Chapter Nine: Satan's End

Anelyn was a brave girl, with a strong will and a golden heart. She wore this strength with pride and was ready to end the ties to the past that still scorched her.

She walked down the streets with her hands dug into her pockets to protect them from the cold. This was a mission she had wanted to do alone despite being begged to rethink by her friends back in the trailer.

In the end, this was her mission to complete. She knew that I and the rest of the lost souls would be keeping Darlhan in a state of comatose so she could take him and end the secret of Satan.

She looked to the sky as she thought back to her dear friend, the price that had been paid.

"I know you'll keep me safe."

The cells didn't frighten her anymore as she stepped through the bloody alleys. She was determined and kept her eyes facing forward. She could sense him now. It was like a filthy stench that wafted down to her. It felt evil.

I'm glad you became my friend, Rachael.

Memories were a painful thing when what you remember is no longer with you. She bit her tongue and soldiered forward.

That looks nasty. Does it hurt?

"Shit!" She grasped at her head as she remembered blood pouring from her friend after a bullet had grazed her. It was the first time she had healed her, and Rachael had almost jumped through the roof of the trailer at the bright light Anelyn's hand had shone.

Anelyn threw herself against the bars of the nearest cell, swearing and screaming. "Why can't I forget her? Why can't I just… just…"

She slid down to the floor, waiting for the cold to seep in, but instead there was warmth. A pair of hands wrapped around her and she opened her eyes to find a pair of crimson pools stared back at her.

"Jo!" she cried out, throwing herself into the gunner's arms. "I keep thinking about her! I can't stop! It just won't stop!"

Jo hugged her back and ran a hand along her back to calm her. "I know. She was a friend of mine, too. I know it's hard."

Once the crying fit had passed, Anelyn realised that it was not just Jo whom had come to her rescue. Meg, Sei, Amy, and Kyo stood behind the pair in silence.

Anelyn couldn't believe the happiness that bloomed inside of her. "Thank you. You have no idea how happy I am that you came!"

Sei smiled back at her. "We couldn't let you do this alone."

"Of course," Anelyn sobbed. "What are families for?"

******

There he was, so still and unresponsive. Vulnerable.

There lay Darlhan, in all of his sick, twisted glory.

"Bastard!" Anelyn kicked him square in the face, knocking it back and leaving his eyes open a crack. However, he did not see. He was being held back by the power I completed, and Anelyn could smile for the first time, knowing that I was there, just not in the same world as her.

"How are you going to do this?" Sei asked, glaring down at the form of the man whim had destroyed the lives of her two friends.

Anelyn thought for a moment, then a grin spread over her face as she thought of a very fitting death for the man.

Jo stared at her, recognising the blood thirsty smile like a mirror. "What are you thinking, you little psycho?"

"You know, I was always wondering what happened when the drug was injected into adults."

Jo almost laughed at the clever plan. "Let's go and get ourselves a dose."

They headed off to the testing chambers where they found more than enough of the fiery liquid being held in tubes. Anelyn took her fill in a syringe and left the room, leaving Jo at the door to launch one of her favoured ammunition.

"Just got these off the market," she said proudly as she loaded her largest gun with a small missile looking bullet.

"What does it do?" Amy asked, eyeing it curiously.

The smile that Jo had suited her well. "It goes off with a bang."

She fired and slammed the door closed as the blast pounded into the walls. Fire lashed out from beneath the door, but Meg stamped it away fearlessly.

Once the damage was done, Anelyn placed a hand on the wall and pictured the destruction on the other side. "That's that for Satan," she said with a sick glee in her voice. "Now its time for the maker."

Darlhan had not moved as they had trusted. He lay, cuddling himself pathetically with a look of terror on his face. It seemed the souls were not giving him an easy time where they held him.

Anelyn wanted to stare at that face forever, to sketch it so she could see what happened to an evil leader when he was beaten by those that once wore those faces for themselves. The irony had her laughing before the final punishment for the man.

They surrounded him and Anelyn as she knelt by his side and stared into those half hidden eyes of grey. He was a raging storm of spite inside, an emotion reversed from the tortured.

"I always wondered why you became what you did," Anelyn said to him, hoping that he could hear her words. "I always wondered why me and the others had to go through what we did at your hand." She let Satan flow into him and dropped the empty syringe to the ground. "But I guess some people are destined to be evil."

His skin started to red as it reached a burning heat. His face twisted as though he were pleading for the pain to disappear and she realised she was looking to mirror of the past again.

Meg hid Amy behind her, but she held a look of sinister glee. "Burn, asshole!" she growled, reading Anelyn's mind.

Sei stood behind Anelyn and pat her on the back. "It may not seem like it sometimes, but you did the right things," she said.

Jo nodded and stepped back a little as the first flames appeared upon the man's hands.

"You know, Rachael would be proud of you," she said without turning away from the man as he started to burn. "You made sure that she, and the others, didn't die in vain."

Anelyn started to cry again, but this time it wasn't sorry, it wasn't guilt, it was the happiness of freedom. She looked to the ceiling, imagining the sky where her and I had named shapes in the clouds.

"I'll see you again one day, and then we can be together again," she whispered as the evil plague before her died away to ashes.

The End

Author's Note - All finished!! I hope you enjoyed the story and the ending. I was thinking of having a big battle scene, but I couldn't figure out how without making it too cliché. Anyway, I really hope you liked reading this :D