Drabble contest submission – Inevitable theme
2nd Place
It was bound to happen.
Destiny would not have introduced him into her life if the outcome of their quest had been anything but concrete. It would have taken a force larger than all of them to redirect the ending to their fairy-tale, the scene played out in horror before them.
He held to him now a once-strong woman, broken and heartsore, tears running unchecked down her stained and smudged face. Eyes once full of life stared blankly at him, hollow and near-wild with grief. At his feet lay the once-rival, the once-hero...her once-love. She trembled and buried her face in the planes of his chest.
"Why did this….it wasn't supposed to be…." She sobbed, shaking her head in useless denial. He held her closer, shushing her with muted whispers and inarticulate croons.
"It was his destiny, Kagome. He lived, he fought, and died in victory. The mutt would have wanted to go like this."
She nodded numbly. "He always protected me…."
He pulled her silently away from the battlefield that was slowly gathering gloom in the blooded sunset.
And that protection lives on…in me, as it was meant to.