Fire and Water | A Blue Eye Samurai Story

Chapter 18

When Mizu slowly regains consciousness from the blast, it feels as though she's been submerged underwater. Not clearly hearing everything, but also not completely deaf. She looks around to see the room reduced to splinters and fire has spread rapidly. Before even getting the chance to take in what happened, she hears stone slabs sliding next to her as she tries to sit up. She turns to her right to see the wall behind her completely blown out, revealing the frigid water several stories below. She glances down to see Taigen resting unconscious on the floor a few feet away. The large stone he is resting on starts to slide towards the drop below them. Mizu quickly grabs her sword and lunges to grab hold of Taigen, causing them to both fall over the edge.

They fall for a few feet but then are quickly stopped mid-air. Mizu had plunged her sword deep into the stonework, stopping their deadly fall towards the ice and rocks below. She grips as hard as she can to both the handle of her sword and Taigen's wrist as he dangles below her. Mizu pulls as hard as she can on his wrist to place him on her back. As soon as she comfortably places him on her, she tries to look around for good points that will act as handholds. Once she gets a good grip into the wall, she feels Taigen move.

"Hate...you," he whispers out, then his head drops to her shoulder. She rolls her eyes and pulls her sword from where she stabbed it into the wall, placing it in between her teeth so she's able to climb. She looks up at the nearly vertical wall and sees the fire pouring out of the floor she just fell from.

Flashes of fire and a particular set of crimson colored lenses plague her mind. The images of Ryuu's horrified eyes just moments before the explosion keep playing over and over in her head to the point that she starts shaking. She drops her head in between her arms and bites down on her sword to fight the scream that's welling up inside her.

He's...he's gone. There's no way he could've survived that blast. He was right behind the brute when it went off. Tears start to form in her eyes and she tries to blink away the sting. Oh gods. Mizu comes to the realization of exactly what she had done. I- I killed him. She starts to breathe rapidly and rests her head against the wall. Her shoulders rise and fall quickly as she begins to spiral. How could I have been so stupid?! So careless? Mizu attempts to climb to try to refocus her emotions. I wasn't even able to check for his body. Would there even be a body? Why does this always happen to me? I'm a good-for-nothing half-breed that will never see peace. The only person that ever cared about me and saw me as their equal met their demise because I didn't even look out for him. All he's ever done is look out for me and I went and got him killed.

Tears slowly start to stream down her dirt-covered face as she tries to climb higher and higher. And to think that Taigen is the one that I saved. Gods Ryuu I'm so sorry. I didn't even get to tell him exactly how I feel. We were supposed to get out of this. He was supposed to get out of this.

Mizu places her hands in new holds and just as she goes to place her foot into another crevice, she slips. Taigen and Mizu start to drop in an almost free-fall when she reaches her hand out towards the wall, just barely grabbing onto a sturdy hold. Her arms shake with the full weight of Taigen on her back, but she's determined to see this through.

She glances up and can see a wooden ledge about 20 feet up that she concludes can only be a window. Mizu growls in a mix of pain and anger but presses onward. Slow step after step, climb after climb, she inches closer to the wooden ledge. Her whole body screams in pain as she mentally deals with the weight of her actions.

He actually liked me. Trusted me. He truly cared about me. Then I threw it all away just like that. An undeniable white-hot self-hatred boils deep within her soul the higher she climbs. Different memories of Ryuu resurface which makes the tears run more wild. Every time he held her close, every time he'd smiled at her, every single time he used his voice to get what he wanted, and even as they were fighting just minutes ago. All the memories flood her system like a tsunami and all she wants to do is scream. There was so much I wanted to say. Now I'll never be able to. I'm such a fool. A fool for ever believing that I'd have a lasting relationship where they weren't afraid of me. She hesitates a moment, realizing for the first time just how much Ryuu really meant to her.