As Kurosava got up, Lucus raised his hand while holding his Antabulam in it. "The reaper's pride-- Come forth my scythe!" He said but nothing happened. Fate looked at him with surprise. He looked at his Antabulam.

"Why isn't it working?" Lucus wasn't confused. Kurosava started laughing like a psychopath. He laughed for a minute continuously as everyone stared at him.
"That's right... I couldn't die. And how could I? Everything I wanted could not be mine and above that-- I even lost what I had! And you know who is responsible for that-- You! Ethan Evaganza! I was always more talented but I was never given what I deserved!

People were always unfair with me! Such people who cannot respect art and talent deserve no place in this world. They must be killed for better people to take their place. You were no better but my own sister betrayed me over you.

She broke her promise of giving me the company and threw me and Maria inside that old mansion. I still remember how much she used to cry because she was sick. You isolated her because she was sick and they didn't want you to catch her sickness. The real Kirito passed it to her and died. Only I took care of her, only I!

But she loved you so dearly, like her own child-- And look what you did. You killed her. You told her that she was burdening everyone and making people around her sick. You told her to never to come out of that mansion again. She couldn't bear that, she got into depression and she committed suicide.

She left me all alone in this world to face heartless monsters like you! You-- Ethan Evaganza-- killed me and my wife! I took her dead body with these hands and plastered it into a sculpture to keep her close to me.

But it didn't work! I was still so lonely. Nobody would come to me. I tried to kill you-- I pushed you down that lake. Yes, I did that! But you didn't die. No matter what I did-- I couldn't kill you.

I grew so desperate to hurt you that I began killing people around you. I killed Erika! But you are such a heartless jerk-- You don't care! You don't care who comes and goes in your life. You don't treasure people. You aren't grateful.

All you know is to find out flaws in people and look down on them-- Yes! That's all you know. And in the end, look where someone like you is... You are still loved. People like you are loved no matter what they do, while people like me, I've just become the bad guy now."

Kurosava fell on his knees and began crying "I want to give this pain to you, even if it's for a moment, I want you to realise how much it hurts." Ethan stared at him.

"Uncle, don't cry." He said.
"That's why'" He smirked "You must die!" Kurosava shouted as the black shadow appeared beneath Ethan's legs and wrapped around them-- making him unable to move. He ran towards Ethan and grabbed his neck "I will only die with you!" Kurosava shouted as Ethan glared at him.

Lucus wacked Kurosava's head with the Antabulam. It was a strong enough hit to wobble his head and loosen his grip around Ethan's neck. Lucus then turned the Antabulam parallel to his shoulders and struck him on his neck.

He broke his neck and went straight on the glass railings, making a massive impact on it and landing on broken pieces of glass.
"... Lucus is pretty strong" Vivian said. "Nah! That's nothing. He isn't even using his scythe. I can't believe it. His scythe refused him... For the first time, a scythe refused their reaper. He has grown rusty." Fate said.

Kurosava got up from the pile of glass pieces and Lucus hit the Antabulam on his face. He fell on the ground again and Lucus stepped on his face with his black boots "That's quite enough. You're coming with me to the white retrieval stairs now." Lucus said.

"I'm not going anywhere," Kurosava said and Lucus moved back. He got up. Half of his face had no flesh on it-- It was just bones. Vivian covered her mouth. Ethan looked at him in astonishment.

He grabbed Lucus' Antabulam. His hands were on fire. "Burn into hell!" "Death!" Fate shouted as she ran towards them but they were suddenly surrounded by a ring of magic fire.

Though, something was out of the ordinary. Even though his Antabulam was burning, Lucus didn't show any resistance or make any effort to protect it-- As if he wanted something like this to happen. Fate stood right outside the fire surrounding them and looked at him.

"Dead don't live among the living. It's such a simple rule." Lucus' hands began burning.
"Wait-- His skin is burning!" Vivian shouted.
"What are you doing?! Snatch your Antabulam away from him! You're hurting, Death!" Fate shouted.

"Why is that happening?" Vivian asked.
"If the book burns completely, it's over! He won't be an angel anymore and he'll die!" Fate shouted.

"I don't care... my own scythe, a friend about one thousand years old, disowned me, who else should I trust... Nobody seems to be worth it."

"Don't say that-- I'm there for you! I'll be with you forever, Death-- I'll never make you feel alone!" Fate began crying and fell on her knees "Death, don't go."
His face started burning. Half of the Antabulam was into ashes by then. "Fate, I'm sorry. I couldn't become a man strong enough to carry my burdens and I only hurt you. I'm sorry, Fate. Goodbye. Let's hope the one who replaces me, is someone much kinder and much more suitable to become Death."

"This is hell!" She threw her Grecabulum on Kurosava's hands. He dropped the Antabulam and both the books fell down. Fate's Grecabulum shared the fire of the Antabulam and soon the fire disappeared. As the books stopped burning, so did they. She ran towards him and hugged him tightly.

"Fate," Lucus whispered.
"I always looked at you as a friend until I realized that I love you. I love you so much that you're becoming my weakness. But I can't love you more than this."
"... You know this might mess us up--"

"I don't care! You either say how you feel and fuck it up or say nothing and let it fuck you up instead. I'm going down both ways so atleast I want to be remembered by you. Because people never forget how you made them feel. I want you to be happy when you remember me."

Lucus didn't say anything. Fate's body had healed but his book was so badly burned that he wasn't healing anymore.
"I'm on a point in my life that I don't know anymore how it feels to be happy."
"I'm on a point in my life that I just want to be left the hell alone but... I want you to stay.

I'm ready to forgive the world if it has you."

She moved away and looked into his grey eyes.
"You fulfill wishes, right? I have a wish too, Death. Just this once, listen to my wish too."

"What is your wish?" Lucus asked.
"I want you to return Vivian's heart and have my heart completely instead."
"But then, what about you? You won't have a heart anymore."
"You are my heart in human form."

Kurosava almost reached her neck "You just have to come between everything!" Ethan hit him with the axe.
"You're after me, right? So, face me." Ethan glared at him.
A tear dropped from Lucus' eye "Your wish... seems impossible, Fate. Nobody has ever wished that,"

Vivian felt something in her heart. It was an unexplainable feeling of immense bliss. She looked at Lucus "I don't know what it is but it feels so good... for the first time in so long."

Suddenly, Lucus' key shone bright. The fire around them died down and a huge hurricane surrounded the terrace. Ethan and Maya stared at him with surprise.

"I am Lucus. The winter angel of death and decay. I don't care if I don't have a heart-- I don't want one anymore. And I don't care how many people hate me because I don't hate anyone. It is my duty to protect the dead."
The number on his key turned from 99 to 98, 97, 96, 85, 55, 25, 12, 2, 0. Lucus slowly rose up in the air.
"Are you doing this, Death?" Fate asked.

"No, I'm not... Wait-- You aren't doing this either?" He said as he looked confused himself. His Antabulam shone bright and began recovering along with him. His burned skin recovered itself and grew darker. The Antabulam transformed into a huge scythe.

His hair turned jet black and his eyes turned from grey to blue. "Scythe!" He said and the scythe came flying towards him. He held it in his hands as his black wings emerged out from his back and spread themselves.

He shone bright as he held his scythe in his hands. Everyone looked at him. Kurosava couldn't open his eyes anymore. Fate's eyes mellowed "Oh Death. The hottest fires burn blue, and your eyes are no exception. Haven't I fallen far enough?"

Lucus raised his scythe and flew towards Kurosava. The black shadow under Kurosava emerged out and caught Lucus' feet. Lucus decided to cut the shadow with the spear but the moment the spear touched the shadow, Lucus got a peak into Kurosava's memory.

This is why he hated doing this. He didn't have any interest in peeking inside the tragic part of people's life.  He could hear the shrieks and cries of his worn out soul.

'I don't ever want to hear those screams again!'

The memories replayed before his eyes and Lucus sat on the railings.
"Death--"
"This is hurting me so much. I hate it." Lucus pressed his forehead. Kurosava didn't stop though. He reformed the shadow into a huge sword and ran towards Lucus.

"Death, you have to do it. Don't forget-- You've got the upper hand here!" Fate shouted.
Kurosava was confident as he ran towards the weakened angel of death.

But he sliced Kurosava's body in two halves before he could reach him. Lucus looked at him "You think I'd let a diseased one kill me?"
Kurosava fell on the ground as he stared at Ethan. Ethan looked back at him. Lucus rose higher towards the moon as the scythe shone black-- turning into a spear. He whispered a chant as he closed his eyes and then he flew towards Kurosava at full speed. Kurosava smirked as he took out a black knife and pointed it towards the speeding up angel of death "You're just as arrogant!"

"Be careful!" Fate shouted.

Lucus couldn't change his path in these split seconds and neither could he stop at once at such a high speed. It was only a matter of a few nanoseconds slowed down. Everything seemed to fall in slowly. Ethan, who was the closest to Kurosava, stood behind him and held back the knife in his hand.

The scythe passed right through Kurosava's chest, into Ethan's stomach and hit the floor. Every witness was shocked.

"Uncle," Ethan said "I'm sorry... for making things so hard for everyone,"
Kurosava smiled as he looked at Death, who was dumbstruck himself. "You were a jerk till the end. But finally, I won..." He touched the scythe with his blood covered hands and closed his eyes peacefully. His body turned to ashes and disappeared into the wind.

Fate opened her book and trapped his soul inside it, to carry it to hell.

"Ethan..." Vivian held her breath. Lucus pulled away the scythe from his stomach and he fell on the ground.
"Ethan!" Vivian ran towards him and pressed his head on her lap. He opened his blue-green eyes and looked into her blue eyes.

"Vivian..." He coughed due to lack of oxygen and pressed his hand on her cheeks. They turned red from his blood. He smiled "I guess that's it for me." She shook her head.

"This can't end like this. I'm not prepared for this. You weren't supposed to die right now, you've got one more week. The Antabulam can't be wrong!"

"Vivian, you were the only one who loved Ethan, only you. I never thought I'd find comfort in a voice or fall in love, was I enough?"

"Ethan!"
"Vivian, this might be the last time I look into your eyes."
"No, please don't leave me!"
"It's getting harder to see them, my love... Everything is kind of getting blurry... Thank you, for loving me when I still tasted of heartache and war. I'm grateful, Vivian" He gently closed his eyes and his hands dropped on her chest, leaving his blood marks on her face and her clothes.

Her Antabulam shone bright with his name. She shook her head and clenched her eyes tightly "No!" She shrieked with all the power her throat was left with. Her key shone bright as she shouted and cried. All her tears that fell on his face, turned to snow. Vivian's wings appeared on her back. They were made of ice and were beautifully decorated with snowflakes and ice crystals.

"Ethan, tell me you love me. Say my name one more time-- Just one last time." Lucus saw a small snowflake on his nose. It began snowing slowly.

"Isn't it summertime?" Fate said as she looked at the sky "The first snow." Lucus said as his eyes widened. Then he smiled gently "So that's what Margaret meant from the first snow."

"Did you get it?" Fate asked.
"Ethan was the first snow if it's what I think it is. Though I still can't be sure."
"What?"

Lucus picked up Vivian's Antabulam and walked towards her "Vivian, you know what to do." He brought her Antabulam close to her face.

"I hate my heart." She held the Antabulam in her arms.
"It's alright. Your heart hates you too." Lucus smiled.
She  took a deep breath "Rise,"

Ethan's soul got up from his body. She held back her tears "I'm Vivian, the winter angel of death. I'm here to collect your soul-- But I don't want to..." She bit her lips as her voice began cracking. Ethan looked at her.

"So, this is what you are?" He asked.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save us all." She cried. Lucus and Fate looked dejected.

"Oh, but I can." Maya walked towards them. Lucus and Fate looked at her. Her hair grew longer and turned golden from brunette. Her eyes turned light blue.

"M- Maya?"

- To be continued

Maya
My Heart Hates Me

Interesting Facts
Maya in Buddhism and Hinduism means the power by which the universe becomes manifest; the illusion or appearance of the phenomenal world.