Chapter Seventeen: Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete Yuku
This feels so unreal…
XVIII.
She saw….
In her dream…
A flower…
A beautiful flower…
Gracing itself upon a land of rock and rubble…
A lonely flower…
She remembered…
Smiling…
In that presence…
Flowers were a reminder…
That even when the world seemed ruined…
Nature still ran its course…
And that the Earth still lived….
Sometimes….
It took a tragedy…
To make you realize how beautiful the world really is.
Barren…
Desolate…
Lifeless…
Such was the island….
A dimension….
A dimension not of the living or the dead...
But of the damned…
The cursed….
Those placed under eternal sleep.
And never awaken.
Stillness…
Silence…
Why?
Why are you laughing?
Was it something that I said?
Or did?
We all fall down…
She was left with an irrevocable problem; Marik was the enemy.
He struck down Mai, leaving her in the dark pit of madness and despair.
He destroyed Joey, in the fiery hell he is now.
He defeated Yugi and his other half Yami in the god's trial bestowed by his fledge of demons.
He cruelly dispatched and killed her friends with a sinister grin that painted his face.
You're all alone…
She couldn't do anything about the deaths of Joey and Mai; she couldn't do anything about the deaths of her friends were left without revenge.
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.
A mountain.
Steel…
Spray of blood…
Someday in the darkness…
The blade falls…
The phoenix rises…
Roaring…
Vibrations of its power…
Bestowed…
Screaming…
The mountain…
Purple cascades…
Bodies…
Down the corridor…
Shells…
Dry husks…
"Why?"
"Why, my dear?"
Sharing pain…
Heart and soul...
Malicious whispers…
The netherworld…
White noise…
"Do you love me?"
"Do you?"
"My dear…."
Sweet things…
Do not matter…
My world…
Frozen…forever…
Perpetual twilight…
Beyond the stars…
Back in your head...
Back of your mind…
Red darkness…
Black light…
Whenever I may find you…
Wounded...
Scarred…
Blossoms wilt…
Damnation
The most wonderful illusion will soon fade…nightmares…
A beautiful truth…
The Darkness…
Wrapped in circles…
Work of an entity's hands…
You're scared because I love you…
You're beautiful because I want you to be…
You're alone because no one wants you….
Fate brought you to me…
And you are here to stay…
Was it an illusion?
Her eyes were clouded.
Empty…
Nothingness…
Looking up at the sky…
His eyes were black…
Blacker than black…
Color of Oblivion…
Sinking…
Deep crevasse…
Moving backwards…
A rush of emotion…
She mused.
He held.
She remembered…
'Such pure innocence…'
A toy…
A game…
He won.
She lost.
She gave in.
A toy…
A doll…
The duels…
Joey….
His friends…
Her friends…
Téa….
Ryou….
Mai…..
Malik…
Yugi….
Ishizu….
The Pharaoh…
Duke….
Tristan….
Mokuba….
Kaiba…
They were all gone.
Everyone…
Gone, gone, gone…..
All gone…
All because of her….
Why did they have to die?
They did nothing wrong; do the innocent go punished when the evil go unscathed?
It wasn't fair….
Why couldn't it have been her?
It was her he wanted….
He should have just taken her and let everyone else go!
At least they would still be alive…
She could have been sacrificed to Ra's fiery wrath…she could have fallen into the pits of Hell and let everyone else alone…
At least they would have been alive…
She would have been a sacrifice…
At least they would have been alive…
They're gone…
Nothing can change that…..
They were all gone…
All of them….
DEAD…..
Her brother Joey…
Téa….
Ryou….
Mai…..
Malik…
Yugi….
Ishizu….
The Pharaoh…
Duke….
Tristan….
Mokuba….
Kaiba…
All gone…
They were all there.
And then there were none.
The tournament…..
Battle City….
Everyone…
Dead…
She wanted….
She couldn't…
Oblivion….
What WAS IT?
She had no idea…
Someone, help me!
Joey!
Pharaoh!
Someone help me!
It's no use.
What?
You're mine now.
Forever?
FOREVER!
NO!
Forever and ever!
No, no, no, NO!
Oh yes, yes, yes!
NO! This can't be!
Oh, yes it can, my dear.
She had to walk in the labyrinth.
So she will find a way out of this hellhole.
So she would find a way back home.
"Serenity…."
Her train of thought was shattered.
That voice…
Was that…
Was it….
"…Joey?"
Just then, the wind became strong again…
"Serenity….."
"J-Joey….?"
Indeed, she heard someone faintly call out her name.
Shock.
Amazement.
Disbelief.
Those were the emotions that Serenity felt all at that moment.
She was sure that she was going insane.
Joey….
Was it really him?
Was it really?
Was it just a dream?
An illusion?
How could she hear her brother's voice?
How?
How?
How was it possible?
Was it just a cruel trick?
Was it wishful thinking?
If….
If she heard right….
Where had he been for the past month or so?
If he was alive, he would have contacted her by now…
He would have looked for her and have found her by now...
Wouldn't he?
If what she was wishing for was true….
So where had he been?
How could he have survived?
It was…
It was….
Impossible…
She knew that for certain, but still…
And then she awoke.
Serenity blearily opened her eyes to hear the voice once more.
"S-Serenity…."
Her pulse was soon sped up.
Her breath quickened.
She knew it was him.
She knew it was her brother.
"Joey!" She yelled out, pushing herself to her knees.
She narrowed her eyes, gritted her teeth and closed her eyes against a sudden wave of sickness that jabbed in her insides with her movement, but she pushed against the great discomfort, getting to her feet, wobbling unsteadily.
The adrenaline pumping through her body joined with the bright spark of hope inside her just then, giving her the strength to move towards the sound.
"Serenity!"
There it was again.
Weak…
Desperate…..
But undeniable.
"Serenity! Serenity!"
"I'm coming, Joey!"
Her voice was cracked but determined as she kept running, her throat parched and raw by the very tremor of her own voice, but she kept running.
Running toward the voice…
Running towards the voice of hope.
The voice of asylum…
Hope….
Pure hope…
All thoughts were scrambled at a halt when she stumbled over the ground, which had become moist and cakey, clinging to her bare feet before she felt herself lose momentum with her footing, the ground seemingly grabbing her by the feet and pulling her down.
All thought was wiped out when she landed on the ground with a hard thud, knocking the breath out of her, an 'oof' audible from her mouth.
She ached all over, her head swimming, lights dancing in front of her eyes in an intangible form, groaning in great discomfort as she pushed herself up to her knees, the ground muddy and grimy, clinging to her hands and legs.
She shook her head as she lifted it up to gaze into the thick blanket of darkness, bits and bits of a form right before her painting a picture for what she was to see.
Her eyes widened in horror as they lay upon the sight before her.
A body….
There was a body…
Right….
In…
Front…
Of…
Her…
It was caked and drenched in the burgundy liquid that its smell was unbearable to inhale or behold. It had been cut open, the organs ripped out to the murky air, rotted and burned over again. Bits and pieces of burned flesh were left tattered upon the body, leaving only muscle and skeletal remains out in the open, with little skin draping whatever was left of the inside.
Its jaw was ripped off, leaving only the upper teeth rotted and unaccompanied, the lower jaw tossed upon the decomposing chest. Its empty sockets leered at her, the eye juices dried in the skull. The hair was left in sparse remains, patches upon the cracked skull.
Hair…
Blonde hair…
It…
It…
Couldn't be….
A full-throated scream erupted from her, a sound so inhuman yet shrill enough to sound like one arose from the depths of despair and terror that had been locked away far too long. She fell to the ground, her hands covering her ears, futilely shielding them from her own scream.
She was alone…
Alone and insane….
Screaming….
Screaming in terror…
In bitterness…
In sorrow….
And in madness….
It was a scream loud enough to pierce the heavens high above and beg the angels to end her own life and let her join them in the peace so she would have the peace that she wanted for so long.
It was a scream that never seemed to have an end.
A scream that she knew couldn't possibly be heeded by God or many other deities themselves.
All gods were cruel…
Unfair….
Just like the rest of them…
Before long, what felt like hours to her, her voice was silenced, halted by a presence of another…
Another….
Another…
She closed her eyes, a warmth surrounding her weak and entire form, the welcoming kind of warmth that enveloped her, wrapping around her securely.
A sun-kissed hand stroked her tear-stained cheek with feigned affection, and trailed down her form, caressing the outlines delicately, as if to sooth her but only to make her squirm even more.
He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her to his form, holding her as she collapsed against him. He growled/purred into her ear as a familiarly warm tongue ran along the side of neck.
It was….
It was the Darkness…
The Darkness himself…
The monster…
"No longer…" His voice drifted in and out of her ears as her consciousness was close to fading away.
"…will you be away from me."
No longer would you turn it into light….
XVIII.
(A.N: Describing a dead body was the grossest thing I've ever had to write about; I even got sick as I typed it up. But all for the story. Like I said, there are three more chapters to go, and this is where everything comes full circle, where two fates are decided whether they like it or not. And again, repetitions of passages from earlier chapters mean the deafening of sanity. Yes….time does fly.)
Reviews are love.
Soundtrack:
"Atlantis" Paul Oakenfold
"Time of Your Lethal Industry" Paul Oakenfold vs. DJ Tiesto
"Purity" Rin ~ Daughters of Mnemosyne OST
"Existence of APOS" Takayuki Negishi, Rin ~ Daughters of Mnemosyne OST
"Antinomie" Yuki Kajiura, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles OST
"Darkness Moon" Yuki Kajiura, Pandora Hearts OST