Hello everyone! How're you? I'm back with the second as well as the last chapter of this two-shot, thus ending it :P

Thanks so much to Velox The Knight 07, R'soriginalusername, Seafoam Green under Twilight, Cutetyhil, shashreetha and Black Witch of autumn for reviewing. Also special thanks to Velox The Knight 07, R'soriginalusername, Seafoam Green under Twilight, shashreetha and Black Witch of autumn for faving it and Seafoam Green under Twilight, Velox The Knight 07 and Black Witch of autumn for following it. As I said, I felt so good and nostalgic after writing a RayMariah, remembering how badly I used to torture this pretty lovely couple (Now, KaiHil and TyHil have owned this torture very gorgeously *Gulps*).

Anyways, I know that you will never be able to forgive me after reading this chapter (I've already received the title of "Devil" by one of my beautiful, cutest readers and I'm quite proud of that xD) but I warned you in the first chapter that it was gonna be a tragedy, so has it become, still having a few lessons. So...continue! :P

The banyan tree, spreading its branches so widely that its leaves covered nearly the entire sky, was the heart of the village, located at the center of the weekly marketplace. Along with business and meeting one another, the decisions of the feudal lord were also announced there. That's why, every week, people gathered there to hear the announcements. This time, the crowd was larger because the death penalty of a certain village was to take place there. The hands and feet of the raven-haired neko-jin were tied to the broad, thick stem with metal shackles to the twigs. At the previous night, right after he'd murdered Lee Wong, he couldn't have escaped due to the scream of the latter neko-jin and the guards had caught him.

He glanced at the people surrounding him once. They were gawking at him as if he'd been any tiger, mistakenly assaulting the domestic animals of a farmer. But he knew that he wasn't wrong. It wasn't his crime to defend himself along with her love interest from the cruel hits of her brother which might have taken their lives. When he'd been caught, Mariah'd been unconscious still, motionlessly collapsed on the grass of her garden. She might have got to know about his arrest by that time. Ray felt bad for her because they couldn't share the last goodbye even. He didn't have any idea about how Mariah was feeling, that pricked his heart more. However, the villagers were too dumb to understand it as always.

"Analyzing all the evidences and interrogating all the witnesses, it's been concluded that Ray Kon is an offender, charged with the murder of Lee Wong. That's why, he'll be punished," A priest unfolded a scroll and read it out, "He'll be stoned to death. The lapidation should be continued until he breathes his last!"

The inhabitants of White Tiger village were quite excited in these cased. Collecting pebbles, they started throwing it at the offender, chained to the tree. Some kept playing drums so that it could surpass the blood-freezing, painful screams of the murderer. If they'd heard it, they would have stopped tossing the rocks, feeling pity on the neko-jin. Thus, he could have survived but the rulers, of course, didn't want that. Then again, the raven-haired Chinese, dressed in black, didn't utter a single word, his vocal cord didn't quiver a bit though he was shaking, trying to free himself-not for his own life.

Even when the pebbles hurled by the cruel society were hitting his body, giving shocks and burning sensations to his flesh as well as reddish-pink spots to his bronze skin, he was only thinking about Mariah. Whenever he got hurt, she could feel the pain. He remembered the incident of their childhood. Only because of it, they'd been separated from each other. How was Mariah feeling that time? Was she okay? The idiot villagers couldn't understand it but his heart was getting ripped for the pink-haired neko-jin. Getting only three cuts of a sword on her arms and back, she'd fainted. How was she tolerating so much inflammation then? Was it possible for her?

"Noo!"

Out of nowhere, a pinkette rushed to the banyan tree, hugging the raven-haired guy protectively, spreading her arms. Red spots were visible on her skin too, people couldn't understand from where she had got them. Not leaving her beloved, she pleaded as tears splashed from her honey orbs, more belonging to the condition of her battered, tattered heart and less to her bruised body, "Please, don't hit him! He didn't do anything! I'm begging to you, don't hit him!"

Mariah and Ray had hearts, maybe, not the villagers. They didn't stop even at the heart-wrenching request of the young maiden. They kept throwing pebbles at the couple, not even caring the presence of a girl in front of the so-called offender. The pinkette tried her best to guard her lover, bearing all his pain along with hers. Soon, her father rushed to him and started dragging her by the wrist but she freed herself, again reaching the raven-haired guy. Ray's eyes were hurt and tired, he had the image of the beautiful pinkette in them. His heart shuddered at the amount of love in hers, only for him. He could tolerate his own death but not a single "Ouch" from her voice.

"Villagers!" He blurted, "Preserve these pebbles well because such a day will come when the whole village will turn into a stone and they will have tongues! They will proudly recite the love story of Ray Kon and Mariah Wong word by word then in front of your ears!"

"Then, you may not get the time to repentance, it may be too late!" Mariah covered her love interest, "That's why, I'm pleading! Don't hit my beloved with pebbles!"

"Mariah!" Her father blurted.

"Enough, father!" The pinkette stretched a palm before him, roaring, "It's not my request anymore. Before a few days, you all were insisting to get me married though I wasn't agreeing. But now, I'm saying that I'm ready to get married to Mystel, the Egyptian feudal lord of the nearby village. In return, you have to spare the life of Ray. If needs be, drive him out of his village without any sound but don't beat him anymore. Even these poor pebbles of this village have been also tired of this thing."

"Fine then," The man let out his decision, "Spare this wretch and banish him from this village!"

Nodding, some guards went to unfasten the shackles of the tired, half-conscious raven-haired Chinese as the common people stopped throwing stones. While getting dragged away, he and the pinkette exchanged pitiful, hurt stares, realizing that they might never meet each other again. Mariah thanked the deities because of the safety of her beloved. Ray was shaken by Mariah's decision, not able to reach any particular bottom of her love.

"The power has changed the time but I'm leaving my heartbeats here," She murmured, "I'll keep saying it till the final day of my life, Ray, preserve them well. But I swear by you, whoever will come to touch my body except Ray, he'll only meet a lifeless idol made of clay. In future, scared, the society will shriek like us when the deities will descend from heaven to offer flowers at my graveyard!"

"In this palanquin," The elderly pinkette wiped her tears, "There is a beautiful, well-dressed corpse. Take it carefully, people."

Not even looking back at her family members, the younger pinkette, dressed in blood-red silk qipao with golden borders, having golden quatrefoil patterns all over the top and the bottom, stepped in the wheel-less vehicle as the bearers carried it on their shoulders. Her neck had four-layered golden necklace studded with rubies and garnet earrings spangled from her ears. Bubblegum pink tresses were tied into a nice bun, adorned with auric hairpins. The semicircular dandelion tiara bedecked with fire opals possessed half of her round head with blood roses tucked over her left ear. She was looking gorgeous, ethereal even though her upper face was covered behind a cerise, georgette veil. There were no tears in her honey pupils. They were as dry as her heart was.

She couldn't realize when she reached the palace of her husband, became greeted by his family members warmly and entered his room. The walls of the chamber were made of sandstones, antique quartz chandeliers hanging from the roof and crystal lamp-stands had the melting wax-lights, spreading a perfume around her which made her feel nauseous. Rose petals were scattered on the velvet bedsheet where she was sitting, bending her knees and hugging them. She didn't know how her husband used to look because she hadn't had his glimpse even when the wedding chants had been being recited before them by the priests. She was feeling empty as if she'd had no relation to this world anymore. Stripped of all kinds of emotions, love and the material bonds.

"Thud!"

The door became open as a man around the age of her lover entered there. He had ruffled, pale-blonde bangs and glistening aquamarine orbs. Wearing regal outfits, he straightly strode towards the bed and sat beside his newly wedded wife. Pushing all the courtesy and manners aside, he blurted, "I'm Mystel Adel. In my harem, all the women remain afraid of me always. But you're an exception, you're gonna be the queen of my harem. I'll make you bathe in gold and silver!"

Turning to her, he cupped her face firmly and pulled her closer, "I cannot wait anymore, I'll order you only once! Come and let's make love!"

He was about to kiss hungrily on her lips but she turned away, her veil remained in his hands. Not even facing her husband, Mariah spoke, "You're a man, you can easily do whatever you want to do with this lifeless object. In front of you, she's like the soil or the ashes on the pyre of a dead body in a cemetery, not able to feel anything anymore."

Not paying any heed to her words, Mystel pinned her to the bed, grabbing her wrists and lowered her mouth to her neck, giving hickeys and smelling the perfume of her hair like a starving animal. Mariah felt like vomiting. She could never have imagined even in her creepy nightmares that any other man except Ray would try to have rights on her body. Nonetheless, she tried to warn her groom, "But if a single spark of fire lasts in this figurine still, you may get burned into remnants. Be careful."

Those words were insulting indeed for the Egyptian because he was a real man, at least he used to think so. In rage, he grabbed the wrist of his bride, dragged her forcefully out of the bed and shoved her on the marble ground. Pointing his finger at her fallen from, he hissed, "I'm your husband, Mariah, your lord! Not your disciple or your friend!"

"I'm also my husband's wife," Mariah didn't hesitate a bit to speak the truth, "But I'm Ray's Mariah."

Now, the sparkles of anger in his blood turned into large, more heating flames as he heard the name of the lover of his wife from her own mouth. He understood how deeply Mariah loved Ray and it pricked him a lot. Though she was married to someone else, she couldn't forget him. He had got to know about Ray and his offenses before it but it was only at his wedding night where he discovered that the raven-haired Chinese was the secret lover of his bride, unable to leave her heart yet. Leaving the pinkette, he approached his table and seized his weapons, blurting out, "Soldiers, get ready! We have to go for a battle! Right now!"

Gasping, the pinkette stood up as her husband placed the sword at her neck and rotated around her slowly, seething, "Because I've to how and love and lover are!"

No sooner had the Egyptian been about to leave the room than he felt a tug on his sword. Pondering, he saw his wife holding the naked blade in her fingers. As her husband slid it out, blood seeped from her hand. She simpered, "You'll get scared by seeing our love. At first, look here."

Undoing the back-straps of her qipao, she showed him her bare back where the dried lines of the sword marks were still visible, "I reddened my body with his blood whenever he was hurt. Wherever you will go, you can only see this."

"Whatever!" Shrugging, Mystel left the chamber.

The thickness of the moon increased a bit, seeming wider than that of the previous day. Yet, it added only a sparkle of a firefly on the dark blue canvas, containing only vacancy. The stormy gusts of wind were blowing crazily, taking away all the fallen and dry leaves from the chest of the earth, not forgetting to snatch some sand too. Beneath the sky, there were some earthen mounds on the ground, in different sizes and shapes. Not a single bird or animal could be seen there, let alone any human being. So empty and heavy the atmosphere was. That, of course, didn't belong to any village.

Leaning against one of those knolls, the raven-haired man was absorbed in deep thoughts and realizations. Before a few hours, he'd been ousted from his own village, the place where he'd been born and grown up. His cloths were tattered, dry blood was sticking to his face, dropped from the gash on his forehead which had been caused due to a stone. He was heavily drenched in his own sweat. Some spots of his body were still blue from being stoned but he didn't feel any physical pain, unbelievably. He simpered miserably, thinking that his own villagers had tried to kill him charging him with the murder of a man but they themselves had let the soul of a girl killed by snatching her love from her.

The reverberation of a series of hooves, smiting the ground slapped his ears, breaking the silence of the bizarre night surprisingly. Following it, the raged voice of any fumed man could also be heard.

"This is the chance of Mystel Adel!" He screeched, "Now, I'll see who's higher between my throne and you, Ray!"

"Why is he shouting so much even after being the lord of Mariah?" Ray somehow stood up, "Why does he even call himself a lover when he exactly doesn't know how to love someone? Mariah is the blessing of the God, she's the symbol of love. All the battles and wars in this world where the blood rivers were created became ashamed before her."

Marching rhythmically, the troopers entered there, led by the Egyptian and encircled the male neko-jin from all the directions so that he couldn't flee away. However, Ray didn't try to escape because he really didn't have the fear of losing his life since he had nothing to lose. Looking at the straightened spears held in their hands, he chuckled. Mystel felt humiliated for the second time at that night. Therefore, according to his order, two soldiers grabbed the arms of the neko-jin and tugged him to their lord, throwing him as his head hit the large rock where there was one of Mystel's feet. Clutching the collar of the raven-haired, the Egyptian lifted him and glared at his beryl pupils murderously.

"When the sins increase, people fail to realize their mistakes," Ray smirked, "In reality, you couldn't get a Mariah. When you have got her, you've failed to give her the respect and love which she deserves. Remember this date, Mystel, so that you don't have to sacrifice whatever you have."

"You bastard!" Mystel pushed him, "She's my lawfully wedded wife."

"And my belief, which doesn't need any law!"

"She's the one for whom I can create massacres!"

"And she's my consequence, meeting whom I can rest in peace."

"Watch your mouth!" The blonde circumambulated him, keeping him at the tip of his sword, "Your head will get severed!"

"Only to be sacrificed at the podium of her temple."

"I'll seriously cut you in hundreds of pieces!" Mystel warned as scarily as he could.

"Mariah will also go with me." However, Ray wasn't scared.

"I'll keep her at such a depth," Mystel didn't care, "So that your memories can never haunt her again."

"Even if you become successful to engrave to such depth, you cannot get her ever in your life," Ray simpered, "From where I'll be gone, Mariah will come from the same place, leaving it."

Turning to Mystel, the Chinese spread his arms, "C'mon, hit me. I won't bite back."

"Think once again." Mystel held him closer just at the blade of his rapier.

"Just hit me!" The Chinese snapped.

That really hurt the masculinity of Mystel. He couldn't control himself anymore, penetrating the blade into his chest. The raven-haired guy gasped once, his eyes went widened at the sharp amount of pain at his heart, the crimson blood trickling down from the wound. Somehow, he gave a light chuckle at the valor of the feudal lord which seemed like a stupidity to him. Mystel couldn't understand why the Chinese smiled even at the moment of his demise. Not caring much, chuckling, he returned to his castle with his battalion, exulting in his victory, leaving the sand-streaked corpse of the neko-jin alone, stranded behind. However, another shock was waiting for him. It reached him through the mouth of a maid.

"Pardon me, lord Mystel!" She bowed, "But…an…an accident happened all of a sudden!"

"Accident?" The Egyptian cocked a brow, "What happened?"

"Lady….lady Mariah…" She replied between gasps, "We were guarding her in her room. Suddenly, she fell down on the ground and blood started flowing from her chest unknowingly!"

Horrified, Mystel dropped the sword. Not wasting a single moment, he rushed towards his room and entered there, pushing the silk curtains. On the floor, his bride was fallen, spreading her arms as though she'd been embracing her death as well as her lover wholeheartedly. Blood splayed on the marble ground, coloring it in its own scarlet hue and deepening the shades of the beautiful bridal attire of the pinkette. All the lamps flashed together, highlighting the life liquid streaming out from her body. The blonde was shocked, motionless, his eyes remained extended. They could capture the image of the dry wounds of the sword on her back still.

The same injuries…he had seen them on Ray's back too through his ripped cloths…

Epilogue: After it, Mystel realized his faults as well as the worth of true love and how divine the bond between Ray and Mariah had been. He prayed for both of their souls, thus, sculpting a memorial for them and burying them together. Ray and Mariah completed their love in heaven, amidst angels, glowing flowers and the cataracts of ambrosia. The people of White tiger village also learnt how love actually is. Eternal truth of life it is; ever-young, ever-green and ever-lasting which always emerges as the victorious one in the end of everything, no matter what happens.

Phew! Thus...it ended!

Whatever I have written, I'm quite pleased with myself after completing a RayMariah. I'll write another RayMariah (Actually I'll rewrite "What is the relation telling?" with KaneSal as second main couple and KaiHil, TalaJul as side-couples), very soon. It'll be dramatic (Not having a sad ending at all like this :P)

Do read and review. Pardon the grammatical and spelling errors. Take care and stay safe :D

-Misty ^_^ ^_ ^