Chapter 10

Chains of Destiny

The chill drops of water fell endlessly from the pregnant, black sky. She hated it tonight, despite the fact that normally she would have welcomed it gratefully. It took away the stifling heat of oncoming summer, and renewed life everywhere. How was she to complain? But tonight, it was just one more obstacle to a preordained end.

His steel wings dripped the liquid silver in rivers, and regardless of what he had become, Miyu still found beauty in his icy, indifferent composure, so like it had always been. He was unafraid of Death, of the Darkness, of killing – her. He was pompous with his long sword shimmering violently by the occluded scarlet moon, seemingly uncaring of his sopping hair as it covered his cerulean gaze rapaciously.

His cloak stuck to his body like a second skin, and he welcomed the lucid composure that exuded from the freezing night. He had brought Miyu here despite his better wishes and most earnest pleas against it, and as he looked on beside her, saw that this had been inevitable. Despite the crimson blood that washed over her with the rain, the broken bones that purpled her ivory skin, she would have came, and she would have fought, and tonight, her Destiny would be fulfilled either way.

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Larva had pulled away hesitantly, resigned to reason and what had to be done. He felt her surprise and nearly went against his better sense to finish what he had begun, but he knew that one night of unrestrained passion could never do either of them justice. He was a servant. She was a Guardian. That was all there was to be said.

"No……" she had pleaded, and he had nearly assented to the insanity. "You are more than that to me. I would not have fought so many and killed so many if you were not more to me."

He had remembered suddenly Garline, Barrow, Lilith, Lemures, and Reiha, then. Each had fallen by this Guardian's - his Guardian's - hands and flames. Each had fallen because they had dared to separate the inseparable, and question undeniable truth.

"Larva……"

He had placed one slender finger over her lips, then, and silenced her just as quickly as he had pulled her up beside him to look out upon the vapid world that appeared to them as a window.

"No. Not yet," he had instead insisted, though his voice felt hollow as he forswore that which he most desired. "Your Destiny awaits. And until it is either fulfilled or you call forth its end, Guardian and Servant may never become more."

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He had seen the truth in those words as much then as he did now, but that one assurance did not make the aching in his heart any less. The end was near.

And now he stood sodden by the unexpected rains beside the great Guardian of Japan against the one and last great stray shinma of Japan: the Guardian's once lover, a bird named Aya.

"I see you've returned to meet your death, Miyu," he whispered quietly through the misting sheets of rain, and though Larva dared to deny it, could he feel remorse?

"If that is indeed my Destiny, then yes. Aya." Miyu's voice quivered as it called his name sorrowfully. How different she wished so ardently things could have been. He lifted his face then and Miyu suddenly saw the impossibility of such a wish.

"Destiny? You dream, Guardian," he spat disrespectfully. He raised his sword, steel screaming and throwing cascades of rain in a deadly beautiful arc. "Now, die!" He rushed her with unprecedented speed and she was too shocked to dodge as he came, flaming eyes clamoring for her blood.

Yet Larva was more prepared. He had his scythe clash dangerously against Aya's own, and Miyu fell backwards both from her own weakness and strength from the blow. Larva clenched his teeth against the unexpected onslaught and jumped backwards as a steel wing came for his face. It won his shoulder.

Miyu felt shock cover her as she felt the steaming blood of her servant spill on to her face as he still half carried, half dragged her to a more opportune place for battle. And at once the crimson world of her being encompassed them all.

Larva placed her reverently against a tree as though she were a prized doll, and hissed as the blood of his being began to spill in earnest through the stinging wound. He should have been faster, he knew, but he had not. Miyu had clouded his mind. He suddenly heard the dragging steps of his enemy.

"Ah. I see Miyu is as blind as ever. Her emotions will be her demise," Aya cowed. Larva felt himself grit against the pain and hiss the air from his lungs that should have been a scream, as the wound wracked him.

"Oh, is the pain too much for you, pretty boy. So sorry. I suppose Natori did too good of a job when he first forged this sword and then gave it to me. His soul rests in it, you know……." Aya's voice had lingered a moment then, and Larva's mind struggled to replace the name Natori.

"Though fated enemies we were, honorable allies I wish we could have been. Both of our fates are predetermined. Forgive me for mine."

The bird shinma prince, Natori.

He had left behind that one steel feather as testimony to Miyu of his final departing respect to her, and suddenly the words held meaning. So he had been setting the stage for the final battle all along. Natori, truly the last great stray shinma, had set his minions one after another to their Destinies to keep the Guardian preoccupied enough to stay longer than desirable and have her coincidentally fall in love with an all too perfect human. It was artful.

"Really?" Larva hissed despite himself. "Such a shame such a great shinma as he should have died for a pathetic fledging such as yourself. He must've betted everything on your winning this final battle. What a shame his life's work should be such a waste……" he continued to cow.

"I doubt you even know what your power is……" Larva strode confidently before his quarry though in all honesty hardly felt it. His body was already numbing from the poisons he could only imagine were fused within the blade, but it hardly mattered now, he knew. This was the final battle.

"Ah. Honto ni, Bishonen, ka? You really mean it, pretty boy? We'll see about that," Aya finished menacingly as he raised his sword and left hand in unison. Swiftly, a frigid cold wind such as Larva had never experienced engulfed them, and the rain that drenched Miyu's crimson world, froze midair and became snow. Larva held back a gasp as the cold pierced him as no blade ever had.

"So you see. There's more than meets the eye!" Aya rushed Larva agilely, and though Larva readied to parry, the blow never came. He stood momentarily frozen both in body and mind.

"Where is that bastard……?" he whispered inwardly, his shallow breaths coming as great clouds from his mouth, when suddenly Larva cried out, a peerless steel blade slicing through his abdomen without remorse. He slumped in a bloody heap to the immaculate, translucent snow, marring it with his rich, scarlet blood. His garnet eyes faded to a blank.

"Pompous idiot," Aya cackled to himself as he airily made his way to the tree under which Miyu's prone body lay slack. He regarded her warily as he came closer, scarlet blood falling in rivulets from the slick blade. He crouched before her as he placed one hand upon the remarkably smooth bark to steady himself, his face and breath cascading down her neck.

"You know, I do think I loved you once," he began in a tone not so unlike his lost human counterpart. "You were everything I'd ever wanted: intelligent, beautiful, cunning, confident, isolated, aloof, and arrogant; my equal. What a pity our Fates can never be changed, shinma as we are. Only humans have that luxury. But still, I did love you……"

His eyes roved upwards to glance at her unblinking eyes, lost in some unseen vision. He raised his face to level, and dared to grant himself a final perverse farewell: a departing kiss. It was long and sensual, heated and passionate. He moved more deeply into Miyu, suddenly forgetting his sword in his desire.

Aya's spine suddenly arched as he howled in agony. He looked down to see scarlet claws poised through his chest. They were yanked viciously unexpectedly, and another peel of screams erupted from him. Miyu suddenly rose from her seat, Aya's sword firmly in her grip, as she stared him down from her supremacy above him. Larva came up beside her; his wound miraculously disappeared, though the cloak was an obvious loss. Aya jumped backwards, barely managing to land on his knees as he coughed up blood.

"You worthless whore….." he whispered inaudibly as his blood seeped through his lips. He rose unsteadily to his feet. "How dare you?"

"Easily. I am the Guardian," Miyu returned haughtily. Her own injuries disappeared in a warm breeze as her fire began to return her world to normalcy. Aya's face contorted with rage.

"Then dare this!" he screeched as a blizzard engulfed both Miyu and Larva. Larva held them soundly to the ground as the howling winds so like Reiha's whipped at their faces. Miyu raised her right hand confidently as her flame ignited in an inferno, subduing the blizzard until only a direct line of battle between she and Aya remained.

Larva could feel the strain running along her spine as she continued to battle Aya's blizzard. He lifted his own right hand to hers and gave her his strength, her immortal blood in his body igniting within them both strength of which they had never known. The final burst of flame shot out voraciously, and engulfed Aya with a loud crackle.

Miyu turned away quickly as a howl of rage rang out. But Larva yanked her back, stealing from her grasp the sword as he swung it. Aya's head fell uselessly to the ground before both he and Miyu, as Aya's lifeless body disappeared into the crimson night along with it.

"Return to the Darkness, Shinma," Larva whispered quietly. Miyu sunk to her knees and Larva followed her graciously.

"That is it. This is the end," she whispered at last. "My heart tells me there are no more stray shinma in Japan. It's really over. There's nothing left." She began to put a tired, ivory hand to her brow. Larva took it into his own as his mask fell in pieces soundlessly to the ground.

"We're still here," Larva countered as he embraced her fully. Feeling at last at peace after so long of being in turmoil. She loved him. That was all that mattered. She pulled away softly to bore her glistening golden eyes into his garnet ones before she placed a gentle, gossamer kiss upon his lips. He returned it lovingly, passionately. He released her only hesitantly.

"Larva, break the chains of Destiny, for me," she pleaded, and an icy blade pierced his heart. "Please. End it now."

He looked away suddenly, beyond himself, beyond Miyu, beyond anything in front of him as he pondered her request heavily. He had sworn to do so if ever she asked it of him. There was no excuse for him to deny her.

He lifted the Yugure no Tori, Aya's shinma sword, with a hiss, and contemplated its flawless surface. Finally his face resolved as he raised Miyu's face to his own for his own final kiss as he grasped the sword firmly by the hilt and sank it through Miyu's back, all the way till it pierced through his own.

Death did not nearly feel as painful as he had once thought, as the soft breeze of the real world called out its farewell to the pair, his cool lips indulging one last time in his lover. But swiftly the sakura petals fell around them in a cascade, and the world resolved to peerless white.

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The End ( kind of, but not really......)

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::SIGH:: That was beautiful, in my opinion. Of course, you probably are highly desirous of my death at the moment…… But I am kidding about "The End". Though technically it is The End, there will be an epilogue. However, there's something else I'd like to say right now.

All of you reviewers have been awesome with me, especially those of you who have stuck with me since "Impossible Emotion". So as a departing gift to everyone I'd like to give all my reviewers from now until most likely two to three weeks after the epilogue is released to submit to me any and all ways you would like Aya to die. It will be incorporated by yours truly into the "Kill Aya Special". So please make a point of designing and submitting your choicest way of killing Aya to me before the deadline in a review.

Yours truly,

Sakuran

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Review Responses

Normally I would do this to my greatest joy and capacity, but to all of my latest reviewers: forgive me. I can't respond to you. For reasons of which I may not disclose, please forgive me for my rudeness in so doing. But thanks for all of the awesome reviews!