Four years later, Soubi has a different master.
"Kill them, Soubi."
Soubi feels the order fill him, lift him up, give him breath. Make him real. Seimei's word is absolute.
All Soubi's images, even the light, have strange, burning violet eyes.
"Battle system expand. I declare a spell battle."
Sightless join hands as the wave of Soubi's power rushes over them. "We are Sightless. The dark so bright that you are blinded. We see all and you are silent." Ataru steps forward, half a step, in front of his Sacrifice. "We accept."
Soubi does the same. "That's not your old spell."
Ataru glares. "It's stronger. So are we."
For a moment, Soubi only smiles. And then his voice is flame and dark at once. "Light, become absolute, wash away blemish, disintegrate all other things. Destroy them."
No starting with simple spells. No passive Fighter, no dead eyes. There is something in him now. But the boy who was once, before Soubi beat him, the top student at Seven Voices Academy has also gotten stronger, and so has his Sacrifice.
"Defend!" He too was taught to feed off the holes in an attack, and he knows he is strong, even if they say it is impossible. Beating Beloved. "The blind man opens his eyes and sees no light, for he is sightless!" Ataru has a long memory, and he has never made the same mistake twice. This time there is no hole. This time, the dreamer is as sightless awake as asleep. This time, his word is all-encompassing. Agatsuma Soubi will have nowhere to counter, even with his Sacrifice. His Beloved. Ataru scowls only at Soubi as he attacks, because no one looks at Beloved's Sacrifice. "The blind man opens his eyes and drowns in darkness. Drown them, smother them, restrain them!"
Soubi's counter is seamless. "The blind man dreams of light, breathes in vision, is revived in hope." Soubi smiles now, because there is happiness in fulfilling Seimei's orders, every one of them, without fail. Happiness too painless to imagine. "The dream of light is the hope unquenchable. The dream of light is the blind man's world." The words flow of their own accord, and every crystal image is imbued with his master's will. "There is nothing else. Obliterate."
And the strength of his spell—a spell that few others—no other, perhaps—has the mind, the vision, the art to image—is so great in the will of his Sacrifice that they are, in truth, unbeatable.
Sightless does not have time to be angry, let alone to defend. The Fighter falls to the ground as his Sacrifice is taken, barely hanging on to life, consciousness gone. "Rai!" His voice is weak, gasping. His Sacrifice is still and silent, and for the first time in a long time, Ataru is afraid.
Soubi looks almost as passive as he did four years ago, except for his eyes. His eyes have changed. His eyes burn with the name Beloved. "Blade of light, take their lives. Rend, destroy. Sever. Erase life."
Mori Ataru's eyes widen a moment. He has heard the rumours, but however they hated Soubi in school, he was not a killer. This spell, Sightless did not expect. Ataru's eyes widen only a moment. And then they close, and do not open again.
Soubi watches motionless until Sightless is seen to be dead, and remaining so. When he turns, his eyes find Seimei's immediately, and they do not look away. Seimei reaches one hand and presses pain, hard, touch, sensation—life—briefly into the scar circling Soubi's neck. Soubi shivers, and controls his ecstasy.
"Good." Seimei's approval is simple, and Soubi knows that his master is pleased.
Soubi smiles. All is wonderful. He follows his master wordlessly away, unconcerned by the bodies in the grass behind them. Seimei's word is absolute. And Soubi's world is full of light
-
And this is why my eyes are closed
It's just as well for all I've seen
We all fall down as time crawls by
And sightless eyes forget what's been.
-
A/N: Thank you for reading :) This is my first Loveless fanfic, so I hope you enjoyed it! Please review – as anyone who reads my other fandoms will know, I adore reviews like air. I absorb them through my skin for writing energy. Seriously :P Let me know what I can improve, or just that you liked it (or hated it) – anything is good. There's no such thing as a 'bad' review :)
Disclaimer: Loveless belongs to Kouga Yun. The stanza in italics at the end is half Billy Joel and half me (last 2 lines are mine).