The Darkest Hour Rin and Kailin could recognize that presence from anywhere: it was Kissa, and that meant that she had conceived a good bargain. The spirits would've rather dealt with Joanna White, whom they both liked, but if they ever wanted to return to the world of the living, they would have to heed this shady character's wishes. The shade of Kissa came to them, and they braced themselves for what they believed would be a bad encounter. Hello again, my two pretty souls, she said. It's been some time—but of course, for you, a mere instant must've passed. I finally came to an arrangement that would benefit all three of us, but remember, if you don't accept, neither will I. "What do you want?" asked Kailin. Even across the plane separating life and death, the two spirit-girls could see Kissa's lips curl wickedly. I've amassed quite a number of enemies in my line of work. Eight in particular are driving me crazy. I want the two of you to kill four each. That's my condition. "That's awful!" squealed Kailin. Now both she and Rin had ended lives before, but they were all in self-defense, and all had been employees of the dreaded laboratory that had taken Kailin as an experiment. Rin voiced her disgust as well, which of course made Kissa sigh craftily. Oh well. It's just a thing. Enjoy being dead, my beautiful souls... "Wait." Kissa's blur turned, her lips curling again, and waited. Kailin braced herself, feeling like she was signing away her own soul in blood. "We'll do it." You both agree? "I do," said Rin. "I still have many things I wish to ask Snowblood, and I'd like to avenge my death if possible. And there's also Kailin's pet to consider." "BaoBao would be lost without me," she added. Kissa laughed. Ho-ho, wonderful! I'm glad we all agree. Now the two of you just relax for awhile; I'm sending one of my agents to retrieve your bodies and see if I can't fix your heads on again. Won't take but a moment. Kissa then vanished, leaving the two spirits to embrace in what might've been fear. They hated agreeing to such a vile condition, but if they ever wanted to live again, this seemed to be the only way back. All they could hope for was that Kissa's enemies were true threats, not merely innocent bystanders. ......... Marissa woke to a different sunrise that morning, and would wake to different sunrises every day for the rest of her life—but one does not go through immense trauma without seeing their whole world in a new light. For her, she would see everything through the eyes of a monster, one not born but made by science and technology, literally bred for combat and aged rapidly. Everything was new to her, like she was truly seeing the world as it was. Even her hands seemed different, as she gazed upon them longingly. "Marissa!" Even Sanaa seemed different, and her inconsistency was what made her who she was. But even this changed sharply: it was like looking at Sanaa from another world, a whole new personality split apart from the original, here in her life. Marissa, ragged through and through, turned in the general direction of her companion, and raised a frail hand. "Here," she croaked. Sanaa ran up to her quickly. "Oh. Are you still not any better?" "No. I'm the same, and yet I'm different. It's like the world: same, and different. Everything is like this, even the sun and the sky and you. I feel...like I've shed a wonderful skin in exchange for a terrible one." Sanaa knew exactly what Marissa was going through, and knew she needed solitude and time to think more than anything else. She touched her shoulder briefly, wanting to make minimal contact. "Don't think about it too long, all right? I'm going to go shopping for some things. Feel free to look around. And Marissa? For what it's worth, you seem exactly the same as before." She smiled faintly and walked off, not knowing whether the younger woman felt better or not. Wainright took a great sigh, and wandered further away from the small town, wanting to meditate in privacy. The world, in truth, really was no different than before; it was just the same, and would continue to be that way in the future. The wind was still the wind, and the sun was still the sun, regardless of how one lone woman felt. Her realization had just been radical enough to see everything as new, like a chick just come from its egg, or a baby its mother's womb. Everything jumped and lashed; the cliffs beyond laughed, and the forest bounced. The ground beneath her rose and sank, the air stopped, the town turned colors, and her pulse went pit-pat, pit-pat-boom, pit-boom, in irregular beats. Again she stared at her hands. Who am I, really? Who was Marissa Wainright? Did I ever exist, did I ever live, did I ever walk? Do I have a soul? What will happen when I die? Who were my real parents? What happened to the people who made me? Who was it that called herself my mother? How did I end up in that lab? Why? Why? Why... She squeezed eyes and fists shut, forcing tears to come, and wiped them away. She breathed. She sighed. Sanaa was right. There was just no point lamenting about it. Everything had already been done—she had been created and tortured, and now freed into the world. Crying wouldn't make the hurt go away, only acceptance. Marissa would not have been given life without purpose, and even though the original intent might've been vile, she was the one in control now. She would be given the chance to discover her own purpose, not have some villain tell her. She decided to go back to the town and find Sanaa. After that, the search for her friends would begin, and perhaps during that long journey, she would at last see what she was truly made to do. But fate, it seemed, had other things in store for Marissa Wainright—terrible things. Her senses started to go off, something that had never happened before, and she felt pain: horrible clapping pain, like thunderstorms, brewing and snapping in her mind. She knelt and gnashed her teeth from the agony; the fires grew hotter and warnings flared in her delicate psyche. She gasped and stood, eyes wide open, and noticed somebody coming her way. Were these warnings coming from them? The person drew close, noticed Marissa, and stopped. She—the person was a woman—was much taller and older than Marissa, and seemed at least twice as strong. She had a pair of worn-out black jeans, a parka, and a red shirt underneath, all of which looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks. Marissa couldn't help but stare at the woman: after all, unless there was a mistake, the warnings were coming from her. The woman, tired of being stared at, spoke bluntly. "What do you want?" But Marissa couldn't answer; her mind was a blur with foreign thoughts. This woman... Have a bad feeling about this, Rin. We should go. Yeah... SNAP!!! Marissa gasped in shock. This woman... "You killed her," she whispered eerily. The woman grimaced. "Whuh?" "You killed Hsu Kai Lin." "Maybe," she said, shrugging. "I've killed lots of people. Describe her." "She was a short, skinny girl," said Marissa, seething and weeping with rage. "She was young and had black hair in pigtails with pink ribbons. She wore a red ceremonial dress and had a pet panda." "Oh, her. Yes, I remember now; I killed her when I first came to this world. But why are you so upset?" "You murdered my friend!" roared Marissa, her kind face contorted in hatred. "You murdered one of the only people who loved me in this world! I cannot forgive that!" "I'm the goddess of death; it's what I do." "You damned devil...I will kill you even if it takes everything I've got!" The woman regarded the threat with indifference and shrugged—at least until Marissa exploded with power. She flashed so quickly that even Kali could not watch, and in an instant, the young girl had struck her with a powerful blow, breaking her jaw and sending her careening far, until she tumbled and fell into the dirt. Marissa was just getting started, though: with a ferocious yell, she followed Kali and dug her foot into the woman's gut, forcing spit and blood out her mouth, then she grabbed her head and flipped her, sending her crashing to the floor. Her hand shot out and a wave of psychic power buffeted Kali further back, ripping her body against the ground. Marissa chased after her and landed countless blows on the woman's tough body, sometimes punching so hard that her knuckles bled and turned white. She finished her animalistic attack with a terrifying kick to Kali's face, cracking the woman's nose and sending her flying into the air. She wheezed and breathed hard as Kali fell and struggled to stand. The goddess of death found her footing, spat, and wiped the trail of red gushing out of her mouth and forehead. "Damn!" she snarled. "Where did that come from?" "More...from it," managed Marissa. She had nearly spent everything with that attack, and felt destroyed for it: violence gave her new strength, however, even as her body wilted. Her knees knocked in weakness. Her lungs screamed, her heart jumped in her throat, and her head—oh, her head! She tilted around dizzily, not wanting to think about it. Kali ignited her energy weapon, turning it into a burning whip. "I will take great pleasure in this," she said. The weapon cracked, and Marissa closed her eyes and let her powers dictate her movements, just like Snowblood had done earlier. She too weaved and danced, but unlike Snowblood, Marissa's powers enabled her to do more than survive: she could suddenly close in and fight. She zipped around quickly and opened with a twirling kick; Kali slapped her away and cracked the sizzling energy whip. Marissa caught it with her bare hands, clenching her teeth hard as a force field erected itself around her entire body. Kali stared in amazement and slammed her weapon right into her foe, but every blow was worthless. Marissa weathered the storm, but the affects took their toll. Kali gave up just as Wainright fell to her knees. She was now exhausted, breathing so hard that the dust beneath her scattered, and her vision was blurry at best. She had never taxed herself so long or so hard, and the full consequences of such actions were beginning to show themselves. Marissa eventually found the strength to stand, thinking more about Kailin than herself, and prepared another assault. No, not only for Kailin, nor even Sanaa, but for herself. If her premonition was right, this creature before her had already killed hundreds, and more would follow if she wasn't stopped. Marissa Wainright had found her purpose: kill Kali, or die trying! "Let's see what else I can do," she murmured. In spite of her pain, Marissa took off and gathered the air beneath her, creating invisible platforms to step upon as she walked the sky (a layman would call it "flying"). She dove towards Kali and powered up for an energy wave, something she had never done and would probably never be able to do again. Kali swung her weapon—Marissa barreled to the left—she snapped her hand out and opened the floodgates, pouring out a burst of scathing white light. Kali was drowned and incinerated, but she dove away and survived, though her skin and clothes were scorched. Marissa touched down and wheeled after her, diving in for a slower melee assault. The two traded blows now, each of them landing deadly hits: one powered by bloodlust and evil strength, the other by sheer mental capacity and godless genetic engineering. Blood burst, flesh was torn, bodies were crushed and spirits were burned. Marissa slapped Kali so hard that her cheekbone crunched, and she fell on her back. Marissa herself tumbled onto her hands and knees, coughing and wheezing. Blood came oozing out of her throat and nose—and more frightening, her eyes and ears—and the world was almost black. It churned violently and hurled; her hands started to rot and wither; her hair began to fall out, first on her body, then her face, and finally her head. Marissa was bleeding and nearly bald when she stood again, preparing for yet another assault. Kali looked like she had been in a war, and saluted with a wave of her hand. "I would confuse you for my sister," she announced, "if you were but ten years older." "So there's...another one of you?" slurred Marissa. Kali nodded. "Yes, my equal. That says a lot about you, you know." "Hooray for me." Marissa spat (more blood than saliva this time), and noticed a few teeth had went with the wad. No matter. She was willing to spend her entire life avenging one of her few friends—and besides, what kind of life could she lead anyway? No longer fearing death, or the inevitable emptiness that would follow—for why should a homunculus like her possess a soul?—Marissa stood and concentrated her last drops of energy on a final, fatal attack. Everything that she was, everything that she soon would be, her entire self was put into the attack. A scream of pain and sorrow, like none the world had ever heard before, vibrated from her throat across every country and land as the great sphere of destruction spread out from her body. The ground was eaten alive, the grass and trees swallowed whole, and every living thing caught in the path of the destructive dome was obliterated down to their molecular structure. Kali screamed and commanded her energy weapon to form a shield around her, but even it strained under such might, and might've cracked and ended her life if Marissa hadn't suddenly ran out of power. The blast had taken everything in a broad forty-meter radius, and had nearly touched the distant town. There were only two "clean" spots remaining once the terror had stopped: the space occupied by Kali, whose clothes had been erased and with it, nearly all her hair and skin; and the space occupied by Marissa, if the being could even be called that. Completely spent, with no life left to give, every last facet of her Self gone at last in that final attack, the body of the girl fell to the ground at last, scorched beyond recognition...or redemption. As Kali stared, the body turned to ash, skin and clothes alike, until there was nothing left but dust. Even a goddess of death, as she was, could be stricken by such a display, and backed away from the stink. She was unfortunately joined, and by one who would grieve over the loss. Sanaa had heard the scream and saw the blast, and came running as soon as the storm quieted. She found Kali, shocked beyond her capabilities, and a pile of ashes, slowly being blown away. Her mouth hung open. "What is this?" Kali didn't have the heart to say. Sanaa knelt down and scooped the ashes into her hands—and suddenly, as brief flashes of familiar shreds of clothing emerged from the ruins, the realization hit her. Marissa Wainright was no more. And Sanaa, one who had vowed to follow her to every end, wailed miserably to the cruel sky. Blindly she unsheathed a knife and came after Kali, but the goddess of death denied her the pleasure of vengeance. She struck Sanaa and leaped away, using her weakened energy weapon as a pole vault to escape. Sanaa was grounded, unable to catch up or even move out of sorrow, and screamed unholy noises as she crawled to the pile of ashes, her lost love Marissa, and wept uncontrollably. She wept because Marissa was gone, gone forever, lost to the emptiness as all soulless beings were, and she wept because she had dared to test Love again, and had lost, and was now alone again. Feeling too miserable to even live, Sanaa stood and quickly jammed the knife into her heart, wanting rather to die and end her suffering—even if it meant her own soulless emptiness—rather than live on without Marissa. She collapsed, and fell near the ashes, bleeding and soon gone. ...... If death felt empty and lonely, so be it. If death offered nothing for her, so be it. If her lack of a soul gave her nothing, so be it. There would be no pain or sorrow, no loss, nothing of anything except a long, long sleep, into the black hole, where she would stay evermore. So what if she didn't have a soul? Even if she did, she could never enjoy the afterlife. Not without Marissa. If this was death, then she let it be, and remained silent and motionless in the void, content to drift forever in the eternal darkness. However, something glowed up ahead of her. She lifted her eyes to see, and for a moment, terrible hope sprang up. There before her was the most beautiful creature, shining so bright that mortal eyes would instantly be blinded, yet so perfect and wonderful that Sanaa couldn't help but chase after it. Coming closer, and closer still, she could see the creature's downcast face, and yearned for their eyes to meet in this ethereal void, even if only for company. The beauty looked up, sensing another presence, and the two shared an indescribable, beatific smile as they recognized each other and embraced fiercely. "Marissa!" "Sanaa!" And a thousand eternities passed as they kept their embrace, happy beyond comprehension, too pure and wonderful for words or even further movement. When at last their grasp concluded, they gazed at each other, seeing the truth they both had been concealing back in the living world, and felt undying, unquenchable love, such that no experience could ever meet. They embraced again and became as One, realizing so much yet only needing each other—for although they were both truly dead, their fears had been proven wrong, and they were both given everlasting souls for all their toil as mortals. They could not want anything else, save each other, forevermore. ............ Kailin knew she was alive because she felt pain again: immense, unbearable pain, all around her, as if she were swimming in needles. She felt sick and diseased, mortally cold and afraid, and every bodily function and disaster seemed to activate at once, nearly overwhelming her. She instantly regretted agreeing with the damned Kissa, and wanted to die again, just to get rid of the pain, to get rid of the responsibility. But no, she could barely move—could barely even squeal—and spent her energy opening her eyes to the searing light, where the imminent dryness and cruelty of Life attacked her viciously. She whined and wept real tears. Eventually she found the strength to sit up and touch her neck. By some mystery, the fatal cut that had pushed her off the mortal coil was now gone, and there was not even a telltale scar. She opened her eyes and blinked, trying to remember how to live again, as only the living knew how. Her body felt weak and heavy; moving herself came as natural as thinking when she was dead, but now... Still, she moved, and after spitting up plenty of gunk that had somehow accumulated in her mouth, she groaned. Rin! Where was Rin? "R...in..." she croaked, surprised at how hoarse and crude her voice sounded. Not like the melodious song of the dead! She turned, and gave a start as she saw Rin lying next to her, flat on some kind of bed, her eyes closed and her body thankfully whole. In spite of the waning pain, Kailin touched her friend—how prickly her skin felt!—and shook her, a feeble attempt at revival. "Rin," she whispered, "Rin! Wake up, Rin. Rin, please. ...Rin, are you there?" She stared desperately, not knowing whether to hope Rin was alive or dead. How could she force such a good friend back through the gauntlet of life? But how was she expected to carry out her "duty" alone? Kailin shook her friend again, frightened and panicked, and held her breath sharply as Rin finally groaned. "R...Rin?" "Dad..." murmured the older girl. Kailin formed a smile. "Rin?" "Dad," she whispered, "ughnn... Don't wanna go to school... Just five more minutes, ugh..." Kailin beamed, wept for joy, and laughed. Rin slowly turned around, opened one eye, and returned the smile. "Hey," she whispered, "we meet again, Hsu." "Yeah...we're alive." And in spite of the horrible price they would soon have to pay, the two Ronin embraced each other, back among the living again. Their lives would take unusual turns in the following days, and enemies and allies alike would crowd them and suffocate their air away, but for that one brief moment, they had each other and their bond—and yes, they had their lives back. The future would just have to handle itself, one day at a time. ---------- Epilogue The full might of the Crimson Blades, minus Lady Snowblood, was saddled and loaded for bear, every last one. It was a spectacle to see the small ocean of warriors on horseback, their armor boiling like lava—and their leader, in the very front, glowing with a strong green hue, was worth twice their number. Upon his command, the army drew their swords and steeled themselves for a war. "At last we have location of the Takamatsu girl!" shouted Sashuo. "You, my Crimson Blades, shall never cease to flow until her blood is spread across every ocean and river! To me, you loyal ones, and we shall teach the world every reason to fear our wrath!" The crowd cheered, and with a final "Forward, ho!!", Sashuo led the Crimson Blades out of their camp and into the horizon, a red sphere of a sun hanging dead in the sky. The end of Part Four
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