Author's Notes to readers: drama-nerd016 - I'm not sure what's going on. I've been sending you proof copies. I wonder if a spam filter is catching me somewhere. Anriko - I've checked with multiple browsers... can you email me and tell me what you are seeing? Tama - cackles Haven't you noticed how Akio's losing control? He's becoming less and less coherent. He's losing it, and at the worst possible time. but... to borrow a phrase... sore wa himitsu desu! Milogirl - Welcome to my madness, and keep reading! I'm not telling anything! MimiruDesu - So did Ayomi's.
Now, just to let you know, BnS is finished, set for Sunday night/Monday release. No, I'm not even going to tell you how many chapters there are. That would spoil the fun. -E
Bara no Scarlet Chapter 47 Crisis
The world seemed to come to a stop.
Ayomi blinked, and suddenly, she was standing in the church, the coffin just off to the side. The coffin. That person in there was trying to protect the Rose Bride. And if that person's Rose Bride was Anshii... she ran over to the coffin, not noticing that the Sword of Dios was missing from her hands.
She knocked on the coffin lid, calling desperately to the person inside. "Hello...? Hello...? I need your help! Please, you have to help me!"
"Go away," came the quiet reply.
"Please...!" Ayomi began to push at the lid, forcing it to open inch by painful inch. "You have to help! She's in trouble!"
Little by little the lid started to shift at her insistence. It was so heavy that as she was pushing against it, she felt the heels of her high heeled shoes giving.
"As long as I stay in here, the Rose Bride is safe." The voice was quiet, distant. It almost sounded as if the person inside were in a trance.
"No, she isn't!" Ayomi cried, feeling the tears prickle in her eyes again. So much pain, so much death... her scar was hurting as she pushed the coffin's lid, trying to get a glimpse of the person inside. "Please..." Her strength was starting to ebb, the coffin lid moving less and less as she pushed at it. She wasn't strong enough. She collapsed against the coffin, the lid open only a few inches. "He's killed them both... Kanae... Mariko... They're both dead because of him... and now... now he's going to kill Anshii..." she sobbed.
The lid shifted. Through her tears, Ayomi could see the lid was slowly opening, and she lifted her head to see a slender and pale hand curled around the edge of the coffin. As she stood, the person inside the coffin uncurled and looked out at her without sitting up.
It was a young woman with bright blue eyes and hair the exact same shade of pink as her own. Somehow, she knew that this was Utena, that this was who she was supposed to be. She sniffed valiantly, and looked at the other who was also herself. "I... we have to do something." She extended her hand to the one in the coffin. "You can't hide here anymore."
"But the pain..." Utena whispered, looking at Ayomi. Utena had known Ayomi was there, she'd created her herself. She had given an innocence to the girl that she had hoped would never be broken. That day, when she'd lost her grip on Anshii's hand, she'd made the last-minute decision to become the Rose Bride in Anshii's place. She'd live within the coffin and protect Anshii as long as she lived. She'd shut herself away and allowed Akio to awaken the girl to be called Ayomi, knowing that everything would be safe for Anshii.
She'd never dreamed that Anshii would come back to Ohtori for her.
Ayomi held out her hand again. "We'll live with the pain. Anshii is too important."
Utena smiled sadly as she sat up and took Ayomi's hand. She tilted her head and looked at the girl sadly. "I'm sorry..."
Ayomi felt strangely as if she was going home. The world was fading, changing. As she felt herself shimmer, she shook her head. "I'm not. This was what I was meant to do."
Utena Tenjou stepped out of the coffin and looked at the ring on the floor. Had Ayomi... been...? She reached down and picked up the shiny silver ring, looking at it carefully. After a moment, she kissed the ring and slipped it onto her finger. Power swirled away from her, and she felt the Sword of Dios in her hand, saw the Dueling Platform come into focus, saw Akio begin to bring the sword down on a terrified Anshii who had nowhere to go because her back was to the retaining wall of the Dueling Platform.
She leapt forwards, towards them, sword outstretched.
"Himemiya!"