Phase VII: Waning Gibbous

Prompt Used: Towels

Summary: I think this is for real. I think it's the end. Tyki Mikk has died, and soon I will too.

It began as gently as it could, but even the 14th could not help here. It soon progressed to a searing pain as my body fought between two sets of genes that were never supposed to be infused together in the first place. Strangely enough, our minds were clearly separated, there was no pain there, but I could feel his regret and grief, strong like they were my own. It was hard to reassure him though, I was fighting from screaming out, scared that we would wake Link up to see us in the process of changing owners. Crown Clown screamed at me for letting a dark matter overtake us, and it was double the pain, my back arching, my mind slowly slipping off, starting to separate itself from this body – not mine, not any longer, never was to begin with, this cursed, scarred, wretched body.

The 14th came into control, felt the last of the pain, shuddered on the bed and immediately fell into a deep sleep, his body needing to recover, his mind unused to gaining control of a body and…

It was over.

.

There was something I never told Allen, because I was too cowardly. I could never tell him how sorry I was that Mana's love for him was cast in doubt. My brother loved me dearly, and now we'll both never know whether Mana picked him up because of my presence, or because he loved Allen for himself.

Even if I told him that I was sure Mana loved him for him, he would just smile back at me with that kind smile, because somehow or other, he does not hate me, and he just, he wouldn't want to hurt me, and I hate that he does that, hate that I feel so horrible about taking over a body when I never cared in the past.

But it's too late for that now, it'll be a while before I can meet him again.

It was strange to have a corporeal body again. I could feel inside me Joyed awakening, and soon it'll all start again. Allen and Tyki have said goodbye, but not completely, they haven't thrown it in yet, haven't thrown in a sign of surrender. The war, the war on this body, the war with the Earl, it isn't over yet, nothing is set in stone. And maybe after all of this, I can let the kid live his own life again.

As I awoke and felt the man – Link, yes, Link – looking over me anxiously, I smiled.

"Good morning."

.

Tyki Mikk died on a full moon night.

We ended in a strange way, him and I. We met as Allen and Tyki, and we were bound to leave as the 14th and Joyed. This is the last of me, speaking to you, to me, to…I don't know, to somebody, and soon, so very soon, the 14th will be here.

I'm by the sea on my own, the 14th no longer beside me, and in this lull I have remembered everything, but I wish I could forget. I think I can be by the sea for as long as I wish, and when I'm ready I can join him in his mind and see the world through his eyes. He said when it's all said and done, he'll destroy himself, so I can be myself again. But I don't quite want that, couldn't we both live, wouldn't Mana have wanted that?

Maybe Tyki and Joyed will be making their own pact. Maybe Joyed will burn himself out, and Tyki will take over again, and then maybe I can meet Tyki again through the 14th, I'm sure he wouldn't mind.

I hope Link and Lavi and Lenalee and Krory and Komui and everyone aren't too scared. The 14th is nice, really, although he forgot his name. He didn't want to call himself Allen, but I told him to call himself that, I'm sure Mana would like him to, and anyway, I'm inside him.

It's strange, I can still see myself, not like the 14th when he was still forming. I think that's his way of saying sorry, allowing me to keep my own form, and when I talk to him in dreams we'll both be fully in our forms, and I can tell him the stories that he missed while he was still sleeping in me, tell him how good a father Mana was.

And Tyki, maybe I'll meet Tyki again someday, because, like I told you, we'll meet as friends next time, when this is all over. I'm sure we will. Only the Earl has to die, but Tyki, Tyki, maybe we can both live, and, I.

I don't want to have to think this again.

But, I think, I think this is for real. This is for real. This is for…

Tyki Mikk died on a full moon night.

Notes:

The end. Thank you if you've read it through. Goodbye, Allen, you've been wonderful to write. Thank you to Poker Pair Week for prompting me to write this.

Let us hope he finds happiness in his next life (or another fic, whichever works).

Reviews are loved (: