[The End of Osamu Ashikaga]: Second Chance

The people of the modern world documented their own demise for the vampires of Yakutsk to see. Footage of the horde’s destruction of the world flooded the news channels for days on end. While the sheer horror of Osamu’s global genocide repulsed some of the vampires, it elated most of them. In their eyes, the world was being cleansed of the species that brutalized and repudiated their race for centuries.

The sight of flattened cities, metropolises reduced to craters full of ash, and mangled corpses put relieved smiles on the faces of men, women, and children all across Yakutsk. The bars were full of soldiers sharing drinks with civilians and toasting to their victory over Russia and North America. Smoke dreamily wafted out of Yakutsk’s mortuary chimneys, sending the fumes of Minavere’s fallen soldiers into Siberia’s raven sky.

Johan’s body, pale as the Yakut snow, was cremated along with the corpses of Yana, Balakin, and the senators killed in the shooting incident that took place in the senate building. As per Hima’s request that no traitors would be laid to rest on Minaverian soil, their ashes were sent to the northern garrison to be scattered into the ocean.

While Minavere’s people celebrated their survival and rebuilt what was destroyed in the battle, Osamu and the Yakutsk lords convened one last time in Room 1313’s conference room. Each lord stood with a glass of wine in their hands and smiles on their faces.

“A toast to our king and queen, and to Minavere!” Anya cheered.

After a barrage of celebratory shouts and a smirk of embarrassment from Osamu, the lords sipped their wine and sat in their chairs. Osamu saw the relief on their faces as they rested their bones and put alcohol on their tongues after a battle they nearly didn’t survive. He almost couldn’t believe he had actually succeeded in defending Minavere. It all felt like a dream.

He rubbed his fingers against his forehead where Johan’s bullet passed through his skull and damaged his brain. What shocked him most about the ordeal was how relatively painless it was. The bullet had struck him so quickly that he hardly felt a thing. He just blacked out and remembered waking up on the operating table in the hospital.

“How does it feel to be back from the dead, Osamu?” Borya asked.

“Actually, it’s not my first time doing that.” Osamu laughed. “Besides, I’d say you took more of a beating than me, Borya. You’re incredibly lucky to have survived a white phosphorus attack.”

“Yeah, well, Anya and her troops are to thank for that. They took good care of me.” Borya said.

Anya smiled as she folded her blonde hair behind her ears. “Nothing quite as humbling as white phosphorus, hmm? You look even more handsome with those scars, by the way.”

“So happy you appreciate my makeover, Anya.” Borya chuckled.

“Not much longer now and humanity will be almost completely wiped out.” Carmilla chimed. “You’re about halfway there already, Osamu.”

Osamu’s smile faded as he put his glass down on the table. “Yeah. Truthfully, I summoned everyone here to celebrate. You and your people are finally free. The world will be in ruins, but it’ll be yours to rebuild and inhabit. But…this meeting is also goodbye. I promised I would give Hima my heart and blood. I intend to fulfill that promise. Before I do that, I’ll be leaving Minavere to wrap up some personal affairs. I don’t think we’ll be seeing each other again.”

The elation in the room wilted and gave way to a heavy, silent sorrow. Osamu scoffed as he watched the joy bleed from everyone’s faces.

“What’s wrong? I didn’t think you guys would care about some human dying.” Osamu joked.

“Normally, we wouldn’t…” Nastasia said. “But you helped make all of this possible, Osamu. You helped us get our nation back. You aren’t just some human to us.”

“You’ll be remembered as a national hero.” Katya added. “Osamu Ashikaga, the Founding King of Minavere.”

“You have our gratitude, Osamu. For everything.” Ulrich interjected. “As if you haven’t done enough, you’re even going so far as to sacrifice yourself for this nation. But…why not continue living? Isn’t there some way we can strengthen Hima while keeping you alive?”

Osamu shook his head. “As strong as I am, I can’t do what needs to be done with this power. Not yet, anyway. I would much prefer for it to be done right away, and for that to happen, Hima needs to take this power. Besides…I’m done living. I’ve carried this burden long enough. I discovered the most beautiful thing in the world and managed to keep some of my loved ones alive. That’s enough for me.”

(For as much faith as I’m putting in the vampires, I can’t allow Minavere to get too out of hand. By the time Dark Dawn is finished, there’ll be around a million people left in all the world. If the vampires had it their way, they’d reduce that to zero. I think there’s a good chance everyone here would respect my wishes after all I’ve done for them, but I have to think about what happens as time passes and leadership changes.

(If a new body of lords comes around and wants humanity gone completely, then the world won’t get the second chance it deserves. I can’t just manipulate Hima and the Yakutsk lords and call it a day. Rather…I should manipulate Hima to adopt and spread my ideology, then give her my heart and blood. That way, whenever she orders the lords or anyone else to adhere to my values, she’ll unknowingly manipulate them into doing it.

(First the lords, then the people of Minavere, then the remnants of humanity. Once she does that…the world will be enslaved by my will. Any children that come after that will be raised by their shackled parents, and if that doesn’t work, Hima will be made immortal when she receives Inari’s blood and heart. A shackled, immortal monarch will always be there to manipulate future generations and dissidents if they do arise.)

“It’s all up to you now.” Osamu said. “I have no doubt in my mind that Minavere will be a great country without me. We were only together for a short while, but it was an honor to have fought beside you all. Please, take good care of yourselves and this country.”

With tears in her eyes and the passion of nationalism burning in her heart, Anya raised her glass towards Osamu. “Fight together…”

In stalwart unison, the Yakutsk lords completed Inari’s adage with a powerful shout. “Die together!”

Those words brought back precious, bittersweet memories of that desperate fight for survival in the Kyoto International Airport. The blood, the tears, and the sorrow he shared with Inari seven years ago overcame him like a tidal wave of memory. His heart swelled with happiness as he gazed upon the faces of the Yakutsk lords, savoring the image to take with him back to Moonglow castle.

Nastasia put down her glass and lifted her black veil, revealing her radiant, pale face and set of golden, honeyed eyes that shined like suns against her long, raven hair. She took hold of Osamu’s hand, gently squeezing it. “Thank you, Osamu. I hope you find peace.”

Osamu bowed his head. “Thank you, Nastasia.”

Carmilla walked over to Hima’s side, downing the last of her wine before setting the empty glass down on the table. “Hima and I will return to Moonglow Castle with Osamu and see to it his final wishes are fulfilled. When the deed is done, we shall return.”

“When I return, it shall be as a demi-god…and as a mother-to-be.” Hima said, holding Osamu’s hand. “See you soon, everyone.”

Osamu, Carmilla, and Hima made their silent exit out of the room, the vampirical lords bowing their heads in respect as they walked by. Before he walked out of the door, Osamu turned his head and gave his fellow patriots some parting words.

“Don’t drink to mourn me. Drink to honor me. What good is wine soured with sorrow? Make it sweet with joy.”

And with that, Osamu turned his back upon the Yakutsk lords, never to see their faces again. He followed Hima and Carmilla down the hall, into the elevator, and out into the bar on the first floor, silent the whole way. Taeko, Yoko, Manami, and the Shoku Twins sat in wait at the bar, the Shoku Twins sitting at a booth across the room from the others. As soon as the twins spotted Osamu, they stood from the booth and approached him.

“Time to go?” Akatsuki asked.

Osamu nodded. “Yeah. Let’s wrap this up.”

“…As you wish.” Omagatoki said. Come on, everyone. We’re going home”

“So…” Taeko began, “what happens now, Osamu?”

“The end.” Osamu said.

Their mission in Yakutsk complete, everyone gathered around the Shoku Twins as they clasped their hands, vanishing from the hotel. In seconds, the biting cold of the East Siberian air faded, making way for the Welsh breeze and birdsong. Vast fields of ice were replaced by rolling hills of grass and frolicking sheep. Centered in the remote, green canvass of the Welsh countryside was Moonglow Castle.

Standing before that onyx monolith of a castle, knowing it would be where he’d give his heart and blood to Hima, Osamu dreaded each step he took toward the place. His legs shook underneath his black jeans and his hands went almost completely numb. The castle’s reflection sat in his dilated pupils

“How long do you need?” Carmilla asked.

Her words made Osamu shiver more than any Siberian wind ever could. He had years to plan and come to terms with his fate at the end of his disastrous plan for the world, but now that he was staring fate dead in the face, it all began to feel real. He, the greatest mass murderer the world had ever seen, was going to die in just a few days time.

“Just give me three days…” Osamu said. “I’ll be ready in three days.”

“Okay.” Hima said. “Should you need anything, anything at all, you need only ask. We’ll leave you to it.”

For the first time in what felt like ages, Osamu and the others stepped inside Moonglow Castle, their shoes squeaking against the marbled floors of the foyer as the crystal baubles of affixed to the golden chandeliers above their heads shined like stars against the raven ceiling. When he first stepped into Moonglow’s foyer, he was the world’s most wanted man, at war with the largest alliance of nations the world had seen. Now, he entered as the victor of the Third Great Holy War and the king of Minavere.

Osamu turned to face the others. “Akatsuki, Omagatoki, please go on and get some rest. I know you two don’t necessarily feel the need to sleep, but you must surely be exhausted after all that fighting.”

Omagatoki cracked her neck with a pained look on her face. “Yeah. Maybe a hot bath and a nap on a nice bed will do us some good. What will you do, Osamu?”

“Start my atonement, I suppose. What little of it I can do.” Osamu said after a heavy sigh.

Hima, Manami, and Carmilla departed to their rooms and the Shoku Twins disappeared down the stained glass halls, heading for the baths. Osamu and Taeko stood alone in the middle of the foyer, swallowed by a seemingly impenetrable quietude. Taeko plopped down on the first step of the spiraling staircase with an utterly defeated look on her face.

Osamu stuck his pockets in his hands and leaned against the wall next to her.

“I guess everything went the way you wanted.” Taeko said.

“With some hiccups along the way, like getting shot in the head.” Osamu replied.

“Good for you.”

“…That’s all you have to say?”

Taeko scoffed. “What? I could sit here all day and wax poetic about betrayal and how it poisons relationships, not a word of which would matter to you, seeing as you’ve already won. You decided well in advance, years in advance, in fact, that our friendship, the lives of our loved ones, and of all humanity were worth sacrificing in this war. If you were looking into the eyes of a madman like that, would you waste your breath telling them something they clearly already know, that they’ve destroyed your heart as much as they’ve destroyed the world?”

Taeko held her head in her hands, her face flush and her eyes welling with tears. “You made me responsible for the worst genocide in human history. Billions of people…dying in a war they know nothing about, wondering why they’re being murdered like this…”

“You and the others were trying to nurture flowers with dirty water.” Osamu said. “Like I told you before, your plan was great. It was the kind of daring, large-scale scheme I’d expect from you. There’s nothing in this world you haven’t been able to plan your way out of. But…you would’ve only won peace for a generation or two at best. The world would just come after my family again.

“Yoko and the others would never be safe to raise their children. Simply being my descendant would doom to a life on the run, cursed to live in the same world as the people that want them dead. This was the only sure way to end this war decisively, then set the stage to end the very concept of war itself.”

Taeko chuckled. “See what I mean? Pointless.”

“I did this to protect you, Yoko, Kagu, and everyone else. The pantheon had seven years to come back to their senses. They didn’t want to. It’s not your fault.”

“The war may isn’t my fault. What’s become of both you and the world is.”

Osamu slumped down against the wall, sitting on the floor with his legs extended outward. His eyes darted across the foyer as he clasped his hands in search of something to say.

“I know this has been a horrific experience for you.” Osamu said. “I’m sorry for making you go through it with me. I really am, Taeko. I did this for you, too. You’re my best friend. I know you well enough to know that if another war were to start in the next thirty years, you’d fight to protect my family from any threat.”

“Of course I would.”

“That’s another reason why I had to end this. You’ve been fighting your whole life, Taeko. You lost everything in your own era, but you still came here to save the world and protect your friends. Fighting and war is all you’ve known ever since you were a teenager. But I don’t want you to fight anymore. I want you to live.

“I want you to wake up in the morning, in some beautiful house somewhere, and think only of what you’ll have for breakfast as the sunshine pours in through your window. I want you to feel the warm sand of a tropical beach beneath your feet, to sit in the shade of a palm tree and read a nice book in your hammock. I want you invite Gekko over and do silly things and make silly memories. I want you to dance, even if you’re bad it. Laugh, even if you snort. Just…live…even if everything up until that points has been nothing but pain and loss.

“Life…is such a beautiful thing, Taeko. Equally as joyous as it is tragic. You know that more than anyone. I’ve believed it ever since I met Izanami, and even more so after fighting Johan. You don’t belong to the Senkumo clan. You don’t belong to Japan or the Exorcist Program. You don’t even belong to Minavere. Your life is yours to live, yours to fill with purpose. I want you to finally be able to put down your sword, unclench your fists, and find that purpose. Find that beauty that makes you want to wake up with the sun on your face, the sand beneath your feet, and good company in your home. Find what makes you want to live for the next day and never look back.”

Osamu stood up, shoving his hands into his pockets as he ascended the stairs and walked past Taeko.

“I wanted you to find that too.” Taeko said. “When all hope was lost…I wanted to give it back to you.”

Osamu turned his head and smiled. “You did. Just by being with me through it all. Goodnight, Taeko.”

Taeko had no more words to spare, only tears to shed for everything that happened. Her heart broke into pieces, for she didn’t know how to feel about Osamu. The disgust and revulsion at his actions, betrayal, and costly sacrifices could not be denied. At the same time, seven years of peace talks proved to be fruitless. Osamu was both a monster and an extremely benevolent friend.

That stark duality puzzled and hurt her at the same time. She didn’t know if she’d ever be able to forgive him for what he did, or herself for unwittingly helping him do it. His words to her, about finding the reason to live for tomorrow, did remind her of something.

It reminded her of the Osamu she used to know, the good-natured man she once called her best friend. Perhaps he was still in there somewhere, even after all he had done.