Chapter 49

Another dream another memory; or so Rin found the pattern to be. This time the memory wasn't drenched in blood, sweat, or fire. This time she sat next to a young girl and from the luminous blue eyes Rin knew instantly it was her. She hid in a small corner blocked from view by shelves in her room. Rin was shocked to see that other than the bedsheets, the room had not changed at all. Her younger self giggled and snuggled back into the darkness. For a second Rin's chest hurt, she felt tainted. Her innocence not of the same caliber as her memories came back. For a moment she longed to return to such an old day of innocence where the agency and all it's evil was blind to her. Sometimes, ignorance was bliss. Then she spotted Yuma across the room under the bed. He flashed a happy grin and a thumbs up in younger Rin's direction and Rin watched her young self return the gesture. They couldn't be playing a game could they? In no way did Yuma reflect the man she'd seen in so many memories. He was happy, alive. So entirely...not evil. The door opened with a grand whoosh and in came Ia. She wore a white summer dress that billowed and flowed in a hypnotizing ripple of fabric with her every movement. Like watching curtains blow softly in the wind. On her head was a crown of daisies and she wore soft lacy white slippers on her feet. She had a broad smile on her face and her voice was as perfect as Rin remembered.

"My, my, wherever could they have gone?" Her mother laughed to herself. Then with a visible pout of her lips and a twirl back to face the door she huffed softly and continued, "Well, if I can't find either of them soon I'll have to eat all the dinner myself before it gets cold."

Her mother peeked into Rin's study and grinned.

"Even all the lemon cake," she sang. Young Rin instantly came out of hiding.

"No! I want dinner too! I want cake!" Her mother scooped her up immediately.

"Found you." Rin instantly pouted.

"Boo, That's not fair," the young girl whined. "You cheated."

Her mother just laughed and bopped her daughter on the nose. "You fall for that every time, Rin. I did not cheat. I merely outsmarted you." Despite losing Rin smiled.

"I'll fool you next time, Mommy."

He mother grinned. "I'll be prepared."

It was then that Yuma slipped out from under the bed. He moved in to hug his wife and she pointed an accusatory finger at him.

"And you sir, were supposed to help me set the table." Yuma tensed

"Rin wanted to play. I couldn't say no." His comment didn't seem to spare him of her wrath.

"Are you telling me with all your power you couldn't spare even a second to help your wife set the table?" Yuma blushed and hung his head. An odd sight granted how tall he was and how short Ia was.

"Shirking your duties to hide under beds." Her stern tone of voice broke into laughter. "Quite odd don't you think?" Yuma returned his wife's smile with all the love any woman could dream of and more.

Rin watched her younger self giggle. "Is daddy in trouble?"

"Daddy doesn't get any cake." Though Yuma feigned hurt he was visibly happy and the three of them laughed. A bright light came from the door as each of them stepped through it. The light grew in intensity till Rin covered her eyes.

The softness of the bed slowly woke Rin and she sunk into it. It was so warm, so caressing. Reluctantly she peeled her eyes open and glanced around without moving. The light that had disturbed her sleep came from the window in front of her. Thin purple curtains blew gently in the morning wind catching the light as they went. Purple? Rin sat up and immediately regretted it. Hot pain rocked her head and sent the room spiraling around her. Rin staggered to her feet in a surge of dizziness. She had to grip the bedside table next to her to keep steady. The room wasn't hers. Vividly she remembered trashing her own though she did not remember getting moved. She recognized Yuzuki's room immediately. Then the back of her neck prickled.

Someone was coming down the hallway outside. Rin couldn't hear any footsteps and yet she knew somehow. Yuzuki popped her head in a moment later. As she stepped into the room Rin noticed she was carrying two plates. On each plate was a large fluffy waffle topped with strawberries and whipped cream. The fruit was slick with strawberry glaze and sprinkled with icing sugar. Today Yuzuki was wearing a light purple chemise and similarly colored house slipper. She wasn't too tall without her massive boots but still taller than Rin. Everything about her was purple and blinding, as if she lived to be a neon sign. Yuzuki walked over and set down both plates on the bedside table. Rin blinked at her.

"Back into bed or you don't get breakfast," Yuzuki ordered without any real command. Rin slipped back into Yuzuki's bed reluctantly. Yuzuki was not a threat to her.

"I'm not hungry, Yuzuki. I need to get out of here." Rin flushed when her stomach growled in protest. Yuzuki raised a knowing eyebrow.

"Not hungry? What a bunch of hooch." Then the purple girl was seated in front of her and set a plate into Rin's lap. They ate silently for a moment. Rin teared up despite the delightful taste of the food.

"Ted— "

"Let me tell you a story, Rin," Yuzuki broke in cheerfully. "You have time for that, right?" Rin nodded though Yuzuki kept all her attention on eating. Rin knew the gesture had been received. Truthfully speaking, Rin felt she had no time for a story. There was no time for such a trivial game. She had to rescue Teto. To check on Ted. To right wrongs and get back to Len in one piece. But despite all that when she looked at Yuzuki, somehow she knew what she was about to be told was relevant to everything around her. So she was quiet and listened intently. Yuzuki set her fork down: it made no sound.

"It's a very old story," Yuzuki began. "Several millennia old about a boy and a girl." Rin sat up a little straighter and continued eating silently. "The boy was troubled. The girl was sheltered. However that didn't keep them from meeting. There was the pull of love when they first met. She strived for him to be better. He strived to make her happy. The girl was so young but her soul was old. As old as creation itself. They weren't supposed to be together. Juicy forbidden love, you know? Yet when they looked at each other they couldn't see anything else. Anyone else. Then the proper order of things got in the way. The girl's father found out about the boy and threw a fit. He locked her away because the boy was tainted and she was not supposed to fraternize with evil. The girl knew more then her father was telling her. She knew of events before they happened. Such was her burden.

The boy suffered misfortune and she could not go see him. She could not allow her own emotions to jeopardize the good of so many others. Even if she hated it sometimes. Her very soul ached for the boy and his soul in return ached for her. Her father took further measures and immediately married the girl off. She did not tell the boy for the detriment of doing so was too high. She knew from the beginning how he would take it. When the boy found out, he confronted her. Scorned her. Then he was gone and the girl could not even cry. Such was her burden. She had a wedding to plan. The boy fell into despair. He thought to himself how could she toss him aside? Had she not ever loved him. His emotions ruled him but he denied the notion. Then he was married off. This new woman declared she loved him but he only thought of his first love. Still thought of her even as he made love to another. It made him sick. He grew weary.

Time went on and soon it was too much for him. He began to believe he was truly born for evil as the girl was born for good. He was captured. Sentenced to death. The girl came to see him. She was to be his executioner. However he discovered even after all that had separated them, she loved him. No blood was spilled and the boy got away. He wanted to be with her but he had a son on the way. So he returned home only to discover he laid in a bed of treachery. He killed his wife and all those who came for him as a result. He knew it was wrong but the action was so much easier than in the past.

The girl was not so free as the boy. She spent every moment trying to find a way out of her marriage for she could not murder. The boy came to visit her and she snuck out to the gardens. When he saw the symbol, a necklace, the house sign of another man upon her chest, he hated it. He offered her immortality; which was not uncommon between them. She denied him a second time and told him not to expect her to live forever. She returned to the house and the boy desperate to have her followed her in another way.

He was captured and locked up by the girl's fiancee whom had been a traitor all along. The house was lit on fire and the boy panicked. Though he was immortal the woman he loved was not and the house was burning down to cinders. He escaped but when he did find the girl she stood untouched by the flames. Her fiancee laid crushed beneath a falling banister. The two lovers fled after that; with their enemies convinced they died in that fire. The boy builds a place for them and the girl insists on taking in stragglers. The memory of his first son haunts the boy and so he takes up the project to create another one. He succeeds and the girl cares for the boy as if he were from her womb. The boy passes his greatest treasure onto his son. The girl longs for a little girl of her own and the boy makes it so, but he also takes up a project in secret.

Time grows on and the girl longs for the outside world. She takes secret strolls with her children despite the boys wishes. They quarrel endlessly over that matter, for the girl does not want a cage. The boy loves her madly even as another tries for his affections. She denies immortality thrice and there is an attempt on her life that fails.

Long overdue, their wedding day comes. All of the girl's secrets are laid out that day. When she is happily about to be wed, when the boy has set everything up so the girl can become immortal. Her strolls have revealed her location. The boy learns that she was destined to die at the age of 30, as was her price for living. He's frantic as her delicate dress is dyed a sickening crimson. Her life is the only thing he ever truly begs for. The humans fire more shots but the weapons fail as the boy applies pressure yet life keeps bleeding away from her body. He's confused and angry. He tries to force immortality upon her but there's a violent reaction as if what he has to offer is poison to her soul. Her life bleeds faster through his fingers. Then she died.

He had lived solely for her beautiful smile and she had died because of him. The injustice had been enough to drive him insane. No longer was the man she had loved. She had taken all the goodness in him when she'd slipped into eternity. Now he was left forever bereft and aching for her. What infuriated him most of all was the fact that her existence had been a mere blip on eternity. He'd screamed out for anyone or anything to help him. To breathe life back into the only person that had ever made him whole; loved.

A tool that had once been close to him came to his side then to calm him but he was already forsaken. He'd become unretrievable as soon as he'd found who fired the shot in the angry crowd of people: the girl's very father. The boy demands she be his weapon again but the tool denies him and so he disfigures her before slaughtering everyone in the courtyard. Women. Children. Men. The armed and unarmed. When he stood alone among all the destruction he cried. His sobs stole his humanity. When he finally looked up he looked upon his children. A small boy with a face that mirrored his own misery, a young girl with purple hair who was a damaged, and a younger girl who looked exactly like her mother. He never cried again, and he never forgot."

It took a moment for Rin to register that the story was over. She set her empty plate on the bedside table and rolled onto her back. She stared straight at Yuzuki. She'd been so caught up in the tale she hadn't noticed when Yuzuki had pulled her legs up and rested her chin on her knees.

"That's an awful story," Rin said indignantly.

"Is it?" Yuzuki answered ruminatively.

"Well, yes, a story about a boy who only hates the world because it stripped him of what he'd always loved. He was also equally at fault, wasn't he?" Yuzuki looked at Rin thoughtfully.

"The boy would think otherwise," Yuzu smiled. "I mean it's not too bad of a story right? The boy just wanted to be with his true love."

"But they never told each other the whole truth. She knew she was going to die and he was obsessed with her not dying. If he'd listened to her then they could've enjoyed the years they did have together."

"So you believe that if he'd realized that, he could've tore himself down and begun again?" Rin thought for a moment and nodded. "And what if I told you that the boy we spoke of was Yuma, the girl we spoke of was Ia, the tool was a sword, and the children were us?" Rin was silent.

"What do you want me to say?"

"Possibly that you understand?" Rin stared at Yuzuki. Her eyes were serious but Rin herself wasn't particularly allowing any kind of emotion into her gaze.

"He may be my father, but he's a broken man."

"All men are broken to some degree until they find something worth unbreaking for." Rin watched Yuzuki as if the words she'd said were alien to her. "He wasn't evil to begin with," Yuzuki added, a hint of grief in her tone.

"If he really loved her so much he wouldn't have done those kinds of things," Rin declared.

"Not necessarily. People always do terrible things in the name of love," said Yuzuki her eyes gleaming though she wasn't looking at Rin. "Love itself is pure but attaining it and keeping it are different matters."

"Why are you telling me this?" Yuzuki sighed and stood up from her bed.

"I want you to talk to Luki, Rin."

Rin's face darkened as she remembered yesterday.

"That liar?"

Now Yuzu did turn her eyes on Rin. They were large and dark and unexpectedly thoughtful.

"He's not a liar. He'll tell you horrible truths cause he's a man of his word." She paused before she added quietly; "Not saying you should go make a bunch of promises with him though."

When Rin didn't say anything Yuzuki smiled in the carefree way she usually did. She pushed the sheets down and saw yesterday's clothing. With Yuzuki's silent permission Rin excused herself to shower. The clear water ran over her skin and allowed her time to think. Time to process all her returned memories of Luki, Yuma's past, and all her other memories. She was still missing plenty but now she had enough to form a solid opinion on how she felt. On what she was going to do. She focused until there was a hazy distance between her emotions and she was looking at herself from a wall of water. An abnormal calm ran through her.

Her arms never moved but she turned off the shower and stepped out of it. She pulled a towel out of the closet and wrapped it modestly around her slim figure. When she met her eyes in the mirror they were determined and clear. Then behind her she saw Luki. She felt no presence behind her so she knew he wasn't really there. But his pink hair, sharp eyes, and honed physique were so vivid she felt like she could reach back and touch him. By a strange compulsion she knew where he was: her heart jolted in her chest. He wouldn't hurt her. He only wanted her here with him.

Standing there she made a choice and when she came across Luki, she knew he wasn't going to like it.

She left the bathroom and Yuzuki was seated with her legs crossed on the bed. As if she'd already known what Rin had truly used the bathroom for. The surety was broken when Rin spoke.

"What kind of power do I have?"

"What?" Yuzuki straightened.

"If my mother was a Seer and my father is a demon, what power do I have?"

"Creation," Yuzuki said before the sudden darkening of her eyes. "And destruction."

Yuzuki's eyes tracked her every move as Rin strode into the bathroom and lifted yesterday's clothing. Then she stood in front of the full length mirror and dropped the towel. She had a picture in her head and watched as the clothes in her hand lengthened into fabric. It shielded her nakedness and fitted undergarments to her figure. Then the fabric deepened into a dark blue and a dress began to build around her. A mermaid dress with a chapel trail and sequins that decorated her upper bust before they rainfalled down her left side. She put her arms out and the fabric curled around her arms. It burst into delicate and gorgeous lace before it snapped onto her arms and closed. Her back was left exposed. Then she lifted her old shoes from yesterday and the materials melted in her hands like chocolate. They morphed into black pumps with straps and large bows next to the ankles. She slipped them on as easily as she'd made them.

When she turned to Yuzuki she stood with more purpose and met Yuzuki's bewildered eyes.

"Rin, what are you going to do?"

"Leave," Rin said simply. "I'm going to leave and take whoever I want with me."

"You can't," Yuzuki protested.

As she turned around her hair wound up into a knot and two curled blonde ringlets fell around each side of her face.

"And who's going to stop me? You? Luki?"

Yuzuki shook her head. "I'll help you."

"Then don't try to stop me." Rin's gaze snapped up to the door and she strode out of it. Her grown trailing fiercely behind her. She immediately turned to her left and strode down the hallway towards the elevator. She passed by Luki purposely as she'd known he'd moved within range.

"You can't do this, Rin," Luki stated. "The people you're trying to redeem yourself to are only going to suffer more." He approached her till only an inch separated them and the nearness of him was intoxicating.

"Is this where your morals come in, Luki? Are you forgetting I know you now? That I remember."

"I'm not going to let you leave." Luki's voice was low. A possessive darkness tinted his eyes.

"Really, Luki? What are you going to do to stop me?" Rin replied with equal intensity.

Power coursed through her veins in a form of purpose so potent that even Luki's plain face seemed surprised. Reflected in Luki's eyes Rin saw her own luminous blue ones. Aflame and alive. She wouldn't kill anyone but she was no longer afraid of her power. By not using it she damned herself and everyone she came across. Nobody ever said she'd had to use her powers for evil. She would not mistake the same mistake again. Maybe her head wasn't totally clear but one thing was for certain. She wasn't powerless. Fear had controlled her. No more.

"Nothing," he added plainly. He put distance between them and Rin walked toward the elevator.

"Tomorrow will not repeat itself," Rin clarified. "I'm going to see Ted. Today, I'm leaving."