simply stared at the woman. His mind raced for the proper and logical answer. There really was no good reason for him to be out in this weather besides the one legitimate motive that caused him to brave the rain. However he had no plans to reveal his purpose to the woman. He finally decided on an answer:

"A family member's sick. I couldn't wait."

"Oh?" Bayonetta raised her eyebrow. "And I suppose they demanded that you rush over to them lest they die all alone?"

"They did," Cloud responded.

"Indeed. You must care very much for that family member of yours to visit them without an umbrella."

"I do," his responses were noticeably getting shorter. His muscles tensed to start him moving again. He took another two steps. However, the bartender's next statement immobilized him from moving forward again.

"And did that care extend to Carrigan, Cloudy?"

Cloud didn't need to think about his next move as the red alert triggered in his mind. His right hand whipped from his pocket, a silver gun in its mad grasp. In the serial killer's process of pulling the trigger, Bayonetta responded with her own gunshot. Cloud felt something metallic penetrate the skin of his forehead.

Pain.

Then nothing.

The blonde man lost all control of his legs as he staggered backwards. His pale hand released its tight grip on his gun. The weapon clattered to the ground, no longer posing a threat to the woman. He paid no heed to the sickening thud with which he fell. His limp arms had pushed the suitcase away from him, the black object rolling a few centimeters. Cloud's lifeless eyes stared up at the gray sky with his mouth slightly open, unmindful of the raindrops falling on them.

Bayonetta lowered her hand holding the gun. She ignored the rain spreading the human life liquid around the sidewalk as she strolled over to the suitcase. Unzipping it, she shook her head when she saw what was inside. The young CEO that came to her a few hours prior lay fittingly inside with his eyes closed. His body was soaking wet as the rain dripped through the suitcase from the sky. Bayonetta barely cringed at the bullet hole that Cloud used to take Carrigan's life, yet she couldn't stop the guilty pain in her heart seeing the silverette like this. She knew that she should have stopped him from confronting Cloud earlier. However she also knew that no matter how sound her argument was, Carrigan would have refused to let Cloud escape with his crimes. Despite her cold demeanor, she pitied the young silverette. First his sister. Now himself. The serial killer knew his business. It was fortunate for him that Carrigan went to Bayonetta first. If the he hadn't, then Cloud wouldn't be dead now.

The bartender then stared solemnly at the fallen serial killer to the side. She remembered how the former police officer sometimes came to her with Ryu for information. He continued to do so even after Ryu died by his hand. Despite her knowledge of Cloud's true identity and relish of how Ryu had absolutely no idea that his target stood next to him day in and out. Bayonetta never had any intentions to interfere nor reveal the truth. However she deemed that Cloud took things too far with Corrin and Carrigan, something that she couldn't overlook. If he didn't touch the twins, he might still be alive now. Those were the only two victims of the serial killer she really cared about. Her eyes no longer held the smug arrogance that accused Cloud. Now, they only looked at the still body in indifference.

"You dug your own grave the moment you met him, Cloud."

And thus Bayonetta, omnipotent bartender, takes Cloud's life. It's quite ironic how he dies, and I like stupid irony. So now you guys know why I told you to read the other story first. This one basically ruined the ending of the other one XD Anyways, I hope you guys, again, enjoyed this. I'm mainly going to be juggling between this story and Boy in the Plastic Bubble, both of them requests, actually...*shrugs* Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed! See you guys next time!