No… no… I can’t do this. Not now, not tonight… His mind raced as his legs sped him down the hall as fast they could carry them. The halls were completely empty, an oddity for a school full of delinquents who never slept. Without time to notice, his shoes received a work out as he skidded around corners with a note clutched tightly in his hand; the words as fresh in his mind as they were when he read them off the page.

“I cannot go further, the weight is too much. I love you more than anything, but this needs to happen. Be happy in my absence, I’ll be there for you when you pass.”

He couldn’t just let her do that, not so close to his birthday. Literally minutes before he turned, she would finish herself and he couldn’t bear it to think about it. Of all of the predictions that were said to happen on his birthday, why did one of them have to be so literal?

If she had anything to say about it he would.

-

Standing in the middle of her room, she had the gun placed directly on the side of her head. Tears streamed down her face as her entire life played like a badly made movie before her eyes. All the pain and suffering that had caused her to act so rashly, burned into her memory for this moment. The beatings she took, the tortures she endured, the yelling and screaming she sat through. The malnutrition she fought, the drugs she used to forget, the alcohol she used to assist. The laughter they used to isolate her, the tears she spilled in her isolation, the cruel emotions she had to live through, and the absence of anything to look forward to. The everything, the all and the nothing. It pierced her like a fine needle a thousand times a second. She wasn’t able to take it anymore; she didn’t do anything that helped anyone around her. She was a parasite, just like her family had told her from so early on. There was no mutual relationship between her and another being. By her death, the host would only benefit.

Then he crossed her mind. The one she had sent away no more than five minutes before. His sweet smile, his smooth grace, his easy confidence, his undying effort to help her and the things said to her. The tears poured harder, drops falling to the floor and splashing out on the tile. With him in her mind, she couldn’t do it.

Falling to her knees, she hit the ground on all fours. The gun slammed down to the linoleum under her hand, making a loud metal crash that echoed in an otherwise silent room. “I’m so sorry Shadow… I have to do this… it’s been inevitable since you met me…”she said, trying to rationalize her action so she could continue on.

The tears had made a puddle of salt water on the ground below her. In the dim candle light, she could barely see her pathetic reflection staring back out her through blurry eyes but it was enough to give her the will to continue toward her goal. Gripping the pistol again with her dominate hand, she returned it to her temple with a vicious jerk, pulling the trigger.

Click.

Click.

Click. Click. Click.

What the hell was wrong with the gun? Hadn’t Demos given her the weapon to defend herself? Then why wasn’t it working?

Fuck! she mentally stabbed herself as she realized what was wrong. She had used the only bullet that Demos put in it. The one, single bullet that had been in the gun she’d used on Yukari when she tried to get the bitch out of the room.

The weapon hadn’t been given to her to defend herself from other people like he said, but to defend herself against herself. Demos had known she would attempt to kill herself. He knew she would waste the bullet before she got the chance to use it on what she really wanted.

Damn that filthy vampire.

Throwing the gun as hard as she could at her dorm’s door, she almost flinched at the sickening crack the wood made when alloyed steel made forceful contact. Enraged at the thought of Demos putting her in his game and her playing her part just like she’d studied the script, her will to kill herself became harder than the gun she’d discarded. Tearing through her room, she hunted for a blade sharp enough to pierce her skin. It was a while before she’d found an appropriate tool; the school at least tried to keep lethal weapons out of the school, even if they didn’t attempt to keep the drug and alcohol use down.

It would go into her neck and she’d shove it through her windpipe. She’d suffocate to death; a torture that she deserved for bringing burden into the lives of so many people around her.

Then knob on her door rattled a few times, though she took no note of it. Quickly, in turned from an urgent shake to a savage jerking. Finally, a loud bang to rival the noise the gun made shook her from her suicidal stupor.

“Kimia, open the door!” it was a man’s voice. A man she knew very well and her tears started flowing again. He wasn’t supposed to open the present until midnight, not until his birthday. Why couldn’t he have listened?

“Shadow, go away!” she slowly walked to the door and sunk to her knees, her hands wanting to touch the warm flesh on the other side, the sweet angel on the other side of the door who did nothing but care about a useless human. “I can’t do this with you here.”

“Then please don’t do it! I don’t want you to die Kimia, that’s not something you need to do,” he pleaded with her, trying his best to keep his tears out of his speech, availing somewhat. “It’s not necessary! Please, for me, don’t do it.”

The banging he was doing on the door was getting so loud that it was starting to give Kimia a headache. The thought crossed her mind to open the door, just to make the pounding stop. Reaching for the door, she realized that if he got in the room, she’d never be able to do it. Even if he didn’t touch her, just seeing him would stop her from finishing. It would force her to move and cry against his chest, telling him all her fears. He’d stroke her hair, tell her it was okay and she’d believe him because she couldn’t help but believe anything that came out of the beautiful mouth of her boyfriend.

Dropping her hand, she stared at the crack that was in the door from the pistol she’d thrown. She probably scared him with it. The sound would have echoed down the hall, loud and intimidating for him as he ran to save her life. Even when she was trying to remove the pain from other people’s lives, she couldn’t help but hurt someone. Her grip tightened on the knife while Shadow’s banging slowed, losing its vicious sound as it became so much harder to hit the door with each swing. He was crying openly, begging her to open the door.

Her heart yearned to do whatever he wanted her to do. It wanted to burst because it couldn’t bend to the burning desire that Shadow was showing through his tears.

“Kimia, why?” she could hear him slump to the ground feebly. Her heart broke when she realized that he’d given up. She broke him, broke his spirit and broke his heart. “I don’t want you to go. I don’t want you to leave me. I love you more than anything in the world; more than anything in my world. Don’t ditch me when I’m losing everything today… I need you by my side, always.” His head lightly hit the door.

She reached for the door and touched it lightly; she couldn’t help it. She was forcing herself to act against all her reflexes. She never expected it to be this bad, she didn’t think that he meant this much to her, that she meant this much to him. Going to stand up, she was going to unlock the door and tell her that it was over. She couldn’t do it anymore.

But she couldn’t say anything. There was something preventing her from talking. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, that she wasn’t going to do it anymore. That she felt stupid for hurting him that way. But she couldn’t speak, like she’d lost her voice during the emotional duress. So she went to open the door to show him that she was okay, that she had given up the suicide attempt, but she couldn’t move. She’d been completely paralyzed, not even sure if she was breathing anymore. Her mind struggled to get her to move, to show her love, to mend his heart but she couldn’t do anything. She looked around with her eyes, not able to move her head at all and she thought she could see a purple light shining below her.

“I’ll come get your body in the morning…” Shadow spoke again, hearing him pushing off the door to walk back to his dorm. There was a bit of scratching on the door before she heard the distinct sound of him kissing it. Then, with a rap of his knuckles to signify his departure, he started his solemn walk back to his room.

“I love you!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, breaking out of her body-bind and jumping up. They both reached for the door as soon as they could. She unlocked the door and Shadow opened it, knocking Kimia over and the knife out of her hand. She fell to the floor and Shadow went after her to try to save her from the shock.

Letting out a slight groan, she was as compliant as possibly while he knelt down and moved her into his lap. He smiled, happy that she’d finally given in and let him into the room. Smiling weakly back at him, she reached up toward his face and stroked his tear-soaked cheek.

“Kimia…” he said fondly, drawing her as close to his chest as he could. The tears from his eyes were dripping freely from his chin onto her forehead. Cradling her, he fell silent. He couldn’t find any words that would have been suitable for the situation. He just knelt there with her in his lap, getting warmer and warmer from her body.

When she started to cough, he noticed something odd about her. She was a naturally pale person, but she definitely seemed colorless at this point. He sat her up to see if he could make her more comfortable when he saw what was wrong. There was blood all over his pants and the ground where she was. Taking a quick look at her back, he nearly passed out. The knife she was going to use sticking out of it at the most awkward angle he could have imagined.

When Kimia realized that Shadow had seen the knife, she rotated her body to face him. She’d never looked happier and he never looked sadder. Leaning forward, she kissed him with more heart than ever. Their hands barely touched the others, afraid of making a sudden movement and ruining the last moment they would ever have together.

“Kimia, we—“ she stopped him and put a gentle finger on his lips. It tore her heart in twain to see him sit there looking as helpless as he did. So she grabbed the knife and pulled it out as cleanly as she could of. Letting out a small scream, she played it off as he jerked forward to make sure she wasn’t going to die right then. Showing him the blade, she set it on the ground as she moved to lean into his chest.

“Just let it be.” She told him, closing her eyes and cuddling to his breast. He repositioned himself so he was leaning against her bed instead of sitting upright. Listening to her words, he simply ran his fingers through her hair, trying not to think of what he was going to do the next day. “I’ve never been happier.”

The thought, “I’ve never been sadder,” popped into his head, but he didn’t say it. He chose to let it be.

“I can’t think of a better way to leave this world.”

“I can’t think of a worse way to continue on in this world.”

“Being in your arms is better than I ever imagined.”

“Then why are you leaving them?”

“To be with you until the end.”

“I’ll reach the end and there will be no you.”

“My Angel…”

Her eyes were closed and her breathing very slow. Shadow was trying to keep from openly crying while she was still alive. He shifted his body, letting one of his wings unfold from its usually tight, to-his-back position. The wing length was awe-inspiring, no matter when you saw it. He brought it to full length and covered his love with its gentle embrace.

Nuzzling his chest, she looked up to his bright blue eyes and he looked down to her pale gray. There was understanding there that made all of Shadow’s feeble, self-pitying thoughts vanish. Leaning down and reaching up, they kissed again; the touch of their lips feeling like the end of life to both of them.

Kimia coughed again as she pulled away, this time bringing up blood. She collapsed to his body again and clung tightly until she didn’t have the strength any longer. Slowly, the grip she held on his bloody clothes lessened as the seconds went on. The nails that had threatened to puncture his skin backed off until he couldn’t feel them. Then, finally, he couldn’t feel her chest push against him every time she took a breath.

His hand flashed to his mouth and he started to cry again. Her blood was along his lips from her death cough. Playing with it a bit, he ran his fingers across his mouth to gather the garnet liquid. He brought it before his eyes and rubbed it between two fingers to know how it felt. He sniffed it quickly, taking little note of what most animals would call the most distinct scent in the world. Then he stuck out his tongue and smeared it across his taste buds. Immediately, it was like tasting copper. But as it sat there, he could taste sweet sugar, liquor and drugs. Her blood was full of what she did, who she was.

-

It wasn’t until days later when someone realized that Kimia was missing. Alerted by a girl delivering a message, the staff rushed to the room and found the door unlocked. What they found was a complete mess and blood was everywhere, some still wet but most dried. There was the obvious spot where Shadow had held Kimia until she died. Blood had congealed around that spot but there was no body in its place anymore. After a quick search of the room, they decided that it didn’t look like someone stole anything; the room had just been messy at the time of the event.

One of the staff found a note lying in the middle of the floor. He read it aloud for the other faculty that had shown up.

“If she killed herself, where did the body go?”

-

Shadow had left her when he departed, not seeing how he could take a body from one side of the school to the other without being conspicuous. When he made it back to his room, he stripped his clothes from his body and hung them in his closet, separating them from the rest of his white and black prim garments. He threw himself on his bed, naked for no one to see. His hands still had blood drying on them, as well as the occasional splotches on the rest of his body from what had gotten through his clothing.

His mind was a storm. His girlfriend had just died in his arms and it was his fault. It was a lot to bear, almost too much. He could only deal with it because it was told to him that it would happen. When he was born, a prophecy was told about him that would condemn him from the rest of his life.

“I hate you…” he said to no one but he had a thought in his mind. He didn’t know what he looked like, having had his memory altered. But his father was the source of his hatred. When he was given to the family that currently cares for him, they were given only bits of information. His name, he really was an angel, and what they needed to do with him.

And that his mother had died.

He glanced at his clock. 12:17am, September 17th, 2017. Could the time have mocked him anymore than it was?

-

Not being able to sleep, a few hours later he wandered around the school listlessly, dressed in a light blue pair of silken pajamas. The empty halls had been filled by the normal delinquents that inhabited the school at all hours of the day. He didn’t return to reality until he saw someone he was very familiar with. But as she got closer he noticed that it wasn’t who he thought it was. She was fuller, brighter, and more confident than the girl he knew so well.

Dressed in a pure black version of the school uniform, her clothes did their best to prevent showing off her more feminine parts. The skirt was regulation length, unlike most of the skirts actually worn in the school. Her blouse was intentionally baggy as to not feature parts hidden beneath. She sported thigh high socks that ended at the edge of her skirt and a pair of simple black heels. Her hair was a deep, rich red that hung down to her mid-back and piercing green eyes stared out at Shadow from down the hall.

“Kaydence,” he said with a slight bit of contempt. The girl had never liked him very much, even though he’d known her twin sister longer than she had. He’d taken the time to try and help her sister to fight off an oppressive father. But still, this girl, who claimed to be the grim reaper decided to frown upon him for whatever reason.

“Hello Shadow,” a graceful bow stopped her advance a few feet away from him. Dark circles were under her eyes, and she had a general look of dismay on her face. He decided not to make a note of it because of her previous attitudes toward him.

Waving a hand in front of her, he said, “Do you mind? I’m not in the mood to deal with your bullshit,” and he tried to move around her. She didn’t make a move after him; she even let him take a few steps away before she spoke to him.

“I had to take them to the other side,” her voice was solemn, none of its usual talk-down inflections.

Shadow stopped and made a half-turn toward the girl. “What do you mean, ‘them’?” he asked of her. His voice had also lost its normal charm, the normal sarcasm and narcissism.

“Kimia and Kalli,” she turned toward him as well. She’d started crying, and with how specific the path the tears were taking, it wasn’t the first time. “They died at the same time… Kalli had been looking for you all day. She wanted to apologize for the way she acted after you told her you had a girlfriend. Of course, I told her that she didn’t need to do such a thing, that you deserved everything bad you got after playing with her emotions like that. But she told me that you were the one who helped her even be able to express anger and sorrow like that, she wanted to do it anyway.”

The crying had gotten so bad by this time that she had to take a break and gather herself. Shadow felt no sympathy toward the grim reaper, wallowing in his own sorrow seems like the easier and better thing to do. He couldn’t empathize with her either, for he had no siblings let alone ones who died. But he had a friend die, and a lover die. Letting his emotions run the course without others getting in the way was his wish.

“What do you want from me?” his tone was helpless, his face revealing the pain that he was going through. But all she did was return the look with still tears in her eyes.

She took a few steps closer to him, slow and steady, like she was using all of her power just to stay on her feet. When she was close enough to breath on him, she drew her hands in front of her, sliding them along his stomach and chest before slipping them behind his neck and lacing her fingers. Laying her head on his collar, he could feel her warm tears press into his skin.

There she was, just as helpless as he felt. Reflex gave way and he placed a hand on the mid of her back. This was what she was looking for as she nuzzled in further to him, thankful to have the comfort.

They stood there in silence for a minute. A mourning woman hanging off a mourning man and neither of them were on the same wave length. His thoughts raced more coherently as she clung to him like it was for her life. After a moment more, he pressed his other hand on her side and pushed, gently removing her from the embrace she’d placed. “So, you shun me when I comfort your sister but when you need it, you put aside your scorn to feel better as well,” his voice was barely accusatory but it didn’t need to be. She got the message and let her hands drop away from his neck, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I can’t stand hypocrites.”

Composing herself again, she took a more dominate, confident stance to look at Shadow. Not feeling quite so inadequate anymore, she spoke. “Shadow… it’s not like that,” she started, trying to think of the words she wanted to confess to him. “I was jealous… I guess. You had a place in her heart that I couldn’t have, she wouldn’t give. I’d been watching her for a little while before you showed up, after our parents had passed away. The only reason I believed she was my sister was because she looked just like me, even as gaunt as she was. I did things to help her, though she never knew it was me. They were small but they helped her survive.”

Angel boy was doing his best not to spit in her face. She wanted to talk to him about jealousy now? Why couldn’t she have some respect for the grieving?

“But then you show up with your cocky attitude that immediately turns her away from you. Everything that her father warned her against was found in your personality. Even your angel wings turned her away, brainwashed beyond all compare by the bastard who controlled her,” her eyes were filling with tears, though her voice was void of them. Emotion ran high in her words, but it was all controlled. A bravo would have been awarded if Shadow had been in a better mood. “Lucky for her, she left her books in your company, so you had reason to see her again.”

“You sought her out the next day. And true to script, her father beat her for losing her books at the school and raped her because she wasn’t perfect,” it looked like she was going to be sick, picturing all of the images of her words. How it was like she was the one being pillaged and plundered, with her sister so much alike her. “Then you knew something was wrong, and not just because she couldn’t afford new clothes. The wounds were fresh and her flesh was sore. But she denied her father doing anything bad to her, saying he loved her more than you could know and saying she deserved whatever he gave her.”

“Then you gave her clothes, you gave her food. You confronted her father when he stormed into the school to get her and you showed her what it meant to stand up to someone. And when you abused her brainwashing, because she couldn’t refuse an order, you apologized to her afterwards. No beating, you didn’t even touch her. That brought a new emotion into her life, a true one which confused her. Gratitude. This made you irresistible to her and she did everything you wanted, order or no, because she found that she wanted to make you happy. And that made her happy. She started to disobey direct orders given to her by her father, pleased to receive the beating from saying no, because she was gaining herself back through those moments. Eventually, she even started to stay in her dorm room again, where she didn’t have to deal with her father everyday.”

“Through you she gained her will. Through you she did all of this within weeks while what I did in her life was next to useless compared to your deeds,” she sighed, looking up to Shadow with a pout on her face. “I hated you. You were so successful in an area that I wanted to rule at.”

With that he was done. He put up a silent finger to her and she quickly shut her mouth. “I don’t need to hear anymore of this,” he then put the finger to her chest and lightly pushed her back. She tipped slight but put her foot out to catch herself.

Moving her mouth, she tried to speak to him again but he wouldn’t have it. A wave of his hand and the turn of his back told her that his attention had been driven elsewhere and her time was up. Disheartened, she practiced a sunken posture and let him go, resigning her attempt to failure.

-

Not knowing what to do with himself, not with his friends dropping left and right around him, he did the only thing he knew he could do where he would not run into anyone he knew. It had kept him away from Kalli and Kimia for the entirety of the day before, though it helped him not. He attended his classes like a good student.

With little knowledge of half the classes he was in, at first it was tedious; his mind easily wandered to subjects more important which caused his emotions to run away high. But he put himself into his work, not letting himself think about anything until he figured out the next problem, found the next error, heard the next story. Then when he was done with that he’d automatically continue on to the next problem. After missing months of history, he had a lot of work in it to catch up on.

Thankful that he had a full day of classes that he could attend, he spent nine in the morning until six at night in classes; his mind in his studies instead of his social scene where he’d lost so much.

He retreated back to his dorm to continue work in his history class. He found the history to be more enjoyable to work on than the other things. It was work where he didn’t have to rely on himself to find out new things and progress with his work. But upon entrance to his comfortable abode he saw a girl that he hadn’t seen in almost two weeks.

“What do you want Miyu? Where’s Demos? Isn’t he with you?” he asked, throwing his backpack on his bed, normally filled with burritos but replaced with books.

Expressionless, she stood up from Demos’ bloody bed and took a few steps toward him. She was wearing her old red uniform, rather than the black one that he’d made her months before. A little put off by the fact, he didn’t push it since it was but a drop in a bucket of shit that had been poured on him.

-

When he’d met the girl months ago, she and Demos had been spending a lot of time together. Yukari, Demos’ girlfriend, hadn’t seen him in a while so Shadow just assumed that he’d been cheating on her. However, it became apparent that sex wasn’t their mutual interest. Miyu was a medium with a biography clouded and forgotten and she’d developed an interest in Demos’ eating habits. He took on the personalities of the different people that he fed on for a few days after the feeding. Frequently, he would go hungry so he wouldn’t end up with the personality of a bubbly-teenage girl or a homophobic, Nazi bastard.

With her powers, she came to the conclusion that Demos had been eating souls as well drinking blood. And that after a few days, the souls he ingested would be overcome by his demonic power and be eliminated. A vicious thought, really.

Returning to spending time with his friend, rather than his girlfriend, the three of them partook in adventures that were a bit more exciting then the mundane world of maintaining dysfunctional relationships. Encounters with Hanzo became routine as he transferred into the school. The fights that they held were lively, usually just Demos and Hanzo while Miyu and Shadow waited to the side for Demos to send his gay cousin back to where ever he went.

It didn’t take too many of the fights to start to bore the bystanders. When that happened, Shadow joined the fray, making Hanzo flee quicker and his appearances less frequent.

Miyu spent the night in the boys’ room often; it was rare when she left both of their presences. She woke Shadow up one morning and took him from his room. Quite insistent on that he leave then, he didn’t make too much fuss when he saw that it was only three. When she didn’t wake Demos to take him with them, he grew worried and his weary feeling left his body. Not even with the time to put on proper clothes, he was taken from his room almost forcefully in his blue, silken pajama pants.

Pressing a fragile finger to a stone next to one of the boys’ bathrooms, the wall opened up. Showing them darkness, Shadow was hesitant to enter. Not deterring the small girl, she took his hand and brought him into unknown territory.

The hallway was pitch black and damp. He ran into cloud by cloud of spider webs and swears that he stepped on a rat. It seemed to take forever, as his paranoia told him the time, before he reached the light at the end of the tunnel. He was certainly surprised when he did reach it though. Opening out into a chamber pale purple chamber, the only thing other than pale tile was the platform in the middle of the room. Considering the hallway he went through to get there, he couldn’t get over that it was the cleanest place he’d seen next to his room.

Miyu walked out to the platform and placed a small hand on it. Angel boy followed her until she climbed onto it. He stayed his distance as this incredibly tiny girl took center stage and spun around, her skirt flaring out while she was smiling at him. It was the girliest that she’d ever acted around him and if his paranoia wasn’t bad all ready, it was reaching his peak.

Her head dropped suddenly with the rest of her body still erect. Shadow completely paused, not sure what he was going to do in the room with Miyu acting so strange. Thoughts of fleeing rode rampant through his mind before Miyu’s head rose, revealing pale, cold eyes to the angel. He was paralyzed by her gaze, not able to move with all of his power. The girl’s lips trembled and perspiration started to fall down her soft cheeks. Shadow couldn’t breathe watching her; he couldn’t break the contact between their eyes.

Then she fell, crumpling to the ground and making as much noise as possible for one so small. His paralysis was broken and he ran to the edge of the stage, ready to hop up on top of it to see if she was okay.

His hands had only but touched the stage when an image appeared above the girl. She was a shining white light above the fallen form of Miyu. With blue hair and blue eyes, she was adorned in a simple, pure white dress with nothing else on. She looked even more delicate than the conscious-less body beneath her ethereal form.

She spoke first in a language he didn’t understand, though it was but one word before she switched to English.

“My son…” she said, looking down at him fondly. This certainly was an interesting experience. He couldn’t remember his mother; he didn’t even know her name. There was no way for him to confirm that the form before him was indeed related to him.

“How you’ve grown in these years… how your father betrayed you shows well on your body,” her smile was reflected in happy tears from his eyes. Even if he couldn’t prove it with his mind, in his heart he believed and would take her word.

Lowering to the platform, she made a significant show with her wings as she ‘touched’ the floor. Then she bent to her knees and slid so she rested on her hip, her hand propping her up. “I should introduce myself properly before talking to someone who doesn’t even know who I am,” her words lit a warm smile in heart.

Holding out her hand, she waited for him to take it. He was shocked to find out he didn’t have to pretend to hold it. It was like she was really there. Her image was hollow but her touch was as real as he was standing on the earth. “Kiloen is what they called me in life. Your mother is was they called me in death. The dead Angel wife of your father means nothing to them other than I am your mother.”

Nodding, he signaled that he understood. She slid her legs from under her and let them hang off the edge of the stage. Taking her hand back, her face lost its previous bliss and took on a more serious turn.

“Sadly, I am not here to visit you on good terms,” she used the word that he didn’t recognize again. “Reminding you of your fate is what the Void has allowed me to do, so I could see you one more time before fate claims your soul.”

Her words were confusing; he wasn’t sure what she meant. The Void meant nothing but vast emptiness in his mind and yet she was telling him that it was allowing her to do something for him. Before fate, a predestined plan, took him away.

“I’m sure you don’t remember anymore. But when you were born, they told of a story of you,” she started. “Referred to as a prophecy by most, it said, When birthday Seventeen reaches the body of the Child of Chaos, he will be unique no longer. Friendship will die by this Chaos and all love will perish through misdeed. And all knew that this would come true. It was the last prophecy the God of Insight uttered before his death.”

Now he didn’t understand. The words went in one ear and out of the other. How did the Child of Chaos refer to him?

Her response to his look was silvery laughter. She reached a hand out and fondly caressed his cheek. “All will come to light when it needs to dear,” then she planted a sweet kiss on his other. “How I’ve missed you in these years. How many millennia has it been since I felt your skin.”

The figurative speech she used made him blush. Her flattery was far better than any of the crap he spewed to girls, and she was his mother.

“Mother…” he said, the word new to his tongue. He nuzzled into her hand before bringing her into his arms. “I love you. I’ve never known you, but I love you all the same.”

Just like a mother, she comforted her son as his emotions took hold of his body. “Ah, what your father has done to you.” Yet something else he didn’t know what she meant. She only spoke in riddles. “You know me. In your heart, you knew who I was as soon as I spoke. Never forget that you were not born when you were ten and when that strange man gave you to whom you know now as your parents. You lived before then, more than know and you know not how hard it is going to be to realize it,” she told him.

Then she left his embrace, standing back up on the stage. They looked at each other, their bright blue eyes connecting to relay words unspoken. When he looked in her eyes, his mind knew that she was his mother. Her eyes were a purer color than he’d ever seen before. Except in his own.

“Leaving mother?” he asked, knowing what her answer would be. It seemed suitable to him though, letting her go mutually instead of pining for her presence.

“I must,” she replied, knowing that her son had resigned to losing his mother again. She was as proud as a parent could have been in a child. He’d become mature enough to handle such confusion with grace. “You are certainly not your fathers’ son.”

“Thank you,” he said, giving Kiloen a formal bow, deep enough to show her the back of his neck.

Bringing the back of her hand to her mouth, she laughed. “Oh, darling,” then she curtsied before him. “That isn’t something I would get into the habit of doing if I were you.”

Spreading her wings out again, she showed off the fact that they were every bit as big as his, despite her petite frame. She gave one powerful flap of them, pushing her off of the ground. She set herself back above Miyu with a spin, tucking her wings away, just like Shadow did.

“The Void is pleased that you’ll return home soon. It looks forward to the path you’ll carve when you get there,” she told him as she sunk back down into Miyu. He let her go wordlessly, as she fit her transparent image into the body of unconscious girl. When they were molded perfectly, Kiloen muttered the foreign word again before her shining image was consumed by Miyu’s solid form.

Shadow waited a moment for Miyu to get back up and they could leave. But it became apparent that she wasn’t going to be moving any time soon. Grabbing her wrists, he slid her to the edge where he could put the girl on his back and take her out.

As he sat her up and set her limp body so he could piggy back carry her out of the hidden room, his dealing with his mother ran through his head. “Child of Chaos…” he murmured. “I won’t be unique anymore… friendship will die by this Chaos… and all love will perish through misdeed.”

Throwing Miyu’s arms around his neck, he grabbed her legs and pulled her as close to his body as he could get her. Then he bent his knees and did a little jump so the bulk of her weight would be moved down to his waist. He wasn’t in any rush to leave as he exited the clean room into the filthy hallway.

“The Void…” he spoke to himself, happy he wasn’t running into nearly as many cobwebs and spider webs. “I should have asked her what that was…”

He could see the door at the end of the hallway; it seemed a lot shorter when the possibility of him being killed at the end of it was lowered to its usual place.

“My birthday… this is all going to happen on my birthday.”

-

“I haven’t seen you in two weeks, what do you want now?”

-

A/N: I love this story, and I've been trying to make this story for years. Literally years, and I've finally gotten good enough to do it. However, this doesn't mean I'm perfect at it yet. I am desperate for real critiques of this story, things you think I should change so I can make this story better. This is the second edit of this story I've done, one on my own and then the other using the helpful critiques of friends Kyle, Maeryn, Brittany and others. If it makes you feel better, please tell me the good things about the story too, so I can improve on those as well or make sure I don't change them.

But, there is one thing I don't want. Critique's on things that can be further explained via me posting the next couple chapters . What Kiloen's foreign word is, who Demos and Yukari are, why Kalli killed herself, why Kimia and Shadow are in a relationship if she's so fucked up, why an angel is named Shadow are a few examples off the top of my head.

Just keep that in mind and have fun reading