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Title: Maoh, A Day Late

Summary: The seal is broken.

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Part VI, Chapter 7

Hand in hand

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Dark, malevolent energy ripped through the inner sanctum of the tomb, forcing the Demon Tribesmen to duck.

When the pressure of overwhelming power and soul-deep terror finally lifted, they gasped for breath, shaking.

"Yuri!" Conrart yelled, scrambling to his feet.

The ghostly figure of the Great One was gone. Yuri knelt where he had been standing, his slumped form completely still.

"Yuri! Are you alright?" Conrart called again, running to his king's side.

Finally snapping out of his daze, Murata darted forward to grab his arm and hold him back. Conrart tried to pull away reflexively, glaring down at the Wiseman. But Murata shook his head, something dreading and scared passing over his face.

"Stay back," Murata muttered. "I don't know... if that's..."

Abruptly, Yuri stood as if jerked to his feet on invisible strings. He slowly raised his hands, flexing them experimentally, his head still bowed. He shoulders began to quake. A strange, sound escaped him, only to be cut off before they could judge what it was.

'Is he fighting the Originator?' Murata wondered. He wished desperately he could believe that. But...

Yuri threw his head back and laughed.

Mouth wide open, teeth bared, he looked more like a beast howling to the sky.

"Ah..." Yuri drew out, his voice breaking oddly. His arms wrapped around his own body, hands clawing into the black cloth of his jacket. "Got it... Got it! A body!"

Throwing his arms wide, he laughed, again and again.

~.~.~

Yuri fell into darkness. It was impossibly deep, without limits. He couldn't even see his own hand, reaching out toward nothing.

He lost all sense of direction. Time had no meaning. Even the feeling of his body had disappeared. It was becoming hard to remember where he ended and the endless darkness began.

'Don't give up.'

A gentle voice echoed through his mind, starling Yuri. A phantom hand slipped into his.

'You're...' Yuri wanted to say, but his voice had no sound. '...Julia.'

He could feel her smile. Even if he couldn't see anything, he could imagine her countenance.

'Oh, I see,' Yuri mused vaguely. 'It's like three years ago. My own strength wasn't enough, so I reached into the memories of my soul again. That's what this is, the depths of my self.'

'That's right,' came Julia's voice again. 'But this is too deep. You can't stay here. You mustn't give up. Keep fighting!'

'How...'

How do I fight it? He couldn't move his body, he couldn't call on his magic. He felt utterly helpless.

'Don't give up,' Julia murmured in his mind. 'Don't give into the darkness. You must fight it, push it away.'

'I will,' Yuri thought, steeling himself. She was right. He couldn't give up. It wasn't over! 'I will!'

Her phantom hand tightened around his and pulled.

The next moment, he gasped, as if coming up for air, and his eyes snapped open. What greeted him was a familiar, longed-for sight.

Around him was his family's home - the kitchen where his mother cooked her famous curry, the table where they ate so many meals together, the couch where he and his father watched baseball, the stairs up to the bedrooms.

"How... how can I be here?" Yuri wondered, stunned. "Am I really back on Earth?"

It certainly looked like his family home. It felt the same too, in some indescribable way.

But... Yuri's eyes widened as he glanced out the window. The neighbor's house, the street he had ridden his bike down so many times - none of that could be seen. Instead, beyond his mother's flowery curtains, there was only deep, infinite darkness.

Yuri ran to the patio door, his hands pressing against the sliding screen, but it was the same. The patio, the backyard, all of it was missing.

"Oh..." Yuri realized, his eyes widening. "This is the darkness of the Originators. So this must be... inside my heart."

Swallowing heavily, he drew away from the glass door. His palms felt numb. 'It's getting stronger,' Yuri thought.

Yuri shook his head, fingers clenching around the pendant under his shirt. "What do I do now?" he wondered instead. This wasn't where he needed to be. He needed to wake up, go back to where his friends were. He needed to stop the Originators. He couldn't afford to dawdle here, deep in his own heart. But no matter how Yuri looked...

There was no way out.

~.~.~

The warped laughter trailed off, and Yuri's form straightened.

"Got it, finally got a body..." he repeated, grinning widely. Teeth bared, it was a predator's smile. "No one else's. No one here..." He chuckled again.

Forcing himself out of his stupor, Murata took a step back, then another. He tugged on Conrart's arm, trying to pull the man after him.

His mind spun furiously as Murata tried to make sense of the situation. 'Have we failed?' he wondered, a cold knot of dread gathering in his stomach. 'No, the Originator is still gathered together in one. It hasn't begun to infect anyone. But what about Shibuya? Has he been possessed? Something isn't right here. It doesn't sound like him at all...'

"No one here. Don't need 'em," Yuri continued to mutter. "Ah... Don't need anyone, anything. So it should just vanish."

'That's not Shibuya,' Murata thought, his grip on Conrart tightening as they continued to retreat. 'Then... is it the Originator itself? Is this what it's like when it has no one to serve as its mask?'

Reaching out, Yuri lightly touched one of the Boxes, which pulsed in response. "Mm. Just destroy it. Destroy everything… with this."

He turned abruptly, blank dark eyes fixing on Conrart, who couldn't help flinching at the sight. The absent, mad expression was completely alien on Yuri's usually smiling face.

"There is it. Key," the Originator murmured, Yuri's face splitting into an insane grin. His eyes slid behind Conrart and Murata, onto Gwendal and then Wolfram. "And another. And the last." The Originator laughed again, an unsettling, inhuman sound.

"Yuri? Are you there, Yuri?" Conrart called out, his body tensing as the Originator's gaze returned to him. He couldn't see even a hint of his young king in that face. Still, he continued, "I know you're in there, Yuri! Don't give up! And… we won't give up either."

"Lord Weller… we can't let it loose," Murata cautioned him. "Shibuya… Shibuya might not be able to wake up. We have to stop the Originator here, no matter what."

"I know," Conrart said quietly, steeling his heart. As he slowly drew his sword, his hands were shaking. He tried to will them to be still. Even if this was what Yuri would have wanted, drawing his sword on his king, on Yuri, was just too much.

Behind them, Gwendal passed Ulrike, still dazed and trembling, to Wolfram. "Take her and go," he ordered tersely.

"But, Brother-" Wolfram tried to protest.

Gwendal silenced him with a glare. It wasn't just his concern that drove him. From the moment he had understood that he held one of the Keys - and Conrart held another - he had considered the possibility that Wolfram could hold a third. It was cruel to imagine his mother's life being so dictated, but he was hard pressed to believe it a coincidence either.

When the Originator's gaze had lingered on Wolfram in the same way as on Conrart and Gwendal, he'd known his suspicions were correct.

But if it was his eye and Conrart's arm, then all that could be required of Wolfram was his heart or his blood. Losing either would be the end of his brother.

"Go," Gwendal said sharply.

Wolfram wavered for only a moment longer before gathering Ulrike in his arms and beginning to back away. Unfortunately, it was already too late.

The Originator regarded Conrart for a moment before chuckling again. It spread Yuri's hands, and darkness surged outward, flowing along the floor and the walls. Conrart jumped back instinctively, and Murata quickly threw up a glowing barrier, protecting them and the trio behind them.

But the Originator's goal had been entirely different. A shadow seal appeared across the doorway, blocking their only way out.

Conrart didn't hesitate this time. He attacked immediately, his sword swinging unrelentingly at Yuri's form. The Originator didn't even attempt to dodge. It simply caught the blade with Yuri's hand, gripping it with surprising force. Even after a moment, no blood appeared, despite the sword's sharpness.

Twisting the weapon, Conrart forced the Originator to let go and yanked his sword back. A glimpse of Yuri's open palm showed that it was still completely undamaged, covered instead in a faint dark aura. Glancing at his sword, Conrart saw something that almost looked like black rust beginning to appear on the surface of the blade, where the Originator had gripped.

The Originator smirked, lifting Yuri's hand again. Dark energy shot out, giving Conrart no time to dodge. He tried to block with his sword, but even though he himself escaped unscathed, the blade snapped at the corroded point, leaving him without a weapon, for all the good having one had done him.

Yuri's eyes were fixed on Conrart as the Originator advanced toward him, yet it didn't appear surprised when Gwendal dashed forward to attack it. Dark power flared along Yuri's arm, and the Originator swung it out to block Gwendal's sword. The impact should have had enough force to shatter the bones of Yuri's arm, even if the edge could not cut him, but the Originator did not even seem to feel it.

Instead, it raised Yuri's other hand and, with a twisted gentleness, cupped it around Gwendal's left eye. Dark power surged, and Gwendal's strangled scream echoed off the stone walls.

"Got it," the Originator muttered, letting the man's trembling body collapse.

"Hear me, spirits who dwell in flame! Obey the Demon Tribe, who defeated your Originators!" Wolfram roared, the light of his fire magic flaring through the shadowed chamber.

The flames washed over Yuri's form, leaving him ultimately unharmed, but a frown had appeared on his face. "Did not," the Originator hissed, an ugly scowl contorting Yuri's features.

It swept a hand out casually, the motion different than the prior ones. Wolfram realized what it had done a moment too late - shadows had flowed quickly along the floor, almost unnoticeable in gloom. They wrapped around his legs, and Wolfram just barely managed to toss Ulrike clear before he was pulled off his feet.

He was dragged toward Yuri's form, and a hand wrapped around his throat, lifting him with shocking ease. Wolfram glared down at Yuri's face, twisted in a parody of a smile. The dark eyes that stared back were completely devoid of recognition or any sign of their kindhearted king.

"Y… Yuri…" Wolfram gritted out, struggling for breath. "You wimp. You… better not've… given up-"

His words were abruptly cut off, as Yuri's other hand rose, dark energy gathering around it, and suddenly plunged straight into Wolfram's chest. He screamed, certain he could feel it grasping at his heart, his soul, something deep and vital, fluttering as it tried to escape the black, cold touch.

"Wolfram!" Conrart yelled. He thrust his broken sword at Yuri's unprotected back, but as before, it had no effect. Desperately, Conrart grabbed Yuri's shoulder, trying to pull him away from his brother.

He realized his mistake too late.

Shadows curled around his left hand, winding their way up his arm. A terrible smile spread across Yuri's face.

~.~.~

Yuri had tried everything he could think of, but he was no closer to finding a way out. The house in his heart stood empty, darkness pressing against the windows and the doors, slowing creeping in through the cracks.

There was nothing he could do.

Frustrated and helpless, Yuri curled up on his seat at the table and peered around his family's home once more. Every detail seemed perfect, and it still felt just like it should. However, Yuri couldn't help but know that it was wrong somehow as well.

The table and the counters were all clean. The pillows were perfectly arranged. Every single thing was in its place. Had their house ever looked like that? Despite Miko's best efforts, one of her boys always managed to make some small mess somewhere. They forgot their things on the couch, dropped their bags on the table, left their shoes lying askew in the entryway.

Now, everything was exactly in its place. There were no personal effects gracing the rooms. This house had the same walls, the same furniture, the same decorations as Yuri's home, but there was no sign of anyone living there.

The house was completely empty. He was alone.

"It's all wrong," Yuri muttered. "Is my heart really empty like this?"

There was no answer.

Pulling his legs up, Yuri buried his face in his knees. He was completely alone now - his family was separated from him forever, his friends couldn't reach him from the real world, and even his other self was gone. He didn't know what to do.

'I'm so useless. I can't do anything alone,' he thought, feeling tears of frustration well up in his eyes. Without his friends, he was completely lost. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't think of any way out. What would they say, if they saw him now?

"You wimp. You better not've given up!"

'Yeah, that's just what Wolf would say...' Yuri thought, a small, crooked smile tugging at his lips. His voice had sounded so close, so real that Yuri could almost believe his friend was with him, sitting across the table. He could imagine the way Wolfram would glare and huff in frustration at how wimpy Yuri was being-

Slowly, Yuri raised his head, his eyes widening at the impossible sight before him.

It was completely bizarre, something that could never occur.

Wolfram, still in his full uniform, looked completely out of place sitting at his parents' kitchen table. His fierce gaze met Yuri's, and he suddenly lunged across the table to grasp Yuri's hand. Pulling Yuri toward himself, halfway across the table, Wolfram barked, "Well?! What are you sitting around for, you wimp? You're the king! Everyone is waiting for you to make your move!"

"I don't know what to do!" Yuri protested reflexively, his mind still reeling with shock. "I can't do this alone!"

He flinched as a warm hand rested on his shoulder, a familiar presence at his back. "But you're not alone, Your Majesty… Yuri," Conrart said, smiling gently. "We are with you."

"But you're not!" Yuri insisted. "I don't know what's going on, but you're not really here. I'm alone because I went rushing in, and now…" He bit his lip, frustrated at his own uselessness.

A quiet snort made Yuri snap his head to the side. Gwendal leaned against the counter, arms crossed. "You're certainly a fool," he agreed. "Yet, you are our king. We will follow you. No matter where, no matter how far, how long. That is the vow we made."

'Our vow...'

'What vow?' Yuri wondered, staring at Gwendal. The man's figure seemed to grow more distant, changing even as his features stayed the same.

'The vow we made, to follow our King, to remain beside him no matter what. To continue to fight together, until the Originator was no more.'

"You're not Gwendal," Yuri said slowly, shaking his head. The face was the same, the demeanor similar, but the man before him now was someone else, dressed in clothing that appeared ancient and looking at Yuri with an expression he didn't recognize.

Yuri glanced back at Conrart, looking for answers or even just reassurance. But Conrart was also gone, in his place a stranger with the same face.

Almost hesitantly, he turned toward the place Wolfram had sat. The hand on his arm was still warm, small yet strong, but the face had changed, a little softer and rounder than Wolfram's features.

Yuri pulled away, staring uncertainly at the young man before him. Not-Conrart had drawn back as well, but all of them were still watching him with a strange look.

'No, they're not looking at me,' Yuri thought. 'Just like I'm not looking at them. They're seeing...'

'The four of us made that vow, four thousand years ago,' the same voice repeated, inside his heart, inside his soul. 'And we have continued to bear it, even in death and rebirth. Did you forget, our king?'

A promise made four thousand years ago, to the first king - the Great One.

...My friends...

~.~.~

...I'm so sorry...

"Great One?" Ulrike whispered, as light began to shine from between her tightly clenched fingers. Hesitantly, she parted her hands, revealing the tiny orb of light she had held between them. It flickered, like an uneven heartbeat.

Yuri's body had frozen, and his head slowly turned to look down at the priestess. The sound that left his mouth was utterly inhuman - a hiss and a growl, filled with twisted, indecipherable emotion.

The Originator's dark power flared, a wave of shadow bearing down on Ulrike. With her magic still spent from attempting to maintain the seal, all she could do was curl around the orb of light - the soul - in her grasp to shield it with her body. But the same warm, golden glow burst forth again, protecting her in turn.

The disembodied soul floated upward, glowing ever brighter, until its light and power coalesced into an almost solid form. It's outlines sharpened and color spread - deep red and vivid blue among shining gold - and a man, still half-translucent, like a ghost, could be seen crouched in front of Ulrike, shielding her from the darkness.

His blue eyes opened, and he stood slowly.

His gaze swept across the tableau before him - Gwendal kneeling, still clutching his sightless left eye; Wolfram barely conscious, dangling in the Originator's grasp, Yuri's hand buried deep in his chest; Conrart, trying to help both his brother and king; Murata and Ulrike staring at him in awe and mixed, uncertain happiness; the Originator certain in its victory, anticipatory and hungering.

They all knew - this battle had already been lost.

"That's enough," his voice echoed through the chamber and in everyone's minds. His expression "My friends, you've borne this burden for far too long. Now, I release you."

It felt like the world held its breath.

"I release the seal."

At the altar, the four Forbidden Boxes burst open.

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((Next time: FINAL.))