Author's Note:

Done. I've been debating whether or not this should be the final chapter, and I've decided that it is. Though, by the end you may feel yourself cheated, that the story isn't yet complete, all I have to say is your right. There will be an Epilogue, but the epilogue (or what was going to be the last chapter) Seemed so far removed from the flow of this story line, that I couldn't justify it being its own chapter. So, read on, know that more awaits, and, as always, I hope you enjoy the latest update in the Abusive Heart Trilogy

Chapter 12: The End of Misery

"Where's this cave supposed to be at?" Hiro asked as he adjusted his rigging while looking down at the steep drop of the cliff.

Yuki took a long drag from his cigarette before flicking it over the edge and watching the burning ember fall into oblivion. "Somewhere behind that water fall. There's supposed to be a path directly below us that will lead to its entrance."

Without another word, the two checked their guns, ropes, and harness before bracing themselves at the edge of the cliff. Repelling down the cliff face, they slowly lowered themselves until there feet met a narrow path that led them directly to the waterfall.

The nearly unbearable roar of the water did nothing to stop them. Yuki stepped under the shower first and began to fight his way through, keeping a hand on the wall for support. Sight was difficult; breathing nearly impossible. Just as Yuki's fingers wrapped around the edge of the entrance way, he felt Hiro grab at his shirt and pull him back.

Falling to the ground, Yuki looked back to see that Hiro had slipped. The waterfall had dragged him to the edge and he was now dangling over a fatal drop as gallons of water crashed against his long, red hair and tried to wrestle him into an early grave.

Yuki tried to scream out, but the noise around them was deafening. Crawling across the rock on his belly, Yuki reached his hand out and grabbed Hiro by the wrist. Hiro's grip gave out as he tried to fight his way back on the path. The water that drenched them made everything slick and Yuki could feel Hiro's arm slowly sliding out of his grasp.

Screaming out, Yuki used all his strength and fought against the immense force and pulled Hiro back up. The two scrambled back into the cave and collapsed on the floor. As Hiro coughed the water out of his lungs, Yuki just laid there trying to catch his breath. Struggling back to their feet, Hiro choked out, "Thank you."

Yuki pushed the hair out of his eyes and glared. "If your a risk to rescuing Shuichi," he said as he pulled out his gun, "I'll kill you right now."

Yuki pressed the barrel of the gun against Hiro's forehead. "I should be saying that to you," he said as he shoved the gun out of his face.

Putting the gun away, Yuki looked into the distance of the cave. Up ahead, he saw a small flickering light. "Let's go," he muttered, "I think there's someone up there."

"Is it A.F.?" Hiro asked.

"I don't know, but there's only one way to find out." Yuki began to walk towards the light with Hiro following closely behind. As they approached, they saw it was a campfire. Next to it, cast in flickering shadows, a small person with a head of bright pink hair was bound and sleeping.

"Shuichi!" Hiro and Yuki yelled out before rushing to his side to cut the ropes. The boy stirred, blindly blinking in the light of the fire before understanding what was happening. "Yuki! Hiro! You came for me!"

"Of course we did, idiot," Yuki grunted. "Where's A.F.?"

"He left awhile ago," Shuichi said as he rubbed his newly freed wrists. But that's not the only one! We need to leave before the-"

"Hold on," Hiro interrupted him, "Do you two hear music?"

Yuki closed his eyes and tried to listen. Soft at first, he heard a steady stream of silvery notes echo off the cold rock that surrounded him. He could hear a bow slide across strings in a slow and steady stride. As the source came closer, the tempo picked up, playing in time to the clicking of footsteps that accompanied it.

"Hurry, we have to go, now!" Shuichi shouted as he stood up and began to run towards the entrance of the cave. The music stopped suddenly and Shuichi howled in pain. Yuki ran to his side and caught the boy before he could fall. Slowly lowering him to the ground, Yuki saw a small dagger sticking out of Shuichi's leg, surrounded by a thick pool of blood.

"And where do you think you're going?" A young man, no older then twenty, stepped into view. His bright white hair fell down to his shoulders while long fingers grasped the neck of a brightly glazed violin.

Hiro stood between them and the strange person. "Who are?" he demanded.

The boy flashed them a toothy smile before chuckling to himself. "I am The Apprentice, and you are about to die." He set the violin down gently before cracking his knuckles and laughing gently to himself.

"Yuki," Hiro said, "Stay with Shuichi, I'll handle him." Hiro stepped up. The campfire separated them. The Apprentice laughed. Hiro glared. Even the waterfall behind them seemed to grow silent. Tension hung in the air...

The Apprentice reached into his long, black coat and flicked three daggers at Hiro. Rolling away, Hiro grabbed one of the discarded blades and flung himself at the enemy. The Apprentice stepped out of Hiro's reached and snatched the violin's bow and snapped it against Hiro's back. Howling in pain, Hiro dropped the dagger and fell the filthy ground.

He grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it into The Apprentice's eyes. Watching as The Apprentice blindly staggered away, Hiro jumped up and tackled him to the ground. They wrestled as Yuki watched from the sidelines.

Yuki ripped the blade out of Shuichi's leg who then screamed in pain as hot tears welled up in his eyes. "Don't cry, Yuki whispered before giving Shuichi a peck on his forehead. Ripping off the sleeve of his shirt, he handed it to Shuichi, "Keep this pressed firmly against your wound, I'll be right back."

The Apprentice was on top of Hiro with his pale hand wrapped around the guitarist's throat. Reaching up, Hiro struggled to claw at the boy's face. He managed to free a leg from underneath The Apprentice and smashed his knee into the boy's gut.

Grabbing a stick from out of the fire, The Apprentice howled and blazing ember over his head, ready to crash it against Hiro's face.

There was a smash. The sound of wood splintering and strings snapping. The Apprentice dropped the stick and crumpled to the floor. Behind him, Yuki stood holding the neck of a destroyed violin. "Bastard," he muttered before throwing the ruined instrument into the pit of the fire. Offering his hand, he helped Hiro to his feet.

Hiro stood up and kicked the unconscious Apprentice in the stomach, a soft groan escaping from his slightly parted lips. Grabbing the discarded ropes, Hiro bent over and began binding The Apprentice. He looked back up at Yuki. "Now what do we do?"

Looking down at Shuichi, Yuki said, "We wait. Today doesn't end until A.F. is ready for a coffin." Shuichi whimpered as Hiro nodded.

"Yuki!" Shuichi cried out, "Why can't we just go back to Japan? Please! Let's just go now and never come back?"

Opening his mouth to respond, Yuki was cut-off by the sound of a soft voice, dripping with menace come from behind:

"Because, if you run to Japan, I'll follow you. If you run to Europe, I'll follow you. Anywhere you go, I will hunt you down and slit your throats in your sleep."

Yuki turned around and studied the source of the voice. Cascading showers of white hair that fell down his back, white porcelain mask revealing nothing but his pale lips and violet eyes. With a flourish, A.F. removed his black cloak and let it fall to the floor. Underneath, he wore a black suit; a single rose sticking out from his breast pocket.

"But you won't run," A.F. continued, "Never mind the fact that from birth I was trained to kill. No. You won't run, Yuki won't let you. Eiri and I, we understand each other. And, we understand the fact that all of this cat and mouse shit is over. We finish this now."

Faster than sight, A.F. ran out Yuki and tackled him to the ground. From the side, Hiro pounced and pulled A.F. away before shoving him to the ground and trying to stomp on his throat. A.F. grabbed Hiro's foot and twisted it, sending Hiro crashing against the rocky floor. As A.F. rolled over to get back on his feet, Yuki grabbed one of The Apprentice's forgotten daggers and dug deep into A.F.'s back.

A.F. howled in pain before ripping the dagger out, and slashed at Yuki's arm. A thick puddle of blood pooled over and ran in rivers of red, dropping freely to the ground. Yuki stood there for a moment, looking down at his arm and teetering from loss of blood before falling to his knees.

Screaming, Shuichi ran at A.F., only to feel cold, strong fingers wrap around his throat and lift him into the air. Shuichi kicked and fought, but the grip only tightened. The world around him began to grow blurry. Dark spots appeared before his eyes, and just before his entire world would be swallowed into the abyss, he heard A.F. hiss, "From the very start, you have caused more trouble than you can even imagine."

A crack of the whip. That was the sound that shattered the darkness. A.F. dropped Shuichi and stumbled backwards. Looking down, he saw his white shirt stained by a growing circle of blood. He then looked up to see Yuki on the ground, holding a smoking pistol with his remaining good hand. Two more shots. A.F.'s knees were blown out and he dropped to the ground, stunned into silence.

A thin trickle of blood slowly seeped out of A.F.'s mouth as he looked at the three. Eyes glossing over, he blinked and whispered, "You cheated," before closing his eyes and stopping his breath.

Shuichi climbed into Yuki's arms and they kissed. Wiping some dirt off his face, Yuki looked over in time to see The Apprentice slowly stir and look around at his current surroundings. "No!" he screamed as he struggled to break loose the rope that bound him. "What the fuck did you do! Bastards! Son of a bitch, bastards! I'll kill you."

As Yuki aimed the gun at The Apprentice, a voice rose from A.F.'s limp body. "Bullets are but harmless lead. Inanimate, lacking of life. How can something without life truly be able to take from those that are alive?

A.F. rose from the ground, a sot chuckle escaping his throat. Drawing his gun again, Yuki fired another shot, hitting A.F.'s arm. Still laughing, the mad man slowly advanced towards the two lovers. Yuki emptied the gun, pouring shot after shot into A.F.'s flesh, but this did nothing to stop the slow advanced. In the background, the could hear The Apprentice cry out with joy and edge A.F. on. From four feet away, A.F. drew a sword from the hilt connected to his belt. The handle was white gold with the blade embezzled with ancient designs that crawled in vines across the metal. He roe it above his head and smiled at Shuichi and Yuki. "Goodbye," he sneered.

Bright, white lights flooded the darkness of the cave and blinded everyone surrounded by is beam. Stunned A.F. dropped the sword and shielded his eyes while trying to scurry to the back.

A voice sounded over the megaphone; speech broken up by fits of laughter. "A.F.,"
the voice commanded as the source stepped into the light. His long, blond hair flowing behind him, tied back in a pony tail. "There is no way out. I have a small army of men outside ready to take you down if you even try to escape."

"K!" Shuichi shouted.

A.F. merely laughed. "So am I under arrest? Do you really think there is a prison in the world that can hold me?" he doubled over in laughter.

"You don't need to worry about that," K said as he approached A.F., smiling. "That has already been taken into consideration. Due to your nature, I've decided that I won' send you to prison."

"So a deal?" A.F. said, "Fine, leave now, never come to America again, and we can all walk away from this."

K sighed and shook his head. "No. I'm sorry, but there's too much liability in just letting you go free. So, instead, I've decided to sentence you to death."

Before A.F. could raise a word of protest, K pulled out a magnum from the back of his pants, pressed the barrel against A.F.'s temple, and pulled the trigger.

All watched as there was a flash of fire, crack of thunder, and a shower of blood and brains explode from the other side of A.F.'s head as he dropped to the ground. For a few moments, everything was still. Quiet. Kicking A.F.'s body over on his back, K simply whispered, "Anything that can bleed, can die."

The Apprentice screamed as hot tears burst from his. Throwing insult after insult, he only shut up when K pressed the same magnum against his head. "You killed him," he sniffled, "He was the only one who was ever kind to me, and you killed him."

"Now you listen to me," K said, "I don't know who you got here, but you need to go back from where you came. You can't kill. You don't have it in you. If I'm correct, you are now acting A.F. for the crime group, Dark Terror." The Apprentice looked away. "That's what I thought." K said as he cut the binds free.

Sitting up, The Apprentice slowly looked around. He crawled across the cave floor and approached A.F.'s limp the mask, The Apprentice exposed A.F.'s beautiful face. Though the pale flag of death ha been risen above him, he held the pale majesty of white marble used to immortalize gods. Placing the mask on his own face, he rose to his feet.

"Leave," he said, "Dark Terror is no more. Upon my return to New York, I will begin disbanding the organization. As acting head of this group, I will refuse to take on an Apprentice. The title of A.F. will die with me."

There was nothing left to say. Shuichi, Yuki, K, and Hiro turned and began their slow, silent march out of the cave, leaving A.F. to mourn over the body of the only person who had ever shown him love, and the only person whom he had ever loved.

Like on an endless wheel, Love and Hate chase each other. With the destruction of Love, comes the birth of hate. When Hate is broken away, piece by piece, there is but a small ember of love within, waiting to take the dominant place.

So, the group would plan their return to Japan, and resume their own cycle of life. Shuichi and Yuki. Always chasing, but never knowing who is chasing whom.

The End.

After Note:

So there it is. As I said before, you may feel as though the ending was too easy, but, as I said, this story continues on in an epilogue in a way that might put your concerns to ease. And, no, in the Author's Note, that wasn't a typo. Abusive Heart is a trilogy. Though, I've spent so much time working on this Gravitation fanfic, that I've neglected other areas of writing that I want to explore. So, it will be a bit of time before the start of the third Abusive Heart. Until then, you can expect various one shot fanfictions on this sight (maybe even the start of some mini series). Throughout those little stories, I'll be dropping hints about the final installment of Abusive Heart. Well, that's all for now. Thank you for reading, and I hope you've had as much fun as I've had writing it. Make sure to read the epilogue ;)