Chapter 30- Till Death Do Us Part (2/2)

It's over. 

Everything is over.

All of this effort to try to change this story. All of the memories I've dreamed of creating. All of it is over.

Shinkyo: "Zaro!"

Hot blood rushes down to the flackery gritty ground. 

Appealed, Fern makes herself and her sword, which is now stained in blood, fall backwards to take in the scene that has just played out in front of her.

Brining my hand closer to my chest, I feel the small but immeasurable hole left by Fern. Despite the unbearable pain, I can't help but smile as I see Eri unharmed and safe.

I made it. 

For once, I made it.

Shinkyo: "Why?! Why Zaro?! I-I!"

Fern: "How dare you infer!? I could've finished this war and you-!"

Making his way over to Fern, Birch brings his sword towards her and begins to block her attacks directed at Shinkyo and I.

Birch: "Shinkyo, I will hold off Fern! Take him to the infirmary!"

As her eyes shake, Shinkyo looks up at me and tightly grips her hands around me. Her hands are trembling terribly.

Shinkyo: "Z-zaro we need to go to the infirmary. T-they might be able to-"

Devilynn: "Eri, I know I'm not going to make it."

Looking up at me, tears begin to form in her brightly lit eyes. Her heart beat is racing as my becomes ever so slower.

Devilynn: "I'm sorry...for everything. For the car accident that sent us here, for falling for Fern's tricks, for harming the people you care about, and for not coming with you."

Tears begin to drench my face as I continue to talk.

Devilynn: "All this time! I've been looking for you all this time! And I never stopped loving you! I always sot after you everywhere I went! I dreamed about standing beside you...and every time we met I hurt you."

Shinkyo: "Zaro, that doesn't matter now. I-I forgive you...I-I-I looked for you too and I never stopped either. I always and always will love you."

Pulling her closer, I find my heart and my voice becoming swollen and shaken. By the second, it's becoming harder and harder to breathe. 

Before I know it, I begin leaning on Eri in order to stay standing. Lowering the both of us, Eri kneels down and lays my head down on her lap.

Devilynn: "I'm so happy to have grown with you and I'm so so entirely happy that I could be here in time...just this once."

My salty tears slip down into my mouth as I talk. It's bitter. The stream of tears protruding from Eri drips down onto my face. It's a rain of sorrow.

Devilynn: "When we died so so long ago, I wished over and over again to be someone who could protect you and I-I'm-"

Overflowing with tears, my mouth quivers into a smile.

Devilynn: "I'm so happy I could be."

Eri tightens her grip around my hand. The heat from her body is comforting as the cold sets in.

Shinkyo: "Zaro...please please don't go. Stay here with me. We can live together, we can fall in love all over again, and we can live the lives we never got to...so please-Please! Stay here with me."

Her sadness continues to grow as my grip loosens from hers.

Devilynn: "Eri...I love you."

Eri: "I-I love you too Zaro."

Bring my head and hands upwards, I grasp my hand into her face and pull her forward into my lips. It's a kiss that quite literally takes my breathe away. 

As I take my face away from hers, my eyes deceive me in these final moments. The illusion of the women I grew up with, the women who stole my heart over and over again, stood in front of me with the same golden hair, soft expression, and crystal blue eyes I had loved so passionately.

Smiling, I take one last final glance at her before pulling her down with me into a hug.

Devilynn: "Eri...this is now your story."

Shinkyo: "Zaro, what are you saying? You-"

Devilynn: "Finish this story with an ending that makes you smile when you tell it...the next time we meet I want to see you smile again."

As Eri lifts herself on top of me, I find my heart beat it's last beat.

This is it...my story is over.

Now it's your story, Eri.

And I can't wait to hear the ending someday.

***

This moment last forever. I keep replaying and regretting. Regretting and replaying.

He's gone. Zaro is gone.

All this hate, all this anger, I had for him is gone and filled with this twisted feeling of regret. 

Clenching my fist together, I take one last look at Zaro before standing up.

I can't bring him back. I can't rewind time and save him, so there's only one thing I can do for him.

Shinkyo: "Fern Harness! Come over here! I will end your life!"

I will kill Fern for everyone I've lost.

Taking a step backwards towards me, Birch gives a confirming glance at me.

Shinkyo: "Birch, bring Zar-Devilynn to the infirmary. He's gone...but-"

Birch: "I will take him. But can you handle Fern, I-"

Shinkyo: "I will end this war. No one can stop me anymore."

With a reassuring nod, I bring myself forward towards Fern who is looking reckless and tired from holding off Birch.

Fern: "I knew he was a good for nothing! Prepare to die Shinkyo, you pathetic rat!"

Moving her feet as fast as they can go, I let her bring her sword down onto my arm. Using this moment, I take my spear and plunge it into her right calf with all the strength I have.

Fern: "AHh!"

Taking a step backwards, Fern falls to the ground. Her screams and look of terror fills my body with a sense of victory and nervousness.

Fern: "My leg! No! I-I can't!"

Shinkyo: "Now look at you, Fern! You are no better that us 'rats', you have forsaken!"

Fern: "no! No! NO! That is not true! No matter what happens my kingdom will always-ALWAYS accept me! I AM FERN HARNESS! FERN HARNESS! The princess and future heir to Frostala!"

Shinkyo: "In a harmonious world, sickness doesn't belong there, Fern."

Fern: "Shut up! Shut up! Shut the hell up, you idiotic pathetic belligerent wrench! They will! THEY WILL! I know they will!"

Shinkyo: "Who knows if they will? Bu that doesn't matter Fern...in the end-"

Using all the strength I have left, I slam the sharp edge of my spear threw Fern's chest in a fatal blow.

Shinkyo: "We will never know,"

While her eyes tremble down to her chest, Fern opens her mouth to speak but is met with a mouthful of blood.

Fern: "This can't be happening...no...not to I...Fern Harness..."

As her pupils begin to shrink and her body becomes limp, the sound of cannons rings throughout the battlefield.

While the sound of cheers fills the air, the weight of the war is lifted.

But for me, the weight of my loves one death still weighs heavily in my heart.

*AUTHOR'S NOTE: Tomorrow will be the epilogue and conclusion of The husband and Hero.