Nat’s POV:
True Cross was in chaos, coal tar flooding the streets and the sky dyed crimson red. Gehenna was above us, demons of all kinds flooding from the pit of Hell. I bit my lip, my eyes watering up. “No...Chigau…” I whisper, and cover my mouth with my hands. Koyalee gasped, and Hishomi’s eyes widened.
Rin started to tremble, his fingers shaking as his hand found mine. “Bon! Shima! Konkemaru! Shiemi! Izumo! Koyalee! Protect the town! Rin, Yukio, Hoshimi, with me! Fall out!” I call, Haru now in her familiar form next to Kuro. I got on Haru, Hoshimi wrapping her arms around my waist, burying her head in between my shoulder blades.
“Nat! Now!” Rin calls to me. I nod, and unsheath my sword, it glowing faintly in the darkness of the Hell that was our world for the time being.
“Ready?!” I hear Yukio shout, aiming his gun, but just as we were about to make our first attack, a bomb exploded between the two familiars, causing us to dismount them, falling towards the lava.
“Onii-san!” I call out, and start to look down. Below me, Hoshimi was falling through the air, her eyes closed and her hair whipping around like whips of light.
“Onee-chan!! Hoshimi!!” I heard Rin scream. I dove further, encasing Hishomi in my arms, trying to shield her from the blistering heat. Pushing her up, I used energy to push her to Haru, who had her now on her back.
“G-Get her to the ground!!”
“Master!! But-”
“That’s an order!!” I yell back, and smile faintly. “Onii-san, Nii-san, live strong for me, ne? You promise it, don’t you?” I stopped and smiled faintly, feeling my skin burn at the heat waves. “Hoshimi, don’t blame yourself for this, I love you all equally and I would’ve done this for any of you.” I whispered, and started to feel the tongues of heat bristle through my strands of darkness that were atop my head.
“Onee-chan!! Onee-chan!!” I heard someone faintly yell, and I looked up to see Rin with tears streaming down his face.
“Dai-jo-bu, Onii-san. Live, and love for me, ne?” I whisper to him, my voice growing hoarse from lack of oxygen.
“B-Baka! I won’t let you- I won’t let you die on me!!” He cried, tears flowing down his cheeks and off his chin. He cried.
“You will...live strong…” I whisper, my fingers grazing his, then smiling sadly as I plummeted down into the lava-away from Rin, who was sobbing as he screamed for me to get his hand that he held out stubbornly. “Sayo...nara…” I mouth to him, then close my eyes, letting the pain of the flames take over me.
Bon’s POV:
When I saw Rin and Yukio come, I started to panick. The two girls were missing. Nat was missing. Nat. Oh kami Nat. No. No. She couldn’t have- she didn’t! She didn’t. She can’t die. I-I need her. “Where’re they?!” I call, running forward but stopping, seeing Haru trot to her normal size, with a girl on her back. I sprinted towards the cat, who laid down the barely breathing form of Hoshimi. “No…No! Chigau! This-This can’t be, please! No! Nat...Nat...I-I…” I sputter, my knees giving out. Koko looked at Rin blankly, then collapsed on her knees sobbing.
“No!! No!! S-She can’t be, she can’t!!” She sobbed, and started to pound the ground, her tears soaking the ground in front of her. “Damn you!! Damn you!! Stop taking away the people that I-the people that I love!!” She screamed, then her eyes widened as she was pushed into Yukio’s chest.
“We grew up with her. We found her. We were her friends; her family.” Yukio states quietly, tears flowing from his eyes. “She was the first person who got me motivated to become an Exorcist. She-the things she saw, and how she could deal with it all with a simple smile on her face- it was unbearable. I couldn’t let that happen to someone else. And yet...and yet I failed to even protect her!!” He clenched his fists against Koko’s hair, and hid his head into her mane of red.
“S-She...She was our best friend...my...my sister. She-She didn’t deserve to-”
“Shut up!! Shut up!!” I roared, tears flooding from my eyes. I looked at Haru, who only let out a sorrowful wail, her nose tilted up to the sky. “She’s not dead!! How can you-how can you call yourselves her friends if you don’t have faith in her!” I protested, even though I felt as if it was true; that Nat was dead.
“B-Bon-” Konkemaru started softly, but I hit his hand away, causing him to flinch.
“J-just stop!! She can’t be-
“Onee-chan!” Rin wailed to the air, his tears dripping down like rain.
“Onee-chan!!!” Hishomi’s voice joined his, her high voice blending with his, to create Yukio’s voice, who stood in between them. I bit my lip, and looked around frantically.
“Anno...etto...Yo.”
We all turned to see Nat, who was rubbing the back of her head sheepishly as she smiled faintly, her hair messed up, but I didn’t seem to care at that time. She was Nat. That’s all that mattered. Oh, kami. Nat I would do so many things right now but-
“Baka!! Baka, Baka, Baka!” Another voice beat me to scolding her, and to my surprise; that person who was scolding her was Shiemi. “You don’t need to be scaring us like that!!” She scolds, her tears still dripping down her face. Nat only laughed softly, patting her head and flattening her hair.
“Dai-jo-bu, Shi-chan. I’m al-”
“Damn you Onee-chan!!” Rin’s voice bellowed as he tackled Nat, sitting on her and pulling her hair.
“I-Ite!! Onii-san, yamete!” She whines, and blushes a lot as she lays face down to the ground.
“No! We thought you had-” He just stops and tugs on her hair, and she whimpers, waving her arms around and trying to get out of his grip.
Watching the two fight like children, I realized that I had fallen for an idiot.
