Home.
T: Because one enthusiastic review is more than enough to get this girl going and because I thought of something evil to do with this chapter I bring you the third and most defiantly final part of Pathway. Warnings remain the same as does the terminology and I am not a member of Clamp, Sadly!
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The journey had been hard, for sometimes it would be two or three worlds until Subaru found one who he believed truly deserving of becoming his meal and sometimes there would be so many that Subaru would gorge himself and the monster would gain a little more control.
Yet every night they slept curled in one another's arms and that warmth…that oneness…was enough to make these difficulties as trivialities.
This world was proving the hardest, not because of hunger or the encroaching threat of the monster but rather because of he that they had met here.
From time to time while Seishiro had travelled on his own he had met other versions of himself, each just that little bit different to himself that it had become clear that they shared only one constant.
Subaru.
Every time he had sat and listened to another version of himself talk of the one he was searching for he had felt so very tempted to ask to meet them…to look into their eyes and find clarity for his mission.
Each time he had resisted the temptation, aware always that these other Subaru's were not his own and that if he looked into their eyes he might find himself compelled to steal them away from their Seishiro and make them his.
Yet as he had stumbled out of the dimensional portal and into this world he had come face to face with another version of Subaru.
This other had looked at him with such disbelief and had taken a step towards him before his Subaru had come through the portal.
The other Subaru had regarded his Subaru a moment and then promptly fainted.
His Subaru had insisted that they take him somewhere safe and thus he was sat now in a cheep hotel room waiting for this other Subaru to recover.
There is a faint cry from the other and then he is looking again into his eyes…the left the familiar green while the right…this Subaru's right eye is the same hazel brown as his own.
"Seishrio..." The way that this Subaru utters his name is so soft and so full of pain that it hurts him a little to hear it. "Are you real?" He enquires, one of his fine fingered hands rising to touch his face.
"Yes."
A momentary pause and then the enquiry of,
"Do you love him?"
"I am sorry?"
"The one that I saw you with on the roof…the one without a soul…do you love him?"
"Yes."
The other Subaru smiles a little then and lowering his hand to press it against his one brown eye he enquires,
"Will you ask him to come and talk to me? There is much I would hear from him and much that he should hear from me."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes…as long as I do not try to touch him with my power I should not faint again."
He wishes to ask about that power and about his right eye and yet he knows that the other will not tell him…that these things are one of the many secrets that this Subaru will impart to the other.
Thus he gains his feet and stepping out into the hallway he catches his loves eyes in his own,
"He is awake and he has asked to see you."
His love nods and moves to pass through into the bedroom, this action stopped as Seishiro takes a gentle hold of his wrist.
"He may look like you, Subaru and yet he is not. You are the one that I was bound to...the one that I love."
"I know." The other responds before he breaks the contact and passes, at last, through the doorway.
………………………………………………………………………………….
"Firstly to save us confusion you can think of me as Sakurazukamori." The other world Subaru remarks as he comes to sit at his side. "Secondly I would ask as to what you are, for when I touched you with my magic I felt nothing."
"I am a vampire…do you have such things on your world or would you care for an explanation?"
"They are mentioned a little within our legends…is Seishiro a Vampire also?"
"No, in fact he is mean to hunt them but…"
"But he loves you." Sakurazukamori remarks before he informs him, "You are very lucky."
"Because he loves me?"
"Because you know it to be as such without doubt."
He is very much aware that Sakurazukamori is dangerous, the power within his blood strong enough that he can feel the monster within himself pushing for control and yet he knows that they can not always dance around the more painful aspects of their pasts…knows that one of them must risk if they are to get anywhere.
"What happened to him?" He enquires and Sakurazukamori stills before he replies,
"I killed him."
"Why?"
Sakurazukamori gives his tale from the very beginning and he listens with a little pity and a great deal of disbelief.
He could never believe that any Seishiro could be capable of such heartlessness and yet the pain in Sakurazukamori's words is enough that he knows this to be truth...knows that there must be a darkness such as this hidden somewhere within the man he loved.
"As he died he told me that he loved me and later I was told that he had left this eye for me and yet…"
"He had hurt you enough by then that you could not be sure if the words were truth or another part of his game."
"Yes."
"Then I will tell you something that may, perhaps, lend you a little comfort. The different versions of Sumeragi Subaru have grown in different ways and become very different people and yet at their heart they are the same, for all of them love or will love Sakurazuka Seishrio.
"It is the one constant…for no matter situation or destiny the heart never changes."
"You mean that as your Seishiro loves you, mine must have loved me?"
"Yes."
Sakurazuka looks happier at that and he tells him his story…tells him of how much he had loved Seishiro and how his sister had come, for a while between that love.
"But he kept searching for me…kept believing that he would find me and here we are."
"If my Seishiro felt that way about me then why did he die? Why did he throw it all away? We could have been so happy…so very happy…"
"I could not tell you defiantly, Sakurazuka, for what motivates my Seishrio might not have motivated yours."
"I think I would like to get some sleep now…will you stay here tonight?"
"Of course, but we will have to leave tomorrow…I can not linger too long in one place."
Seishiro is waiting for him as he steps out of the room and he pulls him as close as he can before he begins to cry.
"It is all so cruel…he is so lonely, so very lonely and the only one who could take that loneliness away is gone."
He brushes the tears from his eyes and he kisses him thoroughly before he informs him,
"We can not let ourselves get involved, love. He needs to live his own life…however cruel that life may be.
"Now are we staying tonight or…?"
"I promised him I would be here tomorrow…I owe him that much."
"Then let us find some spare bedding, shall we?"
He stirs long before his normal and he has only to turn a little in Seishiro's arms to know why.
Sakurazuka is stood in the doorway of the bedroom, his eyes focused on the pair of them and his hands covered in blood.
Wrenching himself as gently as he can from Seishiro's arms he grabs a hold of Sakurazuka and takes him onto the roof of the hotel.
"You did not tell me that you were doing his job…that you were killing innocents…"
"Why should it matter to one such as you? Their deaths are your life…their blood your freedom."
"I have never claimed an innocent life…to do as such would make me no better than those who made me as I am…would make me no better than a monster."
"What if the only way to keep him with you was to take innocent lives? What would you do then?"
"Even if it was the only way I could be with him I would not do it..."
There is a sharp crack as Sakurazuka strikes him and he can feel the warmth of the blood on his face…can feel his darker self swamping him.
"How dare you say such a thing? How dare you even judge me! You have him and he will not ever let you go! If you had lived my life…if you knew how much pain I am in…then you would understand.
"Then you would see why I am willing to do anything to have him with me!"
"I feel your pain very well and if I thought that it would make you happy I would let you have him…would let you take my happiness away…"
"Why?"
"Because you deserve it more than I ever could! Because you have suffered so much…so very much."
"Yes… but that does not matter. I shall not take him away from you, Subaru. One of us deserves to be truly happy, after all." He remarks before he jumps off of the roof and away into the horizon.
……………………………………………………………………………
Subaru has been so very quiet since they encountered his other self on that world, but he does not probe, aware that he shall be told if Subaru believes there is a need.
He mumbles a little in his sleep now also and always when this happens he hugs him hard and whispers to him of the life they will have once they are home until Subaru stills and he can join him in sleep.
They come to their home world almost as it becomes too late and praising their luck Seishiro goes to the castle to report in.
The Gina listens to his proposal with doubt in her eyes and yet, unlike Subaru she does not question his drive or whether this shall work, she merely shakes her head and informs him,
"If you fail you must promise me that you shall kill him, no matter how much it will hurt you."
"Such a thing I have already promised Subaru, majesty and I gladly promise as such again."
"Then go, Rino, for our nations hopes lie on your shoulders."
All of the Vampires, but for the two that guard the power source, have either been slain at his hand or had fled before he came in search of Subaru, thus it is but the mere work of moments before they are stood before the power source itself.
It is nothing more than a simple stone and yet the power that pulses from it is strong enough that his head begins to throb as he closes upon it.
Taking a moment to offer a silent prayer to whoever might be listening he takes the stone into his hands and, with his skin burning for the touch, he throws it to the floor.
Subaru cries out and he falls to the floor, his skin pulsing with a black light a moment before he is violently ill.
"Subaru?"
He begins to laugh a bright true laughter and wobbling to his feet he catches Seishrio into his arms,
"It is over!" He remarks before he faints.
Seishiro kisses his forehead and allows himself a small smile before replying,
"Yes, love, at last it is over."
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
T: The obligatory happy ending! No I don't know why X Subaru appeared in this fic…I was simply thinking of what I might be able to put in a third chapter and bing…there he was! Please note that this has not been inked first as is my normal habit and thus it hasn't had time for me to go away and think about it. Thus it may be a little rough around the edges and apologise for that fact! R+R just because!