"Oh, so you're here to take me out are you? And here I thought you would keep playing hard to get forever." Kiara giggled and smiled smugly, her voice full of that annoying confidence that drove Calliope up the wall. How could she be so calm with a reaper standing before her, weilding a scythe?
"THIS ISNT A JOKE KIARA!" Calli's voice was wobbly as she yelled, failing to hide her despair behind a facade of anger. Kiara's face went dark, her eyes lowering to Calli's hands shaking in fear while desperately clutching at her scythe.
"Calli...?" Kiara sighed and tried to look her friend in the eyes but Calliope averted her gaze at the last second, now staring at the floor. "You aren't really going to kill me are you?"
Calli's hands clenched angrily around the handle of her Scythe, and she took a step forward unwittingly. The two were barely a foot apart now, and Kiara could feel the other woman's prescence looming over her. "I need to.. you know I need to.." Calli shook her head, desperately holding back tears as she spoke. "If I leave you alive too long... I... I can't let you suffer like that again." Her voice was shaky and strained, yet concealed a certain kindness that broke Kiara's guard.
"If I die I will forget my memories. I don't want to forget you Calli.." Kiara spoke softly, though her desperation was obvious. "I can suffer forever if that's what it takes.. I don't care if my fire burns out.. I'll go through it if it means I never have to forget the time I spent with you."
"SHUT. UP." Calliope screamed, raising her scythe without thinking, its cold edge tracing the pheonix's neck and causing a small rain of fiery blood to trickle out from the wound. Calli had never felt so vulnerable before, and was glad Kiara wouldn't remember this.
Kiara suddenly started to cry, leaning her neck into the edge of the blade without thinking. Her blood now flooding down her side, speckled with flickering sparks. "I'm so sorry Calli..." She was shocked by the reaper's reaction, she'd never seen her friend seem so hurt before. "I didn't realise this was hurting you.. When you talked about this in the past you always seemed so cold.. I... I thought you didn't care.."
"I DON'T CARE." Calliope snapped back, then withdrew in shock as she saw her friend's pained face. She pulled her scythe away from Kiara's neck and gritted her teeth. Even though her eyes were closed, Kiara's expression seemed to be burned into her retinas. She'd never seen despair like that before, never in Kiara or in any of her other victims. "I'm.. I'm so sorry.." She barely managed to force out her words inbetween tears. "I do care.. I promise.. I hate to hurt you.. but its for your own good."
"I'll do it Calli. If it's for you." Kiara did her best to put on a strong face, but her voice was hoarse and weak. Without thinking, the two collapsed into eachothers arms with Kiara sobbing quietly into Calli's chest as Calli rested her chin on Kiara's head and played softly with her hair.
They stayed like that for a while, not wanting to let go of eachother's embrace. Their breaths moving in synch as if desperate to catch each other.
"Thank you, Kusotori.." Calli whispered.
"Don't call me that at a time like this.." Kiara sniffled. The two giggled softly inbetween their tears.
"I'll miss you, Kiara." Calli whispered, pulling away from the embrace.
"I'll miss you too Calli.." Kiara replied.
"No, you won't... Now please.. can you turn around for me?"
Kiara nodded silently and turned her back to Calli. "Goodbye, Calli.. I will always lo-" Calliope drove the point of her scythe into the girl's back, not wanting to hear her say those words, breaking through her spine and piercing right the way through her heart and out the other side of her chest. Kiara froze and gasped, wrapping her hands around the point of the viscera covered blade desperately as if grasping at a lover's hand. Blood poured down her chest and quickly flickered alight, burning away at her body.
'I've done this a thousand times. Why is it this time.. that it hurts to much more..?'
Calli tore her scythe sideways through Kiara's body, violently ripping it in two. A bright flash of light burst out from her, and for a brief moment.. her true pheonix form was revealed. Blinding orange wings exploded out from Kiara's severed body, releasing a wave of flames that desperately tried to hold her together. Then.. it faded slowly.. her corpse burning down into nothing more than a pile of smoldering ashes.
"THAT'S IT!" Calliope screamed, dropping her scythe as tears covered her cheeks. She fell to her knees and desperately tried to gather up the ashes that Kiara left behind. "I can't do this again... I can't take this anymore... I need to find a new job..."