Whoohoo! Final chapter! I did it in about an hour and a half, maybe two, so you'd better like it! Review if you do or don't, or want the ending changed! Wahoo!
Love, Chris
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Sora looked sadly at his fiancée. She was staring out of the window at the cloud-ridden blue sky with a miserable expression. She had been like this for over two weeks, ever since Riku had left. Now that Kairi had told him the whole story, he almost regretted his actions, but still didn't forget that what had once been his best friend was no longer human.
The wind ruffled Kairi's hair, tousling the red tresses as they blew gently. She closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of the clean air. She wanted Riku back. She wanted to be able to talk to him again, to make him forget about the black wings protruding from his back. But as much as she watched the sky, through rain and shine, he still did not appear on the horizon. She had refused, from then on, to go anywhere, and had not left her house since then. Sora had been to see her many times, and had the feeling that she held him partly responsibly for chasing Riku away.
"What can I do?" she whispered. Sora looked at her. A tear traced down her tan cheek. "I want to see him again."
"I'm sorry, Kairi," he murmured, pulling her into a hug. She didn't respond to the embrace at all, just lying limply in his arms.
"Where could he be?" she whimpered. "He said we'd know where to find him. But I have no idea…unless he went to the island?"
"Too obvious," said Sora quickly. Kairi hesitated, then nodded cautiously "I suppose so…" she said doubtfully. Sora elaborated. "He may have said that we'd know where to find him, but in reality he's probably somewhere we'd never think to check. He doesn't want to be found."
"Are you sure?" she asked in a low, soft voice.
"Positive, babe," he said after a stretch, wondering if she could tell he was lying through his teeth. He was just taking advantage over her agitated state to convince her that her friend never wanted to see either of them again.
But Sora couldn't help it. He wanted to keep Kairi safe, and exposing her to that thing could mean her death. And he wasn't so sure that Riku would be thrilled to see them, anyway.
His parents, once home and making the discovery of the broken window, the blood spattered everywhere, and their son missing along with their gun, they immediately filed a missing person's report. As the days passed by, they sank deeper and deeper, convinced over time that their son had been kidnapped. Sora had barely resisted the urge to tell them that their son had actually been turned into a demon, an animal that could kill them easily if he ever came back, but Kairi had been crying hard already, so he just bit his tongue and his harsh words, choosing to comfort her instead.
"Look, babe," he said sadly, "There's nothing we can do. We can't save him at all. We're just as helpless as he is when it comes to this…condition."
She stared at him, and then determination set in, turning her eyes a steely blue. "No way in Hell am I just going to accept that," she snapped. He flinched, surprised at her sudden outburst."
"But what can you do?" he asked her softly. She was quiet for a minute, until she finally came out with, "We can find…a cure. We can cure him. We'll find a way from…I don't know, the Internet, books, research, anything…but we can't sit here and do nothing."
With that, she turned and marched out, with Sora following incredulously at her heels. They spent two days at the library, compiling a list of the various ways that their research had told them would cure a vampire. They sorted out the obviously bullshit ones, ones that they couldn't do in under three years, and ones that would be virtually impossible for them to do.
Now that they weren't talking about finding the vampire without a plan of action, Sora became much more involved, coming up with over half the material. In truth, he wanted his friend back as much as Kairi did. But he wanted his friend, not a demonic, undead being that would go berserk and suck the blood from their bodies. They finally finished their list, staring at it incredulously.
"One idea?" said Sora, amazed. "Two days worth of searching, and we only have one plausible idea?"
"Apparently," said Kairi, as shocked as her fiancée. "Well, it had better work, I guess. Because there won't be second chances. Now we just have to find him."
"Why don't we check the island?" said Sora without thinking. Her head whipped around to look at him sharply. "I thought you didn't want to look there. Because he wasn't going to be there," she said suspiciously. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, stuck for a good answer, before he finally blustered out an excuse with, "Well, he did say that we'd know where to find him…but I just didn't want you to get your hopes up, because he might not be there, and…"
"But you said," she said accusingly, "That he never wanted to see us again. You said that he wasn't in a place where we'd expect him to be. You even convinced me not to go and check!"
"But Kairi, I—"
"You lied to me!" she said loudly, "I knew it! You just don't care about Riku at all! You couldn't care less if we never found him!"
"That's not true, Kairi! I just…I just didn't want you running off…because we have no idea what condition he's in. He could be going crazy right now…and if he saw us, he might…" his voice trailed off miserably, unable to complete what he had been thinking.
"Don't you get it, Sora?" said Kairi softly. "If we don't do this for him…we'll never see him again anyway…the way he was before. That's all I want. I need to find him. If I worry about getting hurt…then I wouldn't consider myself good enough to be his friend in the first place."
Her words stung Sora, and he was silent, staring at his feet. He knew that she was right. Of course she was right. Tears sprang up in his eyes, and he nodded.
Her hand wrapped around his. "Come on," she said softly. "let's go back to our island. Let's find him."
He nodded again, scrubbing at his eyes. "Yeah," he sniffled, smiling at her. "Let's go."
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I stared off at the horizon, wondering what everyone was doing right now. Kairi was probably looking for me in town or something, and Sora was probably throwing darts at a target with my picture on it. I snickered at the thought. He could be so immature sometimes. Okay, most of the time.
Or maybe I was just being arrogant, thinking that the redhead was searching for any sign of my tainted presence. I attacked her betrothed and drank her blood. Yeah. I'm such a good friend, human or not.
In the three weeks that I had been missing, I wondered a lot about myself. Was it so hard for me to accept myself? Of course it was, I answered, when my friends don't accept me either. But I couldn't blame them. I hadn't told them, and they had to find out right when, a) I'm committing suicide, and, b) when I'm licking his fiancée's neck. Yeah, friends forever.
I had also learned how to fly much better when I got bored, which didn't happen very often. I spent most of the day wandering the island, trying to find places I had never seen before. Then I spent more time cleaning the gun. I had brought it with me just in case, and was extremely careful to keep sand and dirt out of it.
Being a vampire, I didn't sleep, but I could if I wanted to, and I did. It just felt so much more natural when I slipped into the comforting darkness of the dream world, where I was still human.
But sleeping made me hungry, and I had to slice my arm open time and time again, and the crimson tears crept out, and I hurried to drink them before they fell to the earth, where they would be soaked up instantaneously. I didn't try to catch them because I needed every drop, per se, but I didn't want to leave anything behind. I knew that there would finally arrive a day when I wasn't going to want to be here anymore. When everyone had forgotten about me. When all memories of me were scattered to the winds, blown away like scattered grains of sand. One by one, these memories would disappear, and that, I knew, was my cue. And I would leave everything behind; friends, family, and all of my own memories that I would hold on to forever—I would just put it behind me, but never forget. And I wanted no trace of me to be here when the next generation was to explore the caves that Sora and I had been going through, exploring, ever since we were little enough to walk.
My wings shuffled in the cold breeze, squeezing against my back for warmth. I still hated them with a passion. They were the only proof that I couldn't rid myself of with blood. No matter how much of the red liquid slid down my throat, they still remained. It annoyed me to no end, but I finally just accepted it.
The scrape of a boat against sand drew my attention away from my scattered thoughts, and my breath caught in my throat. Voices reached my ears, voices so familiar that I had been dreaming about them for three years. I swept from the cave, launching myself into the air with a familiar and hated rush of air. I had to grudgingly admit, though, it was a hell of a lot faster than walking.
But this was no time to think about that, I knew, as I watched Sora and Kairi walk along in the white sand. They were definitely looking for me. They were calling my name. Usually, people don't do that unless they're looking for someone. Or making sure that they weren't there so they could relax. I figured that it was the latter, as both of their gazes were wary and alert. They also kept scanning the sky, as I expected them to, and had taken precautions by landing in the tallest tree, the branches at the top hiding me from view, easily supporting my weight. I hadn't eaten anything but blood for what felt like a year, and had definitely lost a lot of weight. I hid it by keeping in shape, but I still felt a far cry from human. Which was all right, I knew, because I wasn't. I'm not.
It was when they started exploring the caves that I started getting really nervous. I couldn't remember what I had done when I lost my mind, so there may have been blood that I didn't notice before.
But what they uncovered was much, much worse.
"Kairi!" Sora yelled, and we both looked at him. In his hand was a shining black metal object that made my heart nearly stop.
"The gun!" he crowed. "I found it! He's here!"
Panicking, I dove from the tree and straight past him, snatching the gun out of his hand before he had a chance to react. I pulled out of the dive and streaked into the sky, flipping and going around to the other side of the island. I heard both of them yell my name, but I tried not to listen to their voices, trying not to remember how much I had wanted to hear those voices more than anything else in the world.
I nearly slammed myself into a palm tree as I came in for a landing way too fast, and instead I went skidding through the sand, nearly falling on my face.
I waited with bated breath, hoping that they weren't going to follow me, and also knowing that there was a good chance that they would. Instead, however, I heard the sounds of a fight.
"I can't believe you!" was Kairi, yelling. "You never wanted to find him! You just wanted to rat him out so you could kill him!"
"Well, what about you? Trying to find him so hard? You must be really desperate if you're cheating on me with a vampire!"
"Is that why you think I'm trying to find him? Because I love him? You're just overprotective! I hate you!"
The words stabbed into me as though they were directed at me. I stood, getting mad. They couldn't fight because of me. It wasn't fair—it wasn't either of their faults.
"Oh yeah?" Sora yelled, and there was a loud slap. Kairi screamed. I hurled myself into the air, beating my wings and rocketing back to where they had been before. Sora had his fist in the air, and Kairi was slumped on the ground, holding the side of her face. His hand went down, and I streamlined my body, hurrying my pace. I watched as though in slow-motion as his hand moved slowly.
And then Kairi looked at me. And I knew. I was watching it in slow-motion. I tried to bank and turn, but it was too late. The wings in the way made the rest of me awkward, and I could only watch as Sora whirled around and pounced on me, pinning me down on my back.
"Gotcha," he said smugly. Still, I could see the fright in his eyes. I smiled at him, and he flinched automatically.
"Come on, Sora," said Kairi, and he nodded. Grabbing me by the neck, he dragged me down the beach. I started struggling as I realized what he was doing, but I knew that if I did too much I would wind up killing him. In addition, my wings were in the way, throwing off my balance and obstructing my view. So I could only watch as he flung me into the water.
Vampires hate water. I can tell you that for sure because I am one. I could wash, sure, but stuff like the ocean and rivers and lakes? No way.
The second that the salty water touched my skin, it began burning. I yelled, trying to get out, but Sora just grabbed me hauling me out into deeper water. I heard Kairi yelling at him not to drown me, but he ignored her, I think, shoving my head under water. The pain was unimaginable, far worse than anything that I had ever experienced before. Even getting wings was nothing compared to the torture that this put me through. Every single muscle and tendon writhed like snakes, and my skin crawled. It flowed into my mouth as I screamed, burning my throat.
I thrashed about, trying to shake my friend off. With a fistful of my hair, he dragged my head up out of the water, letting me take a shallow breath, before shoving me back under.
It hurt. A lot. Agony ripped through me, and I felt sure that I was going to die. Through the pain on top came an even more direct wave, a white-hot explosion of agony. I felt myself splitting apart, as though someone were gutting me like a fish. Considering I was in the ocean, this was probably ironic. But the fiery heat didn't leave, ripping me apart from the inside out me.
A floating sensation took over my body, and the pain was dulled to a faint roar. I saw everything from above; the spiky-haired brunette, and myself, struggling vainly under the water.
'I'm dead,' I thought. 'That's it. I'm dead. He really did kill me.' I rose higher, but came into contact with something impenetrable. It would not let me through, and with a jolting sensation, I slammed back into the water.
Oddly enough, the pain was gone. The water felt cold against my skin, brushing it's pale surface delicately. I stopped struggling, content for a minute to just languish in the cool ocean water.
It only lasted a short while, though, until Sora hauled me up, inspecting me closely. "Welcome back, Riku!" he laughed finally.
"Wh-what?" I spluttered, sending seawater everywhere. Sora, in answer, patted my back. "No more scary monster," he grinned. I reached back find out what he was talking about. My fingers, instead of feeling the rough surface of my black wings, met smooth skin. I gasped, and Sora pointed up. "Look."
I saw as I gazed upwards a black shadow with strong wings. I stared at it. It looked just like…me?
"What?" I said again. Sora smiled. "Apparently, a vampire's berserk mode is caused by one of those bastards. That's the real monster right there."
"B-but…why does it look like me?"
"It's been living in your body so long that it's forgotten what else to become," Sora explained. I stared at him. "Since when did you become an expert on this subject?" I asked slyly. He hit me. "Since we went through archives and websites trying to find what the hell to do about you!" He glanced down, concerned. "Shit, you're bleeding again!" I looked down at my arms. Blood streaked down my pale skin, stinging in the salty water. I lay back, smiling serenely.
"It's all right. At least now I don't get the sudden urge to lick it up." Sora grimaced. "Lovely."
I tried to stand up, but fell over again. Sora laughed, picking me up. "You're going to be incapacitated for a while," he said. "Half of you just got up and left." I stared back up at the obsidian form of me. "What's going to happen to it?"
"It'll die in the sun. There's just a goddamn cloud in the way. Hang on a sec."
"Why doesn't it try and run away?"
"Because it's so used to having your body and your mind that it needs time to remember what the hell he is—oh, hang on. Here's the sun."
As the golden rays hit it, the creature twisted in agony, letting out a piercing shriek, its features becoming distorted and unrecognizable. I was glad. I had no desire to see myself die. Still, it was painful to watch.
"Come on, Sora. Let's go," I said softly, drawing his attention away from the thing.
Kairi waited on the beach for us. I smiled at her weakly, my arm around Sora's shoulders. She hugged me, obviously relieved.
"Thank you," I said quietly. They both grinned at me.
"But…there's probably something we should tell you about," said Kairi slowly, and Sora nodded in agreement. "What?" I said, dreading the answer.
"Well…you have a tattoo now. Kind of."
"What?"
"It gets branded into those who were vampires. Just black wings, like you had. But not so…flappy. Or big."
I laughed. "You were worried about telling me that?" I said incredulously. "Hey. You could have tattooed a squirrel on my ass and I wouldn't care less, as long as those damn wings are off somewhere else.
They laughed with me, and it was just the three of us in that one moment in time, the three of us laughing as all of our worries blew away like grains of sand in the wind.
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There! Done! I hope you like it, and if you do, review! If not, like, say, you have a problem with the ending, tell me anyways! Yaay!
PS I love vampires. Like, a lot. XD