The Threshold of Darkness and Light

Chapter 18

"NOO!!! NOOO YUE!!!!!! YUEEE!!" Kina tried to run to his limp body but suddenly found that that simple task was impossible to do. She was soon a crumpled pile on the floor attempting to pull herself towards her one true love. Her one true... dead... gone... love. Huge, hot salty tears found their treacherous path down her cheeks, staying in a steady stream. Nuriko and Hotohori could only stand and stare

John gazed at Yue's body, surrounded by a new pool of blood. He had done this. He had killed Yue. His eyes were opened wide while his mouth gapped open also. "I...I...I d-didn't...m-mean...to...to...kill...h-im...." His broken voice whispered.

"WELL YOU DID!!!!" Kina jumped around, staring at John with eyes that could only show an emotional agony of sorrow. "YOU KILLED....YUE!!!" Fresh tears burst from her eyes as she tried to stand up and go after John. "YOU KILLED HIM!!" She pointed her finger at him, her voice wavering with pain. "Why can't I understand you? Out of all the people in this world, you hold all the mysteries I can't unfold!!! You're the only thing I can't understand......when I thought I knew everything!!! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS JOHN?! WHY!!!!!!" Her voice cried for an answer, it demanded an answer. "You took him away from me..."

"You'll never figure me out Kina, not in a thousand years. I made sure of that when I started my game of masks. No one can." John softly replied.

"I don't need to figure you out John........ there's only one thing I need now. Let your masks go, and I will drop mine." Kina hissed back.

Outside, rain could be heard pouring down to the earth. The blackness of the cave and the gold light gave the room an eerie appearance. Black. Black is the absence of light. Black is the color of the clothing everyone wears here where the rain pours every day. Where the heavens cry for the people down below in all their pain. Then there was the rain. Rain washes the tears from their eyes and reassures them in it's own little way that there will always be more days. To remember their loved ones whenever the rain poured down, but to also spend the sunny days and moonlit nights thinking of joy and happiness.

~~

Listen as your day unfolds,

Challenge what your future holds

Try to keep your head up to the sky

Lovers they may cause you tears

Go ahead release your fears

Stand up and be counted,

Don't be shamed to cry

~~

A crashing noise exploded above them as the cave rapidly shook violently. John grabbed onto the coffin, almost falling over from the force of the shake.

"Sounded like lightening! It must have hit the cave!!!" Hotohori yelled to them.

"This thing could fall any second!!" Nuriko screamed as chunks of rock fell dangerously near him. "We've got to get out of here!!"

"NO!" Kina yelled to them over more deafening rumbling. "YOU BOTH GO ON AHEAD! TAKE YUE WITH YOU! I'LL BE OUT THERE SOON....I'm sorry...I lied to you again just now..." But her last words were unheard.

Nuriko and Hotohori both nodded, there was no chance they could disagree with her, not with the look she was giving them. Nuriko picked up Yue's dead body, pulling him over his shoulder and then the three disappeared out of the room, running past falling stone.

John gawked at Kina, looking at the tears spilling from her eyes as she turned to face him.

Rain was the thing that refused to come to wash away her tears and numb her burning body. Black was the color of her heart.

"GIVE ME SHUI!!" Kina began to run at John as rock crashed down around her, shattering into millions of tiny pieces. "My mask was just me trying to be strong...John I love you so much as my brother! But you killed the one person I loved the most...!! It hurts me so much to fight you! I don't understand why you are doing this!" She cried as she neared the coffin.

~~

You gotta be

You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold,

You gotta be wiser

You gotta hard, you gotta be tough,

You gotta be stronger

You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm,

You gotta stay together

All I know, all I know

1.1 Love will save the day

~~

"Yue told me his answer...so I must tell him mine...just like I promised." John stared down at the golden floor as a rock splintered near him. He didn't even flinch.

"What are you talking about?!" Kina edged closer.

"I wanted to defy fate....I wanted to go back in time and change what happened with our parents...change my future and yours so it wasn't painful anymore and in order to do that a sacrifice was needed and it HAD to be Shui...I had no choice, it was her blood I needed to open the gate...but now I realize it was wrong and that if I did changed the past, Yue would never meet you Kina, and he wouldn't have those reasons to marry you. He wouldn't have his Utopia. I didn't mean to hurt you so much..." A single tear trickled down John's face as he reached over to the coffin. With his hand he pushed the Key into its molded location. Everything was in place. "I call upon you to grant me my one wish!!!"

"NOO!! JOHN STOP!!" Kina ran at him but was pushed back by a barrier that now surrounded the coffin. The room filled with dazzling, blinding silver light. Shui's body began to be lifted above the coffin, glowing a blue color. A pillar of light erupted from the cave roof down to the coffin. Shui's hair fluttered in a breeze that now swirled around her. "SHUI!!!!" Kina shrieked as she tried to push herself through the barrier. A voice boomed through the cave.

"Who has called upon me?" It wailed. "I will now descend into thy body to grant thee one wish." A golden light began to descend towards Shui, most likely the soul above to enter Shui's body. Shui would make John's wish and then be killed.

The golden light came closer, only a few inches away from Shui's still unconscious body. Instantly John jumped up, pulling Shui out of the light and throwing her tiny body towards Kina.

Kina caught Shui, holding her close against her now, her eyes opened in shock. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING JOHN!! YOU'LL BE KILLED!!"

"I suppose....but....I've become interested....in what will become of you and Yue. I want....to find the answer to what I couldn't find when I was really alive. Maybe more important than the sister I lost....was the heart that I lost instead." John smiled as the gold light began to fill his body.

"Why..." Kina mouthed, her lips in a half smile, half frown. She had gotten her daughter back but at the cost of her brother.

"It's because of those tears I saw pouring out from you, my sister, they've called out and touched my heart. Not once have I doubted the genuinely of those tears...there's no possible way...I can forget them..." John whispered back to her, his mind remembering when he found out his parents had died and his sister had disappeared. The tears had flowed so hard then and once again they returned to him.

~~

Time asks no questions, it goes on without you

Leaving you behind if you can't stand the pace

The world keeps on spinning, can't stop it if you tried to

The best part is danger staring you in the face

~~

John's body was now fully engulfed by the golden light and once again the voice boomed through the crumbling cave.

"I am the one thou called upon. I will grant thy one wish. A wish of either thy heart or thy mind. Dost thou want the wish of thy heart or thy mind? A wish you believe you want or a wish you truly desire in your heart?"

Kina stared at her brother who was now as radiant as a light bulb. "He can still grant his wish, it would change everything depending on what he wishes for but he'll die either way. He could still made a bad wish, a wish possibly for the worse." Kina thought but she listened quietly, straining to hear what he would say.

A large slab of granite smashed next to Kina, blocking her view of him. She had to get out now or else she wouldn't make it. "Please...I know it is impossible practically...but please...LIVE JOHN LIVE!!" She raised her voice, yelling so he could hear her. "I LOVE YOU JOHN, YOU REMEMBER THAT!! I ALWAYS HAVE AND I ALWAYS WILL, MY BROTHER!! I have faith in you...please...CHANGE FATE!!!" Kina began to run out of the cave. Behind her she could hear her brother's voice.

"I wish that..." It stated. But she couldn't hear him anymore as the room began to cave in. Kina had to run, and fast. All around her rocks were smashing into the ground. She had to get Shui to safety. Kina picked up her speed; she could see the tiny light of the exit up ahead of her.

~~

Got to be bad. Got to be bold

Got to be wise. Don't ever be cold

Got to be hard. Not too, too hard

1.2 All I know is, love will save the day

~~

She was almost there. Just a bit further. A chunk of rock hit her forehead causing drips of blood to stream down her cheek. Kina was closer to the light. Her foot caught on a crack as she tripped and flew forward, collapsing into fresh, wet grass. Behind her, the cave completely gave in and crumbled with a loud clamor. The rain drizzled down lightly but a few rays of sunlight broke through the clouds.

"Glad you made it out." Nuriko whispered. Kina felt hands on her back, pulling her and Shui up.

"Ah...uhh...M-MOMMY!!!!" Shui tediously opened her eyes, clinging onto her mother.

"Shui!!" Kina hugged her daughter tighter, tears streaming down her face. She had saved her daughter, but at too high of a price. The loss of Yue and then John ate at Kina's heart, tearing it apart piece by piece.

"DADDY!!" Shui ripped out of Kina's tight embrace, running away from her.

"N-no honey..d-daddy...i-i..s..." Kina's voice trembled as she tried to finish her sentence, her eyes firmly locked on the moist grass as her vision blurred with new tears.

"Alive." A voice whispered.



Total Akugi:

Shui: DADDY!!

Kina: No...honey...daddy...is...

Yue: WAS TURNED INTO A GIANT PIZZA BY JOHN!!!! dances around in a pizza costume You're now married to a giant cheese pizza!

Kina: LAAAUREEEENNN!!!

Lauren: Uh...uh...uh...I was forced to do it!! John made me do it!!