Chapter Thirteen – End of Resolve – Eden is No Place for Monsters

Author's Note: I do not own the Buso Renkin series and the characters of the original series. I own only the original characters of this fic, Sakuya Mutou, Kaworu Jounouchi, their siblings and friends, Phalene, some members of the Alchemist Army, and the enemy, the Tetsujin Juusan. Buso Renkin is the creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.

Also, a few extra and unplanned words. But Kurenai Mirai is now three years old with thirteen chapters. I made the mistake of juggling different writing projects and had put my very first dedicated fanfiction project on different hiatuses, but with this recent development, I am proud to say that I am continuing my very first dedicated fanfiction project. This chapter marks Kurenai Mirai's 3-year anniversary, and I'd like to thank you, the readers, for all the support and interest you have shown these past three years. Thank you for everything, thank you for being so awesome, and thank you for seeing this crimson future with me all the way.

–

The silver-haired Homunculus' eyes widened as he stared at Kaworu. The blade of the Blonde's Garden of Eden Buso Renkin was on the ground, and his eyes were fixated on him. Kuwagata knew that this seemingly defenseless pose left no openings. The most wrong move would absolutely kill him, and in his condition, he mostly will make the most wrong move.

'C'mon!' he psyched himself mentally. 'I can do this! I can fuckin' do this, dammit! I'm not scared of him…not of HIM!' "BUSO RENKIN! SCISSOR VORTEX!" With a roar, he wielded his two scimitars and disappeared from sight. He reappeared over Kaworu and jumped down at him. "My onii-sama an' I are twins! Our speed is equal, so don't take me lightly, blondie!" But as he threw his blades down, Kaworu only lifted the blade of his claymore over his head horizontally and protected himself; he wasn't even looking. "Shit!"

Kaworu looked up with his faded purple eyes and swung his blade outward, sending Kuwagata at a steel beam. The Homunculus crashed into and dented it, sliding down to the concrete floor. "That doesn't matter to me," Kaworu replied and started to walk toward Kuwagata. "I will kill you. And that's that."

Now he was even more afraid. In fear, he desperately charged again and slashed with his right blade. He watched Kaworu jumped over it with his hand at the tip, and Kuwagata was sent flying to an inactive generator from a powerful midair kick.

"Damn…he changed his fighting style!" he thought aloud and used his speed to get at Kaworu's back. He stabbed forward with his left blade, but Kaworu weaved in and upper-cutted Kuwagata's chin with the right hand holding his Buso Renkin. In the process, Kuwagata's left arm was cut off as he bounced back onto the ground. Blood spurted from his upper arm. "Goddammit shit!" he cried out as he looked at his detached arm. Kaworu wasn't definitely fighting like this before. He found himself at the Garden of Eden's point, and a drop of sweat slid down his cheek.

"Are you done?" Kaworu asked with a bored, but merciless stare. "I'm through playing games. I've grown tired of looking at your face, so let's end this."

"Why…" The blonde raised an eyebrow at Kuwagata's response. "Why are YOU an Alchemist Warrior? This doesn't make any fuckin' sense!"

He was at a loss for words. Was this man delusional? The light returned to Kaworu's eyes, and his expression changed. "I've always been an Alchemist Warrior, since Kazuki Muto found me," he replied to Kuwagata. "My mission is to destroy any Homunculi that terrorize the human populace. And you are no exception. I will not let you harm anyone else anymore!"

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT BULLSHIT, YOU FUCKING TRAITOR!" Kuwagata lunged himself forward into Kaworu's stomach and tackled him to the ground. Then he rolled off and grabbed his detached arm, reattaching it to its rightful place. "I swear, you fucking talk like that to me again, an' I'll kill you, y'hear?" He shot himself at Kaworu's left with his speed and slashed with his right blade. The blonde lifted his Buso Renkin to defend, but he was open for a slash at his left leg by Kuwagata's free arm.

"Agh!" he gasped and knelt down, only to feel Kuwagata's foot kick him in the chin and onto the ground. "Oof!"

"I hate looking at you, an' now I know why!" Kuwagata gritted his teeth as he looked down at Kaworu. He twirled his scimitars until the blades were under his forearms. "That guy wouldn't stop talkin' 'bout you, an' I know why! You're alive! And if I kill you, I can even surpass onii-sama!"

Kaworu opened an eye as he held his chin. "I…don't know what you're talking about!" Then Kuwagata stomped on his stomach and stabbed his right shoulder. "AAAAGH!"

"Y'don't? Good. Makes it fuckin' easier for me." Kuwagata grinned devilishly and continued to stomp of Kaworu's stomach. "I've always been tired of lookin' at'cha! You were s'posed to be somethin' special, but here y' are now! At my feet! I don't know what he did t' ya, but whatever it is, I'm grateful. I'll kill ya an' shoot straight up the numbers of the Tetsujin Juusan!"

"He?" Kaworu caught Kuwagata's foot with his left hand and flipped him and his scimitar off. He stood up weakly and held his wound. "What do you mean, 'HE'? This Kami-sama you always speak of?"

"Ha! Hardly! That poser's got nothin' to do with you." Kuwagata narrowed one of his eyes and placed a hand onto his hip. "This guy was brilliant, man. Started th' whole damn thing! The Tetsujin Juusan, the Crimson Kakuganes, all planned by a mere human!"

This piece of news shocked Kaworu greatly. A Familiar? No…Familiars are humans that hide themselves among the Homunculi to protect themselves. This man…this human benefactor seemed to have "control" over them. "You WILL tell me everything you know, monster!" He raised his working arm and his blade at the silver-haired Homunculus. However, wielding the claymore one-handed was harder than it looked, and he was getting exhausted. How much energy did Kaworu use during the fight?

Kuwagata simply grinned and deactivated the Scissor Vortex, holding his Crimson Kakugane labeled pXII. Now Kaworu became cautious. "I ain't tellin' you nothin'. I'm endin' this here an' now!" He placed the Crimson Kakugane over the left side of his chest, and it disappeared into it. "We of th' Tetsujin Juusan are powered by these Crimson Kakuganes. Th' Philosopher Kakuganes, or pKakuganes (pii-Kakugane) f' short, allow us to wield Buso Renkins like Humanoid Homunculi."

"Humanoid…wait…" Kaworu made a terrible realization. "That means you're-"

"That's right, blondie!" A wild grin appeared on Kuwagata's lips. "Each o' th' Philosopher Homunculi in th' Tetsujin Juusan are all non-human Homunculi! These pKakuganes can make plant, insect, an' animal-types temp'rary Humanoid Homunculi, but that doesn't change who we are!" He then grabbed his chest. "I'll show you th' TRUE power of th' pKakugane! Buso…RENKIN!" Inside his body, the Crimson Kakugane opened up, and Kuwagata's body shook.

His clothes blended in with his skin as it turned into a silver metallic color. His body grew larger and longer, forming a thorax and abdomen. From the sides of the thorax and abdomen grew long stick-like appendages that dug into the concrete as a head with two compound eyes formed itself, growing a pair of long scissor blade-like jaws that jutted forward. On the middle of the head was Kuwagata's human head, looking down at Kaworu. The Homunculus was now a metallic silver stag beetle with crimson tribal markings tattooed on different parts of him.

"This…is the power of the Orichalcum!" Kaworu gasped as he held his stab wound tightly.

"Y' scared, traitor?" Kuwagata laughed as he lunged his two jaws forward. Kaworu dove to the side to avoid the crashing mandibles while avoiding hitting his wound. "I'll show you th' huge difference between us! The power that man gave me and my onii-sama!" His front right leg moved forward and kicked Kaworu back onto a steel beam.

"Aaagh!" Kaworu gasped as blood dripped from his mouth. This entire fight, he wondered, why did this Homunculus keep calling him a traitor? Did he know something about him the Warrior himself didn't? Actually…how did they get to the abandoned factory? He was so wrapped up in the fight that he didn't take it into thought. As Kuwagata lunged forward again, Kaworu thrusted his sword into the ground. "Garden of Eden!" he roared as the golden flames engulfed his Buso Renkin, and Kuwagata's mandibles were repelled and pushed back. "I will not fall yet!"

"Cut the shit," Kuwagata scoffed and attacked again. The flames were pushing him back, but he didn't look like he was having trouble. Kuwagata was grinning, triumphantly. The flames were growing smaller, and soon they diminished. The mandibles caught Kaworu onto the beam. "Your annoyin' defense trick isn't hard t' break. I just need to be stronger than it, right?" The bladed jaws began to dig into Kaworu's arms.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" That was the loudest cry Kaworu had ever let out. He was in an unbelievable amount of pain right now. He felt like his arms could fall off any time soon. His flesh and bone was about to be torn right off, and he'd be snapped in half.

"That's it! Cry out like that! I've always wanted to hear somethin' like that from you! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Kuwagata was enjoying this as he began to crush Kaworu slowly. "Die, traitor! Fuckin' die! Die die die die DIE DIE DIE!"

He wanted to pass out. He wanted this pain to stop. Kaworu had never had feelings like this before, but it hurt so much. His eyes soon began to roll back as blood and saliva dripped down the side of his opened mouth.

–

"We'll see through this to the end, right?" said a black-haired teen with bangs over his eyes looking down at him. "I trust you'll do a good job. So don't be gone for too long, okay?"

–

"Let's make a promise!" smiled a younger boy with short and neat blonde hair. He then lifted out his pinky. "Middle school's almost over for us, so let's graduate together, okay? You're my best friend…and I wanna go to high school with you. So…let's do our best!"

–

"Are you okay? These guys…they came out of nowhere…they looked human, but they're monsters eating monsters…" The boys left arm was missing. He took the mystery person with his only arm to a closet while other kids, women, and men were screaming out in fear and pain, the sounds of eating also present. The boy closed the door and looked at the mystery person, tearing up. "It hurts…it hurts so bad…I want it to stop…" He looked up at the mystery person, and his eyes widened. He knew what was about to happen and smiled weakly. "You…are the greatest friend anyone could ever have…thank you…Ki-"

Kaworu was silent, and his head hung low. Kuwagata had stopped moving his mandibles. "Hey, you dead yet? I want ya to scream some more." He grinned a little as he waited with anticipation. "Well, if that's how it is…DIE!" He proceeded to close his jaws again, but there was a bit of resistance. He couldn't move them in anymore. "Oi, the fuck is this?" he exclaimed and tried again, but to no avail. To his horror, he felt them being pushed back as Kaworu spread his arms outward. He was holding the bladed jaws with his bare hands, but they weren't cutting into his flesh. And he was pushing them back with his OWN strength!

"What the hell?" Kuwagata gasped as Kaworu practically tore off the bladed mandibles off from the stag beetle Homunculus' head. "AAAAAAGH!" he screamed as his six legs stumbled backward. His human head looked around with a fearful expression. "Onii-sama! Help me, onii-sama!"

The blonde, his head still hung low, walked toward Kuwagata with the long mandibles dragging onto the ground. With a quick movement, three of Kuwagata's legs were cut clean off. "AAAAGH! STOP IT! PLEASE! STOP IT!" In another movement, the rest of the legs were cut off. "NO! GAAAAH! PLEASE, I DON'T WANNA DIE! DON'T KILL ME!" Then Kaworu threw the mandibles into Kuwagata's abdomen, embedding it through into the concrete. "PleaSe…plEAse…STo.p…." Kuwagata's speech was blurred by his fear as his voice began to shake.

Kaworu headed back to his Buso Renkin and lifted it out of the concrete. He returned back to Kuwagata and stepped onto the stag beetle's head, looking down at the human head. Kuwagata's Homunculus symbol was visible on his forehead. With his wounded right arm, he pulled back his Buso Renkin with the point facing Kuwagata's forehead.

"I doN't wANna diE…KamI-SAMa…oNii-saMA…I DOn't wannA die…" Kuwagata looked up at Kaworu one last time. Though his eyes were shadowed by the bangs of his hair, there was a glint of light in a certain and familiar shape where his right eye was, and tears fell down Kuwagata's cheeks. "Why…are you an Alchemist Warrior…I…don't wanna die…"

Kaworu remained silent. All that could be heard in the abandoned factory, in which only the two of them inhabited, was the sound of a metal blade stabbing into metal.