Author's note: And here we are at the end. I never thought I'd make it this far, and it's been a hell of a ride. Thank you so much to everyone who read my story and left reviews. I hope that you enjoy the final chapter of Sho's Arrow.

CHAPTER 21 — ESCAPE

YEAR 198

At last, Haumea and the others let Sho back on the surface. After all, they were going to the Holy Sol Temple's Curia to meet with Emperor Raffles III. The church had finally realized that those who possessed the Adolla Burst were apostles of the Sun God, so all of the White-Clad's pillars and guardians had to be present for this auspicious occasion.

The emperor had converted readily enough; now they just had to convince the officers from Fire Force Company 1.

Vice Commander Arrow and Commander Sho stood by quietly while Haumea did the talking. Thanks to her ability, she knew what the Company 1 priests were thinking, and could phrase her offer in the best way to convince them to join forces. She could also do some "convincing" of her own if necessary.

Lieutenant Karim Flam openly opposed the offer, since he was still angry that Rekka Hoshimiya had been deceiving him.

"You people killed him," he spat.

Arrow glared at him. She had had to fire the shot that returned Hoshimiya to the great flame, but she only did so on his signal. Arrow hadn't murdered Hoshimiya, and suggesting that she had devalued the sacrifice that he had made. Rekka Hoshimiya was a martyr, not a victim.

If Shinra Kusakabe had not interfered that day, then Hoshimiya would be standing in the Curia with them right now, the White-Clad would have secured Nataku Son before his Adolla Burst awoke, and the nun-in-training—the rookie fire soldier rumored to have defeated Assault—would have been blamed for the children's "deaths" and disposed of with the rest of the evidence.

Shinra Kusakabe had been nothing but trouble from Day 1.

Captain Burns ignored his lieutenants' objections, and allied himself with the Evangelist's followers. He sought to serve the true God, the one who took his right eye when he saw Adolla many years ago.

And so the Holy Sol Temple and the Tokyo Empire joined forces with the devils of the White-Clad.

The first move the united front made was to arrest Akitaru Obi.

The official reason was that he'd kidnapped and imprisoned Shinra Kusakabe, but the real reason was that he'd been on the brink of uniting the entire Fire Force—as well as the whole Tokyo Empire—against the White-Clad.

It was time to grant Obi the honor of returning to the great flame. They were going to use an Adolla bug on him at Fuchu Grand Penitentiary. Obi was a worthy sacrifice... and the perfect bait to draw out Shinra Kusakabe.

Indeed, the members of Company 8 were already on the way to rescue their captain, so the Destroyers were standing by to incapacitate Shinra Kusakabe and eliminate everyone else. Even Dragon was going to be there. Company 8 didn't stand a chance.

Burns had a personal score to settle with the 4th pillar, and insisted that he be the one to strike him down.

The pillars and guardians went back to the Nether. Haumea had a doppelganger to summon, and Burns and the Destroyers had work to do.

Haumea's ritual was almost finished, so Arrow and Sho were making their way through the Nether tunnels that led to the Grand Penitentiary.

Suddenly, Sho stopped and stared off into space.

"Is something the matter, Commander?"

"Something is meddling with my universe..."

An Adolla Link.

"Who is it? This warm feeling..." Sho's voice dropped to a murmur. "You are meddling in my universe. Who are you?"

Arrow had a good idea of who it could be. She frowned. It was still too early for Sho to remember.

"My brother...?"

She was right.

As far as Arrow knew, Sho was still cut from Grace, so the power generated by Haumea's ritual and the battle at the Grand Penitentiary must be restoring some of his connection to Adolla. If Haumea found out about this Adolla Link, then she'd use Motor Head to turn Sho back into a catatonic prisoner.

Something else was strange about this Adolla Link. Whenever Sho had spoken of Kusakabe before, he'd done so with disgust. He referred to him as a "knave", and certainly wouldn't call him his brother. Right now, Sho seemed confused, but not disgusted. What had Kusakabe shown him?

Arrow wasn't sure what to make of it. For Sho's sake, she decided to keep what she'd just heard to herself.

Arrow, Sho, and the rest of the White-Clad arrived to find most of Fuchu Grand Penitentiary reduced to rubble.

On the roof, Akitaru Obi was still alive and had broken free of his shackles. Apparently, his muscles were so hard that the Adolla bugs couldn't bite through his skin.

Burns and Kusakabe were on the ground amid the wreckage of the prison. They had started their battle on top of the building, and destroyed four floors during the fight. The reports of Leonard Burns's firepower had not been exaggerated.

Haumea's ritual had been successful, and Burns was now impaled on one of the horns of his doppelganger, a demon Infernal.

Joker and Kusakabe watched in horror. The former was supporting the latter, who was utterly exhausted but had still not been captured.

Burns screamed at them, telling them to run away while he held off the demon.

Meanwhile, the Destroyers had failed to eliminate Company 8. Gold and Stream had been slain, so Dragon took over. He had used his breath attack directly on Lieutenant Hinawa, Oze, Boyle, Kotatsu, Vulcan, and Feeler. The entire prison wall had been destroyed, but they were unscathed.

Only one thing could have protected them: the Evangelist's Grace. A new pillar had awoken.

Haumea quickly took charge of the situation. "Save the pillar, kill the rest."

There were actually two pillars in Company 8 now, but they hadn't realized it yet and Haumea wasn't going to give them the chance. She used Radio Head to tell all of the White-Clad soldiers the identity of the 8th pillar, and they would snatch it up along with Shinra Kusakabe.

With the last of his strength, Burns managed to force the demon to cross back over to Adolla. He went with it, still impaled on one of its horns. Well, no matter: the spiritual energy from the doppelganger ritual combined with Dragon's presence had caused the 8th pillar to awaken.

And the White-Clad had Company 8 (plus Joker) cornered. Finally they would be rid of the thorn in their side.

Before they could make their move, the mysterious "Moonlite Mask"—a poorly disguised Captain Benimaru Shinmon—appeared and rescued Company 8 with his flaming matoi. The Toughest Fire Soldier hung back and took the opportunity to show off how he could negate any heat-based attack sent his way. He took a shot at Charon, who countered it with a grin on his face. Captain Shinmon's attacks didn't faze Dragon in the slightest, and he decided to leave before Dragon could test his breath attack on him. Joker escaped along with him.

Just like that, the 4th pillar had slipped through their grasp. They hadn't managed to secure the 8th pillar either. They hadn't even killed a single member of Company 8!

Arrow looked around at the wreckage and the dead bodies of some of their best assassins. How? How could they have failed? This small, underfunded, cobbled-together group of fire soldiers had ruined their plans. Again. No matter what the Evangelist's servants threw at them, they always...

Arrow took a deep breath and held it, then blew it out slowly. It didn't matter anymore, because the final pillar had awakened.

The eight pillars were assembled, and the Cataclysm would begin tonight.

When Arrow came to get her commander for the final Mass, he was in a bad mood. That wasn't unusual, but something was different about him this evening. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Is something wrong?" She was met with silence.

As they were walking down the tunnel that led to the church, Sho drew his katana and pointed it at her back. "Lead me outside."

"Commander?"

"Defy me and I'll cut you down." His voice was icy.

Arrow knew that Sho would never point an unsheathed sword at someone that he wasn't willing to use it on.

Arrow's heart almost stopped. She suddenly realized what was "wrong" with Sho: for the first time in months, his eyes were clear. He had woken up! He was free of Haumea's control.

But why was he threatening her?

They walked until the well-lit, remodeled walls of the base were replaced by derelict subway tunnels. The only sound was the echo of their footsteps.

Arrow spoke first. "Commander, I am your guardian... I'd never betray you." She kept her voice even; she didn't want to alarm him. "What do you need from the surface? Wherever you go, I will protect you."

"I don't need you to... and why would you go that far to protect me?"

What a strange question. "I do so without any doubts. It is my duty."

"And if I said I release you from your duty?"

Arrow's eyes widened in shock.

Sho took advantage of her stunned silence. "All of mankind's philosophies and creeds dance to the Evangelist's tune. Mankind is, in a sense, bound to the Evangelist's will. You and I too have lived in accordance with the duties the Evangelist has given us." He paused for a moment. "But I was able to do something different. You should too. Throw such trash away, and live by your own will." Arrow could hear the disdain in his voice.

Heretical ideas. Now she understood why Sho was threatening her: he was afraid. He was leaving the White-Clad, and he was afraid that she would try to stop him.

Arrow had never thought about leaving the White-Clad. She was trained to obey her superiors and to endure conditions that she didn't like. Her feelings did not matter, and her heart was filled with the despair that permeated the doctrine of the Evangelist. As a result, she couldn't imagine a future better than dying alongside Sho during the Cataclysm. Then their suffering—and the suffering of all mankind—would end.

In the meantime, it was getting harder and harder for her to watch what Yona, Haumea, and the elders were doing to Sho. They told Arrow that it was the Evangelist's will, but didn't the Evangelist give Arrow to Sho to protect him? She was his guardian, yet she was forced to stand by as the Evangelist's other servants manipulated and abused him.

The White-Clad had become Sho's enemies... no. Their enemies.

Now, Sho said that he had been able to do something other than his duty to the Evangelist. He saw another path, a way out.

Arrow didn't know where he was going, but she was going with him. They would escape now, while everyone was at the final Mass.

However, Sho had said something that Arrow would not let slide.

"My duty is not 'such trash'." Her words were a little bit heated.

"How so?"

Ignoring the sword pointed at her back, Arrow stopped and turned to face him, dropped to one knee, and bowed her head.

"To carry out my duty is my will. It is your security that brings me joy. It is your command that gives me purpose. It is my everything. To throw away my duty is to throw away all reason to live. I am an arrow, bound to protect you." She lifted her face and looked him straight in the eyes. "And once an arrow has been fired, it can never be returned."

At her declaration, Sho blushed. Like he was surprised. He sheathed his sword and they resumed walking.

For Arrow, protecting Sho had ceased being a mere duty on the first night she'd sat next to a scared little boy's bed, stroking his hair until he fell asleep. Unfortunately, Arrow didn't have a better word for the concept, at least not in formal speech.

They soon reached a door to the surface. Arrow opened it and felt cool, fresh air on her face. "Wherever you go, I go with you."

Sho stalked up the steps in front of her. "I don't need you."

Arrow was standing three steps behind him.

Sho turned around and glared at her. "I'm telling you to stay away from me."

"How far away shall I stay, then?" Arrow asked with a perfectly straight face.

He turned and started walking away from her. "Really, really far away. So I can't see you."

Arrow followed. "But my arrows won't be able to protect you then."

He did not stop. "Don't protect me anymore. I don't need your arrows."

She did not stop either. "Then I will protect you from the edge of my range."

Arrow knew that Sho wanted her to come with him, but he would not order her to. If a search party caught them, he would be recaptured, but Arrow would be executed as a traitor. Sho was giving her a final chance to turn back.

He knew that she wouldn't, and his protests were getting weaker. At this point they were just bickering.

Sho glanced back at her and huffed. "Fine, have it your way."

She covered her face with her hood. "Yes, sir!"

Though he protested otherwise, Sho needed Arrow's help. He had just broken free of mind control, and he didn't know how to survive outside of the base. He wouldn't make it far on his own.

On top of that, their enemies had more than doubled. If the White-Clad sent search parties to get Sho back, Arrow would make sure that they didn't.

The night was dark and clear, and through the gap in her hood, Arrow could see dozens of stars shining in the sky. Soon their planet would become a star like the ones above them. All impurities burned away, a fitting throne for the Evangelist.

The world was about to end. The pillars were assembled, and the Cataclysm would merge Adolla with their dimension. No one could stop it now, so all they had to do was wait.

Arrow would stay beside Sho until the very end.

Pillar and guardian walked off into the night, though they knew not where.

"I am an arrow, bound to protect you. Once an arrow has been fired, it can never be returned."

That's what she had said to him.

"I am a weapon. A tool meant for killing. I was created to help the Evangelist bring despair and ruin to this world.

"Then she gave me to you, to be your protector, your arrow. And she cannot take me back.

"And thanks to you—my best friend, my little brother—I became more than just an arrow."

That's what she had meant.