Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I don't own… and I'm rather tired.

…

My breath came in short, quick gasps now, and there was blood red glass all around me. It dug into my shoulders, my wings, my legs… it was everywhere, stabbing me. I heard Lumi scream, and a painful sounding thud, then a cry of outrage from Dark.

Mistress… it was Fenga, weaker than she had ever sounded. Mistress, where are you?

Fenga, live on, I told her. I don't… think… Sending my thoughts to her became too painful. I didn't know what was wrong with me, only that this was what dying must feel like.

I heard a pair of wings fold near me. "Gray…" I struggled for breath, but panicked when I found none. "Don't," Krad said. "Just lie still." I couldn't. I had choked before in my lifetime, and the feeling was terrible. I couldn't just lay there. But I found I was unable to move as well. I started feeling dizzy… "Stay here Gray," Krad said; "You didn't know … Did you?" he sounded more like he was talking to himself. He brushed the glass away from my eyes, and I instantly opened them. He was right there, kneeling next to me. I turned my head up to look at him, and felt a tiny ribbon of air slip into my throat. It hurt. I closed my eyes again.

"Krad?" I asked, using the tiny bit of oxygen I had just found. It hurt to talk, and I wasn't going to open my eyes again, but I had to hear his voice.

"Yes Gray?" But I had no more air left. I was done for. And then everything became much different.

"Gray!" That wasn't my mom's voice. It wasn't Krad's, Lumi's, Dark's, Emiko's, Daisuke's, Towa's or anyone else's who I had met here. It was my dad. And then the scenery changed.

…

"Well," Krad said, "This is…"

"Impossible," I finished. We were standing in my house. In the hallway in front of my room. In front of my parents. But Krad was dead. And so was I, wasn't I? "Mom? Dad?"

"Gray!" my mom said. I saw something flicker in her blue eyes. Could it possibly be surprise?

"Mom?" I asked again, shocked. "How did I get here?"

"Gray, thank God you're home," she replied. "We've missed you so much!" She ignored Krad, which I supposed was a good thing since I didn't want them at each other's throats, and stepped towards me. But I stepped back, sensing something was wrong.

"Get away from me," I said, "None of this is real. It- I want it to be, but it's not." I looked at Krad. "You're dead." I took another step away. "I'm dead. Syerdtsye killed me." Suddenly the obviousness of the situation hit me. "Mom, no…" she smiled sadly.

"Our plane crashed sweetheart," she said softly. "It was quick, though. I promise." She stepped forward and hugged me. "You fly high now, you hear me? Use those wings of yours." She pulled away.

"Dad?" I asked. He smiled at me. My dad, since I haven't told you too much about him, is thin, in a wiry sort of way, with pale-tan skin and a sort of brownish-gold hair, which is how he got his name. His eyes are a deep, rather chocolate colored brown. He was the one who taught me to play guitar.

"We're fine. But you have to fight for us. It's not your time." His eyes glittered, and for a moment, flashed bright gold.

"It will never be my time!" I whispered. "You knew! All this time you knew-" I stopped. Knew what? That because I was eternal, they would still die? That was obvious. "And how were you calling me?"

"That was all before," mom answered. "We were taking off to New York to another meeting, since there was still the occasional bit of news on that video. I still cannot believe the stories that were popping up around that thing…" her musings were interrupted by Krad, who grabbed my shoulders and spun me to face him.

"You are the only one who can end this," he said. "You have to fight for us. For your parents. For me. You have to decide now. Live and fight, or die and wander the wreckage that will be our worlds?" I stared straight into his handsome eyes, as though if I looked hard enough, maybe I could see the answer. Why shouldn't I just give up? I could be with Krad forever. I could be with my parents again. But in reality, I knew it just couldn't be.

"Why can't I have both?" I asked him. "Why can I not bring you all back with me? We'll fight together!"

Krad looked at me for a long moment; then my dad spoke up. "Gray… it doesn't work like that. You mother and I are gone. We can't come back."

"And Gray, I'm only just barely alive," Krad said. "It's taking every ounce of magic I have to keep myself projected here. I have to go soon." I felt tears sting my eyes.

"I-" it broke my heart to say it. I couldn't believe I was saying it. "I'll fight." I felt my eyes watering. I had found the three people I loved the most in two worlds, and they were all dead. And I was leaving them.

Krad stared at me for a long moment. "Good girl," I heard my dad say quietly. With a flash of red hair, my mom was standing beside us.

"Here," she said, pressing something into my hands. I looked at it. It was a USB flash drive. "This one's got pictures, and here," she fished a second one out of her pocket, "Are all your stories. And you have to promise me you'll go visit your grandmother, because I've yet to see her." I flinched, because for a moment, I'd forgotten that she was dead.

"I promise," I said, then added, "Once this is over, of course."

"Yes," Krad said. "Go now Gray. Never forget us." I didn't move. "Gray," he whispered, "I love you. Now go." I could see the pain in his eyes, and I wished more than anything that I didn't have to leave; that I could save the world and still be with him.

"I- I can't," I mumbled. "I can't leave you all like this. I have to help you." I wasn't just saying that. I honestly felt that I couldn't leave until I'd helped them.

"Gray," Krad replied gently, "You've made your choice. You can't do anything now. Look." He took one hand off of my shoulder long enough to gesture at the spot where my parents were –had been. They had simply disappeared. "I'm still here because-" I knew.

"Let my guess," I said, "It's because I'm here too, right?" He nodded slightly. "I'll stand right here," I said, "Forever, if that means you'll never leave me." Krad smiled.

"I'm dead," he said, "Though not in the same way your parents are. I can come back, but the price is high… too high."

"What is it?" I asked. "I'd go to the ends of the earth for you. I'd die for you-" Krad pressed an index finger to my lips.

"You'd have to," he said. "And I won't allow it. I'll watch over you, always, but you have to go now. I've missed you more than I could ever miss life, and now that I know where you are, I'll never leave you." I shook my head. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't be. I had never lied when I'd said I'd give my life, but I never thought he would die. It just couldn't be…

"I can't win this war without you. We can't." Krad was slowly fading away now. I didn't know how much longer we had together. "You can't leave me Krad."

"You have to Gray," he answered. "Just as I must leave. I have nothing more to do with the realm of the living." It was a perfect moment. Sad, and sweet, and full of love. His hand, the one that had quieted me a moment ago, traced my jaw line and turned my face up to look at him, and he kissed me. A soft, gentle kiss. A first kiss, and a last. Then he was gone, and I was curled again amidst the glass that was wet with my blood.

"Krad," I whispered. "Mom. Dad…" I heard a gentle whimper, and my eyes shot open. I should have been dead. I shouldn't have heard Ryoushi whimper from over a hundred feet away either. I should have been dead, but I felt better than I ever had in my life. And, in a sense, worse. I coughed and spat blood, then stood. There will be time to mourn after this, I promised myself. But even so, the weight of my parent's death bore heavily on my shoulders.

"Gray," it was Lumi. Her wings were gone, and the hair on the right side of her head was matted with what looked suspiciously like blood. Dark looked murderous. "Gray, I can't believe you're still alive! You were just laying there for half an hour…" her eyes suddenly widened. "Honoo no Namida –the one who dropped the glass on you –she's after Satoshi."

"Where's Syerdtsye?" I asked. Dark's head twitched, some of the light going out of his eyes.

"Not here," he answered.

"Did either of you see Krad?" I asked. They hadn't said anything about him, which made me think…

"Gray," Lumi answered, "Krad's dead." I felt my heart plummet. Had I just imagined…? No. I couldn't have imagined that kiss. Not in my wildest dreams.

"I must have been imagining things," I muttered. I used my sword to cut the ropes that bound them, and looked at their expressions of amazement. "What?" I asked.

"Those were cursed ropes," Lumi answered shakily. "Dark couldn't even get through them." I smiled, and cut the ropes that bound Ryoushi. He didn't move, but he was breathing. I picked him up, wondering just what might happen if we were ambushed.

"Well, apparently I'm just a bit better than your average kaitou," I said quietly. "Ah, skip it. I'm not in the mood for jokes. Where're the others?"

"No idea," Dark replied. "But it would be best to look around."

I rolled my eyes. Fenga, where are you?

Look up. I tilted my chin towards the sky, panicked, but she quickly said, I'm just kidding. We're behind that big organ you're probably looking at about… now. She was right about that. The organ was a huge, wooden thing, half rotten, but absolutely beautiful.

"They're behind that," I said, nodding at the organ. "But why'd she leave you two out here?" I heard a crunch of glass and whirled around to see an unknown artwork.

"Honoo no Namida," Lumi hissed in my ear. So this was who had dropped a sheet of glass on me.

"Ah, so this is the great Gray-san," Honoo said with malice. "Why do you refuse to die?"

I turned my chin up and looked at her down my nose. "I will not die," I replied, "Because I am eternal. My soul is immortal. And no matter how much glass you throw on me, I'm not leaving this world." I paused to let my words sink in. "If you are the Flaming Tears, why do you not set this place afire?"

Honoo's eyes glistened. "Why would I destroy my home? I only wish you and your… friends out of my existence." There was a flap of wings and Syerdtsye (as my mom, ouch) landed and switched back to her true form. She held the Toki no Kagi in a loose double handed grip.

"Immortal only means not dead yet," she hissed. "I can fix that, however…" her eyes glittered with hatred and bloodlust. I grabbed my whip and cracked it before allowing it to become my own, silver sword. I would have lunged, but Dark grabbed my shoulder.

"May I?" He asked, smirking.

"No," I said, "Now go with Lumi and get everyone out of here." Did he really look disappointed? No time to think about that. I pulled myself away from his grip and faced Syerdtsye.

"Gray," Lumi said, "I can't just watch you get yourself killed!" I turned slightly and smiled.

"I've already been dead once today," I said, "And my own parents told me it wasn't my time to join them." I watched as my words registered with her. Then I turned my back on her and Dark and stepped up to meet Syerdtsye and Honoo. I felt so strong… so strong I struck first. With magic.

"So you can be killed?" Syerdtsye asked, deflecting my attack with a shield of her own.

I bowed my head. "Nothing is eternal," I said, and I knew it. "So yes, I can. It's just extremely hard to do so." Syerdtsye gave Honoo a quick nod, and the girl… artwork, whatever you want to call her, ran off.

"Hmm," she mused. "I think a key of time might do. I wonder if you will see your precious Karudo after you've bled out at my feet." Her voice became harsh, and she lunged at me. I sidestepped and tried to twist the Toki no Kagi from her grip. What I managed to do was flip Syerdtsye on her back. She sprang up and lunged again, and this time I met her. Sparks flew from the two swords as they clashed, and the sound was deafening.

This is insane. With that thought running through my head, I spread my wings and jumped. I wanted to lure Syerdtsye into my own little trap now. It would be rather touch and go, but I thought that it might, just might, stand a chance of working. It could awaken an insanely dangerous artwork, but I was almost positive it was dead. I would lead Syerdtsye into the chamber under the fountain, where the Toki no Byoushin used to reside. An arrow hit me in the foot, but it didn't penetrate my shoe.

Sheer luck was going to have to keep me alive now. Sheer luck, and maybe… "Krad, please protect me," I whispered. "Please." The next two arrows stopped dead in midair and shot back at Syerdtsye. She yelped and dodged them. She had taken Krad's wings, which had a wider wingspan than my mom's, and was currently notching another arrow to her bow.

"I don't know how you're doing that," she yelled, "But I intend to find out." She shot an arrow into a rafter that was less than half a foot from my head. I jumped (as much as one could jump while in flight) and went through where the ceiling used to be.

"And let me guess," I called back, "When you do, you'll go right on ahead and kill me?" I shot a bolt of magic at her, purposely missing by a few inches, and took off.

Mistress, Fenga thought to me, I wish you luck. But I think the rest of us will be at Satoshi's house, unless you request otherwise.

No Fenga, I thought. Go somewhere safe. I felt her presence retreat from my mind, and had the sense that she was holding something back from me. Then I saw another arrow blocked by Krad's presence and shook myself back into reality. I had to think, had to concentrate. Where was that fountain? There. I darted down, praying that the fountain's cavern was still –the fountain. It must have been rebuilt. The earthquake had destroyed it, hadn't it? I shook with sudden uncertainty, but then shook my head. I had no intention of dying yet.

You are NOT going to die, Krad hissed. If you die, so help me, I will never speak to you again.

I'm going to go out fighting, I told him. And not now. Somehow, I doubted my words. I was going to live through this. I didn't know about anyone else, but I knew –I didn't need my Sight to tell –that it would be me who faced Syerdtsye in the end.

I was at the fountain. Syerdtsye was close behind me. I landed and tried my absolute best to try and figure out how to open the fountain, but I failed. "Krad, please," I said desperately. Nothing… until I caught a glimpse of a glow a few feet away. The water parted where the glow was, and I waited until I was certain Syerdtsye could see what I was doing before I ducked inside. The doorway sealed behind me, but only momentarily. Syerdtsye stormed in a moment later, and I instantly took off, not bothering with the stairs. The ceiling was nice and high, and as I looked down, the floor seemed to have a skin of water on it. Maybe it had been damaged?

The tide… his voice sounded weak. He must have used a ton of magic to project himself, and talk to me. But I understood. The place began to flood with the tide coming in.

The whole place? I asked, dodging the Toki no Kagi as Syerdtsye swung it at me. In rage, she whirled around and threw it. Finally, a stroke of luck! But as I retrieved the sword and willed my whip/sword into a shield, Krad's answer made my hopes plummet.

Yes. Then I felt the connection between us go dead. Syerdtsye's next arrow pierced my wing, and I fell with a scream to the wet ground below.

…

AN: The only reason this is out so early is the fact I had the scene with Krad and Gray's parents typed out ahead of time. I hope that no one who is back in school has too much homework… (Bleh)

Gray: Oh come on. When am I going to get to kill someone?

Me: Wait. You're me, and I'm you. So why are you here?

Gray: That's a good point. *Disappears in a puff of smoke.*

Me: Since when…?

Gray: *thinks* Since I taught myself to spontaneously combust. It's kinda fun. By the way, thanks for the kiss.

Me: No prob. Anyway, please, R&R!