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See You On the Other Side
"My death and life,
My bane and antidote,
Are both before me."
- Joseph Addison
This is the worst mistake you could have made.
Here before you is the girl you've admired from afar for many years, the gorgeous sylph who has flittered in and out of your periphery, the angel whose white wings are painted in blood and skin flakes with pus and bile. Here is the girl you want to spend the rest of your life, who you want to protect with every fucking fiber in your being – heart and mind and body and soul. Here is the girl you brought to her knees, forced her legs open and (achingly, tortuously, mind-numbingly) hurt so you could encourage the demon inside to rise and tear loose the threads from fate's knotted gossamer. Here is the girl you would die for.
…So why is your sword sticking out of her back? Why is YOUR SWORD in HER HEART?!
The two of you are staring down at the wound you caused. Dark red spreads like a cancer on the white haori both front and back. Droplets of the life-sustaining liquid fall to the marble tiles, their impact hollow and unrepentant.
Slowly her violet eyes tear away from the metal impediment, and in what feels to be a lifetime they meet your startled blue hues. Her gaze is so porcelain, so fragile…as if a simple press of your finger might shatter this alluring, pitying visage to a million and one pieces.
Her mouth unhinges as if caked in rust, and a bloody rivulet trickles from her pearly teeth, pools on the padded lower lip and spills onto her chin. "…Chi-Chikane," she croaks, and her voice strains to hold her crumbling foundation, "why…wh-why…h-h-how c-could…."
You blink, and suddenly all sense of emotion and feeling return with the force of a crashing wave. "Himeko…." Her hands latch onto your wrists, and her hold is tight as a vice. Through her you can feel the tremors, feel the tension about to break, feel the pressure ready to burst at any second's notice.
She collapses to her knees, and now the blood is staining the front of her – your – hakama, as if the last vestiges of girlhood dare feed the woman that never will blossom. And her eyes, oh, those eyes that open the window to fathoms of cosmic splendor, they refuse to lie on anywhere else but your rich (diluted) sea of dreams (nightmares). "Chi…ka…ne," she whispers hoarsely, "wh-wh-why…y-you s-s-said w-we'd be toge…ther f-f-for…e-ev…er…."
Your breath hitches. "No…."
"Chikane…I...." She bows against her will, and her forehead grazes the blade's edge. "I…." Her grip slackens, and her hands fall away and hang limply by her sides.
Your hands loosen round the handle. You start to shake, but you do not feel it. You lips part in ragged pants, but you do not notice it. You let go of the sword and take a couple steps back. "Himeko?" You wait for a response, an answer, a reply, anything to show she's still there, still breathing, still bleeding, still— "Himeko?"
Her body does not move with breath, does not utter a sound; there is nothing but the silence of the lost and the damned.
Oh Gods In Heaven….
"No," you grab at your hair and glare at the corpse, at the crimson plasma bubbling forth from the wound inflicted. "NO! This can't be happening! This isn't what I had in mind! It's supposed to be me! Me! Not her! Not my Himeko!"
And then, a light – a violet ray of luminescence pouring from the opened crevices of Pandora's Box. Orochi's Seal burns a wicked brand between your shoulders, and its fang pierce through barriers of flesh and muscle and marrow. Sweat breaks on your brow and an unbearably hot nausea creeps into the pit of your stomach. [- YOU DID THIS UPON YOURSELF -] the demon's voice tells you in a mocking tone. [- ONE MUST LIVE AND ONE MUST DIE WITH EACH AND EVERY CYCLE. WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO NOW THAT YOUR…SIGNIFICANT OTHER…IS NO LONGER AMONG US? -]
"You made me kill her!" you scream at the air. Tears spill unchecked along your cheeks.
The Yamata-no-Orochi unleashes a torrent of cruel laughter. [- KILL HER? FOOLISH MAIDEN, I HAVE AND NEVER WILL GIVE YOU THE INCENTIVE TO FIGHT A LOST CAUSE. WHAT YOU HAVE DONE IS NOTHING SHORT OF SURPRISING. AFTER ALL, IN THIS GAME THERE IS NO MEANING…AND NO REWARD. -]
You sniffle and grit your teeth so hard it hurts your jaw. Damn that black-hearted bastard! It wasn't fair! Having to kill one or the other and live again and watch humanity be wiped out for the amusement of the Gods...it was wrong! So damn wrong!
Something clatters to the floor. Your gaze directs downward and finds Himeko's – the corpse's – katana, its blade pure and fuller empty.
You are instantly struck with a bout of inspiration.
[- OH? WHAT IS THIS YOU HAVE GOT ON YOUR MIND? -] the disembodied entity chuckled. [ - A LAST RESORT? -]
"No," you tell Him, and with a stomp of your foot the katana flips into the air and into your hand. You take it by the handle, and hold it away from you. "This is a Second Chance. For me. For Himeko. For all the people suffering involuntary over this ageless debacle." A grim hardness settles over your features, deepening your brow and dragging your lips into a frown. "If that's how you want to be, then fine: I'll play this game as long as you want."
[- IS THAT A PROMISE? -] He sneers lowly, dangerously, gleefully, in your ear. It's almost as if He is right behind you, peering over your shoulder.
You tighten your grip, steel yourself, and hiss under your breath these words: "Consider it a Declaration of War."
SPLAT! Fresh blood slaps the cracked tiles.
On your knees and doubled over, the blade digging and cutting into your innards. Press harder on the hilt, on the pommel, even as your strength leaves you and your sight fails and darkens.
The Yamata-no-Orochi cackles madly and, though you no longer can hear, it echoes in the submerged depths of your mind. [- WAR!? I'LL GIVE YOU WAR! I'LL GIVE YOU HELL ON EARTH! I LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR RETURN, TAINTED ONE! -]
Your body hits the floor—
And there is no more.
A/N: Man, I haven't been to this section in a long time. I was in the mood for some tragedy and I was browsing through the site, and as I was looking at this fandom's pages this idea occurred - except it was originally meant to be in Himeko's point in view. Somehow that confused the bejeesus out of me, and so I switched it around and had Chikane kill Himeko and commit suicide, instead. Which makes me wonder: if one of them is destined to die in this cycle and instead murders the person who died in the previous cycle, what would happen to future cycles in general? It hurts just thinking about it, LOL.
Also, I finished watching the first season of Higurashi a few nights ago, so this little ficlet borrows heavily the time-loop theme that's present in the show. I imagined Chikane as Rika Furude when I wrote the ending, strangely enough, but that image does kinda fits with what Chikane tells Orochi before she inflicts the fatal blow on herself.
P.S. I'm seriously considering reposting Agony: Moroha Tou, even if it isn't top priority like "POiNT LOOKOUT" and "Sparda in Colossal". What do you say? Should I go for it?
P.P.S. I've got Plot Bunnies that are up for adoption on my profile, and one of 'em's a Kannazuki/Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora X-Over. Anybody interested in adopting a Bunny? All Bunnies are available, so long as you read and accept the rules.