Disclaimer... I don't own tai, sora, or anyone else.... they belong to their respective owners.

Well here I am again... This story wasn't what I had hoped... I wanted to try something new... yet it came out kinda confusing... I hope this doesn't suck too badly... well regardless it means a lot to me that you all have wanted me to continue writing these stories.. I love the idea that people enjoy what I write... please feel free to review if you enjoy the story... thanks.

Mail me at: [email protected]

On the Wings of Destiny

by Logan

The weather was bleak... from the endless expanses of grey clouded sky a light and steady snow fell. The snow was in itself a bleak and miserable thing... if such emotion could be branded to precipitation then this little silent flurry was as a sea of cold, dark, and miserable faces. Snow has two faces... it can be merry, and in it's jubilation, dance happily as gossamer jewels of diamond like hue. Or, it can be menacing... with steady biting cold the snow could descend onto the towns and cities as a plague of white locusts. This was such a night... the snow glided from the heavens as a flock of fallen angels cast out the pearly gates to the earth. These white messengers spoke of pain and sorrow... yet as they fell silently to earth they seemed to speak "death" upon their frost bitten lips.

Upon the incline of a large woody mountain sat a silent house. It was painted in bleak shadow as it looked over the city beyond its' threshold. It's eyes glowed as a cat's as the windows glowed softly with light. From the small chimney a wispy pillar of smoke stretched skyward. The roof was layered in a thick blanket of icy snow, which seemed strangely menacing to any onlookers... the snow seemed to take the shape of a winter demon who crouched upon the roof waiting in ambush for any human morsel who would venture from the oak door. But this snowy gargoyle seemed strangely sorrowful... its' icy fangs seemed lowered behind its' snowy lips. It bore down its' head in a silent mourning... the winds blew and howled a sorrowful cry, similar to the weeping of a widow as she first was dealt the news of her true loves demise..

The sky suddenly crackled with what could only be described as thunder, yet in this weather thunder seemed misplaced. From it's blanket of grey cloud cover the moon leered outward. It was full, and through the crystal clarity of the night it shown with perfect detail and imagery. The huge saucer cast a pale glow upon the woodland landscape... from this fleeting illumination the branches of the leafless trees were the blackened fingers of skeleton hands, which grabbed and clawed, animated through the efforts of the howling wind. Yet as the moon illuminated the bare foliage it also illuminated a figure... a figure who was clad in a long coat that matched the black of the night around him. His coat danced in such a manner as to seem alive, and frantic to free itself from the man and take flight into the wind as a great black crow... he trudged through the snow with ease, yet as his foot lifted from snowy carpet, it left no track... it was as though he were a specter in the night.....

**********************

the inside of the house was frantic. A woman lay sprawled against the livingroom couch, her legs held upward in a shameless posture as she moaned and writhed. Her hair was sweaty and matted, and her stomach protruded outward with obvious show of her pregnancy. she grunted in agony as tears streamed down her cheeks. At her side was a man who appeared panicked and unsure. His wife was in agony and he was unable to help... he had frantically tried to call the ambulance, yet due to the heavy snowfall it was impossible to reach the isolated home. His hope lay in the promise that they would attempt to send a doctor to them who was off-duty and lived in the vicinity.. Yet their hopes depended on the off chance that the man was home, and able to make the perils drive through the inclement weather to reach the young couple...

he was shaken from his thoughts by his wife's sudden scream of agony. She looked at him eye to eye.. And in the silent communion between them her red crimson eyes portrayed the knowledge that something was wrong...

The room fell silent as if by some grim spell. In this sudden silence the full impact of what was happening suck in... both child and mother were on death's doorstep. The delivery was going wrong... within the next half hour she would bleed to death, and the child die with her...

Yet as both man and wife cried in shared agony the silence was cleaved by three sharp knocks at the door.. For half a second they stared dumbstruck, before the man grew wits enough to rush to the door.. He threw back the bolt, and his hand flew to the chain and frantically clawed it free.. He wrenched the final lock away and paused momentarily as if in a sudden debate to let the nightly visitor in... within the recesses of his mind he pictured himself opening the door, and from its' threshold death would enter so as to claim the woman and child as his own... he pushed the thought away and with sudden furious effort heaved the door open.....

For an instant he was blinded by a gale of snowy wind that leapt to his eyes and left him blinded. He shook his head as an animal so as to clear his sight... he looked up to see a lone shadowy figure.. His hair was long and thick brown, with a light dusting of snow. His face was soft and yet still it mirrored a pale and ghostly image. His eyes looked up to the man who's brown locks concealed his eyes... with a sharp animal like flash his eyes were now piercing the grief stricken father's...

Those eyes frightened him in a way... they were unnatural in some sense... they seemed dark, and yet smoky... they glowed it seemed... they were so piercing that they appeared to gaze into the terror stricken father's eyes and through that gaze they could divine his soul, and perceive his thoughts... He stepped through the room hastily and silently. He took them all in instantly...

In the light he was shown to be no older then eighteen... yet the aura of power and spectral strength stifled any debate as to this youth's qualifications... with those eyes he could seemingly take the soul from your body and whisk it away... neither of the two spoke... his presence even seemed to silence the groans of the mother...

"I'm Doctor David Motikaya....." he spoke softly.

The voice surprised them.. It seemed almost kind in its' spectral tone... like a whisper in the wind the voice reverberated through the room.

"You... clean towels..." he motioned to the father who dashed off to retrieve the objects...

He walked to the woman who looked at him with pleading in her red eyes.... he glanced at her for a moment before reaching over and putting his hand on her stomach. She puzzled at his actions... yet paled as the pain faded to a mere shadow of what it once was.. His twilight colored eyes closed slowly as he continued to lay his hand on the swollen belly... his fingertips were as cold as ice.... he began to speak softly...

"She's dying...." he spoke as a shadow...

"Please... save her..." she spoke softly, with a crying voice that seemed hushed to no more then a whisper...

"Listen... she needs to come out now, or she won't be born alive... push...." his voice gave a strange strength.... it was as though he were some shadowy angel, who both frightened and inspired trust... his commandments were followed without thought, and despite the agony... the delivery was relatively quick and painless... well painless wasn't quite a viable word to described the process of childbirth yet the strange young man radiated a power through the woman giving her strength enough to continue... it was slow... but eventually it was finished. He lifted his bloodstained hands cradling the still form of the baby.. The image of the lifeless child was more then enough to reduce the parents to bitter sobs as they clung to one another in agony. They cried in such a way as to evoke pain enough from an onlooker to reduce them to tears...

It was in this moment that the young man held the child with his back to them. Their sorrow was a deep terrible music which radiated through the room and almost deafened the ears... yet the young man with the dark eyes looked at the child's face with a certain tenderness never before seen from this encounter... with his fingers he traced her infant face.. Her lips curled up to an expression of peaceful sleep.. She looked more alive then dead... yet her un-rising chest spoke differently... he leaned forward and softly kissed her tender forehead... he whispered something against her soft forehead that was unrecognizable amidst the chorus of crying... then with a tender smile he looked down on her only to see a pair of large ruby eyes which seemed to smile back at him... no cries escaped her lips... she mearly looked at him as he softly rocked her in his arms supporting her head.... he grinned at her once, and all shadow about him was erased for that heartbeat... in that instant his glowing dark eyes were a soft tender chocolate brown.

He turned to them with the same smile.

"Sora is very beautiful.... she'll be fine....." his words cut through their sobs as their heads shot upward to look upon the face of the young doctor... he walked forward with two great steps and was before them. The young man handed the infant over to the frozen parents... they were petrified in joyous silence.. No words could come... Then like a sudden explosion of happiness they threw their arms around the bundle... their minds couldn't register what they had just witnessed.....

then like a specter he vanished out the door... he spoke no goodbye... His absence was suddenly recognized as the father looked upward. He hadn't thanked the young savior.... he ran to the door, and with a quick heave pulled it open...

All was silent as the soft flurries of snow rained downward over a white carpet... no impression of a footprint blemished the perfect white of the snow.. The tree line was vacant of the ghostly young man.. No car was present on the drive, or tire track to indicate that a car had been present... all that was, was a soft glowing moon overhead.... he turned to the woman with a look of question.. Her expression mirrored his as she continued to cradle her daughter.. She spoke softly with a tinge of fear and disbelief.....

"How did he know her name was Sora?......"

**********************

it was later discovered that Doctor David Motikaya was dead... he had been called to deliver the baby.. Yet he was found slumped over in his car half a mile from the house... his cause of death was unknown.. Yet.. Upon examination he had been found to have been extremely intoxicated around the time of his death... he was an older man around his mid seventies.... this news shocked them... the savior who had taken his name was far to young.... also... had the true doctor attempted such a difficult delivery in his drunken state, it would have undoubtedly cost the lives of mother and daughter... that was the first time fate had been disobeyed in regards to the life of sora. It was to become a repeated theme within her life that forces beyond her control would try to claim her life, yet... a miraculous savior would emerge, and preform some act of heroism on her part before vanishing as a puff of smoke.... sora had come to grasp him with her childlike mind as her guardian angel... or should the need arise imaginary friend. She spoke to him regularly half in play and half not.... sora was a sweet child, yet not the most prone to making friends... she was happy to have this "angel" in whatever form she needed....

**********************

thirteen years later

the sun glowed softly in the sapphire sky as sora lounged upon the warm sand of the beach... she sighed contentedly as she felt the warmth from the glowing sun radiate into her as she tried to develop more of a tan... she lounged perfectly content in her dreamy state as she listened to the soft rhythmic pounding of the waves...

She wore a light blue bikini that hugged her quickly developing curves. It was strange for her to think of herself as an object of attraction... she looked at the stares she had received lately as some strange misconception on the part of the boys at her school.... she wasn't deeply engrossed in dating... how could she be? She had remained steadily unimpressed with the boys at her school.. Their minds were locked onto other aspects of dating then getting to know the girl... it saddened sora in a way.. She was human after all and though she had friends she was still lonely from time to time... she had hoped to find a boy who would put the effort into falling in love, as opposed to falling in lust... not an easy task..... granted she had dated... but not extensively... the boys were nice... yet... she seemed to find something missing in them.... she chuckled to herself on the fact that even she didn't know what it was they were missing....

The rhythmic beat of the waves against the shore was a powerful one... they seemed to keep time through some great unending force. It was as though the earth were breathing softly. She felt the cool mist from the waters against her skin, as she breathed in the salty air with large deep gulps. There was a strange feeling in the air that day... a sense that swept over sora in a way that mirrored the dark waves of the ocean crashing over the sand castles along the water's edge.... she looked to the water's edge with a strange eeriness... one lone turret of a sand castle stood alone against the advancing tide... sora studied it for an instant before one great wave engulfed the noble structure leaving only destruction in its' path. The structure had vanished back to the sea, losing every trace of form it once had possessed... sora felt strangely troubled by it.....

The world around her seemed to slow down as she felt herself rising to a more alert state... had she felt this sensation one moment more she would have broken into a run and fled.. Something was wrong... it was too quiet now... she frantically looked about only to find that the beach which was once so busy now seemed so isolated... she was alone... her eyes flew to find her parents... they were in the water.. She wanted to yell for them.. Something was wrong here!

She spun around and found her eyes locked onto the cold grey eyes of a man.. She opened her mouth to scream, but before she could form the words his hand flew to her mouth shutting off her last effort to scream and cry out....

time plodded slowly as minutes turned to hours.. She was dragged up a large sandy hill to the highway... the man was so much stronger then her.. His hand still clutched her face so tight that she feared she would suffocate... his hand was balmy and waxlike... it felt not of humanity but more of something long dead... it was sickening, images flooded her mind.. This was no man, it was some corpse who was reanimated to life... she looked to the floor as she felt the terror welling within her... she feared that should she look up she would see not a man but the worm eaten corpse... she pictured decaying tufts of hair upon a skull which was adorned with loosely hanging skin...

He was dragging her not to a car... it gave her a sense of hope... if she were in a car there would be no hope to escape... her mind froze as she found herself pulled into the dark underside of a bridge... she became more aware now.... he was tall and muscular... slightly over weight he wore tattered cloths. She summoned all her strength to look at his face... to her relief no skull smiled back at her... just the sickening smirk of a bearded face... he was familiar.. She had seen him before....

Her mind screamed as she recognized the image.. He was wanted for rape and murder... of children... her stomach churned as she felt a sudden need to vomit. She was smart enough to recognize what was happening... he would drag her to that concealed place.. Then he would....

She began to kick and bite as she fought his grip... he responded by squeezing tighter.... she felt her body ache as he put those crushing biceps to use... he was going to crush her if she continued... he was obviously strong enough to crack her ribs.... and from what the reporter had said, she knew he would have no compunctions about beating her before he got around to the repeated rape then murder of her....

He threw her hard.... she felt her side ache as she landed against the concrete structure of the bridge.... he sneered at her hatefully as he looked at her with some animalistic expression... he wanted her to try running.... to prove her theory he produced a large knife with a razor-like blade.. He was hoping she would give him a reason to cut her.... yet she knew there was no hope of escape for many reasons... she couldn't will her legs to run... they quivered before her. She was afraid.... She could stand the murder she mused... but the rape.... it seemed unreal as the horrific images flooded her mind... he would torture his victims... the reporter's words resounded over and over in her mind.....

"Oh.... don't worry cutie-pie... don't worry... I'll save you...you see there is sin in you child... I'll cut it out......." he motioned to his knife as he continued to rant... he continued with his random words in a torrent of rising hatred... his psychosis was obvious... She watched him with tears... she was no mouse, yet she found that she was cowering as one now... she hated herself as she remained scared... the thought of attacking him came to mind... forcing him to kill her before he got the chance to rape her... she found she couldn't bear the idea either... he would still defile her... she saw her parents rushing to her rescue, only to find her naked and abused body, bleeding on this dirt coated ground... though that would be the end result either way she couldn't move herself to accepting that plan...

"Do you believe in god?" he chuckled insanely...

"it's a lie you know... he isn't no savior....."

He drew nearer... sora shrank back.. He was about to rape her... she could feel it inside now, she knew seconds separate her from being abused and defiled...

" you know how I know there isn't no savior.... because no one will be saving you, you little slut! Where is your savior now!?!?" he was now enraged by her silence...

She preyed softly as she felt that dead corpse hand clutch her face tightly... so many thoughts raced through her mind... she wanted to cry out as loud as her lungs could manage... she wanted to bite and claw him away from her... yet all she could manage was tears....

the sky darkened....

"Little, little, slut.... Where is your savior? He isn't coming to help a thing like you... but I'll make it ok..." he sneered sickeningly... "I'll send you to heaven...." his hand reached for the belt at his waist...

The sky screamed as thunder crashed around them... it was then amidst the howling winds that had swelled from nowhere that sora heard it.. She wasn't clear if it was in her head or an actual voice... but the words were clear to her... the voice sounded through the darkened air with perfect clarity... the words seemed to come from all around her.. They filtered outward through the grimy earth beneath... they called to her from the cold and merciless expanses of the shadows... the words flew through the air as some vast swelling force. They came to her as a gentle and yet powerful sound. And somehow... the words were familiar to her...

"Close your eyes...."

She did as the strange voice commanded with quick action as a machine would follow its' orders with thoughtless action, she didn't want to see this anyway...

Sora felt a sudden gust of hot wind as the corpse hand was pulled from her face. It was as though the demon man had been wrenched backwards through one expelled breath from god.. He was brushed aside like a leaf in a hurricane. Then the screaming started.... no human had made those sounds in the history of humanity... there were piercing screams as the rapist was undergoing some punishment worthy of his crime... he was in ungodly agony by the sound of it... then amidst a particularly high scream he was silenced... the voice left him with one heartbeat's time... it was as though the wind was knocked from his lungs... or the lungs were removed from his chest...

There was silence... sora still held her eyes closed... she waited with terror as she expected the hand of that corpse man to reappear upon her skin and the monster recommence the act where he had left off.... nothing..... there was perfect stillness in the air as she waited for something... the seconds felt as years... then with a soft touch she felt a hand on her cheek. She recoiled lightly from the touch.. Yet as she felt it she recognized it as a different hand... this hand was warm... kind even. It's fingers were rough to the touch, implying a life of hard labor... or a life of warfare... these hands she recognized to be weapons capable of taking life, yet also they were tender.. Even gentle to her... they stroked her face in a loving manner. Then with a soft voice she heard the same voice from before whisper something to her... his words were kind and soft as was his touch... she seemed to feel something from this person as for the first time she allowed herself to look upon him...

She came to find herself staring into the most kind and loving chocolate brown eyes she had ever seen....

"Are you ok?"

she was in awed silence... he was older then she, yet not by much.... his features were kind. With skin of a soft bronze she found the combination of his shapely nose, his tender eyes, his thin lipped mouth, and his soft chestnut brown hair to blend into a combination that was strangely familiar to her... she would easily consider him attractive... yet his features were not those of some mindless model... there was more.. His eyes spoke to her in a way she had never truly experienced... there was a darkness to them, it swelled within his soft brown eyes. And from that darkness there could be witnessed a story... those eyes had age.. Centuries of life experience... those eyes were comparable to the eyes of a old man, who had seen love, hate, and war. Yet this young boy's eyes were so much deeper... they could swallow her up like a pool of nightly water..

"Sora... are you alright?" he spoke again...

This time she was able to speak. Her voice was soft and yet it grew to some greater audibility.

"Thank you...."

There was a moment of silence between them. Sora felt hot tears fill her eyes as she suddenly lunged tword the young man who was caught off-guard. Her arms wrapped around him as she pulled him into her arms tightly. The dams broke within the silent yong woman as she felt her hot tears cascade over his shoulders. She had broken down against him and found that the boy evoked some power within herself... trust... he had saved her somehow... and perhaps it was that alone that let her throw off her armor and cling to this young boy's chest. Yet... perhaps it was more... he felt so right, she contemplated....

The young man seemed taken back by her show of affection... it was so sudden... yet he felt his arms hesitantly reach behind her to take hold of her back. He screamed within himself... he couldn't do this.... this wasn't right... his mind lost the war as his heart commandeered the control of his body and lips.. He rocked her in his arms whispering softly that it would be alright... his eyes slipped shut as he allowed himself to enjoy the touch he hadn't known for so very long... she could still cut through him.... he mused at how effortlessly this girl could make him hers... he spoke hesitantly...

"They're looking for you.... come on...."

He effortlessly lifted her into his arms. She was shocked by the strength he possessed.. Sora wasn't especially heavy... yet he lifted her as though she were made of air. He smiled down on her with a soft and yet sad expression... "You might not want to look..." his voice was strangely forlorn..

By instinct she disregarded his advisory. It was not made to totally disobey him, more on reflex... yet she gasped sharply as her eyes fell over the earth...

It was painted with blood and gore. The rapist had been as it would seem..."shredded" his remains lay in pieces upon the dirty ground.. Sora suppressed the urge to vomit as she felt the need to shriek in horror... her eyes found his brown eyes which seemed saddened. He looked down at her without slowing his stride. She saw question in his eyes... he wasn't sure how she would react.... neither was she in fact... she hated violence... though... this seemed like justice... she softly lay her head against his chest... she could hear no heart beating within that chest... yet he lived.... his touch was warm.... she spoke to him from where her head lay nestled...

"What are you?"

He hesitated on the question... then spoke with soft and dark words... "I'm a demon..."

sora wasn't shocked by the response... he fought like one... that was obvious... yet she knew he was no minion of hell, for what hell-spawn would foil the efforts of the devil himself? He had killed to stop that man... she looked at him softly.. He was something more then demon or man... she sighed lightly as she let her eyes slip shut... "Angel..." she murmured softly...

He had carried her all the way to the beach, where he lay her softly in the warm sand. She whimpered lightly as she felt his touch leave her soft skin.... her eyes opened slowly only to find the young "angel" had vanished without a trace.. She looked to the golden beach below, no footprints were born in the sand... it was as though he was never there....

she was saddened by this vanishing.. There was something about him that she found difficult to put to words.. A familiarity, a simple enjoyment, a intrigue... but more so then all that... an attraction.... she thought back over the event with more budding questions... he had called her by name... he had appeared like a ghost, and then vanished as one... and in those eyes she saw great longing and sadness as he looked at her... he looked out of place... alone... and very kind... she thought over his face, and as she did wished that she were an artist... for she would give so much to have a picture of him... something with which she could recall him... her eyes glided to the sun as it sparkled merrily amongst the crashing waves... she had heard people talk about love at first site..... Maybe there was such a thing.... the second her eyes met his she felt a great change within herself, like a piece was returned to her after being missing for many years.

**********************

five years later

A girl possessed... sora had etched the face of that boy to her mind... he had left some great mark upon her that burned within her mind from the moment their eyes first locked to today.. She had discovered life to be harder then ever pictured... she had possessed great heartache within her life.... her father had been buried three years ago. Cancer had taken him from her... sora cried from her place upon the hill where his grave sat. freshly cut flowers rested atop the still earth that housed sora's beloved father. The soft white buds now drooped as they wilted to nothing. As sora had stood from her vantage point she was visited by her angel once more.. Though he did not appear before her... she felt him... he was there by her side... she had cried for so long, yet from the depths of her sorrow she knew that she never suffered alone... spectral arms wrapped around her and held her lovingly as she sobbed.

The demon with the face of an angel watched over her from his place in obscurity. His mind screamed warnings as loud as it's nonexistent lungs could cry out. He was too close... this was a dangerous game he now played... he was tempting fate.... daring to creep further on the branches that struggled to support him... he was a fool. He was already dammed to hell, yet he played atop the abyss of flaming agony, just daring himself to fall deeper into the searing pits of torment. Saving her was inevitable... but he had done to much... he had spoken to her.. Held her... old wounds opened as he made such an action... he couldn't stop either... he had started losing his resolve of utter silence to her.. He had cried with her when her father had said his last goodbye before ascending to a place he would never go... he had held her as she wept for him... he still hid.. But he had began to get too involved with her...

"If she knows the truth... she'll hate me... I must stop this.... I cannot allow myself to fall in love...." he screamed to himself, though his words were recognized as pure lies... he had never stopped loving her... he continued to love her.... he would always love her.... love can lead a deep path to hell... this he had known.... yet still he had walked the path... his resolve had faltered yet it still maintained silence enough to keep the truth from her...

yet resolve has its' braking point... his love for sora would soon push him to take one final leap...

She had cried when they called her.... her mother had been shot in a failed mugging... the woman was now with her husband... yet their daughter was alone... the police had told her the news... it had killed her... within the span of three years she had lost both parents, and was now alone in the world... her walls were now crumbling to shards of stone which rained down on sora like a summer shower of razor blades.

She sat alone in her room.... her cheeks were painted with salty tears as she stared at a faded photograph of the three of them. They were dead... she was alone....

She spoke to the boy... to her demon.... to her angel...

"Please.... my parents are dead... I'm alone... please I need you....."

Sora had never pleaded for him to come to her before, yet now she was begging him... she knew somehow that he was able to hear her pleas.... so she spoke softly to him... she needed those arms.... she begged for the feel of his embrace... somehow she knew him.... she needed him...

There was silence...

"Goodbye angel..." her words were sorrowful as she rose up. He wouldn't come...

Her steps fell soft as she made her way to the balcony that stretched outward into the night sky. She was a child alone in the world.. She loved this ghost.. And though her encounters with him were virtually none.. She could feel him... he was a part of her... he completed her... and if he refused her... she had no recourse... she threw open the balcony door and stepped out....

The air was cold and silent that night... below her there was heard the soft chorus of the horns and cars... the street was full of traffic... pedestrians making their way home to be with loved ones... loved ones she no longer had... her hair danced wildly in the nightly air... no stars or moon could pierce the thick blanket of clouds... her tears were caught upon the wind, and lifted upward to the blackness...

She closed her eyes as she leapt over the guardrail... for an instant time remained frozen... she felt herself plummeting to an end... an end to loneliness... an end to sorrow... an end to life....

Thunder screamed through the night air...

she felt herself caught within a violent wind... a hot and forceful gust of night air... she felt a pair of tight arms embrace her. Her body was lifted within the gust by some great force.... her eyes flew open as she came to a thudding landing back on the terrace... her crimson eyes flew up to a figure within the shadow. His body glowed lightly with some strange light...

He stepped forward...

He was just as he had been... his face, his eyes,... it was him.....

They looked at one another for a moment.. She was in awe by his visage.. His eyes were not angry at her as she had feared they would be... he looked at her with an expression of silence.. His eyes looked into hers...

She took him in.... his hair was long and chestnut brown.. It danced within the night wind. He reached for her... his hand stretched to her, fingertips open.. She accepted the offer silently... she had so many questions... but she couldn't find breath enough for them..

Her hair cascaded downward over her shoulders in a way that he awed at... her lips were pink and moist... she was breathtaking... too breathtaking... he knew that he wouldn't be able to fight the desire to stay... he must leave... if he stayed he would only bring about more pain...

He began to fade into the shadow before sora's eyes... she fought to speak... her lips were frozen... yet suddenly as he was almost gone she willed the words out.. By sheer force she spoke hastily in a shrill scream...

"TAI, PLEASE WAIT!!!"

he froze, the name...... that name had been dead for years compounded by eternity.... he hadn't spoke it to her.. Or any other for centuries... yet she knew it.... his eyes were wide as they met hers.. She mirrored his expression...

"H.. How did you know that?...." he breathed out.

"I... I don't know... I just felt it... Tai....." she breathed the name out with some sense of pleasure... he had a name... the angel of shadows and darkness had a name... he was Taichi...

"Please... don't leave me again..."

"I... " he sighed heavily...

"I'll stay......."

**********************

"Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl who fell in love... their love was the purest and most tender love ever to be.... they had grown up together, and from their childhoods fallen deeper in love... they were a rare thing in life.. Two souls bound as one... but.. There was another... The boy's brother... he had fallen in love with the girl, yet she only had eyes for her true love... he refused to give in... his jealousy drove him mad.. The bond they had bore as brothers was turned to hate... he could not win over his brother... This rejection angered him deeply... they saw what he was.. They knew what he was capable of... they fled...He pursued them....

every day he drew closer and closer... he was steered and empowered by rage and evil. In the end he caught them.. Yet the young man fought back. He battled with all his heart to protect his love... and in the end... he won... he held his blade to the throat of his brother, yet.. He couldn't bring himself to kill his only brother...

The moment they had spared his life he rose up.. He was something different.. Something evil... he sold his soul to hell in exchange for the power to curse the lovers....

The woman... he cast her into the sea of time.. She would be born again, live her life, and die over and over again through time.. Never finding peace...

He turned his brother, Taichi.. To a specter.... a killer... a demon......

He regretted that... the human demon leapt upon him.... from the sea of darkness that swelled within his soul he took his revenge.. " he paused....

"I killed my own brother sora... what I did to that man back at the beach... I did that to my brother.... I watched him die in my hands.... and I enjoyed it...

I too was cast into time alongside you. That was the true nature of the curse... the evil within my soul sealed me to this purgatory... I watched you live... fall in love... have children.. And die.. Without being allowed to be a part of the life I cherished so dearly..."

"I was the girl?.... you loved me?" she asked in awe.

"No, I love you... you have no memory of the lives you knew. I do... I have lived for centuries... and every day my love for you grew. I couldn't stay with you though... I am only able to exist here for one hour. After that I fade away.... I can't have a life with you....

But... I was able to watch over you.. I saw you as a child... I have held you in my arms as an infant...I watched your children take their first steps..."

sora lay her arms against his shuddering form... he was crying softly....

"My god sora... it hurts so much... to want to hold you and know that if I did I couldn't stay... I am dead... a ghost... a specter... I'm not real... If I could I would hate you for forcing me to tell you this... Talking to you... it's almost like I am real... like I am alive....."

Sora looked at him... his hair hung limply to his sweat soaked brow.. His eyes burned with tears...

She suddenly found herself taking him into her arms and kissing him.. He froze.. But then, slowly began to kiss back.... her arms stroked his thick brown hair... "Tai... you're real to me....."

He drew back with flowing tears in his dark eyes. He looked at her with so much pain that she felt it possible to drown in his agony... "sora, it was my fault!"

he stood before her with teary eyes that burned with self hate.

"If I had killed him then you would have lived.... I lost you both...." he froze

"Both?" she questioned.... he looked down at the floor and spoke softly with sorrowful words.

"You were pregnant with our child.... our baby.... I killed it! If I had killed my brother before he could curse us... you both would have lived! When he cursed you.. The baby was killed.... our child wasn't born because of me...." he collapsed onto the ground....

Sora found a strange strength within herself... she was remembering.... she ran to him and scooped the "demon" into his arms. She kissed his hair softly as he continued to speak... she lay his head in her lap while she softly stroked his damp brown hair...

"In the millennia of time I have been cursed... I never told you this... I have been so afraid.... how could I face you after I took all this from you. I am a demon....."

"I love you Taichi.... You are my angel......" she kissed him softly. As their lips met he felt all the love he held for this woman flood back into his heart. It was a sea of love... it was eternal... without boundaries... suddenly he shrank back in agony.... she froze...

"What's happening!?!?"

"I'm being pulled back..." he doubled over in pain as his face seemed to flicker like a light. His skin shifted from real to shadow... he looked up to her with those same tender loving eyes.... sora stood in terror... she was losing him again... she had just found the missing part of her soul.. Now that piece was being wrenched from her.... he violently lurched forward... he was fighting the descent back into his spectral form... he had never fought it before... it hurt... it was as though his soul was being ripped in two... his body was being twisted and tortured. He was slowly fading away... dispersing into the air as if he were of smoke rather then flesh....

His eyes met hers. "Sora... I love you... I always will.... goodbye....."

Time moved forward for the young woman in slow and lagging steps.. His eyes were pleading.. He wanted something for the first time in his eternity of life.... she wanted the same thing for the first time in her life.... she wanted him... she bolted up, and ran to him... her arms grabbed him as she embraced him tightly... "Don't leave...."

"I love you tai...."

"I love you sora..."

It was in that moment that heaven, hell, and earth collided.... sora clung to him tightly, her tears mingling with his as the two eternal lovers held onto one another. They fought fate... they fought the curse... they only wanted each other.... there was light.. It blinded the two as it violently danced around them.. The sky was filled with thunder and lightning which streamed downward over earth in some vast dance... memories flooded the two as a sea of light and power. Sora saw lives she hadn't known... faces... her parents...

Voices echoed through the tunnel of light that swirled around them as a vast maelstrom of power.

"YOU WON'T HURT SORA!"

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you....."

"I felt something... I think it was your love shining through....."

"It doesn't matter if I marry you in a tuxedo or a tee-shirt..."

"Once upon a time there were seven children were lost far from home, in a strange land........"

"You mean I'm going to be a daddy?!"

"I love you sora." " I love you tai"

sora and tai didn't recognize the voices... they were jumbles and confused with images of things they hadn't seen.. Lives flashed before them... it hurt... there was so much pain and agony... their skin burned as though it were within a sea of fire... all that mattered was not losing the other.. The pain was unbearable.. But it was bore between them... their arms remained locked to one another tightly, despite the burning white fire that swelled around them. Their lips met in one great kiss born of true love as all faded to black......

**********************

a soccer ball landed softly upon a blanket of soft green grass. It sat there for a moment serenely before it was lifted up by a pair of delicate hands...

A young girl smiled to a small boy with a mass of chestnut brown hair. The two children smiled happily as they kicked the ball back and forth between them. They played happily as they grinned content fully in the other's company... The two smiled softly as they lay the soccer ball on the grass before slumping to their backs on the soft grassy field of the park.. The two giggled happily as they stared up at the clouds within the sky. Their hands were linked together...

"Some day Sorwa.. I'm gunna marry you..." the boy giggled happily in his soft loving child voice... the two began laughing happily as they began tickling each other mercilessly. Their laughter flew like birds into the sky....

"Once upon a time I met this beautiful girl in a soccer field........"

Can love break a curse that spans centuries?

Can love truly conquer fate?

Through love can we find true, eternal peace?

With love, can a demon turn to an angel?

Love is all we know in life... it's power moves us effortlessly

love is what drives us forward in existence.. It pushes and guides us

heaven and hell are born of love's efforts...

It is through love's absence that we hate...

It is through love's presence that we can forgive...

Trough love...... all is possible