InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Carousel's Shorts ❯ Nightfall ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Theme: `Last One Standing'

He stands.

Pushing the windows open with the last of his strength, the wind catches his ragged grey-streaked hair, spinning it like tentacles around his head. A skeletal hand clutches the frame as he coughs, petrol fumes burning his throat. He flinches as the night time roar of the city assaults his ears, whilst on the edges of his vision the flickering neon lights burn his eyes.

It wasn't supposed to be like this

Years ago, in his prime, he would never have believed this would have been his end. That the other demons would all die before him; their light, power and glory snuffed out with the passing of an Age. That the humans would take over the land with their reality as surely as a blanket smothers a flame, leaving nothing but scorch marks and smoke. That his powers would wane as theirs rose, leaving him old, helpless and alone.

There was a day when he held the world in his hand in the form of a small, complete jewel. When his enemies bled their last moments over the ground at his feet. When he joyously wished for eternal life, seeing a future that was his for a thousand generations.

Instead, he has tried to kill himself a thousand times, and a thousand times it has failed. He can hear Midoriko mocking him over the centuries.

His strength gone, he finds he can no longer stand.

Naraku drops to his knees, and he envies the dead.