Desire OCT: Tainted Reflection

Traveling downward in the well, slowly moving further into the darkness beneath him, Suoh tried to concentrate on nothing else except climbing down. The soft clanging of metal against his geta helped to ease his distraught thoughts, purge away the smirking face that plagued his mind. It seemed his presence would always haunt him, no matter where he was. Especially now that he awaited his wish, hoping that the terrible journey would soon end. Just for one moment, the warrior wished he could have peace at mind.

But the blue haired man’s efforts were in vain as he pictured his past opponents, and saw their pained and lost faces. Lyle… Shuei…
  
Suoh shut his eyes at the thought. He realized, coming out of his fight with Lyle, that there was no way of leaving this wish business with a cleansed mind. He swore, leaving that chamber, that he would continue onto his wish so that defeating him would not be in vain. But to meet Shuei, to dare mistake him for a demon, to stab him and hurt him in such a way? How much more pain must he inflict before he gained his wish? How much more blood did he have to spill before the ever continuing trial was completed?

A shudder ran down his spine at the thought of his brothers seeing him now. He was only shambles of the man he used to be, the one Hoji and Haku used to look up to. Suoh used to be so proud to see their dazzled expressions, their eyes filled with admiration as he fought past every goal that stood in his way.  

Especially Hoji, Suoh remembered with a pang of sorrow. He missed the days when his little brother was always three steps behind him, following him wherever he went. Hoji even cried the day the eldest brother left to train in the academy so one day he could accomplish his father’s dreams. The swordsman could not imagine him as a fighter, but his siblings both followed in his footsteps, training for the same future as him.  

Haku admired him, but Hoji depended on his older brother. Almost as if he needed him as a foundation, a necessary presence in his life.

And now look at him! His clothes were a mess, far from the noble he once was. He dishonored his family name and had no way to redeem himself, trapped within the false exile set upon him. He could never admit to anyone his love for Daisuke, knowing that would soil his reputation even further. And now, on top of it all, he was shamefully hurting innocent people to attain his selfish goals. It would destroy them to see Suoh now.

The journey down the wall was quicker than he imagined. Lost in his thoughts, Suoh nearly missed as his foot stepped onto the new floor, nearly falling over at the sudden change. Steadying himself, the warrior let go of the ladder as he took some time to adjust to the lighting. It was not pitch black as the other tunnels before this point, a vague light barely illuminated the tunnel before him. Placing his hand on the hilt of his katana, the swordsman kept his ear out for anything suspicious while he slowly made his way down the only path left for him.

Something was suspicious about this underground tunnel, even more than the other chambers. The rough, cobbled walls were arranged in brickwork that continued on the floor as well, but what kind of stone it was made of Suoh could not make out. Upon closer observation, a shinny, glossy residue covered the walls, and with a run of his finger he found it was also strangely sticky. It had no scent, so he simply wiped it against his hakama before glancing back.

As he looked closer at the wall, Suoh found something else rather abnormal in the stonework. Marks of different style and variety covered the walls and, with a closer observation, the floor underneath his feet. No, not just any markings… they were hand prints, pressing against the stone from outside. Some were simple indents similar to a hand print of ink on paper, but others clawed at the walls, as if in anger or desperation.

First the missing faces except for a woman, a burned down village from long ago, and now this?

Deciding to move on, the warrior continued down the tunnel as he lingered on those thoughts. Obviously there was a deeper meaning to all of these chambers, Suoh knew that much. They were all connected, perhaps even telling the story of this other world. The many burnt off faces could have been the ones who died in the village. The hand prints on the wall could have been theirs. The ruined village and the claw marks was all that was left of their existence in this world.

But there was one person still recognizable. Suoh cursed to himself for not paying more attention at the time at the painting; he could not remember her face. The woman must have been important, yet he was distracted by Lyle’s arrival to examine further. Was she the one who grants the wish? Or someone else? 
 
And how did the reoccurring angel statue tie into all of this?

Suoh reached the end of the peculiar tunnel as he pushed away his thoughts. The tunnel had not opened out to another chamber, simply ending with the bricked up wall a few feet away. Standing before the wall, though, was yet another angel statue with another variation. The beautiful figure was painted in brilliant colors, almost garish compared to the location. It’s pale skin reflected off its golden locks, though the only disfiguring left was the gouged out eyes.  

In its hands, the angel no longer carried a chalice. Instead it carried a small bowl which definitely could not carry the same amount of blood as last time. Glancing around, Suoh tried to find the book which normally gave the instructions. It was not until he had stepped away that the warrior finally noted words carved into the brick floor.

Kneeling down to get a closer look, Suoh was able to read in the same scatched writing,

“Angels cannot decide, angels cannot bleed, angels cannot cry. He who gives me tears shall move forward.”

“Tears?” Suoh whispered aloud, confused. Compared to last time, this seemed almost petty a price. To take away someone’s free will, to drain someone of their blood till it filled a chalice… those seemed much more substantial than a few tears.  

What was the worth of spilling a few tears, other than making a man cry? Try as he might, the swordsman could not find the answers to his own questions.

He decided it would be a better idea to examine the area closer. As he shifted his head to look around the angel statue, noticing the same ladder against the wall behind the statue, a sting a pain erupted from his shoulder. Suoh had forgotten about his wound from his last battle, with the guilt weighing down on him and driving him to leave, before he decided to linger and help the child. Kneeling down, the warrior pulled back the sleeve of his kimono to examine the wound, wincing as he pulled the stained fabric that clung to his skin away.  

It was not a deep wound, it was not bleeding profusely, but wrapping it before it got infected would be the smartest idea. Taking off his happi, Suoh grabbed his knife from it’s sheathe and cut a clean, long strip of cloth from the thick fabric. With the coat ruined, he simply discarded the leftover fabric before turning back to the cut skin. Using his right hand to hold one end of the strip, he used his other hand and started winding the fabric over the wound.

Just when he was about halfway done wrapping his wound, the rhythmic sound of clanging metal sounded from down the tunnel.

“Porca misera, I hope it didn’t break in the fall!” A voice sounded from down the tunnel. Suoh had missed that another path converged into the one he was kneeling in, nor bothered to spend much time looking around. Now it was too late to try and surprise his next opponent, it seemed they had already finished their climb down the ladder and arrived at the opening of their tunnel.

“Good, seems to still be intact.” The voice echoed down the tunnel. He could not see who exactly it was, the distance and soft lighting did not help see who it was, but judging from their voice it sounded like a young woman. Even women were seeking the wish? Well, how could he deny the possibilities of a woman stumbling upon this when he just fought with a young boy.

Rushing on his bandages, Suoh tried to finish wrapping his wound before the woman finally arrived. He winced as he tied it particularly tight and let some slack before he tried to wrap it up once more. When he finally finished, tying the knot tightly in the process, he lost track of the echoing footsteps. Glancing up, he found the woman standing only a few feet away from him, watching him with curiosity and a hint of concern.

The woman reminded Suoh of Lyle, very much. Her clothing was very eccentric, different from anything he had seen before. It was hard to identify what exactly she was wearing, and the colors did not help in the process either. Glancing up, he caught her light blue eyes, sensing that this woman was not interested in a fight. What was she expecting, then?

Standing up, Suoh drew the sleeve of his kimono over his arm as she asked, “You hurt anywhere else?”

Surprised, he did not know whether to admit it or not. “No, this is it.” Suoh simply replied, making sure to keep his distance from her just in case. He was not interested in concern, he just wanted to rid of the woman and continue on to the wish.

“That probably explains why you didn’t try to sneak attack me or something. With the last two chambers that happened to me.”

Was she serious with this small talk? Or was she trying to catch him off guard. “Well, as you can see, even if I desired to ‘sneak attack’ you, it would have been pointless.” Gesturing around the tunnel, he added, “There is no where to hide.”

“Nope, you’re right.” Taking off her cap, the young woman ran a hand through her long brown hair and uttered a sigh. She was not as young as Suoh first assumed. She was closer to his age, perhaps a year or two younger than him. She also carried herself with an air of determination. He could tell she would not be the type to back down easily, when pushed.

Turning her gaze back to him, the woman raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Suoh made no motion to reply, so he simply stood there wondering what was going through her mind. Finally, she asked, “Are you a samurai, then?”

Just like Lyle, he thought with a groan. Was she going to ask if he was Japanese too? “I’ve already been asked that. No, I’m not.”

“Alright, don’t make a production out of it! I was just joking, cribbio.” Crossing her arms in frustration, the woman glanced away from Suoh as she muttered, “And it would be nice if you could tell me your name.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to talk the whole time without any idea of what to call you.” Smirking slightly, she added, “Or would you prefer Mr. Samurai?”

“No, I wouldn’t.” Suoh sighed, lifting a hand to rub his forehead. The woman was becoming more of a pain by the minute. At the same time, though, he was in no mood to initiate a fight. Not when he had no visable advantage over her. In the end, he submitted to her will as he stated, “Takeshi Suoh.”

“Suoh, eh? Well, mine’s Alyssa Gillespine.”

“Well, then, Alyssa-san…”

“Just Alyssa, alright?”

Suoh chose not to respond to that. Alyssa seemed to not care, for she then turned to look away and observe her surroundings, now currently taking in the strange sticky material on the stone walls. He silently watched her movements, though he got the feeling she was watching his as well. Then again, if he had been the latter person to arrive, he would be more on guard.

The one point in his advantage was that he knew the round’s task. Alyssa was probably expecting a bloody battle at this point, expecting Suoh to jump out and attack her. It was best to leave it that way and quietly knock her out before trouble does ensue.

Alyssa was just about finished looking around, turning her gaze up towards the angel statue as she whispered, “Turiel sure loves to give us very different arenas to fight in, eh?”

The new name caught his attention. “Turiel?”

Alyssa snapped her gaze back towards Suoh. Surprise crossed her blue eyes as she exclaimed, “You don’t even know who Turiel is, and you’ve come this far?!” Pointing a hand towards the statue behind the warrior, she continued, “It’s the angel depicted in the statues, the one who grants the wish.”

So one of his earlier questions was answered. Taking a quick glance back at the angel statue behind him, Suoh took in the beautiful otherworldly figure. So the woman was not the one who granted the wish. But, if Turiel does, then what is her purpose?

“By the way, Suoh…” Alyssa knelt down to the ground as she pulled what appeared to be a satchel off her shoulder and placed it on the ground. She began digging through the opening, fishing through objects he could not recognize, before she drew a leather bound book. She quickly opened the book and began paging through it, stating over her shoulder, “What kind of wish are you seeking?”

Suoh’s eyes narrowed, hands balling into fists, “What makes you think I would easily admit something like that?”

“No need to get angry! I’m just… curious. I just honestly want to know.”

Suoh did not reply right away. Part of him doubted her intentions were sincere. To be this far in, for both of them with their hands blood stained to still be admitting the truth?

“And also…” Glancing up from the book, Alyssa locked her gaze with Suoh’s. He opened his mouth to retort, but stopped immediately and shut his mouth. The honesty in her eyes, the pure child-like, almost innocent intentions was so obvious that the warrior could not bring himself to yell at her. Because he had seen eyes like those before, and missed them so dearly.

“I get the feeling, from your reaction, that you’ve never admitted it aloud before.”

What happened to his determination earlier? He wanted nothing to do with getting to know his opponent or sharing any secrets with them. And yet, he found himself floundering over words, conflicted internally on what to do. It was a terrible idea to admit his wish or to hear hers. There was no advantage to either of them, or may be even add to hers.

But, at the same time, he so desperately wanted to remove something off of his chest. Anything.

Sighing, Suoh knew he was going to regret it as he whispered, “I seek vengeance.”

“Vengence?” Alyssa had returned to reading through her book, but when Suoh had finally responded, she looked back at him. Her eyes were mixed between confusion and curiosity as she asked, “For what?”

Suoh lingered on the question, wondering how to word it for the woman. “Someone did something terrible to me. I want revenge for myself--” Hesitating slightly, wondering if he should add the last bit, he finally submitted to the confused thoughts and finally added, “--and my lover.”

Silence ensued in the chamber as his last words hung in the air, almost choking Suoh as he realized what he just said and immediately began to regret it.

“You’re gay?”

Raising an eyebrow, despite himself, he asked, “What do you mean, Alyssa?”

“Uhh… Homosexual. You love a guy.”

Shocked, Suoh looked back at the woman as she closed her book and placed it back in the bag. How could she make an accusation like that so lightly?! Holding himself back from snapping, he barely made out, “What gave you that impression?”

“You hesitated.” Slinging the satchel over her shoulder, Alyssa stood up and faced Suoh once more. Her lips curved into a smile as she continued, “Why would you hesitate talking about the person you love? I bet you’re only admitting that out loud for the first time.”

Was he really that obvious to her? Glancing away, Suoh wondered if that was how Yagi had found out. Had anyone noticed before this? Or, at least, suspected? Shaking his head, he pushed away the thought as returned to her last statement. “No, I have… admitted this before. In confidence.” Barely a whisper, he added, “But it is not a well received topic in my country.”

“Oh. I see.” Alyssa muttered in response. “And this guy? You want revenge? What did he do to you and your boyfriend?”

“I’d rather not say.” Suoh was already regretting this conversation, and he had no desire to specify the story any further. “I intend to kill him for what happened, if that’s enough for you. But, as I am, I cannot defeat him.”

“Why not?”

Suoh sighed, scratching the back of his neck as he stated, “In my country, this man is a powerful magic user. My ruler’s personal magic user, and well respected by most. I attempted to kill him once before but, then, I was not powerful enough.”

There was no need to reply to that. The answer was obvious enough and there was nothing else to add. Even without mentioning the exile, anyone could tell that the warrior believed the wish to be his last chance.

But in the silence, Alyssa thought carefully on what Suoh had told her. “Why don’t you let me help you?” She asked bluntly. “With your revenge?”

Suoh snorted as he stated, “That’s generous of you, but I’m not interested in your help.”

“No, seriously, listen to me. You probably can’t sense it, but I can use magic myself.” Now that he thought about it, there was something peculiar he felt when he first looked at Alyssa. It was different from other magic users, and he lost the thought of it with the realization that she was his next opponent. “And I have friends who use magic as well! All of us can help you. We know how to travel through dimensions; we can come to your world and help you defeat this man.”

Could they truly do that? If they were that powerful, what else could they do? Questions streamed through Suoh’s mind, but instead of asking them all, he settled for asking, “Why are you giving me such a generous offer?”

“Well… I need that wish.” Alyssa honestly replied.

“That is why you are here.”

“Well, yes. And I don’t want to fight you. In fact, I think you’re a good guy. I can tell. You aren’t here wishing for people to die because you like killing people. You just want your revenge.” Suoh could see the desperation cross Alyssa’s eyes as she continued, “I think we can help each other out here. Just here my story out, I—“

Suddenly, out of no where, the chamber filled with music.

It was a strange song, nothing Suoh had ever heard before. There were times that the court was gifted with the performance of musicians, but he could not make out any biwa or ichigenkin. Alyssa looked more shocked than surprised, standing dead still before she turned her gaze down to her satchel. Then, opening the bag up, she began to shuffle through the contents of her bag before she pulled another object.

This one was a small, rectangular shaped box that fix into the palm of her hand. A music box? How had it started on its own? Unlocking it, Alyssa lifted the lid of the music box, though Suoh could not make out the inside of it. The music promptly stopped and, to his further confusion, the woman brought the object to her ear.

Then, she sang aloud in her foreign language, "Pronto, qui Emergenza Mummie, dica?"

Cold, nerve wracking shivers ran down Suoh’s spine as he felt the change in the air around them. Alyssa dropped the phone as she suddenly began to shake, hands held out before her and contorted in pain. Suddenly, her nails began to extend and sharpen, almost as if they were claws. The blue haired man motioned to say something to her, question what was happening, but stopped himself. Tilting her head up, the warrior was met with a contorted, sadistic smirk and blood red eyes, none like he had ever seen before.

Was she a demon? If not, then what was she becoming?

Despite his questions, Suoh knew one thing. Staring into those bloody eyes, it did not take much thought to realize that she no longer wanted to keep peace. “Hmmm, are you afraid, Suoh?” Her voice rang, red eyes trained completely on him. Suoh never replied, keeping his hand held steady but made no movement to attain his weapon. Without any knowledge of who he was dealing with, making the first move would be his own downfall.

Alyssa seemed to not care about Suoh’s lack of response, for she simply shrugged as she added, “Well, no matter. It will all be finished soon enough.”

Before Suoh could draw his sword, Alyssa made her move. Drawing an item from her belt, she held out in front of her what appeared to be a brush. No, not a brush, in place of the hairs was a metal tip that appeared more imposing than dangerous. However, at the tip of the brush, a sort of black entity that sparked like lightning began to gather and grow.

It was too late to fight with his blade, and the warrior suspected that Alyssa would have expected that. Also, dodging the attack would be nearly impossible in the narrow tunnel, leaving nothing to hide behind. With no other options, he lifted his own hand in response, backing up to give the two some distance while he concentrated his own magical energy to the palm of his hand.

Alyssa noticed the gathering fire in the palm of Suoh’s hand, but that did not seem to faze the woman. In fact, her smirk only grew larger in response, allowing her own dark magic to gather.

“To what you said earlier…” Suoh decided to say over his raging blue fire, growing more intense by the second. “I fear no one.”

“But you’re wrong, Suoh Takeshi. Every human fears when their life is on the line. You just can’t bring yourself to admit that now you’re afraid. I’ll break that crude pride of yours.”

“That’s ironic, he said the same thing.”

The chamber exploded in a blue hue as he launched his flames towards Alyssa. She seemed unfazed by his initiated attack and simply let her own spell go, black lightly crackling as it flew towards the blue fire. Suoh placed his hand on his katana, watching as the two spells headed towards each other, and awaited the explosion of when they met. In the confusion, he planned to take advantage of it and strike.

However, something unexpected happened. The spells never collided. The black lightning and blue fire were inches away from each other, just about to strike, but Alyssa’s spell did something very strange. It moved, simply slid to the side and just barely avoided his fire, before returning to its original path and heading right towards Suoh.

Backing away, hitting against the front of the statue in the process, Suoh had no where to run. The tunnel behind him ended in a brick wall, and he knew trying to dodge the attack was simply not enough, knowing the spell would turn around and follow his every step. Like a cornered rat, the only thing the blue haired man could do was cross his arms over his face and brace the spell.

However, as the black lightning stretched out and enveloped his whole body, he remembered what experiencing actual pain was like.

Enveloped in the darkness of the spell, the lighting pierced through him like swords he was helpless to protect himself from. They were blows that did not send him off his feet like Lyle’s did, but they gave him no time to recover. Staggering, Suoh gasped from the pain as he attempted to remain standing, but the continuous stabbing sensation drove him to his knees soon after the spell activated. Clutching himself, he bit his tongue to hold himself back from screaming in pain, knowing full well how Alyssa would enjoy that very much. Even as a hardened warrior, it was difficult to resist.

It felt like an eternity as the spell continued to rage, sucking away at his strength while driving slowly closer to losing his composure. Suoh thought of fighting against the spell, but what could he do? He did not have the strength to stand, much less try to combat against the lightning. Hunched over, nearly falling to the ground, the warrior wondered if the lightning would be the death of him.

And, then, the pain suddenly disappeared.

Using his hands to brace against the cold, stone floor, Suoh waited as the blackness slowly disappeared, letting back in the mysterious light of the room. He panted, gulping up the clear air while his muscles throbbed in pain and fatigue began to settle in. The spell had drained him, to say the least, but glancing up he tried to find why the spell finally stopped.

Slowly tilting his head upwards, the first thing in his line of sight was the music box, shattered into pieces. He knew that Alyssa dropping it earlier had not been enough for the object to be completely destroyed, so he wondered what could have happened.

Then, lifting his head up more, he found Alyssa struggling to put the blue flames out. Perhaps it had hit her and she simply tried to brush it away, keeping her concentration on her own spell. However, she now knew that the flames did not die out so easily. They were not the raging flames they were before, but there was enough of one to start burning into her flesh.

“Cazzo, cazzo, cazzo! Spegnilo, dannazione!” She yelled in her unfamiliar language.

Suoh ignored her incoherent screams as he tried to stand, staggering slightly from his sore muscles in the process. It looked like there were no bleeding wounds, which meant there was nothing immediately dangerous about his condition. He felt worn out, drained from the magical attack, and seriously needed some rest. However, as he drew his katana and wakizashi from their sheathes, the warrior still had to finish off his opponent.

Alyssa was still trying to put out the flames on her arms while yelling in her own language as Suoh approached. It was not until he held his katana in the air and posed to strike that she finally turned her attention back towards the warrior. Barely dodging his attack in time, Alyssa lifted her claw hand, using them as daggers as she began to strike back.

They exchanged blows as such, wincing whenever each other’s weapons slashed the other’s skin. Suoh noticed that his blows did not have as much of an effect on Alyssa as they did on him. Whatever wounds she obtained from his blades recovered within minutes, and the two nails he had cut through with his blade were already halfway through growing back. The only thing working to his advantage was the constantly burning flame, which must have made her movements slower than usual.

“Sei vecchio, stanco, e debole. Cosa diavolo pensi di poter fare adesso?” Alyssa smirk as she stated in his language, though the message was clear enough to him. She knew she still had the upper hand.

At this rate, he would die either from exhaustion or blood loss, he cursed internally. He needed to end this quickly before he decided to try and summon that black lightning, or some other spell she knew.

Just as she posed her hand to strike, Suoh rushed forward and drove his wakizashi into her hand. Using his momentum and what was left of his strength, Suoh forced Alyssa backwards until he forced her against the stone wall. Noticing the crevices in the cobbled stonework, the warrior jammed the tip of the blade into the wall, trapping the woman’s hand in the process. Furious, she finally recovered as she drove her still free clawed hand into his shoulder.

Suoh’s vision spotted as he used his weaponless hand to pull her hand out of his shoulder, forcing it up against the wall. Then, bringing up his katana to her neck, Suoh narrowed his eyes as he said, “It’s about time I ended this.”

“Se avessi resistito ancora un po', saresti morto. Quindi, non gasarti troppo, pivello! Potresti farti del male.” She seethed back, though at this point words were useless. There was nothing she could do, even if she spoke to him in his language, that would stop him from finishing everything off.

Bringing the cold, sharp metal to Alyssa’s neck, Suoh motioned to slash through her throat before he suddenly hesitated.

Suoh remembered the conversation earlier; how childish she had acted over their names, how she looked at him with sympathy as he told his story, how she offered to help him with his revenge, how she gazed at him in desperation as she asked for her wish… In his mind, this all seemed so wrong. Those eyes, they had been so innocent and honest that they could not have been a lie. Whatever she had become now was not the real Alyssa.

Twice already he held someone’s life in his hands, and, bloodstained as they were, he could not bring himself to finish the motion. He would never be able to live with the guilt otherwise.

Suoh could see the sadistic smirk grow on her lips, knowing full well the thoughts that ran through his head. He shook his head as he ignored her look, trying to purge away the blood red ones and remember the light blue they were before. Then, he pulled away his katana and turned it so the hilt faced her before he brought it down on her neck, knocking her out.

Pulling away, Suoh let go of Alyssa and allowed her to fall limp against the wall, hand still hanging from his wakizashi in the wall. If she woke up before he finished, it would keep her pinned for a minute to buy him time. With her healing abilities, she would recover soon enough from the wounds. Sheathing his katana, he turned his attention back to the flames still burning and held out his hand, closing it into a fist. The blue flames immediately disappearing, leaving her skinned charred and bloody, but not in immediate danger.

However, as he loosened his hand from the first, he noticed something was different about them. They were not his hands.

Bringing his hands up close to his face, Suoh began to examine them closely. His fingers were still callused from years of using the blade, that much was familiar. But the top of his, what was once normally smooth were rough and showing signs of wrinkles. Was this an after effect from the spell earlier?

His hands were not the only thing affected. Finally noticed the hairs that had fallen out of his tie, they were not the brilliant blue they normally were. They had lightened towards an icy blue. Grabbing his tied back hair, he pulled it over his shoulder to find they were much longer than he remembered, probably falling halfway down his back at his point. But, that was not all. There were also clumps of white hair showing obviously through his blue strands.

Something was wrong. The spell had done more than weakened him.

Frantically looking around, Suoh tried to find something, anything he could possibly see his reflection in. He almost gave into temptation to search through her bag, but since she had drawn the music box from her bag, he did not want to take any chances. His search finally ended upon the bowl in the angel’s hands, either painted or melded from what appeared to be silver.

Suoh hurried towards the statue, reaching up to snatch the bowl out of the angel’s hands. As he brought it down and held it in front of his face, though, he nearly dropped it in response. His face had weathered considerably since the last time he stared into his reflection at the first trial.

No, not weathered. Aged.

Suoh no longer looked to be in his early twenties. Lines creased his face with age, especially around his brow and mouth. Cheek bones appearing more apparent than ever, making his face appear more firm and cold. At first glance, he thought he looked similar to his father, but the more he lingered on his reflection, the more he realized the truth.

That even being the same age as him, he still looked nothing like his father or even himself. He was no longer the Takeshi Suoh everyone had known.

The weight of his last thought crashed harder against him then he had expected. But when he imagined their faces, the shock his family and friends would have to if they saw him now, it all became too overwhelming. He could never see them again, not like this. Especially not Daisuke.

He fell to his knees as the tears began to stream from his eyes, consumed by the thoughts that ran through his head. Of course, he knew he could never return to his old life. He had resigned himself to that fact after his exile. In fact, attaining his revenge did not mean he would have a chance at life again afterwards. He knew all of that, engraved it into his mind. But that did not mean he never dreamed of his life, yearned for deep down inside. To see him now, see the once proud youth as this broken old man only shattered those once relieving dreams.

Suoh lifted the sleeve of his kimono to wipe the tears away, but stopped himself in mid motion. He had almost forgotten about the task for this trial with his own realization. He still had his reason to be there, something left living for. The reason for the wish had not changed yet. In fact, it meant so much more now.

After all, that wish, that thirst for revenge, was the one thing that still tied him back to his old life.

Tilting his head down, he allowed the tears to spill into the bowl. He wept for Daisuke, Akira, Iruka, Hoji, Haku, his parents, everyone that meant something in his past life. He cried the tears that he kept bent up throughout the exile, and that he restrained at the beginning of the trial. He poured them out now, for he swore to himself this was the last time he ever would.

When the bowl was finally filled with his tears, Suoh wiped away the ones left before he carefully stood up. Then, keeping his hand steady, he placed it back into the angel’s hand, finishing up what was his most daunting task yet.

With everything finished, he no longer needed to worry about Alyssa. Glancing back at the woman, Suoh found she was still asleep crumpled against the wall. Walking over, he examined his wakizashi still impaling her hand and wondered what the best way to remove it was. In the end, he decided it did not matter if she woke up as he held her write and pulled out the blade.

Alyssa moaned in her sleep, face contorting with pain, but she made no move to wake up. Uttering a sigh, Suoh used the sleeve of his kimono to clean the blade before he sheathed it once more. He thought about helping her with the wound in her hand, but he decided he had no desire to linger around, especially if she woke up and was still her demonic self.

He was too drained, physically and mentally, to fight another battle now.