Scarlet Justice - ep. 57
"Outride A Crisis"
[Sasuke Recovery Mission: Final]
"Sorry that we couldn't do more."
"Stop with the apologizing," I say to Shikamaru. "You did well. Don't worry about anything else..."
I lay Hina on the ground in front of me. She's awake and in pain, with her left shoulder bleeding. I pull her arm out of her jacket and cut away the sleeve of her shirt. It's not as bad as it could have been, but still awful...
It's difficult right now, but I wipe away my tears and hold my focus. One more time...for the people I care about. "Status report, please."
"My leg's screwed up from trying to dodge Sasuke's attacks," Shikamaru starts. "Shino's running super low on insects after Sasuke started hitting us with fire attacks, one after the other. Sakura didn't help with her traps and explosions. They've got good coordination, and beyond that...Sasuke is way too strong. Outside of any calculations that I had of him."
"It's the cursed seal. The power must be merging with his body, and making him that much stronger than before. It's a good thing I didn't bring Naruto out, he wouldn't have stood a chance as he was."
"We could hold them for a little while before I got hurt, and then everything started to fall apart, bit by bit. Hinata was doing her best, too..."
"I know. I could feel you guys from way out as soon as I finished my duel. Lee is back there, and he should be safe from harm for now. We...we need to finish this fight quickly and get back to him...and Hina..."
"We'll take care of her, Boss." He hands me a canteen and I drink water out of it. "Basic first aid...that much is within our grasp."
"I'm really sorry...my leg is shot and it's taking a lot to stand on it."
"I'll take care of the rest, Shikamaru. It's as you said...his power has grown at a terrifying rate, and with that being the case, it's up to me to take him on. I have things I need to settle..." I take a deep breath in. "Stay here with Hina for now. Watch out for Sakura's movements in the meantime...you two are enough to take care of her, even in your states, but stay cautious either way."
"Got it, Chief. You go get him...put and end to this for all of us."
"I promise I will." I rise to my feet, looking at my sister one last time. She's breathing softly, her eyes dimmed and halfway open.
My words were not just for show. I meant it...I will never forgive him for what he's done to us. To Shikamaru, and Shino...and to Hina. Especially her. Attacking her...hurting her like this. He's going to suffer for what he's done.
I race up the cliff, through the trees and towards the two statues on either side of the border. With a single leap, I cross the waterfall, going from Hashirama's upraised fingers to Madara's head.
Sasuke stands there, waiting.
"So it's you this time. Welcome."
I keep my face turned away from his. "Why did you hurt her..."
"I-"
"Why. Why did you do such a thing. Tell me. Why. Sasuke. Why."
"Kobayashi...you should have left when you had the chance. All of you should have left. This is no longer your problem, and I have no time to play with you Leaf children anymore. It's time for me to move forward."
I finally look at him, and see the curse mark spreading across his face like black flames. One of his eyes is pitch black with a yellow center, and he smirks at me, arrogantly. It's too much to take. It's too much for my soul to handle, and I'm burning up inside. I can't feel anything...but anger. So much anger...it won't stop hurting me...
"I...hate...you."
"..."
"I will...never...forgive you. Never. I will never do it," I say as I start to cry again. "It hurts...so much. Being here, in front of you, having to do all of this, having to suffer over and over and over. I love Naruto so much...but you are so worthless. I hate you so fucking much..."
"And yet..."
"And yet," I repeat. "It's because I love him so much...and I swore on my soul that I would bring you home. I will bring you back to the Leaf, no matter what it takes."
He laughs at me. Like nothing matters. "Will you? Then come and try it, bitch."
Everything hurts so much...so damn much...it won't stop hurting! It fucking hurts! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! I want to kill him! I want to tear him apart and it hurts me! Why won't this pain stop?! I'm trying, aren't I? Why?! Why won't it stop?!
It's going to burst me apart and I can't stop crying.
"..."
It has...to flow. From me. I have to let...it out. Or else I'll go insane, and I'll die. I'll tear him apart, and then I'll die for sure.
"I...will show you every terrible thing in my heart, Sasuke. Every disgusting emotion. I will drown you in them...I will make you understand."
He smiles and activates his Sharingan, charging me to throw a punch. I block it and jump before kicking him in the face, sending him flying down from the top of Madara's statue. He sails through the air and recovers, dropping downward into the valley. I watch as he bounces from space to space along the sheer wall of rock, then lands on top of the body of water below. I follow him down, landing with a wide space between us as the waterfall churns in the background.
"To sever my bond with the Leaf...and to put you in your place. This is the perfect way to do it," he says. "Everything...will begin here."
The heat keeps building up inside of me. I don't want to hear anything. I don't want to think about anything. But...I know which path I want to take. I know what I want to give into for this final battle. I'm shaking, like all of the other times. Scared...not that he would hurt me, but that I would lose control. That I would turn into him, that I would surrender to the voice in my head saying to choke his life away, just like he did mine. Retribution for the scars he gave me.
I want to be better than that. Because I am better than that.
I keep thinking of Hina...seeing her in that state. The rage that threatens to consume me. This mission, this fight...I wanted to believe for a moment that I could just put everything aside and fight for others. I tried...but that could never be all of it. It never could be.
This selfishness is a part of me. It's what makes me human.
I want to embrace something. I will...embrace the warmth that's inside of me, one more time. The dream that Naruto entrusted to me through his tears. I'm going to hold onto it with all that I have. I close my eyes and meditate, taking in deep, heavy breaths as I stand on the water. I want to find myself. Reclaim what was fading away in the midst of this fighting and anger.
The world slows, and a field of white light appears beneath my feet. I kneel down to the ground on instinct.
"Lili...!"
"I'm here," I say with a warm voice. The little child with blonde hair runs to me, and I take him gently into my arms. "Don't worry...everything will be okay. I will protect your dream."
"Doesn't it hurt?"
"Yes. It does. It hurts a lot. It's...a heavy burden. The weight feels like it might be too much sometimes."
"I...I don't want you to get hurt. Even if I...want my friend back. I don't want to lose you, Lili."
"It's alright. I can endure. Oh, but you really are a sweet child..." I let him go, looking into his bright blue eyes with a smile. "Let's work together. I need just one thing from you, my love."
"One...thing?"
I nod and rise to my feet. The small child becomes the boy that I fell in love with. He is brave and strong. But he loves me all the same.
"What is it?" he asks.
I take his hand. "Come with me. Let's bring him back together. I will become your instrument as I promised you, your sword of justice. But it can't be just me, moving on my own. My will, joined with yours...that is what will bring Sasuke back home."
"Together..."
"Yes...together. Both of us."
"I'll give you everything I have, then. I'm sorry, Lili."
"For what?"
"Using you...like this. Sasuke...the things he's done, and the pain he's caused you..."
"You have nothing to apologize for, my love. I chose this. I wanted to help you, because you have a heroic spirit. And I said it before...I am a weapon, beautiful and strong. To be used in battle is my joy. You are not taking advantage of me, nor are you degrading me. I can love you, and I can want this life for myself. You don't need to feel guilt...this is what I was made for."
"Yeah. Then...we can do this. I know we can." He smiles for me. "You're the girl I gave my dream to. I've always believed in you, Lili."
"I only needed that reminder. I do this because I love you. More than I could ever hate him."
The pain has disappeared completely. I am at peace.
As I open my eyes, the world resumes its flow. Sasuke stares at me with his Sharingan, the curse mark receding. I can sense his power, and he's about the same strength overall as I am. We have our specialties and differences to consider. It will come down to those things...how well we can execute and take advantage of the flow of battle.
My mind is finally clear. I know what I must do.
"For today, I put away my title as Scarlet Viper," I say to Sasuke.
"..."
"My name is Lili Kobayashi. I stand here on behalf of Naruto Uzumaki, as the weapon that will protect his dream. I am his sword of justice."
"What? Are you two fooling around, then?" he asks.
"A weapon is at home on the battlefield, where she can perform her duties without hesitation," I continue. "Today, I am proudly guided by his heroic hand. My leader, my master, my king. Whatever you might call him...I am at his command. Sakura is the one he loves...the one he yearns for even now. Even if she is unworthy of his love, I will return her to her rightful place as well. But even if he didn't ask for her to safely come home, another has."
"Ino."
"Yes. Ino loves Sakura, even after her betrayal. Even after she caused that tragedy..."
"Tragedy?"
"We put an end to the Sound Five...and they tried to take Ino's life before leaving the village."
"!"
"You didn't know...but I doubt that even if you knew, you would care. You've delivered nothing but pain and hurt to those who called you comrade. Those who called you friend. Those who called you family."
"So what...I didn't ask anyone to get in my way. I never asked you to risk your lives coming after me. You've done enough...all you have to do is walk away, Kobayashi."
"I promised. And I keep my promises to those I love. It's time to put an end to this madness. Make your move, Sasuke Uchiha...give me everything you have."
He growls. "Fine! You'll get your death wish!" He weaves seals and breathes in. "Fire Release: Fire Ball Jutsu!"
He breathes out a large fireball towards me, at least twice my height. For the chakra cost, it's a very good opening move. But I'm not some loser contemporary. I'll make sure he learns who I am.
I make my own seals and push one hand forward. This is my world.
"Water Release: Water Shark Bullet."
Five sharks rise from the water around me, two slamming into the fireball and erasing it in a veil of steam. The other three race towards Sasuke and send up a cascade of water as they collide. Sasuke has already evaded and closes in on me. It's going to be close with a fully matured Sharingan.
He starts with a punch combination; I duck and weave through each blow easily. He draws a kunai and I keep weaving past his strikes, trying to give him as little chance to counter as possible. His face is calm as he keeps trying to connect with an attack, analyzing my movements with his eyes. I keep myself steady, remaining on the defensive and waiting for my own opening. He shifts and holsters his kunai, driving forward with strikes that are heavier than I remember. He's clean and technical, placing each punch and kick in places that will shatter my guard if I'm not careful. Methodical movement, similar to Kimimaro. My movements borrow from him, memories of the last fight flowing through my head. I remain fluid, moving with grace and dancing across the water lightly. Not as strong as him, but faster, enough that I can stay a step ahead of the Sharingan.
It's a tense, dangerous game, even if neither of us are showing it on our faces.
Sasuke shifts again, drawing his kunai and reversing his grip. Our hands quickly start to slap at each other, sounding out loudly as we jockey for position.
"Ah..."
I feel it coming. Sasuke forces me into a parry with my right hand and takes advantage. He reads my movement and I make a desperation move, quickly tilting my head left as he changes grip on his kunai, and getting a slash across my right cheek for my troubles. He quickly chains the miss into an elbow strike to the chest, and it stings a bit more than I assumed it would...taking those sorts of blows will feel different as I keep growing, I suppose...
I slide backwards across the water and then accelerate quickly before he can properly react, kneeing him in the stomach before following with a spinning kick that he just barely blocks. I spin back in the opposite direction and throw a kunai that he dodges, then hit the water before jumping backwards and going into a roll while making the snake seal.
"False Darkness."
I break out of my tumble and open my mouth, the spear of lightning shooting from it towards him. He quickly strings together four seals, and activates the technique I thought he would...Chidori. Raising his hand, he absorbs the impact of the jutsu I fired, the lightning around his hand growing in intensity.
"Thanks for the boost, idiot! Now...you can just die!"
He puts his full speed into a shunshin, rocketing towards me with his left hand skimming the water below and throwing up waves in his wake. A full speed charge already? What could he be...
"Do it!" he suddenly yells.
"Yes!"
Is that...Sakura? What is she...oh, hell. They're boxing me in! I turn my head to see what she's going to do...
...and what greets me is the most magnificent sight.
"Not in your fucking life!"
"!"
Sakura turns her head, and her face is immediately pushed in by Hina's solid right hand straight as she flies in from the heavens above. They crash together into the water with a violent splash, Shino right behind them and Shikamaru hopping as fast as he can to catch up.
"We've got her taken care of, Chief! Go full throttle on that asshole!" Shikamaru yells.
"Underestimating me...underestimating us...you'll always be trash for that reason, Sasuke," I say as I return my attention to him. I narrow my eyes and focus.
My turn.
"Accelerate."
"!"
I push myself into the second stage of the chakra mode and burst ahead in a spray of water, grabbing Sasuke's left hand and sealing away his Chidori. I follow by kneeing him in the chest, sending him flying backwards. He recovers quickly from the shock and barely dodges my next punch, but he's still slow. I pull my fist back and forward in one fluid motion, hitting him with the second attack and sending blood and spit flying from his mouth. I'm in the game now.
"Shit...!"
I cut under his block and hit his stomach, then chain it to successive hooks to the head. My foot sweeps him off of his before I kick him into the air, then follow up with something I know he'll hate. I shift back and kick him high into the air, then land a drop kick that sends him flying away from me.
All of our hearts as one...I'll show him our strength.
"From me to you, Sasuke. Let's begin." I prepare a kunai and wrap it in a tag, then throw it at him. He dodges, only to see that the explosive note has done nothing; using the time I have, I flare up the chakra mode a bit and body flicker to meet him.
"First move is a feint, you know!" Shikamaru!
"What-!" He moves to start up Chidori, but I'm faster. I weave seals and spew out a torrent of water that washes him back towards the waterfall, then speed behind him to drive an elbow into his back.
"Give your best...never underestimate even the smallest opponent!" Shino!
"Guh...!"
Faster...! "Always keep advancing...never turn back!" Hina! I rock forward with a fast first step as he turns, and start my attack. "And when you hit a stubborn wall, knock it down with a big combo!" Ino! I drive my fists into him with the Hyuuga rhythm. Two hits! Four hits! Eight hits! Sixteen hits!
"That's Hyuuga's...! Gah!" Sasuke stumbles back on the water, and I'm still in control. Next move...I surge forward and kick him into the air, then follow at his back like a shadow.
"When you give chase, you have to do it with energy! That's what it means to be youthful!" Lee!
"There's no way...the Lotus?"
"Sorry...but it's still all original from here. I'll move...!"
"No!" He turns in the air and swings at me, only to miss. I flip in the air above his head and then come down with an axe kick to his back, sending him flying downwards.
"It doesn't matter how we feel...it never did. When he asked me to bring you home, when he made that wish...I've devoted myself to making it come true! Because I don't go back on my word!" Naruto! "Move and stretch! Chaotic Movement!"
"Flow!"
Crim appears around my arm, stretching forward and pulling me towards Sasuke before disappearing. I pull chakra into my right hand, clenching it into a tight fist.
"This is a determination like no other! Sasuke! Grit those fucking teeth!"
"...!"
"Hidden Leaf Secret Taijutsu...!"
And like a wave...I crash down on him. His eyes widen, and he has nowhere to go.
"Final...Justice!"
I wind up and slam my fist into his face, blowing the water around us away with the impact. A fierce wave of chakra throws me backwards, and I recover fast enough to slide across the water, just barely on my feet.
"Dammit...you..."
He rises from the water, coughing up blood and staring ruefully into me.
"Almost...it's almost..."
I don't know what he's talking about, but I'm almost there. I'll end it, right here. That jutsu charges in my right hand, and I quickly raise it to fire.
"Mobius."
He scrambles and barely dodges the attack; it shoots forward and blasts away the stone behind the waterfall ahead of me. I weave more seals.
"Water Shark Bullet." I fire two sharks at his position and he body flickers before jumping over them, making seals as he comes down. My body tenses.
"Fire Ball Jutsu!" He changes the shape and forms it into a stream of flame this time, but I quickly dodge underneath it and make the snake seal once more as I line him up. This time...I have him. I can see it in his eyes.
"False Darkness."
"Damn...!" The lightning bursts from my mouth in a straight line. The attack explodes against him in a flash of light.
But...his chakra is shifting.
"..."
"I wanted to wait just a bit longer...but you've forced my hand. I'll end this before you become too much of a bother."
He...really did do it, then. This is just like the others I fought...the second stage of the cursed seal. A monstrous transformation, done solely to gain power.
Sasuke floats in the air a moment before coming back down to the water's surface. His skin has darkened, turning grey. He has wings on his back that look far more like grotesque webbed hands. His hair is much longer than before, and has taken on a grey-blue colour. On the bridge of his nose is something like a black pointed star, and his eyes are pools of darkness with Sharingan floating in them.
"Now...this is where our real battle begins, Kobayashi."
"You...you look absolutely disgusting. Like a fucking corpse," I say, feeling sick to my stomach. "You're...okay with this? Becoming a monster for the sake of power?"
"..."
"You would cast off your humanity so easily?" I ask. "Just like that trash Kimimaro..."
"I must admit, I'm impressed that you managed to kill him..."
"Yes. It wasn't much fun at all. Destroying garbage like that...waste of my time. If I had been here sooner, without him in my way, my teammates wouldn't be hurt right now."
"Hahaha...depressed, are you? Or are you angry with me for causing them pain?"
"I'm not sad. They followed my orders to the letter. They trusted me as their leader, and came through when I needed them."
"Leader? You?"
"Yes, that's right. I led them all the way here to chase you, Sasuke."
"Hmph. And what? Do you expect me to shed tears for you? Feel some sort of sympathy?"
"No. We didn't expect anything of the sort. We still don't. We're not looking to be hailed as heroes. Do you understand by now, Sasuke? My will is not just my own today. All of us here...we do this for a friend. Our friend."
"..."
"His name is Naruto Uzumaki...someone who calls you a brother."
"I will sever that bond and all others. It's the only way that my power will grow. It's the only way that I'll get strong enough to do what I have to do."
"That's nonsense. That's not how you grow stronger, and you know it..."
"Bonds only cause suffering...they only cause pain in the end."
"That's a lie."
"Again...again and again and again! Over and over! You arrogant bitch!" he roars. "What do you know? What do you know about anything, with your fancy life, with your mansion and being waited on hand and foot every day of your life? What do you know about pain, about losing people? What do you know outside of this world?!"
"..."
"What would you know...about suffering? You who lived with a barrier between the darkness of the world and comforts that many of us will never know...you could never-"
"You think you know everything about me," I reply. "But you're the one who knows nothing."
Lili...I'm...
"I understand what bonds are. To have them severed violently. To feel so weak that you can't do anything but watch everything fall apart around you..."
I'm sorry...I was too weak, as your mother...sorry...
I remember when she could no longer speak. I remember her tears as she took her last breaths. I remember clinging to her. Feeling her life bleed away.
I hated myself...for so long.
"I'm going to sever that bond with Naruto...and every bond that I have with the Hidden Leaf," Sasuke says.
"Then I'll destroy the blade you intend to use, Sasuke."
"You're looking at it!" he says as he pounds his chest. "Go ahead! Kill me, then!"
"Don't say things you don't mean." I keep my chakra mode at Stage 2 and watch his movement as he charges me. He's faster than before. I block the first set of blows he throws at me, and they're heavy, sending me flying backwards briefly. Close range is a bad idea, then. His speed...in a straight line, he might be able to catch me off guard. He glides above the water quickly and swipes across my cheek, cutting into it lightly with a near miss. The skin that's been burned away by my chakra mode regenerates quickly on his hand.
Faster...but I still have the advantage when it comes to overall movement. He charges again, and I use a lateral step to dodge, then get behind him to kick him in the back before he can react. He slides across the water before recovering and turning, jumping into the air and going into a low glide with his wings to rush me. The water parts beneath him and his Sharingan are glowing. I watch him carefully, dodging another high strike and hitting him in the face with a fast punch. His head snaps back; I jump and throw a drop kick into his chest, twirling in the air and landing on my feet. He tumbles along the water, recovering and flapping his wings once to settle down.
"Heh...I wasn't expecting a tickle fight," he taunts. "You're as weak and useless as ever, you pathetic bitch."
I take a moment to figure out where I stand. Taijutsu and strength were his advantages in our normal forms, and that has only carried over here. With the major boosts of the curse mark, I understand that my physical attacks aren't going to do much as they are. I'll lose almost every trade. Water will be decent if it lands, but it's blunt force, something his body is better against in that form. I can use it to stop his Fire Release, and I'm standing on a river right now...it would be too easy to snuff out all of his attacks. Lightning Release is what he should be wary of, but he can negate it with Chidori. And it's probably a lot stronger in this new form of his.
Physically, he's significantly stronger than me...but I was already dealing with that much when fighting Kimimaro. His speed has increased in Level 2, unlike that zealot...and because of that, along with everything else, he has no reason to change back and forth. In fact, he's conserving his movements, trying to get comfortable with his new transformation. I can feel his chakra pulsing...it's a drain on him.
He will want to end this fight soon.
"..."
He's staring at my hands. Waiting for...Mobius. Has to be. He knows it's a long range, high speed attack. I've used Type 1 on him already, and the Sharingan hasn't given openings for Type 3. Type 2 is powerful, but I can't waste chakra so freely, especially if I want to keep this chakra mode on for the rest of the fight. Stage 2 can be held for longer because of my training, but I can't push it too far.
Sasuke's chakra is moving.
"I guess I have no choice. I said that I would sever my bonds with the Leaf..."
"..." What is he up to...?
He bursts forward before flickering from my sight. But I can feel his movement...I can see where he's going.
It's really come to this.
Sasuke hovers high in the sky above my comrades, just up the river from us and at the base of Hashirama's statue. Chakra bursts forth from his left hand, as a mass of black lightning. The sound is like that of birds flapping their wings, taking flight.
And the woman I call my sister stands defiantly in front of her teammates, right arm hanging limply at her side. She stares up at Sasuke, eyes bright with the strength of her inheritance.
"I can start with you lot..."
"Go ahead...fucking try it!" Hina screams back at him.
"I'll oblige you. Time to disappear," Sasuke says with a cruel smile. He flaps his wings and starts to dive, the technique blaring in his hand.
I only have...three seconds. That's all I have to save the people I love.
All the time I have to change the future in front of me.
And I know that I will do it. My hand goes to my heart, in that same position as before. I silently pray. I flow the chakra in...I twist it...and it bursts out.
The world freezes.
Everything at this moment started from a strange idea. How to take the chakra mode further? Stimulating my body the normal way wasn't enough. I read the material at the hospital, asked questions of myself and others. Trained to the point of exhaustion.
Something further. Not just more power, but precise power. The simple solution...push the chakra through my heart's meridians, amplify the power, and have it rush through my body again. The creation of a shell around the heart, made of lightning chakra to regulate output properly and protect it from harm. This is the level beyond Stage 2...it colours my chakra red. Stage 3, code-named "Full Boost".
Beyond that...something else. The hypothetical power created by two strong, opposing forces. Alternating currents, perhaps? Two types of chakra flowing through your body in different directions and clashing violently, throwing power up and outwards. That resulting energy would push Stage 3 to a new and fleeting level, something that would have potential as a desperation burst for the briefest of moments. But pushing myself towards that wall bore no fruit.
Today is different.
That power called Full Boost, the third stage...it too was incomplete, and it took this moment for me to realize it.
I flow and twist again. I create a second shell of chakra, making two of them rotating at different, mutually beneficial speeds, chaining energy efficiently and moving my chakra at unthinkable velocities, bringing me to an impossible height of power. Bringing me to something that went beyond what I knew, and beyond what humans were meant to know. The chakra flowing through my body in its finite, mortal flow has been pushed to an unspeakable level.
And so...the flow of time is nothing to me right now.
I can read everything around me. The flow of my comrades. Of Sasuke and Sakura. Of the trees, the falling leaves. The water cascading downwards in the distance. The traces of chakra in the rocks, the fish, the birds flying in the sky. I can see and feel the flow of the present, and the future yet to come. My mind is flying free. My eyes are marvellously clear.
This sight...this is what she sees when she eclipses the limits of mortals. This is her domain.
"Ane-ue..."
I whisper her name with supreme reverence.
"I see it now. I can see why your eyes are so distant when you look at humans. I can understand why you will become a great empress, the greatest ruler this and any world has ever known. Your place...I've reached your place at last, Midori-onee-sama. Yes...Empress. My Empress. My one and only."
I know what this is. This is the truth of the world. The field of heaven, filtering through my unworthy eyes.
A gift for my courage and recklessness.
My soul has truly changed.
In this moment...I have been given the sight of God.
"Lightning Release Chakra Mode, Stage Four. 'Twin Drive System'...activate."
The field of heaven.
I am running through the sky as Sasuke fails to move, suspended in space with his arm driving downward. I pull back my right arm, clenching my fist, and hit him in the side. I drive forward, but hold back at the same time...and I feel my arm shatter into pieces as I finally follow through.
It doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would.
Time resumes its flow as Sasuke slowly leaves my shattered fist. He shoots forward like a rocket and disappears, the air splitting apart and bursting in a series of sonic booms as he slams into the middle of the waterfall. The rock is hollowed out and blown away as he tunnels through it, shooting diagonally upwards and causing an explosion a long distance away, water sent up in a shower.
I land softly on the water. I can't feel my right arm at all.
I tilt my head downwards, and a slow stream of blood pours from my mouth, staining the water red. My chest hurts. My mind is fuzzy, like static rumbling through it. And then noise stops existing.
But...there's one thing in my head.
I can't get rid of it, that thought, even as I feel my body collapsing, even as I feel myself hitting the water face first and sinking beneath the surface. The darkness...no longer bothers me. I can't bring myself to care.
All I can think of...
...
More than anything, I want to see that place again.
God's well kept field.