A coin, twisting infinitely in empty space, suspended weightlessly over an endless pool of water by an invisible thread of energy. Light flashed off of it, shining brightly for instants as the coin spun. First one face glowed white, then the other. The coin spun on infinitely, until the thread was cut, and it splashed into the water, falling through the darkness and cold until it reached the bottom. There was no one to see which side faced up, so it didn't matter. Tokyo Babylon: Endings With eyes of pain, and hurt, and rage, Subaru Sumeragi made one last effort to change Destiny. Calming all that he was, he took the pure, raw energy that made his individual self, his ego, his self-conciousness, and held it in his hands. Only one thing could stop him now, and that one thing could not, would not, happen. It was Foreordained. Seishirou Sakurazuka watched his enemy from behind an impassionate eye. Subaru-kun was no match for him; he was bleeding and defeated, and crumpled to his knees. "Give up, Subaru-kun," he said. "You've lost to me again. When will you understand that you cannot win?" "Never," Subaru replied in a harsh, cracked voice. He struggled to his feet once more, hands held out before him. Seishirou mentally shrugged to himself; so he would kill Subaru-kun. It wasn't as if this ending had not been forseen. Seishirou stepped forward, then stopped as a white sphere of light began to glow and expand in Subaru's hands. This was unexpected; what was happening? Like an Angel of Death or Mercy, Subaru smiled softly, a smile Seishirou remembered from many years before. It was a smile of caring, and trust, and innocence. The growing light in his hands seemed to wipe away the marks of blood, of age, of weariness and sorrow. A wind from nowhere sprang up and ruffled Subaru's hair. What was happening? "For my sister..." said Subaru weakly, feeling his soul draining out of his body into the light he held. It was becoming more and more difficult to hold onto the mortal envelope that had held him for as long as he could remember. "For Destiny.... For those who reap the rewards and curses of past lives.... For the chance of Salvation...." With the last bit of hold he had over the shape that had housed his soul for so long, Subaru moved forward, towards Seishirou-san. The light that touched him burned through Seishirou. But he couldn't move away. Something was wrong with this, horribly, terribly, wrong. Something was tearing through his beliefs, his conciousness, tearing away all that he was. The light was hurting him, but.... a voice whispered painfully through his mind. "I... am... Sakurazukamori..." he answered through teeth gritted against the wrenching pain. the voice roared through his mind in a whisper that shook the world. Seishirou cried out as the voice ripped through his mind and tore into his very beliefs of self. A cutting wind of pain shredded his body's nerves, bringing him to his knees. "Subaru-kun..." he said pleadingly, looking up at the young man who suddenly seemed to tower over him. Subaru's eyes were vacant, and he looked absently at Seishirou. the voice asked, "Who are *you*?!" Seishirou demanded. "Why are you doing this, Subaru-kun?! You're destroying my *mind*!!" the voice asked him. The one who identified itself as Subaru now knew its only purpose, its sole reason to stay in this plane any longer, was the one who identified himself as Seishirou Sakurazuka, or Sakurazukamori. By one act of holiness, by waking another soul to the light, Subaru would find itself redeemed for everything. And then, it could let go of the illusiory mortal plane. It burned through the mind of Sakurazuka, tearing away everything that it could find of Sakurazukamori, ripping away a lifetime of existance, of development. It knew pain, the pain it had suffered at the loss of its sister, and repented of acts it must have committed in another life to deserve the loss. It would not allow Seishirou Sakurazuka to suffer the same pain in another incarnation. The screams of pain, of injury, were emphereal, and would pass. The lasting renewal and chance for redemption would not. Subaru thought, finally reaching the core, the small part of Seishirou that was utterly untainted by Sakurazukamori. With gentle spiritual hands, it pulled the rips it had made in Sakurazukamori's existance wider, and wider still, destroying it, pulling Seishirou to the fore, out of the trampled remains of Sakurazukamori. Subaru smiled to itself, and prepared to fade from this plane of conciousness. As it tried, it found it could not. "Help me, Subaru-kun," Seishirou choked. "Please... help me." A single tear traced down his cheek. "I'm sorry, Subaru-kun. For... everything...." Seishirou did not expect Subaru to move, to reply. Subaru found himself back in his own body, unexpected after he had nearly followed his twin's path to the divine. He looked at his hands curiously, not sure for a second quite what they were for. Then his vision focused past his hands. Seishirou-san... crying? Subaru knelt down on the ground, his hand lightly touching Seishirou's shoulder. "Seishirou-san?" Seishirou looked up at him, single good eye filled with pain, a lost soul. "Help me... Subaru-kun..." he whispered. "Who am I?" Subaru hesitated. So many years of hunting Seishirou... and now that was lost. As was Sakurazukamori. Both purposes, gone. No more death, no more hurt, no more pain.... Subaru's emerald eyes looked at Seishirou, holding a touch of divine retribution, and another of divine forgiveness. "You are Seishirou Sakurazuka," he answered quietly. "You are... my friend." ********* *ahem* If anyone wonders about the influences on this piece, I've been studying Buddhism recently (confusing religion, that... 'bout as much so as Christianity) and that somehow worked itself into a "Seishirou's redemption" story. As for the coin bit at the beginning... that was pure me.