The War for the Dragon

Epilogue: Final Part

Why was he here?
What's so important?
🌺
I stared at the figure in front of me. His strong yet lean build was very familiar, but the splattered on paint and very noticeable word Amy on his forehead had convinced me I was mistaken. Let alone the white smock that hung from his neck and tied loosely on his back would have been enough to throw me off. Maybe the tiny cartoonish green and purple dragon on the large pocket in the front would have convinced me it was him, or the fact that right under the pocket was written Mr. Takehiro right under it, but not even 200 years ago would I have believed this.
I look at the king to find him in between utter fear and bursting out in laughter, which meant he had a look of confusion just like I.
Ryuunosuke had suddenly realized how he looked, and placed his hands over his face, rubbing it off and leaving his entire face wet. I was confused for only a second on how his face would be wet until I remembered our entire past together and how he had learned to condense the water in the air to quickly use it.
"Sorry, after school was hectic and you guys are so far away from where I was teaching. Like, do you even know how far Ireland is from Alaska? That's 4,048 miles I had to fly! Not to even mention the crazy wea-"
"Ryuunosuke, why are you here," I deadpan, knowing he could blabber forever. His facial expression turns serious and looks at Cillian.
He circles Cillian and sniffs his shoulder, much to Cillian's distress.
"Ah! You're the king! I knew your great great great great-"
"Aniki, please. Say what you were about to say," I interrupt again, irritated. He once again looks to Cillian and gestures to him. I look at the king and gesture for him to get out by pointing to the door with my head.
He huffs and puffs, and threatens to blow the house down, but leaves without doing anything. Wolves are humorous.
"You might want to sit down for this," he says. I look at him, confused, as I point to the seat on my bed I took as soon as he started to blabber. He whispers an oh, before he sits on the windowsill. Something inside of me begins to panic, and I tightly grip the blankets, fists whitening.
"Something is causing the dead to rise," he starts. I feel all the blood drain from my face.
"Does that mean..." My palms begin to sweat, fear growing in the pit of stomach and making me nauseous.
Please, say what I'm hoping for and not something incredibly worse.
"Yes, and they're searching for us. But Kanashimi, you have to understand that I do not trust these bodies."
"We have to find them, Aniki-"
"Kanashimi, you have to think who and why they have revived our weaknesses, and only our weaknesses-"
"Ryuunosuke, he's alive! What else could I possibly care about," I shout, standing. I run out of my bedroom door, and realize all the shouting and growling happening in the garden. I navigate my way, and see all the werewolves in their wolf form, fighting off wolves that didn't smell right.
"Fuck," I mutter. Cillian had told me when he burst in. I walk through fighting wolves, and some that are protecting wolves in human form.
I notice children screaming, while a brown wolf, smaller than most, is growling and snapping at other wolves with the children under her.
She's protecting them, but can't hold the other off much longer.
I feel something snap inside me, and run to the children. I notice an entrance to a basement and pull the metal doors open with all my force. The chain binding them together snaps as if it was paper, and I guide all the children inside. I tell the wolf to go inside with them, but she snorts and whines as she gestures to the others fighting.
"The children need someone to protect them," I say, reassuring her that the others will be okay. She nods and goes through the basement doors. I use electricity to melt the doors together, and expand my black wings.
I try to spot Cillian, and see him squaring off against someone who is in human form like him. I fly down to the clearing within dense forest, and retract my wings.
"Miss Mizutani, this is my fight," he growls, still looking at the other person. I look at him too.
His body is now tense, and something seems off about him. I walk closer to him, observing his dark hair that is hidden under a hood, his black mask that covers all but one neon green eye that begins to fade into light brown.
My body loosens, and I feel my eyes pooling tears. The eye in front of me does the same, and he takes his mask off.
He's here, this is not a dream. Why aren't you going to him?
His eyes glaze over as he looks to the direction of the fighting, and then looks back. A howl rings in my ears, and the unfamiliar wolves run towards us. I feel the King put his shoulder on mine, and a large growl cracks through the air.
"Who are you," Zero growls, his tears disappearing.
"You came here, not knowing who I am? I'm the Alpha King! Why are you here," Cillian growls, getting in between Zero and I. Zero removes his hood, the shadows leaving his hair the original white it had been as I remember it.
"I'm looking for my Alpha. You are no king. You smell like mutt to me! You've not even a drop of Alpha blood, unlike my Alpha," Zero spits with venom. I stare at Cillian, who has begun to run towards his castle. I look at Zero, and the growing amount of wolves behind him.
"He's alive. I can smell him near, my dear sister. Please know that I will not rest until I find him, until our family is together again."
I pull him into a tight hug and cry on his shoulder. A flutter of wings is heard, and soon a strong pair of arms squeezes us both. We separate and Zero sobs uncontrollably at the sight of Ryuunosuke.
"My brother, I'm so proud to be your brother. Brother-" Ryuunosuke knocked Zero out. He put him over his shoulder as I stared in awe. His wolves began to whine, some approaching in anger, but I knew just who these wolves were now.
"I'm very grateful to you all for helping us during the war. Please, disband and look for your descendants. They will be proud to know you. My brothers and I will handle this from here." The wolves nod in understanding and scatter in all directions.
I'm so glad it was that easy. I look at Ryuunosuke who still has Zero over his soldier.
"We have to question him and restrain him, in the reverse order though," he says seriously, before looking at me and smiling. I sigh and we both take to the skies towards the castle.
🌺
I land, looking around to see people tending to all the wounded wolves. I see no casualties, and smile within my mind. Then, I think of the king who abandoned them, and I get angry.
At this point, I hope he does lose his throne.
I make eye contact with Grayson, and with panic in his voice, he asks me a question.
"Have you seen Cillian? Is he with with you? Was he killed? Why do you have a man across your shoulder?"
Okay maybe not a question.
"Your so called king fled, and this is my brother," Ryuunosuke deadpans. I close my opened mouth. Grayson looks infuriated, his eyes turning dark.
"I somehow believe that. We must find him," Grayson says.
"Why not just appoint a new king," I ask.
"Because the Beta becomes the next king if there's no offspring or siblings, and that's too much pressure for me," he says, irritated. Ryuunosuke adjusts Zero on his shoulder.
"Seems legit." After saying that, Ryuunosuke whispers in my ear, "that's what the kids say now!"
I sigh at the old teacher, and look again at Grayson, who is in deep thought.
"You must assume the throne. There is no room for weakness if you are a Beta, let alone in line for king." I say angrily. He looks at me in understanding.
"I understand. I will assume the throne and deal with the rogue alpha threat. The ceremony will be tonight." He sighs heavily and then looks at us again and smiles. "I hope to see you two there."
I nod, and as does Ryuunosuke. Grayson heads inside, and we stand in the garden by ourselves. I pull the basement doors open and find no one inside. We both enter, to find a dungeon of sorts. There is a wall of torture tools, another wall of silver knives, and a third wall of whips. There is a metal embalming table with straps to tie the victim in.
"That's handy," Ryuunosuke says with glee as he lies Zero down and ties him in.
I poke one of those hunters traps that looks like teeth. I can imagine them snapping legs when they close.
🌺
Zero awakens when Ryuunosuke and I had began to play with the torture weapons.
"Christian Grey would love to spend a day in here."
"Who is that?"
"Kanashimi? Ryuu? Why am I tied up," he says, catching our attention.
"Who brought you back to life," Ryuunosuke questions. Zero looks at him with a blank expression on his face.
"What are you talking about?" His voice sounds so confused, amused even. Ryuunosuke was about to speak before I cut him off.
"When was the last time you saw us," I asked.
He looked at me, in deep thought and his eyes widened a bit, as he struggled against the restraints.
"Where's my family? What happened to my mate and daughter? All I remember- all I remember is lying in bed, because the cancer had spread to my chest, but then I woke up naked, in a cornfield... Where is my mate? Where's my daughter?"
Ryuunosuke and I exchange looks of sadness.
"Why isn't anyone telling me anything," he shouts as loud as he can.
"How old are you, Zero?" My voice trembles.
"I'm thirty six. Why? What's going on, for fucks sake," he screams.
Ryuunosuke nods at me.
"Zero, 200 years has passed since the war. You were dead, Zero. Someone brought you back to life, and we don't know why."
He stops struggling and stares at me for a very long time before he lies his head back onto the metal slab and starts to sob.
"Please kill me. Please. I remember now, looking down at all of you before my family joined me. Let me return to them, please."
I turn to Ryuunosuke with a pain in my heart as he hands me a silver knife from the wall.
"Zero, thank you for all you done for me. Zero-"
A tear slips down my cheek.
"Zero-"
Another tear.
"Zero-"
I'm sobbing.
"I love you, little brother," Ryuunosuke says, a quivering hand on my shoulder. Zero smiles at us, tears in his eyes.
"Zero, I will never forget you. I love you," I whisper.
I untie him.
I hug him tightly, and so does Ryuunosuke.
I kiss his forehead, and so does Ryuunosuke.
I hold the knife over his heart, my hands shaking and tears blurring my eyes.
It's like losing him all over again.
I left him.
I left them both when they needed me most.
I am a monster.
I could have saved him from cancer.
I could have saved his whole family.
I could have saved them all.
I could have-
My thoughts are cut short when Zero grasps the knife and plunges it into his own heart.
I fall on my knees.
I sob until my tears dry up.
I scream his name until I lose my voice.
I deserved this pain.
I killed them all.
🌺
I woke up with a sore throat, a runny nose, and dried tear stains all over my face.
I strip in the bathroom, and turn on the hot water.
The steam fills the bathroom quickly, and I stare at all the scars on my body.
I stroke the scar below my belly button, the scars on both wrists, and the scars on my forearms that connect to them. The deep scars form a cross.
I get up, reminded of my failure.
I look at the hazy mirror, and swipe my hand to view to woman staring back at me.
Her wet, black hair clings to her face and neck, ending at her very visible collar bones. She looked unkept, she looked sad, and she was. Her blood red irises looked dull, missing their once angry gleam. Overall, she looked defeated.
The woman stepped back to view her abdominal scar. The doctors had made a horizontal incision, unable to save her uterus, but kept her entryway intact so she could fill some of the empty void within her. The scar had reminded her that she'd be barren for her entire immortal life. She stared once again at the woman's face, to see her dead lover, next to her, smiling and holding her, a hand on where her child would have grown.
Her lips parted to word an apology.
Then, just like them all, he disappeared, leaving her with the scar, the ugly scar that was all caused by dragon venom. The woman's one weakness. She saw the woman's blood red irises widen with an idea.
Dragons venom could end all her suffering.
But then the woman in the mirror smiled as I remembered that he could be alive like Zero was.
I don't turn back to look at the woman in the mirror, and I get dressed. I slip on black skinny jeans, a dark red tank top, and a gray sweater on top.
I exit the room to see Ryuunosuke with his hand up, about to knock.
"Grayson's coronation is tonight, and I'm guessing it will be boring. Should we skip it?"
"I plan to go through with my promise and get out of here," I say, walking down the corridor to the kitchen.
"What promise? To stop the threatening alpha get the crown?"
"Yes, that promise," I say, washing and then cutting some celery into little sticks.
"But that means I have to sit through that boring coronation," Ryuunosuke groans. I dip my celery into creamy peanut butter and shove the massive amount of it into my mouth.
"I don't want to either, but the alpha will no doubt try to stop it. We have to be there," I say, finishing the celery and practically the whole jar of peanut butter.
🌺
Ryuunosuke decided to go to the daycare section of the castle, and teach them all he can.
I, however, decided to visit the husky pup I have grown to miss, and lucky for me, Samuel took him with him when he began to stay here.
The pup has fallen asleep on my chest, as I lay on the couch in Samuel's room, watching cats being weird on television.
The door opens to reveal an emotionless Samuel. The pup runs to him, stepping on me rather painfully to get to him.
"How was work," I ask.
"Bloody," he replies.
I shift positions to sit down and he sits besides me.
"I never thanked you."
"For what," I ask, shifting to face him.
"You were always there for me when I had no one. You didn't try to pry and left me be when I needed it. I'm really glad I lived with you while I did."
"I could say the exact same, Sammy." I pause as he looks at me, completely shocked. "What?"
"You've never called me by my name, but you just called me Sammy," he says, smiling.
"Why did you say live in past tense? Are you moving out," I ask, not straying from the topic.
"I've decided that it's time, and I heard the dragon say that the love of your life is alive. I don't want you to waste the time you could be with him, with me."
Samuel gets up, and opens the door, preparing to leave.
"Honestly though, you were kind of a jerk," he says with a huge smile. I smile back.
"You were kind of a bitch, Sammy," I say, smiling even wider.
He leaves, and I can't help but feel like he said goodbye for good.
🌺
With the pup close at my heels, I move around my room, getting ready for the coronation with Ryuunosuke, who is absolutely in love with the pup.
I finally slip on a red dress, black heels, and an amethyst necklace I always kept safe and only wore for good luck. He got it for me before he died.
Ryuunosuke settled for black jeans, a green dress shirt, and a black blazer.
We headed downstairs and sat in the seats with our names on it, which happened to be in the front. The celebration was in the garden, and if I hadn't been told it was a coronation, I'd have sworn it was a wedding.
🌺
About two hours into the coronation, Ryuunosuke and I had began to play tic-tac-toe on the bench, him using fire to engrave his circle, and I using electricity to engrave my X. Don't even get me started in how many times Ryuunosuke begged for me to "make it rain up in this bitch." What did that even mean?
Just as I was winning 60-54, a familiar smell invaded the coronation. My hands began to quiver with anticipation.
Please, let him arrive.
Ryuunosuke looked at me, signaling that he had the scent invade his nostrils as well.
Growls began to fill the air, and Ryuunosuke and I shot straight up from our seats immediately, revealing the bench almost covered entirely in tic-tac-toes.
The other wolves ran inside, to get their mates and children to safety, while Ryuunosuke, Grayson, and I stood our ground.
"I told the pack to stay out of this and only defend if they're invaded. We will deal with this threat together," Grayson says, a crown on his head and an elaborate robe sprawled against his shoulders. He seemed to put them away safely, as he shifted into a gray wolf. I chuckled a bit. To his father, he must have been a gray son. Ba-dum tiss!
A storm swirls above us, ready to pour when directed, and Ryuunosuke's arms are engulfed in flames.
The alpha has surrounded, and the wolves are itching to kill. Various shades of wolves surround us, but the biggest one holds my gaze.
His black fur sways in the wind my powers create, his eyes gleaming green whenever lighting lights up the night sky.
A flash of his face.
That fur, those eyes.
The gaze of the alpha softens as soon as mine does. The storm dissipates.
The alpha shifts into a human.
My heart stops.
My brain turns into white noise.
It's him. Haruka...
Ryuunosuke is no longer engulfed in flames.
We stand there, completely still, staring at one another, before Grayson steps forward to Haruka.
"What is your business here, rogue," Grayson says with venom. Anger rises in me at his tone with my Haruka, but it disappears when a laugh unlike him erupts.
"How mighty you must feel with that crown of yours, your majesty! How amusing! Now, if you hand over your throne, I'll rethink my decision to kill your entire pack," Haruka spits, authority clear in his voice, an authority Grayson didn't possess.
I don't believe that this man is Haruka.
Ryuunosuke looks at me, a look that shows he knows more about how Haruka is acting than I.
"When I tried to kill myself, I shot this part of my brain called the hippo-something, and I forgot everything about myself. My theory is that, a Haruka full of dismay just may have tried the same as I did, and someone brainwashed him into wanting the throne," he whispers to me.
Why didn't I ever try that?
I walk towards Haruka, my fingers charged with enough electricity to stun him into unconsciousness.
I look him straight in the eyes, and he takes a step back. I seductively lick my lips and kiss him. He lets out a possessive growl I knew all too well, before grabbing me by the waist and pulling me closer. I place each hand on each of his temples, and stun him.
I look back at Ryuunosuke, and he completely eradicates the pack that had brainwashed my Haruka.
Grayson stands still, stunned at our power, and I take Haruka into the basement and tie him where Zero once lay.
🌺
He awakens thirty minutes later. He begins to thrash on the metal table.
"Where's my pack? What have you done with them? I can't sense them anymore," he screams with intense anger. Calmly, I smack him across his face.
"Do you know who I am?"
"My mate," he replies. I can't suppress my smile and kiss his cheek.
"Yes, my love. I'm your mate, but you've been dead for 200 years. I've lived without you for 200 years. Remember me, my love," I say as I put my hands on his temples again, healing his cranial injury and unlocking all his memories.
An intense headache throbs in my skull, but I ignore it and stare down at the beautiful man I call mine. My powers have caused him to go unconscious once more, and I fall to my knees, sobbing with happiness.
He's alive. I can be released!
I finally feel the little voice in my head disappear as I feel my wings expand into giant white feathered ones, and my eyes buzz with the transforming color of my irises.
I turn to face Ryuunosuke, and he smiles.
"Welcome back," he says with an even bigger smile.
🌺
🌺
My pup licks my face until I finally awaken, hoping it wasn't all I dream, and I turn to face the love of my life. I feel happiness rise within me, and tears slip out of my eyes.
It wasn't a dream.
A warm hand wipes my tears, and places a kiss on my forehead.
"No more tears, I will not be going anywhere," he says in his rough morning voice. I feel my heart warm with his touch, and the sun shines through the window on my ceiling.
I hold his hand tightly and smile at him before getting out of bed and heading towards the bathroom.
The woman in the mirror has bright eyes of the ocean, waves of happiness cascading through the shorelines and trailing down her cheeks. Her scars didn't matter.
Her lover entered the mirror and held her, a pup jumping into the mirror from time to time.
And the woman, she was complete.
Forever.