Chapter Nine: ENDING SCENARIO NUMBER ONE

"Haku? Haku!!"

Haku was underwater, swimming, not as a dragon, but as a man. He could see the surface and clawed desperately towards it, but it was too far away and he was running out of air…

"Haku! Wake up!"

He could see the sun, now, shining above the water, partially obscured by some floating plants… He reached up a hand to bring him to the surface, and just above, there was a face, someone calling to him…

"Haku, please--!"

Almost to the surface now… almost…but-something was grabbing at him, long tentacles pulling him down by his ankles. He could hear a voice screaming, his own lungs burning with lack of air, bubbles rising in a torrent around him--

Someone was shaking him. Weakly, he reached up to shield his face from his attacker. "Mnnuh-"

"Haku?" The shaking stopped. "Are you alive?" Haku opened his eyes to a blur of pink and brown. After a moment, his vision adjusted and he recognized Lin crouching over him, looking slightly panicked. Haku opened his mouth to speak, swallowed dryly, then tried again. "L-Lin?"

"Kii, that little rat-- what did he do to you?" Lin hauled Haku into a sitting position, none too gently, and Haku's vision spun for a moment before settling back down. "I waited for you back at the Big Tub, and I got worried when you didn't show. Hey! Are you listening to me?"

Haku shook his head to clear it. "I… Kii?" He took his first clear look around the room; it stank of high sorcery. He remembered Kii singing to him, but before that…

"Haku?" Lin ventured.

"You… were waiting for me?" His head felt filled with cotton.

Lin nodded. "You asked me if I knew anything about Kii. Remember?"

Haku closed his eyes. "Yes… I remember. I asked you because… He would never tell me-- no, that wasn't it. Because I would never ask."

Lin blinked. "Why? Did you forget?"

Haku leapt to his feet and slid into his dragon form, crashing through the door and out into the hallway before he was even fully finished with the transformation. He shot down the nearest flight of stairs with lightning speed and emerged onto a crowded floor, scattering staff and customers and leaving a blizzard of torn papers and bits of food in his wake. From there he flew straight down the central shaft around which every floor centered, slowed almost imperceptibly as he searched for the right door, then made an abrupt turn and crashed through it, almost blowing the fragile thing off of its track.

And there it was, as if there were nothing else in the world: the Door.

In his dragon form, Haku's thoughts and emotions were simpler; looking at the door now, the emotion fear chilled him, caused him to stop his reckless charge and stare, hovering, at the door. There was no why, no confusion-- only fear and, a new emotion flowering inside his breast, anger.

This isn't going to work, something inside him said. There is no black and white with Kii(want), with that room (fear, anger). I must think, I must change back and go into that room. Fear. Fear. FEAR. But now, he could hear someone running up the stairs behind him. Haku dropped back into his human form and pushed the door open.

There, again, the room with the pond in the center. A woman, a lady stood there now. She wore the same gray kimono that had been in the glass case in Kii's room. Haku paused briefly in the doorway, then squared his shoulders and stepped into the room, letting the heavy door swing shut behind him.

As he approached her, Haku felt a sudden sucking, pulling at his body, his life-force. He staggered, then took two steps back. "What--" he gasped, bringing his hand up to ready a spell. The lady smiled.

"Kii has been trying to keep you from me. But you have come of your own free will."

"Who are you?" Haku demanded. "What do you have to do with Kii?"

"Ah. Kii." The lady demurely pushed her long black hair out of her face.

Haku was expecting her to continue, until he saw that the Lady's gaze was fixed somewhere behind him. With a knot tightening in his stomach, Haku turned around.

Kii was standing there, all his former poise and grace gone: his kimono hung askew, his silky hair was in disarray. He was drawing slow, ragged breaths, his eyes wild.

"Get-- away-- from her," he snarled.

Haku took a cautious step towards him. "Kii?" he ventured. "What is all this? What's going on?"

Kii pulled his kimono shut. "You shouldn't be here," he said, his voice still only a pitiful mockery of his former quiet, serene manner of speech. "I should kill you for setting foot in this place."

Haku shook his head in disbelief. "Kii-- I don't understand. This woman--"

"--is my mother," Kii cut in harshly. His shoulders sagged, and he put a hand over his eyes tiredly. "Please, just go."

Taking advantage of Kii's momentary distraction, Haku stepped forward and put his arms around him. "Please," he whispered, "don't lie to me anymore."

Kii jerked at Haku's touch, and he looked up at him through a tangle of black hair. His eyes were cold. "Fine," he spat. "No more lies."

Haku let go of him, and they matched gazes for a long moment. Kii's expression was full of hate, his mouth twisted down into an ugly snarl. His eyes gleamed with pain. "I... thought you loved me," Haku said. "I love y--"

"Shut up," Kii snapped. "You don't love me. There's nothing between us but sex. There was never any feeling there."

Haku's mouth dropped open. "That's not true! I--"

Kii grabbed the embroidered pouch at his belt and threw it at Haku's feet. It burst open, scattering cold coins across the mossy floor. It was all the money Haku had given Kii. "Gold is poison," Kii said. His voice shook. "I was never anything more than a whore to you. And that's all I'll be-- a whore. There's no love involved here." He took a shuddering breath. "There never will be."

Haku stared at Kii, then looked down at the gold at his feet. He cast a glance at the lady in gray behind him; the woman had turned her back on the both of them. Slowly, he turned back to Kii, who refused to meet his eyes. After a moment, Haku stepped quietly around him and left the room.

Haku lay awake for a long time that night, looking out at the stars and thinking. Did I really love him? Or was it just... lust? Kii's absence had left a gaping hole in Haku's soul. If there was ever something there, the gold killed it. Greed kills everything. It's poison, just like Kii said.

Near morning, Haku finally decided to go back to Kii and try to start over, try to make things right. Even if Kii wouldn't have him again, Haku couldn't bear to see him suffer.

But as he descended the stairs, he noticed a large crowd gathering at the bridge in front of the bathhouse. Customers craned their necks to see, while panicked staff tried to keep them back. Haku elbowed his way through the crowd and looked down over the rail at the bridge.

At the bottom of the crevice, across the railroad tracks, lay Kii's still, broken body. His crimson kimono was stained a darker red here and there, and his neck was set at an unnatural angle. Before Haku could do anything, a customer at the other side of the bridge shouted, "Here comes the train!!"
END of the Lullaby fanfiction.

Author's Note: If this is not the ending you were hoping for, please go on to the next chapter to read the second ending scenario.