The Fire that still burns.
A/N: Last chapter.
Because my brother ranted in the review section. (Please see the review section for basis) I would like to take the opportunity to EXPLAIN what happened.
I gave the story for him to edit 2 days before my supposed deadline and that's an AWFUL lot of time. I couldn't check on him because I was busy with my Student Council duties and when on the day of the supposed date that I'll post it, He reasoned me with "I'm not done yet". I had to update it so I posted the RAW version of the story, without edits and humor.
(I WAS TIRED ASSHOLE)
And now he went hayshit and berserk in the review sections telling me that "I fired him".
Because of that I was like, "Okay, I'll give you the last chapter to edit and then you'll write the bonus chapter.." So yeah.. Thank you Ultima for the edits. And to the kind reviewers, favorite-ers, followers and readers~! Arigatou~!
So here's the last chapter!
Don't worry.. The bonus chapter will be written by the (IN)FAMOUS ULTIMA.
(Yeah fuck you too)
Chapter 7: The fire that still burns.
"(F/N)..." Saki looked at the crying figure in front of her. The girl's once beautiful ball gown was a dirty-ripped mess, like she ran miles and miles on mud without caring if she'd stepped on the clothing. The shredded dress lost its luster, just as the shine of her eyes now washed by the rain of sadness leaking from her globes.
Her eyes softened at the girl as never ending tears flowed down her cheek. As her manager, she was responsible for her, but as the hand of clock turns, slowly she began to treat her as a child she never had. She may show her a level of coldness but never did she want her to experience gloom, she did not want her to end up like her
"What happened?"
(F/N) gave Saki a long stare, her bottom lip quivered as she tried to speak. There is fear mixed with sadness and loss, and fire of destruction burning away her heart, reducing it to a crisp of hopelessness , an ash of her former self.
"G-Gouenji.." At the mention of the name, A thin line immediately stretched across her manager's face. Her eyes furrowed in a way that can scare ferocious lions that are about to attack. Love is so cruel, it was never breeze in the plains, it was never easy. That is why most fantasy novels have love in it, because it is like heaven you cannot reach no matter how you soar to the skies, it was meant to be a swim in a raging storm. Because true love, it never existed anyway….
"Get changed. We still have an interview to catch" She said bluntly, no emotion traced her face. The winter will settle in..
"But-" once the sun has died out .
"GET CHANGED!" The scream made (F/N) cower in fear. Drowning in sadness, she did not protest nor rebelled against her manager's order, She didn't have the strength to. (F/N) entered her bathroom and faced the mirror. Life has been sucked out of her, as if her color has melted to a pale gray.
She stared at the same face that she called "Beautiful" just hours ago and it saddens her to see the drastic changes of this girl. Her eyelids were bulging because of the tears that she'd wasted, her bottom lip was bleeding due to the frequent biting; trying to hold back her sobs, and her eyes lost the familiar happy glint that it used to have. Small dark waterfalls were dropping off her face, her makeup ruin and her love life with it. She went from beauty to beast. Love transformed her to that "Beautiful" girl.. But in the end, turned her to this mess, This UGLY mess. Oh how Love is so kind, to redesign her life again and gave her a "wonderful" new look , how appealing it is to look at it at the mirror.
SMASH.
"Follow what you think is more right than what feels right.." She whispered to herself as she wiped away the remains of her make-up. She grabbed her liquid foundation and applied a new coat under the faded layer, letting her finger brush past her cheek.. (F/N) remembered that familiar feeling of gentle hands touching her delicate skin. Beads of water started to form at the end of her eyes but the girl simply blinked them away. Her belief let her sank to this river, and the tides were ravaging at her like a tsunami, Chipping her away until nothing is left.
She reapplied her crimson red lipstick gently. And the warm sensation of something on her lips made her miss the feeling of their soft, blissful kiss. (F/N)'s bright personality will soon be swallowed by this malevolent emotion. This "loss of love" has scarred her deeply, thy sword that went through as if she was made by air.
Staring into her broken reflection, She smiled but sadness still lingered in her eyes. An eerie song began to play on her old grandpa's vintage megaphone record player as she remembered..
And the dollmaker made her eyes..
A mouth so that she can laugh or cry,
Yet the dollmaker was never satisfied...
'The fire that burned in my heart was killed by the cruel world. I am numbed by my surroundings. The icy rain has smoldered my embers, now I am a dying coal. I hope someday.. I'll wake up from this nightmare called reality. And in that time, I am free to love you. But t'was all I'll be doing is to grab a piece of heaven in this mirage of the barren dessert of this world.'
(F/N) sighed as she finally made her decision. But
"We're airing in 5 minutes, (F/N). Hurry up!" Saki's voice boomed from the other side of the door.
"Coming.."
but he made her see through these lies...
The ringing of his alarm clock signaled that it was 6:00 in the morning. But what's the point of setting an alarm? He didn't get any sleep anyway. No, the entire night was spent on some unknown "thing' eating at him, like some door blocking him to progress into his sleep.
Gouenji slammed the alarm clock across his room and suddenly there was silence, He groaned as he stood up from the bed and lazily walked to his bathroom, bringing with him his hair brush. The man stared at his own figure, noticing that he was still in the attire he wore yesterday, the black pants and his white shirt minus the tuxedo, but he couldn't care less. He began to brush his hair then tied it into a neat ponytail. While doing so, his thoughts lead him to remember the event last night. Was it a dream? What is this fuzzy feeling?
There's something wrong with my heart. Her love is still lingering in it... And it hurts me…
Like an alien who got inside my body and is just wanting to spring out of it at the worst of moments.
He began to apply facial soap to his face, rubbing his cheek, chin, the part under his eyes, his nose and his forehead. Every single touch made him remember that beautiful girl last night. Like a bell resonating its toll every time it is struck..
And then he washed the suds away with tap water, grabbing a towel to dry his face. He stared at the man in the mirror. Gouenji.. Are you really in love? He asked himself.
No I am out-of-love
He grabbed the tube of toothpaste, squeezing some on his toothbrush then brought it to his mouth. The taste of bubblegum made him miss the sensation of kissing her lips. And he wanted more…
But he let her go… For the second time. Two mistakes in a row.
That was his chance but why did he wasted it. Why is he doubting his feelings for her? One Last bullet and it whiz through its target when he was already at a dead man's range.
Is he mad at her for not telling him the truth? Or is he mad at his self for letting his pride rule over him? All the questions were all in his way but he couldn't blame (F/N).. It was his fault in the first place. It was his hesitation that the door has closed on his face.
"The past is the past and it cannot be undone." he whispered to himself as he exited the bathroom.
He turned on the television as he sipped his cup of coffee. And exactly at the moment, the INAZUMA NEWS TV aired (F/N)'s interview. He would have shut it off but something in him told Gouenji to keep watching..
"How's your stay in Inazuma town?" The reporter asked (F/N).
Beside (F/N) was her manager, holding her hand in a comforting manner.
"I-It had been fun, I've met a few old friends" She looked at her manager and the blonde girl nodded at her with a gentle smile.
"Next question, please" Saki's bossy voice boomed, the usual.
"Rumor has it that you're dating Gouenji Shuuya for the past few days. There were paparrazi shots of you two! Is it true?"
"It wasn't exactly a date but yes, we were together.."
"Do you love him?" The question caught the girl off guard. Her eyes widen as the word "love" rang inside her ears.
"I-I.. D-Don't-" but a gentle hand suddenly cut her out.
"Tell them what you really think of Gouenji.. Forget what I said." The owner of the hand, which was no other than Saki, whispered to her and her smile was the signal to let out the emotions that she bottled up all these years.
"I-I do.. I do love him. I've never stopped loving him since the day that my heart said so.." And she sighed as tears started to fall down her cheeks.
The fire of his love... It still burns inside me.
"And I'm willing to give up my career for him, because in the first place, He was really the reason why I became a model.."
And the screen went blank as Saki signaled the camera man to stop filming.
"And I'm willing to give up my career for him, because in the first place, He was really the reason why I became a model.." Gouenji's eyes widened at the girl's words. He was her inspiration, her flint and steel, her igniter. The one who became her idol. He was THAT important to her.
This was it. He loved her. And like her, He didn't care about his reputation anymore. So what if he was dubbed "the cool kid"? That was years ago.. And it's time to change. Time to shed a new coat, time to walk the next phase of life.
Romance is not my style and will be forever not be my cup of tea.
Screw that.
I'm in love.
The screen went blank after that and it was back to the reporting station. "(F/N) (L/N) will leave at exactly 7:00 am for her flight back to her modeling agency, where she'll renew her modeling contract." Gouenji's ears perked up at the word 7:00 a.m. Wait..what time is it?
He looked at his wrist watch. 6:45 a.m. The airport is a 30 minute drive through car but if in full speed, it will take him 15 minutes.
He can make it in 10.
Gouenji didn't waste any second as he realized that. He put on his shoes and ran out of the house, starting the car and drove away to the airport.
(F/N) sighed as she sat in one of the airplane's chair, beside her was her manager and the camera man was cleaning his lens while Saki was looking at her with concern.
"We are about to fly in 5 minutes.." She frowned. I guess Gouenji won't come after me..
Saki looked at the girl worriedly. "(F/N).."
Gouenji rode in full speed in his automobile. Dodging pedestrians, beating the red light, overtaking.. He didn't care if he even ran over a squirrel! He was desperate to see (F/N).
Squeek!
But it wasn't exactly his lucky day, his car overheated and he had to run.
His hair whipped side to side as he zoomed past the streets, in the alleys, over the bridges and he stopped momentarily at the same soccer field where (F/N) confessed to him. He took a deep breath and continued to run but before he could even take another step, the horror that he'd wish he wouldn't see came flying past him. He ran like a madman, like he was running for his life, he looked frantic yet held determination in him.
An airplane. An flying nightmare, a fleeting dream
He looked at his wrist watch and it read exactly 7:00 a.m.
Shit. Slowly his world began to crumble.. And before he knew it, he felt his body touch the soft grass, comforting the little remains of insanity he had. The petite hope now smashed and crumbled to pieces.
The sky grew dark and clouds filled the sky. The world was mourning for him, shedding sympathetic tears and pouring onto him, just so to cool him off the heat of failure
And for the first time, the man felt like crying..
I've never should have let her go..
The man slowly shut his eyes as droplets of rain began to fall on his face.
Rain fell from the sky as tears fell from his eyes and the water collided with each other. Mixing with the gloomy weather and his own sadness. A perfect, sad harmony.
He did not sob. He bellowed.
He did not whimper. He shivered and quivered with sadness.
He cried, Cried into the heavens for what damnation he fell in.
He cried because he lost another chance to tell her of his love. All his pride as the cool kid came crashing down,
just like the rain… pounding on him...
And he felt like the rain was slowly killing the burning flame inside him. If only someone could shelter him from this dark cold world..
.
.
.
Then suddenly he felt no more droplets hit his face but his ears could still hear the sound of the rain.
"Oi.." A low whisper rang through his ears, but he chose to ignore it.
"Of all the time in the world, you chose to lay down in the grass today?! Now I'm fully convinced that you're also a retard." The sound of the voice made the man's eyes fluttered awake..
It couldn't be..
"(F/N).." He whispered at the sight of the face that he longed to see. Happiness took over the feeling of guilt and sadness, washing it away.
And then a sudden smile was etched on his lips. He momentarily sighed then grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her near him.
As they came close, they could feel each other's breath and took in their own scent, whiffing the intoxicating flavor of (favorite scent) and Gouenji's coffee mixed with perfume scent. As their nose connects and their eyelids began to feel heavy, drowsy from the heavenly feeling of love; there came the kiss, sending both a park and shocking them, invigorating them with new passions as they continue to let time sway, drowning and pulling their bodies from realities and lay asleep in each others arms. When it seems like forever, they broke apart and smiled at each other.
"Do you know that I love you, (F/N)?" Gouenji asked as they both laid in the grass, the umbrella was the only thing sheltering them from the rain.
"Yeah, and I know that you know that everybody knows that I love you, too…"
"What!?"
"Yeah, pretty much the whole world as well.."
The girl giggled as she gave the man a quick peck on the cheek.
'I love you, Gouenji Shuuya. And I know that you know it."
'I do.. And I love you more than YOU know it.." The platinum haired man smirked as he pulled the girl into another intoxicating kiss.
The fire that still burns: End!
A/N: AWWWW. How did you find the story? Review it~!
Well just to clarify things. My pen name is "Saki Lee" or "Lee Saki" what so ever. But my real name is pronounced as SE-RIN . No, not Syrene, not Seline and definitely not Sea rin OR SEIRIN (Do I look like a girl from Kuroko no basuke to you?). It's "Se-rin". I hate it when they misspell or mispronounce my name, I just stick to my nickname "Saki" (given to me by a close relative) so I won't go through the pain of hearing my name mispronounced. So yeah.
Saki Lee is my OC, though.
Speaking of OCs. My cousin and I are currently tuning in Kiko Akira's story entitled "Infinite". Yeah, I'm waiting for the OC character debuts because I submitted a form with "Mermaid" as my mythical creature and then I let my cousin scan the form (after I submitted it) and she was like.. "HOW CAN A MERMAID PLAY SOCCER?! "
And then I was like.. "OH FUCKIDY FUCK. I cannot undo what I've already done"
Then she told me she can imagine my OC being threatened by someone with the words.. "I will fry you for dinner, goldfish." NO. SAKI IS NOT DELICIOUS. Apparently, She also nicknamed me "GOLDFISH" for that.
Mythical creatures in Inazuma eleven.. The idea is Fantastic and Interesting! OwO Looking forward to reading more chaps!
Give her fiction a read for me, will ya?
"Infinite" by Kiko Akira ;)
(I should really put in a panel where I would advertise fanfictions that I read. Probably do that in my next story~)
Note to all Authors: If you need any assistance, please feel free to P.M. Me! I might be in a longggg story writing hiatus because of school and I can't publish my own stories. So I'll be helping out some authors and leaving reviews and stuff so yeah.
Well? Bonus Chapter will be released next week due to SCHOOL. ughh.
Saki over and out.
