"Kagome-chan!"
"Kagome!"
'Ughh. Kagome, Kagome; give it a rest. Don't they understand I'm sleeping?'
The smell of earth and blood was thick around her, and her groggy mind couldn't seem to understand why.
"Kagome, stay with me!"
'Mama? Why? Where am I?' Someone touched her forehead and suddenly her neck felt like it was on fire; the dull throbbing she hardly noticed becoming excruciating. White lights blossomed behind her closed eyes. She wanted to slap the person touching her, make them stop, but she suddenly felt weightless. The smell of dirt disappeared and was replaced by the smell of rubbing alcohol and plastic as she was hoisted off what she assumed had to be the ground and placed her on something hard and very flat. She must have made a pained facial expression, because she heard her mother sob.
"Kagome, baby, it will all be okay soon. We're gunna get you help, okay? Just hang on, honey, hang on."
The fog of pain lifted a little now that she was stationary again. Something was wrapped around her head, supporting her neck and resting on her shoulders. It hadn't done much to stop the pain, but she failed to notice it before now. The overly clean stench of the alcohol reached her nose again.
'A neck brace? Am I going to the hospital? Since when is there a hospital in the Feudal Era?'
There was a pause in the garbled medical speak that had been humming in her ears like mildly irritating background music.
"Would you like to ride with your daughter, Ma'am?"
"Of course. Souta, grandpa, be good. I'll be back as soon as I can."
'Souta? Grandpa… I'm back in my own time…what happened? Why am I hurt?'
She felt the gurney lift and she tilted precariously before the medics corrected themselves.
'Stairs. I'm being taken from the well house... No… No that CAN'T be right. If I was at the well I could feel the magic there. Inuyasha would be with me and the Shikon shards would…'
Dread punched her in the stomach like a professional boxer as her pain numbed mind put the pieces together.
'…the Shikon.'
It felt like her heart stopped. Her whole body was numb, but that didn't stop the nasty combination of dread and despair from nestling down in the pit of her stomach like unbearable weights. She wanted to scream and cry and blow something up, but all she could do was lie there catatonic and wish it all wasn't true.
'Wish, hah. Irony is a bitch.'
She retreated into the depths of her mind, escaping the muffled sobbing of her mother, the detached reports to the hospital about her condition and the whine of the ambulance engine. She drew the darkness around her and willed the world silent so she could sulk in peace.
But like a horror movie you can't stop watching, her mind eventually returned to the last battle she would ever fight with her Feudal friends, and pushed play.
The memory of the blood and the gore almost made her retch. She had thought the worst was actually experiencing it. Here in the safety of her mind she had time to process it and really see all of it. The putrid, rotting smell of miasma still lingered in her nose and heightened the experience. Naraku, almost as if he knew she was reliving this moment, turned his slimy gaze to rest on her. Pink light enveloped her entire field of vision as she released an arrow aimed right for his stupid fucking smirk.
It hit, and globs of his body absorbed the pieces that remained.
She realized at this point in the battle, Kikyo had already surrendered their shards of the jewel in their purest form to disperse some of the evil in the rest of the jewel. It had weakened Naraku considerably, and his regeneration powers had obviously slowed.
Her eyes were locked on her enemy, but she caught glimpses of her friends in her peripherals, and when they jumped in front of her to defend her. They looked awful. Not one was unscathed, but all of them were still fighting gallantly even through the disadvantages of their wounds.
An explosion of yellow light came from her right and she remembered jumping up and down happily as she saw the dismayed look on Naraku's newly regenerated face as his body was ripped in three parts. She remembered almost believing it was over.
Then she saw Kikyo fall. Tentacles exploded out of the mass of flesh Naraku called a body and ran her through. After that, she hadn't been able to concentrate on the other Miko, but she heard herself scream her name as she dodged and purified the tentacles coming for her as well. His goal was to eradicate both priestesses in one fell swoop, and Kikyo no longer had the power to stop him. Or maybe it was all part of her plan to begin with.
"KIKYO? CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Her voice was lost in the sounds of the battle, and panic began to creep into her mind.
She loosed another arrow as she watched Sango fling a sutra covered Hiraikotsu at the tentacles that occupied the space the dead miko stood seconds ago. Kagome knew she wouldn't be there, but she still felt her heart drop when there was no sign of her under the disintegrating tentacles.
'We're not going to win this fight.' Kagome remembered realizing in horror.
Inuyasha was nearing his breaking point, the crimson of the demon fires already tinted his eyes and he was covered in his own blood. Kirara had been pummeled out of the sky and Sango thrown down a few feet away from her. Blood dripped from her mouth as she staggered to Miroku, who was out of sutras and being worn down quickly by the saimyosho poison coursing through him. And then she remembered the warmth that flowed through her replacing her worry and her fear. It was pure and kind and powerful. It was Kikyo's last stand against the evil she felt she had released on the world. Kagome drew an arrow, notched it and aimed.
A single word whispered to her broke any barrier holding her power back.
'Fire.'
She released her arrow and it surged forth with both hers and Kikyo's power. Naraku watched with knowing eyes as his fate raced toward him. It struck the sacred jewel and purified it instantly. Naraku's body disintegrated into glittering ash, and then scattered by the wind. Kikyo's body was nowhere to be found, and Kagome felt her aura drifting away.
Kagome felt a tear run down her face. It was only when she felt someone wipe it gently away that she realized she was crying in the present, not in her memory.
'Come, Onigumo.'
The voices in Kagome's memory made her heart ache.
'Kikyo-sama...'
She hardly recognized that voice. There was no malice, no hatred. This was Onigumo the human. The human that loved Kikyo.
'Our time has come. Hell awaits us.'
'Together?'
'Together.'
There was a pause, and the evil in the atmosphere dissipated.
'Thank you.'
Kagome was then aware that she clutched the jewel in her left hand.
'Make a wish, Kagome-sama.'
There was no regret in her voice. Only relief. She could rest, Naraku gone from the world. Then Kikyo's voice and aura faded away entirely and Kagome knew she was gone. Determination flooded her body and she looked down at the jewel. Kagome desperately wanted to stop seeing this all again, knowing where it would all lead. But the words echoed in her head before she could stop them.
'Shikon Jewel, I wish you would disappear forever!'
There was an explosion of light.
Depression clouded the memory, and she almost changed her train of thought, but something pulled to her minds eye. Before she had watched without seeing but this time, she really saw. The waves of pure power flowed out of the jewel and into her body. She watched, astonished at this new development. The power grew muddy until it was a darker evil than even Naraku, all pouring into her.
'I don't remember this… why don't I remember this?'
Now she really felt like she was watching a movie, unsure of what the outcome would be, feeling completely detached from her body.
The power released from the Shikon didn't trickle to a halt. There was just suddenly no more leaving it. The shell of the jewel disappeared into a little puff of dust.
Kagome suddenly felt small in her own mind. She knew something was wrong; her body slouched over and unmoving did not feel like her own. In fact, she really couldn't feel her body. She should be checking on all of her friends, not just standing here like an idiot.
Fragments of chaotic emotion she didn't remember a reason for rolled over her in waves. There was no order in her mind. It wasn't hers to control anymore. Her thoughts were reduced to disjointed memories and flashes of color. The only thing she was sure of was she felt no joy. There was none left to feel.
The chaos stopped. Her eyes, which had been open but unseeing, refocused. Miroku stood before her. He was calling her name, but it sounded like she was underwater. Relief flooded through her. He was okay. That meant Sango and Inuyasha should be fine too. She went to turn to look for them, but her body didn't respond. She was still staring blankly at Miroku. She saw fear flicker across his face, and she felt her own features tighten and she rose up out of her slouch.
Miroku grabbed her shoulders and shook her weakly, still calling her name.
Tangible evil began to permeate through the last stronghold in her mind. And all she could do was watch.
'This is…a memory?'
Her eyes caught movement by her stomach, but she couldn't look away from Miroku's face, now bearing a horrified expression. Momentarily she was aware of a tingling sensation near the base of her neck, but her mind rejected the feeling, overcome by panic. She began groping in the darkness of her own mind, searching for a way out.
'NO! THIS ISN'T RIGHT AT ALL!'
Kagome tried to return to the semi-consciousness with her mother in the ambulance.
'I'M NOT IN THE FEUDAL ERA ANYMORE. I'M WITH MY MOM, AND WE'RE PROBABLY AT THE HOSPITAL ALREADY! I NEED TO WAKE UP! PLEASE! PLEASE… JUST LET ME WAKE UP!'
Kaede's voice echoed through her mind.
'I can't think of anyone who used the Shikon's power and was happy because of it.'
The darkness only got thicker and tighter around her. There was no getting out of this. The line between reality and fabrication had been breached, and she no longer knew what had really happened.
'Help me...'
She suddenly realized what had moved by her stomach, because it moved again.
Her hand shot out and buried itself deep inside Miroku's chest. He looked shocked, his eyes wide and his hands subconsciously tightened on her shoulders. She felt his punctured lungs contract inside his chest and blood trickled out of his mouth. He met her gaze with sad eyes, his shock melting into acceptance. She pulled her hand back, and he stood for a moment before his knees would no longer hold him. The life was gone from his eyes before he hit the ground.
She felt herself smile wickedly.
'Miroku...sama...'
She felt an unsteady tha-thump in her chest.
'I didn't...'
The tingling in her neck grew almost painful.
'I couldn't have...'
Her lungs expanded with a long bated breath.
'No...'
She felt a sickening crunch in the back of her neck, and the most excruciating pain she had ever experienced flooded her body. Her eyes opened, her hands clawed the ground, and she screamed.
Screamed for help.
Screamed for Miroku.
Screamed for it all just to end.
