Anas knelt down and picked up Ekaterina's Desperare.
"Kaikatsu," she whispered, "I'm so sorry."
Dark approached her slowly from behind. "Saki, don't worry. I'm sure they'll be fine."
"How do you know?" Anas asked softly, not bothering to face Dark.
"Well, because. I mean. . ."
"You don't know anything at all." Anas stood up and faced Dark. She was frowning. "Do you know what it's like to die millions of times? Do you?"
Dark's eyes widened with surprise. "What are you talking about?"
Anas's eyes turned a darker green, indicating she was very angry. "I've been coming back again and again. It's been hundreds of years now. And every time I come back, Sana kills me and whatever unfortunate girl I happen to share a body with. And she keeps saying it's your fault." Her frown vanished and she sighed wearily. "Dark, what did you do? What did I do? Why does Sana hate us so much?"
Dark closed his eyes and lowered his head. "I don't know. I can't remember."
"Anas, do you really want to know what happened?"
Before anyone could react, Sana grabbed Anas's arm and dug her fingernails in her flesh. Anas gritted her teeth to avoid crying out. Sana stood on her the tips of her toes to whisper something into Anas's ear.
"Do you really want to know? Do you?"
"Yes, tell me. Please."
"Aw, pwetty wittle Anas want to know the twuth?" Sana asked in a babyish voice.
Anas nodded. "Yes."
Sana grinned and pushed Anas. Dark grabbed her before she fell completely.
"Are you okay?" he asked and immediately felt stupid. Anas had five small wounds with blood seeping out of them. How could that be considered okay?
"Well, since she's so eager, why don't we tell her the truth, Krad?" Sana asked.
Krad walked over toward them and smiled. "Of course. We must tell her that Dark is the cause of all this."
Anas pulled herself away from Dark's grasp and stared at him, her eyes wide with surprise and disbelief. "Dark, you started this?"
Noticing the shocked expression on Dark's face, Sana smiled with glee. "You knew this would come back to haunt you sooner or later, didn't you?"
"Shut up, Sumiko!" Dark raised his arm to hit Sana, but Anas grabbed it in midair.
"Stop," she said softly. "Sana, tell me."
Sana laughed until her face turned red from the lack of air. "I'm sorry," she said when she could finally catch her breath. "It's just . . . I wish I could find a way to document this moment." She smiled sweetly. "Do you remember when we lived beyond the Portal?"
"Portal?" Anas asked, surprised.
Sana wagged her finger at Anas like a teacher scolding a student. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, Anas. I can't believe you've forgotten. That's where we were born. Everyone comes from somewhere. Now, we were all really good friends back then, right, Krad?"
Krad and Sana started laughing. Dark gritted his teeth. He wanted nothing more than to make both of them go away, but knew Anas wouldn't let him. Why did they have to enjoy it so much?
"I had Krad and you had Dark," Sana continued. "Of course, we all know Dark likes to mess around with girls, right, Dark?"
"Saki, that's not---!"
SMACK! Krad and Sana gasped with surprise and the sound of the slap echoed throughout the vast emptiness. Dark stumbled backwards and fell on the ground. After a few seconds, Dark picked himself up. It took a few more seconds for his numb cheek grew hot. He felt a sliver of blood running down his chin. Dark looked up at Anas.
Anas was trembling with rage. Her hands were balled into fists and she looked on the verge of tears. She stared at Dark with so much anger that he was sure she was going to hit him again.
"I think she's figured it out," Sana whispered to Krad.
"Saki, please let me explain," Dark said and walked towards her.
Anas slapped him again. "I apologize for not giving you fair warning the first time I slapped you," she said in an icy, unemotional voice. "Approach me again and I will hurt you."
"But---"
This time, Anas punched him in the jaw. Dark staggered a little before falling to his knees. He looked up at Anas with an extremely sad expression.
"Dark," Anas said, her voice as cold as a Siberian wind, "I hate you." She turned and faced Sana and Krad. "I apologize for the sadness Dark has caused you two, but what you did to the children is unforgivable." Several feathers whirled around Anas and started glowing. "I promise you will be punished."
"On that day you left, I just waved good bye as usual,
as if we were to meet again in this city . . ."
Sana threw back her head and cackled. "You punish us? That's a good one. You always were great at telling jokes, Anas." She grabbed Krad's hand and chanted a spell. Their golden feathers glowed and Sana smiled at Anas. "Still, I can already tell it's you that's going to suffer."
"To believe in love is to not lose to myself
Until my wish comes true, I'll remain with a smile
and look at the stars, praying, and will be here . . ."
Meanwhile, Dark was lost in his own thoughts.
Saki . . . Saki . . . Saki . . . What did I do? I can't really remember. How horrible was it? How much did I hurt you? Was it my fault that Sumiko was killed? Is that why both she and Krad hate me so much? And now you hate me, too. Does Daisuke hate me? Does he know anything about this?
"Dark!"
Dark looked up and saw everything was fuzzy. The world around him was dimming. Why was that?
"I want to be the sky for you
So I can take away your sorrows, too . . ."
"Dark, move!" Anas shouted.
Now he saw it. Anas, with blood running down her arms and face. Krad, holding her back. Sana, with only one wound on her wings, her razor sharp nails aiming for him.
"Whenever I look up, I want to feel that I'm not alone even if I'm far away . . ."
Anas struggled against Krad's grip. "Dark! Dark!" she shouted desperately, as if trying to remove whatever spell had paralyzed him.
"DIE!" Sana shouted, her face lit up by her cute smile.
The last thing Dark saw was Anas's golden red curls. The last thing he heard was the red-haired angel screaming his name.
"Let there be a place I can return to . . ."
Well, this chapter kind of sucked. It's difficult to rewrite something like this because you can't really get in the mood, you know? And those italicized words with quotation marks were lyrics from "Motherland". I didn't know what else to do, so I added them in.
