Chapter 14: Coming Home, Love
There wedged behind a dark rock, she laid. Her porcelain face paler than the evening snow, her lips a pale petal pink, her ebony locks scattered upon the opposite colored snow shaming the black of oblivion. He followed the sand until he came to the end of the trail.
From there on, a track of blood replaced it. Droplets of crimson stained the ground. Beads of it dispersed upon sand and snow taunting him and laughing at him. Making him stand on the edge of a knife, suspended in the air while he discovered what happened to his dear Tomoyo.
And as he walked, he soon found her there. Where she was cruelly trapped behind a dark marble. A fallen angel bound to the granite.
" TOMOYO!" He hastily darted to her. Half trying to deny what he saw in front of him. Panic surged painfully within his veins.
" Tomoyo? No, Tomoyo. Love, wake up." He felt himself crying inside. Like a cub, he nudged her ever so slightly. " No, Tomoyo. Darling, please wake up." He refused to blink for tears fell threatening held by his eyes. Her body frozen and half buried under falling snow. He laced his arms under her legs and supported her back with his other arm. With her silk- locked head slumped against his chest, he plucked the plum blossom from the killing snow. He stumbled himself onto the deserted shoreline and screamed profanities at the higher power.
He stared numbly at her "sleeping" form. 'That's it.' he told himself. 'She's sleeping. She's always sleeping. Like the last time... the last time.' He chortled maniacally in denial.
He took one look at her motionless face and buried himself into her neck. He fell to his knees shaking with the sorrow that wholly consumed his being. " C'mon, Tomoyo. C'mon, I didn't mean it. I don't want you to-to leave me. Please don't go. Please?"
His child-like pleading did nothing though. She was stone cold frozen. He wailed silently in absolute misery and called out in the night. Naively trusting that God would miraculously give Tomoyo her body back. " Come back to me, Tomoyo. One last time, come home with me and we'll grow old together. Remember? Just like you said." He sniffed innocently and wiped away frosted liquids that dried crystals upon his English face. He caressed her icy visage and thumbed her still soft lips urging her to breath. Planting a light kiss upon her forehead, trying to bring her back. Holding her, trying to let her feel the warmth he had to offer.
Childishly speaking to her as if she could hear him. Trying to bring her back with memories held so close to his heart. His tear-strained face afraid to see her dead face.
" We-we'll buy our very own island. Yes, just you and me. We'll wipe away the past, everyone. All we need is each other. There's no need for anyone else. If you don't come back, wha-wha-what will I do? Are you going to leave me, heart? Did you leave me without giving me anything to ease my life without you?"
He watched as time passed by and she remained unmoved by his heart wrenching cries. " No, you're not gone. You're not, Tomoyo. Find your way home. Home to me." His weak tone persistent on persuading her to return to him. Whether she could hear him or whether she has long left her body.
He felt the insuppressible trepidation loom uncompromisingly upon his soul. The untainted woe that swallowed him whole as he watched his dead Tomoyo lay cradled upon his lap and in his arms. He captured her closer to his body. Her head drooped perfectly in the curve of his collar.
There, on the shore, he rocked her back and forth as he sat on snow- besmirched sand overlooking the frozen crashes of waves on waves. His arm wound tightly around the collapsing body of an angelic songbird. His hand clutching to the refined palm of her spiritless corpse.
His unremitting whimpers trying to wake her initiated the harder crashes of waves as it cried for both him and the breathless nightingale.
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She heard him, though. On the outskirts of life and death. She knew what lay behind her. A nameless shadow that threatened to attack if she refused pass over.
The one that stood between her and Eriol. A force darker than jealousy and love. She was nearing the end of the tunnel. The light elucidated brighter at the end. It was a journey through which every pace lessened her memory of the life she had before, but every time she stepped, she remembered more and more of Eriol.
Every cry he wailed, she heard. Every stab of reality that he tried to deny, she felt. Every memory they shared together that he recalled shone brighter in her mind. Every tear he shed broke her heart in pieces. Glass upon cement.
So she turned unable to ignore it. " Please, Dark Shadow. Will you not let me go back to him?" Brimming sweet tears stopped by her lower delicate lashes.
The lifeless brooding void slowly shook its head. Her head hung low as she turned back and continued a few paces more.
" TOMOYO!!! GOD, TOMOYO!" His shout in desperate distress. His throbbing scream pierced into the air.
She jumped at the vivid call. She shook her head lightly to stop her tears. Should she grieve for her own death? No, of course not. She grieved for the ones she left behind. She grieved for Eriol. The black figure approached and lifted her chin to its faceless hood prodding her to keep moving.
She shook her head out of its dark grasp. Closed her eyes and inhaled a deep, aching breath. " No. Just for a moment. Please? I ask of no more. Only a bit. Just to say good-bye. I am not passed the tunnel yet. Please, there is still a bit of time left for me to run back. Just tell me when my time is up and I will go, but please, just to say a few words to him. To spare him of pain." Her graceful virtuous face importunate as she bit her lower lip to keep it from quivering. Waiting for the uncertain answer. Eagerly looking up to darkness, hanging on to the fool's hope that he would allow her to return.
This time the shadow did not nod, nor did it give any significance to deny. It stepped out of her way. Surprised, she glanced doubtfully and then started in a sprint. A sprint for home.
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She could feel the cold air again. The newly freezing breath of ice that met all whose spirit prepared itself to depart from the body. She made her last step and found herself tired and broken again.
No. Not broken, whole in a sense, but no longer broken. She felt him. She could. His breath upon her back. His warm cheek pressed against her ear.
Wrapped in the warmth of you... loving every breath of you.
Her nerves snapped with utter life again and she started to feel every physical pain that racked her body.
It was well worth it, though. She attempted to blink.... and did so successfully. Relaxing against Eriol, she basked in his presence. Closing her amethyst eyes and savoring the feel of his skin against hers.
She could feel the motion of her mouth and the numbness of her tongue dissolving. On breathless air, she strivingly called. " E-Eriol?"
Everything stopped at a stand still. The thrashing waves calmed itself, the flurry that fell hard before reduced to a light snowfall, and Eriol... sweet, sweet Eriol shook uncontrollably with disbelief and liberation.
He slowly lowered her head from the support of his shoulders. His eyes sparkling next to the night sky among other stars. She lightly smiled at him. A soothing smile that pacified his suffering.
" T-T-Tomoyo?"
" Yes?" She stared at his face. She had it memorized and imprinted in her heart and mind so that even as she passed the valley of shadow, she will remember him still. Always.
" You-you came back." He brought his hand to the edge of her lips as she beamed weakly at him.
" Yes, Eriol. I heard you calling and I had to. I couldn't help it. Dear, dear Eriol. Why do you cry out? Had you not wanted me to go away? Had you not wanted desperately to erase me out of your mind?"
" Noo." His engaging countenance contorted with guilt and agony washed over with horrible anxiety.
Her snowy complexion softened in depression, her lips curved in a frown. She lifted her gracious hand and softly wiped a way a tear from his cheek. " Shhhh. Eriol, please don't cry. It's not the end. It's only the beginning. We'll meet again someday. I promised, remembered? Until you forgive me." He took her slipping hand it held it close to his face. Loving her light touch.
She smiled reassuringly at him. He envisaged the epitome of reckless wretchedness. " What if I've already forgiven you? Will I see you again?"
The naively sweetness of Eriol Hiiragizawa touched her heart kindly. " Love, why do you ask?"
He whimpered his muffled response. " There was nothing to forgive, Tomoyo. If anything, I'd already forgiven you a long time ago."
She released a gentle sigh. " Eriol, I'll find a way back to you. By any means, I shall still wait for you at the gates of heaven. I promise you that."
The words cut into Eriol with finality. " No, Tomoyo. What do you mean? You're not leaving now are you? Oh, please no. Who will I be with if you leave?"
" Kaho." As if by being forever condemned, he bit his lip bloody and violently shook his head.
" I'm sorry, Eriol. I'm dying. I've been dying. I couldn't tell you. I couldn't let you know." Tear welled up in her sparkling amethyst eyes. " I hadn't the heart to tell you. I wanted to protect you from whatever pain I could have caused you. I couldn't bear to see you sad. I didn't want you acting weird and kept Kaho waiting. I couldn't stand knowing that I held you back."
She tried to smile. " But I guess, I made it worse, didn't I?"
Eriol's grief-stricken face stared at the rippling waters grimly. " It's not funny, Tomoyo."
" I'm sorry, Eriol. I didn't mean it to be." She gently squeezed his shivering hands.
" It's cold, Eriol. I'm going cold."
Eriol heard it before. He wide-eyed panicked. " No! No! It's not you, Tomoyo. It's the weather." He uneasily smiled at her. " Yes, it's the weather. Tomoyo, you're not going cold. You see, it's snowing."
His smile, however, diminished just as soon as he felt her fading. She wheezed in between her coughs and panted in between her words.
Sweat beads clustered on her brow. " Eriol, you have to go on with Kaho. She loves you dearly."
He shook his head frowning. Her voice lowered to a whisper as she gently brought both her poised hands to his quaking face. " Promise me."
His face stretched with agony and hurt as he cried out. No, he didn't want to be with Kaho.
" Yes." She shook her own head in reassurance, her eyes threatening to close...
" She is so good to you, Eriol. Be good to her." She struggled to keep her eyes.
Eriol knew when something was being taken from him and God was claiming Tomoyo.
He lifted his twisted face upon the falling snow. " WHY DO YOU DO THIS? IS THIS MY PUNISHMENT? DO YOU TEST US? DAMN YOU. DAMN YOU! WHY CAN'T I KEEP HER?! Why?" He felt her touching his bleeding lip and trying to sit up. He looked down, his brows curved in sympathy. She slowly propped her arm against his thigh and lifted her head.
Her forehead equal to his. Her eyes half open, but still bright. " I'll always love you, but it's time I have to go. He's calling."
He brought his arm around her waist. " No." Like a little boy possessive over his teddy bear. " You can't leave. I won't let him take you."
She placed her hand against his chest and lifted her head. " I'll be right here." A sad smirk spread across her face as she leaned in and kissed him gently.
Ice water poured over her and she went.
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She gripped blindly at the cold wall. She gathered air to her lungs in adjustment to breathe. There she was. On the steps invisible in between the entrance of the tunnel and where Eriol stared dazedly at her smiling dead body.
The dark shadow waited on the steps, beckoning her to hurry. But she ran back to Eriol. She knew he could not see her, but she hoped he still heard her calling.
She laid a peaceful hand upon his bent back and whispered in his ear. " Take me home." Surprised, he turned his head in her direction and looked her straight in the eye.
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There she stood, a phantom. More like an angel. Draped in a white silken sheet. Her hair adorned with lovely pearls. There she was. Kneeling down to his destroyed soul. Asking him to take her home.
Smiling to him as if nothing had happened. He looked at her in incredulously. Then looked down at her body. And back to her. " You..."
She beamed ethereally. " Me." A dark shadow emerged behind and took her hand pulling her away.
She remained happy and mouthed comfortingly " Don't worry." Waving goodbye.
And there on her finger was bound a small string of hemp that he hadn't expected she would keep.
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A single ray of light crept its way into the crystallized cave. Shafts of light reflected off the precious wall and into the aqua pool inflicting an awe of radiance.
At the opening of the secret cave, came in a boy. His hand clasped to a little girl two years his junior.
" Eriol. What is this cave? Are you sure it's safe. If I get in trouble one more time because of you, I'll really pummel you straight into the ground."
He continued his climb down the rocks. " HaHa, uh huh. Not if the thunderstorms get you first. Anyways, it's not like I've been here before. I just thought it'd be an adventure."
He slyly smirked at her.
She rolled her eyes. " That's real comforting. Keep your eyes on the path, stupid."
" Fine, fine. Just cuz' you can't take my charming face."
He would've expected a smack upside the head, but he looked back and saw her eyes sparkling and her mouth almost touching the floor.
" Yea, that's what I thought Tomoyo. Just can't resist can you?"
She made no response to his stupid compliment, though. She just looked on in front of him and stared in wonder. So he looked back as well.
It was a sight to behold. A pool lined with soft, damp sand, lined with a dark limestone wall encrusted in glimmering mineral jewels. He pulled her to the sand where a ray of sun shone through from the roof.
The mute Tomoyo suddenly went " Woooooaaahhh."
" Yeeeaaaaa. Hey, hey! Look at this! He neared one of the walls where a clear rock jammed out of the wall."
As young Master Eriol stupidly tried to pull one of the rocks out of the wall, Tomoyo twirled about like the little girl she was.
Diziness overtook her and she stood in place for a while. " Eriol??"
" What?!" His voice echoed from wall to wall.
" Where are you, airhead?"
" Over here!... over here... over here."
" How the heck am I suppose to know where you are?! I'm just gunna sit here. Under the sunlight."
Soon, he emerged from one of the cave openings with bloody fingers.
She jumped to her feet and ran to him. She took his hands into hers. " What in the world did you do to yourself? Trying to find a way to blame things on me again, I'm guessing?"
He pouted and attempted to pull away. She held on rigidly. " Stop it, you idiot. What were you trying to do anyways?"
He hung his downcast eyes at the pool of clear water. He slid one hand into his flannel shirt pocket and pulled out a string of hemp.
He kept his head low as he cautiously lifted his eyes to her concerned face. " I was trying to make you a necklace, but the crystal wouldn't budge. Instead, the dumb thing cut my fingers."
Before he could look up again, he was on the floor. She had ran in and hugged him.
He lightly pushed her off of him. They sat laughing in "their" cave billowing echoes everywhere. " You're so weird, sometimes, Eriol."
" Only the best for Tomoyo! Here give me your hand."
She skeptically pulled her sand stained hand from the ground. He placed her hand on his knee has he tried to wind the hemp several times around her finger and bowed into a knot.
" There."
She smiled at him. " What? No crystal?"
He rolled his eyes. " I'll get you a diamond later if you want."
Her eyes smiled sparkling at him and she stood up in her sand tarnished sundress and kissed him nimbly on his cheek. " You're funny, Eriol. C'mon, we better go. Nana will wonder where we are and why we're not eating her apple pies."
He looked at her reluctantly before he decided he should speak. " Will you stay with me until we're both old and gray, Tomoyo?"
She was already halfway up climbing the stones when she looked around at him still sitting in the secluded area of sunny sand. Her eyes shining innocently next to the crystal walls. She disappointingly shook her head at his question.
He slowly got onto his feet when she called out to him. " No, Eriol. I won't stay with you until we're both old and gray. How could anyone possibly stick with you 'til then."
He lifted his morose sapphire eyes to her high slight figure on the rocky steps.
Her amethyst eyes glowed sarcastically and sincerely simultaneously while she lifted to show her hemp fasten finger. " No Eriol, I'll be with you longer than even forever. How could any girl resist being with such a debonair 10 year old as yourself. My world would just fall through. No, I'm just going to have to be with you longer than 'THAT'." She winked mischievously and returned mounting back up to the cave's mouth.
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There he stood behind in the cave happy and assuming nothing could tear them apart.
Trusting they would be together for an eternity. Unquestioning that there is no force stronger than the bond of their childhood friendship and love.
But no, he was wrong.
He was very wrong.
Even though, she was there, she wasn't wholly there with him for the remainder of his life.
In life, he half eagerly waited until it was his time to meet the freezing waters and in death, she stood in the sky, watching over him and his family.
- The End -
[A.n.] Sigh. and so ends the story. Is it really the end? Naaaaahhhh. Well. yea. That was basically the ending, but I guess I'll do the whole epilogue thing. Hope I get reviews. I mean. this is the end of the story really, and it would awfully suck if I didn't get any. So again, I really really appreciate the reviews. It does help me write the story and tells me what you like about it so I could make it stronger, but yea. So REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO..... REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW. (^^).
There wedged behind a dark rock, she laid. Her porcelain face paler than the evening snow, her lips a pale petal pink, her ebony locks scattered upon the opposite colored snow shaming the black of oblivion. He followed the sand until he came to the end of the trail.
From there on, a track of blood replaced it. Droplets of crimson stained the ground. Beads of it dispersed upon sand and snow taunting him and laughing at him. Making him stand on the edge of a knife, suspended in the air while he discovered what happened to his dear Tomoyo.
And as he walked, he soon found her there. Where she was cruelly trapped behind a dark marble. A fallen angel bound to the granite.
" TOMOYO!" He hastily darted to her. Half trying to deny what he saw in front of him. Panic surged painfully within his veins.
" Tomoyo? No, Tomoyo. Love, wake up." He felt himself crying inside. Like a cub, he nudged her ever so slightly. " No, Tomoyo. Darling, please wake up." He refused to blink for tears fell threatening held by his eyes. Her body frozen and half buried under falling snow. He laced his arms under her legs and supported her back with his other arm. With her silk- locked head slumped against his chest, he plucked the plum blossom from the killing snow. He stumbled himself onto the deserted shoreline and screamed profanities at the higher power.
He stared numbly at her "sleeping" form. 'That's it.' he told himself. 'She's sleeping. She's always sleeping. Like the last time... the last time.' He chortled maniacally in denial.
He took one look at her motionless face and buried himself into her neck. He fell to his knees shaking with the sorrow that wholly consumed his being. " C'mon, Tomoyo. C'mon, I didn't mean it. I don't want you to-to leave me. Please don't go. Please?"
His child-like pleading did nothing though. She was stone cold frozen. He wailed silently in absolute misery and called out in the night. Naively trusting that God would miraculously give Tomoyo her body back. " Come back to me, Tomoyo. One last time, come home with me and we'll grow old together. Remember? Just like you said." He sniffed innocently and wiped away frosted liquids that dried crystals upon his English face. He caressed her icy visage and thumbed her still soft lips urging her to breath. Planting a light kiss upon her forehead, trying to bring her back. Holding her, trying to let her feel the warmth he had to offer.
Childishly speaking to her as if she could hear him. Trying to bring her back with memories held so close to his heart. His tear-strained face afraid to see her dead face.
" We-we'll buy our very own island. Yes, just you and me. We'll wipe away the past, everyone. All we need is each other. There's no need for anyone else. If you don't come back, wha-wha-what will I do? Are you going to leave me, heart? Did you leave me without giving me anything to ease my life without you?"
He watched as time passed by and she remained unmoved by his heart wrenching cries. " No, you're not gone. You're not, Tomoyo. Find your way home. Home to me." His weak tone persistent on persuading her to return to him. Whether she could hear him or whether she has long left her body.
He felt the insuppressible trepidation loom uncompromisingly upon his soul. The untainted woe that swallowed him whole as he watched his dead Tomoyo lay cradled upon his lap and in his arms. He captured her closer to his body. Her head drooped perfectly in the curve of his collar.
There, on the shore, he rocked her back and forth as he sat on snow- besmirched sand overlooking the frozen crashes of waves on waves. His arm wound tightly around the collapsing body of an angelic songbird. His hand clutching to the refined palm of her spiritless corpse.
His unremitting whimpers trying to wake her initiated the harder crashes of waves as it cried for both him and the breathless nightingale.
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She heard him, though. On the outskirts of life and death. She knew what lay behind her. A nameless shadow that threatened to attack if she refused pass over.
The one that stood between her and Eriol. A force darker than jealousy and love. She was nearing the end of the tunnel. The light elucidated brighter at the end. It was a journey through which every pace lessened her memory of the life she had before, but every time she stepped, she remembered more and more of Eriol.
Every cry he wailed, she heard. Every stab of reality that he tried to deny, she felt. Every memory they shared together that he recalled shone brighter in her mind. Every tear he shed broke her heart in pieces. Glass upon cement.
So she turned unable to ignore it. " Please, Dark Shadow. Will you not let me go back to him?" Brimming sweet tears stopped by her lower delicate lashes.
The lifeless brooding void slowly shook its head. Her head hung low as she turned back and continued a few paces more.
" TOMOYO!!! GOD, TOMOYO!" His shout in desperate distress. His throbbing scream pierced into the air.
She jumped at the vivid call. She shook her head lightly to stop her tears. Should she grieve for her own death? No, of course not. She grieved for the ones she left behind. She grieved for Eriol. The black figure approached and lifted her chin to its faceless hood prodding her to keep moving.
She shook her head out of its dark grasp. Closed her eyes and inhaled a deep, aching breath. " No. Just for a moment. Please? I ask of no more. Only a bit. Just to say good-bye. I am not passed the tunnel yet. Please, there is still a bit of time left for me to run back. Just tell me when my time is up and I will go, but please, just to say a few words to him. To spare him of pain." Her graceful virtuous face importunate as she bit her lower lip to keep it from quivering. Waiting for the uncertain answer. Eagerly looking up to darkness, hanging on to the fool's hope that he would allow her to return.
This time the shadow did not nod, nor did it give any significance to deny. It stepped out of her way. Surprised, she glanced doubtfully and then started in a sprint. A sprint for home.
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She could feel the cold air again. The newly freezing breath of ice that met all whose spirit prepared itself to depart from the body. She made her last step and found herself tired and broken again.
No. Not broken, whole in a sense, but no longer broken. She felt him. She could. His breath upon her back. His warm cheek pressed against her ear.
Wrapped in the warmth of you... loving every breath of you.
Her nerves snapped with utter life again and she started to feel every physical pain that racked her body.
It was well worth it, though. She attempted to blink.... and did so successfully. Relaxing against Eriol, she basked in his presence. Closing her amethyst eyes and savoring the feel of his skin against hers.
She could feel the motion of her mouth and the numbness of her tongue dissolving. On breathless air, she strivingly called. " E-Eriol?"
Everything stopped at a stand still. The thrashing waves calmed itself, the flurry that fell hard before reduced to a light snowfall, and Eriol... sweet, sweet Eriol shook uncontrollably with disbelief and liberation.
He slowly lowered her head from the support of his shoulders. His eyes sparkling next to the night sky among other stars. She lightly smiled at him. A soothing smile that pacified his suffering.
" T-T-Tomoyo?"
" Yes?" She stared at his face. She had it memorized and imprinted in her heart and mind so that even as she passed the valley of shadow, she will remember him still. Always.
" You-you came back." He brought his hand to the edge of her lips as she beamed weakly at him.
" Yes, Eriol. I heard you calling and I had to. I couldn't help it. Dear, dear Eriol. Why do you cry out? Had you not wanted me to go away? Had you not wanted desperately to erase me out of your mind?"
" Noo." His engaging countenance contorted with guilt and agony washed over with horrible anxiety.
Her snowy complexion softened in depression, her lips curved in a frown. She lifted her gracious hand and softly wiped a way a tear from his cheek. " Shhhh. Eriol, please don't cry. It's not the end. It's only the beginning. We'll meet again someday. I promised, remembered? Until you forgive me." He took her slipping hand it held it close to his face. Loving her light touch.
She smiled reassuringly at him. He envisaged the epitome of reckless wretchedness. " What if I've already forgiven you? Will I see you again?"
The naively sweetness of Eriol Hiiragizawa touched her heart kindly. " Love, why do you ask?"
He whimpered his muffled response. " There was nothing to forgive, Tomoyo. If anything, I'd already forgiven you a long time ago."
She released a gentle sigh. " Eriol, I'll find a way back to you. By any means, I shall still wait for you at the gates of heaven. I promise you that."
The words cut into Eriol with finality. " No, Tomoyo. What do you mean? You're not leaving now are you? Oh, please no. Who will I be with if you leave?"
" Kaho." As if by being forever condemned, he bit his lip bloody and violently shook his head.
" I'm sorry, Eriol. I'm dying. I've been dying. I couldn't tell you. I couldn't let you know." Tear welled up in her sparkling amethyst eyes. " I hadn't the heart to tell you. I wanted to protect you from whatever pain I could have caused you. I couldn't bear to see you sad. I didn't want you acting weird and kept Kaho waiting. I couldn't stand knowing that I held you back."
She tried to smile. " But I guess, I made it worse, didn't I?"
Eriol's grief-stricken face stared at the rippling waters grimly. " It's not funny, Tomoyo."
" I'm sorry, Eriol. I didn't mean it to be." She gently squeezed his shivering hands.
" It's cold, Eriol. I'm going cold."
Eriol heard it before. He wide-eyed panicked. " No! No! It's not you, Tomoyo. It's the weather." He uneasily smiled at her. " Yes, it's the weather. Tomoyo, you're not going cold. You see, it's snowing."
His smile, however, diminished just as soon as he felt her fading. She wheezed in between her coughs and panted in between her words.
Sweat beads clustered on her brow. " Eriol, you have to go on with Kaho. She loves you dearly."
He shook his head frowning. Her voice lowered to a whisper as she gently brought both her poised hands to his quaking face. " Promise me."
His face stretched with agony and hurt as he cried out. No, he didn't want to be with Kaho.
" Yes." She shook her own head in reassurance, her eyes threatening to close...
" She is so good to you, Eriol. Be good to her." She struggled to keep her eyes.
Eriol knew when something was being taken from him and God was claiming Tomoyo.
He lifted his twisted face upon the falling snow. " WHY DO YOU DO THIS? IS THIS MY PUNISHMENT? DO YOU TEST US? DAMN YOU. DAMN YOU! WHY CAN'T I KEEP HER?! Why?" He felt her touching his bleeding lip and trying to sit up. He looked down, his brows curved in sympathy. She slowly propped her arm against his thigh and lifted her head.
Her forehead equal to his. Her eyes half open, but still bright. " I'll always love you, but it's time I have to go. He's calling."
He brought his arm around her waist. " No." Like a little boy possessive over his teddy bear. " You can't leave. I won't let him take you."
She placed her hand against his chest and lifted her head. " I'll be right here." A sad smirk spread across her face as she leaned in and kissed him gently.
Ice water poured over her and she went.
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She gripped blindly at the cold wall. She gathered air to her lungs in adjustment to breathe. There she was. On the steps invisible in between the entrance of the tunnel and where Eriol stared dazedly at her smiling dead body.
The dark shadow waited on the steps, beckoning her to hurry. But she ran back to Eriol. She knew he could not see her, but she hoped he still heard her calling.
She laid a peaceful hand upon his bent back and whispered in his ear. " Take me home." Surprised, he turned his head in her direction and looked her straight in the eye.
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There she stood, a phantom. More like an angel. Draped in a white silken sheet. Her hair adorned with lovely pearls. There she was. Kneeling down to his destroyed soul. Asking him to take her home.
Smiling to him as if nothing had happened. He looked at her in incredulously. Then looked down at her body. And back to her. " You..."
She beamed ethereally. " Me." A dark shadow emerged behind and took her hand pulling her away.
She remained happy and mouthed comfortingly " Don't worry." Waving goodbye.
And there on her finger was bound a small string of hemp that he hadn't expected she would keep.
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A single ray of light crept its way into the crystallized cave. Shafts of light reflected off the precious wall and into the aqua pool inflicting an awe of radiance.
At the opening of the secret cave, came in a boy. His hand clasped to a little girl two years his junior.
" Eriol. What is this cave? Are you sure it's safe. If I get in trouble one more time because of you, I'll really pummel you straight into the ground."
He continued his climb down the rocks. " HaHa, uh huh. Not if the thunderstorms get you first. Anyways, it's not like I've been here before. I just thought it'd be an adventure."
He slyly smirked at her.
She rolled her eyes. " That's real comforting. Keep your eyes on the path, stupid."
" Fine, fine. Just cuz' you can't take my charming face."
He would've expected a smack upside the head, but he looked back and saw her eyes sparkling and her mouth almost touching the floor.
" Yea, that's what I thought Tomoyo. Just can't resist can you?"
She made no response to his stupid compliment, though. She just looked on in front of him and stared in wonder. So he looked back as well.
It was a sight to behold. A pool lined with soft, damp sand, lined with a dark limestone wall encrusted in glimmering mineral jewels. He pulled her to the sand where a ray of sun shone through from the roof.
The mute Tomoyo suddenly went " Woooooaaahhh."
" Yeeeaaaaa. Hey, hey! Look at this! He neared one of the walls where a clear rock jammed out of the wall."
As young Master Eriol stupidly tried to pull one of the rocks out of the wall, Tomoyo twirled about like the little girl she was.
Diziness overtook her and she stood in place for a while. " Eriol??"
" What?!" His voice echoed from wall to wall.
" Where are you, airhead?"
" Over here!... over here... over here."
" How the heck am I suppose to know where you are?! I'm just gunna sit here. Under the sunlight."
Soon, he emerged from one of the cave openings with bloody fingers.
She jumped to her feet and ran to him. She took his hands into hers. " What in the world did you do to yourself? Trying to find a way to blame things on me again, I'm guessing?"
He pouted and attempted to pull away. She held on rigidly. " Stop it, you idiot. What were you trying to do anyways?"
He hung his downcast eyes at the pool of clear water. He slid one hand into his flannel shirt pocket and pulled out a string of hemp.
He kept his head low as he cautiously lifted his eyes to her concerned face. " I was trying to make you a necklace, but the crystal wouldn't budge. Instead, the dumb thing cut my fingers."
Before he could look up again, he was on the floor. She had ran in and hugged him.
He lightly pushed her off of him. They sat laughing in "their" cave billowing echoes everywhere. " You're so weird, sometimes, Eriol."
" Only the best for Tomoyo! Here give me your hand."
She skeptically pulled her sand stained hand from the ground. He placed her hand on his knee has he tried to wind the hemp several times around her finger and bowed into a knot.
" There."
She smiled at him. " What? No crystal?"
He rolled his eyes. " I'll get you a diamond later if you want."
Her eyes smiled sparkling at him and she stood up in her sand tarnished sundress and kissed him nimbly on his cheek. " You're funny, Eriol. C'mon, we better go. Nana will wonder where we are and why we're not eating her apple pies."
He looked at her reluctantly before he decided he should speak. " Will you stay with me until we're both old and gray, Tomoyo?"
She was already halfway up climbing the stones when she looked around at him still sitting in the secluded area of sunny sand. Her eyes shining innocently next to the crystal walls. She disappointingly shook her head at his question.
He slowly got onto his feet when she called out to him. " No, Eriol. I won't stay with you until we're both old and gray. How could anyone possibly stick with you 'til then."
He lifted his morose sapphire eyes to her high slight figure on the rocky steps.
Her amethyst eyes glowed sarcastically and sincerely simultaneously while she lifted to show her hemp fasten finger. " No Eriol, I'll be with you longer than even forever. How could any girl resist being with such a debonair 10 year old as yourself. My world would just fall through. No, I'm just going to have to be with you longer than 'THAT'." She winked mischievously and returned mounting back up to the cave's mouth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There he stood behind in the cave happy and assuming nothing could tear them apart.
Trusting they would be together for an eternity. Unquestioning that there is no force stronger than the bond of their childhood friendship and love.
But no, he was wrong.
He was very wrong.
Even though, she was there, she wasn't wholly there with him for the remainder of his life.
In life, he half eagerly waited until it was his time to meet the freezing waters and in death, she stood in the sky, watching over him and his family.
- The End -
[A.n.] Sigh. and so ends the story. Is it really the end? Naaaaahhhh. Well. yea. That was basically the ending, but I guess I'll do the whole epilogue thing. Hope I get reviews. I mean. this is the end of the story really, and it would awfully suck if I didn't get any. So again, I really really appreciate the reviews. It does help me write the story and tells me what you like about it so I could make it stronger, but yea. So REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO..... REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW. (^^).