So Falleth The Fate (1)

The island we land on is a desolate wasteland devoid of even plants. I don't know where Gehenna got this place, but it's disconcerting. I figure it isn't worth asking questions. She will have some answers related to things I can't remember. I click my tongue and kick a pebble. It bounces down a long path – our path.

With very little spoken between us, we move down the only path available to us. The magik is palpable and dense as it stings my tongue and my body. I've never felt this kind of concentration before.

The whole area is covered in a darkness reminiscent to a time before the stars themselves- in contrary to the suns still shining high in the sky.

"The bitch sure knows how to set the atmosphere." Fennis barks.

"Likely as reference to this all being a grand play," Rose quips to Fennis.

"You're going to upset Eve," Mimi chastises Rose, but the damage had been done. Indeed, it's all a grand play permeating a grand stage. We're puppets to my own machinations.

The ground shakes, pulling my attention back to reality just in time to roll away as a massive set of arms wrap themselves around the others. Looking around, only Fennis managed to get away. A colossal creature surely from the abyss itself crawls out from the innards of the land holding my loves tight. They scream in pain and fight back against the creature.

Four grand horns rise towards the sky. Its razor-clawed hands dig deep into the girls as a twisted smile coats its face.

"To think this is how my legacy would end, killing those who took my Nina from me." Its voice booms as it twists its head one hundred and eighty degrees to set its coal-colored eye towards me. "I will take your women as you took mine."

Mimi takes the chance to call down a bright beam of lightning on herself. It explodes the creatures’ hands and an ooze of vile, thick blood coats the area. It screams with all its might and then laughs as a hand grows to replace the one he lost. Immediately, all the Valkyries are at the ready with Charlie not missing a beat in joining them.

Fennis dashes from behind and slices the creature's head clean off. It turns and slams him straight toward the ground. I break from the spell fear has cast on me and charge at the beast, slicing its leg in half. And like a lizard's tail, it grows back, and he uses it to kick at me. I block it but my blade shatters and I go flying.

A shock wave pushes through the area flattening us all. The force of it loosens some tarp laid over my memories.

"I am Azreal Von Vvesson. And I will finish what I started all those centuries ago. Come forth my pawns and bring forth the Armageddon of Gehenna!"

His voice echoes wildly as my mind soars to the past. Small cracks form, letting small memories flow. Memories not my own filter through me. I recall battles fought, those to be challenged, and worlds and lives that pang in my heart. My head pounds furiously and I roll on the ground screaming. Everyone has their woes writ across their face. But from the depths of hell, amalgamations of banshees appear in the form of allies lost.

"No…" I hear Charlie's oppressed voice in the distance.

Long black hair, a lithe form, Kagura Mitsuki stands before us twisted and deranged. Standing heads and shoulders above the others is Gabliel Throughdon. Abiliath marches towards the others with a sneer so menacingly. They stand side to side, bastardized perversions of once grandiose individuals. Now they stand at the ready, merely waiting on Azrael's horrid indiscretions.

"Destroy them all and this world will surely be ours."

All at once they descend upon my women and all I can do is scream for a mercy that is never to come. I scratch at my face and peel back the skin. My insides feel the need to take their place outside as the very fabric of my brain boils at the eruption of my memories.

Each woman faces off against a member of the consulate. Kay dodges as much as Mitsuki. Both's agility is impressive as is the way every strike is aimed to kill. A single well-placed blow from either would end the other. Two killers facing a past yet revealed.

Gabliel is massive but unable to land a single blow against the sheer speed of Mimi. All the same, she is unable to do much damage even after landing a full charged lightning fist square on his jaw. He uses the flat of his broadsword to blow her away as she stands in confusion over her ineffective powers.

Rose's hair flies free as she uses her powers on Abiliath, bringing her to her knees. Charlie's blade slices through her head. But as with Azreal, it is regrown before the body hits the floor. The consequence- Rose has lost her hold. Abiliath swings her sword up, slicing through Charlie's shield and sending her backward with blood dripping from her torso.

Fennis does not stop at evisceration Azreal but, nothing stops him. Every blow Fennis takes ruins him little by little.

I feel my life fading as the dam of my mind collapses. All that I am will be washed away as another replaces me. I refuse.

"I would rather die. Do you hear me? I would rather the entirety of existence be snuffed out before I lose who I am!"

Fennis eyes me and blocks a blow from Azrael's serrated claws. He jumps away from Azrael as the latter sneers in delight. Looking all around himself, he can tell what hardships are to pass.

He clicks his tongue while looking at me. "You were never worthy to be the Zeroth. You know that, don't you? The real Zeroth would give all that they were to save everyone."

I look at him through hazy bloodshot eyes and do my best to nod.

"But then again," he grips his blade and stares at it with an expression I can't quite place. "I was never one to care about my own life, was I? I gave the entire thing up for a dream." He puts strength behind his fist and raises it high. "Let me see you grit those teeth."

He slams his fist square into my face. I'm looking up at the sad sky as it passes by without a care for the trifling matters of us so far below.

Fennis shakes his hand and glares at me. "Hard-headed bitch." He fumbles as he reaches down and pulls me by the collar. "I hate you. You know? You earned nothing, yet you took everything. And in the end the pattern isn't to change."

He lifts me up to eye level like a piece of fine glass. "Remember me, Evangeline Sayagawa, as the support character in your grand scheme. Remember me not for the life I led but for the life I was never given." He pushes my hair behind my ears, causing my heart to pound in my chest. A warmth spreads through me unlike any before. I look him in his deep, blue eyes and feel myself getting lost in an ocean of plenty.

They begin to shimmer. The smallest of golden hues takes over and he leans into me.

"Remember Fennis, who saved eternity." He whispers just before his lips meet mine. They're rough and chapped. They carry a prickle of ice and cold. The world around me stops. Against my will, my mouth works with his, and a fire comes over me. It collides against his ice and the two opposites intertwine before exploding the area in a fine mist. As droplets flow down around us, Fennis' blue hair lengthens and gradually darkens.

The golden hue hides the blue beneath and takes over. His straight, broad jaw gives way to a more supple yet sharp one. All of Fennis’s body cracks and breaks away. Inheriting his physical spot is none other than Rei. The lips upon mine are soft now, and delicate-feeling.