Falling Leaves 8 ??

  In another village in Heaven, far away from the battle, the strange girl who was holding Clyde watches as other angels try to figure out what's wrong with him as he lies in a bed.

  Clyde is still bordering between consciousness and unconsciousness.

  One of the angels turns to her. "Can you explain how you found him, Ariel?"

  Ariel clears her throat. "Well, I was just flying by the gate and found him sitting there under a tree. I tried talking to him, and uh—- yeah, he just wasn't responsive."

  One of them turns back to Clyde as they check his eyelids, mouth, and nose.

  Clyde makes a sound, using all his strength to speak. "W-w-w—-"

  The angels lean in, putting their ears closer to his mouth. "Say that again?"

  "W-water—-" he mumbles.

  "Water?" one of the angel nurses asks.

  Ariel raises an eyebrow. "Why would he need water?"

  One of the angel nurses shrugs. "Who knows, but it'll make him talk."

  One of them summons a bubble of water in their palm as it fills. She pops the water on Clyde's face, and some gets in his mouth.

  He begins to cough as he chokes on it. He falls off the bed and hits his chest on the ground.

  He swallows it. "DAMN IT! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!"

  All the angels in the room stare at him.

  Ariel pushes past the nurses as she stands above Clyde. "Hey there, buddy. Looks like you can finally speak. What's your name?"

  Clyde looks up at her. "She's beautiful—- holy shit—- this is the most normal girl I've seen since I died."

  Her robe is filled with golden buttons, her face is soft and feminine, her eyes are brown, and her skin is soft and peachy.

  Clyde stutters as he tries to speak. "Uh, um—- I'm Clyde."

  "Clyde? That's a strange name for an angel. I've never heard of that one." She turns to the nurses. "Have you guys ever heard of someone named that?"

  They all shake their heads. "No, it sounds ridiculously foreign," one of them responds.

  Ariel crouches down as Clyde glances at her thighs showing through the robe. He feels his body getting warm.

  "What part of heaven are you from? What squadron of angels were you in?" she asks softly as she cups Clyde's face.

  Clyde blushes. "I— what do you mean angel? I'm not—- I'm not an angel."

  The nurses behind Ariel gasp. "What do you mean you're not an angel?"

  Ariel turns back to them. "Let me handle this, alright?" She looks back at Clyde and into his eyes. "What do you mean you're not an angel? What are you then?"

  "I'm a human! A human being! Something you beings like calling mortal!"

  Ariel blinks in shock, then shakes her head. "Haha, how? That's not even possible. You still have your legs and you don't have a halo I can see."

  "That's because I'm alive! I'm not dead."

  Everyone in the room remains silent.

  Ariel then speaks, "Um—- are you sure you're okay? Live humans can't be in heaven. That's not possible, like I said."

  "It's because of the Reapers! You know, the white-haired little guy and his girlfriend with the red hair!"

  Ariel stands up quickly. "Okay, okay—- you're losing me—- I'm the wrong person to tell stuff like this to!" She grabs his hand and forces him up. "You have to come with me. We need to talk to Haniel about this."

  Clyde doesn't fight it at all. "Well, if I've got you holding my hand and taking me somewhere, I don't really mind." He chuckles, looking her up and down.

  Naively, Ariel smiles. "Oh, that's great then! Thank you for not making this difficult."

  Ariel walks out of the building with Clyde, gently holding his hand.

  Clyde covers his eyes as the bright light hits him. "Damn—-"

  "Hey—- please don't say that here," Ariel quickly informs him.

  "Oh, right. Sorry about that—-"

  Clyde looks at the view and notices they're standing on a cliffside.

  "Woah, this is insane—-"

  The golden skies stretch across the lands as the sunlight radiates, making the mountains below glow. Golden trees, some tall, some small, dot the landscape. Angelic creatures reign in the air—one a dragon, one a phoenix.

  "This is beautiful—- the Bible didn't say anything about heaven being like this—-"

  "The Bible? What's that?" Ariel asks, tilting her head.

  "Wait, you're telling me you're an angel and you don't know what the Bible is?" Clyde asks.

  "Oh, no. I don't think I've ever heard of such a thing."

  Clyde starts to freak out. "Wait, so if you don't know what the Bible is, does that mean it's fake? Was Jesus never real?"

  "Well, I don't know. I don't know what the Bible is—- again."

  "No way—-" he whispers to himself.

  Ariel spreads her wings as she begins to flap. "Hold on tight, okay?"

  "Hey, wait!"

  Ariel takes off without even hearing Clyde's plea. He holds on for dear life.

  "If I fall, I'll be flat! Look how high this is—- oh no—-"

  She continues to fly at a reasonable speed. "I hope this isn't too much for you. Just tell me if you want me to go slower or faster."

  Clyde looks up at her, "Well—- I don't really like dangling in the air—- but my only concern is that you don't drop me!"

  Ariel smiles, "Oh, don't worry about that. I won't do that—you're safe with me."

  Clyde takes a deep breath, "I trust you."

  "Why, thank you! Means a lot!" she grins.

  She continues to fly. "So Clyde, was it? Were you telling the truth about being a live human here? How did that even happen? You mentioned something about reapers."

  Clyde sighs. "It's a long story, but why not? So basically, I died at first. I got reaped by a Reaper named Akuji. He sent me to the spirit world, and I dealt with bull after bull—-"

  "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. It sounds exhausting—- but if you died, how are you alive right now?"

  "Oh right, well, let's just say someone named the Spirit of Life brought me back."

  She pauses in the air. "The Spirit of Life?! You mean Sachi or Ikigai brought you back?! No way!"

  Clyde looks confused about why their names are such a big deal. "Yeah, it was the Sachi one you just mentioned. I don't know who Ikigai is."

  "Ikigai is Sachi's twin sister. I can't believe one of them would do that."

  "So there are two so-called Spirits with godlike powers. Got it." Clyde says sarcastically.

  "This is insane—- do you know how lucky you are? Tell me, how was it? The feeling of happiness Sachi granted you!" Ariel rambles.

  "Happiness? That bitch didn't give me any of that. If anything, she was part of my torture."

  "What?! She didn't bestow happiness upon you? That's surprising—she usually loves doing that."

  Clyde narrows his eyes. "What do you mean by 'bestowing happiness'?"

  "Oh, well, sorry I didn't explain it better. Sachi has the power to give others the greatest feeling of happiness they've ever experienced." She starts to smile gleefully. "Ouu, I can just imagine what that feeling is like. The ones she helped said it was euphoric beyond words."

  "That's crazy! She can willingly tamper with people's emotions? Well, damn. Knowing that she's more of a fraud to me! She could have made everything so much easier but let me suffer. I swear something's wrong with her."

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Ariel shakes her head. "Sachi? No, she's a joy to have around. Everyone in Heaven loves her."

  "What's this Ikigai like? You said she had a twin?" Clyde asks.

  "Hmm, Ikigai—- I don't know much about her. She doesn't show herself much. But when she does, it's just—- wow." She says in awe, "She's beautiful, strong. Her voice just commands leadership. When you're around her, you just feel like you have a new purpose to live."

  "She just sounds like an over-the-top cult leader to me. Are these two gods or something? Hearing what you’re saying—- it's hard to believe they're not."

  Ariel starts to flap her wings, moving forward. "No, they're not necessarily gods. Their mother is one, though."

  "Oh great, another one? What's this one like?"

  Ariel hums. "I don't know that either. I've never met the Stars face to face before. I hope I rank up one day to make it to the Second Plane of Heaven so I can."

  "Stars? Second Plane of Heaven? Okay, you're losing me here now."

  Ariel giggles. "You are the questionable one, huh? Hm, hold on." Ariel scans the landscape below them. "Okay, perfect. Hold on tight now!"

  "Huh?" Suddenly he's pulled down as Ariel glides down from the sky. His stomach sinks. "AYE, AYEEEE, SLOW DOWNNN!!" he screams.

  Ariel lands near a pond with golden trees towering over them. Doves surround the area as cat-like creatures with horns and goat-like bodies walk around drinking the water. Their fur is pure white.

  Is everything here just white? Clyde thinks to himself.

  "Sorry about that. I was just really enjoying talking to you, so I figured we could chat more here." Ariel smiles, "There's no rush."

  Clyde gets flustered. "Oh, um—- really?" He stutters, "Well, uh—- I enjoyed talking to you too, I guess."

  Ariel sits down on the grass and pats next to her, inviting Clyde to sit beside her.

  Clyde thinks to himself, Okay, don't fuck this up! A literal angel girl wants to talk with you!

  This is next level! And she's fine!

  He puffs his chest out as he tries to walk with his posture straight. He then sits down, trying to act cool and collected.

  Ariel claps her hands. "So, Clyde, was it? To answer your questions about the Stars first—well, as I explained, they're gods."

  "Okay, that part was obvious, but why are they called Stars? And how many of them are there?" Clyde asks back.

  "Well, right now there are 10 of them, and as for why they're called Stars—- uh—-" She rubs the back of her head and giggles. "I don't really know that one, sorry."

  She's so cute—- damn—- I have to play this smartly. Girls like questions, right? Oh, and I have to be mysterious, he continues to think to himself.

  He feels sweat about to drop from his forehead. He wipes it quickly.

  Ariel then turns her head to look at him. "So Clyde, tell me about you. You seem like a pretty interesting guy."

  "Well, uh, in life I was the son of someone who was a governor."

  Ariel tilts her head. "A governor? What's that?"

  "Figures you wouldn't know—- I'm not even shocked anymore," He sighs, "A governor is like a leader of a state, and you probably don't know what a state is. Think of it like—- your planes of heaven here, but each with their own leaders. They're split up into 50 different ones, which makes a country."

  Ariel nods her head. "Yes, yes, explain more! I like this!"

  "Well, to put it short, I was the son of one of these leaders. My goal in life was to be a president, which is the leader of all 50 states. So I wanted to be the leader of all the leaders."

  Ariel leans closer, her face filled with awe. "Really?! You're quite the ambitious one then!" Then says sadly, "I'm really sorry your life was cut so short then! It seems like you had an entire future ahead of you."

  "Yeah—- you could say that—- I regret it all—- ever since I died, it's been nothing but abuse and torture."

  Ariel puts her hand on Clyde's shoulder. "Well, you don't have to worry about that with me. You deserve better than that."

  Clyde places his hand on hers. "Thank you. Really."

  Ariel gives him a soft smile.

  Suddenly, a golden orb appears in front of Ariel, "Hm? Someone's trying to contact me?"

  Clyde looks at the orb. "So this is like the cellphone of your world?"

  "I have no idea what that is! Sounds neat, though!"

  "Oh, right—-" he chuckles a bit as he relaxes.

  Ariel places her palm under the orb as light radiates from her. The orb starts to glow softly as a voice comes through.

  "ARIEL AND THE REST OF THE GUARDIAN ANGELS, MAKE WAY TO THE FOUNDATION OF PURITY 3C! —DANGER LEVEL: 8!"

  Ariel jumps up. "Wait, a danger level that high?! What could possibly be going on over there?"

  Clyde looks up at her. "Aw man, I was enjoying our time."

  "Sorry, Clyde, but I have to go." She sprouts her wings as they radiate with light.

  "Wait! Let me come with you at least. I might be of some assistance," Clyde stands up.

  Ariel looks at him. "This is a level 8 threat—- I'm not sure if you'll be able to handle this."

  "Hey, I've handled the Reapers and the Spirits of Life and Hell itself. Trust me, I can handle it."

  "Hell?" Ariel tilts her head, "Never mind that for now—I'll ask you about that later. But fine, if you insist, grab my hand. We have to hurry."

  Clyde quickly grabs her hand tightly as she uses her wings enhanced by energy to fly at speeds beyond anything Clyde has experienced.

  "WOAHHHH!" he yells.

  At the Village, Akuji and his clone are in the midst of battle. The clone grabs Akuji by the neck, dragging him through the limestone face-first. His flaming wings boost his momentum as debris and pieces of stone scatter.

  Akuji lights his entire body on fire to get the clone off him. The clone is pushed upward from the force. Akuji regains himself, his face and body covered with blood. He quickly rushes to his clone, not allowing a second of breathing room. He knees him in the gut with so much force it leaves a dent on impact.

  The clone vomits blood. "Gwaugh!" He grunts.

  Akuji grabs him by the hair, placing his face in his palm and firing a blast of flames point blank, causing an explosion.

  "This ain't enough—- I need more—- I'll dice you—-" His voice is low and venomous, his eyes fully locked on the clone as it falls from the air.

  The clone flaps its wings of flames before it could hit the ground, half of his face charred.

  He chuckles. "Is that all, demon! HUH?!" He summons his scythe back into his hands as flames erupt from him.

  Akuji crashes down, surrounding himself with purple flames while holding his blade. The clone quickly dodges the descent as violet flames spread across the area. Akuji then surrounds his right wing with the flames and dark energy, balling his claws into a fist. He slams the wing into the ground. The ground begins to shake as pillars of flames erupt, chasing the clone down.

  "Erk—-" the clone grunts. He has no time to fly upward—the flames reach too high. He guards himself with his white flames as the pillars hit, causing more shockwaves and explosions.

  Akuji pants as he picks up his wing. In that moment, the clone appears behind him, ready to slash with his scythe.

  "You know the truth! I'm what you should have been!" The clone swings the scythe down as Akuji uses his blade to parry. Both of them slide back. "I'm the purity you should have had. You should never have become the devil you are now! All the people you hurt—Sachi, Danya, the multiple lives you killed and erased."

  The clone charges with his scythe, relentlessly slashing at Akuji this time. "Hurting the ones who love you, hurting the ones you love. You don't even have a care in the world."

  He continues to slash. "Sachi, the woman who was your first love—you destroyed her. Danya, the woman who loves you to no end—the way you treat her is sick. The souls you casually sell in hell. The ones you've erased, the spirits you've killed on a whim! What kind of reaper are you? You're not contributing to the balance of the cosmos. You're making it more UNBALANCED!"

  Akuji grits his teeth. "Shut your mouth! You talk as if you know what you're talking about! Trying to guilt trip me? Try again, priss boy! Throw all the insults you want at me—you know my words are the truth!"

  They clash, sparks flying off both weapons.

  "I will stop at nothing to tear down a mistake, a demon like you who threatens the lives and peace of everyone around you. A disgrace to Izanami's name. That's what you are."

  Akuji scoffs "You know what's funny? How a fake can talk to me like this. You must not know where you come from. Every word you're throwing at me, you're throwing at yourself as well! Stop acting like you're holier than thou. You're just as bad as me."

  Akuji finds an opening and launches a kick to the clone's side.

  "I've had enough of this. You die now!" He levels his blade at him.

  The clone stumbles back, holding his side. "Can't handle my words, demon? Can't handle that you're a problem everywhere you go?"

  Akuji closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Black marks spread across his body, his fingers grow scales. Streaks of purple and pink energy spread across like cracks. Purple and black particles radiate off him.

  The clone stares at him and steps back, his eyes wide.

  "The Berserker Virus—- You plan to use that on me? As if I can't access it myself?!" The clone laughs to himself as he tries to activate it. It fails. "What?!"

  Akuji starts to chuckle as it grows into a maniacal laugh. Four fangs show as he smiles, bearing them.

  "So much for knowing everything I know, right?! The Berserker Virus doesn't work for you holys. Sorry, pal!”

  He combusts his sword into flames, turning it back into a scythe. "Oh, to be a 'hellbeast'—it feels good."

  "You foul creature—- you know what it took for you to even achieve that virus?! The lives of other Spirits! Their sanity! The fact you use it so casually makes me sick!"

  Akuji snickers as he walks closer to the clone, his scythe on his shoulder. "Oh, spare me the lecture. Weren't you just trying to activate this? I never knew I was this much of a hypocrite."

  The clone balls his fist throwing a punch in the air, shooting an inferno of white flames at Akuji. The flames dissipate as Akuji stands there with the same grin on his face. His face darkens—only his gleaming violet eyes can be seen. The white and violet flames rage around him, causing his shadow to overtake the clone's.

  The clone steps back. "Stay back! Stay back, you fiend!"

  Akuji continues to walk slowly toward him. The clone starts to rapid-fire blasts at Akuji, all of them doing nothing.

  "What do I evoke in you?" Akuji grabs his scythe from his shoulder.

  "What?!" The clone responds, falling down on his back. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

  "Is it anger? Maybe sadness, or is it fear?

  The clone starts to crawl back. "I SAID STAY BACK!"

  Akuji raises his scythe. "Actually—- I don't care what you felt. This is enough for me right here."

  Danya, back at the fountain, breaks the chains.

  "Finally!" She stands up, seeing everything on fire.

  "Holy shit—-"

  She materializes her crimson wings and flies over the flames, trying to find Akuji. Instantly she spots the silhouettes of them behind white flames.

  "Akuji—-" she whispers to herself as she rushes to see him.

  Back with Akuji and the clone, the clone tries to crawl away as terror takes over his body.

  "At least die with some honor. I can't stand looking at myself being a coward."

  Akuji summons chains, firing them and wrapping them around the clone.

  "AGH! STOP THIS!" The clone bellows

  Danya arrives looking down at Akuji as he readies his scythe against the clone.

  "No—-" she whispers. Seeing Akuji about to be killed triggers something in her—even if it's just a clone, she can't let it happen.

  "STOP PLEASE!"

  Akuji looks above him and spots Danya. "She's free? Good." He ignores Danya's pleas and steps on the clone's chest, ready to swing his scythe.

  "AKUJI, STOP! DON'T DO THIS!" She lands behind him, "Please just not him—just not him!"

  Akuji looks back at Danya. "You want me to keep this fraud alive? And for what? Do you love him or something?"

  "I love you! That's why I'm telling you to stop! Please just listen to me."

  Akuji turns to the clone and looks down at him. "Danya, tell me a good reason why I should spare him."

  "Because he's hope! He's hope you still have something inside of you! Hope you're not just a monster. That's why!"

  A wave of bitterness fills Akuji's chest. "Hope? You call this self-righteous bastard hope?"

  "Yes! I am—- he's shown me a side of you I haven't seen in years. A person who feels, a person who cares."

  He looks at the clone as it squirms in the chains.

  "Let me ask you a question, fraud. What is your name?"

  "My name?" The clone pauses for a second, "Akuji—- that's me—- the only name I'll ever be called."

  Akuji smiles. "Well—-" His bitterness takes the best of him as he raises his scythe again. "It was a good fight, one of the best I've had, but this is farewell."

  The clone closes his eyes, accepting whatever's about to happen.

  "LISTEN TO ME PLEASE!" Danya yells but it falls on deaf ears.

  "Goodnight, Akuji—-" Akuji whispers as his grin returns and he swings the scythe.

  The sound of metal tearing apart skin echoes. Blood gushes and erupts on Akuji's face. The streaks of pink and purple energy disappear from Akuji.

  His eyes stop gleaming, his wings dematerialize as blood drops from his scythe and body.

  Danya watches in silence and shock. Tears run down her cheeks.

  He looks back at her, his eyebrows lowered with a slight frown, his face covered with the blood of his victim.

  "Danya—-" he mutters.

  His scythe turns into purple mist as he falls over, hitting the ground facing the sky. His feet touch with the clone's as they both lay there—one dead, one unconscious. Both beaten and battered.

  Light on top, dark on the bottom. No clear winner. Pure destruction of a man rejecting himself.