Chapter 12: Endings
1
It was a testament to the adaptability of people that school had reopened for the afternoon. Esuma had sat through her classes as though nothing had happened, perfectly hiding the storm of her thoughts and her nearly overwhelming desire to be with Bel and Tommy.
She was at her locker after the last class of the day, hurrying to put on her jacket and her boots so she could go to their usual meeting spot a block away from the school, when Lily came running to her.
"Where is he?" Lily asked in a hurried whisper. "Did he get hurt again?"
Esuma's eyes went wide. "Tommy's not here?" she asked. "Oh, no…"
She stuffed her gloves in her pockets and took off running without bothering to zip up her jacket. To her surprise, Lily managed to almost keep up; it was then that Esuma noticed her friend had not been out of breath after running to her locker, and thinking back, it occurred to her that almost everyone in school seemed to be in better shape lately.
She bit her lip, thinking that it was Tommy's doing and wondering where her friend was, not at all liking how much like their past life this was. She went to the gym first, but as she suspected, Storm Shadow was not there. She continued towards Snake Eyes' store room without pausing, Lily falling a bit more behind now, but having been joined at some point by Marie.
They found Snake Eyes in the middle of putting on his own jacket and skidded to a halt next to him.
"Tommy never came back," Esuma said, her voice breaking. She felt tears brimming in her eyes and willed them away: this was no time to panic.
Snake Eyes's eyes widened. "Oh no…" he breathed. "Not again…"
"He wouldn't disappear without telling Esuma," Marie intervened. "He knows she loves him…" she trailed off at their expressions. "Why are you making those faces?"
"We broke up this morning," Esuma whispered, casting her eyes down. "It's a long story, but…"
"He still wouldn't," Snake Eyes interrupted. "Let's go, he probably just didn't feel like working this afternoon. For all we know, he's waiting for us at the usual spot."
"We're coming too," Lily announced.
Esuma and Snake Eyes were in no mood to argue and so, the group of four hurriedly left the school and ran more than they walked to Esuma's, Storm Shadow's and Snake Eyes' usual rendezvous spot, a small tots park that was usually deserted during the week, save for the two ninjas and Esuma.
They found the park empty.
"Tommy?" Esuma called. "I can't see you. Are you here?"
"He's not," Snake Eyes answered. "I'd know. Let's try his place."
"We should check your place on the way there," Marie said, addressing Esuma. "Maybe he left a message?"
Esuma resisted the urge to scream that Tommy had no reason to leave a message, because that was something people did when they were leaving, and he couldn't possibly have left. "I don't think so," she replied instead in a whisper designed to force her voice to stay level, "but it doesn't hurt to check. Maybe he's talking to Oliaf and the others."
They walked at a nearly normal pace towards Esuma's house, most of them too afraid of what they would find there to really hurry. Esuma forced herself to accelerate when the thought hit her that if Tommy was indeed gone, they needed to find out and start looking for him as soon as possible. She started running when they reached her street, tears streaming down her eyes, increasingly certain she'd find a goodbye note of some kind and praying she was wrong.
She wasn't. Sop flew to meet them as soon as they stepped in, and looked as embarrassed as a budgie can as she dropped a rolled-up piece of paper in Esuma's hand. Thanks to Esuma's growing skills in telepathy, the bird was able to talk to her without Oliaf's help.
We're sorry, she said. We're too small to stop him. Falpis tried to bite his feet, but he just stuffed him in the closet. I got him out, and Racno glared at Tommy right from on top of his nose, but…
Esuma cut off contact to read the note, but she couldn't make it out through her tears. She handed it to Snake Eyes.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "It's addressed to you."
Esuma nodded, sobbing in her hands.
"I…" Snake Eyes hesitated: he was much keener on hugging Esuma than anything else at the moment; seeing her crying like that was painful.
"Better idea," Lily said, grabbing the note. She nudged Snake Eyes towards Esuma. "I read, you hug. It's obvious WHY Esuma broke up with Tommy, so don't bother denying, okay?"
Snake Eyes didn't have time to protest: Esuma was buried against him before Lily was even done talking. He contented himself with holding her small form tightly against him, stroking her luscious white hair.
"Dear Esuma," Lily read.
"I am so sorry to leave like this. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for causing you such distress as I know you will endure at my sudden disappearance, although I honestly feel I don't deserve so much as a flutter of concern from your heart."
"I wish I could have talked to you in person; even as I write this, I long to hold you in my arms and to exchange proper goodbyes, as close friends would. I knew, however, that both you and Snake Eyes would do everything in your power to try and prevent my departure; I could not allow that. You may have succeeded in delaying me, or even in convincing me to stay; as much as I loathe to admit it, it may not have been all that difficult to do so as leaving you is the most difficult thing I've ever had to do. I don't need to tell you how weak-willed I can be: our past demonstrated that quite clearly."
"This weakness is the very reason I had to leave. Esuma… even as only a friend, you remain the light of my life and regardless of what political system we may live under, you remain my princess. I know you bear no anger towards me, you've told me so and I know you wouldn't lie to me. As much as your forgiveness and your affection lighten my heart, however, they cannot undo what I have done; I cannot bear the thought of it, and the fear that it may happen again consumes me."
"I would sooner die than allow the Sorcerer the slightest chance to use me against you again. I must prevent it by any means necessary; I have to make sure he cannot make me his slave and weapon again; I won't hurt you again, I won't kill my brother again, I won't betray my King and Queen and destroy everything I hold dear. Even writing this is painful, I can't stand the thought of letting it happen again."
"Staying close to you both is simply too risky for now. I break my own heart by walking away from you, but it is a small price to pay to keep you and the man you love safe. I refuse to endanger you and cost you your happiness again."
"But though I part from you without so much as a last glance at your eyes, without seeing your smile one last time, I still have hope. I know someone who can help me gain full control over my mind and my heart; I will find him and when I can be trusted again, when I am certain that the Sorcerer will not be able to mold me to his dark designs again, I will come back and together, the three of us will face him and hopefully put an end to his evil."
"No word can express how much I will miss you, but it is some consolation to know Snake Eyes and yourself will look after each other and take care of each other. Please allow your hearts to grow as close as they once were and do not burden your love with misplaced feelings of guilt or regret, and don't you dare believe that I left, as I was once foolish enough to do, out of a broken heart. I leave to protect you; you are better off without me for now, safer. By removing myself, I remove the greatest threat to your safety. I live in hope to meet again soon,"
"Arashikage Tomisaburo."
Lily swallowed and looked up. Esuma was looking at her with horrified eyes, and Snake Eyes was looking furious.
"Idiot," the ninja growled. "Stupid IDIOT! He's going to try and find McCullen, he wants nanomites to control himself so the Soft Master can't! He'll only end up being controlled by McCullen instead!"
2
Storm Shadow leaned back in the train seat, thinking hard. He needed to find out where McCullen was held and to break him out. In itself, he wouldn't have thought this would be a big challenge, but then he'd been trying to do just that for months now, and he'd made no progress.
On the other hand, it hadn't been nearly so urgent before now. Until now, breaking out McCullen was more a matter of principle than anything else; the man had been trying to save the World, it wasn't fair that he should be imprisoned. But suddenly, Tommy desperately needed his help, and needed it fast before the Soft Master could warp his mind again and turn him against Esuma and Bel.
He had spent the last few months looking for answers everywhere, and found nothing. GI Joe had kept the location where McCullen and the Doctor were detained carefully hidden; there were simply no clues anywhere. And, when there were no answers to be found without, it was time to find them within.
The ninja closed his eyes and, concentrating, entered the Amaterasu no me trance and thus borrowed the eyes of the Sun Goddess.
At first, he saw only the infinite waters of the Ocean. He concentrated on the thought of his former employer, and the Ocean loomed closer until he could see, lost somewhere in the liquid desert, a military ship. He willed his vision to get closer to the vessel until he could see the name painted on its side, and then made the eyes of the Sun Goddess penetrate the hull to find two cells, inside which were McCullen and the Doctor.
When he tried to ask Amaterasu's Eyes for where the ship would be when he borded it, however, the USS Flagg disappeared and the Ocean turned an inky black that blotted out into the sky until Tommy could no longer see anything.
He snapped out of the trance, trembling. The Goddess was telling him he would not board the ship. He barely had time to wonder why: a giant bird's claw suddenly burst through his seat's window, wrapped around him too fast for him to react and quick as lightning, pulled him out of the train and into the heavens.
Struggle as he might, Storm Shadow's arms were pinned to his sides and he was completely powerless as the bird flew him away at an incredible speed. The air rushed past Tommy so fast that he could hardly breathe, and his eyes blurred with tears. All he could make out of the bird was its color, but it was more than enough to confirm who had sent it: the bird was white, with a streak of dirty orange linking its chest to its head.
3
Marie turned on the television, more out of escapism than anything else. Lily joined her, seemingly sharing her difficulty in dealing with what had just happened. Esuma was sitting in the lotus position, her face tense with concentration as she tried to contact Storm Shadow telepathically, and Snake Eyes kept typing away at the computer, hacking into the different public transport databases to try and find a trace of his sword brother.
The soap that was on when Lily turned on the television was suddenly interrupted by an emergency news broadcast.
"Good afternoon. We have an update on the giant bird incident," the news anchor said, looking professionally excited. "Robert?"
The feed changed to a journalist standing outside of a train station in the company of an elderly lady.
"Thank you Mike," the journalist said. "Yes, we have a witness to the incident. Mrs Johnson, can you tell us what you saw?"
"Well, it was all very fast," Mrs Johnson said. "I saw this claw grab this young man, and then they were gone."
Robert looked suitably horrified and turned back to the camera. "Mike, we've confirmed that a male passenger is indeed missing, and there is a bag under the seat next to the broken window. I think it's clear that the giant bird that attacked a train almost two hours ago has kidnapped one of that train's passengers."
Esuma and Snake Eyes had joined Lily and Marie by the television set by this point. The four looked at each other.
"You don't think…?" Esuma started.
"Could it be…?" Snake Eyes wondered.
"Well, yeah," Lily said. "Who else would get themselves snatched out of a train by a giant bird?"
4
Storm Shadow kept expecting the bird to just let go of him and let him fall to his doom, but instead, he was carried to a vast plain and deposited back on the ground unharmed; winded, cold, confused and lost, but unharmed.
He shakily got to his feet and looked around. At first, there was nothing to see but wild grass, weeds and cloudy sky, with hills and mountains in the distance, but suddenly, the air shimmered a few feet ahead of him.
He adopted a guarding stance and, digging his hands in the bottomless pockets of his pants, which had been designed precisely for that purpose, took out a pair of short swords from the sheaths strapped to his thighs.
The shimmery air solidified into the form of the Soft Master, who smirked at the sight of the two short blades.
"Oh my goodness gracious me!" he said. "Are you going to poke me with these little toys?"
Storm Shadow stayed put, waiting for the Sorcerer to make the first move. He knew that his only chance of surviving this fight was to be flawless and to capitalize on the first mistake the Soft Master made.
"Why look at you, all ready to fight, looking so serious and focused. Do you know what I'm going to do, now?"
Storm Shadow did not answer, standing his ground, waiting. He was dearly hoping the Soft Master would try to kill him, because he stood a better chance of preventing that than of preventing the Sorcerer from magically taking over his mind again, and the consequences if he did NOT prevent it were infinitely preferable: he'd just be dead, he wouldn't be attacking Esuma again.
"To be honest, turning you into my puppet did not yield the best results, last time," the Soft Master said. "Your only job was to kill the princess, and you failed spectacularly. On top of that, I'm not sure I'd be able to control you nearly so completely this time around: you're older and wiser than you were back then, and not nearly as self-absorbed."
Storm Shadow stayed still, carefully keeping his expression neutral and hiding any reaction to what the Sorcerer was saying.
"Also," the Soft Master continued, "I will confess that I tend to hold grudges. You failed me, Tommy, and you will never be done paying for that. You will die today, and have no doubt that it will take a while, and that it will hurt."
5
Esuma swallowed back the tears that were welling up in her eyes: tears would not help. She ran outside to the pond, followed closely by Snake Eyes, Lily and Marie.
"Do you think Oliaf can help find him?" Snake Eyes asked when they stopped at the edge of the fish's domain.
"There's got to be a way, one of them is bound to know it," Esuma replied, her thick, smooth white hair glowing in the recessing sun light.
Racno, Sop, Oliaf, Falpis! she called telepathically. I need help… Tommy needs help! PLEASE!
Her four familiars answered immediately: Oliaf came near the surface, Falpis appeared from behind a bush and curled against her leg, Racno flew down towards her and Sop landed on her shoulder.
Sop told us he left a note and left, Racno said. What happened?
"The three of us recovered our memories," Esuma said. "I… he…" she took a deep breath. "he broke up with me, because…"
Sop sighed. Because he could tell you two were still in love with each other, she said.
"He feels what happened is his fault," Snake Eyes said.
"Did we mention yet that he was snatched from a train by a giant bird? That's kind of the important part, here," Lily said.
"Right," Esuma said hurriedly. "We need to find him. How do we do it?"
The four animals were silent for a moment, which was a moment longer than Snake Eyes' or Esuma's patience allowed.
"You can't tell me there's no magical way to find someone!" he said.
"Don't hide it if there's a way!" Esuma added. "I promise I'll be careful, I won't use too much magic!"
It's not that, Racno finally said. The problem is that most of the ways we know detect someone's magical signature. Humans don't have enough of one to track… most don't have one at all.
"Most?" Esuma said quickly. "Which ones don't?"
Which ONE, Oliaf replied. And it requires the caster be very close to the person being sought. It may have worked if you were his true soul mate, but as it is…
"We ARE close!" Esuma protested. "Show me how, we'll at least try!"
Open your mind, kid, I'll teach you, Falpis said. Won't hurt to try, especially considering it's pretty much our only chance to find him.
Esuma ignored the pessimism and opened her mind as instructed. The knowledge entered her mind almost instantly and she started the sung spell right away, closing her eyes in concentration and joining her hands in prayer.
"Dear One,
Child of the Earth, hear my voice,
You who know the secret of my heart,
Call to me and help me find you again,
Let our souls join again!"
She waited, and felt nothing. She sang again, her voice quivering with tears, but still, she could feel no hint of where her friend may be. She sank to her knees, tears flowing freely and glistening on her perfect skin, and tried again.
Nothing happened.
6
Storm Shadow ignored the threat, but found himself wondering why the monster had not simply killed him a long time ago, before he could possibly have the chance to befriend Esuma and thus become troublesome.
The Soft Master seemed to read his mind. "I have waited a long time for this, you know? I couldn't kill you as a child, the King and Queen saw to that by tying your life to your fate: until you realized your destiny and became Esuma's protector, you could not die."
Storm Shadow shifted his weight slightly, readying for his foe to stop talking and attack. From wondering why the Sorcerer had not gotten rid of him much earlier, his thoughts shifted to ponder the reason why the Soft Master had even tried to have Snake Eyes kill him before if he knew he couldn't die. He did not want to show any fear or emotion, or even curiosity, so he didn't ask.
"You're probably wondering, then, why I told Snake Eyes to kill you?" the Soft Master said, guessing again. "Well…" he paused and smiled, obviously pleased with himself, "it still hurt when he almost did, didn't it? And besides, it kept both of you busy and out of Esuma's path. I wouldn't have minded in the slightest if he had 'killed' you like this several times, only for you to survive every time to and for him to consequently never fulfill his oath."
Storm Shadow could not completely suppress a snarl, and the Soft Master laughed.
"When I felt that the spell protecting you had collapsed, I located you and attacked you. When the Princess showed up, I thought I was finally going to be able to eliminate her… I was, as you well know, disappointed. The three of you will pay for THAT, too." The Soft Master's voice rose. "She must die! I won't allow her to fulfill that prophecy!"
The Soft Master took a deep breath and resumed in his normal tone, smirking again. "But enough talking."
As he said it, he flew at Storm Shadow, much too fast for the ninja to block properly, and punched through his right shoulder, the fist glowing and coming out on the opposite side, causing blood to spray and Storm Shadow to finally break his silence by letting out a yelp of pain.
Storm Shadow's left sword was almost as fast and cut a deep slash through the Soft Master's belly as he was backing up.
The wound closed itself almost instantly, but the Sorcerer hissed, annoyed at having been hit.
Storm Shadow glared at the man he had thought to be his uncle, and the Sorcerer smirked back.
"Awh, does my little nephew hate me?" he asked. "Do you hate that even now, I control YOUR family? Do you hate that I have been methodically purging the clan of any trace of honor and made the name Arashikage synonym with dirty work and bloodshed? Are you angry over my killing your uncle, and before that, your father and mother?"
Tommy snarled and his eyes trailed to the Soft Master's arm, to the mark of the clan. Forgetting any plan to wait for an opening, he charged at the Sorcerer.
There was a flash of light, a lot of smoke, and before he even got close to where the Soft Master had been standing, Storm Shadow was knocked back by a giant tentacle coming out of the smoke. The impact was so strong that he felt a few ribs break, and he slammed into the ground violently enough to injure his back.
The smoke dissipated to reveal, standing where the Soft Master had been, what could best be described as a very big and ugly tentacle monster. It was, unsurprisingly, orange. Storm Shadow counted nine tentacles, each wider in diameter than he was, and each several feet long. On the rightmost tentacle, Tommy spotted the one thing that identified the monster as the Sorcerer: the mark of the Arashikage, just visible in red on the orange flesh.
Storm Shadow got up gingerly and, ignoring the blood pouring from both sides of his shoulder, his injured back and his painfully broken ribs, he charged again. He charged because defending had proven useless, and because he thought it would be unexpected.
He never found out whether it was or not; the monster moved too fast for it to matter. As soon as Tommy was within range, two of the tentacles grabbed him and wrapped themselves around him, tighter and tighter, pushing his arms into his sides until he couldn't breath anymore. His vision started to fill with black dots and the World was slipping away, but he was brutally brought back to consciousness by the pressure breaking more of his ribs, pushing them inwards and by the feels of it, causing them to scrape against his lungs.
He cried out but he still had no air left in his lungs and no sound came out. The tentacles tossed him aside again, this time sending him head first into the ground. He heard a crack and the black dots that had clouded his visions changed to bright spots of light.
Instinct told him more pain was coming, so he rolled away, making his broken ribs move about in his chest again, causing an explosion of pain. The tentacle he avoided followed his roll and hit him sideways instead of directly, sending him careening even further and drawing another scream.
The monster laughed, its voice nearly unchanged from that of its borrowed human form. "Aren't you going to start begging yet, varmint? Surely you see by now that I did not lie to you when I said you were going to die today, slowly and painfully!"
Storm Shadow dragged himself back up shakily. He did indeed see that the monster would make good on his promise and that survival was simply not in the cards. He was not, however, going to beg. Begging would change nothing. There was, however, still one thing he could do, one wrong he could right, be it with his dying breath.
7
Snake Eyes, Lily and Marie stared in shock, temporarily unable to even dream of thinking of what to do next. Esuma was in a similar condition, still trying to sing although she was now on her knees, pounding the ground with her fists, and sobbing too much for the lyrics of the song to be intelligible.
She couldn't give up. This was their last chance, Tommy's last chance! Snake Eyes' voice cut through her increasingly desperate song and her distress.
"Esuma, let ME try. We grew up together for a while, we're sword brothers, and we've spent a lot of time training lately…"
Don't fool yourself, Falpis said. If you were real brothers, you may have a chance; but honestly, you're a childhood enemy turned friend. If Esuma could not find him, you don't have a hope.
He's right, Racno sighed. You don't understand; friendship is not enough. This spell was meant for people to be able to find close relatives or spouses.
Shake it off, girl, Oliaf said, not unkindly. Give your tear ducts a rest and use your brains to think of…
"Dear One,
Child of the Earth,"
The fish stopped mid-sentence when Snake Eyes started to sing. All eyes turned to the ninja, and everyone simultaneously forgot to breathe. They would forever remember this moment, for they were hearing singing so pure and perfect that they would never again be able to tolerate untalented singers and would only ever appreciate the greatest, most flawless performances from here on out.
Oblivious to them, Snake Eyes kept singing, head slightly tilted back, eyes closed and fists clenched at his sides.
"hear my voice,
You who know the secret of my heart,"
It's working? Sop whispered, his mental voice shaky from the shock. But it can't, they've been reborn!
"Shh!" Esuma urged, looking wide-eyed at Snake Eyes; the ninja had started to glow, which she presumed was why Sop knew or thought the spell was working. Sop went quiet, and everyone else followed suit so that Beldovy's song filled their ears and minds.
"Call to me and help me find you again,
Let our souls join again!"
The glow surrounding Snake Eyes intensified to blinding light as the reborn elf reached the end of the song, and dimmed back into nothingness when the ninja's voice died.
"I know where he is," Snake Eyes announced, his eyes opening.
He looked far from happy to have acquired the information they had all so dearly wanted. His next sentence revealed why.
"He's in England, not very far from Stonehenge."
There were a few seconds of silence as everyone digested that even if they hurried to the airport and managed to steal a plane to go straight to the right part of England, it would still take them several hours to reach Storm Shadow.
Don't look so down, kid, Falpis said, his little ferret features stretched in what passed for a smile for him. You just have to teleport.
8
Tommy looked around for his swords; he was no longer holding them but wasn't sure exactly when he had lost his grip on them. He located them under the tentacles of the monster and, tuning out the Soft Master, who was still busy promising him endless pain and torment, dove for them.
The Sorcerer laughed and one of the tentacles slashed at the ninja, catching him across the abdomen and throwing him back several feet.
Storm Shadow grinned, oblivious to the stinging pain and to the blood now pouring from his belly as much as from his shoulder: he had one sword back. He resisted looking down at his new injury, reasoning that if his guts were seeping out, as it seemed by the feels of it, he really didn't need to see it.
The Soft Master smirked too. "Awh, look at the cute little pathetic human, with his little pointy toy back," he cooed. "Go on, then, Tomisaburo: cut me."
The monster extended one tentacle right in front of Tommy. Storm Shadow narrowed his eyes and, with a skillfull slash, sliced it neatly in two even as he jumped over it towards another one. The movement sent pain ripping through his body as he stretched the cut in his abdomen. He felt something wet yet solid on his skin and clenched his teeth, making himself ignore the pain, pushing back the disgust at feeling his own innards on the outside of his belly. He landed at a run and slashed through three more tentacles before the Sorcerer decided the point was made and slapped him across the face with one of his five remaining limbs. The hit was hard enough to break Storm Shadow's jaw and make his already hurting head ring. He fell with a groan, just managing to land sideways, facing the cut tentacles, and to stay conscious.
The Sorcerer roared in laughter as the cut limbs grew back and the old ones turned to dust.
"You see, Tomisaburo? You can't win! Your swords cannot injure me, no weapon can!"
Storm Shadow pealed himself back up from the ground, holding the bit of intestine that was hanging out of him, and squinted at the tentacles through the black dots clouding his vision again. He could tell he was bleeding out, both from the gaping hole in his shoulder and from the deep cut across his abdomen. He still had several minutes, however; more than enough.
He took a deep breath and cast his mind away from every physical sensation; he would not allow himself to fail. It was bad enough that he was failing Esuma, that he would no longer be able to protect her; he would not fail his family, too.
Gripping his sword in both hands, ignoring the overwhelming pain in his midsection and the comparatively minor pain from his shoulder, head, back and ribs, he ran to the tentacle that bore the mark of the Arashikage. His sword severed it above the hexagram just as a different tentacle drove right through him, just under his diaphragm, impaling him through. He gasped and again, had to fight to stay conscious. He needed to see, he needed to know it worked.
"Idiot," laughed the Soft Master, lifting him close to his monstrous face. "I must admit that it IS fitting. Your last act will have been a pointless, angry lashing out. I don't even feel pain, you foolish human! Esuma's protector… how do you intend to protect her from the grave? I bet you convinced yourself that you were leaving for her safety? Nothing to do with being unable to stand watching her kiss her lover?"
Storm Shadow had no strength left to wince, but felt another jolt of pain, this one coming from his heart. The Sorcerer was wrong on his motives, Tommy really had left to protect Esuma and Snake Eyes from himself, but there was no denying that his heart was still broken. More painful, though, was the reminder that by leaving, he had betrayed Esuma again; he wouldn't hurt her this time around, but he had abandoned her and thus, deprived her of half her protectors.
"Here, see how worthless your efforts have been and understand that the same is true for your life!"
The Sorcerer lifted the tentacle Storm Shadow had cut to show it to him, whole once more.
The last heir of the Arashikage smiled through the pain of his broken heart, through his regrets over leaving Esuma, and in spite of his many injuries.
"I thought so," he croaked. "They grow back and the old ones dissolve…" everything went black, but Tommy hung on through sheer willpower; he needed to speak the words. "You no longer bear the mark of the Arashikage. Your dishonor is no longer ours," he finished.
The ceremony over, he relaxed. Death felt like a cool blanket wrapping around him, healing the wounds in his soul and body, leaving him completely at peace.
The Sorcerer scowled as he shook the body off his tentacle. It fell to the ground limply, lifeless but not yet rigid, with an infuriatingly peaceful expression upon its face.
Although the act of cutting off the tattooed arm was indeed how the Arashikage ceremoniously disowned disgraced clan members and absolved themselves of those clan members' actions, the gesture was in fact not going to cause the Sorcerer any harm: he had no more use for the ninja clan anyway. Besides, nobody had seen the incident, so if he ever did want to pass as an Arashikage again, he could reproduce the tattoo or even take over another body.
The irritating part was simply that Tomisaburo had managed to die feeling like he'd accomplished something. As a rule, the Sorcerer preferred for people to die miserable.
9
Esuma and Snake Eyes sang the last notes of the teleporting spell a little more than two hours after Storm Shadow had made the news by being taken from his train by a giant bird. The spell worked beautifully, engulfing them in a warm, bright cocoon that dissolved to reveal a large plain.
Esuma gasped and her eyes filled with tears: there was dried blood everywhere, but what was worse was that the Soft Master was nowhere to be seen. Snake Eyes swallowed and cast his eyes around: Tommy was still here, he was sure of it. He spotted a figure in the grass just a bit to his left.
He walked softly to it without alerting Esuma, who was walking in the other direction, looking for her friend. His own vision blurred when he looked down at the prone figure. He'd never wanted to scream so much in his life, but he needed to step away, he needed to take Esuma away from here. There was no need for her to see this.
His feet refused to move, his eyes refused to leave the body. He fell to his knees, feeling numb, and his eyes trailed to his sword brother's neck, where the head was no longer attached. There was no blood there, revealing Tommy had already been dead when he'd been decapitated.
Snake Eyes wasn't quite aware of moving, but found himself cradling the headless body. He looked around and easily located the disembodied head just a few steps further. He buried his face in his brother's chest and sobbed helplessly.
He soon heard Esuma scream from right behind him, a scream filled with both horror and heartbreak. He gently deposited the body and turned to pull her into a tight hug in one fluid motion.
A/N
Things happened faster than I was originally planning, thus a scene summarizing a couple months worth of events in chapter 11 rather than a few chapters describing these events, but I really wanted to write this last chapter before I ended this, even though I fully expect hardly anybody will react to it.
That expectation is part of why this is where I stop writing the story, although it's not where it ends (in the sense I had a lot more planned). It's still kind of fun to write, but not enough to make up for the repeated disappointment over the near complete lack of feedback. I have several other projects I'm working on and Flames of Paradise is simply not worth the time I've been putting into it anymore: beyond the fact it's plain frustrating, the lack of feedback robs this story of its purpose.
I've been saying from the start that I was trying to learn from this, and that I really needed people to let me know what they thought of it as I went along. I wanted participation, I wanted some interaction; I've been practically begging to hear from readers, in good or in bad, basically to no avail. I'm concluding you are just not interested enough to invest a minute or two to review or PM me. I know most readers here don't review anything, I've seen a lot of other stories get just as little feedback as mine per chapter or even less, but that just tells me I won't get much better results than what I already am no matter what I try, and for reasons I won't explain here, it further erodes any motivation to write this story.
Just in case anyone is worried, let me assure you this is not a crushing blow to me and that I'm not sitting here crying. If anything, I'm looking forward to spending more time on my other projects. :)
My deepest apologies to LinuxGirl and the very few others who were enjoying the story and reviewed, the thought of disappointing you is the only downer in all this.
I will probably post the epilogue within the next week, and I plan to include what the rest of the story would have been (in highly summarized form), if anyone is curious. I will also, as promised, share what I've learned (not much as it turns out…).
If the end of this chapter upset anyone, I'm sorry. It was necessary for the story that this happen, you'll see why when you read the epilogue, and I really wanted to write these scenes. Considering the feedback I've been getting as of late, I don't think much anyone IS upset, but I figured I'd throw this in here just in case.