Chapter 20: The Legacy That Is Kuro

“Lady Emma was in a way foolish with her plan,” said John, “But it did work.”

“What happened?” asked Ebony.

It was May 2108. It had taken one year of chopping and changing and careful planning, but Shiro, Gin and Kin were about to save the world from the evil that was Kuro.

“Are we fully prepared?” asked Lady Emma.

“Yes ma’am,” answered her personal assistant.

“Okay, get the cannons out there, time to take Hoshi down.”

“Yes?” asked Zorin as he was awoken by a call to his and Arin’s room.

“Sire, we’ve just had a report from Hoshi that there’s activity on Earth,” said the technician that had called.

“Activity? Volcanic by any chance?”

“No, Shiro.”

“Shiro? What are they doing now? Please, get more information before you bother me with it.”

With that, Zorin put the receiver down and curled up again under the covers with Arin.

“Who was that?” asked Arin.

“Technicians, don’t worry, go back to sleep dear,” smiled Zorin as he stretched his arm out over her stomach.

A few minutes later, Zorin answered a second call.

“What?” he asked.

“Sire, Hoshi only just dodged a laser beam, sent up by Shiro,” said the technician that called before.

“You’re kidding?”

“No sir.”

“Shit, so they’ve brought out lasers and are finally making an attempt to live up to their name, eh? Well, the name doesn’t have much to do with it, but their ‘purpose’. Tell them to live up to ours and fight back. That’s about all I can do for them now.”

“Right.”

With that they ended the call. Zorin then got out of bed, as he wanted to see how this ended.

Arin sat up and rubbed her eyes, then looked at her husband. “You’re up early,” she smiled, “What’s going on my love?”

Zorin looked at her as his cape fell over his shoulders. “Nothing dearest,” he said as he walked toward the bedroom door, “Go back to sleep.”

Arin was a little puzzled at him. She had a job and was going to do it, whether he asked or not. She immediately got up and dressed, and then followed him.

“We’re losing badly,” she heard one of the technicians say as she entered the throne room.

Zorin was hanging around over the technician and watching the screen in deep concentration. “Shit,” he whispered.

Arin sighed silently as she walked to him and began massaging his shoulders. “Relax my dear,” she smiled, “We’ll be fine.”

Zorin shook his head and looked at the screen again. “Hoshi is about to be blown to smithereens,” he said. “I’d hate to say it, but Shiro has us this time. . .or at least half of us.”

Arin watched the screen. She watched as lasers continued to damage Hoshi.

“Damn,” she sighed.

Zorin looked at her and then back to the screen again just in time to see Hoshi slowly but steadily split in half.

“Oh God,” said Zorin as his cape tightened around him.

Arin wasn’t really worried about Hoshi. She was more worried about how her husband would react. She attempted putting her arms around him in a comforting manner, but he walked off to the throne and sat down.

“Get me a drink and step on it,” he said as he sat down, “But before you do, send rescue teams back to Hoshi to search for survivors.”

“Yes sir,” said the three monitor technicians before two of them set to work on the rescue mission and the other one ordered his leader alcohol.

Arin sat beside him pretty rigidly. “Zorin,” she said soothingly, “It’s only half of Kuro, and there are around two thousand of us. Besides, there were only five hundred on Hoshi, because it’s so much smaller than Shogun. Really, it’s not that much that we’ve lost, and some might have survived, baby. . .”

“Arin! Will you shut up?” asked Zorin, half shouting and all angrily.

Arin quickly jumped backward in her seat. She was shocked. This was the first time Zorin had ever yelled at her in anger.

“. . .Zorin,” she said, quivering.

Zorin looked at her with a look of real apology. “I’m sorry,” he said.

Arin felt a tear come to her eye. She couldn’t help what she was about to do. She got out of her seat and made a run for the door.

“Arin!” he called after her.

Arin ran out the door and down the corridor a little until she clung to the wall. She sunk to her knees, weeping. Then, the door to the throne room opened. She quickly looked at it and in the same second, sprung away again.

Arin ran all the way to the simulation room and found that it was set to the old beach scenery that reminded her of her old life on Earth. She looked over her surroundings like she did when her family had first arrived in that city, like the little girl she’d been.

“Zorin,” she whispered to the air before sinking down and lying on the virtual sand, close to the water.

Zorin had refused to even touch his drink until he found Arin. It appeared that she’d slipped back into their home while he was out scouting Shogun for her, as when he opened the bedroom door, there she was, in bed, sleeping silently.

Zorin couldn’t help but crawl into bed himself and hold her. He felt so sorry because he’d yelled at her, and obviously hurt her, judging by the redness around her eyes. He wished he could take it back, but he couldn’t do much until she woke up, and if she wanted to sleep, he wasn’t about to disturb her. He just closed his own eyes and lay with her, hoping the warmth of his arms would get through to her dreams.

Arin woke to the feeling of somebody holding her. The arms were familiar and the face only more so. She smiled when she turned over and saw Zorin sleeping and cuddling up to her like she was a teddy bear. She shuffled upward so she was sitting, laid one hand on his shoulder and caressed his face with the other.

It wasn’t too long afterward that Zorin woke to her. “Arin,” he whispered.

“Zorin,” she whispered back.

“I’m sorry.”

Arin smiled. “It’s okay,” she whispered.

Zorin smiled up at Arin, glad to see her smiling and feeling better knowing that it was real. The affection she was giving told him that.

“Really,” he said, keeping the volume they’d been using, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” smiled Arin, “You were under stress, if anything, I was the one overreacting.”

“How did you overreact?”

“I went off and had a cry, then came home and slept it off.”

“Sounds good to me, and then you woke up to a tender little moment between the two of us.”

Arin giggled before Zorin sat up with her, allowing for an engagement in a long-awaited ‘make-up’ kiss.

“Yes! We did it!” smiled Emma to herself in celebration. “Alert the media! Alert Shiro! Alert Gin and Kin, we’ve done it! Half of Kuro is gone! Hoshi will come crashing down into the ocean! Oh yes!”

Emma’s personal assistant didn’t know what to say. She was a little confused at her mistress’ behaviour, also a little scared.

Then, Jai and Mimeo entered, Mimeo looking happy and Jai keeping her usual femininely stern expression.

“We did it Emma,” smiled Mimeo.

“That we did, now we wait for the rest of Kuro’s reaction,” Emma smiled evilly, as though she was planning their demise.

“It was only five months before Shiro, Gin and Kin were ready to complete their assault on Kuro,” said John. “In October of 2108, they set out after the Kuro Earth base while planning what to do with the moon base.”

“Goddamn it!” said a technician. “It’s like they’ve just suddenly got good or got balls!”

“What the hell does that mean?” asked Zorin from the throne.

“Shiro just took out our Earth base.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“Not a bit sir, it just got hit by a bomb.”

“So now it’s just us and the moon,” sighed Arin.

“I can’t fucking believe this,” said Zorin as he rested his head in his hand.

Arin knew best to just let him go. She didn’t make the same mistake twice with Zorin and knew that seeing his colony’s demise was stressful.

“Send what of the armed forces we have on Shogun to the moon base with heavy weaponry,” said Arin. “Explain to them what’s happened and that we have to act fast to make certain that we don’t lose any more of our territories and people.”

All three of the technicians looked to Zorin for his approval.

“Don’t look to him!” roused Arin. “This is not a complete patriarchal society! I’m ordering you to do as I just said! I am second-in-command you realize.”

The technicians looked back to Zorin once Arin had finished.

“Is it not clear to you that he’s not in a state of mind to make decisions about this?” asked Arin with her voice still raised in anger. “If he had any objections to my orders, he would have said so by now, so get to work! Stop gawking like assholes!”

The technicians continued to look at Zorin, waiting for him to say something.

“I can’t bloody believe this!” shouted Arin before she got up. “Fine, let our moon base fall to Shiro, then Zorin’ll give you something to fucking approve of!”

With that, she ragingly stormed to her and Zorin’s home and slammed the door behind her.

“For God’s sake, you three must be idiots,” said Zorin when he finally decided to acknowledge them, “Do as she said stat or what she said about me giving you something to fucking answer to will come true, got it?”

“Yes sir,” said the three monitor technicians before they got to work.

“Jeeze,” lingered Zorin as he got up and went through the door to his home to go and find Arin.

“Arin!” he called. “Where are you babe?”

Arin walked out of the kitchen with a knife and chewing something.

“Holy shit, hey, it’s not my fault!” smiled Zorin as he put his hands up.

Arin swallowed the carrot she’d been chewing. “I know, I was cutting carrot,” she said.

Zorin sighed in relief. “I guess I should trust you with sharps more, shouldn’t I?”

“I reckon.”

Then, there was a knock on the door.

“What?” shouted Zorin.

“Sire, the moon base was just taken out,” said a technician.

“That’s it! It’s on your fucking head now!”

Arin went back into the kitchen and put down the knife. She then went to hers and Zorin’s bedroom and got out her old suit that she used back when she was part of the blades force.

“What are you doing?” asked Zorin as he spotted her.

Then, he watched as she threw it onto the bed and began undressing. The pin suddenly dropped.

“No,” he said as he got to her quickly and pulled the shoulder straps of her dress back up. For a second he wondered why he didn’t take advantage of the fact she was undressing. “You’re not going down to Earth,” he told her, “I refuse to let you fight Emma.”

“Who said I’d fight her?” asked Arin as she released herself from his grasp.

“I know you will, you always do.”

“Okay, so I’m going to fight her, but not just her, I’ll take out all of Shiro!”

“Arin.”

Zorin looked as far into Arin’s eyes as he could, trying to tap into her mind and persuade her not to go. “I’ve almost lost you to her that many times it’s not funny,” he said. “It’s been a long time since you’ve fought her, maybe she’s gotten better, and I’d say she has judging by the way Shiro just got us.”

“Zorin, once you learn something, you never forget it,” said Arin. “I know my blades. I can use anything anyone throws at me and I can counter any attack she wants to hurl my way. If I get rid of her our troubles will be gone.”

“Arin-!”

“I promise. . .”

Arin kept a stare into Zorin’s eyes for a few seconds. “You’ll see me again after this,” she smiled, “And I don’t break promises.”

Zorin looked down in defeat. Though he didn’t want to let her go, he felt as though he had no choice.

“It’s time for this to end,” said Arin. “If I go and I defeat her, it will all be over and Kuro will rule forever.”

Zorin quickly took Arin up in his arms and began kissing her. Arin knew that he was doing it because she was leaving and did it back to him because she was unsure of herself. This could be the last time she experienced this. This could be the last time he experienced this. They soon parted however, staring into each other’s eyes with a love that seemed to exist nowhere else in the universe.

“I’ve gotta change,” said Arin as she began removing her dress again. Zorin watched her, wishing there was some way that he could stop her from going.

Arin went to a storage room once she was done. She found a strong looking katana and held it, as if testing its worth. It proved worthy.

“Let’s go,” she said.

Down in the launch chamber, Zorin and Arin said what they both secretly feared would be their last goodbye. Then, Arin set off for Earth in the fastest and most stocked up airship that Shogun housed.

“It took around ten days to get to Mars from where they were in the solar system,” said John. On about the second day of the journey, Zorin called the pod and asked Arin to come back to Shogun. He left when she refused.”

“He went after her?” asked Ebony.

John nodded.

“How long was it before they got to Earth?” asked Ebony.

“They got there on the same day, it only took about an hour with the fuel they’d developed, which had only got better over time.”

“Cool.”

“The minute that she got to Earth, Arin headed for the Shiro base. She knew right where it was; under the Shining Shrine.”

“How’d she get past everyone?”

“Killed a civilian, stole their clothing and entered casually.”

“Well, that was smart, and rather classic.”

“The entrance was well hidden in the shrine, but because of the studying Kuro had done on Shiro through Emma’s interrogation and information from the Earth base, they had a pretty good idea of where it was.”

Arin moved through the Shining Shrine with ease until she got to the more hidden parts of it that were rarely visited. She soon found the room where the entrance to Shiro’s base was meant to be. It was dark. She walked to the centre where a circular pedestal stood and removed her hood.

“Here goes nothing,” she said.

“Hey!” shouted somebody.

“Huh?” she questioned as she turned to see a guard running at her.

“It’s Queen Arin!”

“Get her!” shouted another.

“Shit,” whispered Arin to herself, guessing it was only the two but stressing to herself that there could have been more.

Because there was no time to get her katana out from under her layers of clothing at that moment, she prepared to use what martial arts she’d learnt. As the two guards ran at her, she kicked both of her legs out, getting each of them. While they were concentrating on getting up, she got her katana out and slit both of their throats.

“Nice,” she hissed before jumping up onto the pedestal and saying the code that Kuro had learnt of.

“Yuki,” she said, “Tenshi.”

With those two words, Arin fell through the pedestal for a few seconds before catching herself at the end.

“Crap,” she said when she found more guards waiting for her.

“Queen Arin!” one of them said before all of them ran for her.

Arin got her katana ready and struck a few. She then spun around and found two more coming, killing them as quickly as possible. One grabbed her from behind. She drove her blade through his skull and kicked two to the floor. Once she’d gotten out of the dead man’s grasp she stabbed the two that she’d kicked. She then stabbed the remaining three and looked at her work. She ended up counting a total of eleven bodies once she’d finished each of the guards off, each in their own creative way. She smiled at her achievement and made her way through the door that led her further on in her journey through the Shiro headquarters.

“Now, if I were a genuine bitch, where would I be?” she asked herself, implying that she was looking for Emma. “Damn, I wish I’d picked up a gun, I could’ve had so much fun with that.”

“Lord Samuel, we have an intruder,” said a security guard that saw a woman take out all of the guards at the first gate.

“Well, tell me more,” said Lord Samuel, in the manner of a request.

“Well, it’s a woman, she just took out all the guards at the first gate!”

“Well, I have a pretty good idea of who it could be,” said Lord Samuel before ending the transmission and starting a new one with Lady Emma. “Dearest, we have a female intruder. Take care of her for me, will you?”

“Is it Arin?” asked Emma excitedly.

“Possibly.”

“Anytime my love.”

The transmission ended and Emma ran for her sword.

Zorin looked at the distant Earth. He urgently wanted to know how Arin was.

“Can we speed this up please?” he asked.

“Yes sir,” said the driver before he sped the tiny airship up.

“Come on Emma,” said Arin as she walked around, “I know you’re here somewhere, you can’t fool me.”

Then, Arin heard somebody drop behind her. She spun around swiftly to see Emma.

“Well, you’re just in time,” she smiled as she got her katana out again, “Emma, I introduce you to doom.”

Emma laughed a little. “I highly doubt that this is my dying day,” she said. “You’re going to go down, just like the little part of Kuro that’s left.”

“That’s a lie, I can tell you that right now. Once I kill you, I’m going to go through the entire headquarters and take down all of Shiro.”

“Well, you can take Shiro, perhaps. . .”

Arin noticed that Emma seemed to be peering beyond her.

“But Gin and Kin will live on,” Emma finished.

“Gin?” asked Arin. “Kin?”

Then, Arin felt two people grab her from behind. She shoved them both off and stabbed one of them.

“Mimeo!” shouted Emma before Jai got a hold of Arin again.

“Shit!” hissed Arin when she couldn’t get out of the rather muscular woman’s hold.

Emma forgot about Mimeo quickly and walked to Arin, slowly, intimidating.

“Arin, Arin, Arin,” she said, as if tutting. “What should your fate be? Should I kill you now? Perhaps. . .make you suffer? Just like before? Perhaps a little difference in suffering? No, I want to make some competition for myself.”

Emma got up close to Arin’s face. “Tell you what, when Jai lets you go, run as far away from me as possible. Then, I’m gonna chase you, giving you a few minutes of freedom before you die? Okay?”

“I won’t argue, though you lie,” smiled Arin. “Somehow I don’t think today is my dying day.”

Emma snickered. “Well, we’ll see about that,” she smiled, “Now on three; one, two. . .”

Once Emma said three, Jai let Arin go. However, Arin did something completely unexpected by either of them. She gave Jai’s leg a disabling slash with her katana and ran past her, further into the Shiro headquarters.

“What the hell are you doing?” Emma called after her. “You should be running away! You idiot!”

Arin didn’t turn her head back. At that moment she’d rearranged her schedule a little. It was time for her assault on Shiro; Emma could wait.

Arin ran into a room and found Lord Samuel, sitting in his throne, surrounded by bodyguards. After stopping at the door she readied her katana and charged at them, getting into a frenzy of blood and blades. She soon emerged the victor over them, as they lay slain and she rose before the Shiro leader, ready to mutilate him in the same way. She merely made a thrust at him with her katana and killed him in an instant.

Then, Emma entered to see Arin pulling her wedged blade out of her husband. She gasped in horror.

“Samuel!” she screeched.

Arin swivelled around, instantly releasing the katana from the dead man. She then ran past Emma, giving her a bit of a warning tap with her blade, and out of the room.

Emma kneeled before Samuel and cried on his knee, only wishing at that moment for him to live again. Then, she thought.

Why be sad? she asked herself.

She looked up at the man she loved. “I will avenge you,” she said before standing, taking the sword from his sheath and running out to get Arin.

Arin ran out of the headquarters, occasionally needing to kill a guard, until she got up to the first gate, where she entered. She found that the hole that she fell through had a vacuum to it when used from the headquarters and was sucked up by it. She landed comfortably in the hidden room of the Shining Shrine. She was about to run further when she got an idea of how to rid the world of Emma too. She crouched over the pedestal’s open hole with her katana halfway down it and waited for her.

Emma ran to the first gate and guessed that Arin had gone up it. She allowed herself to be sucked up it and only just managed to dodge the waiting blade when she neared the top.

“Shit,” hissed Arin as Emma missed the blade. She brought it up to strike her, but the opposing woman was too fast and was out of the hole quickly.

Emma turned around to find Arin standing there, facing her with a look of anger on her face.

“You killed him,” she told the woman of the dark side, “For that, I won’t cry now. I told myself I’d get you for it, for him.”

Arin pointed her katana out toward her forever rival. “Take your best shot,” she said, “I’ll make it.”

Emma did as Arin had told her to. She picked up her sword and charged.

Arin was quick to move when Emma got too close for comfort. She ducked under her and gave a bit of a tap with her katana, making a bit of a scratch. Then she attempted to stab. It failed.

Emma spun around and attempted killing Arin. Arin ducked at first, but was then forced to jump up so she didn’t get stabbed.

Arin was quick to realize that she was the one going backward. She didn’t have the lead and hoped she got it soon. Then, her prayers were answered. They reached the wall and Emma stabbed right for it, sending a vibration up her arm and distracting her. That was when she ran for it. Arin slid under Emma’s legs, rolled forward and stood. It was only seconds before she charged at her opponent.

Emma turned around and blocked Arin’s attack with her own sword. The duel then became all blades.

Zorin could see Earth approaching fast. He hoped Arin was all right and that he wasn’t too late.

“Sire, where exactly are we headed again?” asked the driver.

“Shining Shrine,” answered Zorin with a jolt.

“Right.”

Zorin slumped back into his seat and sighed heavily. He then looked up to the roof.

Arin threw herself up against a wall. Emma was close to her and came right before her. She raised her blade and was about to stab right through her skull when Arin blocked it and ran again.

“Stop being a coward!” shouted Emma as she turned and watched Arin running toward another wall.

Arin swerved and faced Emma, catching her breath as she gave an intimidating look.

“That doesn’t fool me,” said Emma, though it was having a little of an effect, “Come on! Fight like the Kuro woman you make yourself out to be!”

With that, Emma charged at Arin and pounced on her, knocking her to the ground with herself on top of her. She smiled a sly smile, hinted with evil.

“I have you now,” she said as her sword rose above Arin’s head, “This is for you Sam!”

Then, as the point was brought down, Arin brought her own blade up and blocked it. She did that a few times before clocking Emma in the head with it.

“Ouch, shit,” said Emma as she rolled off, holding her head.

Arin then got on top of Emma. “You have a real thing about head, don’t you?” she asked. “You always seem to be going for mine.”

Emma then made a strike toward Arin’s head, but missed when Arin rolled off of her backwards. Emma stood and followed her as she stood, turning the competition back into fencing quickly.

Cho stood in the kitchen, eating biscuits. Her father had told her and Ronin that he and her mother were going away for a little while and she wondered how they were. She also wondered why it was that Ronin hadn’t come out of his room, bothering her about when their parents would return.

“Ronin,” she called. There was no answer. “Ronin!” she repeated, a little louder.

No answer came. She thought he might have been asleep but had to go and check anyway.

Cho entered her brother’s room quietly, so as not to disturb him if he was sleeping. “Ronin,” she muttered, her young voice just above a whisper. She looked further in to see something curled up in Ronin’s bed. She smiled, guessing it was he. She walked up to the bed and ran her hand across the lump, finding it could be pushed down. Her eyes widened in horror as she ripped his covers from his bed, discovering he wasn’t there.

“Ronin!” she screamed. “Oh no, where’d he go?”

Cho looked around the little boy’s room in confusion. Then she ran out, running through her home in search of him.

“No, this can’t be happening,” she said as she curled up in defeat. “Ronin.”

After scouting the house, Cho ran out into the throne room. “Have any of you seen Ronin?” she asked the technicians frantically.

“He went that way,” said one of them, pointing to the doorway out.

“Thanks for the extra teaspoon of rudeness,” said Cho as she left. She had an idea of where her little brother had gone and went there first.

“Ronin!” cried Cho in relief as she ran into the simulation room.

“Mummy,” said Ronin, as he looked Cho’s way. He said it in the deepest hope that it was his mother and that she was all right, unlike what he was telling himself.

“No,” smiled Cho as she kneeled near him, “Cho Cho,” she said as she wrapped her arms around him affectionately.

“But. . .where’s Mummy?” asked Ronin, as though it were the most important thing in the world.

“She and Daddy are still away, don’t worry, they’ll be back soon.

“. . .Mummy.”

Emma ducked under Arin’s legs to quickly dodge her attack. She then twisted around and was about to hit Arin’s leg when she jumped up and missed it. The way she landed afterward startled Emma a little, as Arin dropped her katana, landed on her hands and launched into two back handsprings, the second one going over Emma and pinning her down. Arin reached over and got her katana from her sitting position, which gave Emma a little freedom, which was enough for her to squirm too much for Arin once she should have had her down again. She had no choice but to get up after trying to keep Emma down.

Emma rushed out from under Arin and rolled forward, twisting around so she could get a good stare at Arin. It was a partial attempt at intimidation, and barely worked on Arin.

“At least I can tell the truth,” smiled Arin.

“You’re scared?” asked Emma confidently.

“No,” said Arin with a shake of the head as she sheathed her katana and charged at Emma. She gave her a good kick in the side and threw punches wherever she had a good chance of landing one.

Emma was soon on the ground, breathing heavily in exhaustion and pain. Arin stood over her, smiling with her hands on her hips. She then whipped her katana out of its sheath and held it up.

“I could kill you now,” she said.

The two women stared into each other’s eyes, both with looks of determination.

“And I think I might,” said Arin as she raised it high up over her head.

Then, in less than a fraction of a second, Emma reacted. She whipped her sword out from underneath her and stabbed through Arin’s stomach as she almost killed her.

Arin’s blow still left a bit of a scratch across her neck, but it wasn’t as much as what she’d just done. She’d finally completed her goal; Arin was bound for death.

Arin could hardly believe it as she stood, holding up a sword through her body. She had her; she was about to kill her. What had happened?

With that thought, Arin fell to the side, holding the blade inside her, which seemed close to her heart. She attempted to pull it out when somebody else did. She looked up from her painful expression to see Emma, holding her bloody sword. She watched her opponent re-sheath it and bend down close to her.

“Are you okay Arin?” she asked sarcastically before standing up and kicking her right on the wound, making her moan and roll around a little.

Emma smiled in satisfaction before she bent down with a hand on either side of Arin, making their faces close. She watched as her opponent’s blood dripped from her mouth.

“Poor, poor little girl,” she whispered.

Arin opened her eyes a little to find Emma treating herself to a kiss of her lips, taking drops of blood into her like a trophy.

“They say,” said Emma as she then stood, “Victory tastes sweet.”

She then walked to the pedestal and turned back to Arin. “I do believe it does,” she smiled before making her exit and closing up the hole behind her.

Arin attempted sitting up but found herself clutching the fresh wound and crying out in pain. She lay back down, breathing heavily.

Zorin will arrive soon, she told herself. Just. . .until then.

“Zorin,” she gasped, closing her eyes and wishing he were there at that moment.

The tiny pod soon landed near the Shining Shrine. Zorin was itching to get out and find Arin and was able to in seconds. He ran out and found the place bare, surprisingly with nobody around it and dark clouds swirling around over it.

“Shit, does Earth now have a Kuro presence detector or something?” he asked as he stared at them. He shook his head however and rushed into the silvery temple.

It was as though her voice was as broad as daylight to him and quiet enough for even a person at her side not to hear. Zorin could hear Arin’s lightest breath and Arin could hear faint footsteps as he approached.

“Arin!” he called. “Is that you?”

Arin opened her eyes again. “Zorin,” she whispered.

She attempted to sit up again, but pain pulled her back down and screamed his name again in agony.

Zorin heard Arin and knew it was. He also knew that tone from hearing her scream that way so many times before in her life.

“Arin!” he called back as he ran in the direction of her voice.

Soon, Zorin entered a doorway and found Arin’s fragile body on the cold floor of the room ahead. He shouted her name as he ran to her.

“Arin,” he said, picking her up and looking her over quickly, “Oh my God, are you okay? Arin. . .”

Then, because Zorin had sat her up, Arin squealed a little in pain.

“Oh my God,” he said as he rested her head in his lap, “I’m so sorry.”

“Zorin,” whispered Arin through gritted teeth before she looked up at him, “You came.”

Zorin didn’t know what to do but call for the hospital wing to be ready for Arin’s arrival home, which is what he did. Then, he heaved her up into his arms, doing his best to avoid causing her pain, and walked out of the building.

Arin hissed a little in pain as she was laid out on a bench in the pod.

“Come on, let’s get her home ASAP!” ordered Zorin. “Tell Arin’s pod’s driver that we have her and he is to follow us home, step on it!”

“Yes sir,” said the driver as he lifted off the ground as quickly as the vehicle would allow.

Meanwhile, all Zorin could really do is make an attempt at soaking up the blood which seemed to be a never-ending chain coming from the gaping wound near Arin’s chest. He took his cape off to do so and held it as firmly to it as he could without causing her pain.

Arin pushed the cape away when he went to put it over her stab wound, but Zorin kept putting it there.

“Arin,” he said, “It won’t stop bleeding, I need to put it there as pressure to stop the bleeding.”

“There’s no point,” said Arin before getting into a quick coughing fit and causing more blood to ooze down her chin and neck.

“Arin, don’t say that,” said Zorin as he cradled her head again while holding the cape down on the wound. “We’re. . .we’re gonna get back to Shogun. . .we’ll make it to Pluto, you’re coming with us.”

“Zorin,” whispered Arin, because that was all she could manage, “. . .I. . .won’t make it. . .to Pluto. . .with you.”

Zorin rested his head on top of Arin’s as he became lost in his tears. “You will,” he said, knowing what she meant and not wanting to hear or accept it.”

“Zorin,” she whispered again, making him look her in the eye, “Just. . .hold me. . .once more. . .please.”

Zorin immediately took Arin fully up in his arms and held her close like he had so many times he’d needed assurance or she’d needed comfort.

“Thank you,” the young woman whispered before she closed her eyes and fell a little, though being caught and awoken by Zorin.

“Arin, please. . .don’t go,” he said, tears overcoming him too much to say words. She was going to die.

“Zorin,” said Arin, looking up at him with the little strength she had left inside. He looked at her, stroking a lock of her hair with shaking fingertips. “Kiss me,” she said, before they shared what they thought would be their last passionate kiss.

“Zorin,” she said, still looking at him once it was over, “You. . .you still have a whole. . .life ahead of you. . .there is life. . .after love.”

Zorin wished at that moment only for her not to be saying these things. He wished they were back on Earth and young teenagers again, or even on Ultima, cradling each other in the nervous air of their first night out in the universe. But no, they were in this final stage where Arin was about to meet the unknown.

“Make sure. . .the kids. . .stay. . .happy. . .and live. . .good. . .lives under the reign. . .of Kuro,” she said.

“Arin,” sniffed Zorin.

“And. . .tell them. . .to always keep their promises. . .because. . .their mother did.”

Zorin thought for a moment. Though it was an utterly sad moment, Arin had returned to him alive.

“Of course,” smiled Zorin through his tears. “If that’s. . .what makes you happy, I’ll keep them safe and alive and happy and truthful. . .for as long as humanly possible.”

Arin smiled. “And. . .” she began again, “Make sure. . .that they always remember that. . .they have a mother. . .and. . .she’ll. . .and she’ll be watching. . .she’ll keep an eye on them when. . .Daddy can’t.”

“Okay,” said Zorin as he held Arin close again.

“And. . .of course,” said Arin as Zorin looked at her again. They held that same loving stare at each other for a few long, lingering moments before Arin told him, “I love you.”

“I love you,” Zorin smiled back before they shared their final kiss and Arin lost herself in a deep, eternal, peaceful sleep.

Ebony was surprised to find herself crying as John told her everything about Arin’s death.

“That’s so sad,” she said through tears.

John handed her a tissue and after she’d wiped her eyes and blown her nose, he handed her a small, black book, which appeared to be a little big for the amount of writing that had been done.

“What is that?” she asked, half sobbing and looking at it.

“It’s my diary of Kuro,” said John, full of serenity and pride. “It holds everything that I’ve recorded from the beginning of King Zorin and Queen Arin right until the last moment of Kuro’s reign.”

“How did that end anyway?”

“Well, Emma was right; once Arin was dead, so was Kuro. The rest of Kuro went down a couple of years later though. Cho was about fourteen at the time and they’d already colonised Pluto, so they were making their way back toward Earth when Shogun got shot down and almost everyone of the inhabitants killed.”

Cho rushed around the blazing town, trying to escape capture. She hid under a house that wouldn’t be found too easily by Shiro, Gin and Kin intelligence. She wanted to go back out and find her father and brother, if they were still alive, though she was sure Ronin was dead already and her father would have given himself up to them, purely because he didn’t care much anymore. For the past year, he’d been looking worse and worse, grieving desperately for her mother. But she was gone.

Then, somebody grabbed Cho’s leg. She swung around quickly, fearing that it was an intelligence man. She was somewhat relieved to find that it was just a farm boy, who looked around her own age.

“Who are you?” he asked.

Cho wondered for a moment about whether to tell the truth about her identity or not. She decided that it would be too risky to go on with her own name and changed it then. The fact that she was in her white nightgown also helped.

“Vanessa,” she said with a stern though sad look on her face.

“That just makes it seem. . .so much worse,” said Ebony as she imagined the life Cho would have led.

“Well, if she hadn’t changed her name, you wouldn’t have been here to hear me tell this story,” said John as he placed the black diary in the young woman’s hands. She looked at him.

“Are you. . .giving this to me?” she asked.

John nodded. “Notice it’s only half full,” he said.

“Yes, I noticed that earlier,” she said.

“That’s for you to fill.”

Ebony looked at him, puzzled. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“Ebony,” he said, “You are the only direct descendant of the Kuro family.”

“So that’s what you meant?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Ebony looked to one side. “Wow,” she smiled.

“And I’m trusting you with a big responsibility by giving you that diary,” he said.

“What might that be?”

“Well, being the only descendant, do you want Kuro to return?”

“Of course I do! I want to bring Kuro back to life!”

“Then ‘you’ must do it. You’re the only one who can now.”

“How can I? I’m nothing like Queen Arin or Cho.”

“No. You are Ebony, all of them and the Kuro women after them mixed together to make one young woman that will put the world back under the right parliament; the parliament of darkness, Kuro.”

Ebony smiled.

That evening, at dusk on Venus, Ebony stood at the edge of the water, on the pebbles, and looked out at the sunset. In her left hand, she clutched the strap of a heavily packed backpack and in her right, the diary given to her by John Turner. She swung the backpack up and sat it on her back, clutching the diary close.

“It begins here,” she muttered. “Kuro will return.”