.

Chapter 12 – Phoenix And Darkness Dragon

Born to love, be cursed to even feel it

So why born to love, when you're even being cursed to just feel this love?

.

"wow, what a horrifying rage. No wonder, since he has gotten that tremendous power from his parents", Sakaki salutes, he says it without sarcasm at all because he really means it as he's looking to Hak before he eyeing Yona and her comrades who prepare themselves to stop Hak "aren't you supposed to be scared of him, from how scary he could be, princess?".

"no, instead… it hurts… I've never seen him like this before", Yona wipes her tears which flowing freely from her eyes "Hak's strong, always be a figure of invulnerability… but looking at him like this… even if he laughs when killing them, it feels like he's crying inside for the help… like a lost child who desperately looking for help and gave up after no one could come to help him… we should have come here sooner for help him…".

"don't blame yourself, dear. All of you as well", Mulan cups Yona's cheeks, kissing her wet eyelids before eyeing Yun and Dragons as she patting Yona's head "I could say the same with you. I and my children should have found him and come here sooner, so his condition wouldn't be this bad, but blaming ourselves wouldn't change what had happened in the past. What we should do now is to stop him, and heal his injuries, both his body and heart, because blaming yourself and keep imagining what if's will not change everything. Understand?".

Mulan's wisdom as the Empress and soothing warmth as the mother reach their hearts and with determined looks, they do what Mulan has implied.

Stop Hak.

Kija goes first, along with Shina in tow. In fact, he doesn't want to use his Dragon claw against one of his comrades that he has considered as fellow brothers, but Kija has no choice now to stop Hak, he swings his Dragon claw which being blocked by Hak's Dragon claw. Kija screams in pain as his Dragon claw touches Hak's Dragon claw. Looks like Hak's Dragon claw as Darkness Dragon will cause to rot everything which being touched by its. Shina grabs Kija's shoulder and pushing him to behind, rushing in between Hak and Kija before blocking Hak's Dragon claw before Hak attacks Kija using his Darkness Dragon claw. Jae Ha throws his dagger to Hak which easily being dodged by Hak, but it's his purpose from the first place so Zeno will have enough time to reach Hak. Zeno appears behind Hak, chopping Hak's nape using the side of his hand which has turned into his scaled-yellow-Dragon hand.

Unfortunately, even with Zeno's yellow-scaled-hand and his tremendous strength, they still can't stop Hak and instead, with all of their enemies have died in Hak's hands and with his state still in lost control now, which Hak has been being surrounded by his comrades but not recognize them as his comrades, starts to think them as threats. It's the reason of why Hak can seriously attack the Four Dragon warriors. As the last choice, with hope she can stop him and he will hear her voice, Yona runs to him, ignoring the warnings from the others which barely registered by her now.

"Hak, stop?! that's enough!? stop it already?! You're safe already, we have arrived here to help you now?!", Yona wraps her arms around Hak's "we're sorry?! We should have come sooner?! I understand your anger, but just stop it?! if you want to look for someone that should be blamed, you can angry to me and blame me as much as you want?!", Yona feels his lack of reactions as he stares down to her, she looks up and begs for his forgiveness, hoping her words will reach him "I hurt you and the responsibility is solely mine, after all… that's why, please… no matter how your form will change, please… don't let your heart get influenced by darkness too deep… don't let your heart change, Hak".

Hak grabs her shoulders and coldly stares down to her before pushing her till Yona collapses backward to the ground. It makes Yona desperately crying, tears streaming down her face freely as she's looking up to Hak who can't hear her voice "…Hak…".

"prin…cess…", Hak gasps, but more bloods coming out of his eyes and he lifts his hand, roaring like insane beast.

"Yona, move!?", Setsuna pushes Yona behind her and places herself between Hak and Yona. Hak's left hand, Darkness Dragon's Claw that barely hitting Yona, now pierce her body. All of them stare in horror as the Darkness Dragon's Claw stabs Setsuna on the stomach and breaks through her back, bloods dripping to the ground from Setsuna's body and Hak's Dragon Claw.

Yona flies her hands to cover her mouth, screaming "SETSUNA?!".

Setsuna coughs bloods violently, her legs shaking but she persists, grabbing Hak's wrist with her bloodied hands which piercing through her body "this is my responsibility… to bring back your sanity… no, to bring you back into yourself as human… as someone who has been tied by fate with you", with bloods pouring down from the corner of her mouth and through the breach on the middle of her torso, she smiles, cupping his cheeks with her bloodied hand and whispering weakly "…I love you, Ulla…".

With her last will power that left, Setsuna brings her lips up to kiss him, right on his lips as she pulling him to her level before all of her power has left her body and her body goes limp on Hak's hands after Hak gulps something down, seems like Setsuna has made Hak drink her bloods.

"…Tae…Yang?", the red pupil and black on Hak's eyes slowly turn normal like its previous state, where the black of his eyes turn back into white and red pupils of his eyes turn back to his Sapphire orbs. Hak drops to his knees as he holding Setsuna's body before crying it out loud "TAE YANG?!".

Not letting the opportunity go, Sakaki wraps his arms around Setsuna's waist to hold her after he grabbing Hak's forehead and slamming him to the ground "Mulan, do it now?!".

"without you ask?!", Mulan lands in between Setsuna and Hak, she has to touch them to use her ability, 'Time Rotation', to move their bodies' time. Next second, the hole on Setsuna's body has healed without any scars and Hak collapses backward in unconscious state with severely-injured body. Looks like Mulan has moved their time before Setsuna gets that terrible injury on her body from Hak but because of her limited strength's capacity for today, Mulan only can move Hak's time when his hand just barely has been stabbed by his torturers, before those fiends have cut Hak's hand off of its place. Like Mulan's order, Sakaki slips his hands under Hak's knees and back to carry Hak (because Kazama carries Sakuya already) as Mulan carries Setsuna.

Though, Mulan grumbles as she's carrying Setsuna "gosh, could you stop risking your life like this, could you not?!".

Sakaki deadpans as he approaches Yun to ask him for check on Hak "well, but it's emergency and it's the quickest way to make your son drink her blood. Since Setsuna's blood as Suzaku is the cure for him, it can't be helped".

"it's so-called as shock effect and it works to make him drink my bloods", Setsuna touches her body where she's supposed to have the wound from Hak before coughing a little "so it does worth it, right?".

Mulan groans "but still… as much as I don't want to lost my children in front of my eyes again, don't?!".

"mother, I'm fine now, so it's alright", Setsuna leans her head on Mulan's shoulder before closing her eyes "I'm just a bit tired and sleepy, that's all…".

Mulan sighs in defeat, knowing well her adopted daughter's reason to sacrifice herself this far. She ruffles Setsuna's head "rest, we can take care of everything later".

After make sure that Setsuna has fallen asleep, Sakaki looks up to Yun who starts to treat Hak's wounds with eyes as if he's on the verge of crying "kid, needn't to force yourself if you can't. I, Mulan, Sakuya and Kazama also can treat wounds since we have been trained for that as well".

"no, thank you for your offer however I must do this… as the only one who can do this in my group, but…", Yun politely declines Sakaki's offer, wiping his tears with his sleeves "it's too cruel… what should we do… if his wounds this time will never be healed?".

Mulan ruffles Yun's head, encouraging him before asking to everyone who gather here "is everyone alright? let me help to treat your wounds. Hak's wounds are too severe even for me to heal him at once so I have to move his time to the point when his wounds will not endanger his life, but if it's only to heal you all, I still have some energy left".

Sakaki opens his mouth, about to protest and ask her to not overdo it "Mulan, you—".

"oh hush, Sakaki", Mulan shushes him "I will be alright, the least I could do is to treat their wounds, and I don't receive 'no' at all".

Kija has his wrist broken. Jae Ha who has been kicked by Hak on the ribs, has large bruises on his torso and broken ribs. Shina gets scratches and bruises on his back because of being collided with rocks. Zeno is the only one who doesn't get injured (actually it's not he doesn't get injured at all, but his wounds has been healed due to his regeneration).

"but I wonder…", Yona mumbles as she's helping Mulan and Yun to treat their comrades' wounds, she's still shaking and on the verge of tears but her confusion and curiosity are larger "why could Setsuna's blood have been a cure for Hak? who is Ulla and Tae Yang? why did Setsuna call Hak as Ulla and Hak call Setsuna as Tae Yang?".

Mulan explains that like they know, Setsuna is the vessel of Suzaku (Phoenix) who has been known as the immortal vermillion bird, she has an ability to control fire, her tears, blood, body and flesh can become cure for whatever injuries or poison in this world. About who are Ulla and Tae Yang, Mulan rolls her eyes to Zeno and after receiving affirmation nods from blonde-haired dragon, Mulan goes further.

"Ulla was Hak's past self and Tae Yang was Setsuna's past self. In their past life, a couple thousand years ago, Setsuna was born as Hiryuu's daughter with name 'Tae Yang' while Hak was born as son of Nomads' Head Clan with name 'Ulla'. They had married after they were chosen as Darkness Dragon and Suzaku's vessel, together they built their own Kingdom and they have been known as the founders of Kai Empire", Mulan looks down to Hak and Setsuna before caressing Hak's head "…people say, if a love story being ended tragically, they would reincarnate to change what had been occurred in the past and be united once more time. No matter how strong Darkness or Light, Demon or Angel, they would become weak when they are being faced with Love. Not every Darkness is Evil and not every Light is Kind, after all this world is not only fulfilled with black and white solely".

Suddenly, Mulan feels her heart lurching out of her chest. She clutches her chest and curls into ball "…shit, looks like the side-effect—", Mulan reaches out her hand, grabbing Sakaki's sleeve and looking up with a bitter smile on her face "please take care of my children… and everyone for a while… Sakaki…".

When Mulan's body starts to turn into transparent, Sakaki reaches out his hand, only to sweep cold air as Mulan's body changes into snow. Sakaki chokes a startled air before screaming "MULAN!?".