"What is it, Kanone?" Ayumu asked, wondering what could be so urgent.
Kanone hesitated but found the right words eventually, "I need to talk to you, Ayumu. It's something that I've been meaning to tell you for a while now."
"What?" He asked again, confused.
"Ayumu, our curse, the Blade Children's curse, runs deeper than you know. You...you have saved us from the Hunters, that's true, but not from our fate."
"What are you talking about? Your fate? What fate?" Ayumu knew it was an obvious question but he couldn't think of what else the Blade Children could go through.
"On our birthdays this year." Kanone started, "The blood that runs through our veins will...change us."
"Change you? How?" Ayumu was concerned now, he hadn't seen Kanone this serious in a long time.
"We will become different...dangerous. We won't be the same people we are now, we will be killers. There's no other way to explain it; we will just kill. Without conscious thought or reason."
"How do you know all of this?" Ayumu asked.
"It's our fate, the fate of the Blade Children, I've always known it. I was told this when I was very young, I can't remember by who exactly, but I've never forgotten it."
Ayumu considered this, "Do the others know?" Kousuke wouldn't have kept such information from him, would he?
"I told them a while ago. And before you jump to any conclusions, I asked them all to not say anything until I talked to you."
Ayumu nodded, "Why are you telling me this? What are you expecting from me?"
"I don't expect much Ayumu, I don't expect much at all. I don't think that our fate can be changed. As much as I want to believe it could be, I can't waste my time on something so foolish as believing. But it turns out that in the end any efforts to change our fate were foolish. It's a battle we just can't win."
Ayumu briefly flashed back to the dream he had before he slept with Kanone, "Well that makes more sense now." Ayumu sighed, "Is there anything I can do? You obviously told me for a reason. You have to be expecting something out of me."
"The others...they still think you can save us. But that's for you to figure out. I just want to be able to spend my last days on this earth with my daughter and my husband."
Ayumu gasped, "Hiyono."
Kanone nodded, knowing exactly what Ayumu was thinking, "I've already discussed it with the others. We've all agreed she shouldn't be here when it happens. That's also why I was against telling you; if you're with us when the change occurs, there will be a high probability that you will be killed. I don't want Hiyono to be all alone in this world."
"I don't either, but where could we send her?"
"Have you told Madoka about her?"
Ayumu nodded, "She was even angrier than she had been when we were just sleeping together."
Kanone laughed at this, "Alright then. What about your parents?"
Ayumu had already considered them, of course, "Her being with my parents also means her being with Kiyotaka." He noted.
Kanone cursed under his breath and sighed, "Any other ideas? Do you have any other family or close friends?"
Ayumu thought about it then shook his head, "No other family that I can think of, and no friends I can trust with my daughter." The two of them stood in silence for a second longer until Ayumu spoke again, "So do you have any idea how I could help you?"
"I'd rather not put my energy into thinking about it. I've accepted my fate by now. I once thought that we could change our own fate, but now I realize that even that is a ridiculous notion."
Ayumu was angry at hearing this, "So you're just giving up? That's not like you at all, Kanone. I realize there are many things that you're worried about right now, but that's just another reason why you can't give up. I'll help you all to the best of my abilities, but I'll need your help as well."
Kanone smiled, "Alright." If Ayumu believed in himself this much, then Kanone could at least try.
A second later the front door opened and Hiyono ran outside, "Daddy? I'm ready to go!" Hiyono yelled, moving to the car and looking around for the two. Ayumu and Kanone had been secluded in the shadows, but now emerged and approached their daughter who had drawn her attention to the area where she had heard some noise. Her sights fell on the two and she ran over to them, hugging Kanone who she reached first, "What were you doing, daddy?"
"Just talking, but we're done now." Kanone replied, hugging her back and passing her off to Ayumu who in turn hugged her as they made their way to the car.
When they got home, the other Blade Children were waiting for them in the living room. Kanone nodded and looked to Hiyono, "Honey, why don't you go to bed now?"
Hiyono started to object but nodded, "Okay, goodnight everyone!" The others said goodnight and Ayumu and Kanone kissed her forehead, telling her to sleep well.
Kanone turned to the others, "Ayumu has agreed to help us."
The others, especially Kousuke, looked relieved and said boy stood up and walked over to Ayumu, "Thank you." He whispered before giving Ayumu a quick kiss and grabbing his hand, leading him over to where he had been sitting a second ago.
Kanone joined Eyes and sat on his lap and looked to the others, "Have you two discussed what will be done?" Eyes asked Kanone and Ayumu.
Kanone shook his head, "I only told him the basics. We're still not sure what to so about Hiyono."
"Well she has to be our first priority." Kousuke said, earning him a loving smile from Ayumu.
"Does anyone know anyone that could take her?" Kanone asked, looking around the group, all shaking their heads.
"Wait." Ryoko spoke up, "I have a friend. Kousuke, you know him."
Kousuke thought about it for a second, "That's right. His name was Chris, right?"
"Christian. Idiot." Ryoko corrected him.
"Oh yeah." Kousuke said, rubbing the back of his head, "He's a good guy." He said, turning to Ayumu, "We could definitely trust him."
Ayumu hesitated and looked to Kanone who also looked uncertain but nodded anyhow, "I'm not completely comfortable leaving her with someone I don't know, but it seems we have no other choice."
Ayumu nodded in agreement and turned back to Ryoko, "He lives around here?"
She nodded, "I can call him tomorrow morning. I'm sure he'll do it. He's part of a foster family, so she won't be lonely."
"That's good. Now that that is dealt with, what are we going to do? We have five days to come up with a plan." Ayumu asked the others.
Unfortunately, the others had been racking their brains ever since Kanone told them about what would happen, and no one had come up with anything. Kousuke informed Ayumu of this, "That's why we were hoping you would have an idea of what to do." Though he had his doubts, how could you do anything about something like this? It was the blood inside their bodies that would bring about the occurrence, the only way to prevent it would be to kill them all which Ayumu wouldn't do.
Ayumu sighed, then stood up suddenly, "I forgot I have to meet with someone."
"Who are you meeting with this late at night?" Kousuke asked, it was already 10; dinner at Jessica's had taken a lot longer than expected.
"I'm late, I didn't think dinner would take this long. I'll be back later, this shouldn't take too long." He told Kousuke.
The redhead nodded, "Alright, hurry back." He told his boyfriend and with one more kiss Ayumu was off.
A few minutes later, Ayumu was standing outside his destination. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door. A figure appeared on the other side and unlocked the door. He opened up the door and stared at Ayumu for a second before realizing who it was, "Ah, Ayumu." He said, smirking, "Come in."