Chapter 19: Sacrifice for the One I Care About
Sukimaru and Resha, who had been standing speechless off to the side piped up at the requirement.
"I'll do it!" Sukimaru told them, "Anything for a friend!"
"No I will, Suikmaru!" Resha told him. They both argued over it seemingly, but then hushed as they remembered their own lives. Kimi, who watched them, stepped forward confidently.
"I will, ma'am. I think my life is already tied to this mirror deeper than what I know. I might as well life leave it and join it once and for all." Her three friends stared in shock as their friend offered her life so that the Phantom Thief could return home.
"But Kimi--!" Sukimaru pleaded, trying to keep his friend staying so he or Resha could go in her place. At the movement of the holy maiden's hand, a magical dust was placed on him. Sukimaru fainted on contact with the unearthly powder
"Suki--?!" Resha slumped down as well as soon as she moved into the powder's range. The spiritual being looked at Kimi once again, her eyes calm and collective, unlike the eyes of the maiden who had appeared to Kimi before when Krad had first finished off Dark.
"Are you sure, young one? Your energy seems to be the closest one connected to the mirror." Kimi nodded.
"Kimi, you don't have to do this for my sake!" Dark pleaded, trying to get her to stay. "I don't have to leave, you know!"
"But if you stay without a body, you will go into the spirit world," informed the holy maiden. Kimi watched him for a moment, her feelings once again in turmoil. She looked at the being and then at Dark. A long moment of ponderous silence filled the air of the tunnel, and at last, her voice cut it with a knife like butter.
"Dark…I want you to be happy and surrounded by the friends you knew before me like Daisuke Niwa. I'm sure you can understand that I want you to be happy."
"But I can stay here and be happy with you guys! I don't have to leave at all!" Dark grabbed her hand, trying to prevent her from advancing any farther. Kimi laughed a little.
"You don't understand, do you? It's okay for me to leave because I will still be with you, no matter what."
"Huh?" Dark was puzzled now. Kimi placed a hand on his heart, the other on her own.
"I live on in here, and you'll live on in mine."
"Stop all this clichéd crap, I mean it, don't go!" Dark trembled. He spotted the spirit advancing forward and many things ran through his head. 'Can I stop that girl?' he asked himself, but quickly dispelled the thought as he caught a cold warning glance at him, as if saying, "Don't you do anything to me."
Kimi smiled once more. "I'm not just doing this to bring you back home. I'm also doing this sacrifice for the one I care about." She then felt a hand on her shoulder.
"It is time, child," spoke the maiden as she began to make Kimi fade away.
"Goodbye, Dark Mousy. Maybe we'll see each other again." The spirit of Kimi, which had turned into tiny yellow lights, floated towards Dark at a fast and accurate speed, sending his spirit flying backwards. He closed his eyes at the light, hearing the last words he'll ever hear from Kimi. Then, cold enveloped him.
Darkness gripped at his body, as if trying to drag him downwards. He opened his eyes to survey the area, and found himself floating in the unseen surroundings of wherever he was going. A light at the end of the tunnel greeted him, and he blinked before the piercing white light knocked him out.
"Ugh…," he uttered. His body felt numb and useless, like a discarded piece of trash. If he tried to move the pain of soreness would sear through his body, halting him in his tracks. He opened his purple eyes to look at wherever her was, and stared up at the sky flecked with cirrus clouds here and there. he was also on pavement, and the scent of the morning air hung low enough for him to pick up. This was all he could distinguish out of his surroundings…until he heard something click and open.
Ah, so clichéd! Man, I really do want it out…What a short semi-final chapter...