Sara’s body convulsed violently and an unhealthy black stain spread quickly, tracing her veins in sharp relief against her tanned skin. She must’ve taken too much. There were no two ways about it. Her limbs twitched and jerked, completely beyond her control. In fact, she was only in command of a few muscles—mainly those around her eyes that widened in a combination of shock, pain, and fear. Then her eyes rolled back into her head, stark white showing were her irises should have been. A line of foam, tinged pink with diluted blood, trickled from her mouth while a much darker crimson drop fell from her nose.
The odd thing was, she hadn’t used any more of Jes’s shadow that usual. It was a pity she hadn’t realized it had been building up in her system, clogging her veins with dark particles. Her system was thoroughly infected. On a different soul the damage might not have been nearly as bad or as noticeable, but Sara’s was a stained soul, marred by mental instability, addiction, insatiable hunger, and sorrow. It had been only too easy for the Shadows to cling to these stains and infest her body. This reaction was merely the result of one shot too many.
The Shadows were consuming her bit by bit. Soon they would overshadow her soul and turn her into some dark thing—something empty and completely soulless—much worse than any hollow.
And at this point, there was very little she—or anyone else—could do to reverse the process. Sara’s consciousness was only a passenger, a bystander in her own skin, helpless to prevent her soul from dropping into darkness and fading away completely. With no command of the muscles in her throat, she couldn’t call her zanpaku-to, couldn’t invoke Belial, couldn’t even scream.
Falling. She closed her eyes.
Sinking. Was her breath coming slower?
Drowning. I would’ve wanted to see her one last time.
Never got to tell her…
How much I—
No. Different voice. Different mind. Sara was all but gone, psyche so corrupted by shadow that there was no point at which her own being ended and the creeping shadows began. She was entirely assimilated and entirely beyond saving, but she was only a very small fraction of a whole soul. Even if her life was lost, there were a thousand other lives that lived on in the same soul. Together they were more than human—the angel Rhyelle. Beyond mortality and beyond the stains that had destroyed Sara so completely.
Still, the Shadows were strong. There was no particular thread to anchor Rhyelle’s soul to this life and it seemed all too easy to give in and let herself be pulled away. There was nothing left for her in this world. For the first time, she could see the allure of withdrawing completely from the human concepts of time that so captivated mortals. Most of the angels had withdrawn before humans had a complete comprehension of time. Rhyelle was among the few left, continually reincarnated into different bodies and living out her lives as she saw fit. But even an angel’s lifespan runs down. Rhia Kuchiki should have been—was always meant to be—the last and the very strongest. Rhyelle saw that now. She also understood Sara for what she was—merely an extension of Rhia’s emotions. Sara was Rhia’s passion and sorrow forcing its way into existence.
Something born of sorrow wasn’t long for this world. The Shadows were proving that now.
But thinking of Sara—of Rhia’s pain—was enough to remind Rhyelle of why Sara had forced herself into existence to begin with. Rhia might have been depressed enough to intentionally lose a fight to Triox, but there was nothing in this world or the next that could have dimmed her feelings for Feiy. She remembered very acutely the feelings of loneliness that had plagued her while Feiy had been away, the same feelings that had eventually driven her to her death.
I shouldn’t have died. I shouldn’t have let myself die. What it did to her…
She recalled Feiy’s last moments, remembered how much it had broken her heart to see Feiy die. But maybe she’d deserved that. After all, Feiy had committed suicide partially on her account. That was exactly why she had an obligation to remain in this life. By some miracle, Feiy’s soul had chosen to remain with Sara even beyond death. It was up to Rhyelle to protect that soul until such a time as it chose to be reborn. Even if that took an eternity, Rhia would always, always wait.
So to hell with dying.
Sara’s inert body began to glow. It was a soft luminescence at first, barely a play of light in the air, but it grew stronger. The Shadow that stained her skin became gradually more translucent, overcome by the sheer light that it seemed her skin could barely hold. And still the glow grew stronger, taking on the white-blue that had always marked Rhia’s powers. Eventually it had grown to obscure Sara’s whole form.
Within but unseen, the Shadows were being burned away. They receded, eaten up by light and obliterated from Rhia’s soul. Sara, the volatile mix of Rhia’s powerful emotion for Feiy, was cleansed, purified, and resettled with the rest of the soul.
The figure that picked itself up when the light had winked out bore a resemblance to Sara, of course. She had the same golden-tanned tones to her skin, the same dark, chocolate brown eyes, but the expression was different. The curls that framed her small face were shaped differently and had exchanged the darker browns of Sara’s hair for the golden-brown main that had been so particular to Rhia. The scars that had marred the right half of Sara’s face were gone, exchanged for long, shiny pink scars that blended with the skin of her forearms and extended from her wrists to the crease of her elbow.
It was Rhia who stood now, one hand resting lightly not on Tougenkyou but on an older, more powerful blade: Seikka noh Shirakeiji. Apocalypse Lullabye. Rhia took a breath and broad, black and gold-brindled wings burst from her shoulder blades, extending fully to their 13-foot wingspan. She shook them out, flexing muscle and sinew that hadn’t been used in quite some time. That was sweet of the angels—they had returned her lost right wing. She felt more complete for it, prepared for whatever lay ahead of her, reborn in a way—a true angel once more.
The familiar seven voices were back in her head. Seven hell butterflies swirled around her as though greeting an old friend. No—eight. The eighth remained close to her, not joining in the frolicking seven but rather keeping close to Rhia, lighting on a proffered hand. Rhia recognized it immediately as Feiy.
“So where to, love?” She asked the fragile creature, smiling sadly. She pulled her hand back and tossed the butterfly into the air. It took wing, spiraling upwards and Rhia lept after it, snapping her wings out and sweeping them downwards. She rose higher, butterflies swirling after her like a living scarf. Her wings carried her fast and true, and soon she was no more than a speck against the pale moon.
And then her spiritual pressure winked out and she was gone.
((Fin: Rhia now lives a reclusive, nomadic life on Earth. Although she will appear from time to time to aid the shinigami should they require it, she won’t be around very often. The first country she’s heading to is Guatemala—Feiy’s birthplace. Eventually she’ll visit India and England… And pretty much wherever she chooses. I’ll be stopping very briefly on Earth if anyone wants a bit of a chat, but after that, my visits will be infrequent at best. On the other hand, should certain events occur, she will be back. See you all around ^^))
The odd thing was, she hadn’t used any more of Jes’s shadow that usual. It was a pity she hadn’t realized it had been building up in her system, clogging her veins with dark particles. Her system was thoroughly infected. On a different soul the damage might not have been nearly as bad or as noticeable, but Sara’s was a stained soul, marred by mental instability, addiction, insatiable hunger, and sorrow. It had been only too easy for the Shadows to cling to these stains and infest her body. This reaction was merely the result of one shot too many.
The Shadows were consuming her bit by bit. Soon they would overshadow her soul and turn her into some dark thing—something empty and completely soulless—much worse than any hollow.
And at this point, there was very little she—or anyone else—could do to reverse the process. Sara’s consciousness was only a passenger, a bystander in her own skin, helpless to prevent her soul from dropping into darkness and fading away completely. With no command of the muscles in her throat, she couldn’t call her zanpaku-to, couldn’t invoke Belial, couldn’t even scream.
Falling. She closed her eyes.
Sinking. Was her breath coming slower?
Drowning. I would’ve wanted to see her one last time.
Never got to tell her…
How much I—
No. Different voice. Different mind. Sara was all but gone, psyche so corrupted by shadow that there was no point at which her own being ended and the creeping shadows began. She was entirely assimilated and entirely beyond saving, but she was only a very small fraction of a whole soul. Even if her life was lost, there were a thousand other lives that lived on in the same soul. Together they were more than human—the angel Rhyelle. Beyond mortality and beyond the stains that had destroyed Sara so completely.
Still, the Shadows were strong. There was no particular thread to anchor Rhyelle’s soul to this life and it seemed all too easy to give in and let herself be pulled away. There was nothing left for her in this world. For the first time, she could see the allure of withdrawing completely from the human concepts of time that so captivated mortals. Most of the angels had withdrawn before humans had a complete comprehension of time. Rhyelle was among the few left, continually reincarnated into different bodies and living out her lives as she saw fit. But even an angel’s lifespan runs down. Rhia Kuchiki should have been—was always meant to be—the last and the very strongest. Rhyelle saw that now. She also understood Sara for what she was—merely an extension of Rhia’s emotions. Sara was Rhia’s passion and sorrow forcing its way into existence.
Something born of sorrow wasn’t long for this world. The Shadows were proving that now.
But thinking of Sara—of Rhia’s pain—was enough to remind Rhyelle of why Sara had forced herself into existence to begin with. Rhia might have been depressed enough to intentionally lose a fight to Triox, but there was nothing in this world or the next that could have dimmed her feelings for Feiy. She remembered very acutely the feelings of loneliness that had plagued her while Feiy had been away, the same feelings that had eventually driven her to her death.
I shouldn’t have died. I shouldn’t have let myself die. What it did to her…
She recalled Feiy’s last moments, remembered how much it had broken her heart to see Feiy die. But maybe she’d deserved that. After all, Feiy had committed suicide partially on her account. That was exactly why she had an obligation to remain in this life. By some miracle, Feiy’s soul had chosen to remain with Sara even beyond death. It was up to Rhyelle to protect that soul until such a time as it chose to be reborn. Even if that took an eternity, Rhia would always, always wait.
So to hell with dying.
Sara’s inert body began to glow. It was a soft luminescence at first, barely a play of light in the air, but it grew stronger. The Shadow that stained her skin became gradually more translucent, overcome by the sheer light that it seemed her skin could barely hold. And still the glow grew stronger, taking on the white-blue that had always marked Rhia’s powers. Eventually it had grown to obscure Sara’s whole form.
Within but unseen, the Shadows were being burned away. They receded, eaten up by light and obliterated from Rhia’s soul. Sara, the volatile mix of Rhia’s powerful emotion for Feiy, was cleansed, purified, and resettled with the rest of the soul.
The figure that picked itself up when the light had winked out bore a resemblance to Sara, of course. She had the same golden-tanned tones to her skin, the same dark, chocolate brown eyes, but the expression was different. The curls that framed her small face were shaped differently and had exchanged the darker browns of Sara’s hair for the golden-brown main that had been so particular to Rhia. The scars that had marred the right half of Sara’s face were gone, exchanged for long, shiny pink scars that blended with the skin of her forearms and extended from her wrists to the crease of her elbow.
It was Rhia who stood now, one hand resting lightly not on Tougenkyou but on an older, more powerful blade: Seikka noh Shirakeiji. Apocalypse Lullabye. Rhia took a breath and broad, black and gold-brindled wings burst from her shoulder blades, extending fully to their 13-foot wingspan. She shook them out, flexing muscle and sinew that hadn’t been used in quite some time. That was sweet of the angels—they had returned her lost right wing. She felt more complete for it, prepared for whatever lay ahead of her, reborn in a way—a true angel once more.
The familiar seven voices were back in her head. Seven hell butterflies swirled around her as though greeting an old friend. No—eight. The eighth remained close to her, not joining in the frolicking seven but rather keeping close to Rhia, lighting on a proffered hand. Rhia recognized it immediately as Feiy.
“So where to, love?” She asked the fragile creature, smiling sadly. She pulled her hand back and tossed the butterfly into the air. It took wing, spiraling upwards and Rhia lept after it, snapping her wings out and sweeping them downwards. She rose higher, butterflies swirling after her like a living scarf. Her wings carried her fast and true, and soon she was no more than a speck against the pale moon.
And then her spiritual pressure winked out and she was gone.
((Fin: Rhia now lives a reclusive, nomadic life on Earth. Although she will appear from time to time to aid the shinigami should they require it, she won’t be around very often. The first country she’s heading to is Guatemala—Feiy’s birthplace. Eventually she’ll visit India and England… And pretty much wherever she chooses. I’ll be stopping very briefly on Earth if anyone wants a bit of a chat, but after that, my visits will be infrequent at best. On the other hand, should certain events occur, she will be back. See you all around ^^))
