Chapter 48 – The Conclusion
"Michiru!" Rebecca exclaimed, a look of relief on her face seeing that Michiru had finally woken up. Beside her, Margery also let out a sigh of relief. They both had been really worried about him and unconsciously thought of the worst if he would not wake up in time.
Michiru took a deep breath. "Sorry, guys." He said apologetically, "Must have let you worried..."
But Margery shook her head, glad that Michiru was being honest. "It is enough for us that you choose to wake up. You are being very strong." She said truthfully.
"If I were strong, this wouldn't have happened to Wilhelmina..." Michiru said sadly. "But one thing's for sure, though. I won't run away from this. I'll face the punishment that I deserve, for letting Wilhelmina..."
He could not finish the sentence. Rebecca patted him on the shoulder. She looked at him with worrying eyes. Rebecca really wanted to comfort him, but she just could not find the correct words. Either that or she was merely more familiar with what guys are more likely to do in situations like this. No words, just a pat in the back or a hug to convey their feelings.
"Is the war over?" He asked as this thought suddenly crossed his mind.
"The Bal Maque army have retreated after the loss of their leaders." Margery explained, "There are no major casualties suffered by the Flame Haze army."
"Except for one." Michiru said bitterly, looking at Wilhelmina who was lying coldly in his arms.
"Mich-" Rebecca began, but Michiru continued speaking. "At least no one else died. I can't let anyone die again because of me."
"Please don't be too hard on yourself, Michiru." Margery said, "You are not the only one to blame."
Michiru said nothing and merely stood up, holding Wilhelmina bridal style. Rebecca took a glance at Michiru's face; there was no expression on it at all. Is this the face one makes while feeling extreme grief, or is this the face one makes while numb from extreme grief?
"I had a long dream. One that I didn't feel like waking up."
"But you still did."
"I won't run away. I'll take responsibility."
"Michiru..."
"Strange though... I've been having many lucid dreams lately. I really wish that this is one of them. I wish that I could wake up from this nightmare and find Wilhelmina smiling at me once again..."
Rebecca and Margery did not dare to say anything. They averted their eyes from his. They could not tell whether if his eyes were filled with determination or despair. All they knew was, they did not dare to look at them.
The Golden Flame in his body was a pitiful pint of flame, looking as if it would disappear any moment. As Michiru walked his way towards the door as he carried Wilhelmina, Margery could not help but to stare at it.
"I'll give her a proper burial that she deserves." Michiru said, looking at the exit filled with light, "You don't have to worry about us anymore."
It was a small flame. Small. Pitiful. But when Michiru took his first step out of the room, it became whole once again, its golden light shining with radiance and pride. Margery gave a sigh of relief. Michiru would not disappear; he had chosen to live.
But is this really the right choice? Somehow a voice in her head kept saying.
Xxx
Sakai Residence. Yuji Sakai had just finished giving a prayer in front of Shana's grave in the backyard. He dried up his tears, stood up and turned around to enter his house.
Only to find that someone was standing silently behind him, carrying someone in his arms bridal style. He did not say anything or even made any movement. He merely stared as the person placed the body gently on the floor, picked up a spade and began to dig a hole on the ground beside Shana's grave.
They both had no expression on their faces.
Time passed by. They had no idea how much time had been spent, whether it was minutes or hours. After all, time already possessed no meaning for the both of them. Without realizing it, one of them had already finished digging. With the same expressionless face, the young man with the blond hair laid her gently to rest in her grave. He brushed strands her pink hair from her face. He wanted her to look as beautiful as possible before he buried her. He wanted her to look as beautiful as possible before he could no longer see her face again. He wanted his last image of her to look as beautiful as possible.
He swooped down and kissed her forehead for the very last time. Standing up as slowly as possible, he took the spade and began to place back the soil that he had dug up. He did not look at her face as he did so. He did not want to see her face covered with the dirty soil. It was his fault. He knew he should look. He should look straight at her dirty face and remind himself this was what he caused her to be. But he was too weak to do so. He wanted to remember her as being beautiful. His last image of her was beautiful. So it stayed that way. He never looked.
Time passed by again. And once again the two teenagers had lost all sense of it. The grave was already fully covered. Michiru looked at the grave and understood. He had said his final goodbye to Wilhelmina. He would never see her again.
Then he took one punch to the face, knocked off his feet and landing hard on the ground. He stood up quickly. It did not hurt. Yuji was looking furious, his fist raised as he aimed another punch at Michiru. The latter did not retaliate. He did not try to dodge. So he received the punch. It still did not hurt. So he took the punches. Kept taking them. He wanted his best friend to dish out as much pain to him as possible.
"You useless bastard!" Yuji was screaming as he continued to punch Michiru with as much strength as he could muster. "I told you! I told you to protect her, didn't I? I told you to protect her with your own life! You love her, right? She means everything to you, is it not? So why didn't you protect her!? Why didn't you?!"
Michiru had no answer to that. Why didn't he protect his dearest Wilhelmina? Because he was too weak? Because the adversary was too strong? Because she was fated to die?
"Why did you let Carmel-san die!?" Yuji screamed at the top of his lungs as he aimed another powerful punch at Michiru, lifting him off his feet again. As he hit the ground, Yuji pulled him up, wanting to punch him again.
Only to receive a punch himself on the face.
"You let Shana die too! Do you have any idea how much it hurts Wilhelmina!?" Michiru screamed furiously and began his series of punches. "You are every bit as useless as I am! Don't think that you'd get away by hitting me this much!" But Yuji would not let up, as he returned a punch for every one he received.
"I know... I know it! I let Shana die... I hurt her... I hurt Carmel-san... I hurt myself... I hurt everyone!" Yuji shouted. "I can't forgive myself for that... That's why... That's why I don't want you to end up like me! I don't want you to feel all this pain that I have to go through! I don't want you to be the useless fuck like I am!"
"So you think I can forgive myself for this? Wilhelmina's been suffering so much all her life! I want her to be happy! I want to give her bliss! I want to give her happiness! I want to be by her side forever! She's the most gracious woman there ever is! She deserves to be loved but I caused her to die! SHE DOESN'T DESERVE THIS AT ALL!"
"Then it's your own fucking fault! You should be cursed for letting a woman like her die!"
"And you deserve no less!"
For the next few hours they kept punching each other as hard as they could, screaming at each other on all the punishment they deserved for letting their loved ones die. They did not even notice that their act was being observed by two other Flame Hazes, who were standing by the back door.
"Hey, is it really okay not to stop them?" Rebecca said worryingly, "They could really end up killing each other."
"Let the men do their thing," Margery said, "They have their way of doing their stuff."
"And I thought that you should know that, Rebecca Reed, being the tomboy that you are." Marchosias added laughing.
"Hey, can you give him one punch for me?"Rebecca said. "I'm not so sure about hitting other people's contractor."
Margery gave her lexicon a swift hit. "You really don't understand the mood right now, do you?" She sighed.
"Stupid bastard!" Michiru groaned as he panted, apparent wounds on his face, and probably a lot more on his body, but covered by his clothes. Yuji looked exactly the same opposite of him. With their eyes angrily locked onto each other, they both charged at the same time and landed a punch on the face.
Then they fell to the ground at the same time too, lying with their heads behind each others'. They panted furiously, and neither of them made the initiative to get back up again.
After a while, Michiru finally spoke. "That felt good... Somehow..."
"That is what we deserve after all." Yuji replied.
"No, I'm sure we deserve much worse," Michiru said. "We deserve worse for letting our loved ones die."
"Yeah..." Yuji said. Then for a long time, neither of them said anything.
"I think we should go now, this is getting boring already. I'm sure they'll be okay on their own." Rebecca said.
Margery nodded curtly and they both left. She wondered if Michiru and Yuji had not sensed their presence all the while since she and Rebecca made no effort to conceal their presence. But then again did it really matter?
There was something that had been nagging her. Michiru had gone BSOD for quite a long moment when Wilhelmina died, the same way that Wilhelmina reacted when she thought that Shana had met her demise then. At first, she had merely thought that Michiru simply lost his will to live and decided to just let his existence end there, but the fact that Michiru had carried Wilhelmina here so determinedly caused her to cast some doubts about it. She knew that Michiru was definitely heartbroken by Wilhelmina's death; it would not be an understatement to say so. But she had a feeling that the long moment which Michiru had lost all life in his eyes was not that simple. Somehow she felt that something else had been involved.
"The sky is so blue..." Michiru said one of the most random things that he had ever said as he closed his eyes. He felt Yuji gretting up beside him, followed by footsteps that trailed off. He yawned.
Margery continued to look at them even though Rebecca had left. She saw Yuji getting up and walking pass her; she gave him a curt smile and nod, and Yuji did so too. After seeing Yuji disappear into the house, Margery turned around to look at Michiru once again.
"Margery-san," Michiru said, still with his eyes closed. "Thanks."
Margery broke into a smile, but Michiru was not in a situation to see it.
"I had a really good dream about Wilhelmina... I didn't wanna wake up, I really hoped that the dream would continue forever." Michiru continued, "Until I heard your voice. And Rebecca's. So yeah, you guys really saved my ass. Thanks."
"I am sure that you would have snapped out of it even without us shouting at you." Margery said, "But I won't deny that you gave us a real fright though."
"Sorry bout that. The dream just feels kinda unnatural, y'know... Kinda like, someone put me into the dream and didn't want me to wake up from it. It just felt so realistic, and at some point I lost part of my memory too."
Margery suddenly looked concerned. "Could it have been..." She whispered to herself, but Michiru finished it for her. "Like some kinda powers from some kinda Crimson Denizen or Crimson Lord? Yeah I'd say so, but I don't think it matters anymore, does it?"
Margery was very surprised that Michiru could put her thoughts into words so easily.
"You speak like you do not care about it, young man." She said.
"I really don't." Michiru replied swiftly, "Be it lucid dream or not, I can't change the fact that Wilhelmina had died, can I? So it doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter at all..."
"If this happens again..."
"I'll be sure to tell you, no worries. Although I kinda feel that there's no reason for it to happen anymore. Why would there even be?"
There was a long silence between them. Suddenly there were footsteps coming from behind Margery. She did not need to turn around to know who the person was, not because she detected her presence, but merely used common sense. Of course she was going to be here.
"I'll be taking my leave, then. You won't do anything stupid, will you?" Margery said, understanding the situation.
"If you knew that I would you wouldn't be leaving." Michiru replied smartly.
Margery gave a snigger, feeling glad that Michiru was already in the mood to make his regular stupid jokes, before leaving. She took a quick glance at the girl who had just entered the house and gave her a curt nod. The girl did the same.
"Seems that we got nothing to do for now, let's just head back and have some wine." Margery said to Marchosias.
"Still the same alcoholic as ever, aren't you? My dear Margery Daw..." Marchosias said with a small sigh.
Michiru was lying on the grass with his eyes closed. He felt a prick on his neck and opened his eyes. Ai Takasu was standing beside him, pointing her sword right at his neck, her eyes filled with determination and anger.
"It doesn't fit the omnipotent Golden to let his guard down like that." She said sarcastically, still not taking her eyes off his.
"I wasn't." Michiru replied swiftly.
"I know you weren't." Ai said, resigned. She lifted her sword off Michiru's neck and kept it behind her cape.
"Ah, man, that was itchy." Michiru said, sitting up while scratching his neck.
"You're lucky that it's still intact." Ai grunted.
"No, you're lucky that it's still intact." Michiru retorted. Ai shrugged.
"You know very well you can't kill me with that thing." Michiru continued, "Especially not during the day."
"I know. I don't plan to kill you either. I think it's sweeter revenge to keep you alive and let you feel eternal pain."
"This is the part where I'm going to hit you in the face for saying that. You might hate me, but I don't think that you should be overly glad that Wilhelmina's dead." Michiru said, "She loved you as much as she loved Shana. She wanted you to be a strong Flame Haze. This isn't how you should be treating her."
"Hmph. So I guess this is the part where I should say that the reason Wilhelmina did all that was for her own sake? After all she made some kinda promise to some Flame Haze who died centuries ago, didn't she? Put anyone in my position and they'd get the same treatment from her too. But it doesn't matter. I became stronger in the end, and I am grateful for her."
"So you know what to do from now on, don't you?"
"Huh?"
'Live on. Become stronger. Keep becoming stronger. But not just that." Michiru said, "Protect the world. Protect this world that Wilhelmina died trying to protect. I know the reason that you became a Flame Haze was because of revenge. That's why people choose to become Flame Hazes anyway. But-"
"That's a lot to ask for, coming from someone who killed a girl's brother, don't you think?" Ai cut across him rudely.
"Heh. Smart mouth that you've developed there, Ai-chan. I never would have guessed you'd wind up talking like this when I first met you."
"No thanks to you. I never would have guessed that you'd end up causing my brother to die."
"Your brother is a Mystes. He'd end up running out of Power of Existence and then disappear, with or without what I did on that day."
"It would have been different if he had gotten your powers."
"You don't understand, do you?" Michiru sighed, "You know who your brother's working with. He never had a chance to get my powers anyway. Kuvestar never intended to share with them."
"You're pretty good at coming up with lame excuses, aren't you? Suddenly I feel like I want to kill you after all." Ai said. She brandished her sword, lit it up in flames. A second later, her hair began to blaze as well. Michiru had to admit that it looked kind of weird because Ai had rather short hair.
Michiru closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Placing his arm in front of him, he summoned his sword, shining in a golden radiant. The Flame in his body shone as brightly as the sword.
"I remember asking you, what do you plan to do after you kill me. You never gave me an answer." Michiru said firmly, looking at Ai fiercely in the eyes, "Ai Takasu, until you give me an answer that satisfies me, I will never let you kill me!"
"You have no reason to live anymore, don't you? Then just go ahead and die already!" Ai shouted angrily as she charged at him, swinging her sword skilfully.
x
Meanwhile, Margery had just arrived at Keisuke's house to enjoy some wine. She placed the key into the keyhole and turned it. The door swung open without any incorrectness like it always did.
"I'm back..." Margery said out of courtesy, not really expecting a reply. It had been a long time since she returned here, and thus had no idea whether Keisaku and Eita would be at home at this hour or not. She kept in touch with Keisaku for a little bit during the war and could tell that he was rather worried about her, but neither of them knew that she had come back. She wanted to give them a surprise, knowing that they miss her quite a lot. Either that or she had been too occupied with Michiru and forgot to tell them. That or she was just plain lazy.
She headed towards the shelf where Keisaku kept his wines and was browsing for any new classics that Keisaku might have prepared for her when she felt a nervous movement from the grimoire that she was carrying.
"Margery!" Marchosias cried suddenly, warning her to be alert. It was only then that she noticed that someone was already sitting at the seat which she always sits to have her drinks. Her eyes went wide as she quickly took a defensive stance. There was a girl sitting there, holding a glass of wine on her left hand. Margery had not been able to detect her even as she entered the house. In fact, the girl had fallen into her blind spot and she might not even have noticed her at all if Marchosias had not reacted.
But why was she taking a defensive stance when the intruder made no signs of wanting to attack? Instincts. Somehow Margery knew that this person was no friend or acquaintance of her, Keisaku, or anyone else in Misaki City. The girl was smiling calmly while sipping her wine, but Margery knew that this girl was definitely no ally of hers. She had entered Keisaku's house without permission, and Margery had no idea why she had done so.
"Domaine Leroy Echezeaux Grand Cru. One of the most expensive wines in the world, but I think that you know that, being the drinker that you are. Still, I've never expected myself to find such a classic here. The young man who lives here has some good taste when it comes to wine." The girl said sweetly, stirring the almost-empty glass that she was holding.
Margery looked at the girl. She was quite young, about Shana's appearance age, and had a small frame. She wore a black shirt with a broken heart and a skull logo on the right chest, with short black frilly skirt to match. Face-wise, she had short black hair with a strand of pink hair as well as bright green eyes. Her voice also complimented her appearance, that of a young girl, soft and rather high pitched. But Margery knew that her looks were deceiving; this little girl is dangerous.
The girl calmly took a fresh glass and poured the drink into it. She placed it on the table and motioned for Margery to sit.
"My name is Misty. Misty the Nightmare." She said, smiling at Margery as she said, "Won't you have a drink with me?"
"Aren't you too young to be drinking?" Margery tried to play it tough, but her voice was shaking. Misty did not let that slip by her as she narrowed her eyes and smiled more widely.
"Come on, big sis. Why are you being so nervous?" She said playfully, "I only want to have a drink with you, as a fellow drinker."
Still wary, Margery slowly took a seat beside Misty, without taking her eyes off her.
"Oh come on, big sis, don't look at me like that. Misty will get very shy!" Misty said cutely, "Say, wanna have a contest to see who has the greater tolerance to getting drunk?"
"Why are you here?" Margery asked fiercely, "What do you actually want from me?"
Misty chuckled. "For starters, let's just have a toast." She lifted her glass at Margery. Margery had half a mind to smack the glass away from her hand, but thought against it in the end. She wound up lifting her own glass and toasted Misty's. She drank the entirety in one gulp; the taste was surprisingly great. For a second she completely forgot about the adversary sitting beside her and wondered if Keisaku was developing an eye for good wine.
"So I bet you have some things to ask me, then? Fire away." Misty said as she poured herself a new glass after downing her previous one.
"Who are you?" Margery asked.
"I told you just now, didn't I? My name is Misty the Nightmare." Misty said with a sad expression on her face, "Weren't you listening, big sis? You are so rude, hurting a little girl's feelings."
"So much for little girl." Margery said darkly before adding, "And stop calling me big sis."
"Okay, big sis." Misty said obediently.
"So what is the reason in you being here?" Margery continued asking.
"No reason. I just feeling like coming in here, that's all." Misty said, "After all, this story is coming to an end. Nothing will affect the plot anymore. Me being here, being anywhere else, it wouldn't change a thing. After all, I have never appeared in the story all this while."
"What on earth are you talking about?" Margery was starting to get angry, "If you keep talking in riddles like that, I'll..."
"You'll do what, exactly?" Misty cut across her, an evil smile on her face. Margery froze.
"You are not a regular Crimson Denizen, are you?" Margery said, gritting her teeth. She did not know why, but Misty's presence, although weak as any other Rinne, gave her the chills. She was hiding something behind that cute appearance, Margery knew it, but what was her power exactly, she did not want to find out, especially not the hard way.
"Good for you to have realized it," Misty said calmly, "If you start blasting your whatever flame balls at me, I wouldn't be able to guarantee your own safety. After all I'm just a harmless little girl sitting here."
They took another sip of wine from their glasses respectively. "Are you satisfied with how things have turned out?" Misty asked suddenly.
"What do you mean by that?" Margery replied with her own question.
"Well, you know." Misty said impatiently, "About Golden and the Manipulator of Objects."
"Of course not!" Margery countered angrily, while wondering why Misty would ask such a thing suddenly, "Wilhelmina died so why would I even be happy?"
Misty gave a small chuckle. "Hmm, I see that you're not satisfied at all." She said, stirring her wine again, "But the same cannot be said for Golden."
"What are you talking about?" Margery was beginning to get angry. Everything that Misty said seem to make no sense, yet Margery kept getting the feeling that the little girl was hinting her about something. Why couldn't she just spell it all out? There was no reason for her to be speaking in riddles.
"I'm utterly disappointed in Golden, that's all." Misty said, "I can't believe that he's so weak. He keeps saying that he loves the Manipulator of Objects, he wants to protect her, but in the end, he's just a weak and useless fool who can't-"
That was the last straw for Margery. She grabbed Misty by the shirt and shouted at her before she could finish her sentence. "What do you even know about Michiru and Wilhelmina?" She demanded.
Misty merely looked at her with bored eyes. "Everything." She said confidently with a smile. "Just like I know everything about you and it."
"It?" Margery said. Marchosias could tell that there was an unusual tremble in her voice.
"That's right. You know what I mean, don't you?" Misty taunted.
"No!" Margery unintentionally shouted. She wanted to believe that Misty does not know her secret, and neglected to think of how Misty would have known; she had never spoken about her relationship with the Silver, the reason she became a Flame Haze.
"So you knew after all, big sis. That's right. If Wilhelmina Carmel is linked to the Golden, then Margery Daw would be linked to..."
"Shut up!" Margery screamed agitatedly and smashed the glass that she was holding onto Misty's head. At least that was what she tried to do, because her hand suddenly stopped midair just centimetres before it was brought down onto an unfazed Misty's face.
"The Silver." Misty the Nightmare said coolly, "Would you like to see what truth is like?"
Margery's eyes suddenly opened wide. A few seconds later she was mumbling to herself. "No... this can't be... You are... no... no! My revenge..."
"Oi, Margery! What's wrong?" Marchosias called out to his contractor, but to no avail. The Interpreter of Condolence was apparently seeing things that were not there, and was continuously mumbling strange things to herself, while all the while being watched by a sinister looking Misty. He had no doubt that Misty had cast a spell on her and showed her visions about the Silver.
All of a sudden, as if no longer able to take it anymore, Margery began to scream hysterically. The glass that she was holding on her hand dropped onto the floor and shattered into a million pieces. She brought her hands to her head and pressed hard. Her eyes wide, she continued screaming even as Marchosias kept calling out to her.
"What have you done to her?" Marchosias demanded.
"I just showed her the truth that she keeps on denying." Misty said happily, "As expected, she is weak after all."
She laughed as Margery collapsed on the floor, unconscious from the shock she had received from the vision that Misty had given her.
"I told you, didn't I, big sis?" She said sadistically, looking down at the unconscious Margery "I won't be able to guarantee your safety if you start doing things that I don't like."
She stepped on her head and declared. "I am Misty the Nightmare. Your fears give birth to your nightmares. Your nightmares turn you into my prey."
Making chuckles like a little girl playing with her favourite toy would, Misty walked slowly out of the apartment.
"Sweet dreams, Interpreter of Condolence." She said before shutting the door.
X
Michiru had just finished his pointless little skirmish with Ai. It had been painfully obvious from the beginning as to who would turn out victorious.
Ai was kneeling on the ground, panting, using her sword as a cane to keep her balance. "Kh... no matter how... I just can't..." She muttered angrily.
"You should know better than to fight Golden during the day." Michiru sighed.
"I know I can't kill you, I just want to release some stress." Ai said. "Somehow I feel that I don't hate you that much anymore. But I still regret falling for you back then."
"Sorry," Michiru said.
"Don't be. I deserve it for being stupid." Ai replied.
"So what do you plan to do from now?" Michiru asked.
"I dunno... Protect the world, I guess? Like how Wilhelmina wished?" Ai shrugged, "Although I think that this world won't be needing Flame Hazes for a long time. We just beat the Bal Masque black and blue. I don't think any Crimson Denizens will be showing their faces any time soon."
"Oh? Is that so?" Suddenly an unfamiliar voice rang. Michiru and Ai gasped and quickly turned towards the direction of the voice.
There was a little girl standing at the door, folding her arms. She was rather short and had short black hair with a strand of pink hair with bright green eyes to compliment her cute face. She wore a black shirt with a broken heart and a skull logo on the right chest, and a short black frilly skirt.
"So unnecessarily confident, aren't you?" She said. "What makes you think that us Crimson Denizens will go away quietly?"
Ai reflexively reached for her sword, but Misty, with a wave of her hand, caused Ai to stop in her tracks. "Wh-what..." She gasped.
Michiru wanted to do the same, but he felt that it would be best not to offend the intruder. He gritted his teeth and looked at the little girl. She could not have looked more smug as she looked at them.
"My name is Misty. Misty the Nightmare." She said and walked slowly towards Michiru. He backed off as he saw her approaching.
"Hmm? It seems that the almighty Golden is afraid of a little girl?" She mocked.
"You're not just a normal little girl." Michiru said. "You were the one who gave me all those lucid dreams. You made me dream of Wilhelmina kissing Merihim. You gave me the illusion of Wilhelmina being alive when she's already dead."
"True. As expected of Golden." Misty said. "Would you care to enlighten me as to how you finally found out?"
"You should call yourself a better name." Michiru said.
"Hahaha. Smart, aren't you?" Misty said sarcastically, "But then again it kinda took you look enough to realize that your dreams have been... haha... manipulated."
Michiru gritted his teeth. He was certain that Misty used that word to tease Wilhelmina, something which he could not tolerate.
"What do you hope to gain from this?" Michiru demanded, "How would showing me dreams even benefit you in any way?"
Misty clicked her tongue and sighed, "Don't you understand, Golden? I'm not doing this for myself. I'm doing it for you."
"Cut the crap." Michiru cut across her, "I don't know what your intentions are, playing mind games with me, but I will not entertain you anymore."
"So does that mean that you are satisfied with how things are?" She asked suddenly.
"What are you talking about?" Michiru retorted angrily, "Of course not! Wilhelmina died! How could I be satisfied about it?"
"Foolish. The very reason that you refuse me to show you my dreams is precisely why you are satisfied with everything." Misty said, "I can offer you Wilhelmina for all eternity, but you turned it down. Isn't that your wish? So why would you deny yourself this golden opportunity?"
"Golden opportunity my ass..." Michiru retorted darkly, "I won't let you tarnish Wilhelmina any longer. I won't let you stain my memories of her!"
Upon shouting his previous words, he summoned his sword out of thin air and lowered his body, staring at Misty angrily. Misty twitched an eyebrow, but still looked as calm as she would.
"Oh? So you are going to fight me, Golden?" She said.
"I've decided to face the truth. Your fake illusions will not work against me. I've already broken them." Michiru said composedly.
Misty gave a sharp laugh while holding her stomach. "Face the truth? Ha ha ha ha ha... Let me, the observer of truths explain it to you because you don't seem to understand at all." She continued, "The word truth is very subjective, and has no meaning. The number of people in this world determines the number of truths in this world, and then some more. In this world... no, in this universe, there is no such thing as one truth, or the complete truth; there is only truth determined by the beholder. Weren't there times where you didn't do anything wrong but your parent or teacher insists on saying that you were at fault, and forced you to apologize?"
"Sorry, but I lost my memory long ago."
"Smart aleck, aren't you? But this brings me back to my original point. At that point onwards, their truth has already been determined: you committed that fault. Even if you try to explain to them, or prove to them otherwise, they won't listen and still think that you're at fault. In other words, they can no longer see your truth. Frustrating, but you can't blame them, can you? After all, all living things live according to their own truths. Dogs would not believe you if you were to tell them that this world is filled with colors, because they are color blind and can only see the world through-"
"I get it. Stop with the motley of examples." Michiru grunted.
"So what makes you so sure that the place you're being at right now is true? For all you know, what you have experienced from Wilhelmina's death until right now, could be false. What if you're actually sleeping right now, in the Tendokyuu, after the battle with the Trinity, and Wilhelmina is crying for you to wake up, will you still be cruel enough to keep her waiting?" Misty said.
"Maybe you're right," Michiru said as he began to move slowly towards Misty, gripping his sword, "Maybe somewhere out there there is a truth where Wilhelmina is still alive, and we can continue towards a happy ending..."
"So what's keeping you?" Misty countered, "And don't point that thing at me, you're getting too close for comfort."
"Because I let Wilhelmina die. I swore to myself and to her, over and over again, that I would protect her, that I would love her and make her feel bliss for the rest of her life. But in the end I never kept that promise. So I won't forgive myself for that." Michiru replied curtly.
"Didn't I just tell you? Wilhelmina might not have died." Misty said.
"I get your point." Michiru said calmly, as he began to close the distance between him and Misty, "Still, even if Wilhelmina didn't die... I let her die."
He lifted his sword. The shadow of the sword covered Misty's face, but her face stayed the same, a calm but sinister smile, and she made no signs of wanting to dodge.
"You going to kill me?" She challenged, "If you do that, you can no longer obtain your happy ending."
"I let Wilhelmina die. So I don't deserve the happy ending." Michiru said, his voice becoming as monotonous as Tiamat's.
He brought down his sword and stabbed Misty through the heart. Right until the end, she showed no signs of surprise or pain, even with a sword stabbed deep into her body. Was it because she had no fear of death, since she had made it obvious in the beginning that she had no intention to live long? Or was this not her death after all?
"I leave the happy ending... to another truth." Michiru said, a look of sorrow in his eyes.
As Misty the Nightmare began to dissolve into nothingness, her mouth moved.
"Then I shall grant your wish."
