Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ How I Became Dark ( Chapter 22 )

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Sacrifice

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 22: How I Became Dark

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The angel drew back his hand as energy streams drew themselves it, ready to follow it's every command as his hand moved, forming it into the shape of an arrow. In his other hand, there was a bow, composed of the same transparent energy.

"Heavenly Arrow!" Tsurugi shouted, drawing the arrow back and letting it fly at the enemy. With a single hit, it had struck a vital area of the enemy and sent it crashing down to the ground in a wounded heap.

Hiroshima's eye widened at the burst of power produced from the arrow. This was no normal attack. The sheer power from the attack was enough to send shock waves through the air. He could feel them overcome him.

"What the-?" He could only half-way manage to get the words out before blood flew from the enemy in streams, signifying the kill. The blood headed for the two men.

Tsurugi was right in its path.

The white-winged angel closed his eyes in acceptance of what was about to happen to him. He was giving it all up. This moment would be his last to be a pure being.

"Now…Let me be bathed in corruption and sin," he spoke softly, welcoming this feeling with new understanding.

Ice blue eyes narrowed at the angel's actions.

After a few minutes, Tsurugi didn't feel the onslaught of blood splatter his form. This confused the blonde angel. He slowly opened his eyes to see a form in front of him. He was standing in the shadow of a tall and wide figure. The only blood that had come towards him was only a few splatters on the ground.

Blue eyes widened as he beheld the sight in front of him. He had been shielded from the blood.

'What's going on? How come I didn't get his with the blood?' He thought in bewilder.

Hiroshima stood in front of him, using both arms to hold out either side of his cape out, creating a barrier between him and Tsurugi. His form was covered in blood and his cape splattered.

He had saved the angel from becoming tainted.

"Why?" He barely whispered.

"You have a goal in life," Hiroshima stated simply, glaring defiantly at the defeated carcass in front of him.

"But you always told me that I should abandon that goal."

"While I absolutely hate the idea, I'm in this group and if they agreed to help you get back to heaven, then I have to stick with their plans," he told the angel.

"Hiro-kun…" Tsurugi's eyes shown with emotion, he was moved by the other man's words.

"Don't call me that sickening name," the ninja spat callously. "We'll never be close enough for those types of honorifics."

"It was Hiroshima. I knew it," Fife figured it out before Tsurugi could finish explaining it.

"But what does this have to do with your curse?" Keiji was more interested in what effects Tsurugi's curse would have on others in the group then he was his life story or romance between he and Hiroshima.

"I'm getting there. But I figure I should tell you everything so you fully understand," the dark angel looked at the green-haired drummer with a kind smile.

"So, you always called him Hiro-kun?" Ko asked.

"Yes, he hated it at first. He always cursed at me and told me 'I'm not Hiro-kun! Grr!'"

"Sounds like him," Keiji replied.

"He never wanted to be around me, and hated it when I acted kindly to him or hung all over him," Tsurugi pointed out.

"Yeah, he hates nice things that's for sure," Ko replied.

"He seems fine with me," Fife told everyone in his same perpetually happy voice.

"He stabbed you!" Ko glared at the homosexual man. Surely he couldn't be that dense!

"I mean now, not back then."

"I don't know what he thinks of us to be honest. You never quite know what's going on in that head of his." Ko glanced over to the other angel, studying his emotionless face, which was always plastered with his trade-mark frown.

"He's always been unpredictable," Undine stated the obvious.

"As long as he was with me, I couldn't help but to be drawn to him after he saved me from the spikes," Tsurugi explained. "It was a revelation for me. My eyes were opened and I saw things in a different way. Even if Hiro-kun didn't like me, he was still willing to help me get back to heaven despite what he said…He risked his life to save me…and I began to have feelings that I never thought possible. I felt even more drawn to him. It was almost as if he understood me in a way that no one else had. What he said to me that day reeled thought my mind, echoing through it like a voice carried through a vast set of canyon walls. Whenever I was around him, I felt as if I'd found a missing piece of myself and I thought maybe sometimes things are just as simple as black and white. I was the white- and he was the black. We grew closer and eventually formed a friendship. He made fun of me whenever I tried to get too close."

"Well, if you didn't act so gay around me, I wouldn't have called you it," Hiroshima retorted from his spot on the outside of the group. He stood with one leg bent and arms crossed over his chest.

"Yes, I often did things that got me called gay. I couldn't help it though. I longed to be close to Hiro-kun. I didn't understand what I was feeling or how I could even feel that way towards someone of the same gender. I'd never been in love before, in all of my existence of 120 years."

"One hundred and what!?!" Chichiri was flabbergasted at how old the angel was. Tsurugi merely looked around the same age as them, but he was, in reality very old. Hardly any human could possibly dream to become that old.

"One hundred twenty-seven years, but I am young for an angel, most of us live to be around three hundred."

"That's wild," Ko was wide eyed at his confession. "I mean, you don't look like you're but a few years out senior."

"Looks can be deceiving, I guess."

"So, how did you get the curse?" Keiji pulled the topic back on subject.

"As I fell in love with him, I worried myself to death. If I loved him, I'd surely not return to heaven. I'd be a sodomite…I couldn't fall in love with him. It would surely be my undoing. But over time, I could help but love him. I finally told him, even thought I was scared to death. Funny though, I was afraid and he had been feeling the same way," Tsurugi recalled that fated moment that had changed the two of their lives.

"Hiro-kun…I love you."

"Don't say shit like that. You know I'm straight," Hiroshima turned his back to the angel. It seemed as if this were an almost painful subject for him. The look on his face was that of closed eyes and a deep frown, but something about it seemed saddened.

"I know it's wrong. I knew that I shouldn't feel this way. I shouldn't like you like this. It's forbidden, dark…taboo," Tsurugi's voice was on the verge of releasing his emotions.

The other man smirked. "Well, I'm all for the dark and taboo…" His smirk then turned into a frown. "However…"

A nervous and fleeting feeling befell the angel's face as he tensed up, awaiting the rest of his sentence.

"You shouldn't waste your time."

Tsurugi looked down in sorrow. "So…Is that is?" His voice was low and dejected.

"Look, I like you too, but we both knew this can't work. You need to get back to heaven untainted. If you fall for me, you won't be able to go back to heaven. I'd taint you."

"I don't care. I want to be with you. I no longer desire to go to heaven," the angel took a couple of steps towards the taller man, his voice threatening emotional release once more.

Hiroshima glared over his shoulder. "How can you say that? We've busted our asses for you this whole time and you just throw away your goal like that?"

"I'll make that sacrifice- for you."

"Well don't," Hiroshima's voice was sharp and commanding. "Don't throw away what you've worked so hard for on my account."

"Well, I'm not going through with it if I'm not going to pursuit it," the blonde angel's voice was subdued and saddened.

"I don't want your dreams to die because of me," the other man stated emotionlessly.

"I'll show you how dark I can be, Hiro-kun…" The angel smiled a dark and mischievous smile.

"And that is what I did. I turned myself dark and released my inhibitions. I killed mercilessly. I bathed in blood. As a result…" He trailed as images of dark onyx chains shooting up from the ground at a fast pace, the links seeming to be one long, whip-like strand. Swiftly, they wrapped around his wings, arms, legs, waist and neck. Shackles appeared on his wrists and ankles and a collar around his neck. "I was punished by God and bound to the mortal plain by these chains. I can never go to heaven…My only destination…is hell…"

"That's screwed up," Chichiri commented.

"Because you loved another guy?" Ko thought a punishment of that magnitude was over done for loving someone of the same gender. It seemed a little harsh.

"That's only the small picture," Undine replied. "It was because he'd sinned in general. He killed and various other sins. As tragic as it may be, Tsurugi is right. He got what he deserved."

"How can you be so cold?" Ko cast the monotoned girl an irritated look. How could she say that about a fellow team mate? She had no right to talk about people deserving any type of punishment.

"It's not being cold, it's being truthful," Undine replied simply. Someone like Ko could never get the local statements. She simply acted off of emotion. It was typical of human nature.

"So what about you?" Keiji asked, looking over to the spot that the angel once stood in, but found that he was gone. "Damn…He did that on purpose."

"But where is he?" Azmy asked, looking around. There was no sight of the angel anywhere. Hiroshima had completely left the group. Ko glared at Undine for her prior comment, angry blue clashed with emotionless slate.

"The Wind Cavern was standing beside of him," Undine said after a few tense moments of silence. She looked to Musashi, her gaze waiting for him to say something.

"I was side tracked by the story…I wasn't paying attention to the other angel," Musashi felt a little stupid that he didn't notice that someone standing so close to him was gone.

"What if he went ahead of us?" Chichiri asked.

"I bet he did," Keiji replied.

"And we can't contact Vespa because he has the gem," Azmy pointed out.

The realization hit Keiji and he bolted off into the forest. Without that gem, they couldn't get through any of their missions with help. Hiroshima took the jewel all for himself and just abandon them to fend for themselves. He knew that the legend was underhanded enough to try something like this!

Azmy sweat dropped. "Maybe I shouldn't have said that," she spoke as everyone darted into the forest after Keiji. Musashi lagged behind, flying a few feet after the group.

"Wait!" He called out. "You don't know the way!"

'I've got to find him. Whatever he's up to, he isn't going to get very far.' Keiji thought to himself, running on the small forest paths. He didn't knew where he was going, all he knew is that he had to find that legend before everyone lost sight of him.

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In the treetops high above, two silver eyes watched as the figures raced across the ground below them. Two elves stood on a study branch that overhung the path in which everyone traveled. They were both women, dressed in battle gear.

One was rather feminine with long, straight silver hair and short bangs. She wore a suit composed of plates, created to look like a corset and fuku skirt. She also wore high heels that laced up to her knees and wore a white strapless top that curved over each breast with a long, white lace piece of material trailing behind her. This elf wore several bracelets on her arms.

Her companion looked much different, dressed more like a pirate then an elf. She wore a bandana, tied underneath her long, curly hair that cascaded over her shoulders, nearly touching the ground. Her hair was of a fiery red as were her eyes. She had several hoop earrings on her long, pointy ears. She also wore a white shirt with no straps, a couple of sashes, one red and the other white with poofy pants and red slippers. Around her arms were protective armor of sorts.

"We should alert Flora," the red-haired elf spoke.

"Right," the more feminine one replied as they both jumped into the air, disappearing in a blur.

Musashi flew ahead of Keiji, getting right in front of him and causing the boy to skid to a stop. He looked at the Wind Cavern with a slightly confused look. It quickly turned a little irritated.

"Stop!" The bird called out.

"Get out of my way!" Keiji demanded. "I've got to catch Hiroshima!"

"But you don't know your way around! You could get lost!" The bird pleaded, nearly begging him not to go any further.

"It's just the woods, how hard could it possibly be?" The drummer asked.

"It's called the Forest of Illusion for a good reason. There are people who have gone into this forest and never returned," Musashi warned.

"That's not good," Chichiri whined.

"You think?" Ko shot sarcastically.

"But how do we find Hiroshima?" Azmy asked.

"You'll have to follow my lead," Musashi replied.

"Well…If you know this forest better than us, then you'd be our best bet," yhe drummer replied.

"Even if you don't seem all that reliable," Fife pointed out happily.

"Thanks for the positive reinforcement, Fife," Ko retorted.

"You're welcome," the boy beamed.

"So…Where do we go from here?" Keiji asked the Wind Cavern, ready to go down whatever path it took to get to Hiroshima and find out why he left and what his plans were.

He hoped that this wasn't some sort of clever form of betrayal.

If so, then they'd definitely have a fight on their hands.

To Be Continued…