5.

Lyra had nearly forgotten about her dislocated arm. The adrenaline from going into fight mode and the worsening, more immediate pain from her rib injury had distracted her from the issue. That is, until same arm in question was being cleaved clean off her shoulder.

It all happened so fast.

The moment Rei's eyes had widened in surprise Lyra knew she had been too focused on him. Lyra had stupidly forgotten all about the troop of thirty military precision Black Ops bots and Kai. That had been Lyra's greatest mistake as she twisted her body just in time to avoid her head being Kai's pretty little prize versus her arm.

Lyra watched half stunned as Kai, holding a particle blade cut into her skin with an ecstasy written clear as day all over his crazed features.

His cute smile from when they were children taking on a sinister, rabid gleam as his face contorted with an expression reeking of pure madness. Lyra felt herself fall in slow motion. Her eyes locked onto Kai's as the ground rose up like an ocean wave to meet Lyra's back as she spun from the blow. Lyra didn't even feel the blood work its way out of her throat as she coughed once violently.

Gravel cut her exposed flesh to ribbons as her body scraped against the jagged muddy landscape at the foot of the mountain. In a daze as she lay immobile dying from blood loss her senses playing games with her as Lyra watched the world slow to a crawl.

Lyra beheld in silent awe as the harsh pounding rain became singular crystal beads taken from a chandelier as they trickled down her face one by one. A barbed scar of white ignited the dark skies above her motionless head so slowly, Lyra wondered if the sky was being pried and pulled apart personally by the hands of Zeus.

Lyra's gaze shifted as she observed Kai. Pondering if he knew he was also going in slow motion to her. She looked calmly at him through the rain that kissed her eyelids as Kai shifted his weight oh-so-slowly, as he began to raise the particle sword above his head. Frame by frame Kai's arms bent with his back as he began to descend upon her, his deadly sword aimed right at Lyra's heart.

Kai was leagues away, then he was miles, but closer and closer his blade crept determinedly to her chest with that same evil gleam in his eyes.

Just as Kai was right above her, Lyra still staring unflinchingly calm straight at him, a shadow moved between them. Kai didn't even feel the sharp kiss of a dagger slice through his neck like hot butter. His eyes still shining bright with bloodlust but he was already dead.

Kai's hand loosened and his sword fell like a meteor straight to its intended

Kai's hand loosened and his sword fell like a meteor straight to its intended.The blade was sharp as it easily seared a path down past Lyra's rib cage, but lost its momentum as just before it could skewer her heart, it stopped short.

Time slapped Lyra clear into next century as it clicked into place back inside her addled mind. At her feet Lyra heard a dull thud as Kai's body hit the ground. To her it sounded like shattered glass and nails screaming across a chalk board.

Her childhood friend, her sworn brother, had just tried to kill her and now he was dead.

Rei didn't even look at the corpse he had just disposed of, his attention focused solely on Lyra.

"No, no, no, no, no." Rei murmured repeatedly to himself as he crouched low over Lyra's body with his own, blocking out the rain as his hands reached for her face.

Lyra's eyes showed no emotion. No fear. She looked coolly on at him as if watching a stranger fiddle with someone else's body. Rei didn't know he was crying, the rain streaming over his features made it hard to tell in the first place, even Lyra didn't realize. Rei cradled her close to his chest as he blubbered out nonsense.

"You're going to be okay. It's okay. You're okay. We'll fix this baby. You're going to be fine. It's not that bad."

Lyra couldn't help it. The corners of her lips upturning beautifully, the blood clogging her throat made her giggle sound wet and awful. She was laughing at him. How could she not? She was finally getting what she wanted. An escape. Away from him.

Freedom. Her mind whispered.

Though the sound had been soft and muffled under the cover of rainfall Rei still managed to hear her and his earlier panic seized and stilled inside him. His expressions of worry slipping quickly back into a face frozen with rejection.

His eyes hardened on Lyra as his movements to tend to her halted. Words died in his mouth and the air around them seemed to freeze. They glared at each other. Both of them picture of beauty despite the gore.

Rei a towering giant whose rugged and chaotic beauty stifled a room with awe and worship. His face on pare with the gods. Lyra, whose languid figure flowed like water over Rei's solid arms even with a face bloodied and bruised could still bring about the fall of empires. Together, as Rei held Lyra closely to his chest, they painted the scene of doomed lovers cutting deeply into the cyborg hearts of the troop still hidden within the trees.

The troop didn't know yet, but they're report back to headquarters would be the stuff of legends for ages to come, the clinical report transforming into a tale of love and woe greater than that of R & J. But that was in the future. The now was a bitter, tragic ending that resonated and shook the soldiers very souls.

Rei's gaze on Lyra never faltered. It was calm, even tranquil even as Lyra's warm blood ran down his fingers and soaked readily into his clothes. Lyra for her part didn't flinch at Rei's stare, she looked at him just as serenely as he did her, rain continuing to fall all around them.

Finally, Rei moved one of his hands reaching for Kai's sword still buried deep into Lyra's chest. Rei's other arm drew Lyra closer to him and Lyra groaned a little as she felt the bladed shift inside her. Rei's hand clasped over the hilt of the sword and understanding flooded Lyra's mind.

"Shh." Rei soothed her. "I'll fix this." Rei's hand tightened a fraction as he steeled himself.

"I'll fix everything." He promised.

Rei's hesitation gone, he guided the blade down further into Lyra's chest. The blade nicking the surface of the organ as it pressed ever onward.

Rei bent to kiss Lyra's head, his lips warm against her chilled bloodless skin as the sword plunged down. Rei's focus completely on his task- didn't notice Lyra's pale white fingers gliding softly along his belt until she felt the telltale shape of a hilt to a dagger.

The blade nearly through her heart as the sword grew smaller working its way into her chest, Lyra made her move at the same time Rei took her life.

With her last breath she unsheathed the dagger and plunged it into Rei's neck. Cutting straight to the jugular. Lyra's hands fell loosely back towards the ground, gravity taking over her limb as she lay lifeless still in Rei's arms.

Lyra didn't see how Rei's lips quirked one last time at her.

His Lyra could have aimed anywhere, cut straight to his heart like Rei had done to her. But Lyra had played dirty and stabbed mercilessly at his neck so Rei could experience a more painful slow death.

How petty.

Rei kissed Lyra's head again as he began to lose feeling in his limbs.

The troops behind him panicking as they flew into action their panic creating a cacophony of activity inside the desolate forest. Their frenzy pointless. Rei laid Lyra down softly, dizziness hitting him as he let his body collapsed on top of her. Pressed seamlessly to her even in death.

And the world went dark.