AN: This is the final chapter. Prepare yourself for a mind-blowing ending, with a bone breaking twist…

Chapter 8: Ripple in time

"This place…I know this place, but how?" Bane jumped over the streaming water and landed quietly on the other side of the bank. The demon examined all the natural landmarks, from the twisted trees, to the familiar mountains in the distance. He continued walking and picked up Kagome's scent, and began running through the forest, until he came to halt, Bane was standing a few yards away from a small house. In front of the small house were Inuyasha, Kagome, a large cat demon, unknown female dressed in black and red clothing, and a familiar girl.

"No, its impossible." Bane ran at full speed towards to small house, leaving a large cloud of dust, and finally made out a familiar face, it was Serenity.

Everyone stood in front of Serenity and shielded her from Bane, they were uncertain on how he would react upon seeing her, and felt that they had to protect her. Bane cracked his knuckles, as he stood in front of three humans and one cat demon. Bane could hear the ever-cumbersome voice of Naraku commanding him to kill, but he repressed the urge and looked past the human barriers.

Bane calmed down, and in a humble voice said, "Serenity? Is that really you?"

Inuyasha and the others parted and Serenity walked forward, her hair blew gently in the breeze, and her teal eyes remained fixed on him. The young girl was surprised to see Bane, she wondered how it could be possible, the Bane she knew and loved was younger, and the man before her appeared different. The clothing he was wearing was unfamiliar to her and his face revealed the pain and suffering that he had endured throughout the hundreds of years. In her eyes she only saw the man that she cared deeply for and would give her body and soul to.

Bane dropped on his knees and began to weep, everyone was in shock, the ruthless demon that had slain hundreds, if not thousands of people and demons, was in tears. Serenity knelt down and held Bane in a loving embrace. She began to comfort him and kissed him gently on the cheek, he in return pushed her away and wiped the tears from his face. Inuyasha and the others leapt in front of Serenity, ready to fight him, when Bane turned away and spoke.

"Serenity…I've done horrible things…I've caused more pain and suffering than any person or weapon in existence. I wasn't meant to be loved…."

Before Bane could finish speaking, Serenity approached him from behind and placed her hand on his broad shoulder, "That's not true!" shouted Serenity. "I-I love you…"

Bane turned around and looked Serenity in the eyes, a bloody tear ran down from his eye. He grabbed both her hands in his, and lowered his head. "I love you too, so much that I can't risk losing you twice." The sorrow filled demon released her hand and walked past her. Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango and Kilala ran over to Serenity, and watched as Bane stopped in front of the small house.

"BANE!" shouted Bane, everyone was confused at first, and then they realized that the other Bane was inside the small house. The door opened and out came the other Bane with a bewildered look on his face. The two demons looked at each other, when the Bane from the present, wrapped his arms around his past counterpart. The two demons gave a loud wail of pain, their bodies twisted in a morbid dance, his flesh blistered and seamlessly fused, until the two demons finally became one, even his clothing changed.

"What did he just do?" asked Sango.

"I'm not sure…I think that the two of them can't exist at the same time, but without a soul I'm not sure what's going to happen next." Kagome replied.

"Bane!" Serenity was about to help him up, when Inuyasha pulled her back. He shook his head in disapproval and warned her to stay back.

"Hahahahahahahaaaa…" Bane slowly got back up, his eyes were pitch black, and they looked like two empty voids. Bane hissed, and lunged at Inuyasha, who quickly swung tetsusaiga, in an effort to defend himself. The large phantom blade threw Bane towards the small house, destroying it, and Inuyasha looked at the edge of tetsusaiga, noticing something strange…

"There's no blood…" before he could say anything else, debris from the small house exploded in every direction.

Once the dust cleared, Bane stood unscathed, his eyes burned with an intense glare, as he watched Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango and Serenity. Bane could be heard snarling, there was a tear of blood running down his cheek, the demon walked out from the destroyed house and began advancing on Inuyasha and the others.

Inuyasha looked at Kagome and whispered, "tell me this is what you had planned all along." Inuyasha bit his lip and focused his attention on Bane, "Sango, if there was ever a time that I needed your help, now is that time."

Sango nodded, and the two began attacking Bane, Sango unsheathed a masterfully crafted black onyx katana, which once belonged to a blind demon slayer, and began striking Bane. Inuyasha did the same, but it was a losing battle, none of the attacks seemed to break his flesh. Bane hit Inuyasha across the face with a mighty punch, knocking him back, the unstoppable Bane then grabbed Sango.

"I haven't killed a demon slayer in years…last slayer I fought begged for his life, before I tore his arms and legs clean off!" snarled Bane, the demon gave Sango a strange look and forced a kiss on her. He ran his tongue around the inside of her mouth and smiled when he was done, suddenly his eyes widened, a single arrow buried itself in the back of his head. Bane reached for the arrow and pulled it out, the small hole quickly healed itself.

Sango took advantage of the situation and thrust her onyx sword into Banes' open mouth. The demon gurgled on its own blood and he released his hold on the female slayer, Sango pulled out the sword and withdrew. Inuyasha stood back up and was about to finish off Bane, when…

"Don't hurt him…" begged Serenity. She shielded Bane from tetsusaiga and closed her eyes as the blade stopped near her head.

"Get away from him, you stupid bitch!" shouted Inuyasha. The hanyou grabbed her by the wrist and threw her aside, in that instant, Bane punched Inuyasha across the face, bruising him, and knocking him back.

Bane suddenly dropped on his knees, squeezing his head with his bloody hands, "Get out of my head!" he shouted. "ARRRGGGGHHHHH!" a bizarre sight caused everyone to move away, a black energy was pulsing from within Bane's body, a ripple could be seen behind him.

"What's happening to him?" asked Serenity. Kagome and Sango restrained the girl from approaching Bane. The air behind Bane continued to ripple, like a stone disturbing a pool of water.

"I-I'm losing my mind!" Bane wailed, as blood began to seep from the invisible pores on his skin, as he tensed up and began hitting his head on the hard ground.

Knowing that it was best not to approach Bane, Sango threw her boomerang at him, the large weapon whirled across the terrain and stopped in front of him, some unknown force suspended it in mid-air.

Kagome gasped, she knew what was happening, "No one approach him, he's become unstable, since he merged with his other self, his mind is being bombard with voices and images. The ripple behind him is time trying to purge itself of him." She quickly explained.

"How'd you come to that conclusion?" Sango asked.

"Right now we don't have time, we have to get away from him." Ordered Kagome.

Inuyasha had Kagome jump onto his back, and Sango convinced Serenity to ride with her on Kirara, they quickly fled from Bane, they could only hear his loud cries of pain.

Images flashed behind Bane, like brief snapshots, they were of him fighting Inuyasha and Sango. Others were of him drenched in blood, a picture of something soon to come. The demon summed the strength to stand up, and the ground beneath him began to fold, and even Sango's boomerang twisted and changed shape, until everything became perfectly still.

For that brief moment, the voices in Bane's head ceased, and he felt a calm come over him, "S-S-So quiet now…" the once invincible demon gave a smile, his entire body turned black. Every pore in his body was seeping blood, and his eyes rolled back, Bane lost consciousness. His skin melted off, revealing the muscles underneath, he fell back on his knees and dropped backwards, facing the heavens. The black energy around him grew more intense, and in less than one second, a loud explosion shattered the eerie silence.

Some distance away, Inuyasha and the others looked back and could see a large shockwave headed towards them. It swallowed everything behind them, until it finally caught up to them. A cold feeling passed through their bodies and they stopped near a small hill, watching as the wave of energy disappeared into the horizon.

"What the hell was that?" Inuyasha felt strange, he looked down and felt the bullet wounds heal. He removed his haori and tore the bandages off. The wounds that he had received from Kagome's time were disappearing. Inuyasha looked at Kagome and demanded an explanation

"Time altered itself…since he merged with his prior self, he became twice as fierce, but with Naraku's voice in both of their heads, his mind couldn't take the stress. I think the fabric of time wiped him from existence." Kagome explained.

"So, does that mean that everything that he did has been undone?" Inuyasha asked. "If it is, why do I still remember? Shouldn't I have forgotten?"

"I don't know, maybe because we're here and not in my time, that shockwave didn't wipe our memories clean. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, but that's the only theory I have" Kagome replied, she then noticed Serenity was in shock.

Serenity jumped off of Kirara and looked towards the land, from where she stood a massive black spot could be easily seen, "Bane…" she whispered. "Why did you people have to take him away from me?" she cried.

"We didn't take him away from you." Answered Kagome. "What he did, he did to protect you, he told me everything about you two, from when you found him, to the day he regretted the most, the day he…killed you."

Kagome hugged Serenity and comforted her. The crying girl wiped the tears from her face and began walking towards where her home used to be. Kagome followed her, and ran up to her side, "Serenity? Where are you going?" she asked.

"Back home…" she replied.

"But…there's nothing there anymore." Kagome reluctantly said, Inuyasha and Sango could only watch from a distance.

"That's okay…I've lost everything before, but only this time, at least I have the memory of someone who cared deeply for me, even though it was for a brief moment." Serenity grew smaller as she continued walking back home.

"Should we go after her?" asked Sango.

"No, even if we did, I don't think that she'd come with us, not after what we did." Kagome looked backed and had lost sight of Serenity. Inuyasha, Kagome and Sango remained quiet, the wind blew across the land, and the green grass danced in unison with the air. They headed back home, Inuyasha needed time to heal from his new wounds and Sango felt burdened by her role in Serenity loss. Kagome on the other hand remained silent, and ran back to the well, emerging in her time. She found her house untouched, the large hole in the wall was gone, and she entered her home, it was as if nothing had happened.

Kagome asked her mother if she remembered anything, but she didn't, since Bane ceased to exist, his heinous acts of violence didn't either. All was back to normal…

Four months later, back in the feudal era, Serenity stood outside watching the sunset over the snow-covered mountains. Her house had been rebuilt and she looked towards the heavens, and spoke, in hopes that Bane would hear her.

"I miss you Bane…you may be gone, but I won't ever forget the weeks you spent with me…" Serenity leaned against a small tree and placed her hand on her stomach, "…I only wish that you could be here when you child is born."

The End.

AN: I hoped you all liked "Bane throughout Time", write to me and let me know what you thought about the story, especially the ending. I still have a chapter that involves Sess fighting Bane, if anyone wants to see it, write to me and let me know, it takes place before Bane is found by Serenity. I also have brief chapter of Inuyasha explaining to Kagome how he escaped from his ordeal with the cops, when Bane left him holding the dying girl.

My next fanfic will be far darker, it's what led me to write this. Once I submit it you'll see some similarities, it's going to be a one-shot, with some, if not all your favorite characters dying. Which I've never tried before, so keep a look out for that.

Special thanks to NiteRoseWench, for the spark of inspiration that lead me to create the previous chapter and this ending. The countless readers that have sent me mail, I'd name you all, but there are just too many, never have one of my stories gotten such a huge response.

And once more, read and review "Beyond what the eye can see" by Benjamin Maxwell, his story is very well written and deserves some attention.

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