The Ending of a Story (Private, Odin)

[Serenity]

It was always a fight with herself not to simply bite him. A curse of it's own right, part of her regretted never having tasted his blood while he was alive. Still she knew it was best that she never did because it would've made resisting she was sure that much harder. She tried to pull away from him but he had chosen that exact moment to pull her closer. She mentally cursed at him, she couldn't help but feel like this was his own personal torment. 'No... he doesn't know... why would he?' she closed her eyes trying to calm her inner hunger and was rewarded with the sharp edge of the scalpel cutting into her.

'That helps...' she leaned back as he finished, her free hand slowly tracing the wound that was already healing and she couldn't help but frown as she took notice of the now tear. 'I can't replace this' she pushed him hard as she could and found herself pointing at it. “I gave you permission to cut me not my cloths!” she didn't mean to snap at him but she found it really hard not to do so. It had been a gift, true the gift had been chosen because Odin had seemed to like it but that didn't make it any less of a gift and that was one thing she always made sure to treasure every little bit of kindness shown to her, even if she didn't exactly like those bits of kindness shown to her at times.

Sitting on her knees she just kept staring at the slice, it was clean cut, there were no strains left behind but it still upset her greatly. “If you wanted me to take it off you should've just said so.” She grabbed the nearest pillow and hit him repeatedly with the it as if that would somehow cause the man harm.

After several minutes she stopped and looked about to cry, how was she going to explain this. “You ruined it...” she looked back down at the tear, “It was... a gift... for me to show... to you... and... you... ruined it.” Taken several shaky breaths to clear her mind she looked back at him. Then slide out of the bed making her way to his closet instead.

'You like tearing peoples things so much...' she thought as she pulled out one of his really good shirts she was tempted for a moment to tear it, but instead she set it to the side and removed the torn red fabric looking at it once she sighed heavily as she folded it and set it off to the side and then put on his own shirt. Once down she looked back at him crossing her arms over her chest and tried to look at him as harshly as she could. “Now let's see you destroy your stuff.”

The whole action had allowed her to skip over his question and that she mentally noted was a very good thing, she couldn't see him letting her walking let alone getting close enough to cut him open if he knew the truth.

[Odin]

Odin didn't give a rat's *** that Serenity put on one of his good shirts. It made no difference to him. "I'll happily destroy my stuff if you are under it." he said with an evil grin.

He found it amusing that she thought putting on his shirt would stop anything, though she certainly seemed upset about his tearing her sexy little outfit, not that there was not much of it to tear. She was so upset she bludgeoned him with a pillow then left the bed.

There was still one question she didn't answer though. Odin stood up and put himself between her and the katana. He was no longer amused.

"What is it exactly that you want from me?" he growled.

Serenity didn't seem to be forthcoming.

He thought over some of the things she had said to him, since this little charade began. Serenity had stated many things since she snuck into his room. She didn't love him anymore, or rather, that she loved him like family, he cost the Yue 'Shi great harm and he would pay for that. It seemed she would give him whatever he wanted for his payment, yet if he didn't take advantage of the situation, she would come back for what she wanted and he'd have no say in the matter.

He had already told her he wasn't going to give her what she wanted as any form of retribution, and the more he thought about it, the more he grew agitated. He wished he had never told her he loved her, or that he would give her what she wanted with no strings attached.

I should have kept my ******* mouth shut.

After rethinking the situation he realized it was just another set up, just like it always had been, just like the other times she snuck in his room at Lunar Lake Estates.

"You need to go," he stated bluntly. "Take my shirt with you."

She got here wearing less than that, she can get home in a dress shirt.

He thought about her warning once again, that she'd get what she wanted and he had no say in the matter. The more he thought about it, the more it enraged him.

"Get the **** out!" he growled at her, "And do not come here again unless invited."

[Serenity]

What did she want? She chewed on her lower lip, she would never say what she really wanted. It wasn't her place to do such a thing, she had made as far as she could see, herself very clear in what she felt for him, how she felt for him, to even what she was willing to give to him. She closed her eyes taken a deep breath, and said nothing. When she opened her eyes again, he was telling her to leave.

Tilting her head even after he growled at her she couldn't help but give him a slow blink in reply to it. Was this truly what he wanted from her? To leave and not to ever come back here. Her eyes trailed around the place, it made sense he wouldn't want her here, without that invite. This was likely a place he wanted to make as a home for him and Alexandrea, the sadness that fell upon her was heavy and she was sure that if her grandmother had not taught her, the place of a woman that she would have dropped to her knees right there.

Instead she took several more deep breaths and made her way to gather her things, sadly her hands didn't wish to obey her, glass jar after glass jar feel and crashed and she knelt down to pick up the pieces, cutting her fingers ever few pieces she picked up. Her vision was blurring and it was only then that she realized she had tears falling. Was it from the cuts of the glass or something else, she smeared a blood finger across her eyes, and realized that there was some blood dripping not only onto the floor but onto his shirt. “Sorry... I... I can't replace it... I don't know how to replace a floor” and with that she found herself sobbing but her mind couldn't understand why as she lowered herself more onto the ground, forgetting all at once the broken jars even as they dug into her flesh. All her mind seemed to understand was that the floor had to be replaced and she couldn't do it.

[Odin]

Odin waited, impatiently at best, while Serenity went about gathering her things. As she reached for a medical kit, she knocked over one of his various specimen jars.

"Seriously?" he grumbled.

Within another moment, two more jars were shattered on the floor.

"What the ****!" he exclaimed.

She's acting it up good, and this is ********.

He picked up her katana and placed it far from her reach. When he turned around, she was mumbling something about not knowing how to replace a floor. Blood was dripping from her lacerated fingers. In the next moment she had lowered herself to the ground, disregarding the shards of glass as they cut into her knees and legs.

"What are you doing?" he nearly shouted as he quickly went to her and grabbed her arm and pulled her up.

Several jagged pieces of glass were imbedded in her knees and he pulled them out as he supported her weight. He glanced at her bloody tear-stained face.

She's not acting.

"Dammit," Odin growled under his breath. She was losing touch with reality. It certainly wasn't the first time he witnessed it and he was sure it wouldn't be the last.

Regardless of the sitation at hand, and his thoughts that she had some underlying ulterior motivation, he would still protect her - even if it was from herself. He had done it before.

He picked her up and brought her to his shower, shirt and all. After removing the remaining pieces of glass from her hands and legs, he turned on the water - cold.

[Serenity]

What was she doing? She lifted her head slightly starring and the blurred floor, the floor covered in broken glass and her blood. She tried to rub the tears away to get a better look at the floor but everything just blurred red as she did so. “S.So.sorry” she meant to try and clean it up but her mind seem frozen, it was like she forgot how to go about doing this simple of tasks, which didn't help when she felt her arm jerk upwards as she was pulled off the ground.

“I..I don't know how... how to fix the floor... I don't know... don't know how to.” Her voice sounded distance even to her own ears but he was upset, he was red. She slowly looked from him to the rest of the room, rubbing her eyes again with her free hand, everything looked red. It wasn't just the floor, it wasn't just him. “It's... it's everywhere...” How did her blood get everywhere? Surely she couldn't of bled this much. Yet her mind couldn't grasp at the reasons only that it was red, and it was blood. Her blood.

She struggled in his grasp as he pulled the pieces of broken glass out, the pain washed a wildness through her with every piece that was removed, she pleaded and begged for him to stop, or at least she thought she did. All that she truly was doing was repeating the word no and making it harder for him to pull the pieces out. Normally she liked being cut, but her mind was wrapped around something different. Each piece imbedded into her was a part of her being removed by him and so she fought, stepping backwards into the glass trying to get him away from her, only to be rewarded with more pieces of glass being pulled out of her.

'Stop it. '

Part of her screamed at the part that was now mentally shutting down from logic even emotions. It went on death ears even as she tried to reason with herself as she was picked up and brought to the shower kicking and screaming.

'We don't scream, we never scream. Stop it!'

Cold water hit her, and she went quiet, the glass was gone. She was wet, she was bleeding cold red water. She stared at it for what must have been hours but in truth mere second on the clock. Starring until her wounds healed and the water ran clear. Her eyes slowly refocus on Odin's face though they weren't really seeing him, or if they were, it wasn't in the now. She touched the side of his cheek given a soft smile.

We have to move on now. Have to move on. Rewrite this all, make it better.

“I had loved him...” she whispered the words, as she dropped her hand into her lap, “But he never really loved me back... was never her, just someone he was swore to care about that is all. Should listen to you my elder more... forgive me... I just wanted one night as his and he as mine.” she watched the cold running water instead of looking him into the face as she felt the tears burning the corner of her eyes. “Instead in the end he tossed me from his home. I will never return there... even if invited, I won't ever go into a place he calls home again.” she rose from where she sat in the shower and turned off the water, an air of madness began to wrap around her, almost as if she had to find some sort of peace, some sort of happiness from this whole ordeal.

“But that's alright...” she smiled sadly as she looked not at him but through him, “We had a lovely night... one night...” she would have giggled softly but instead she ran her hand through her wet hair. “Then I took his beating heart right from his chest...” this time she did giggle but it was almost maddening in sound, “he cut me so nicely... and I took his heart..." her eyes fell upon his and she leaned down and kissed his forehead, "Don't worry great uncle, he can make a new one though...” she pulled the wet shirt from her and dropped it in the shower as she stepped out.

'Swear upon it on the sword of our Father, of our ancestors. '

This time she did look at him and tilted her head, “I must be like new again, set in my path like before I laid eyes upon him.” she turned and made her way back, almost as if by a beacon to the place her father's sword laid, picking it up she ran the blade across the palm of her hand allowing the blood to spill and the wound to deepen, as she felt tears roll down from her cheeks, “I call upon the Goddess of the Moon whom bless my family with the sword forged by the Gods of Death. May they hear the vow I give this night. To never return to his home, to any home he owns by choice, may they aid my heart to never love him again, to make this night... the ending of our story together, so that he can be with who he desires and I can move on to follow the path set forth for me.” she watched as the wound heal, leaving just a pool of drying red blood dripping on the floor. She nodded her head slowly,”If I break these things, may the Gods of Death destroy my soul.”

Turning to once again look at Odin, who she didn't seem to realize was the man at all, "I will not dishonor the Shi family again. I will love who you and great auntie tell me to love, my mother was mistaken my path is not hers, Grandmother Shi was correct to insist that I be Chinese above all else. I hope in time you can forgive me, for betraying our family values, a female should go where she is told, not try to make her own path" she bowed her head before she looked back up at him. Her smile was filled not only with sadness but her eyes seem to reflect only a broken being within, as if her madness was still deeply rooted in her actions. Slowly the shadows began to wrap around her, until she disappeared from view.

----

As she appeared in front of her bedroom door she laid the sword down on the bed. Sitting down upon it she looked at her hand before doing the only thing that seemed logically to her, taken her father's sword she sliced herself into two allowing the blade of her father's sword to cut deeply into her flesh, she felt her insides spill into her lap as she lay the blade down, allowing her fingers to trail through her own insides for a moment before gathering them back up inside and healing the wound, she paused for just a moment longer to stare at the blade before disappearing from the room. Going to the only place her mind seemed to ever reach for in the state she was in, The Shadow Realm.