Continued...
-Wake up, wake up, Big Brother,- Rikhard called out to Levi. -The dragon's cry and its time to die.-
Levi's black orbs snapped opened at the blinding light coming from small window. 'Morning.'
-Noon,- Rikhard walked over to the window and looked at the sky wearing the sun like a pendent.
'Noon,' he felt the blood drain from his face. 'She didn't come. She didn't come.'
-Why should she? She owes you nothing.-
'She promised, she promised to save me.'
-I promised to stand by your side, but betrayed you,- Rikhard reminded him as he leaned against the wall and watched him. Levi's eyes widen into huge saucers when he heard the door jingling open. -They're here.-
'No, no, no,' Levi cried in hysteria at his impending doom.
Amaranth was startled by the sudden cries coming from the chamber, 'Levi,' she called out to him.
'Get away from me, I refuse to die! She said that she would come, but she lied! She lied!'
'Levi,' she rushed to his aid. 'Snap out of it. We don't have much time.'
'No, no, no,' he pushed the blonde woman off of him.
'Levi, it's me.' She got back up into a kneeing position before him.
'Lies! She lied to me and you are just here to trick me!'
Amaranth looked at him in bewilderment, what had happened to him in her absence. There was no way that Isana or the Shadow Maid would mistreat him, but his appearance and his hysteria stated differently. 'Levi, I promise you that its me,' she spoke to him softly.
'Lies,' his glazed over eyes tried to see her for whom she really was but couldn't.
'My appearance,' she dropped her disguise. 'Traveling through worlds I am not allowed to travel in my true form, but I promise you that it is me.'
Now he could see that she was telling the truth, for she was the princess that had promised him a second chance. -Are you sure you can trust her?-
Levi's head turned to the small window in wonder and began to speak to nothing but air. 'I can.'
-What if she has decided to betray you?-
'She wouldn't.'
'Levi, who are you talking too?' she asked as she followed his eyes.
'Rikhard, he says that you will betray me.'
'I won't, but I need you to decide to take this,' she made a small glass bottle with golden elixir appear in her hand.
'What is that?'
'The Sanctification Elixir,' she answered. 'It will separate your body in two. One will contain your current memories and self, while the other will contain your soul and make you a blank slate.'
'What does that mean?'
'When you burn at the stake the phoenix tear will be activated and you soul form shall be reborn.'
'So I will die?'
'Your memories and your anger, you will be given a second chance.'
'I won't remember anything,' he looked at the bottle. 'Will it hurt?'
'Your soul form won't feel the pain of being burn at the stake.'
'But the other will?'
'Yes,' she answered sadly.
'Why?'
'To give you a true second chance,' she answered softly.
-So you still burn.-
'But I will live,' Levi told Rikhard, who was kneeling beside them.
-It could be poison.-
'Better to die by poison, then by fire,' Levi grabbed the small bottle and quickly took the drink before he had second thoughts.
Amaranth pulled away when Levi began to scream in pain as he was split in two. She never imagined that it would pain him so much to be torn in two, but this was his soul so it made sense. 'Ahh,' he screamed and held his head as if it were about to explode or come apart. 'Ahh.'
After a minute that felt like an eternity, Amaranth looked over at both Levis' and could instantly tell them apart for one contained the marks of magic being removed and the other seemed lifeless, emotionless. 'Levi,' the one with the marks looked at her with anger and then sadness.
'What will happen?'
'You will be reborn,' she answered.
'Do they know?'
'Your sister, Riku and myself,' she told him.
'Once I am reborn what will happen? Will I be abandoned?'
'No,' she shook her head, 'you will be taken care of by us.'
'Us,' he questioned.
'Riku and I,' she clarified.
'Why?'
'Because I promised to take care of you and watch over you.'
'Will he remember anything?'
'No.'
'What will you call him?'
'Levi, for he is you and you are him.'
'No,' he shook his head, 'think of something else.'
'Okay,' she agreed.
'Good,' he smiled as he took a seat on the small cot. 'Now you better go before the guards arrive and come to see what the commotion is.'
Amaranth nodded and got up and walked over to the hunched form by the wall. 'Come with me, we need to go,' she reached down to his silent form and black lifeless eyes turned up to look up her. 'Come on.'
He took her hand and got up to tower over her and with a click of her fingers he was draped in a dark cloak like Riku's and she was back in her disguise. Which startled him a little, but he didn't pull back or away and she turned back to his other self, 'Good-bye, Levi.'
'Good-bye, Amaranth,' and they disappeared from his sight.
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'They are taking to long, maybe he hurt her,' Riku panicked as he debated whether or not to go and find them, find her.
'He might be mad, but he would never hurt her,' the Shadow Maid told him as she watched her master's lover worry.
'Mad, he's gone crazy?'
'A bit,' she offered.
'I need to go to her then,' he was about to leave when she stopped him.
'I can feel them coming,' she told him.
Riku looked in the direction she had hinted and saw two figures making their way across the shadows. 'Sorry we're late,' Amaranth breath as they arrived, her trip across the town was not as easy as she though it would be.
'Did he take it or did you…' take him, Riku wanted to ask, but couldn't bring himself too.
'He did,' she answered and turned to the silent figure beside her.
'So this is his soul body,' Riku saw dark eyes turn to look at him in wonder and curiosity.
'Yes, the final stage of the elixir will take place when the other Levi burns and the phoenix tear is activated.
'They are about to get started,' the Shadow Maid announced.
'Then we should go,' Amaranth grabbed Soul Levi's hand, 'once the tear is activated I am not sure how he will react and we don't want to cause a scene.'
'Right,' they all headed back to the small house that led to the cottage in the woods.
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Isana watched as her brother was brought before the town square where the stake that he would be burn on was prepared. As the weeks had passed by his physical and mental capabilities deteriorated and left him an unrecognizable person. She wanted to stop her feeling of anger, hate, sadness, remorse and pity for him, yet the decrepit male standing below her was her brother and even if they had their differences she cared for him. Or maybe with his loss, or form of loss, she would be left alone without anyone to call family.
'My Queen,' the Head Counsel member drew her attention away from Levi.
'Right,' her voice caught, because even though she knew Amaranth's plan she didn't know if it was fulfilled in time to save him for she had not come to her. 'People of Seelie, today we are gathered to witness the execution of your ex-Prince, Levi, charged with the crimes of treason and attempts to over throw the crown for his own gain and rule. Do you object to these charges?'
Levi glared up at her and refused to answer, for his anger was consuming him and so was his hate for her and those that stood beside her. 'I will take that as a no,' she answered for him and they took him away to prepare.
Levi watched all the people before him and thought them pathetic, to image that he wanted to take over them was appalling for they were worthless and would only follow after his sister. -Interesting how you change your tone now that you are about to die.-
'I thought that you were gone?'
-I am a figment of your imagination, were you go I go.-
'So you will also follow him?'
-No, I am your remorse and your guilt.-
'I don't feel any of those things.'
-But you do, they are stronger then the hate and disgust that you feel for being caught and tied up to become a roasting spectacle.-
'Shut up.'
'Silence,' the guards ordered as he punched him the in the stomach.
Levi gasped in pain as the wind was knocked out of him, 'I should have murdered them all and restarted anew,' he told Rikhard's image.
-Should have, could have, would have, all things of the past that can't be changed.- Rikhard paced around and studied the people looking on at the mad man talking to himself about to burn.
'Does the prisoner have any last word,' Isana called out to Levi.
Levi looked up at the sky and sighed as he closed his eyes and just hung limply against the stake and chain bindings. -Big Sister asked you a question,- Rikhard's voice chimed beside him.
'Let me be,' he pleaded.
-You should at least say that you are sorry.-
'I am not sorry,' he yelled. 'If I had another chance I would do it again.'
The crowd gasped at his outburst and then the angry cries of 'burn him, burn him' began. The torches were lit and there was no going back so without further waste Isana gave the order and so began the end of her brother. She couldn't watch as his sister, but as the Queen she couldn't leave her post and mourn the loss of another brother, her last remaining family member. 'It's okay,' Conrad whispered to her as he grabbed her hand. He had been coming to visit with the Queen ever since Amaranth and Riku had arrived to give him the key that would open passage from his world to her's and vice versa. At first, he didn't understand why Amaranth had done it, he thought it was so that he could keep an eye on Levi but soon after realized that it was for another altogether reason that he didn't much mind. 'It is alright to cry, the people will understand,' he tried to soothe her.
'Out of all the ways, why this one? Even for him it is way too cruel,' Hina commented as she watched the fiery scene before her.
Isana didn't answer, she just held on to Conrad's hand even tighter and when he began to scream was when she couldn't hold in the tears anymore. 'I can't do this anymore,' she told the Counsel and they agreed with her that it was too much and allowed her to leave.
-How painful,- Rikhard stated as he watched Levi, whom screamed his last breaths. -The real him wouldn't want to be here, he wouldn't want to see this but you want me to be witness of your punishment as a form of retribution for his loss.-
Levi could feel the fire burning away at him and his flesh, but the only thing that he could think about was seeing him one last time. No matter what his plans were or how he went about achieving them his brother was there. His brother had always been by his side since he was little and even now as a figment of his imagination he was there by his side. 'I am sorry, Rikhard. I am so sorry for everything that happened to you,' he said in-between bouts of pain. 'I…am…sor…'
With his dying plea, the fragment of Rikhard began to waiver in and out before it smiled and nodded leaving him with one last echo, 'Don't worry, Big Brother, he has already forgiven you and will see you again soon.'
Hina had stayed to watch the end of Levi and as his life came to an end, she heard a cry. Confused as to the bird cry she looked around for the source until she noticed that it was coming from the flames surrounding Levi and when the flames began to pull away people panicked. They began to run and hide for fear of the giant flaming bird taking form pulling away would attack, but it cried out and took flight into the air. It expanded it large wings and stood out in all its glory before it took flight away for Levi's burning body. 'What is going on,' Hina was about to take action but was left confused as to why the phoenix hadn't revived him and instead flew off. Maybe it was waiting to Levi to died so that it could be released, but that didn't make sense considering that Amaranth had received all his powers when she took hers back.
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'It's been done,' Amaranth couldn't hear the giant's birds cry, but she couldn't miss its presence heading towards them. 'Don't be afraid,' she told Levi's soul as he began to pull away in fear. 'It'll be alright.'
'Amaranth,' Riku worried as the bird got close.
'You have to remain still and not run away,' she told him as she let go of his hand and pulled away to join Riku and the Shadow Maid.
He made to move, but he kept repeating Amaranth's words and stood his ground. But fear was a new feeling and it was consuming him and all he wanted to do was run and hide from the giant bird coming towards him. 'What will happen,' the Shadow Maid could be heard asking.
'He will be reborn,' Amaranth answered and as it neared Levi's Soul body he began to glow and gold bubbles erupted from him. The bubbles turned to flames that began to consume him, but not hurt him and once near the phoenix circled him bring the flames to a raging roar. With its final cry the flames and the phoenix its-self disappeared, leaving in its stead a bundle of ashes and a small remain of the cloak he had been wearing. 'He's gone,' Riku and the Shadow Maid announced together as Amaranth walked towards the remains.
'Reborn,' Amaranth told them as she knelt down and pulled the ashy cloth away to see a bright amber eyed baby with silver top hair looking up at her with curiosity and confusion. 'Hello, there,' she beamed down at him.
Riku and the Shadow Maid join her and looked over her shoulder to the newborn. 'He looks like us,' Riku commented.
'When Washu synthesized the essences of the gems and took our DNA, she modified it so that his new form would take our characteristics and he would be ours,' she picked the baby up and he gave her a lopsided smile.
'What is his name,' the Shadow Maiden had never seen a tiny human before, but it had its own charm and appeal.
'Levi,' Riku answered.
'He didn't want that he wanted something different,' Amaranth answered.
'Neo,' Riku voiced after a moment of thought, 'it means new or a revived form, which he is.'
'Neo,' Amaranth repeated as she looked down at the baby and beamed at his delight. 'I think that he likes it.'
'Now that we settled that, what are we going to tell your parents,' Riku suddenly recalled her Father and blanched.
'We'll come up with something,' she turned to him with a soft smile.
'And the other humans,' the Shadow Maiden asked as she sensed the two other life forms inside her.
Amaranth and Riku both blushed and shared a knowing smile, 'I am not sure how they will react, but I am sure that either way they will love them all. Just as we will.'
'Right,' Riku agreed as he looked at her and then at the smiling baby, and voweled to himself that no matter what he would always be there to protect his children and his wife from anything and anyone.