Crimson orbs gazed down at the city below. It had been weeks since…
Seto closed his eyes painfully. How could he have let this happen?
One thing was clear in his blood-hazed mind.
Someone was going to pay.
Show Me How It Ends
Final Stage: Deification
The brunet stalked across the skyscraper's ledge, claws digging into the stucco, leaving deep gouges. Matthew was here…waiting for him.
The vampire doubled over in pain, convulsions wracking his slim corpse. This couldn't be happening…not again… he held out his hand, staring at the blackened talons that extended from his fingers before his vision began to blur. His mouth opened in a silent scream, canines extending and sharpening. Black encroached the whites of his eyes, leaving jagged red irises and reptilian like slitted pupils. His skin sprouted small flat spikes that fanned down his forearms like armor, the uncovered skin on his chest, arms, and back slowly turning a dark ash. His wings flexed and shifted, as if not accustom to their own weight.
If he could have died, he would have. This was nothing to live for. Katsuya was dead. Hell, he was dead. A throaty growl crawled its way out of Seto's throat, slowly crescendoing into a haunting roar. He clenched his fists, talons digging into his palms only to bring forth chilled, coagulated blood. There was only one thing that justified his current state, and it was the same thing that had damned him for eternity. Killing Matthew had evolved from an act of revenge to an act of redemption. Somehow, the Elder's death would rectify all of Seto's actions which had gone awry. It would at least make the pain go away…
Seto glanced over the ledge; cars were gridlocked in the streets below, their headlights glistening much in the same manner of the stars twinkling above.
"I need to see Katsuya."
Mokuba sat with Shizuka as they watched the news. It had been a week since Shizuka's father had signed the papers and legalized the boy's adoption. Of course, Mokuba had opted to keep the Kaiba name, for legal purposes.
The black haired boy glanced out the window, smiling softly as he spotted a form darting across the roof of the building adjacent to his new home. Shimmering black wings glinted in the moonlight as the figure soon disappeared from sight.
Seto was still here. If not with Mokuba in self, he always seemed to be close. A billowing coat in the wind, a shadow out of the corner of his eye. His life may not have been ideal, but at least Seto was still alive…in a sense…He walked the earth a corpse, but he was still able to feel. And now, not only was Seto medically deceased, but with Katsuya…Seto was dying on the inside as well.
Mokuba turned to Shizuka, bringing his arms up to hug her. Shizuka and her father were his family now, as much as it pained him to admit it.
Jounouchi Rei leaned over his bathroom sink, splashing water onto his tired features. The clear liquid diluting the tears that had escaped his amber eyes. He placed his hands on either side of him, steadying his trembling form.
In just two months, he had lost a son, but he gained another. Mokuba Kaiba. The brother of Seto Kaiba. Katsuya's crush turned lover. The one who would inadvertently lead to his son's death.
He ripped open the cabinet and grabbed a bottle of anti-depressants. Shaking two into his hand, he stared back at his reflection while he swallowed the pills without water. Maybe he would go visit Katsuya after work tomorrow. Maybe.
Shizuka stared at the television indifferently; she shifted the sleeping boy beside her so his head was resting on her shoulder. She reached for the remote and clicked off the only source of sound in the room. The soft tick of a hidden clock seemed as if to scream at the girl.
It screamed at her incompetence, her failures, even her insolence seemed to be under strict scrutiny. The constant ticking…relentlessly whispering that if she had just been a few seconds earlier, her brother would be the one holding her now. Not her holding Mokuba.
Mokuba Kaiba.
Kaiba.
Seto.
She laughed. Cold and mirthless. Oh sweet irony.
Seto walked almost silently through the graveyard, his feet crushing the crisp fall foliage lying strewn across the grass. His claws gently trailed across innumerable headstones, clicking against bronze, scraping marble, and chipping granite. It was an obscure path to an even obscurer grave.
Seto knelt before a black headstone, a lone testament to his lost beloved. He raised a hand to stroke the spine of the dark dragon that guarded to one resting beneath him.
"Katsuya…we should have had more time…please forgive me for what I've done to you…"
There was a mourning silence, soon interrupted by a repetitive, mocking clap. Seto shot up and twisted around, glaring in the direction of the sound.
A shadowed figure sat placidly on the upper branches of an oak tree not far from him, still clapping. Slowly…sardonically…
"I am touched. Really, I am. Even after the mortal's death, you insist on acting as if your world has ended."
"It has thanks to you." He ground out, voice shakingin rage.
Matthew leapt down from the branch, landing squarely on his feet. He exuded a cat-like grace and stood almost lazily.
"You had promise." He said sadly. "But you still continue to hold on to your silly morals." He let out a haughty laugh "What am I saying? You're Seto Kaiba." He lowered his voice; ebony eyes peering out from equally black bangs. "You have no morals."
Matthew lashed out at Seto suddenly. The vampires fist connecting with his fledgling's jaw. The brunet fell back against Katsuya's headstone with a sickening crack . His spiked wings chipped away at the inscription and broke off the stone dragon. The figure fell to the concrete base and shattered.
Seto remained in that position for a moment, shaken from the blow. Matthew approached the brunet, leering scornfully as he leaned down to seize the teen's throat, pinning the CEO to the headstone. Seto gasped as his sire's grip tightened, nails digging into soft, ash-colored flesh. Matthew held up his other hand, nails lengthening into the all to familiar claws Seto himself possessed.
"I created you," he spat. "And I can just as easily destroy you."
Razor sharp talons descended quickly towards the brunet's face. Seto jerked out of the man's hold a millisecond before his claws made contact, instead splintering the stone behind him; the granite crumbling into chunks of serrated rock. Seto rolled to the side, just enough time for Matthew to pin him once again.
"Why prolong your fate? You are going to die."
Seto smirked wryly as he reached out, grasping a piece of jagged granite. Shifting ever so quickly, he thrust the stone into Matthew's chest viciously.
"Have you forgotten Matt? I already am dead."
The man's shocked gasp was answer enough for Seto. The brunet rolled out from beneath him. Matthew fell to ground, struggling to move, let alone fight back.
"This is for turning me into some kind of freak."
Seto tore away the vampire's shirt and clawed at the hole the makeshift spike had created. Matthew cried out in what sounded like a combination of pain and fury.
"This is for my brother and Shizuka."
The brunet tore away the skin over Matthew's ribs and dug his claws into the organ housed beneath them, twisting his hand sharply. The vampire gurgled, hand outstretched to Seto in an indistinguishable movement, before he fell limp and simply turned to dust.
"And that…that was for Katsuya."
Seto shakily rose to his feet, feeling utterly exhausted. He raised a hand to his head and clutched his forehead lightly. The brunet brought up his other hand, which was covered in blood. Seto smiled darkly before sucking gleefully on each of the digits, cleaning them of the forbidden ambrosia. He looked around at the damage to his lover's grave, as well as the graves surrounding it.
"Mmm…Katsuya…we need to clean this up don't we?" He laughed drunkenly and walked away from the grave, singing softly to himself."Show me how it ends alright,
Show me how defenseless you really are,
Satisfy the emptiness inside,
Well that's alright,
Let's give this another try…"
"…Se…to…"
It is over. Oh my god…I love you all and I'll try to get out the first chapter of the sequel soon! Thank you soooooo much for sticking with me this far! Until next time!
-Daughter of Anubis