Clary: In my defense, I would like to say that I had planned to write this chapter while counting down to New Year. But somehow, I got sucked up to playing cards by Lia. She is bad influence. (Be warned)
Lia: We were just playing. You could have ignored us and wrote.
Clary: How could I ignore Texas Hold'Em? I LOVE POKER.
Lia: Obviously, the feeling is not mutual.
Clary: It's NOT MY FAULT. (sticks out tongue) Lia and her family are poker fiends. Especially Elle. And Lia. They hog all the chips, the bitches. How can you be so extremely lucky?
Lia: We just know how to play and keep our feelings to ourselves when we get bad cards. Unlike SOME PEOPLE who whine right away.
Clary: (Fuck you, Lia.) But here's the chapter everyone~ I hope you enjoy it, it took me a long long long long long long long time trying to figure out how to write this (especially the first scene) but it just kinda fell out of my fingers~~~ So~~~
Enjoy~
Oh, but before that:
Some notes for this chapter:
~ Soushu-sama is typically what the Japanese would call the head of a respectable or highly-influential clan. (We should have placed this back in Blood and Shadows I, when the term was first introduced, but we kinda forgot, so~) Fuji Soushu means the head of the Fuji clan. We don't know Fuji's father's name, and Issa (CLARY) really didn't feel up to making one, so we just call him that :)
~ Necromancers are those people who deal with the art or the magic of communicating and raising up the dead for the purpose of divination (knowing the future). Since the Fujis walk in Death, it's almost safe to assume that they know about necromancy, though they don't neccesarily use it. They focus more on keeping the dead people dead, but they have the power to bring them back to life. That's main difference between the real necromancers and the Fujis. However, it can also be said that in this story, necromancy involces so much more than raising up the dead for future-telling (Morto, zombie army, revenge).
~ Bells are common tools for necromancers, along with talismans, magic circles and wands. YES, when Morto was being raised up from the dead on the chapter of Morto, THAT was a sort-of necromancer ritual. (Issa didn't feel like researching how it was supposed to look like and Lia sort-of approved of how it went, anyway, so we really didn't bother anymore) The bells are NOT OURS and there will be more of them in the next chapter, so look forward to them, kay ;)
Okie-dokie, that's all for notes :)
DEATH PLAY
Written by: Clary~
Acknowledgements to: Lia (the poker queen), Alatarielf (thank you SO MUCH, you always inspire us with your words~ Lia says hi and she misses you, too. Our director is becoming bitchier and bitchier every single passing day), Knights of Cydonian Starlight (maa~ thank you, thank you, thank you~~), lemon-and-chai (we're sorry about not updating sooner~ And we know it's too late for it, but here's your Christmas present :)), animangadeek0624 (that is NOT a crappy review AT ALL~~ we're so glad you like the story, and how Chizuru died will be revealed next chapter~ look forward to it till then, kay?), phoenixfirekitsune (we're glad Syusuke's still alive, too~ we tried to update as fast as we can, so enjoy, ne?)
XVII. THE CLAN OF DEATH
He felt the death like a particularly sharp tug from another end of a long string. He'd always been able to feel death because he himself had walked in its waters. Always, almost all the time, at the back of his mind, he felt the snuffing of life and its entrance into Death's waters.
He'd learned not to mind.
But to those people he cared about, to those people who he loved... He was more sensitive to them. Like they were tied to him in the way that it hurt, physically, when they died. Just like how it went with the Tezuka family. And maybe, with his own family, too, though he was too young to remember.
It was hurting now. And he couldn't remember exactly when breathing became so, so hard.
Why now?
Why?
Why, of all people, why did it have to be her?
He saw her soul splash into the still-wild waters of death, eagerly claiming her, eagerly dragging her off to the Ninth Gate, where he couldn't see her anymore, where he couldn't tell her he was sorry, where he couldn't tell her how much it hurt him that she loved him and he didn't have the strength to love her back.
She couldn't really be dead.
And before he knew it, he was splashing after her, away from life once again, knowing just how dangerous it all was, how very close his body was to giving up, but not caring.
"Meiko!" His shout was drowned out but the noise of the waters, but he prayed she could hear. He had to... He had to... He didn't know why, but he had to get her. Maybe, just maybe he could reach her before she passed the First Gate, and he could bring her back, he could save her and then... And then...
He still wouldn't love her, not the way he did Kunimitsu.
But he knew he had to try. He can't just let her die, not after... not after...
"I'll come back for you."
"Meiko!" He bit back tears as he thrust his hand out, reaching for her the way she has been reaching for him these past few years. It seemed so ironic that the one time he reached back, it was all too late.
Like how he was too late to save his adoptive parents. Like how it was too late that he found out who he truly was. Like how he had accepted Kunimitsu's love too late. Like how he confessed his own love too late.
He was always too late.
Her hand was so cold now, so different from her usual warm hugs. He sucked in a sharp breath.
Her eyes were huge and wide, as she looked up to stare at him, but she did nothing to fight the current still. Syusuke tightened his grip.
She gave him a small smile that was more than a little sad. "I guess... this is Death, huh?"
Syusuke was too busy choking back tears to reply.
Meiko's smile widened as she wrestled against the water to work herself into a sitting position, at the very least. She squeezed the hand that was holding hers. "It's okay," she said soothingly, patting Syusuke's trembling hand gently.
Meiko was always comforting him. Even before, in life, every single time, though he knew how much it must have hurt her, too, to be with him, knowing all along that he couldn't love her.
For a moment, he was taken back to the time when he'd, to the best of his abilities, tried to reject her. When she told him how good he was when he'd just taken and broken her heart. When she said it was okay, she wouldn't stop. That she'll keep on trying because he was worth it. That she loved him and someday, someday he'll love her, too.
"Meiko," he whispered brokenly. ("I love you Syusuke. And I won't stop trying until you'll love me, too. I know someday you will.") "I love you."
Meiko kept on patting the hand, but she averted her gaze. "But not in the way I want you to."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay," she said, for the second time. "It's okay." This time, the assurance was for herself. "It's... time I gave up, I guess."
Syusuke's grip on her hand tightened even more.
"I'll come back for you."
"No, Meiko! I..." ("I'll come back for you.") "I can still..." Frustrated tears were running down his face. ("I'll come back for you.") "I can save you. I can... I can..."
"Syusuke," she whispered as gently as he could. "It's too late."
Too late.
Too late.
He suddenly became aware of his surroundings. The misty fog, the calmer, clearer waters, the steadier ground underneath his feet.
They had passed the First Gate.
Too late.
Once again.
("I'll come back for you.")
"It's okay," she crooned, patting his hands again. "It'll be okay."
But Meiko didn't know, she just didn't know. She didn't know about his real family, about his adoptive family, about everyone he had been too late to save. Everyone he could have saved, and he didn't care if he was too young then, he could have saved them, but he wasn't able to. Because he was too late.
And now, she was one of them.
"Meiko, I... I'm so..."
"Sorry? Syusuke, it's my own fault." Here, she gave a soft, bitter laugh. "I was a bit too careless and more than a little arrogant. It had nothing to do with you. It's just like you to try to take the blame for everything." She gave a fond smile. "That's one of the reasons why I love you."
"I love you, too," he said again, resignedly this time.
"I know," she replied. "But there is someone else you love more than me. And I want you to be happy, okay?" She caught Syusuke's beautiful blue gaze and held it. "I'm giving you up to whoever it is that you love, so you better be happy." She reached up and patted his face with a smile that was starting to hurt. "Because you'll be happy for me, too."
"Meiko..." Syusuke shook his head, and held the hand she had placed on his cheek. "You are the most selfless person I know."
She smiled wryly. "I doubt that." With a last burst of strength, she pulled herself up to her full height and brought her face closer to Syusuke's.
Everything about him was in perfect clarity. His twinkling blue eyes, too wise to be a child's but too innocent to be anything else. His heart-shaped face framed by hair the color of honey and caramel. His petal-like, kissable lips.
He was so beautiful. And he'll never be hers, not anymore. But... "Allow me this," she said, before she captured his lips in what would have been their romantic first kiss that she'd always dreamed of.
She closed her eyes, and took one moment to feel everything. She wanted to commit this all to her memory, so she'll have something, at the very least, to carry with her to death.
And then it was over, and she pushed him away, as the river waters engulfed her once more. There was pain again, more now than before, but she bore it silently. She touched her lips and remembered the kiss and smiled. "I can be selfish, too," she said softly, wondering who she was telling that to.
./.
Somewhere by the eve of the Fourth Gate, Meiko's pain was taken away by a man with white hands and glittering blue eyes.
She had been unconscious then, but he still felt her pain, so he reached out, touched her forehead and took it away. Then he let go and watched her float away.
"My thanks," he murmured softly, running his hand through honey-brown locks. "For the love you have given him."
He looked at his companions, who had all stopped when he did, and offered an assuring smile. There were two women with him, and a young boy. Both women smiled at the Fourth Gate as it roared to acknowledge the passing of a soul.
The older of the two women tilted her head in the direction of the younger. "Our would-have-been daughter-in-law?" she asked.
The younger's smile widened, before she shook her head. "No." Her gaze wandered before it settled on the direction of the previous Gates. "He loves someone else."
"Does he?" It was the boy who spoke this time, his grey-blue eyes flashing. "It's a wonder that anyone could love that idiot that much."
"Ah, but you love him, too, don't you?" The younger woman teased, which earned her a sputtering grimace from the boy.
The older woman smiled fondly. "We all do."
The man spared a smile, before resuming his walk once again. "Come, let us not tarry any longer." He looked back, let his gaze settle on each one of his companions, before turning back to the direction of the Third Gate. "He has been kept waiting long enough."
The older woman's smile grew sad, and there was longing in both her eyes and voice when she spoke again.
"So have we."
./.
Yukimura felt it when Syusuke's heart stopped. Again.
This time he refused, absolutely refused to panic. Syusuke's heart stopped because he had entered Death. That was all, he told himself firmly, as they arrived in an empty infirmary.
Empty.
He tried to keep a hold on his anger and succeeded somewhat. Even then, he had a hard time not lashing out as he laid Syusuke down on the bed and glanced around, trying to make out where he could go.
He peeled off Syusuke's uniform, by then so saturated with blood that Yukimura's heart skipped a beat.
He did what first-aid he could with the materials he could find, and dressed Syusuke's wound with bandages that became soaked with more crimson liquid as fast as he put them in place.
He was breathing through his mouth now, and his heart had dropped to his stomach a long time ago.
He wished Syusuke's heart would start beating once again. He held his cousin's hands and wished.
It took him a long time to be aware of another presence in the infirmary.
"Yukimura-kun."
Yukimura turned around to meet Persona's distinctly displeased scowl. He was leaning against the doorframe of the infirmary, his arms folded against his chest, trying to look casual, and failing.
He was obviously seething mad.
"Persona-"
"What do you think you're doing here?" Persona hissed, the corners of his mouth dipping down further.
"Persona-"
"This is not where you are supposed to be!"
Yukimura looked back down at his cousin, still without a heartbeat, still hovering on the fine line between life and death.
"You told me to keep him alive," he said quietly, tightening his hold, trying to buy more time to spend with Syusuke. When it got down to it, he still couldn't refuse Persona's direct order. He would only succeed in angering him, and Persona might take his anger out on Syusuke.
And he couldn't let that happen.
"He's not going to be alive much longer if you stay here, Yukimura-kun."
There was something twisted in his tone, and his smile, and Yukimura watched as his nails dug into the doorframe. The wood crumbled.
"Give me one moment," he said, turning back to Syusuke, checking his temperature (freezing cold) and his heartbeat (still none).
"Wake up for me," he whispered urgently to Syusuke's unresponsive form. "Please, Syusuke. No matter what happens, even though..." He had to pause to keep from crying. It didn't do good to cry in front of Persona. Especially not in front of Persona.
He glanced at the head of the Dangerous Ability Types by the door once again, and Persona responded by jerking his head sharply to the direction of the front Academy gates. He still had his scowl.
He sucked in a huge breath. "Even though I won't be here when you... Just... Wake up for me, okay?" He said it all on one breath so he wouldn't be able to let a sob escape his tight, measured control.
"Always remember," he said, his hand drifting to his cousin's chest. Still no heartbeat. "I love you. I always will. So, wake up and..." He bent down to kiss Syusuke's forehead. "Be brave for me."
./.
Syusuke woke up to a nightmare.
Seiichi was kissing his forehead in a way that would have been soothing, had he not been saying things that didn't make any sense.
"Be brave for me."
Syusuke didn't understand. Why was he saying these things? Why now? It was as if... As if...
And then Seiichi was pulling away, going away from him to some unknown fight from which he might never return.
("Be brave for okaa-san, okay?")
"Be brave for me."
No.
No, the last time someone said that, the last time he heard that from his true mother, she never came back.
She had died. Along with the rest of his family.
"Be brave for me." ("Be brave for okaa-san, okay?")
"I'll come back for you."
"Syusuke, it's too late."
He can't lose anyone else.
"Seiichi!" His voice was shrill and it hurt his throat to use it like that, and it hurt more when he sat up quickly, a searing, almost-unbearable pain in his back but he didn't care. He didn't care because Seiichi didn't hear him, and Seiichi was still going away.
Seiichi can't be going away!
"Seiichi, don't leave!"
Seiichi turned around, eyes widening impossibly. "Syusuke-"
"Don't leave!" he said frantically, ignoring the pain, ignoring anything else, because nothing was more important than... than not losing anyone else. "Please!"
Seiichi was smiling. "I'm glad you're awake."
"Don't leave!"
Seiichi crossed what distance he had been able to make between the two of them and engulfed him in a warm hug. "I have to go." And his tone was firm. "Everyone else is fighting out there-" (Oh God, was Kunimitsu out there, too? And Keigo and Senri and Kuranosuke and everyone?) "-so I have to help."
(Meiko died fighting out there.)
"Syusuke, it's too late."
Seiichi moved to go again, to leave again and desperately, Syusuke clutched at his hands.
"Syusuke." Seiichi sounded exasperated, but he didn't care.
"Please," he said, his voice becoming hoarse and rough but he didn't stop. He needed to get this out. He needed to. "Take... take care of each other and come back, okay?"
"Syusuke."
"Okay?" he demanded, voice rising to a higher octave.
Seiichi managed a smile Syusuke knew was fake. "Promise."
"I'll come back for you. I promise."
"Don't promise," he said firmly. "Do it."
Seiichi smiled again, and patted his hand. (Meiko patted his hand, too, just like that, crooning, "It'll be okay," when she knew it wouldn't.) He felt like a child.
"Be well, Syusuke."
And Seiichi was going away to an uncertain fate, to the place, to the battle that killed Meiko. And Syusuke couldn't do anything to stop him.
He was so helpless. He was watching Seiichi walk up to his death, knowing everyone else that he had ever loved were there, too, battling with death, and they were going to lose just like Meiko, and he wouldn't be able to save them, because he would be too late and all he would be able to do was cry and tell them how very sorry he was because he was so very weak, just like what happened with Meiko.
And his last conversation with Kunimitsu had been an argument. And before that, he had run away.
He never even got to tell Kunimitsu just how much he loved him.
Kunimitsu, I love you.
He didn't notice Persona, so lost was he in his grief, until the black nails embedded themselves on his bed.
He looked up slowly to find Persona's pleasantly smiling face.
"Hello, Syusuke-kun," he greeted.
"Persona. I'm sorry, I-"
Persona patted his head amicably. "Oh, don't worry, Syusuke-kun, I expected that." His gaze drifted to the window. "I wanted you to buy time. Holding off Ashikaga completely had been a long shot from the very beginning."
"But... But I still..."
"I said, it's okay." And finally, finally, Syusuke could see just exactly why Kunimitsu and the others were afraid of this man.
"You know," he said, making sure to say this very slowly so the Fuji kid got every word. "Yukimura-kun did mean it when he said everyone was out there. Your Kunimitsu, the Atobe kid, the Chitose kid, the Shiraishi kid, even the Kisaragi girl."
"She's dead," he said flatly, averting his gaze from Persona's piercing eyes. His heart ached.
"You would know, wouldn't you?" Persona was unfazed by the new knowledge, choosing only to clutch Syusuke's chin and bring the eyes back to his own. "I did tell you. They'll be fighting a battle they can never hope to win."
There was something in the way Persona said that, something in the words he chose to say, something in the way he wanted Syusuke to look him in the eyes...
Persona knew how to save them. Persona knew how he could save them.
Syusuke's resolve firmed. "Tell me what to do."
./.
Really, it had all been too easy.
He almost felt sad. He'd expected it to go like this, anyhow. All he had to say, after all, was that everyone the kid cared about was out there and fighting.
Even the Yukimura kid breaking orders and staying with the Fuji kid had worked wonders to his advantage. (Even though he had to stay and watch their family drama. Ugh, people with feelings... They made him sick.)
See, Persona was always really lucky. He almost felt like patting himself on the back. Almost, but not quite.
Still, he had to indulge himself from time to time.
Ashikaga must be thinking he had won now.
It would be so heart-stoppingly brilliant when Persona would wrestle the victory from his grasp, and when he had been so close, too. Persona could only imagine the look in his eyes. God, he'd pay big money to be able to see it.
All in all, things were going exactly as planned and Persona couldn't have been more pleased.
And, had Fuji Syusuke been looking, had he been watching Persona, he would have seen a chilling smile settle itself into his cold face.
But of course he wouldn't see it.
Persona had to lean against the closed infirmary door and sigh for a moment at such a great loss.
Fuji Syusuke, after all, was too busy dying.
./.
Their blue eyes glittered as they felt the movement, the transition between life and death.
The older woman couldn't resist holding onto the man in joy, tears spilling from her face. "He's coming."
At last.
./.
The first thing that happened when he entered Death was that Syusuke was suddenly engulfed in a warm, familiar, comforting hug.
It didn't sit right with him, because Death wasn't warm, dead creatures don't hug non-dead people, and he certainly wasn't supposed to be familiar with dead creatures. Not after one had tried to kill him and drag him (and all the people he loved with him) to true death.
But for some strange reason, he couldn't pull away. And after a brief unsure moment, he tentatively reached out his arms and wound them around the person, returning the hug.
"Syusuke," she said fiercely, and Syusuke turned his head to meet a familiar blue gaze.
("I'll come back for you.")
His heart stopped for a moment as he greedily drank in her face, her scent, her warmth. Then it sputtered against his chest, and soared.
He tightened his grip and buried his head in her neck the way he used to do with his adoptive mother when he was little.
It was as if every shattered piece of his heart had fallen back into place, as if all the pieces of a puzzle he could never complete had finally fit together and he was not half-empty anymore. "Okaa-san," he sobbed, belatedly realizing how he was gasping and shaking and crying in her arms.
And she said "Syusuke," once again the way she did the first time, and Syusuke's heart lifted up a bit more.
"Mou," a different voice cut in, snapping Syusuke out of his happy haze. He raised his head to find another pair of blue eyes.
He couldn't believe how much he missed her, even though he'd seen her probably only a few moments ago. "Nee-san," he choked out from his mother's embrace.
"Okaa-san, that's unfair," she chided, though her eyes were shining happily. "I want to be all lovey-dovey with Syusuke, too." She gave him a conspiratorial wink. "Since, you know, Kunimitsu-kun isn't here and everything."
Syusuke actually blushed.
He ducked his head and buried himself deeper to his mother's warmth.
"Baka aniki." It was another voice and Syusuke looked up in surprise to find a boy, at the most, probably a year younger than him. He had blue eyes that bordered on grey, cropped brown hair, and was looking at him, currently, with a huge scowl. He didn't have Syusuke's almost unearthly blue eyes, or Syusuke's feminine build, he didn't look the remotest bit like Syusuke at all, but he was the cutest boy Syusuke had ever seen.
He said aniki.
("You'll have a little brother soon enough, and he'll be perfect, just like you.")
That was his little brother. And okaa-san was right. He was perfect.
"Yuuta," he greeted (choked-sobbed), and his younger brother cutely turned red and looked away. Syusuke grinned.
And then, the last voice. The smooth chuckle. Syusuke turned his head again, and met an older version of himself.
The same blue eyes. The same honeyed hair. The same smile.
This was his father.
("My pride, my son and my heir.")
"Hello, Syusuke."
"Father..."
But before he could finish, his mother had stiffened against him, and his father, as well as Yumiko and Yuuta had all tensed and faced the First Gate.
"A family reunion," a much, much colder voice greeted. "How quaint. You actually held on to life just to see your only living son die? I'm disappointed in you, Soushu-sama." His tone dripped with sarcasm.
"One way or another," his father said in a voice so strong, the raging waters of Death actually calmed. "This will be the end."
"Certainly," said the voice that could only have belonged to Ashikaga. "Today, I will see the end of your miserable clan."
And then Death suddenly became darker. He was still in his mother's embrace, and she instinctively tightened her hold on him.
"Felicitations from me to you, the last Fuji Soushu. It pains me to know that it was not I who ended you." Another voice that sounded like rock grating against rock. It hurt Syusuke's ears to even listen to it, and he chanced a glance towards the direction of the voice, when his mother had loosened her hold somewhat.
There was Ashikaga, too far away to really make out. And... Morto.
A vast mountain of endless black shadows, with red pits for eyes. His form twisted and gurgled and at times, Syusuke could swear he saw twisted mouths coming out of the form, screaming out for help. Syusuke shuddered.
"Is that the last Fuji, Yoshiko?" Ashikaga was asking, pointing straight at him and his mother. "Your first son you've worked so hard to protect?"
His mother's only answer was to tighten her hold on him again.
But Syusuke could still see. And this time, though he was far away, he saw Ashikaga's cruel smile clearly. And he knew that smile was meant for him.
"You won't be able to protect him much longer."
This was the man who had killed his family, who had wrestled from him his chance, his right to have them, to be happy with them, to grow up with them. This was the man who had killed Seiichi's family, who had brought Seiichi to that unfeeling state of depression. This was the man that had killed Syusuke's second family, who had erased the happiness from Kunimitsu's eyes. This was the man who was the reason why he and Kunimitsu and Seiichi could never properly become whole again. And this was the man who now, once again, threatened everything he held dear.
He was the reason why Meiko was dead, why Kunimitsu and Seiichi and the others were probably dying now.
Gently, Syusuke released himself from his mother's grasp, and stood facing the enemy. He wasn't going to be scared anymore. He was going to do this for his family, and Seiichi and Seiichi's family, and Kunimitsu and his second family, and everyone that had ever mattered to him, fighting for their lives back in life.
His vision went red.
"Hello, pretty Syusuke, it's nice to finally meet you." Ashikaga's tone was mocking. "My first and last miscalculation."
Syusuke narrowed his eyes.
(Every necromancer, every powerful being that has dealed with Death knows of the bells. They are the single, most powerful weapons in Death. And the Fuji family is as powerful as they come. Remember that, Syusuke.)
"You know, darling Syusuke, when I decided to destroy your clan many years ago," he paused to give him an arrogant smirk. "I meant it. And I never make the same mistake twice."
(There are seven bells, seven bells you could use, to command a soul completely. Completely.)
In Syusuke's mind, all seven bells came in sharp focus.
(All you need to do was call them to you. Once you have them in your hands, every soul in Death would obey whatever you command. You will be the most powerful.)
"Today, you, Syusuke-kun, and your pitiful little clan-" Morto was moving, twisting and thrashing in a speed that would have surprised anyone but a Fuji. "Dies."
(Seven bells, Syusuke. Seven rings of an ultimate command.)
Fuji had looked at Death in the eye and cowered at his power far too many times.
(You will become Death's master, as is your right, as a Fuji.)
He was powerful here. He was strong here. He wasn't weak here, and he would be able to save everyone. Because he was a Fuji. And because he was a Fuji...
"I will kill you," he declared steely, as the waters in Death raged at his command, and the fight in Death finally commenced.
Clary: Well, that's it for this chapter~ The next chapter will probably take longer coz we hafta go back to school and everything :( Christmas break's over.
Lia: And things will be quite hectic for the play, so we apologize ahead of time.
Clary: WE HAVE A BITCHY DIRECTOR. She is a dictator and a bitch and she says 'everyone must all work in one way or another' and glares directly at ME, when I'VE FINISHED HER GODDAMN SCRIPT ALREADY. So I went, okay, so why exactly aren't YOU working? And then she gave a long, long speech about her own self-importance, the bitch. She is a fascist pig. And Lia, don't you DARE defend her coz I know you hate her as much as I do.
Lia: Don't say that.
Clary: Why not? YOU KNOW I'm right.
Lia: I hate her so much more than you do.
Clary: Oooooohhhh~~~ I like the way you think Lia~~~ (LOVES YOU SO MUCH)
Please review and do tell us what you think of this chapter~ They are good inspiration~~~