Update! Sorry it came so late at night, I was watching movies with my dad ^^". Please review, and thanks for reading!


Chapter 2: Broken

Shana's heart thumped against her ribcage as she realized that Yuji was walking towards the North side.

He's coming, she thought excitedly, He's coming for me.

Yuji's breath came out in puffs of vapor, each time floating behind him as he walked past and let out another breath. His footsteps remained frozen in the snow until another marking overwrote them.

I'm sorry, Yoshida, I hope we can still be friends.

He remembered how Ike had come to him after the battle was over, trying not to cry using the glint of light in his glasses to block his tearful eyes.

"She rejected me. I knew she would. But it still hurts. You're too lucky, Yuji."

He stopped and let out a sigh.

Please be happy with Ike.

Shana drew a sharp breath in when she saw Yuji stop about 10 feet in front of her.

Is he here to reject me? she thought in a panic, No, no… In that case he would have gone to the South side to meet Yoshida…

She took another small bite out of her nearly frozen melon bread, only to realize that it was the last piece. She straightened, chin up, and looked forward at the boy who had again begun to make his way towards her.

No matter what, I will always love you, Sakai Yuji.

She took a deep breath and looked down, then returned her gaze up when she saw a pair of shoes step in front of her.

"Shana…" he began, "I… I don't want to be friends anymore with you…"

Her eyes began to fill with tears, and her heart began to beat unevenly.

"You—You're so cruel… Yuji that's so cru— " she stuttered, voice quavering.

Then he grabbed her hands and Shana looked up, a lone tear slowly flowing down her cheek.

"I want to be more than that…" he whispered, "I love you, Shana."

Shana froze. The phrase she had been waiting so long for him to say had finally come, and now she didn't know what to do.

"I love you, too, Yuji…" she breathed, and pulled him in for a kiss.


Yoshida saw as the fog cleared that Yuji had chosen Shana. What's more, is that they were holding hands.

She breathed in, and breathed out.

Breathe, Yoshida, breathe, she told her self.

Air entered and exited slowly through her mouth, and she ignored the taste of salt on her tongue as Shana and Yuji locked lips on the North side.

She didn't stop to wipe her eyes, nor did she defocus from breathing. Through the blur of salt water dripping down her cheek, through the detached sounds of sobbing and choking, through the pain that she felt every time her heart beat, she did not stop watching. Her hands hung down by her sides, and she did not think to wipe her tears. Hear heart hung heavy, ready to fall out of her and smash into a million frozen pieces on the harsh snow, but she did not turn away to save it.

Yuji is happy, she thought, that's all that matters.

She sunk down to her knees, the tears flowing faster down her cheeks, and she could not stop crying. She sat, choking and breathing and sobbing as crystalline tears rolled off her skin, swallowing salt water, and watched Shana and Yuji walk away hand-in-hand towards his house.

When they disappeared from sight, a pain that could never be described, that was so sharp and so piercing, hit her, and she fell unconscious and numb.

Yuji is happy.


Margery lay on the floor again, under the weight of broken buildings and tumbling rocks. It was exactly like the first time. She had again lost to the silver monster that stood before her, its many eyes blinking without emotion at her limp, broken body, twisted at angles that nothing should ever be twisted in.

Her eyes were open, and bloodstains remained on her face.

I did not win. I was supposed to win. But I am dead now. I can never win.

Marcocious was torn beside her, pages flying everywhere, and opened to but one page.

The title read:

The Prophecy of the Purple Silver Flame