Part 36: Life and Death
"Hey Leo," Mortuary said as he walked up to Draco who was standing on the roof and looking at the ocean.
"Hey Craig," Leo greeted him. The Knight of Aries noticed the sad look in Draco's eyes. He had seen it many times in his own reflection.
"Okay, what's wrong?" Mortuary asked. Despite his hatred for Orphenochs, Draco was friend of his. Draco was proof that not all Orphenochs were evil. Well, Draco didn't act like any of the Orphenochs he had fought. Draco acted, well, human…even though he knew he wasn't anymore.
Draco gave Mortuary a fake smile. "Nothing," he lied. "Just a little tired."
Mortuary looked at Draco skeptically, and then dropped the matter. "Okay, if you say so."
Draco then asked, "Do you think we'll be able to stop Occultus and the Orphenoch King?"
"Occultus, maybe…but I don't know about this King. I mean, if what we've heard from Xander is true, then the rise of the Orphenoch King might just save you…"
"…And doom the entire human race." Draco added. "I can't let that happen, Craig."
"But you're…"
"I became a Knight to protect people. If I should die doing so then so be it. My life is nothing compared to the lives of everyone on Earth. I won't let the entire human race go extinct."
Mortuary fell silent. He admired Draco's selflessness and sense of justice. He continued, "Okay, well, know that we'll do all we can to stop Occultus and whatever he's planning."
Draco smiled, "Thanks Craig."
"Hey, what are friends for? And, if you excuse me, I'll be in the gym," and with that, Mortuary left Draco alone. When he was sure that he was alone, Draco removed his left glove. He gazed at his graying hand before it turned back to its normal color.
"I'm running out of time," he said softly, tears starting to form in his eyes. He fell on his knees and shuddered. "I…I don't want…to die…"
Mortuary passed by Jinx in the hallway. Even though Jinx had accepted the former Templar and Red Wolf as a friend and member of the team, she still felt a little uneasy while around him. He had this 'kill all Orphenochs' attitude and she didn't like it when he spent time with Draco. Draco had accepted him as a close friend and…
"He's on the roof," Mortuary said to her, interrupting her thoughts.
"Huh?" Jinx was confused.
"I was just talking to Draco…Leo. He says he's okay, but I know he's not. You should go up and see him, talk to him," Mortuary finished and walked away. Jinx turned to look at him before she ran towards the stairs that led to the roof.
"Ryuki!" Jinx yelled as Draco turned to look at her. He quickly put his glove back on and turned to smile at her.
"Hey, Jinxy-chan," he said to her, with a smile on his face.
"Hey, baby. What are you doing up here?" asked Jinx.
"Nothing really. Just doing some thinking about a lot of stuff. My okaasan, my oneechan, being a Titan, you know, normal stuff." 'And my impending death.'But, of course, he didn't tell her that.
"Ryuki, I'm sure that as much as most, if not all of us in this Tower, want to be normal, we have to face the facts: No matter how hard we try, we never will be. Twenty or thirty years from now, we'll still be who we are right now, just with minor differences. Try as we might, I don't think any of us are ever going to be 'normal'," said Jinx.
Draco laughed, trying to picture Beast Boy and Cyborg as normal. "Yeah, I think you're right there, Jinx."
Jinx looked at Draco and saw that he was staring off into the distance again. "What are you thinking about now?"
"Nothing. Why do you ask?"
Jinx knew that her boyfriend was lying. "Okay one: You're a really bad liar when it comes to me; and two, you were thinking about how you're going to possibly die, weren't you?"
Draco sighed, knowing that he had been caught red-handed. "Yeah, I was. And there is no 'possibly' when it comes to me dying. As much as I don't want to die, as much as I may want to get married to you and have kids with you…" At this Jinx's eyes began to tear up. "…I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to die soon."
Jinx stood up and walked away angrily, then turned on her heel to face him. "How can you say that? You don't know for sure. I-I mean, it could be years before you..." Jinx got very choked up and started sobbing. Draco rushed forward and enveloped his girlfriend in a hug, then began to whisper soothingly into her ear that it was okay.
"It's okay, Jinxy-chan. Please, don't cry. Please," he pleaded, softly.
"No, it's not," she continued to sob, pressing her forehead against his chest. "You spend your whole life fighting for good (sob) fighting to protect people. Now…now you're going to die and you're (sob) just giving up?" she choked on her words. "It just doesn't seem fair." It really wasn't fair.
"I know. I don't want to die, I really don't. But, if that is my fate, then so be it. However, I am not going to die a coward," he said to her.
"Believe me, you aren't one."
"I used to be." He elaborated, "When Tazuka died I ran away. I wanted to give up. I knew it wasn't so easy to do that, give up, but I didn't know what else to do." He pulled away and looked her in her pink eyes. "I'm just so confused right now. Is my purpose just to die?"
"No!" she cried out, startling him, new tears beginning to fall from her eyes. "You won't die, not yet."
"But-"
"But nothing!" she interrupted. "I won't let that happen. There has to be a way for you to keep on living. I don't want you to leave me (sob) alone…I don't want to be (sob) alone…"
He placed his hands on her back and rubbed her soothingly. "Please, don't cry, Jinxy-chan."
"I can't help it. I love you too much and I couldn't bear it if I ever lost you." To her surprise, he bent down and kissed her on the lips, silencing her. She closed her eyes, losing herself in the sensation. His love for her and her love for him mixed in the kiss. They both felt it, that simple act of contact and love. He broke the kiss, a little reluctantly, and rested his forehead on hers. His emerald green eyes looked into her pink cat ones.
"And I love you…"
"How sweet." The two Titans turned their attention towards the direction of the voice. Standing there, dressed in a black t-shirt with torn sleeves and blue jeans was none other than Katherine Hasuma A.K.A. Zodiac Knight Copycat. She had on a pair of leather boots and wore silver bracelets around her wrists. To top it all off, she still wore her signature black bow ribbon in her hair. Her hair, for once, was braided.
Jinx immediately went into a battle stance, her pink eyes glowing and pink hex energy enveloping her hands. "What do you want?" she demanded.
Kat put her hands in her pockets and said, "Please, there's no need for that. For now, I'm not in the mood to fight."
"Yeah right!" Jinx snorted. Sister or not, she was not letting Kat near Ryuki.
"It's okay, Jinxy-chan," Ryuki said to Jinx, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Ryuki…?" Jinx questioned, confused. "But she's…she's your enemy."
"And my sister," Ryuki added, "And I trust her."
"I don't know…" Jinx then sighed. "Okay, but if she tries anything…"
"She won't."
Kat was inspecting her sharp nails. "Do you mind?" she was directing this question towards Jinx, "This is between me and my brother. You don't have to be here."
"I'm staying," Jinx hissed. "I'm not letting you hurt him again! What you have to say to him, you can say in front of me!"
Kat rolled her eyes. "Very well, but I expect you not to butt in, okay?"
"No promises." Jinx glared.
"Whatever." Kat then went to her brother, while Jinx eyed her with distrust. "How have you been, little bro?"
"Well…I'm good," Ryuki hesitated with his answer.
Kat raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Cheh! Even now you're still a bad liar. I heard your conversation with your girlfriend." She pointed at Jinx with her thumb. "I heard everything and I'm a little worried."
"You? Worried? About me?" Ryuki looked at his sister quizzically.
"Of course I am!" Kat glared at him. "How can you give up so easily, huh? You're an Orphenoch and you have a short lifespan, but that doesn't mean you have to give up."
"But I haven-"
"You have!" Kat interrupted. "You're giving up on your life and I don't want that. To be honest, I respect what you're trying to do; using what little life you have to protect people. That's noble."
"Arigatou, oneechan," Ryuki smiled.
"But also stupid," Kat added, almost meanly.
"Say what?" Jinx cried. "How can being noble be stupid?"
Kat scoffed, "Please, what's so noble about dying? At least if you live you can do something about it."
"Kat…" Ryuki felt touched.
Kat sighed, "What I'm trying to say is, don't give up on life. Fight for the right to live. Being a Knight allows you to do that."
"But, I can't-"
"If you want to live you have to fight, Leo," Kat said seriously. "Even if you got to go through others to do that. You don't have to kill to win, but you might have to kill other people's dreams to do that."
"But Takada…Ichijyo…" Ryuki stuttered.
"They both know and understand the risks of fighting as Knights, so do I, and you have to learn to understand as well."
"He doesn't have to!" Jinx interjected. "He doesn't have to go through with this whole Zodiac War thing! He doesn't have to be 'The One'!"
"He does if he wants to live," Kat said coldly. "In the End there can be only One. That's what's been told to us and that's what ALL Knights must do. We must continue to fight in order to live. Our survival depends on it! You can't just stop, it ain't that simple!" Jinx fell silent and Kat was smiling smugly.
"There's no other way, is it?" Leo said, still loud enough to be heard even though it was supposed to be a whisper. "I don't have a choice anymore, do I?"
Kat shook her head. "Honestly, you don't."
Jinx looked at her boyfriend with worry, "Ryuki…"
Ryuki said to his sister, "Why are you, an apprentice of Slade, doing this? I thought it'd be easier for you if I just gave up."
"Easy, yes," Kat smirked. "But not fun. You see, the only reason I became a Zodiac Knight was so I could beat you, to prove that I was better. If you die now, what reason is there for me to fight?"
Ryuki looked at his sister skeptically, "That's it?"
"Believe what you want. Until the Tournament, just don't die," Kat smiled at her brother. "Sayonara, little brother," and with that she vanished, teleporting from the roof.
"That was strange," Jinx said. "Usually she would be trying to kill us or something."
"Yeah," Ryuki agreed. 'Thank you, oneechan.' "Come on. Let's go inside. I'm hungry," said Draco.
"You? Hungry? Ryuki, when you say you're hungry, in reality, you really mean that you feel like you're starving," laughed Jinx.
Draco laughed along with Jinx. "Yeah, I guess. Come on, let's go inside." He and Jinx walked inside. In one of the hallways they noticed Mortuary leaning against one of the walls with his arms crossed.
"Hey Craig," Ryuki smiled. "You waiting for someone?"
"Yeah, for you actually," Mortuary answered. "Would you mind meeting me in my room in a few minutes? There's something I need to talk to you about."
"Alright, well I'm coming too," Jinx said
"Jinx," Ryuki started, "I don't know if that's such a good…"
"It's alright Leo. She's close enough to you to know what I have to say," Mortuary said
"Well I guess we should get going now then," said Ryuki
Jinx and Draco followed Mortuary into his room. Mortuary's room had a desk cluttered with medical books and notes one of the books was titled "Re-Agent Serum: Conquering Death". It was written by one of Mortuary's mentors, Dr. Herbert West. The room's walls were painted like stone grey bricks, in one of the corners was an electric guitar and amp and in another corner was pedestal with a book on top of it, the books cover was carved like an actual human face. Draco was interested in it and started to reach for it until Mortuary quickly grabbed Draco's wrist.
"Trust me," Mortuary said. "You don't wanna touch that," he warned.
"Okay Smith, what is this about?" Jinx asked impatiently
"Alright, I'm just gonna come out with it. First off, I heard everything on the roof," Mortuary confessed.
"And…?" Jinx asked
"And I want to help Leo be 'The One'."
"But Craig," Draco spoke up, "What about your wish? Your wish is important too."
"What is your wish anyway? To have all Orphenochs destroyed?" Jinx asked in an angry tone.
"No," Craig answered, "My wish is to live, just like Leo."
"Wait, you're gonna have to explain that to me," Jinx said with a confused expression
"I'm dying just like Leo, but not under the same circumstances mind you. My death is being caused by necro-sickness, which is a type of cancer from my home planet and I've only got between two and three years left," Mortuary said
"So why are you giving up your wish for Leo?" Jinx asked
"It's simple; he's got a lot more to live for. Leo has a girlfriend that loves him, friends that care about him and a lot more. I left my first home for no reason, drove my first friends and girlfriend away from me because of my obsession with stopping Occultus, I got all of the Templars killed. I have nothing left," Mortuary stated, actually tearing up for the first time since the Templars died
Jinx was totally blown away by what Mortuary said. She had totally seen a new side of Mortuary. He was just a young guy that needed friends.
"Jinx," Mortuary spoke up, "You can't let any of the others know about my sickness, especially Terra"
"Okay, I promise," Jinx said
Then Jinx and Mortuary heard sobbing coming from Draco.
"Baby? What's wrong?" Jinx asked
"Craig…..thank you" Draco said, feeling thankful to have friends like these.
(A few hours later…)
Draco and Jinx were lying in bed together asleep, exhausted from their 'activities'. Draco started to softly toss and turn as he began to dream again. Only tonight, his dreams were not the same as they once were:
Draco opens his eyes. He finds himself in a building that looks like a cross between a Roman coliseum and an amphitheatre. In the stands are hundreds and hundreds of people, some who Draco knows. His mother, the Titans, even the Justice League is present. Draco is surrounded by all of the other current Knights who have managed to survive. Draco watches himself as he takes down each and every one of his opponents. He even manages to beat his sister after a very long battle. He is suddenly the last Knight standing on the field, but he has yet to face his last challenge: the Zodiac Knight Libra.
Draco and Libra face each other, readying themselves for battle. They trade words, but it seems as though their mouths are just moving, with no sound coming out, because Draco can't hear a word. He looks at his mother, who has clasped her hands together like praying, in what Draco believes is fear for himself. Right before Draco and Libra fight, Libra reaches up and pulls off his helmet. Before the identity of the person underneath is revealed…
Draco quickly sat up, gasping for breath. He still remembered the dream quite vividly, as though it had happened for real. He felt as though he really did just take down all of those Knights. He sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. The dream felt so potent and so real; possibly because this dream was going to happen. Maybe not all of those events, or in that order even, but Draco knew that deep down, the tournament was going to happen. If Draco wanted that one wish, his wish, to be turned back to human again, then he had to do whatever it takes to win. He stood up and pulled on a white t-shirt to go with his black sweat pants. He turned his head over his shoulder to look at Jinx and kissed her forehead softly before he left.
Draco wandered aimlessly through the Tower, not really caring or thinking about where his feet took him. His mind kept thinking about that dream, over and over again. But the one part that he kept seeing was where Libra was pulling his helmet off. That moment kept replaying in his head like a broken film reel. 'Who is he? How did he get to be the Knight that the last Knight standing would have to fight?' But worse yet was the feeling of familiarity that Draco had felt around the Knight. 'I haven't even met him, at least I don't think I have, and I feel as though I have known him my entire life.'
Draco's feet carried him up to the Tower roof. He wasn't altogether surprised; he had been coming up here a lot lately to think and to clear his head. He sat down near the edge with his mind full of thoughts. He was so deep in thought that he didn't even notice Terra come up and sit next him.
"Hey, what are you doing up?" she asked.
Draco was shaken out of his reverie by her question. He answered, "Can't sleep. Got too much to think about. You?"
"Can't sleep either." She then questioned, "What do you mean, 'too much to think about'?" She and Jinx had talked earlier, and the pink-haired girl had confided all of Draco's fears and her own in Terra.
"Nothing really," Draco shook his head. "It's no big deal."
Terra snorted. "Once again, you are a horrible liar to those who know you too well. I talked to Jinx earlier and she told me everything. She's really worried about you. Now, do you want to be straight up with me and tell me the honest truth?"
Draco shook his head in astonishment, wondering how she knew that he was lying. "Are you a mind reader or something?"
"Nope, and don't try to change the subject. What's got you so pensive that you can't sleep?" she asked.
Draco sighed, knowing it was useless. He wondered how everyone, well maybe not everyone, how Jinx and now Terra knew if he was lying. "I had this really weird dream. Ever since I gained the Pisces Powers of Clairvoyance, I keep having these dreams at night. They're of me as an Orphenoch, either killing people or dying as an Orphenoch." He added, "Only, this dream, it was different."
"How different?" Terra asked.
Draco looked over at the horizon and then to the stars. He continued, "I don't know how much you know about the Zodiac Tournament, but I was dreaming about that day. You and the other Titans were there, even my okaasan. My friends and our allies were there as well. I was taking down every other Knight that stood in my way. I took down Ichijyo, Takada, Eri, my oneechan and the other Knights we knew." He took in a deep breath. "Finally, I was facing Libra and then he took of his helmet and…"
"And?" Terra prodded.
"That's it. I woke up before I even saw his face." Draco looked downcast. "What does it all mean? Is it a premonition? Am I destined to be the Last Knight Standing, destroying everyone else's hopes and dreams?"
"Honestly, Leo, I don't know," Terra answered dejectedly. Draco felt worse. Her eyes glowed yellow as she levitated several small pebbles into her right open hand and spun them around, watching them. "I mean, it could be a premonition, but it could also be just a dream. Who knows? But all I know is that you're not the kind that would fight for no reason." But Draco did have a reason: he wanted to be human again. His thoughts then strayed to when he had first lost control of himself and he shuddered. "Leo, what's wrong? You're shaking."
"I keep having nightmares about the first time I turned into that monster," Draco was talking about his Orphenoch form and the Ifrit Orphenoch. "I killed Blood, Johnny Rancid and those FOH guys. I keep having nightmares about those nights when I had blood on my hands." He clenched his fists. "You know what else makes me sick? I…I enjoyed it." Terra gasped.
"You can't be serious," Terra said to him.
"Note: serious face," Draco pointed to the serious expression on his face, quoting his friend, Ron Stoppable/Zodiac Knight Animorph. "Believe me, I hated the feeling. I hated the fact that I killed and actually enjoyed what I did. I even enjoyed fighting you guys."
"I remember that. You were gloating for a whole week about how you beat us," Terra reminded.
"And I hated doing that so don't remind me. But for some reason, I had the urge to rub it in your faces. I think Ifrit was the one doing the gloating."
"Can't you control Ifrit?" Ifrit was Draco's alter ego when he was Slade's apprentice. It was also the name of his Orphenoch form, the Ifrit Orphenoch. The evil consciousness was referred to as Ifrit by everyone else.
"Control? Maybe, I don't know. Yaminekoryu is keeping him in check, but who knows for how long? I haven't changed into my Orphenoch form for days and I'm afraid, if I do, Ifrit might take over." Draco feared that the most. Ifrit, even though he was being quiet, was still evil. He was the part of Draco that crazed destruction in all its forms and that scared him, immensely. That time when he showed his Orphenoch form to Mortuary, he was afraid that for a split second that Ifrit would take over. He was lucky that time, but he knew his luck wouldn't last.
"That bad, huh?"
"Believe me Terra, it gets worse."
"How?"
"I don't know and I don't wanna know."
They sat in silence, as was usual for them now. Terra had been wanting to ask him something since they had started talking, but had never found a way to get around to it. "Hey Leo, can I ask you a question?"
"Shoot."
"Have you ever...ummm...thought about what your life would be like if your dad was still alive?" she asked tentatively. She knew that this was a VERY sore subject for him. If he decided not to answer her, she wasn't going to push the subject.
Draco sat silently beside Terra, gathering his thoughts. He rarely ever talked about his father with anyone, though that wasn't to say that he didn't play the 'What If ' game. He sighed and then decided to give Terra a straight answer, "Look, I don't really talk about my Otousan to that many people. It's kinda hard, you know?" Terra nodded, giving him the encouragement he needed to continue. "Do I ever think about what it would be like if he was still alive? All the time. But when I do think about it, I realize how differently things would be if he was alive. I probably wouldn't be sitting here with you right now. I'd most likely still be in Tokyo; I'd have never met you or any of the other Titans, much less Jinx. I wouldn't be a Knight, either. And there would be no way that I would be-" Draco just cut himself off, not able to say it, no matter how much he knew that it may possibly happen. Terra needed not ask what he meant. He meant the fact that he might possibly die one day very soon. And that scared him more than anything in the world. She was willing to bet that that was the reason that he fought as a Knight now: he fought so that he could become a human again.
"It's getting late," Terra said, "You better get some sleep," she advised.
"Thanks, Terra. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Draco," Terra said before she entered the Tower to sleep, she then whispered, "Good luck, Draco, and keep on fighting."
(Slade's Mansion)
Kat was in her room, contemplating on her most recent encounter with her little twin brother. She hoped he'd take her words to heart. He was enough of an idiot to believe she might actually want him to survive for some stupid, sentimental reason. That would encourage him to live if he thought there was any chance of reconciliation between them.
Kat grinned in the darkness of her room. 'What a naïve little moron!'
'He had better not die before I fight him in the Tournament,' she thought. 'I want it to be official. I want everyone to know I'm better than him; that I was always better than him. They shouldn't have underestimated me and made him Draco.'
While she was now happy with her powers as the Zodiac Knight of the Cat, she had never forgotten that first sting of betrayal she had felt when they had passed over the mantle of Draco to her idiot, twin brother. She was the better fighter and wielder of power! And yet it was Leo who had become Draco and heir to the Hasuma School.
She looked forward to beating her brother. Slade-sama had helped her become much stronger. And with the little trinkets she'd been helping him get…
Kat grinned even wider, baring her ivory white, sharp teeth.
The Titans didn't stand a chance. She'd spare her brother though. The deaths of all his friends, especially his bubble-gum pink haired girlfriend, would inspire him to train even harder for the Tournament.
Then, her victory would be all the sweeter.
Kat purred as she settled back onto her bed to dream of vengeance and victory.
Emiko Narukawa Hasuma stood solemnly by the large balcony that was her bedroom window, thinking about everything. She wondered how everything that was her life could have changed so quickly. She supposed that it had all started with her husband's 'death'. Once it had happened, Ryuki and Neko had had similar but different reactions. While both of them had become very withdrawn, Ryuki's personality had changed with him using smiles to cover up his apparent sadness at his father's death, while Neko had remained just the same as ever. She was still sad that it had happened, but her personality had never changed.
Emiko herself was a completely different story. She had mourned over the loss of her husband greatly. For two days succeeding his death, she had sobbed to herself, wishing that her husband was there to wipe her tears away. Everywhere she went, everything she saw, reminded her of him. Only when she remembered that she had children to take care of and a design company to run did she make a mental promise to herself: she could not do this to her children, she couldn't be weak; they needed her now more than ever. And so she buried herself in work and the tedious process of raising her children. Rather than crying during the day, she waited until after her children were asleep before she locked herself up safely in the confines of her bedroom and sobbed herself to sleep.
Every night she dreamt different dreams: that her love had never died, that she had been able to save him and that he was really there beside her. She would wake up with a start and come crashing back down to the cold, harsh reality of this world and realize that she had been dreaming, that her love was not there and would never be again. She would start to sob again only to realize that she had run out of tears. Her sleep was no longer easy anymore as she slept fitfully every night because of the dreams and the nightmares that plagued her night after night.
She stood at her balcony quietly. She was alone, as she had sent all of the guards out so she could be alone. She remembered the night that he had really come back to her, that she hadn't been dreaming. Twelve years had passed, and her children had grown up significantly. That day, both the teenaged Ryuki and Neko had been acting very different, as though they both had a secret that they had to keep from her. She never questioned them, trusting that when the time was right, that both of them would be honest with her. That night, she had gone out for a walk on the private, gated grounds of her home in order to clear her mind.
She soon came to a favorite spot of hers: a grove of trees with all of her favorite flowers and a bench that sat nearby. She loved to come to this spot to think and to clear her mind. Suddenly, to her shock, sitting on the bench was her supposedly dead husband. When she saw him, and their eyes met, she wasn't sure what to feel. She felt so many things at that moment that she felt as though her mind was a contortionist, not sure which way to turn. Was this even real or was her mind playing tricks on her?
She walked forward with disbelief, tears streaming down her cheeks. She sobbed openly as they embraced each other. There were two questions that were running through her mind: How was Kyo-chan alive? How long had he been this way? Without reading her mind, he told her that he couldn't tell her how he was alive, only that he had been so for a long time. Her tears ceased and her happiness quickly turned to anger. She broke out his embrace and began pounding on his chests with her fists, begging and demanding him to tell her why he hadn't told her before now as tears streamed down her cheeks. Her pounding stopped, and he reached down and held her face in his hands, stroking her tears away with his thumbs.
"Emi-chan," he had said, "I must ask you to please not tell anyone that I am alive. I need for you to continue going on about your life as though I am still dead."
"But why? What about Neko and Ryuki? They deserve to know that their father is no longer dead," she said to him, puzzled and sadden by his request.
"I know that they deserve to know," he said, "But they cannot know until the time is right. I need your word that you will not tell another soul, especially them."
She gave him her word that she wouldn't tell anyone. It did hurt that she couldn't tell her children, but she was happy knowing that her husband was still very much alive and had been watching over them all this time.
They sat down on the bench and he proceeded to tell that their twin children were to become Zodiac Knights. He told her that he had left his deck in his things that were now stored in the attic, and that Ryuki had found it and had made a contract with his Zodiac Monster. Neko had received her deck that same day as well, and had fully accepted it. He told her of the tournament, and that there would only be ONE who would come out of it alive. He would watch over their children, but he was never allowed to interfere. At this, she began to cry again and threw herself into his arms. He held her in his arms and whispered soothing words in her ears. Once her crying had again ceased, he pulled back and told her that he had to leave.
"When will I see you again, if ever?" she had asked.
"I'm not sure," he said. She looked at him with tears in her eyes, walked over to him, and pulled him in for a bittersweet kiss. She tried to make a memory that she would always remember, to tell herself that he was actually there, holding her, touching her, kissing her, that this wasn't a dream of hers again. This was real… he and her together. He broke off the kiss, and with the look of utmost sadness on his face, he turned away from her and began to walk away from her, telling her that he would see her again soon. She watched him walk away from her, wishing that they could just spend the rest of their lives holding onto each other and never letting go. He disappeared from sight soon after.
Just as he had promised, he visited her again, several months later, this time in their bedroom at night as before. He was clad in some sort of armor, with a cloak and a staff. There were tears shed once more by his Emi-chan. They talked about their children, and Emiko's design company. They had made love and fallen asleep. He awoke a short time later, knowing that he had to leave and that it pained him to have to do so. He looked at his Emi-chan as she slept peacefully for the first time in years. A smile came to his lips as he watched her. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and moved to get dressed. He left her a note, saying that although he would have loved nothing more than to hold her in his arms, he had to leave.
When Emiko awoke the next morning, she found the note that her Kyo-chan had left her. An unbidden wave of tears threatened to fall, but she forced them back. He had written that he had had to leave and that he loved her beyond everything else. She wiped her eyes and hid the letter. It was time for her to begin her day.
Emiko smiled as she remembered that visit, and the few that had come after that. The last time that she and Kyousuke had seen each other was months ago, right before she had gone to Jump City to see her children and to meet her son's girlfriend. Jen made him so happy. He deserved that, to have someone that would be a light through everything that happened to him. Emiko often saw herself and Kyousuke in Jen and Ryuki. She continued to muse silently as a slight breeze blew. Without turning around, she knew that he was there, even though she had locked her bedroom door and she had been completely alone. She tensed at first, until she recognized his presence, then she relaxed, knowing that she was safe. He had come to see her once more. She knew when he was standing behind her. She could feel him.
"How long this time?" she asked sadly.
'Until the end of the world, that's how long I wish I could have with you.' Instead, he said, "I'm not sure."
"Then we'll just have to make the best of the time that we have together," she said with a sad smile.
A little while later they laid together in their bed, tired from 'being' with each other. Emiko rested her head and one of her hands on his chest. She sighed sadly.
"What's wrong, Emi-chan?" he asked her.
"I wish that you didn't have to leave. I wish that we didn't have to keep this from our children. I hate it," she said with a choked voice.
"I know, I know," he said as he stroked her back. He knew that he had to get her mind on something else. "Have you seen Ryuki or Neko lately?"
He looked down at her face and saw how it brightened at first, then became sad once more. "What's wrong?"
"Kyo-chan, I'm so worried for both of them. I know that it's normal for a mother to worry for her children…but still," she said tearfully. She took a moment to collect herself, then wiped her eyes. Without missing a beat, she told him about the fashion show that she had done in Jump City, where she had met their son's new friends and his girlfriend Jen; she had seen their daughter as well. She continued on with her story by telling him that she had seen Ryuki recently, and that she had found out that he was an Orphenoch. At hearing this, Kyousuke exhaled heavily. He didn't need an explanation of what an Orphenoch was. He knew what Orphenochs were all right. Now his son was one. His son had a shorter lifespan now and there was nothing that anyone could do about it, unless…
He shook his head inwardly. He couldn't mess with time, not again, not since he had sent his children and his son's team mates into the future.
"You'd be proud of him, Kyo-chan. He's so much like you in so many ways, the similarities are uncanny," said Emiko wistfully. She gazed off to the side, a smile playing on her lips as she thought about her son and what Jen had told her about him. A thought struck Emiko, making her smile fade away just as quickly as it had come. "Kyo-chan, I just had the most horrible thought. What will Neko and Ryuki think when they find out that I have known for all these years that you were truly alive and not dead? They will surely hate me," she sobbed.
Kyousuke held his wife tightly, whispering soothing words into her ears and gently rubbing her back. Slowly, she calmed down. Once her tears had stopped, he took a breath and said "I don't think that they would hate you. They might be upset and angry, but they will never hate you. Hopefully, they will see why you did it and understand your reasons."
This answer seemed to placate Emiko for the time as she lay contentedly in bed with her husband. "How much longer must we act in secret, Kyo-chan? I wish that we could tell our children that we could be together and not have to keep this from them…"
"I know, Emi-chan…I know."
To Be Continued…
This chapter was co-written with Tanyeera, Angel1772, Zombi 138 and ZK Chromedragozoid (Me!). The last part was of this fic was sent by Angel as a present and thanks to her this makes a good ending to this chap.