1 Even Then, She Walked Onward.

The scattered and desperate breaths of a frozen being sounded within the silence. The woman in question was clothed with a black, ragged cloak. Exhaustion permeated every fiber of her being, but even then, she staggered forward.

Sound came and out of existence with her sense of touch, numbness transitioning to burning ice; silence transmuting into the howl and scream of a winter storms fury. She shook heavily, her fragile body unable to withstand the strain, her legs collapsing finally at the first chance as she slipped on ice.

Muffling a screech of surprise, the woman turned on her side as she fell, wrapping her hands around her stomach in an effort to protect her precious cargo; her unborn child's life was far more significant to her when compared in standing to her own life, an opinion that few shared when it was discovered.

There she was, collapsed on the grown in a blizzard befitting of Hell, shivering and shaking as parts of her broke down, only to immediately be pieced together. She was like someone had smashed the finest of china, dashing the shards into a billion pieces, only for time to be rewritten and for the puzzle pieces to be smashed back together again and again.

It hurt, and even if she was of the purest of Vampire lineage, it still hurt to the point of her wishing to die. However, she got up again, struggling profusely with her heavily rounded soon to be delivered baby belly and resumed walking, intent on her child making it to her secret lovers domain.

Her heart hurt to beat, her lungs felt as if glass shards were in them, and her muscles, mind, and spirit ached and protested with every heavily earned step. Even then, she walked forward, shivering and quivering all the while. It took a while to register the tears in her numbness and agony, but there they were, frozen to her face as more and more of them traversed the distance across and down her flawlessly beautiful face.

Even then, she walked onward.

At some point, she realized that her regeneration could no longer withstand the storms force, and was beginning the break down. Her body became even more sluggish, breaking apart and limping with the injuries that afflicted her. Her heart was faltering, her breaths waning, and her eyes failing, her body screaming and quaking with agony.

Even the, she walked onward.

Cracks seemed to appear over her body, marring her perfect, porcelain face, freezing her snowing hair into stiff clumps. Her lovely red eyes began to close, being frozen shut and unable to open due to the heaviness of them. Bits and pieces of herself was being left behind; a fingernail, a clump of snowy hair, bits of skin, a fragment of her hair and so forth, a trail of suffering in her wake abandoned by the one who wished only for her child, her daughter's, happiness.

Even then, she walked onward.

When she arrived at her destination, her body felt so, so heavy. She could not feel anything, not even the beating of heart, the rush of her blood, the whisper of her breath. Her heart had almost stopped beating with her lungs and her blood had almost frozen, but 'almost stopped' was not 'stopped'. Her body's inner functions, though failing at an alarming rate, still continued due to one, sole reason, or rather one sole person.

Her child's life.

She would not allow Death to claim her unborn child. Though she knew Azrael's clutches were already around her, she gave no heed to it, she merely desired the life of her beloved child. She knew the name she would give her, even if it was by the last vestiges and scraps of her life. Eika, meaning poem, or song.

Her last requiem, the last song from the White Lady herself.

Her eyes opened one last time as she saw a blurred dark figure with golden black eyes, concern for her in his gaze as he saw his precious one reduced to this state.

Her body broken like a doll, her perfect white skin fractured, her enchanting crimson eyes dull and her full head of pure, silver white hair thinned and raw. Even now, she was beautiful still in his eyes, before his eyes spied her bloated stomach, and realization overcame him. In the two years of separation, she had grown a child, and from the mana signature, it was undoubtedly his.

His eyes widened at this before she scooped her up delicately, flinching as the great Royal Vampire, the White Lady herself, arm fall off at the joint, though as he looked at her longer, he knew she could not feel it. His brow furrowed as he teleported into his recluse, the place where the two had met each other time and time again in secrecy.

After all, who'd expect the esteemed and pure maiden Nivalis Dracula, the White Lady, to have an affair with Satan himself?

And so marked the beginning of a long, long night, where a mother tried desperately for her little child to survive, and a lover tried with all his might to save the love of his life.

###

Little did they or anyone know, that by doing all they could to save each other, it result in a huge shift in the Supernatural world.

Later on, this woman, Eika, would obliterate the entire order of her world with her eventual lover, changing and everything and facilitating cooperation between humanity and supernatural so they could face an even greater threat, together. A time where the entire world would acknowledge them, and Eika could perhaps found what she so dearly craved.

However, that is for another story for another time, in another era.

This tale, is about the tragedy and comedy of a child born into a world far too cold for her heart. Of an environment far too cruel for a little girl that just wanted to find some happiness. A girl who wanted to love.

This is a requiem, about the meaning of Aiyuki, and the child who would sing it to the world.