Destined To Die

Chapter 22 - Burn

-22-

-Burn-

The car was parked on a small hill in the middle of nowhere, just off a country road in the cold light of the midmorning sun. There was an early frost on the air, but not deep enough to bother any of the inhabitants of the bright green sports car. Abigail sat in the driver's seat, her feet kicked up onto the top of the open door as she watched the sunrise. Maddy sat just outside on the ground running a long blade of grass between her fingers, the morning dew cold against her palm, but not in an unpleasant way. Akane was in the passenger's seat, door open and enjoying the soft hum of the radio.

"It's been so long since I've just been able to sit down and have a drink," Abigail said quietly, raising a bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag to her lips and taking a swig, "It's nice, just to stop for a while."

Akane was silent for a long while, finding it hard to enjoy the quiet like she did. His hands were held close to his sides, eyes scanning the skyline around them, the rolling fields of green just off the country road they'd pulled off from. A car drove by on the dirt track, his eyes locked onto it until it pulled out of sight around the bend.

"We're out in the open," Akane muttered, speaking to nobody in particular, his eyes darting quickly to the rear-view mirror.

"Take a second," Abigail said, passing over the bottle, "Breathe and have a drink. It's alright, Akane."

He absently grabbed the bottle, taking a swig, not expecting the sudden burn and almost coughing before he managed to swallow a small mouthful.

"What is that?" he grimaced, handing the bottle back.

Abigail gave a small laugh at his reaction, "Cinnamon whiskey, elixir of the gods. Tastes like heaven, burns like hell. It's called Fireball."

"It's disgusting."

"Clearly you've never had tequila," she commented with a smile, taking another sip from the bottle before passing it back. Akane took it absently, having another sip, better prepared for the flavour this time.

"What are we doing?" he asked quietly, looking out at the sun rising over the fields, the distant forest.

"Whatever we want," Abigail replied simply, reaching out and taking the bottle back. "We won, Akane."

"It doesn't feel like it."

There was a long silence between them, dragging on to slightly uncomfortable.

"Why didn't you kill them?" Abigail asked quietly, not looking over, taking another drink. "Jun and Bastian, at the temple. You could have killed them quick, could have ended it all. Why didn't you?"

Akane took a moment before answering. "I'm not sure. I've always killed because I've had no choice. I don't want to do that anymore. I was scared. Whatever this thing is, whatever happened in the temple, I don't want to let it out again. It feeds on the violence, on the death. I can feel it."

Abigail nodded slowly. "You know they'll come back, yeah?" This isn't the end of things, it's just a break. Sooner or later, they're going to show up again and it'll all start again."

"I know."

"Part of me's happy you didn't," Abigail said softly, reaching out for another drink, before Akane swiped the bottle out of her hands. She smiled, continuing. "We have a choice now, you know? Kento, all the mind games, the killing, all the bad shit we did because we needed to, it's over. We do what we want. We have a choice."

"Is it over?" Akane asked, an eyebrow raised, "The deeper this goes, the more it feels like Kento was just a piece of a larger plan, like there's so much more that we don't know yet."