The Fall of Satan

A/N: Grrr, my computer is being such a snotty little biatch. Anyway, this could be considered Uchihacest - if you squint really hard and tilt your head to the left.

A distant crackle, then the flash of lightning like a white spark against the sky. I turn away from the window because the sight reminds me a little too much of my last encounter with Sasuke. The lights in the room flicker with the violent intensity of the storm outside. Outside, yes.

Inside, I am calm.

It is a peculiar thing, to be forced to acknowledge one's one mortality. To see your own death every time you face the mirror. It didn't upset me anymore than a flight delay would upset an airplane passenger. That's how I thought of it - a flight delay. It was a fast-ticking deadline (no pun intended) on my plans. I've never turned down a challenge; I've never lost a fight, either.

This time, I would lose. I would not give him the victory, no - that would be an insult to everything he's done for this, everything I've done for this. But the end must have the same results. My clock has almost run itself out now.

Thunder rumbled low, then a bell announced midnight.

"Never send to know for whom the bell tolls…" I muttered absently, staring at the sheets of rain through my eyelashes. I have forgotten how to cry, I think….

"It tolls for thee." Madara's silhouette outlined itself in the doorway for a fraction of a second as another flash lit the room. Muscles in my arms twitched reflexively at the sound of his sneering voice. The urge to throw a kunai right through his exposed eye was tempting, but ultimately futile. I forced myself to relax. "You were thinking about your brother again, weren't you?"

"Yes." There was no reason to lie - Madara has a little brother who haunts his thoughts, too.

"I can tell." he said, sounding both annoyed and amused. "Your back goes rigid and the pulse in your neck stops for a moment when you think of him."

Madara knows more about the details of my past than I am strictly comfortable with and probably more than I guess besides that. But he is also powerful - too powerful for me to kill. I am not well and would not survive the battle if I tried anyway, and I couldn't have that. Sasuke must be the one to end my life. Nothing would make me bow to death before that.

Lucifer was proud though, and so he fell.

Madara was proud, too - in the past, I told myself that all I had to do was wait for the fall. It would only be a matter of time. Time is the one thing I don't have. The day of my death is dawning and Satan has only just begun to crumble.

Not to worry though. I have contingency plans for my contingency plans - Sasuke will soon have the powers of Tsukiyomi, Amaterasu, and Susanoo within his grasp. And, of course, if that fails, there's always the rather powerful fumes of poison that I painted inside of the mouth and nose of that wooden mask with.

I go to my grave now. I have no mourners - Madara certainly won't grieve for me, I've caused him too much trouble. Kisame may be sorry to see a ninja of my skill die, but he knew I was living on borrowed time for awhile now. I have hopefully alienated my brother enough to keep him from feeling the pain of my death. For years, I have played the part of Beelzebub and now, now I will not descend into hell alone.

Even if I must do it from the grave, I will drag Lucifer to hell with me.

Satan will fall.