What would have happened if the curse of the Buddhist monks did not banish Kanna into a miserable afterlife? What would happen if there was never a 1000th summer? What if the curse failed, but had a different effect altogether?
I do not own anything from AIR; all characters belong to Key and Visual Arts.
RYUYA
Throughout the woods, the soldiers were cheering, congratulating one another on slaying the last demon of the skies. The only two who did not cheer were the two who had known that supposed "demon." The woman was sobbing softly, pressed to the trunk of the large tree while Ryuya stayed frozen, staring at the same place in the sky that he had seen the girl he loved fall into there only minutes ago, dozens, if not hundreds of arrows being shot at her as she fell headfirst.
The sound of wind rushing from the barrier was finally dying down. He took a sharp inhale and he thrust himself against the barrier, trying to get out. The barrier only sent him back, multiple times.
Uraha looked up at him, seeing him in harm just to find Kanna. "Si…Sir Ryuya… Its no good…" She murmured, tears falling from her eyes in an endless stream. "Lady Kanna is… is…" Her voice cracked as she tried to finish her sentence and she sobbed loudly again, burying her face in her hands.
"No, she's not… She can't be…" The man almost snarled, throwing himself against the wall again. The last time he was thrown back, he looked up and saw it disappear fully. He grabbed his sword and stood, his vision blurry with the tears stinging his eyes. He lowered his head to clear them, but when he looked up, there stood Uraha, grabbing the hilt of his sword.
"Please don't do this, Ryuya… It'll only be harder to-" He yanked the sword away from her, the pain in his chest soon filled with rage. "Don't talk like she's dead, Uraha! She's alive, I know she is!" He yelled. He stood there only for another brief second before running towards the place he saw the angel fall to.
Without hesitation, he unsheathed his sword, running up to the nearest soldier, a sole torch at first, then a man separated from the group. Alone. Vulnerable. Perfect for the kill.
He ran up from behind and grabbed the man by the back of his shirt, throwing him to the floor. He stepped on his chest to keep him down, raising his sword above his head to strike the man. He looked into the man's frightened, dark eyes, the soldier too afraid to fight. He swung it up, but before he could finish it…
"I am giving you an order."
Shocked at hearing the voice, he backed from the soldier, looking around desperately. "Kanna?" He said softly, not noticing the man backing up against the tree in fear as he begged for his life.
"From this point on, you are not to kill another living thing."
Tears fell from his eyes as he shouted in frustration, stabbing the part of the tree next to the man's head. The soldier, realizing he was being spared, ran away from him and vanishing into the dark part of the woods.
It was hopeless… Kanna was dead… She could have never survived…
He slumped against the tree, his hand over his mouth as tears continued to fall, unable to try to find his way out in the middle of the night, as this was a part of the forest the moonlight could not reach.
Hours passed, and he was finally starting to fall asleep, the first rays of dawn peeking through the trees when he heard a noise. A strangely adorable sound he recognized… He looked around until he saw a small monkey with a torn red ribbon with a bloody bell dangling from it. Desperate to find her, Ryuya stood, taking a bit of food out for the chimp. "Little monkey… Where did you find that?" He said softly, almost to himself as he held the food out. Without fear, the monkey bounded up to him, sniffing the ribbon, then him. It screeched twice, then bounded away with the bell.
Hoping it would take him to her, he chased it through the trees, trying not to lose sight of it. His hopes were beginning to return as he expected to find her, expected that she would be okay. Maybe… just maybe…
The monkey stopped in a clearing, and Ryuya stopped as well, breathing heavily as he surveyed the scene. There were broken branches everywhere, random pieces of arrows everywhere, and right in the middle of those broken objects… Was a few tufts of bloody feathers and a few strands of black-blue hair sitting in a pool of blood.
"Oh God…" He said, stumbling backwards. "KANNA!" He screamed, looking around. "KANNA WHERE ARE YOU?" He screamed again, his pleas echoing through the forest. Kanna was either alive and escaped, alive and captured, or dead and taken away… Ryuya wondered about where she could be, his heart heavy with pain, sitting at the edge of the clearing until someone would come for him.
"Kanna…"
