'XYZ' – thoughts
'XYZ' – telepathy
"XYZ" – speech
XYZ – lyrics
Weeks later, in the evening
Setara has been nervous around everybody, but Hiei. She didn't dare to leave the house, she only went to the forest to train or see Kenshin.
After another hour of intensive training, she walked into the house to find her mate, but he seemed to be out. She started to feel nauseous, as she rushed through the building. Hiei has never left the house without telling her, and she knew something was very wrong. As she was trying to calm down her rapidly pounding heart, she almost bumped into Kurama. She gasped, and grasped at her heart.
"Setara, what's wrong?" He asked, noticing the scared look in her violet eyes.
"Where is Hiei?" She asked, her voice small and desperate.
"He was heading out to see you a couple of minutes ago." Kurama said, and at that, Setara collapsed to the floor and her tears started to roll down her cheeks lazily.
"Setara?" Kurama questioned, as he crouched next to her, careful not to touch her.
"I can't feel him, Kurama. I can't feel him!" The demoness sobbed, trying again to concentrate on their bonding, but she couldn't feel a thing.
"It must be the fear, Setara. You can't focus properly. Relax, and I'm sure you'll find him." The Kitsune assured, but the girl shook her head.
"No, I am concentrating, there's nothing wrong with that, but our bonding seemed to disappear." She mumbled, wiping her tears away.
"That is… because he is possessed by the evil who wants to take Ameretat's power of eternal youth." A deep, smooth voice said out of nowhere.
"Darien!" Setara exclaimed, looking around, but seeing no one.
"Stand up, Omega! You must determine your fate tonight. Find your mate, fight the evil, and die if you must, but keep in mind, if you die, Ameretat's power shall never be unleashed. Make your decisions, and stand strong in the fight for them." He finished.
"Wait, help me find him!" Setara begged, but she got no answer. "Oh, fuck you…" She added in a mutter as she got up, and started towards her and Hiei's room.
"Setara, how are you going to find Hiei?" Kurama asked curiously.
The phoenix demon glanced back at him, smirking.
"Well, I just happen to have a werewolf with perfect senses as my friend. I think I'll ask for his help." She answered and walked on, but stopped and looked back at Kurama again. "Don't come after me. I don't want you to see me die."
"Setara, are you planning to kill yourself?" The fox asked in disbelief.
"Of course not, baka. I will die in the fight." She muttered barely audibly, but Kurama could still hear her perfectly.
"How can you give up so easily? You can even win with all the training you've done lately." He ran after her, and she looked deep in his eyes.
"I am not giving up, fox. I will save Hiei's life, but I must die. If not, there will be others trying to get me to set the Apocalypse free. I'm not that big of a sacrifice in exchange for the world." She said, and Kurama was quite taken aback by her words.
"But if you die, he'll die too…" He said slowly, and Setara gave him a look that said: I-know-that-idiot. Then it struck Kurama as a ton of bricks, and he stopped dead in his tracks. "Don't tell me you're… planning to… use Anna's… sword…"
"I am." She nodded, stopping in front of the door of the room.
"Did you think about how he'd feel when he saw you dead and your mark gone?" He yelled after her, and she froze in the process of opening the door. Setara stared ahead, as the other's words sank in.
"I'm sure he'll understand." She mumbled, opening the door finally, and going in. She then leaned against it and closed her purple eyes to stop the tears from falling. 'Will he? Will he understand, or will he hate me for giving up our bonding?'
She bit into her lips, walked over to her closet, dressed into black jeans, a black leather tank top, and pulled on black sneakers. She pulled on her leather gloves and glanced at the bed they shared. Her heart throbbed painfully in her chest as she held back her tears. She then shook her head, and walked out of the room. 'He must understand that I love him so much that I'm willing to give our bonding up for his life.'
She walked to Anna's and Kurama's room, and knocked on the door. Her sister opened up, and stared at her as if she was mad. Setara sighed and lowered her head.
"I see, he told you." She mumbled.
"Yes, he did." Anna nodded.
"Will you absolve me?" The younger one asked hopefully.
"I will." The other whispered, glancing to the side.
"That easy? I thought you wouldn't." Setara stared at the white one in disbelief.
"I wouldn't… but I've thought it over… I think I would do the same in your situation." She sobbed, tears rolling down her face.
"I'm sorry, sis. You know I have to." The black phoenix smiled sadly.
"Yeah, I know." She sighed, summoned her sword, and held it to the mark on the other's neck. "Absolving… you have the power I need. Absolve her now from the weight of this mark… I beg you." She said, and a bright light beamed from the bite-mark, then as fast as it came, it disappeared again, along with the mark.
"Goodbye, sis, take care of Kurama." Setara smiled, and quickly ran off, before her sister could do anything.
"DON'T DIE, FOOLISH YOUKAI!" Anna shouted after her.
"Sorry, I will…" Setara mumbled to herself, running towards the woods. She felt empty… as if she's lost her insides, as if she could die any moment. She missed the feeling of being taken so bad it made her hard to breathe. She stopped running as an extremely sharp pain shot through her body, making her almost paralyzed. She gasped and collapsed to the ground, her eyes wide with anguish. She supported herself with her arms, panting heavily, her lips dry.
'I love you, you love me, and that's all that matters.' Her own words echoed through her mind, giving her strength to stand up. She stood there shakily, her eyes unfocused, her body burning in the fire of pain.
"I wonder… if he has to go… through all this too…" She mumbled, taking a few disoriented steps. Then her eyes went wide again at that thought. 'Does he suffer too? Did I hurt him by doing this? No, I couldn't bear that… I must… I must save him…' She walked on, and then she slowly sped up, running into the forest as fast as she could, ignoring the enormous pain eating at every inch of her body. "I must… I MUST SAVE HIM!" She screamed out dashing forward like lightning. Nothing mattered to her anymore, not pain, not death, only him, the most precious person in her life.
A/N: Dear readers, I'm finally finishing this story, I'm really sorry for making you wait so long, but I was kind of fed up with it. I've reread it a few days ago, and I got inspiration again. Thank you for those who read this!