The Demons Demise

CHAPTER 15: HOLDING ON

Lex looked at the blood pouring uncontrollably, the limp body on the floor and his stomach as it began to heal, the circular hole becoming smaller. The bare skin of his stomach healing looked like strings reaching out for the other side, and when they linked together, weaving in and out, it healed. He gasped, wide eyed, at the sight before him.

He began to breathe heavily. "Are you..."

The sunlight was the icing over the area, shining over the scene of the bloodied body on the floor.

"Anouke!" Lex yelled, shouting out towards the sky. He fell onto his knees, wanting to scream out to the world, to let everybody know the pain he was feeling. He looked around, outraged, but there was an overwhelming sensation of pain. He let out a poignancy yell, hopelessness swelling within his heart. He ran over to Anouke, anguish thrumming at his heart like a hole was being drilled through it. A feeling of hurtful emptiness. Lex looked over to the road. Akuma was running away with a missing arm. Lex looked down to his stomach.

The arm wasn't there; the sunlight had already turned it into nothingness. He got up slowly, head hung low, dismal. He strolled over to Anouke then slumped to the ground by his side. He grabbed his hand. "Anouke..." He said in a nearly inaudible whisper, letting out a silent sob. Anouke turned his head slowly, grazing his flesh along the forest floor. His eyes looked... empty. Like he wasn't really there. Like somebody different had taken his place.

It didn't look or feel like Anouke. His skin was cold instead of warm. His eyes were empty instead of full and loving. Where is the Anouke... that I know? Lex thought to himself as he looked at his face. "I can't feel anything." Was the first thing out of Anouke's mouth.
"Th-that's good, right!?" Lex asked desperately.
"No, Lex. I can't... I can't feel anything." He said, emphasizing 'anything.' "My body feels numb. It's like I'm here but I'm not. Just slowly slipping away."

"Don't say that!" Lex demanded, serious as tears pricked his eyes. He clenched his mouth, grinding his teeth together. His Demon self stayed out, the vast emotions seemed endless. He couldn't control himself, so he stayed as a Demon.

A man walked past. There were daggers in his smile. It wasn't Akuma. It was hard to tell though; his body was like the embodiment of light and shadows itself. But, when he looked to the body on the floor, his smile fled and he rushed away

Too worked up to go after the man, he stayed with Anouke.

"Anouke, please. You have to stay with me! Don't leave me."

"You know I can't." Anouke said, just smiling melancholically at Lex.

"Please..." He whimpered in a little whisper and grabbed Anouke's hand and put it on his forehead, his bleak skin touching his tepid flesh. Anouke's head tipped backwards and his eyes slowly closed. "No!" Lex shouted at him and his eyes opened again.
"What..." He came back to his senses. "Oh, Lex... When I told you... that--" he took a deep breath. "-- that the reason you were becoming more Angelic because of your surroundings, so long ago, I lied." He coughed alongside a chuckle.
"The hell does that have to do with anything!?" He felt like a thread had snapped in his mind.
"It was because of you yourself."

Anouke's lips moved. Lex didn't hear it but moved closer. "What? What did you say!?"

When Anouke didn't answer back, Lex had already guessed it. He was gone. He was... really gone. Never coming back. Anouke really is never coming back, is he? He held his hand again and placed his wintry hand against his forehead anew. "Anouke..." He whispered. "Falling for you wasn't falling at all." He began to completely sob, a mess. "It was like walking into a house and suddenly knowing you're home."
As he said that, his teardrops fell upon Anouke's deceased hand. It was like... a lost soul trying to find heaven but was getting yanked down towards hell. The worst place.

Lex dug the heels of his hands into his eyes, trying to hold in the scream trying to break out.

W-wait. I- I can... I can say a healing spell!

As he did, he stumbled with a few words, feeling extremely pressured. He looked at Anouke with glassy eyes glossed over with brewing tears when his healing magic didn't work. His heart hurt. It felt like somebody was pulling it put of his chest. Rather, ripping it out of his chest.

"Don't leave me, too." He whispered, voice edging with despair.

As Anouke started to disintegrate into ashes, he remembered meeting Lex. And all of the good memories of and with him.

He recalled first meeting Lex. When he had gotten Lex pinned to the ground, he took a good look at him. Neat and clean hair. It was mostly straight with a few curls flicked up. His eyes were stunning. Though they were red and filled with rancor, they were beautiful. His clothes were all black and he looked like he was the embodiment of night itself.

He had a leather coat on that was quite short, resting just above his waist.

He had jewelry on, too. Few piercings on his right ear and two rings on his index and ring finger, all silver.

The jacket looked too small for him, the sleeve length just below his wrist. He was wearing ripped jeans; black of course.

He remembered their little scuffle, the arguments. He also remembered hunting with him. But, then the good times came up. Smiling with him, laughing with him, joking with him. Oh! And when he pretended he needed to eat just to see how Lex reacted when he was deceived.

But now all of those times were coming to an end.

Lex looked at his unmoving body. He went to grab his hand but he just went straight through it, wafting it away like it was smoke. "What..." Lex said to himself. When he looked at the rest of Anouke's body, it was being blown away like dust. His body wasn't... his body anymore. It was just ash being blown in all directions. Anouke gave up his last moments of breath... for a spell of disappearance when he passed away.

"No!" Lex cried out, pain plucking his heart like the strum of a minor guitar chord. "No, no, no! You should have... I thought you... Why, but you--" He stuttered. "You should have been, and I thought you were... holding on."