Chapter 21—Charlie's Goodbye

Hika slowly pulled Charlie up against the stairwell wall that was out of view of the doorway. She had to stop many times to rub her hands against the skirt of her outfit to cool them down for even through cloth his body could burn her fingers. In fact her hands had started to burn by the time that she had gotten him up against the wall so that he was sitting rather than laying in a collapsed lump. She knelt next to him and tore off her school jacket and dabbed at his forehead, wiping sweat away. She only stopped when she started to smell burnt material.

Her hands dropped the cloth as she tried to think of a way to stop what was happening. He had closed his eyes, trying to keep the power from eating his skin quicker. He had told her what would happen if his binding ever was destroyed in a conversation they had had one day after training while they were eating.

"So, you are just the element pulled into one body right?" Hika had asked out of curiosity as she ate a bit of meat.

"Correct," he had said in his accented voice as he took a sip of tea.

"So what would happen if your bindings ever broke? Would you be able to return to your human body if the bindings were put on again in time?" Hika asked, watching him from the corner of her eye.

"No," Charlie said, his gaze focused in the cup rather than at anyone else. "Hika, you must swear to get as far from me as you can if that day should ever come and we still are on speaking terms. Promise me you'll get as far from me as you can. It would not be a good idea for you to be anywhere near me at that point." His voice was crisp, clear, and completely serious. It had taken Hika by surprise at first as he had gotten up and left without a word, leaving his food virtually untouched.

She hadn't dropped it though. She had gotten up and chased after him and forced him to tell her. The memory of his words rang loudly in her mind.

"The bindings will slowly eat themselves up. Then the element will start to eat me from the inside out with waves of fire coming off me, or maybe heat. It's different for each of us. In the end I will die in an inferno much like when we first kissed only it will start out large around me and then slowly consume me. That much I know for certain. Any other damage to those around me I will have no control over. I will become the element and eat whatever is near me," Charlie had said. "You must promise me that the moment I start to deteriorate you'll leave me and go where you are safe. I don't care if it's into Kuronue's arms or another man's. You must promise to go where it s safe and makes you happy."

Hika shook her head and frowned down at where Charlie sat now. "Please, Charlie, is there any way to make this stop? We could get Koenma come down here and-" she stopped talking as he shook his head.

"He'll take too long and I won't risk Kind Yama's son," Charlie said with a weak laugh. It crackled with the sound of burning wood.

It was at this point that Kuronue found them. He had felt the power that had started to accumulate when the seal was first broke and come running to find the source. He had expected anything but what he found there. Maybe there had been an evil demon attacking on behalf of the demon that had taken Inane, or maybe the Lord Ethan person had decided to come and pay a visit. Kuronue had expected so many things, but not that his best friend was dying.

Like Hika, he had been told to stay away but he'd never actually thought that Charlie would let his binding break. Charlie was too careful about it. Yet, here he was sitting against the wall, his power only increasing as he sat there with a girl trying very hard not to cry next to him. He slowly neared but stopped as Charlie's hand snuck out.

Charlie reached up but barely touched Hika's cheek so as not to burn the skin there. Slowly he opened his eyes and his weak smile trembled as he looked up into Hika's face as she watched him. "I'm glad that you didn't listen Hika," he whispered before leaning up. His lips met hers in a passion filled kiss.

Hika was surprised to find that despite the heat in the rest of his body, Charlie's lips were ice cold. She pushed into the kiss as the tears started to form. She slowly pulled away as she felt the heat around them triple. As she opened her eyes something hit her. Two something's simultaneously run into her body. The first was Charlie's hand. It shoved her out of the way just as a wall just like the one he'd created the day they'd first kissed shot up around him. She didn't get up at first as the three generation of memories slammed into her mind, temporarily numbing her to the danger that was no farther than a foot away.

It was Kuronue that finally dodged in and gripped the girl's arms and dragged her to her feet. He pulled her away as the fire engulfed Charlie's body. A piece of the fire broke away and reached out for the two before falling down and joining the rest of the fire. As it drifted down, Charlie's voice reached them. "Take care of each other. I will watch from the flames." Slowly, the fire broke down, leaving Kuronue and Hika alone on the roof.

Hika trembled in his hands as she stared at the spot where Charlie had been. Her body was raging for control of her emotions. On one side, she was being overwhelmed by memories from over 100 years of living. On the other side she was trying to break free of Kuronue's grip and run to her beloved Charlie. But it was too late. He was gone and there was nothing that she could do about it. She sagged in Kuronue's hands and let the tears fall. It was too much for her. Too much loss, too much gained, just too much.

A passage from the diary of Deshiri came to mind as she stared at the spot with everything warring inside her.

Kur says I am like a rose that should never be plucked. I responded that I have been plucked so many times that there was no way that his statement could ever be true. His response was that I should be burned and then pressed in a book to show what happens to those soiled by evil. I must agree with him. Edmund and his lot are evil. I am burned and will never be pure as a rose again. I am the Bat's burnt Rose, and he doesn't mind.