Dear Readers: As many of you are aware, this past weekend was the 4th of July, a national holiday here in the USofA. As such, I was miles away from my computer (245.9, to be precise) and was wasting time lying beside a pool, recharging. :) So, do forgive this writer's need to recharge her batteries.
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Bara no Scarlet Chapter 50 Gates
In the sudden stillness, Anshii blinked. Both Dios and Akio were gone, and only she and Utena remained on the platform. Anshii looked at Utena curiously. When she looked back, the Rose Gate stood prominently on the far side of the platform.
A glass coffin lay in the center of the arena, and with hands still clasped, Utena and Anshii approached it.
They both looked in and saw someone that looked to be Akio. Utena's hand disentangled from Anshii's, and she rested both hands in fists on the top of the coffin.
"He won't ever bother you again."
Anshii and Utena spun to see Dios standing there, a sad smile on his face. Anshii moved towards him, but he shook his head.
"No... I won't be here much longer. Once you two go through the Rose Gate..." He looked at it in the distance.
Utena clenched her fists tighter. "I've gone through Hell to finally come face-to-face with you. Do you think I'm going to let you go now?"
Dios' eyes widened as Anshii nodded. "You are my brother. I'm simply not going to leave you to fade into the darkness forever."
Dios shook his head. "The only way for me to go with you is if I... become him." He pointed to the coffin.
Utena looked at him. "And?"
Anshii looked from Utena to Dios. "I can live with that. I miss my brother."
Dios shook his head. "After everything that he has done? I don't want to take his place. I don't want to walk in that world again."
"We need your light!" Anshii blurted out. "The world needs you, Dios! Don't you fall for that same crap! You are light and hope and everything that this world needs. Everything that I need... everything that I lost the day I sealed you away." Tears suddenly fell down her cheeks, and she sank to the floor, red skirts and crinoline pooling around her.
Unable to watch his sister in pain, Dios moved to her, reaching out and pulling her to him as he used to do when they were younger. "Anshii... Anshii... I'm sorry. It was my fault for not listening to you. Hope became despair because I didn't listen."
Utena wasn't finished. "So will you listen now? Or will you turn away from us both and vanish forever?"
Dios looked at Utena, shocked into silence. As he watched, Utena's gown glittered, shifted, and became her school uniform.
"No, you don't want to take Akio's place. But I'm guessing that if you... become... him," she pointed to the coffin, "you'll still be yourself, only grown older. In that case, being Akio's mirror, you're his twin."
A light glittered in Dios' eyes as he listened. In his arms, his sister had stopped shaking with tears.
"So you come back with us as Dios Himemiya. Akio Ohtori is gone, fled from the authorities after the murders of Kanae Ohtori and Mariko Kunihita... yes, he did it, we all know it..." Utena stopped and looked at the two on the floor. "I'll finally get to meet my prince, and Anshii gets her brother back."
Anshii looked up at Dios with wide eyes. "It could work..." she whispered hopefully. "With Kanae and Akio both gone, Ohtori falls to me. It was part of Kanae's caveat on the marriage. We could fix the school, undo what Akio has done. Ohtori can shine again like it used to."
Dios thought about it. To exist in the world again... he nodded. "We'll try it your way."
Utena grinned and winked at Anshii. "I knew you'd see it our way. What should we do?"
Dios stood and walked over to the coffin. "Open the coffin." And with those words, he vanished.
The figure inside the coffin opened his eyes and Anshii scrambled to her feet to help Utena push the coffin open.
When he sat up and pushed his hair out of his eyes, they both knew at once that it was Dios and not Akio. With a little half-laugh, he looked at them. "I'd forgotten... how sweet the air is..."
Anshii burst into tears again, and Utena reached out and pulled her into a hug. Startled, Anshii hugged her back and heard Dios climb out of the coffin. As she stepped back, she looked around. "But... the swords...?"
Dios' eyes hardened for a moment. "Akio."
Anshii wanted to ask further, but the set of Dios' jaw told her he wouldn't answer. When Utena suggested they open the Rose Gate together, they walked towards it slowly, letting Dios get accustomed to walking as an adult.
As they came close to the Rose Gate, Dios lifted his hand and the heavy doors swung open. Behind them, the Dueling Platform dissolved into darkness along with the empty glass coffin.
In the distance, the bells rang joyously.
Juri looked at her shattered ring, and then looked across the table. "Let's go."