Title: Unbreakable Strength

Chapter 56: The Fire Rages

Authors Note: First off, thank you to EVERYONE for the kind and supporting messages. I know we only have two chapters left after this, and that everyone's on their toes, wondering what's going to happen. I know the ending is going to go out with a big bang, so I can't wait to see the reactions of all of my readers. I also hope everyone enjoyed the last Liv only chapter, although she's still in the next few chapters – she won't be the main character like usual. Oh and I'm sorry that less chapters have been coming out - we're very stressed at camp at the moment and tired. So...not a lot of time to write!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or any of the characters. However, my dear little Mira Liore Nolan is mine and mine alone along with the lovely Liv Cyrene Nolan.

Fake it by Seether & Going Down in Flames by 3 Doors Down



From little spark may burst a mighty flame. - Dante Alighieri

She felt cold and empty inside. Her throat was scratchy and sore, her eyes red and irritated. The hotel maid gave the girl a soft jab with the end of her broom handle. She rolled out of her fetal G

Relief flooded the maid's eyes when the girl moved and she could see a steady heartbeat. Her time with her kids was few and far in between as it was with her ex-husband and the divorce. She didn't need the justice system breathing down her back as a witness to a murderer.

"Where…" Mira's eyes flashed open; they remained widened with alarm and fear, "Yuki? YUKI…NO…DAMN IT…NO…" not again, why was this happening again? Mira cursed as she flailed up and nearly ran over the poor maid.

"Excuse me miss…" she stuttered, fearful of the girl's explosive actions.

"Sorry!" Mira called as she shot out the front door.

The Maid stood confused and silent for a moment, and then went about her day – picking up the room. It was as if the lovely couple, Yuki and Mira Sohma, never existed.


Foolish human! Do not do this! Turn back…turn back now, I say. MIRA, YOU CONDEMN YOURSELF. GOD WILL HAVE YOU BURN BEFORE HIS EYES IF YOU RETURN.

She was such a worry wart. Mira rolled her eyes at the horse's antics in her mind, and continued to walk to the crack in the wall of the Sohma estate. Her doorway to Yuki.

"I know you don't understand, and to be frank – neither do I, but even when there isn't a sliver of a chance, I must try. For the man of my heart, I must do whatever is possible and take one stand," She had one last chance.

Your love will be your downfall; there is nothing more for you here.

"If you're going to shoot me down with negativity, then you don't need to talk," Mira huffed, and was rewarded with silence from the other end.

She passed through the shadows of the Sohma Estate, silent. The buildings loomed over her flighty body. With every crack Mira made when she stepped on a twig, or hit a rock, sent her heart frantic with fear.

The sun had peaked over the grassy hills, and the cover of darkness left her. Exposed, Mira ran from building to building and prayed that nobody would be out in the wee hours of the morning. So far, lady luck was on her side.

Mira rounded another building and skidded to a stop when she saw the iron bars and padded lock.

"Kyo?" she whispered his name harshly in the early morning light.

The orange headed boy grumbled and rolled onto his back. His lifeless eyes flickered hesitantly to her.

"Leave me alone," he grumbled half heartedly.

"Oh…Oh, Kyo," Mira frowned. The cage seemed to grow smaller by a moment. No one, not even an animal should be caged in such a tiny confinement.

"I don't want your pity," he grumbled harshly under his breath, and rolled to his side.

"How about my assistance?" Mira asked softly and took out a slim, black bobby pin and a single match, "All it takes, is a little imagination to unlock our own cages," she added after she tossed the small hair accessory along with the match into the cage.

Slowly, Kyo picked up the bobby pin, and tossed it over a few times in his hand, "Why are you bothering?" he questioned.

"Because somewhere, there's a certain girl who's heart is breaking because she's parted from you. My only demand is that once you're free, you fly to her side with all haste. In this life, we have to take our own happy endings, nobody's going to give it to us," Mira mumbled softly under her breath before she slipped away from the cage.

There was a little whoop of cheer, after a tiny sound of locks clicking open. When Mira turned back, she could see smoke rise up to the sky. Free laughter filled the air, and was carried in the enchanted winds of Japan. Hot orange and red flames reached to touch the sky, their tongues flickering in contrast to the light blue sky.

She could still smell the burnt ash and see the black smoke rising

"Mira?"

A shocked voice stopped the girl dead in her tracks. The voice was familiar, and quite similar to the sound of Mira's own sweet voice. Mira whirled around to see a set of dark gold flecked eyes behind a tall, wooden fence.

"Liv…" Mira sighed her name breathlessly and walked over, to place a hand up against the hard wood. It served as a harsh barrier between the two sisters.

"I'm sorry…I've failed you…all of you," Liv croaked from the other side. This was her imprisonment. Her eyes watered as she took in the tattered and fragile state of her sister.

"You can't be blamed for this," Mira reassured her softly, "We're stuck in the middle of something that is bigger than the both of us."

Her sister's words rang true. Liv took in the ghastly image of Mira and realization struck her, "Oh…quick, your necklace."

"My…necklace?" Mira put a hand on the silver running horse and arched one of her fine eyebrows.

"It's bugged, give it here…if you keep it, Mana will find you. Without that…he can't find you. You can…you can still escape," Liv's words raised a few octaves as she became excited, "Our mother put an untraceable blessing on us, and you can get out of here and go back home, to America. Mana can't find you…go!"

"I…I can't leave you," Mira shook her head vigorously; "I won't be a coward and run away, not anymore!"

"Please…don't play hero, there's no battle for you to even attempt to win here. There's either surrender or to go into hiding. You can't fight him…"

"I must try," Mira insisted, she reached her arm through the gapes in the wooden fence and grabbed Liv's hand.

"You can't win…" Liv pleaded with her, a soft sob racked from her body. She couldn't summon the care to be embarrassed about the show of vulnerability.

Mira shook her head.

"Oh Liv, how did we get here?" she whispered in a heart-wrenching tone. How did so many things go wrong?

I barely remember my old life, before the Sohma's. I used to be so wonderfully dull with my life at West Fields Farm of Star Breeding in Kentucky. Oh Belle, how I wish to run and bury my face into your mane once more, to find comfort in the sweet smell of fine hay. When I was Mira Liore Nolan and my father was Warner Joseph Nolan, my mother Ella Marie Nolan. I had a safe and secure home…now nothing is safe, and there's nowhere to find security. What if I had went straight home to write that essay from Mr. Williams…what if?

It wasn't worth it, to start all of the 'what if' questions that began to build in her head. She couldn't fairly compare the blessings she had found with this new life, to the suffering.

All that could be done was to move forward.

"I'm sorry Mira. Do you see now, why I was so cruel in the beginning? I knew…in the darkest corner of my heart that you should have died in the car accident. Your fate would have been so much kinder than to live this life. I didn't want this for you, I didn't want it for me. If I could do it all over though…there are so many things I'd change," she wiped away a stray tear that glided down her cheek.

"Even when you called me the pill-popping princess, I still loved you, Liv," Mira revealed with a quick smile, "Even when I wanted to strangle you."

They were sisters, nothing could change that.

"I was horrid to you."

"For my own good, we've been past this – let's leave it buried, shall we?" Mira requested. She let Liv off the hook without reservations.

"Every day, I am met with silence and my own thoughts to fill them. It's all I can do, to reveal my past and remember every mistake that I have made," she had hurt so many people unintentionally.

"Find a way to live your own live, Liv. We won't let them decide our fates without our input, it's not the Nolan way."

"But it's the Sohma way," Liv dragged her fingers through her dreadful locks.

"We've been Nolan's longer than we've been Sohma's…and Nolan means strength. No God can break that, if we choose not to allow it," she stretched out the word 'choose' to stress the words importance.

"I don't know if I have any strength left in me, I think it's all used up, being strong for everyone else," she had stood so tall. And then Mana had knocked her off her feet, and kept her kneeling.

"Your Liv…of course you have the strength," Mira chided lightly, "You're the strongest, most stubborn and pig headed girl I've ever met – not to mention arrogant and annoying. You're confident to a fault with the quickest, cleverest and cruelest tongue I've ever heard. You can't be kept down."

If Liv couldn't stay standing, how would Mira ever fare against the great God?

"You speak to kindly of me," Liv replied with a spark of sarcasm, and for a moment, she felt like herself again.

"Here, take this – read it, and find courage," Mira smiled and pulled out a folded up piece of paper.

"Keep it close to your heart, and remember that every word screams the truth…" she gave a reassuring smile – like a mother that promised no monster would ever take her child when she secretly wasn't sure.

Mira slid the letter over to her sister and watched Liv falter for a moment.

"Be careful with this knowledge Mira – it's better that you turn back and run. If you insist on fighting, than…Mana is in the third room on the left after the second turn in the Main Estate."

"Thank you," Mira whispered and headed into the shadows.

"Oh…Oh…Mira!"

Mira slowed hesitantly, and turned around to meet Liv's eyes for the last time.

"Our mother may be alive!" she yelled out across the yard, and watched Mira's back vanish into the background.

A second after she left, Liv heard the clink of a metal hit gravel. From the soft rays of the early morning sun, silver glittered on the ground. It was in the shape of a running horse.

For a moment, Liv stood there, basking in the sun light. Curiosity overwhelmed her though, and her fingers lightly trembled as she flipped the note open. She smiled bitterly as her eyes scanned the words and she clutched the paper close to her heart.

To my dearest sister, Liv,

I do not regret, not the path we've each taken, or where it has led us. I shall never forget the longing I felt for us to be true sisters, and the realization that struck that we always were real sisters. You are strong and powerful, never forget that. One day we shall meet again, and we shall not part but live our lives on merging paths. Carry on and do not falter, Liv. Do not sub scum to the darkness, it is not stronger than the light that shines in your soul. You simply must reach out and take whatever you desire. We are Nolan's, we are strength and the most unlucky of survivors. However, I truly believe that this too shall pass.

Mira

She was right.

This too, would pass.