"Ryuu!" I screamed racing at Asa. "Bring him back! He's dying! HE needs me!" I knew I sounded like a crazy person, but I didn't care about that. All I cared about was finding Ryuu and fixing him. I stopped. "I need to go get supplies first. Then I'll go find him."
I was aware of Rina freaking out behind me, but I was too preoccupied with my own problems to help her. Someone else could come to her rescue. Turning, I was ready to walk into the house, but suddenly, Elle was standing in front of me.
"Elle, what are you doing, you saw what Asa did to Ryuu. I have to help him," I told her and started to push passed her, but she held up a gun and aimed it at me. I frowned. "What are you doing? I don't have time for your games."
"This isn't a game, Em. This is serious. Ryuu was right. You need to die to get to the next phase of the training. I went through it, and now you're going to have to do it. The difference, I had to do this alone, scared. You at least get Asa and I to help you through it." She looked up at me, and I saw no hesitation.
"Is there any part of the old Elle in there?"I asked. "You're like a whole different person."
"That's the point of the training," Elle said before she pulled the trigger, the bullet pierced through my chest, hitting me square in the chest. I hardly had a second to react when I fell backwards into a dark abyss I hadn't ever known before.
I was reaching up for something to hold onto. But, I kept falling. Ryuu. Where was he right now? Was he scared? Was he in pain? Did he miss me? Was he...? No. I wouldn't think like that. He was alive and waiting for me. Wherever he was. I was going to find him and everything would be okay.
Suddenly, a door appeared in front of me. I somehow knew it was meant for me. But, I also somehow knew Ryuu wasn't behind it. I backed away from it, turning to find another door, a window, an opening. Something. The pain in my chest was getting worse and worse. But, I refused to die before I reached Ryuu.
I hoped the others would be okay. I felt terribly for abandoning them, but without Ryuu, my mind would be elsewhere, and I'd have been more of a liability than an asset.
A light caught my eye, and as I looked harder, I realized it was coming from a door, but this door was different than the other. I knew this was it. What I wanted. But, as I pushed on it, the pain became too much and it was all I could do to keep from falling away from the door. Instead, I just fell into it and hoped when I opened my eyes again, I'd be in the arms of Ryuu.
*~*~*
A hand was running through my hair, soothing me. I reached up to touch the arm. The fingers that graced my forehead were smooth and thin, the hand small. The arm was small and delicate. Opening my eyes in confusion, it took me a moment to focus.
The eyes that stared down at me were gentle and kind. I pushed out away from those eyes, those all too familiar eyes. This couldn’t be real. My mother was dead. But, if I was seeing her, then apparently, so was I…. No, this couldn’t be happening. I hadn’t even found Ryuu yet.
“Honey, relax. Everything is going to be just fine. It’s all part of your training. You aren’t going to stay in this state forever. Just until you realize your true potential,” she was at my side, rubbing my back and smoothing the hair across my face.
I leaned into her. “Are you really here?” I hugged her for the first time in years. I hadn’t even realized how much I had missed it. How much I had missed her since I had been kicked out. Realizing that she had let my father disown me, I let go and moved away from her. “You don’t really love me. You let father kick me out of the family. You just stood there and let it happen.”
“I fought him on his decision for months. I never stopped missing you. I had hoped you had known how much I loved you, that I couldn’t go against your father and his family. I died of a broken heart. You were my only child. Honey, I was scared; I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice. And you didn’t choose me.”
“I made a mistake. One that I will forever regret. But, I want to make it right.”
“You can’t. Too late.” I stood up and took in my surroundings. We were in a black abyss. “Where are we?” There was no light other than what was originating from us.
"You missed your door and instead are floating in between time and space. We need to get you to Ryuu. That's where you really want to be." It wasn't a question but a statement. My mother floated up and spread her arms. She vanished and a door stood in her place. I hesitated for a moment but I knew she was helping me.
*~*~*
Emiko's Mother's POV
I was going to show her the way to her beloved. I knew it was the only way to make things right between us. Nothing would ever make things completely okay, but I was gonna try like hell to fix as much as I could. What mother wouldn't do the same.
Suddenly, Emiko froze in her place. Asa, Ryuu's father appeared at her side, and I rushed down to face him. He was not going to get in the way of this.
"Akane, you know she can't go to Ryuu," Asa told me.
"I know no such thing," I insisted, crossing my arms across my chest and giving him my best mom glare. "They are in love, surely even one such as you can see that. Love is a power in and of itself. At one point, you knew that."
"That love is going to get one of them killed. Caring about someone in the heat of battle will only cost them their lives. You know as well as I do how hard it is to lose those most precious to you."
"And I'm also aware of how much love can bring out the best in ourselves and those we share that love with."
"No. I refuse to allow her to conflict with Ryuu's training. He needs to be without her."
"And I refuse to allow you to separate them. They are soulmates, or haven't you sensed that about them yet?"
He frowned in response, clearly he had been too blinded by his own pride to see Emiko as anything more than an annoyance to Ryuu's training.
"Give them a chance. And if it doesn't work out, then by all means, send her away. Lord knows she needs the training on her own, too. But, I'm telling you these two will make magic."
~.~.~.~
Emiko's POV
I rushed through the doorway my mother had left me, and I practically fell into Ryuu's arms. "You're alive!" I cried into his arms.
I put my hand on the back of his neck and pulled his lips down to meet mine. I hadn't kissed this new Ryuu yet. And I loved it even more than before. I was acutely aware of his muscles brushing up against me, of his hands holding me tightly.
I could get used to this.
Continue?
Hope this okay!
