|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 12:38 am
Okay, I've mentioned that Kara/Kiru dies several times in my posts, but not once have I mentioned how or gave the events that led up to it. I won't be adding pictures to this because I lost all the files and they're way too far into my photobucket album for me to want to search through, and I won't add color for the text until later.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 1:17 am
Rathe stood at the entrance to the tavern where he first met Kiru. The town was empty, abandoned decades ago, and the tavern was run down. "Rathe Syn, human, usually accompanied by the Dhampir 'D,' an ss-class Hunter. Not what I had been expecting from someone who’s going to be an s-class bounty hunter soon with a few more captures, or a soon-to-be s-class bounty if he continues being a mercenary."
He felt a hand touch his shoulder lightly and turned, snapping out of the past for the moment.
"This is the place isn't it?" Kara asked. "This is were you met Kiru. We've been going to all the places you were with her, but this is where it began, right?"
"Yeah..." Rathe turned away from her and stepped inside. His eyes instantly fell on the table he first laid eyes on her at. Kiru... How I miss you... He clutched the front of his shirt just over his heart for a moment then let his hand drop and sat at the table.
Kara came in and sat next to him. "Tell me about her."
Rathe looked at her. Her expression was the same as Kiru's when she asked for information on his past. "Better settle in.. This is a long, long story."
Two hours later he finished recounting the events of the past. "I couldn't save her... If I had only gotten there sooner, if I hadn't gotten D killed-."
"You did everything you could." Kara reached over and placed her hand on his. For once, Rathe didn't move it away. She squeezed his hand softly. "Don't punish yourself for what happened. Pryde was always going to do that, it wouldn't have mattered how soon you got there or who was with you. He would always propose a deal, and you would always reject it for her. That's who you are."
Rathe said nothing.
"Come on," Kara said, standing up and pulling him with her. "I saw some stairs outside, and they should be coming out now."
"What should?"
"Come on! You'll find out."
Rathe sighed and let her lead him outside and up the stairs to the roof of the building. Kara lay down at the center of the roof, tugging him down with her and pointed at the sky.
"Look."
Rathe looked up. The stars had just come into existance in the night sky. He recognized the constellations in the sky.
"That's Ouros-"
"The wolf constellation, named after one of the bravest warriors in the old stories," he interrupted. "There's Ouroboros, the world eating snake. And over there's-"
"Reko, the greatest hero ever known. He was aptly named, 'Reko' means 'Brave' in the old language, did you kn-." Kara stopped as she looked over at Rathe.
Rathe was sitting up, staring at the stars, tears falling down his cheeks. Kara had never seen him cry once, or thought him capable of such an act. He always seemed to strong and stubborn, acting angry at the world to keep others from getting close to him. But now, he was so vulnerable, so lost. She knew Kiru meant the world to him, and that without her Rathe would always be someone he wasn't meant to. He was obsessed with getting stronger, with beating Pryde, with revenge for his lover's death. He'd lived so long with that pain that it became the very thing that pushed him forward. But what would happen if he kept down the path he was on? She didn't want to think about it. Kara sat up and wrapped her arms around him, holding tight when he didn't push her back. She had seen a lot of sides of him since they met, but this was one she'd never known. Rathe was like a child now as he continued to cry silently. He loved her more than anything. She was what made him whole.
"Oh Rathe..." she said quietly.
For the first time since going into the tavern he looked back at her. "I miss her everyday."
Kara looked up at him. She never knew if it was because of how vulnerable he was, how broken he seemed; if it had anything to do with the months spent in his company; if it was just the moment; or if it was how the moon and starlight hit him just right, but at that moment her body just seemed to move on its own. One second she was looking in his eyes, the next she was leaning up, her lips pressed to his as she slowly kissed him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 1:32 am
Rathe would never know what made him do it, but instead of pulling away, he turned and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her back.
They stayed there on the roof for several long minutes, never pulling back, never pushing forward, just holding each other and letting the kiss last as long as it could.
It was Kara who pulled back first. She buried her head in Rathe's chest, unable to look at him as she felt her cheeks burn. She couldn't help it, it was like something just took over at that moment. She hadn't meant to kiss him, not that she hadn't thought about it from time to time. But she didn't mean to do it!
"I'm sorry," she managed to say, her voice coming out in an embaressed squeak.
Rathe's own face burned. He didn't know why he did that. Just because she looked and acted like Kiru. He felt like he had betrayed her, and that felt even worse when he realized Kara was so much like his Kiru that he looked at her and began to have the same feelings, and that realization only made the supposed betrayal worse. He started to say something when he noticed the rosario around her neck, the rosario he gave Kiru, emitting a soft glow from the stone in it.
"The necklace.." he managed to say.
Kara sat up and looked at it. "What's..."
The stone grew brighter and brighter, and she began to feel a slight pain, like a headache or the beginnings of a migrain, in her head. Suddenly, the stone flashed so bright it became blinding. She thought she head Rathe say something, but everything suddenly seemed muffled. All she could focus on was the light.
The time has come to restore your former self. Rathe will need you in order to get stronger, and he will need you to keep him grounded when he seeks a higher power.
The words came into her head as if they were her own thoughts, but the voice behind them was that of a man.
W-who-?
You will know soon enough. For now, you must remember.
Before she could even wonder what that meant a stream of memories came into her head that weren't her own, or.. were they?
She was sitting at a table going through her information book. As she thumbed past one of the pages she saw the boy, who's picture was on the page she now had open, move towards the door of the tavern.
She was dragging a tied up bounty to the claim when she saw the boy again.
She ran into him again on another job.
She was in a dark city's walls. A man grew out of the shadows, his arm turned into a scythe.
She saw the boy up close, but everything was blurry.
She woke up in a hospital. The boy had stayed with her and was using her lap as a pillow. She dumped the glass of water on the counter next to her on his head.
She and the boy travelled the country working jobs together.
She and the boy shared a room at an inn.
She and the boy were watching stars.
She and the boy were kissing.
She stared as the boy held out a pendant to her. It was the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen.
She was bound to a tree as another boy talked about the first.
She saw the first boy, her lover, appear. She felt pain and then nothing.
She felt rain on her head, there was a man standing in front of her, he looked like the boy she loved, but it was not him. He was saying something to her.
"I regret that I cannot allow you to have a peaceful rest yet. This world does not yet know it, but events are beginning that will echo for centuries to come. Rathe will need to be stronger, and for that he must believe you dead, for nothing spurs a boy like him further than for a love lost. But the path he will walk down will be a dark one and he must not lose himself. For that, I need you to help be his light once more. However to make sure he does not abandon that path with you, I must give you new life. Keep your necklace with you at all times in this new life, for it will be the key to your return for him. There is not much time before he wakes, so we must work fast."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 6:23 pm
The man took off her binds and quickly carried her to the house nearby. He laid her on a bed in one of the rooms and she heard him begin to chant, yet his lips never moved. The chanting continued even when his lips finally opened and he spoke, always remaining in the background.
"Rathe will not stay here, so this is the perfect place to leave you until the time comes for you and he to meet in your new life. I don't have the strength to keep you frozen until the time is needed, but i have enough to make it close. Remember, Riku, when you awake, head to the north into the village hidden in the mountains. It is there that you and Rathe will meet, though how long it is after you wake I cannot say. Now, close your eyes child. When you next wake, you will have no memories. If there is any chance I have to throw a wrench in the frozen demon's plans, it lies with you, Rathe, and one other you will meet.
The last thing she saw was the man wave his left hand over her eyes. The next thing she remembered, she was lying in a bed, a large sack on the counter next to her, and a necklace clasped tightly in her hands. For some reason the sight of it made her heart skip. The sack contained a large amount of gold, silver, and bronze coins. She couldn't remember anything from before she woke up, but for some reason this didn't scare her. She knew that she couldn't stay where she was, and needed to head north, perhaps that was even where her memories lay. Next to the sack were some clothes that, to her relief, managed to fit her perfectly. When she dressed she set out for the only destination in her head. North.
She didn't need to remember any more than that, for she knew what happened from there. The light from her necklace faded.
"K-Kara, what-? Kiru's necklace-. Your hair-."
She turned her eyes to the boy who had spoken to her. "Rathe Syn," she said, "Vampire, ex-bounty hunter, usually accompanied by no one but himself. Not what I had been expecting from someone who used to be an s-class hunter, or the successor to the Dhampir 'D'."
Rathe just stared at her, speechless.
"Well, at least it seems that the years have taught you to stop talking just to hear yourself speak," she said, smiling a little, standing up. She brushed her hair out of her eyes, noting that it fell down past her shoulders once more. "Thank the heavens for small favors."
She saw the realization start to dawn in his eyes.
"Are you going to say anything at all?"
"It... You... How..?"
"Something other than nonsense?"
Rathe just continued to stare.
She giggled. "Guess not. Well, if you aren't going to say something, I will." She held her hand out to the boy. "The name's Riku Eve, but you can call me Kiru."
At last, Rathe did more than stare and babble nonsensical. He took her hand, stood up, and pulled her to him, kissing her slowly. When their lips finally parted, he spoke. "How is this possible? I saw you killed before my own eyes."
Kiru told him what she remembered about the night he spoke of and the man who had, possibly, saved her.
"That sounds like-" Rathe's hand began. Kiru would have been surprised if she, or rather Kara, hadn't already known that Rathe now had D's old hand.
"Vladimir.... but.. how did Damn Oldie-"
"He's taken over your body before. He probably did it then too."
Kiru just looked blankly at Rathe and his hand as they talked. "Who's Vladimir?"
Rathe and his hand stopped their conversation. "He's the first Vampire to ever live, and he was almost killed, but clung onto life by transferring his very being into another's body. He did this countless times until he met D, and then transferred himself into my master's hand. When I was turned into a vampire, it was Vladimir who made the bite, transferring himself into my body in the form of his memories, power, as well as a copy of D's hand."
"So.... you have an old man inside your body right now? That's just... Ewww..."
"Vladimir accepted his true death a few years ago. His memories remain as my own, but he's no more. That's probably why the spell that had you in stasis lifted earlier than he had planned."
"So long as I didn't end up making out with an old geezer a few minutes ago," Kiru said.
"So she finds it disturbing that you once housed the most powerful of all Vampires within your own body, but isn't the least bit put off by a talking hand with a face. Women."
Rathe silenced his hand with a squeeze. "So... that explains where your body went... I woke up after Pryde beat me but you were gone."
"I'm here now though. And I'm not going anywhere. Except to bed. With Rafe and Graed gone for the night, I'm looking forward to some nice, relaxing sleep." She turned and headed down the tavern roof's stairs. "Unless you plan on joining me," she said with a flirtatious wink.
Vladimir, when I run into your Wraith, I'm going to thank you for saving her, then I'm going to kick your a** for keeping the truth from me, then I'll find some way to break you free from whoever's controlling you. Rathe thought to himself before following after Kiru.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:36 am
The next morning Rathe woke, albiet initially startled having forgotten the night's events in his half-awake stupor, with a rare smile on his lips as Kara, Kiru, snuggled up to him.
"Either being a Vampire has given you more stamina than you used to have, or I've forgotten what you were like," she teased.
Rathe felt a blush cover his face at her words. "Perhaps a bit of both," he replied, kissing her softly.
"Mmnnn, I still can't believe how wonderful it was! Five times?!"
"That's never happened to me before," Rathe said. "I must have been tired."
Kiru smacked his arm playfully and stretched, grinning as this action gave her lover quite the view. She slowly got out of bed, making sure her way to the shower only served to further tease him. The had both been surprised that water was still running in this long forgotten town, but decided to accept, rather than question this miracle.
While Kiru showered, Rathe rolled onto his back and looked up at the ceiling. His hand, or the symbiote that lived there, had fortunately decided to spend the night with its other half, somewhere in that pocket space Reko kept it and his scythe. Now however, it seemed that his constant companion had decided to return.
"Yeesh, I've been thousands of miles away and we still heard you two going at it. You guys are just lucky no sound escapes that place, else Reko would have had one hell of a night, and not in the good way."
Rathe was too happy, and exhausted, to even reprimand the being. "I still... can't believe it," he said. "Kiru is alive."
"You're damn right I am, Syn!" she called from the bathroom.
Rathe laughed, a happy, giddy laugh that was a sharp contrast to his usual better-than-thou scoff. In just 18 hours, judging from the sun's position, his life had been turned upside-down and he found himself becoming the person he used to be. Kiru is alive! he wanted to scream. Then slowly his smile returned to the pensive frown that now frequented his face. And I'm going to make sure it stays that way. There's just two threats at the moment, and only one of which I intend to deal with myself.
"You're thinking about Pryde again, aren't you."
Rathe turned his head to look at Kiru, her hanging over one shoulder, a towel modestly covering her body.
"You had that look on your face, the frown, that only come's when you think of him."
Rathe sat up and looked at the wall. "He's going to pay for what he did." He glanced at where their clothes lay, the belt that housed his vials of Wraith blood just barely visible beneath his shirt. "I've finally found the power I need to make sure he does too."
Kiru nodded to his right arm, where the veins were as black as the blood her love talked about. "And at what cost? Rathe, this stuff is killing you every time you take it. It's progressed that much in just 2 months since you began feeding from it rather than regular blood, not to metion what you use during fights." She sat down on the bed and wrapped her arms around him. "What if this is the darkness Vladimir was trying to tell me about? I know you Rathe, if you fight him you won't hold back! You'll take as much of it as you can, and then where will you be?" Her arms tightened around him and her voice came out small. "I can't lose you Rathe..."
"He needs to be stopped-."
"Then let someone else do it! Why does it have to be you? Why not Rafe, or Alexandra, or Reko? Why you?"
"Because there's no one else who can. Permanently."
"Rathe....."
"This isn't up for debate Kiru. Pryde and I are destined to fight each other, and I would die before I let someone else have a shot at him."
"But you'll die if you fight him! Don't try to tell me you won't either! Whether or not you win the fight, you'll be killed all the same! Please! Let one of the others try instead. Vladimir's not around to save one of us from death again, and I can't bear the thought of losing you! Please, let's just find the last stone, give Alexandra the book, and leave!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
