Kiseki no Hoshi
Teil Zwei: Einfahrt zur Ewigkeit
Kapitel 25: Tod und Wiedergeburt
/I hid my imperfection/
/Behind a mask of perfection/
/But some things cannot be hid/
/Like my true self/
I'll never forget these dreams…
These dreams of life…
I enjoyed life…
But now the dreams have ended.
This is the morning.
I'll wake up.
My family, my friends, and my love…
I'm here now.
And this time I won't leave.
I promise.
ο ο ο ο ο ο
God laid his hand on the unconscious redhead's face. The redhead was nude, but his body was wrapped up in a bright white light, so nothing below his shoulders was visible. They were both floating in the eternal nothingness that was Subete.
"Aya, wake up," God ordered the redhead in a gentle tone.
Aya's pale violet eyes slowly opened. "Wha…where am I?" he asked, still a bit dazed.
"Subete," God answered calmly. "You are dead, but not for long."
"Wha…?" Aya sounded.
God flew back from Aya. "You are the end, but there is something that you did not know," He explained. "There is a prophecy about Resurgere. He may have mentioned it to you once or twice. However, he knew only the first two lines, as did Satan. This is the entire prophecy." He recited it, and it was this:
The balance of good and evil,
the one who will be the end,
but also the beginning.
With his death, comes hope and rebirth.
Monstrous Fate,
Star of Miracles,
Resurgere.
"So, by killing myself, I have saved the world?" Aya reworded the prophecy once the Almighty had recited it in its entirety.
"In a way, yes," God confirmed, nodding His head. "You see, Resurgere existed for the sole reason of making me realize the error of my ways."
The Almighty turned His back to Aya. "I have no beginning and no end," He continued. "I have existed for eternity. I grew lonely in my many eons of solitude, so I created the universe. The beings that I created began to worship me, giving me the name 'God.' I was happy, until they started to see me as the 'perfect being.' I was not perfect. Like them, I had both light and darkness. So I was forced to separate myself. Satan was the result of that. Back then, He was the archangel Lucifer. I allowed him to live in Heaven beside me, but it never worked. He was completely evil. When he rebelled against me, I had no choice but to condemn him to ruling over the damned for eternity."
Aya said nothing, but God could still tell he was interested in the story. The Almighty turned around to face him.
"Satan hated being completely evil, so He began the Krieg von Tränen in an effort to make me realize my mistake," God went on. "I refused to become one with Satan again, so the war waged on for eons. Both tears and blood were shed, even in paradise. I was so focused on protecting my angels from the truth that I myself could not see the truth. Aya, when you destroyed what remained of the world, you forced me to finally see the truth."
He paused before going on. "The truth is, I am imperfect," He confessed. His holy blue eyes were filled with indescribable pain. "My own desire for perfection is what made me imperfect. I was willing to do anything to attain perfection, even at the sacrifice of all that I had created. Because I was defying myself, Resurgere was born to live up to his prophecy. Now that he has, I finally realize what a fool I have been."
"So now what'll happen?" Aya asked.
God smiled softly. "'With his death, comes hope and rebirth,'" He recited. "Because you have died, the entire world, including yourself, will be reborn, but any memories of the apocalypse will be erased." He paused for a brief moment. "Aoi and Yumeki died before any of this happened, so they will not be reborn. However, Ken, Omi, Yoji, Sakura, and Kage will be. As for Kodoku, it will be his choice of whether or not he wishes to be reborn."
"What about Satan?" Aya wanted to know.
God held out His hands and two broken halves of a white-black orb appeared in each hand. "Spiritually, we will become one. Physically, I have not yet decided."
"And the angels and demons?"
"Child, you do not need to know any of this. Your memories of these events are going to be erased soon."
Aya was a little miffed at being called a child, but he let it slide. "Then what about Resurgere?" he wondered. "Will we merge?"
"Yes," God answered. "Resurgere has awakened, so of course you two would merge. Also, his power will be lost, so you will no longer be able to use the Weiß Kreuz effortlessly." He reached out and gently touched the scar circling Aya's neck. It slowly faded away, leaving no trace that there had ever been a scar. "You are not Resurgere, so you should not have to bear his scar," the Almighty added.
Aya forced a small smile. "Thank you," he said, his face holding a relieved look.
"You have nothing to thank me for yet," God corrected. "At least not until you receive my little 'reward.' Well, are you ready?"
"Yes," Aya said, nodding slowly.
"Very well," the Almighty replied. He placed the two orb pieces together as the Blau Kreuz around His neck shone warmly. The newly formed orb let out a strong whitish-black (or blackish-white) light that engulfed both Aya and God in its neutral glow.
ο ο ο ο ο ο
It was normal summer day at the Kitty in the House. The sky was clear, and the sun's rays shone down on the flower shop. Eager fangirls stood outside the shop, hoping to catch a glimpse of the four handsome florists who worked with the old lady Momoe.
Aya was bored. Few of the girls actually wanted to buy flowers. All most of them cared about was staring at him and his co-workers. He gazed outside at the clear blue sky.
"Hey Aya, stop day-dreaming!" Yoji ordered. "Get back to work!"
"Like you should be talking," Aya mumbled under his breath. He took an order of flowers and placed the money in the cash register.
The phone began ringing and Omi answered it. "Hello, this is the Kitty in the House, satisfying all your flowery and bishounen needs," he greeted, barely able to keep himself from laughing. "Okay, a dozen white roses…who are they for?" He scribbled notes down on a piece of paper. "Him? Well, you still have to pay for the roses… Okay, so what do you want the note to say? …Uh-huh, sure. He'll get the flowers once I get the check. 'Bye." He hung up the phone.
"New customer?" Yoji guessed.
Omi nodded. There was a mysterious grin on his face.
"Hey, what's with the smirk?" Yoji asked, noticing Omi's smirk.
"Oh, nothing," Omi responded cryptically.
Yoji let it slide. It was probably nothing important, anyway. He then saw the ghostly figure of a pretty blue-haired woman next to him. But when he turned his head to get a better look, she was gone. "Aoi?" he whispered softly.
He shook his head. What had made him say that name? He didn't know any woman named Aoi. But in a really vague sense, it sort of sounded familiar…
Yoji decided it wasn't worth spraining his brain over. The woman had been really beautiful, but she was most likely just his mind playing tricks on him due to the heat.
"Hey, can I get some service over here?" yelled a man with spiky brown hair and pale skin. He was dressed almost entirely in black, which was very strange considering how hot the weather was.
"Yes, how may I help you?" Ken asked, walking over to the spiky-haired man.
"I want a dozen amaryllis in a vase delivered to the Asuka military base in one week."
"Name?"
"General Kiseki Kodoku."
"Okay, let me write this down." Ken reached for some nearby paper, but it was out of his reach and he accidentally stumbled over. "Oops, sorry," he apologized, blushing madly. Kodoku said nothing in reply, but there were hints of a small smile on his face.
Ken stood back up and got the paper he needed. He repeated Kodoku's order as he wrote it down. "¥5,000, please," he finally said.
"Who are the flowers for?" Momoe asked Kodoku and as she rubbed her calico's back.
"They're to honor the memory of a close friend," Kodoku answered, paying Ken. Once he did that, he left the shop.
As soon as Kodoku left the shop, another man entered. This man had short black hair that slightly interfered with his right eye. He was dressed in a business suit, but he wasn't wearing the jacket and he had rolled up the sleeves of the white undershirt.
"My, aren't you the handsome one," Momoe noticed about the dark-haired man. "Would you like to work here?"
"Uh, not now," the dark-haired man declined. "I'll keep your offer in mind, though. Just remember that my name's Sekai Kage. Anyway, do you have any pinks? It's a type of wildflower. They were my fiancée's favorites."
"We have a few pinks," Momoe answered. "I'll go get them." She handed her calico to Kage and went over to the other side of the shop. She wrapped a few pinks up in a bouquet and went back to Kage. She handed the pinks to him as he handed the calico back to her.
"So how much?" Kage asked.
"¥1,500," Momoe answered. "Give the money to Aya. He's the redhead over near the cash register."
Kage walked over to Aya and gave him the money. Aya placed it into the cash register as Kage turned around to leave the shop with his bouquet of pinks.
"Hey, Aya-san!" Sakura called out, dashing into the flower shop. She nearly bumped into Kage, but he caught her by her waist with his free arm before she fell over.
"Sorry, sir," Sakura apologized, her face redder than a tomato.
"It's all right," Kage replied with a sincere smile. "Just be more careful next time." He gently patted Sakura's cheek before he left the shop.
"What do you need, Sakura?" Aya asked, walking over to Sakura.
"Well, I was just wondering," Sakura started nervously, looking down at her feet. "Since your birthday was four days ago, I just think that, uh…I should take you somewhere as a late birthday gift!" She finished her sentence very, very quickly.
"Oh Sakura-san, you're wasting your time on him," informed a man who was standing in the entrance. He had his raspberry-ish black hair tied back in a loose ponytail and he wore sunglasses and a business suit.
"Who are you?" Sakura wondered, a little uneasy.
"My name is Lucifer Flagrare," the man introduced himself. He handed some money to Aya. "A dozen red roses wrapped in a bouquet, please," he requested.
Aya, feeling slightly jealous, forcefully shoved a bouquet of red roses into Lucifer's hands, which he handed to Sakura. "For you, my dear Sakura-san," he presented. "Your beauty has mesmerized me and your pureness changed me." As he was saying that, he soothingly pushed the young girl's brown hair behind her left ear.
"Uh, thank you," Sakura accepted, taking the red roses from Lucifer. She forced a small, yet sincere smile. Her cherry blossom eyes still held an uneasy look, though.
"That's the first time you've smiled for me," Lucifer said softly, leaning in closer to Sakura. "So tell me," he lowered his voice to a whisper, "why do you waste your time on that Fujimiya Aya guy? I can give you everything you have ever wanted."
"Hey Aya, he's trying to steal your girl," Yoji whispered to Aya.
"She's not my girl," Aya whispered back in a harsh tone.
"C'mon!" Yoji urged. "You two love each other! It's so easy to see!"
"But I don't deserve her…" Aya disagreed.
Ring ring! went the phone. Omi was nearest to it, but he was busy taking a rather large order of flowers. "Ken, go answer the phone!" he yelled to the brown-haired soccer player.
Ken went over to the phone and picked it up. "Kitty in the House, Hidaka Ken speaking." There was a moment of silence before he said, "Here Aya, it's for you."
Aya took the phone from Ken. "Hello?" he said into the mouthpiece. "She's what?" he exclaimed after a short pause. He hung up the phone and quickly dashed out of the flower shop before anyone could ask what had happened. He quickly sprinted down the street, not caring how tired he became. He had lost all sense of time. Soon he reached the Magic Bus Hospital. He raced inside and up the stairs to his sister's room. There he saw her. His sister, the true Fujimiya Aya, was awake and sitting up! Even the doctors and nurses around her bed looked happy.
Ran, unable to control himself, threw his arms around Aya. "Oh Aya, I'm so happy you're awake!" he confessed, tears escaping from his pale orchid eyes. "I've missed you so much. I know I don't deserve to hold you, not after what I've done, but I don't care! Oh, thank God you're awake now!"
Aya returned Ran's embrace. "I'm sorry for worrying you," she apologized, rubbing her brother's hair. "I've missed you too."
Ran lightly kissed Aya's forehead. "You have no idea how much I've missed you," he told his sister. He continued to hold Aya in his arms as she continued to hold him in her arms.
ο ο ο ο ο ο
"You are welcome," God said as He looked into the vision of Ran and Aya that was in His hand. He smiled as He closed His hand to make the vision disappear.
God then turned to face Yumeki. "Yumeki, even though I have become myself again, will you still be my most faithful angel?" He asked, His holy blue eyes holding an amused look.
"Of course," Yumeki assured, grinning happily. "I may even be more faithful now that You are Yourself."
"Is such a thing possible?" God teased gently. "Yumeki, you are more than a loyal angel to me. You are a close friend." He gazed up at the clear blue sky of Heaven. It seemed more peaceful now that there was no Krieg von Tränen. The new era would be the same, with no tearful war to corrupt it. The Almighty would make absolute sure of that.
The only good is this world is balance. Evil flows from an imbalance of good or evil. That was why Resurgere's power was limitless. Good and evil have their limits, but balanced, they can be endless. It was my own desire for perfection that made me imperfect. Satan was born from that imperfection, so He too was imperfect. When I think about all those I got involved in these past events, I feel sad.
Ken, I never meant for you to experience the peacefulness of Heaven before you should have. It caused you more pain than I could foresee. But cutting yourself was not the best thing to do. Your friends were quite willing to help you. You should never forget about them.
Omi, I know how much you wanted to see Ouka and Shuichi again. However, I would never have been able to grant that wish. They still think of you, and you would make them proud if you got over the pain of their loss. They do not want their memory to be a burden to you.
Yoji, I am sorry about Aoi. I did not want her to become close to you because I knew it would bring you nothing but pain. But still, she fell in love with you. I know you are afraid to open your heart to other women, but remember how happy you were with Aoi. Love is not a burden.
Sakura, we never met, but I watched you closely. Opening your heart to Ran was a good thing, and it made him open his heart to you. One cannot live with a closed heart. They keep all their pain inside, and it begins to eat away at them. Emotionally, you saved Ran.
Yumeki, my most faithful angel. You believed that your cocoon of loyalty made you so blind as to believe Kodoku's lies, but you are wrong. You trusted Kodoku; however, that does not make you weak. He did not mean to lie to you. You should free yourself of your cocoon.
Kodoku, you are the one friend that got Yumeki into Heaven. Even though you were forced to betray him, he never hated you. Open up to others, and you will be happier. Remember how happy you were with Yumeki. You were much happier than when you were alone.
Aoi, I know how sad you were when you had to lie to Yoji. You should not have become close to him, but you still fell in love. Love is not a sin, but a relationship between an angel and a human cannot work. But Yoji will remember how happy he was with you, and he will not be afraid of love.
Kage, we never met either, but I watched you closely too. You did many evil things in your past, but you have forgiven yourself, as have I. I know how much you wanted Sakura's trust. I think you will be happy to know that she never lost trust in you, even when she found out about your past.
Satan, I am sorry for everything. You hated Your nature of being completely evil, but I refused to become one with You. I never saw how deeply that hatred went. I hope You will be happy living as Lucifer Flagrare, near the one You love. I wonder if You can ever win her love?
Ran, you went through so much as the reincarnation of Resurgere. It was all my fault. I am truly sorry for all that. I should have realized my mistakes earlier. If I had, then you and so many others would not have suffered. I hope now that your sister is awake, you will be more open to your friends and to the one you love.
I pray that everyone will be happy now that the Krieg von Tränen is gone. I have made so many people suffer all because of my selfish desire. I will make up for that mistake by making sure this new era is not corrupted. This I promise.
END
Translations and Thank You's
Title and subtitles:
Kiseki no Hoshi - Star of Miracles (Japanese)
Teil Eins: Der Krieg von Tränen - Part One: The War of Tears (German)
Teil Zwei: Einfahrt zur Ewigkeit - Part Two: Gateway to Eternity (German)
Names, places, and things:
Yumeki Mayu - yumeki, combination of "Yuuki Seki Miki;" mayu, cocoon (Japanese)
Kodoku Kiseki - lonely miracle (Japanese)
Aoi Itami - blue pain (Japanese)
Aoi Hitomi (real name) - blue eyes (Japanese)
Kage Sekai - shadow world (Japanese)
Resurgere - to rise again (Latin)
Flagrare - to burn (Latin)
Salvare - to save (Latin)
Tsuyoku (from Kapitel 8) - stronger (Japanese)
Yasha (from Kapitel 8) - demon (Japanese)
Dr. Korosu (from Kapitel 9) - to kill (Japanese)
Hourousha (from Kapitel 13) - wanderer (Japanese)
Shiroi (from Kapitel 18; Aoi's mother) - white (Japanese)
Toki (from Kapitel 18; Aoi's father) - time (Japanese)
Nadeshiko Tenshi (Kage's fiancée) - pink (a type of wildflower) angel (Japanese)
Subete - everything (Japanese)
Weiß Kreuz - white cross (German)
Blau Kreuz - blue cross (German)
Rot Kreuz - red cross (German)
Kreuze - crosses; plural of kreuz (German)
Krieg von Tränen - War of Tears (German)
Kapitel ('chapter') titles: (All are German)
Der Prolog - the prologue
1: Einfahrt - gateway
2: Himmel und Gott - Heaven and God
3: Erste Mission - first mission
4: Gestohlene Seele - stolen soul
5: Blauer Schmerz - blue pain
6: Heimliche Pläne - secret plans
7: Kummervolles Lied - sorrowful song
8: Narbe - scar
9: Der Teufel - the Devil
10: Geheimnise und Lügen - secrets and lies
11: Verweigerung - refusal
12: Genesung - recovery
13: Entschlossenheit - determination
14: Sakuras Liebe - Sakura's love
15: Wiederentstehen - to rise again
16: Das Jüngste Gericht - the Last Judgment
17: Omis Tränen - Omi's tears
18: Yojis Engel - Yoji's angel
19: Schattenwelt - shadow world
20: Kaputte Freundschaft - broken friendship
21: Die Grausamkeit des Einsamen Wunders - the cruelty of the lonely miracle
22: Kens Schmerz - Ken's pain
23: Ayas Wut - Aya's rage
24: Kokons - cocoons
25: Tod und Wiedergeburt - death and rebirth
Random German:
Kapitel 1:
Sie sind das Ende…Kiseki no Hoshi! - You are the end…Star of Miracles!
Kapitel 13:
Was wollen Sie? - What do you want?
Ich weiß nicht. - I don't know.
Kapitel 14:
Was wollen Sie? - What do you want?
Ich weiß. Ich liebe sie. - I know. I love her.
Sie ist mein Leben. - She is my life.
Kapitel 15:
Wer sind Sie? - Who are you?
Ich bin ich. - I am me.
Wer bin ich? - Who am I?
Sie sind das Ende. - You are the end.
Kapitel 16:
Ich bin Weiß. Ich bin ein Mörder. - I am Weiß. I am a murderer.
Ich bin nur ich. Und ich bin das Ende. - I am only myself. And I am the end.
Ende von Teil Eins: Der Krieg von Tränen - End of Part One: The War of Tears
Fortgefahren im Teil Zwei: Einfahrt zur Ewigkeit - Continued in Part Two: Gateway to Eternity
And now, for the thanks you's:
First, thanks to everyone who read this fic, and an extra thanks to all those who made it to the end. (Also, let me express surprise to anyone who actually read this whole fic in one sitting. You are truly impressive. Not even I can do that.)
A special thanks to the main three reviewers: Misura (extra special thanks to her for reviewing every chapter but one), Gangsta Videl, and GeneWeiss.
A special special thanks to AA for being the first person not scared away. (Although, I wonder if you were eventually scared away.)
A special special special thanks to Crystal Dawn for being my beta-reader. You were very helpful, and you noticed all the stupid mistakes I didn't. (But how did they slip by me…?)
Well, this is starting to sound sappy. Anyway, I really enjoyed working on this fic, and it's one of my favorites. (And it was because of that I was able to finish it. You can't finish a story if you completely and utterly despise it.) It took me a whole year to upload it on FF (dot) Net (and nearly two years to write it and type it up). Well, I don't have much else to say. So, thanks again for making it to the end and I hope you enjoyed this fic and that it wasn't just a really long way to torture yourself.
So, 'bye! It was a fun (if slightly violent, suggestive, angsty, dark, and blasphemous) year.