Chapter Fourteen – Sight Beyond
Laying somewhere in the endless waves of metallic brown foils and the endless horizon of hapless rock, the smoldering Scion of Uranus and Neptune were completely awed by what had happened to them. Blood crept aimlessly away from them both, their bodies mangled and their souls finally freed from the confines of their betrayal. The breath that had once spit insults and seethed cruelty now fell fast from their lips, synchronized to the fast approaching finality that awaited them both. Their lives had been an instrument of madness. The things they held dear had been taken from them both – their talents, their achievements, their indomitable spirit. As their souls lie shattered around them, it was spite for the Universe that caused them both to be smiling, resigned to the fate that had come of them.
For as vicious as their sin had been, the last moments of their lives were spent with each other, their hands clasped together and their bruised and beaten faces placed mere whispers away. It was the ultimate reward for their tumultuous deeds.
"Did you see it, Mi-chan? Did you see the light?" Roka asked weakly, his hand doing all it could to hold to Michio's.
Michio nodded through his blurry vision, only able to make out the smiling face of his lover before him. "Yes," he replied. He found it slightly ironic that his last moments would be spent pondering the possibilities of his life, for it was the strike of his hand that brought about his gruesome death and that of his lover. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to regret it. The last moment before all became a haze of pain and penitence was a glance at something truly wonderful – something that would deliver him into the next place. Squeezing Roka's hand as strongly as he could, his eyes closed for the last time and his last breath was given through bloodied, smiling lips.
"He is as beautiful as I always hoped he would be."
Roka, pivoting his dying moments on that last thought, smiled also as his head weighed like lead across his arm. The final Scion, those of legendary piteousness and design, lay timeless across the flats of a forgotten pasture, one that bloomed with golden flowers and savage green silk. As beautiful as their tomb became, it fell away from the sight of the living and dead, destined to be forever in the scales of reciprocity.
Yet the remained for always together and alone.
"Perhaps I will make love to him before I destroy you," Eve taunted to a frozen Rei, endlessly delighted at the look in her eyes. For Rei, the silent face of Yamito was an eternity away from her, just out of reach due to the crystal enveloped around her. Yet Eve was easily able to touch him, to take him for her own. It was the ease of her movement that delayed her victory. She had to take one last moment to savor her prize and prove that this love Rei felt for him was no match for the simplicity of destiny and the fact that Yamito's ambiguous existence was beyond human. Eve, being the seed of a god and the embodiment of four of the purest senshi, felt naturally inclined to be at the side of the rare seraphim.
But even in her case of crystal, Rei was screaming out that such a thing was a lie. This power that had devoured Kurobashi Yamito and now played his existence was no seraphim, but something much more fantastic.
Eve's eager hand strayed close to Yamito's pallid cheek. In the silent screams of the lover and the echoed pleas of the Messiah, Eve felt devilishly invincible and unable to be stopped. However, the ripple of the air around her and the piercing pain in her ears was the lash that brought her back to her fear and caused a prolific tremble to course through her. The shattering of the crystals sent the girls onto the ground, their visions hazed and their minds just slightly upended. Even the energy suspending Yamito broke away, letting the frail body fall to the waiting arms of a shocked Rei. Without pop or crash, the situation had been swiveled and each of the girls followed Eve's terrified gaze to the single figure standing precisely where the rift had opened and swallowed Kage.
Each of them held a pensive breath in their throats, for the figure that stood commanding the skies was none other than Kage. However, this was not the Kage that had leapt into the rift for his revenge, nor was any form of the Kage they had all come to know. This Kage was the true Kage. His hair had returned from the black tinge that had branded him as his Acrolyth self. What was left of his uniform was tattered and barely covering his body, revealing the cleansed skin free of scars or memory. It was the naked truth.
Every Scion was now gone.
Makoto could barely allow herself to remain weakened on the ground, her knees bruised and her hands prickled by the rubble and dust of the palace. No amount of fatigue could compare to the burning in her chest and the rumbling in her ears, for the feeling she got as she looked at Kage was the pinnacle of her hopes and dreams for him. Nothing but pure light was bathing him and there was no sign of the darkness of his soul. Kage had returned to the boy that she had fallen in love with by capture alone. This was the Kage she had fought so hard for and suffered so much over. His name came from her lips like a moment of adoration in youth or the abrupt giggle of a girl in love. "Kage…"
Eve was simply beside herself. This was no dream – it was a nightmare. The one creature she feared more than anything had come back from a forbidden dimension and had transfigured into something completely lewd and unexpected. He was a pure soul. That very idea made Eve tremble and feel the effect of his attack on her. "Impossible. How did you…"
"You have no idea what I can see now. I know what you are. I know what he is. I know…" Kage said from his isolated place across from all the others, his hand still raised slightly to his side and poised as if gripping something. Though he appeared far too menacing, Kage's body wavered slightly and the flashes of white energy around his raised hand began to fade slowly. It was obvious all was not well. Yet, Kage found enough clarity to finish his thought to a quivering audience. "Everything." With that, Kage fell to his knees, his body slumped forward slightly and his head bowed out of sheer exhaustion. It was nothing that Eve expected, yet as Makoto cried out and ran to him, she was granted her expectations.
"Kage! Are you all right?" Makoto cried as she slid next to him on her knees, her shaking hands coming over his shoulders to find them bearing no resistance. In fact, with the sheer will of Makoto's hand, Kage fell back into her lap and lay there, as if the dead had tricked the living. Makoto's mind was sent into a thousand directions and her bottom lip trembled. There was no instruction for a young girl cursed to hold a failing lover time and time again, yet Makoto felt no greater love as she did when she was able to hold him like that. Despite the curse on her tongue to the Universe for daring to take him once more, she suddenly passed breath once again as Kage's lips parted in sweet salutation.
"I can see it, Makoto. Even with my eyes closed, I can see the beauty of your soul," he said in a voice that startled her, yet comforted her at the same time. Unable to speak due to the sheer joy of hearing him speak, Makoto simply coughed a cheap laugh out and pulled her fingers through his hair. It was moments like these that worshiped the forlorn lover, and Makoto felt the stars circling her. "I wish you could see," Kage said, opening his eyes finally to her, "like I can see now." Makoto was halted, her eyes frozen in his. It was something that frightened her and amazed her at the same time simply because she had never seen anything like it before.
Kage's eyes had changed. Green hues that had once captivated her were now alive with colors of gold and silver marked around vertically slit pupils; eyes that had conspired to surpass the human condition and become something wonderful. Makoto's chest was frozen to her lungs, yet something inside of her told her just how wonderful this was. "Kage…what are…"
Kage smiled weakly and looked at her with his new eyes, taking in every moment of her existence as if each one were more precious than the last. "My master once told me of a legend that a true warrior of the Ancient Days could grow beyond himself and attain the Ryuugan," he said.
"Ryuugan…" Makoto repeated, her eyes not able to search his fast enough.
"Yes, the eyes of a dragon; able to see the past, present and future. I can see the threads of ki all around us, Makoto. They are beautiful," he continued, looking around them as if thousands of invisible strings were holding their reality aloft. Makoto could barely take it in, but Eve was clenched in rage. This power that had been gained was something strong enough to break free of a forbidden realm, even if it did exhaust the user. She knew what being was the steward of the Dragons and his name was too impressive for her to speak. All she could do was watch as this oracle of the gods was held tightly by a princess of the heavens.
"Kage, I don't want you to die. I just want us to be together," Makoto said weakly, as if she were as weakened as he. To this, she did not receive the usual biting remark or the crushing blow of his hate, but rather the foreign feel of his hand on her cheek and a tender smile on his face.
It was the most wonderful feeling she had experienced with him. "Honestly, I don't know what will happen next. All I see now is Yamito, and the fates of all of us lie with him," he responded. As his eyes closed, Makoto wanted to look back to the defiled rival of her beloved, yet his closing eyes made her claw at him more and fight back the tears of the unknown. "No matter what happens, Makoto, if this life was ever mine to give, I would have given it to you," he said, the energy of his body gone and his neck cradled tightly by her, though he relegated his fate to the one he had so despised before. Just being there, held by the lost love he had so yearned for, was enough to complete his jagged existence.
Makoto, sweetly surrendering to his sultry tone, placed her cheek to his and held him.
Although Usagi could have spent an eternity witnessing the love finally blooming between Makoto and Kage, a cold chill crept up her back just as a drop of sweat ran down her back, signaling to her that all was not right in this place. While she had been so engaged with the love scene, the temperature of the room had climbed to a sweltering level and the feeling growing in her stomach was something she had not felt in a long time. Heat that could petrify her so was the trademark of one person alone. One of the driving reasons for her deviance had been cradled behind her, yet the awakening terror in her heart staggering against the overwhelming desire of raw heat sent Usagi's emotions into a roar. Only the shrieking cry of Rei was enough to convincing of the unthinkable and cause her to turn upon the most frightening sight in her life. It paled her, drained her of her essence. The spectrum of life became nothing more than pastels in the wake of the limitless horror that wait for her beating heart. Yamito stood beyond them, two great black wings spread out from his back like massive sprays of fire and engulfing the entire width of the room. The jaded malice apparent in those spectacular wings towered over any hope in Usagi's heart that this was merely an illusion. No matter how much she longed to see him with his eyes open, it was the limp body held in his arms that broke her, causing her to nearly vomit in disbelief.
Rei was draped across in his arm, lifeless and listless under the heaving demon that held her. It had happened so quickly that only the cry of surprise marked her passing, proving to be a very dull memoriam for such a fine soldier. Neither the girls, nor Eve had enough time to weep over the unthinkable or even consider the truth before Yamito's eyes were opened fully and the flames of his indomitable power began to fan around the room. It was almost as the last time Yamito's power had gone unchecked, when a park in Tokyo was turned into a tomb in a matter on seconds. However, this power was deep and turbulent, stemming from a place beyond any comprehension of men. Usagi stared in terror as the lover and murderer of her beloved Rei held her body close to him, daring any to deny him of his prize. It was the poise of an animal, a mindless creature existing on instinct alone. Regardless of how taken she had been with Yamito, Usagi's neck began to burn with color and the feelings of remorse present whenever her heart was injured came boiling to the surface, stimulated by the fires of Yamito. She had not even seen what terrible fate ended the life of Hino Rei, but it was all she could do to attempt to push the cry out of her throat at him – to deny him of his deed. Never had she been so robbed of the world most beautiful moment. Countless times before, Usagi held a passing lover in her arms and wept over her, offering her the devotion that was duly earned. However, this foul deed came quickly and without fervor. Usagi's heart was ripped from her chest before tick came to tock, truly making this loss of life one of the most heinous in Usagi's long, destitute longing of life and love.
Yet, only the death awaiting was quicker. Yamito's flare began to consume all, destined to end all of the justice and devotion for the last time. There was no word or wait that carried them. The unleashed power of Yamito would kill them all.
The death of Hino Rei, senshi of Mars, was the last tumbler in a cosmic key that had been turned by the gods. With the room quickly becoming an incinerator and the agony on Usagi's face holding out to the very last moment of her own life, the spinner of all tales played his hand and stepped from a hazy mist between Yamito and the others. This single figure stood untouched by the flames around them, yet pierced them with gaze of a patriarch. With hell spawning around them and the fate of this simple world at hand, the figure tapped a glowing staff on the ground and spoke in a voice that echoed through the ages and rumbled the very foundation of their reality.
"It is time."