Broken Valentine
Alternate Ending

Amazon Bunny: Here it is! Alternate ending to Broken Valentine!

Kratos: So we actually live now?

Amazon Bunny: Yes, you do. Aren't you happy?

Raine: Of course! (jumps in Kratos' arms and they go running out of the door)

Birds chirped overhead. A light wind rustled the leaves of the giant oak tree.

It was bright...

Brown eyes opened wearily, a stinging pain in his stomach. Where in the world was he? he wondered. And more importantly...Where was Raine?
A strangled sound escaped his throat, scratchy and hoarse from disuse.The Seraphim sat up, ignoring the burning, intense pain in his abdomen. Bandages were wrapped firmly around his torso, red stains here and there. He looked around for his pack. Surely there would be some herbs or gels to use?
The door opened and an orderly came in. "Oh, you're awake, Mr. Aurion?" she said, opening the blinds. He squinted, shielding his eyes against the brightness. "You've been out for quite a long time. You know, you're very lucky to have been found by the Priest. He came in early to bless the body of a deceased woman, and found you collapsed. Just in time, I'd say! Gave the doctors quite a scare."
"What about the woman?" Kratos asked, his chest aching with anticipation, stomach burning with pain.
"The body's blessed, she's going to be cremated, her ashes thrown into the sea around the Otherworldly Gate," the orderly sighed. "Such a pretty girl."
"When?" Kratos demanded, not liking the turn of events. "When is this going to happen?"
"Well, the family...the brother, actually, called it off. It was supposed to be today, but it's going to be held off until next week." The orderly watered the potted plant and pulled out a brown package.
"When do I get out of this place?"
"Not for a while, I suppose,"she said. "Now, I have to inject you with some anesthesia. I have to examine that stomach of yours and apply some medicine." She pulled out a rather painful looking needle. "This won't hurt a bit. Just close your eyes." She stepped out from thesunlight, and Kratos noticed she had long, dark curly hair and rather doe-like green eyes.
"I don't want to be here for a long time," Kratos protested, refusing to shut his eyes.
"Well, not many people do," said the orderly. She poked the needle in his arm, and the angel began to lose conciousness.

God damn anesthesia...
Kratos opened his eyes. It was nighttime, judging by the fact all was still, the curtains were drawn, and it was dark. His sides was swathed with bandages, the pain barely a whisper. Beside him, on the nightstand, a package of apple gels.
Careless, he thought. That nurse must have left it here earlier by mistake.
But did he care? If it was useful, he was going to make use of it. He reached for the little pack, ripped it open, and opened his bandages carefully. The rush of cold air stung his sides, and he quickly broke open the gel and rubbed the liquid medicine on the wound. For a moment, the pain ebbed, crouching, ready to attack when the medicine worked in. But Kratos, being the expirienced mercenary he was, broke open apple gel after apple gel, healing his wound quicker than the pain could attack.
Slowly, but surely, the wound closed up, a mere, faint scar upon his abdomen.
Good, he thought. Now to get out of this place...
The window, curtains drawn, would be the perfect escape.
Of course, it was the classic. Kratos lifted the window stealthily, hoisted himself up, and out of the window.
The cold rush of the night air felt pleasing against his skin, and as his angelic wings lifted him up the ground, he heard the door behind him open loudly, the doctors demanding where he had gone.
"Where did he go?" The doctor demanded. "Dammit, the window's open!"
A clamour of footsteps. Several faces peered out, their expressions changing from furious to appalled faster than the stoplights.
Kratos grinned. "See you."
And he took off, in a flurry of feathers, into the night sky.

"He's alive," the voice rasped. "He's alive, he's alive, he's alive! Alas, the fate of the Chosen Ones have not been fufilled."
"This is unacceptable," the second voice screamed. "Without this...We fail..."
"...To exist," a third voice said softly. "We cannot use their souls to fuel our pathetic form of existance."
"We have but two souls," the second voice said, terrified. "The souls of the two women. However, we are about to lose what precious little we have, for he will bring one back."
"The tale will not be completed, we will disappear," the third said quietly. "And the soul left bodiless will return to its kingdom in the sky."
"Why?" the second voice cried. "We only wanted a human body. We were so close."
"It is in his will to live," the first voice said finally. "We were already dead. It was wrong to try to take what was not ours. When she is ressurected, we will all go to hell, to spend the rest of eternity there."
The voices cried out, diminishing, until there was nothing.

The day of the funeral was coming to quickly. He had six days to work.
Needless to say, the group was overjoyed that Kratos had made such a speedy recovery.Kratos did not tell them about the Ressurection plot. He would do this himself, hesaid secretly, to Noishe.He would not risk the lives of his companions again.
He had some of the nessassary materials for the spell "Ressurection". The unicorn horn, Boltzman's Book. However, the spell was useful for reviving the unconcious, not the dead. Something else would be needed. Something that was already immortal.
He journeyed to the Storyteller in Latheon Gorge. The storyteller told him that the spell was not to be tried- it would end disasterous. There had been no successive attempts.To bring back the dead was a near always-fatal occurence, and it was a Dark Art, forbidden.Even if the first was successful, the second for sure would have ended in death. But Kratos persisted.
At last, theStoryteller told him the Dark Art. One unicorn horn was required, the blood of the ressurector, and something immortal. When Kratos asked what that something was, the storyteller told him "something you already have".
Of course, Kratos had no idea what that meant at first.
What was it that made him the symbol of life and death, just like the unicorn? What was it that had so much healing power?
Then, it hit him.
Angel wings.
Angels were immortal, right? Human, and not. The symbol of life and death, a direct connection to heaven to bring the soul to the body.
Plucking feathers was extremely painful. It was like pulling out his limbs.And they would not grow back.
But Kratos plucked them anyway, until all his feathers were gone,the remnants of his wings strewn across the ground.
He collected the feathers, and entered the church. Laying them in the coffin, around Raine. He took the unicorn horn, and placed it in her cold, stiff hands. He then took a small blade and punctured his wrist. Blood dripped down, coating the feathers, dotting Raine.
Looking up into thestainedglass window, he shouted:
"εγώ! προσφοράς ένα κέρατο του μονοκέρου, του αίματος του ένας που θα το φέρει πίσω, και των φτερών αγγέλου. Επαναφέρετε τι χάθηκε!"

("Lo! I bring you the horn of a unicorn, blood of the ressurector, and the wings of an angel. Bring back what was lost!")

There was a blinding flash. The angel feathers in the coffin began to glow with a strange, white light, the blood turned gold, and the unicorn horn turned pale blue. All shimmered, blinding the Seraph. The markings of the Broken Valentine curse shone for the final time upon Raine's pale flesh, and pulsed. Then, it shriveled, racing toward the origin, on the neck. The Broken Heart gave a small tremor, and dissolved. The hourglass behind it shattered.
Swirls of light descended from the heavens, seemed to engulf Raine's body.
When the magical moment was over, Raine lay very still in the coffin, the feathers, blood, and horn all gone. It seemed it had failed. Kratos breathed heavily, exhausted.
Silver lashes fluttered.
The small figure rose, swung her legs out from the coffin, and landed lightly on the ground.
She smiled.
He smiled back.
"Welcome back," he said.

Epilogue:

Much of the written records have been lost. What we do know is that since the Iselia fire, the town never quite recovered. Raine, Kratos, and Genis went to live in Ozette, where the prejudice against half-elves had lessened considerably. Raine and Kratos never married, nor had children. Genis and Presea married at the age of 23, and had 4 children. Lloyd and Colette married several years following Raine's ressurection, and had 8 children. Zelos and Sheena also married, having one child.
As for the "Magic Mirror", it seemed to have disappeared shortly after Raine's rising, and never returned.

FIN...

Amazon Bunny: Well! That's all, folks! Thank you for reading through "Broken Valentine" up till now! Don't quite feel like putting in review thanks this chapter. Be good and give me 100 reviews at least, mmmkay? Stay tuned, there is a sequel, called "PATHWAY" that's being worked on right now.
This chapter was very very very rushed, and Iapologize. I wanted to get this finished asap, because I don't think I have all that much time to do anything nowadays. Just one thing to getdone.Again, I apologize.
For those who wondered what language that was above that Kratos used to bring Raine back, it was Greek. Yes, they didn't have Greekon Symphonia, but hey, whatever floats my boat, right?
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Stay tuned for "Pathway",my Christmasstory, and the sequel to "BrokenValentine"!