If you need a disclaimer, it's on the first page. It applies for all my ToS works.
This is the second part to the "Dance of Blades" poem. Hope it sums everything up for you. Read, review, and enjoy!
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A Dance of Blades; Music of Death
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Part II
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My last match…the last victim…
Be it either me or him…
It will all be over soon…
I smile up to my angel…
She returns a solemn smile…
One tainted with pain and regret…
And I realize, so is mine.
My entire body shakes with discomfort…
Killing monsters is one thing.
There is no guilt there for me…
I know they are out to kill us,
And that one must die.
We cannot beg them to stop; they will not…
And so it comes upon us to choose…
Kill or be killed…it is Nature's way…
No, I correct myself; it is the human way.
I can even live with killing bandits…
Outlaws who have already ended someone's life…
Brigands who live to rape and pillage…
Thieves who reap the work of others…
So why then is this so different?
I do not understand it myself…
Something is wrong…
But as my last opponent surfaces…
I am forced to choose…
Fight or die, Lloyd?
I ask myself quietly…
And as I see my opponent's face, my heart sinks.
Anotheryoung maiden…
No more than Colette's age, I'd say.
Her hair a dark brown, flowing…
Eyes of pure emerald pierce into me…
A dangerous opponent, I can sense…
A mystical energy sparks around her.
I do not want to mar her either…
I already ended the innocence of one girl…
I want to reason with her…I do not want to kill…
I beg her to go away…to leave here also…
And then, to my deepest horror…
She replies, in a soft tone…
"I must win…to save my husband…"
How can I compete? Lover for lover…
I cannot possibly let her lose now…
She is just like me…saving someone she cares about.
Raine and Genis remain behind steel bars…
I still don't understand why…
But as I face this stalwart spirit now,
I cannot lose either…
I respond to her, a tear in my eye…
"I am here for the same reason…"
And she simply nods…knife in hand…
"Best of luck to us both then…"
Her subtle words stun me…and for a moment,
I forget about Raine and Genis, about Sheena,
Zelos, Regal, Presea…and my focus,
Diverges on Colette…in the stands…
My lover is safe…but what of hers?
Are my friends worth the loss? The pain?
I am afraid…I do not want to lose them either…
But can I take this woman's life and her lover from her?
She walks forth, determined to win…
Determined to save her precious lover…
I meet her at center ring…
And as our eyes cross a last time, she sighs.
Not a sigh of condescent, or of hopelessness…
But a sigh of finality…as if she knows…
There is no happy ending to this story…
There is no happy ending to this fight…
"FIGHT!" a scream roars from the box.
Both of us jump back, weapons drawn.
She bears a katana and a kodachi…
Beautiful weapons, glittering purple…
She charges, and it takes all I have…
I barely block most of her swings…
She is definitely good…and worthy…
Why must one of us die? Aren't we both worthy?
Our dance continues for minutes.
I do not remember every stroke, every block,
But for at least three minutes, nothing…
Neither of us was about to admit defeat…
I fight back, swinging at her tiredly.
She retreats momentarily, before resuming.
I cannot match her pace…she is far too strong…
More durable, more hardened than I am…
And I see my angel cry behind her…
Colette seems to read my thoughts.
No one wants either of us to lose…
But can it be helped?
I call upon the powers of lightning,
And knock her back a few steps.
She hesitates, and in that moment,
I spot her weakness…
Whenever she recoils, she draws back,
And for a brief moment, she turns away…
She is blind to her right side…
A stab, and a quick in-slice…
I try it, for all it is worth.
I am already losing the five-minute match…
My friends are my friends…
I will not abandon them…
I call upon the lightning strike once more,
Feeling my left arm burn in pain…
But it flashes, and she jumps back…
This is my only chance…
And as I see her recoil,
I make sure her head is turned…
I make my move, stabbing in first,
Then drawing inward…into her flesh…
I feel my sword slice into her soft form…
And I realize, to my horror,
That she knew it too…and dropped to her knees.
Clutching her side, in pain…
I stopped, and knelt beside her.
"Please, stop this fight now…"
She only turns to me, with sad eyes…
And pushes me back, as she struggles to stand.
I see then the extent of my wound.
She spills blood from her abdomen…
And she staggers, but manages to keep upright…
A brave one to the last…
Tears in her eyes, she makes her last stand.
A kodachi, and then several knives…
Shuriken…kunai…I think…
I manage to dodge the sword and three…
And then I feel one embed itself in my right arm.
I drop my only remaining sword, and fall as well.
I am not mortally wounded, but I no longer will fight this day…
And I move to her side, as she collapses in a puddle of blood…
The crimson of her blood, bright and sour…
Pervades every part of her once-peach robe…
She lies silent, letting soft tears fall…
And as she sees me, she smiles…
I kneel beside her, and she whispers into my ear…
"I hope you find your happiness…"
And before she can say more, her head drops,
Eyes closed, blood trickling from her lips…
She is dead.
I cannot fully express my anguish, my pain.
The requiem I heard a while ago returns,
But this time, much more somber…
I see the little elf girl playing her flute…
I see a half-elf couple playing matching clarinets…
An old man plays a cornet…
And a bass player hovers in the background…
Their solemn song plays as they carry her away…
The others didn't have the same reasons for fighting…
They wanted fame, money, glory…power…
But this one wanted none of that…
She only wanted her lover back…
And how could I stop her?
I wanted my friends back too…
Fate is cruel, and so is Destiny…
I only stare as they take her corpse away…
And even as Colette rushes down the steps,
Amidst a mob of worthless others…
She wraps her arm around me, and kisses me…
Any other time, I would have enjoyed it…
I would have taken up her offer in a heartbeat…
But now…I only move toward that door…
The one where they carried "her" off through.
Colette clings to me as she follows…
"Where are you going, Lloyd…?"
I cannot tell her what I have just done…
I cannot tell her I took someone's lover…
I cannot even tell her how much it hurts…
Not the wounds on my flesh…
But the wounds, the scars burned into me…
I will NEVER do this again…NEVER.
I finally find the two guards who carry "her" body,
And I plead with them to let me take "her."
In the confusion, they place "her" in my arms…
And I rush to the nearest exit, leaving Colette with the key…
Colette will be fine…she will rescue the others…
I have something more important to finish first…
I lie the brown-haired maiden upon a patch of flowers,
Hoping that it will somehow bring back the life I stole from her.
I kneel beside her, and looking into her face, I cry.
I cry for the life I stole with my own blades.
With my actions, my hands…
Now corrupted, covered in her blood.
As the others come to me, I turn to Zelos.
"Is there a crematorium in Meltokio?"
He looks at me strangely, and then at the girl,
Sleeping peacefully…in eternal tranquil.
"Whoa…dude…where'd she come from…?"
I try my best to explain…
"She was my last opponent…"
"So why the special treatment?"
I pull him close and whisper into his ear,
"Because I stopped her from rescuing the person she loved…"
He only staggers back, and nods…
He may not be serious most of the time, but he understood…
We found a place out in the slums…
And they did it…they reduced her to ashes…
I took the urn afterwards, and buried it…
Perhaps you will see it when you visit Meltokio…
It's in a little park, under the shade of the Arena…
Beside the tree that the children play at…
It's under the tree's shade, by a little rock monument.
There's a little epitaph left on a small stone block.
"For a woman who never gave up…
Who fought with her life for her dreams…
Fought for the one she loved most…
And died honorably upon the fields of combat…"
I could not think of anything better at the time…
And although it isn't the best…
I hope she finds some solace in that…
When we regenerate the world, we'll free her lover…
And then he'll know that his love didn't give up…
That she paid a price more dear than most would…
She gave her live trying to free him…
And that she didn't give up, not even in her dying breath…
Every once in a while now, I wake up and cry.
Colette hushes my fears, and soothes me…
But in those dreams, I see her again…
Her anguished face and dying words still lingering…
And whenever I feel doubt,
When I feel that our cause is falling by the wayside…
I think of that day, and that young woman…
And my resolve hardens…because I cannot let it happen again.
There will be no more deaths as such…
No more will die in these senseless conflicts…
There will only be peace, and love…
And then there is no better reason to fight evil…
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Author's Response Box
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Wow! 5 more reviews since I last posted! Awesome! And I would like to apologize for the delay...the weekend was wasted, and I spent a little extra time putting these last couple poems together...sorry for the delay! This fic is almost done...unless anyone else wants me to try a poem on a topic they'd like...
Jupiter Sprite: I'm glad you liked my poems...you liked the Genis/Presea pairing too? I'm happy...that pairing seems to be the easiest for me to write about. Thanks so much for reviewing, and if you like that pairing, I hope you'll like the new one I did for them as well!
ObviousMan: Many thanks...you're my major return-reviewer! Please read through my two new ones, and let me know what you think too! The future thing was a guess...I'm glad you thought it fit! And yes, best of luck on that 10lb. weight...I think at times, it's more like 50lbs...but yeah, once you hurl that weight, go for it! I'll be watching!
Kitten Kisses: Thank you very much for reviewing. I'm glad you read through the first three...they are perhaps my most pure "poetry," as everything else is more along the lines of "between-prose-and-poetry." The first three were the most fun to write...and about the second poem, there's a little trick to reading the last line of the poem...it's not horizontal; it's vertical. Read the first letter of each line for the hidden last line!
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And thanks to those of you who read my work out there but didn't review! Please review, though...I don't bite, and I appreciate all reviews, even if they tell me that I need to work on my writing, because I technically do...so anyway! Please review, and thanks for reading!
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