Of Death and Demons

Chapter 30- Reaching For The Top

"The entire Vatican!?" Haruki exclaimed.

"That means us too." Katsu said.

"We can't let that happen! We have to stop them!" Harumi said furiously.

"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." Reika started panicking.

"We have to do it."

"What!?" I screamed, turning on Rin.

"We have to. There's no guarantee that we can win and I'm not going to let people die because of me. I promised to protect you and that's what I'll do. Either way, unless we win, I'm going to die. The difference is the amount of time before it happens. Maybe, just maybe, he'll be satisfied with just me."

"No! You can't do that!"

"Princess, if Rin wishes to do this, there is nothing you can do to stop him." Hajime said gently.

"It's just not fair."

I began to feel tears overflowing. I couldn't lose Rin, I couldn't lose anyone. Rin hugged me tight. It wasn't fair. Why did I have to be the one that everyone had to fight for? Why was it Rin had to decide to die or live? I wasn't going to let this happen. One way or another, I was going to put an end to this invasion.

*****

That night, it was hard to sleep. With what Rin had said and with the invasion tomorrow, I was terrified. People were going to die tomorrow, I knew that but why was it so hard to accept? I looked at Rin sleeping next to me. This could be my last day with him. I moved closer to him, pressing my face against his chest. He instinctively wrapped his arms around me. I fell asleep wrapped in his embrace.

Visions began to flicker through my head. People and demons fighting. Hajime looking fierce, manipulating ice. Dylan running for his life. Reika shooting at something. Harumi and Haruki's fox demons running around fighting. Rokura and Inari dragging injured people to get help. And worst of all, Rin lying on the ground with a pool of blood under his head. Someone was standing over him with a sword in hand.

One of our friends will die tomorrow. My demon's voice echoed through my dreams.

I woke up in a panic. I looked up at Rin, his deep blue eyes watching me. He brushed the back of his hand across my cheek softly. He could feel my anxiety. I remembered Rin lying on the ground with blood on him. I couldn't lose Rin. Was he the one that was going to die?

"This could be our last night together." he said.

"Yeah."

"We'll be okay. I'm not even sure my family can die."

"But I had a dream. You were on the ground, bleeding. And...and...." I began to sob.

"Shh. Let's not talk about this right now. Let's enjoy what time we have before the invasion." Rin said, stroking my hair.

*****

After a movie and some coaxing, I fell asleep again. This time I was in my inner world. My demon looked at me with extreme worry.

"What did you mean when you said someone was going to die?"

"I don't know. I don't even know how I know that. It came from one of the doors. You were screaming that someone couldn't die, that they couldn't leave you."

"Can you show me?"

My demon nodded and had me follow her up a small staircase I hadn't noticed before. Up the staircase was another circular room with doors but a spiral staircase wrapped around the wall. I looked up and gasped. The stairs and doors seemed to go on forever, spiraling upwards. A bright light seemed to be coming down from the top.

"Have you ever been to the top?" I asked, awed.

"No, it doesn't seem to have one. I've tried lots of times. But the door we're looking for is up pretty far."

We started climbing. And climbing. And climbing. We kept climbing up the stairs until the ground looked so small. My demon stopped in front of a door made of ice. Everything on the other side was distorted and unclear. I tried to wipe some frost of the door but that did nothing.

"No! You can't die! You can't leave me!" My voice came from the other side.

I could faintly see someone dragging a distinct female figure away from something on the ground. I tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge.

"It doesn't work that way. This is a future memory, the door won't open until it happens."

I sighed. I looked back a few doors down. There was another door that was making me nervous. It was a pale wooden door, but what scared me was the big gash running down it. I moved towards it and looked through the key hole. There was the same thing I had seen in my last dream. Rin lying on the ground.

"So, that's really going to happen?"

"Sadly, yes. These are all memories of past and future. They either have or will happen regardless of what we try to do."

"Will Rin die?"

"I don't know. We can only pray he doesn't."

"Yeah. You will help us, won't you?"

"Of course, Princess. As you said, I am a knight, following my Princess's wish. But I also feel you are right. I've gone through our memories again, and you were right about my resentment holding me back. Thank you, Princess, for showing me the truth."

"You knew it all along, you just need someone to force you to face it."

"Right. You should be waking up soon."

"What? I've only been here a short time."

"Time works differently here. It's neither faster nor slower than it is out there. Goodbye, Princess. The next time we meet, we will be on the battlefield, but we will fight together."

"Yeah. Be ready to fight with everything you got."

"Don't do anything stupid, okay Princess? Everything relies on you. It's you that is uniting all of these people. Demons, shinigami, even normal humans. We'll only be able to win this battle with you."

"Only with us." I corrected her.

"With us."

I closed my eyes, then opened them again. Sunlight was streaming in through the window. Today, the invasion would start. I got up and changed into my uniform. Not only was it so the other shinigami could identify us, but I had trained in this and it felt natural to fight in this.

"Today the battle begins."

~~~~~

A/N- As usual, I know, I know. I was going to post on Wednesday but I forgot, so I just said screw it, I'll post on Saturday as usual with an apology. Blah, blah, blah. I just haven't been feeling right and whateves. And new rule with my friends that see me at school, absolutely no talking about the book at school! Message me or something! Whatever, that's all I got to say, later.