Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ The Darker Shade of Red ( Chapter 90 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: MellyN

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Sacrifice

Chapter 89: Purity

By: Melissa Norvell

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Keiji dodged the multiple swords as the shot out of the angel's body. They flew in all directions, destroying what few furniture and items were in the small room. Iva curled into a ball in the corner of the room as the swords flew past her and stuck into the walls and floor. She was very luck to avoid such an attack. After she was sure that no more swords were coming, she pulled her arms away from her face to see the angel's nude body descending to the ground. The body looked wounded and blood leaked from the wounds.

'He's genderless?' Keiji's eyes widened upon noticing that the angel really didn't have any anatomy that defined him as male or female, and while Hiroshima looked masculine, he was not really even male.

Black ribbons shot from the walls and ceiling and wrapped around him, concealing Hiroshima's genderless form with a robe of black and gold. He also wore arm bands on his biceps, gold bracelets around his ankles and a golden collar with two rings that hung down and two dangling earrings. A rain of feathers hit the ground.

"Hiroshima? Hiroshima!" Keiji wasn't sure of what happened, but he wanted to make sure that the angel was alright. After hitting the floor like that, anyone would be knocked senseless, not to mention all of the swords that had just come out of his body.

Pale blue eyes fluttered open as the angel groaned. "Ugh…What the-Where am I?"

"Did those swords…just come out of his body?" Iva asked, still perched in the corner, stunned by the recent turn of events.

"Yeah…They did…" Keiji was just as speechless and shocked. Never had he experienced anything quite as gory as that. By all human standards, Hiroshima should have been dead. Then again, it had been a long time since Keiji considered human standards to be the normal anymore.

Hiroshima slowly stood up, his legs were still a little wobbly and unsteady as he held his hands out slowly in front of him and examined them. "What the hell?"

"You felt warm," Keiji responded as Hiroshima touched himself.

"I do feel warm…" It was a feeling that the angel had never felt from his own body. He had always been cold, almost as if he had low blood pressure. To feel so warm was all new to him. He glanced down at his robes and realized what had happened. "I've also reverted back to my original form. Hey, kid?"

"Yeah?" The green-haired boy replied.

"You remember that pentagram that was on my back?" Hiroshima referred to the curse mark that bound his wings.

"Yes, I do."

The angel instructed the boy to look at his back and inform him on whether or not the marking was still there or not. Being much shorter than the angel, Keiji instructed Hiroshima to kneel down so that he could properly check. Hiroshima sat in a tea sitting position as Keiji pulled back the neck of his robe. What he thought he would see, was no longer there. His eyes widened and he could hardly say anything.

"It's…It's gone."

"What?" Hiroshima's head snapped up. That only meant one thing. 'They…They actually did it…they got rid of my curse and freed me from Kuroi Ryuu. I feel so warm…Is this what it's like to feel human? After ten years, I'm finally free from my curse. I no longer feel like a living corpse. I don't feel all of that pain.'

"I actually feel alive," Hiroshima smiled pleasantly with a true sense of peace. It was the first peaceful smile he had been able to produce in a long time.

"Does that mean that you won't die?" Keiji hoped for the best.

"No, I've gotten back all of the years of my life that I've lost." It was as if he had been hot by a large truck with realization. No longer was he bound to chains of slavery and death. He was now free to be his own man. Even if his power had been reduced, he was happy to get rid of the dragon and he had realized how foolish it was to even want such a power.

"You really are genderless," Keiji still couldn't quite get over the fact that Hiroshima had no definite gender.

"Why would I lie?" The spiky-haired angel looked slightly irritated. "I can make genitals appear but this is my original form."

"Are you alright?" That was more important, than the question of Hiroshima's private parts.

"I feel good, though I'll be down on magic for a while. I also won't be as strong as I was before. The dragon made me ten times stronger than I was, but at a price." It was a price that wasn't worth the power increase. He was glad to be rid of it, and he had realized how good it was to feel alive again, instead of like a zombie who danced on an evil puppeteer's strings.

"Well, you don't have to worry about it anymore," Keiji smiled at the angel, who agreed with him on the matter.

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Fife, Ko, Zangetsu, Tsurugi and Chichiri walked through the doors to see Iva, Keiji and Hiroshima in the room full of swords.

"You all came back?" Iva was surprised that none of them had passed in that battle. They were wounded but not to the extent that she thought they would be.

Tsurugi laid sights on his boyfriend and when he saw the angel's true form, his sky blue eyes widened. "Hiro-kun?"

"Hey, Tsurugi," Hiroshima greeted a little awkwardly. Usually he didn't care what people thought, but he felt like he was being put on display in his current form. He could feel the eyes of everyone in his group and it irritated him slightly, but it also made him feel awkward.

"You've changed back to your original form. Are you alright?" The blonde angel was a little concerned at the change. Usually angels didn't revert to their original forms unless they were drained of all magic and power.

"He looks like a Renaissance angel, doesn't he?" Fife pointed out the fact that Hiroshima resembled many of the robed angels found in old Victorian paintings.

"I'm fine. It just takes some getting used to," Hiroshima was still amazed by the warm feeling that his body was giving off. It was comforting to him, and made him realize how inhuman he actually had been.

"Being genderless?" Tsurugi cracked a casual joke.

"Hey! Shut up! You are too, moron!" His boyfriend yelled in irritation. He didn't even mean it like that!

"Oh yeah…You don't have a gender," Chichiri snickered before he busted out into a laughing fit.

"I'm still more of a man than you are," Hiroshima glared and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"What?" Chichiri stopped laughing, but everyone else kept laughing. The blonde frowned. "Hey, I do not find that funny!"

"Where is everyone who took shelter in the Toxic Ivy?" Iva changed the subject to the welfare of the people. Their state of being was more important than a joke-filled conversation.

"I told them that the fight was over and that they could go back inside," Tsurugi instructed as Fife gently took Keiji's arm.

"I need a drink. I'll have to pace myself. I don't want to drain you dry," the very comment made Keiji flush a light pink. No matter how many times Fife said something like that, he still couldn't get used to the feeling of being a donor.

"I said that I would give you what you need. So, take what you want as long as you don't kill me," Keiji felt the vampire's lips against his skin.

"I'll leave you enough, I promise," Fife smiled against the boy's flesh before he began to feed.

Ko and Chichiri were laying on the ground, resting after the big fight and Zangetsu was sitting up against the wall with his head slumped over, obviously asleep as the ones involved in the Kuroi Ryuu fight explained to the ones not involved how the dragon was defeated.

"So, that's how you defeated Kuroi Ryuu?" Tsurugi questioned after hearing everyone's input on the situation.

"We had to use all of our strength and power to even hit him and who knows where he went," Ko wished that she would have somehow been able to kill Kuroi Ryuu. Such a creature didn't need to feed off of anyone else and do to them what they did to Hiroshima.

It worried her that it was somewhere in time and space and could possibly do that kind of thing to someone else.

"You can't kill what's dead already. I imagine that he went to another dimension," Hiroshima replied. The dead had powers of space-time travel. If Kuroi Ryuu was defeated in this dimension, then chances were that he found another dimension more suitable for him to habitate.

"He was probably the strongest thing aside from Flora that we've ever been up against," Ko compared Kuroi Ryuu's power to that of the flower goddess.

"Thanks, everyone," Hiroshima commented in a kind voice with a tone of gratefulness to it.

"Well, it's better than having you die on us," Fife lifted his head from Keiji's arm to speak.

"As long as I can rest now, I'll be fine," Ko closed her eyes as stated sleepily.

"I'm so tired, and I feel like someone beat the crap out of me," Chichiri rolled over to his side and snuggled into the futon.

"They did," Ko replied matter of factly.

"I kind of feel bad. I didn't really do anything," Tsurugi glanced down for a moment. This had been his big chance to help everyone rid his boyfriend of the curse that plagued him. It was something that he had always wanted to do for him, but when the time came, he was reduced to saving the lives of innocent people, and could be of no real use to anyone.

He felt as if he has let his boyfriend down in that aspect.

"You couldn't. Don't worry about it," Hiroshima comforted, and it made the angel feel a little better.

"I suppose you're right," Tsurugi cracked a smile.

Fife lay on the floor and stated that he was tired and Iva decided that she was going to go and tend to the customers. She also instructed everyone that if they felt like coming out into what little club life there would probably be, then she would see them later. The gothic girl walked to the door and glanced back at the tired cast and told them to get some sleep.

Keiji and Fife bid her good-bye as she went to attend to the people in the Toxic Ivy and see if she could be of any assistance to them.

Chichiri laid in the same position, simply staring at the angel's new form with a strange expression on his face. Hiroshima could feel the burn of his gaze from across the room and looked back at the blonde with an arched eyebrow and deep-set frown.

He knew what he was staring at.

"Do you have a problem?" He retorted.

"Are you wearing a dress?"

That was it.

He had it with this humiliation.

"What?! This is NOT a dress, damn it! It's my angelic robes!" The angel shit defensively as Tsurugi chuckled quietly to himself and kept a hand over his mouth as he tried to contain his laughter.

"Shut the hell up! You wear them too!" Hiroshima yelled in offense as he pointed a finger to the blonde accusingly.

"I didn't mind it though," Tsurugi's laughter died down. Blue eyes glanced over to Ko, who had fallen asleep, then to Keiji, who was sitting up against the wall, asleep as a small trickle of blood ran down his hand. Fife was nearby with his head in the boy's lap as he rested peacefully.

"They're all pretty tired," Tsurugi sat up against the wall with Hiroshima.

After a moment of silence, the black-clad angel spoke up. "I owe them my life, and whether or not I take all of their burdens, I am still their guardian angel."

"You really are dedicated to them, aren't you?" Tsurugi asked. He never knew Hiroshima to have such undying dedication to anyone before. It was odd to see him like that, since he usually rebelled against the angelic laws of serving humans.

Hiroshima nodded. "I plan to stick it out with them until the end, no matter whose end it may be."

"They must really care about you, you know."

"All of this time, I've been pushing them away because I thought that I was going to die…" Hiroshima frowned as his gaze hit the floor. It had been one of the many reasons he had acted so cold to them. What was the point in getting close to anyone if you were just going to die and be nothing but a pain to their hearts?

After all, it was an angel's job to heal, not hurt the human heart. They took burdens, not gave them out.

"You wanted me to carry it out for you, right?" Tsurugi rested his head on his knees.

"If I go to hell, I can't come back."

"It's hard not to tell them, isn't it?"

"If I don't tell them until the end of our mission, then they'll be saved from fate's grasp," Hiroshima knew his duties, and was bound to them at any cost. There were more factors into play than just the people in his group. It was a matter of his repayment to Vespa and his personal goals as well. There were several different things that constituted to him keeping his secret.

"As a former archangel, I never thought I'd be going against fate," Tsurugi said thoughtfully. It was ironic when he thought about it. He didn't regret his decision, but he had always considered himself to be a hardcore fatalist.

"If I choose to be a white-winged angel, then I'll be the one to control what fate is. I could rewrite everything."

"What if you chose to be black-winged?"

Ice blue eyes burnt into sky blue. "Then I will become my father."

"You won't be able to exist in the upper world for long. The chains of hell will force you back down," Tsurugi looked serious on the matter. He didn't like to think about his love being forcefully drug down to hell. If Hiroshima wanted to go of his own volition, then that was a different matter entirely but no one should be forced to go.

"I won't go without a fight," Hiroshima's face twisted into a determined look. There was no way in hell he'd just go peacefully.

"You're always like that," the blonde smiled. "Ever since we first met, you've always been so stubborn." The kind angel learned over and rested his head upon the black angel's shoulder. "You'll know what you want to be."

Hiroshima wrapped his white wing around the tired angel. "Right now, I'm just happy to be free of my curse…I finally feel like I'm alive again. I can heal myself. I don't feel cold or hollow…My chains have been lifted, thanks to those kids. I can finally be free of everything." A smile tugged at his lips.

"Hiro-kun…" Tsurugi's eyes widened as he glanced up at the other male.

"Yeah?"

"You're…smiling?" Hiroshima never smiled. He smirked, he frowned or hips lips were straight like a line. When they were together, he smiled rarely, and Tsurugi could not even remember the last true smile he had ever seen on the tough man's face.

"Guess I am," he couldn't hide it, he was honestly happy for once in his life.

"I haven't seen you smile in years."

"I am finally happy."

"I thought I made you happy," Tsurugi teased.

"Of course you do," Hiroshima ran his hand though the angel's golden locks. "I gave my first smile to you, since then I haven't smiled since I was seven."

"We'd better rest up. We have a long day tomorrow," the former archangel advised. Hiroshima agreed and closed his eyes. Tsurugi mimicked the gesture, stating that he was glad that his lover could be happy.

Everyone slept soundly as night soon fell upon them. Not long after the darkness fell, Iva came in to check on them. When she saw that they were asleep, she turned off the light and shut the door.

She took one step away from the door and thought to herself. 'Man, I've seen some crazy things at Toxic Ivy but this takes the cake. It's not every day that you're almost killed with swords that shoot from some guy's naked body. One thing is for sure, they are anything but ordinary.' Iva thought as she walked down the hall and back into the club.

The black and white haired girl went behind the bar as a young man with chains and spiked hair greeted her.

"Hey babe, how's it going?"

"I'm doing pretty well, considering there was a giant dragon outside of my club and I nearly got killed by a freaky sword accident. Other than that, I'm good. What about you? Did customer control go alright?" She asked her boyfriend.

"Most of the people were too busy trying to look at that weird dragon-thing. You'd think we'd get some extra money with people in here taking refuge," he sighed. "Damn…"

Ceres walked into the club, wearing a blood red cape with a hood over her head. 'I can't believe I have to go in here.' She frowned, looking really disappointed in herself for even stepping foot inside of that dreadful place. 'I haven't been in here for so long. I was really trying to avoid this place.'

"Welcome to Toxic Ivy, my name is Kadiri Iva. How can I help you?" Iva greeted her.

"I'm Amatsu Zyro," her boyfriend walked up beside of her. "If you want a drink, I'm your bartender here."

"So, this place is a bar now?" Ceres questioned lowly as she glanced at the stage.

"Yes, and that state is where our bands perform," Iva educated the woman on their events and the function of the stage.

"So, you have live music?" That was something that rarely happened when she had worked inside of this building. Everything had changed so much.

"Yeah, most of them are small, unknown bands who are trying to make it big. Playing in the Toxic Ivy gets them good exposure," the club owner replied. They were known for their uprising bands, and a few bands that played at the Toxic Ivy had even made it big.

"Do you mind if I sit down and have a drink?" The black-haired sorceress questioned.

"Not at all, our first singer of the night is about to come on. Her name is Kohanna, and she's very good," Iva informed as she glanced to the stage, where a small, thin teenage girl that possessed angelic beauty walked onto the stage. She had shoulder-length brown hair and wore a beautiful pink and white Lolita dress with a pair of small, white wings that extended from her back.

She was an angel.

A black-haired, blind man who seemed to be in his twenties sat at one of the tables close to the stage. Kohanna smiled at him with child-like happiness as she spoke into the microphone.

"This song is for Zeshen, the man who's stuck by my side, no matter what and has taken me away in his strong arms of protection. I owe him so much," the angel announced as she looked at the man and began to sing. Her words carried out across the crowds, and eventually reached Ceres' ears.

Sitting here

Watching the world

Decay all around me

The essence of life drains

Caged bird with broken wings

Horror picture moving in slow motion

Won't you please?

Please, help me

Drowning in despair

Kept in this place

Broken wings cannot fly

Into the Garden of Eden

Please…

Please help me…

I call out to you…

Please…

Please, help me

For my caged heart longs to be free.

"This song…is somehow identifiable with me," Ceres' expression darkened with sorrow as she glanced down at her lone drink. "When I sit here in this place, listening to the lyrics of this song, all of the pain comes flooding back to me in the worst ways."

Please…

Please help me…

"I am reminded of who I am and what I have become."

…To Be Continued

A/N: If you recognize the song, then you're probably a fan of Caged Bird or have read it. It is the exact song that Kohanna sings to Zeshen in the series.