Epilogue- Amaranthine
That night both Zodiac and Echo dreamt of a future time; a day that no witch would ever forget for as long as the earth shall live.
The impact of the blast could be heard from the tops of the mountains to the bottom of the oceans. It shuddered the ground so forcefully no animal could stand still for at least a minute, yet no damage was caused. It didn't even shake a leaf off of a tree nearby. It was a miracle in itself nothing was harmed. It was as if the spell was so powerful that it had no strength left to inflict any pain, if even the smallest. The only thing that suffered was the building the spell was inclosed in; it crumbling to the ground within seconds and letting in rays of sunlight to the occupants inside. The screams of chanting died as the final brick fell down and the witches tried to find the enemy. They had defeated him finally.
Echo lowered her sword slowly, as if uncertain he had really been killed. They had fought for so long now it seemed impossible to accomplish. She dropped the sword to the ground and breathed out. It seemed she had been holding her breath for hours. Echo turned to her partner to see if he too was just as glad to see Blue banished forever. Now they would feel at peace at long last and be able to live together on earth.
No word was uttered, no sound was produced; Zodiac fell to the ground. Echo felt her throat close up as she knew he had to use every single last power to defeat the witch who had been trying to steal his for over ten years. Echo sat down next to him and hoped in vain that maybe she could just wake him up. Her powers were very weak from the battle and she couldn't even revive him with her stone.
"Zodiac?" Echo whispered. She shook him gently, still maintaining the thought that no harm could come to him while she was protecting him. Through every adventure, every danger and every attempt on her best friend's life she had been his protector, his helper and above all companion through the dark periods.
Now it seemed the darkness had finally swept over them for the last time and engulfed her brave friend with it. It's not true� She told herself. Not after all his sacrifices, not after chasing that demon to the ends of earth and the next world to destroy him. Not after all they had been through that concluded to a truth she had forgotten about that only meant one thing�
"Oh God, no, not now�" She whispered. "Zodiac, you can't die now, not after this." She felt tears begin to stream down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry�" She kissed him lightly on the cheek, as she once did years before. "I love you."
She began to sob loudly, wanting to kill that monster all over again for what he had succeeded in doing. Wanting to scream so loud the creator of it all could hear her and undo the terrible fate placed on Zodiac. Her true love was dead and there was nothing she could do about it. She wanted to sacrifice every last one of her powers just to see him alive again, even if it meant her end also. He would never have to know how she felt for him and he could live again, away from the terror and away from the danger. All she wanted was for him to be safe and now that the evil had been destroyed�
"No harm can ever come to you again." She whispered. "I'm so sorry, I was too late, I should have�"
She continued to sob, clutching her sword and stone tightly as her only support, trying to think back to some point in his life where it could all have been changed. Where none of this could have happened. Where Blue could have been destroyed long before his powers had grown stronger from his hatred. Now no amount of magic could bring back the only person Echo had found some purpose to her life in. She clutched the blade tighter, feeling blood run down her hands from the piercing metal, still grasping her faithful weapon and the source of her powers as if her only friends left.
She felt the sword heating up in her hand, as with her stone. She opened her eyes slowly to see the two objects glowing brightly, burning her hands but refusing her to left go of them. She didn't cry out but merely stared at whatever magic was taking place in front of her, mesmerized to the point of stopping herself from blinking, despite her own tears stinging her eyes painfully. She watched as the stone dissolved, slowly at first but as she opened out her hand the stone had melted away into her hand. She felt a rush of extreme powers flow through her and finally cried out in pain. She threw down her sword and saw it had lost all of its colour, now lost of any magic it possessed. Echo clenched and unclenched her hands, feeling the magic working its way through every one of her veins until she was able to focus again.
Shaking slightly, she placed her hands on Zodiac. She gasped as her powers began to disappear. I know my fate, she thought, now I have to seal his. Her last desperate thoughts, as she saw his fingers move slightly and felt her body shutting down were ones of despair. He won't even know I love him�
Echo grabbed Zodiac tightly and kissed him, kissed him as she had wanted to do for the years they had spent together. Never realising her actual love and desire for him, now knowing that the ultimate pleasure to save Zodiac had to come before her even greater desire to be with him for all time. The price had been paid, their paths were set. Echo fell down, her last breath in exact rhythm with Zodiac's first.
Zodiac woke as if from a long and tiring dream. For a few seconds he wondered if he was in the afterlife but then saw the piercing sun above him. He felt the gritty ground beneath him and the smell of smoke from the freshly collapsed building made him choke slightly. He blinked a couple of times then sat up slowly, shaking his head and trying to remember what had driven him to unconsciousness or�
Zodiac didn't need to remember. He knew he had died. His whole body felt stiff, as if never used for years or maybe ever. He tried to think of how it had happened; who had caused it and who had revived him.
Then he saw Echo.
Zodiac was about to push himself gently from under her when he grabbed her hand to move her. There was no life. He dropped her hand in shock but then picked her up again as he knew what she had done. He shook her but nothing happened. Nothing could happen because he was trying to force himself into a blissful ignorance. He did not want to know of her bravery and courage and how she would be selfless enough to give up everything in her life to save him. Zodiac never wanted somebody to dedicate themselves to him even though he knew of his responsibility in his next life. He didn't want to know that she would and had destroyed herself in able to save him.
"Echo, don't do this�" He whispered and grabbed her stone, clenching it in his hand with his to make his powers flow into hers. Nothing was happening, her stone was already dead. Even its reserved powers had all but left a worthless object to sink in the ground like all other dead minerals on the earth. "No, Echo, I won't let you die�" He looked around, holding her in his arms tightly, blinking back harsh tears about to fall. "Somebody help us! Somebody get some help!"
The words seem to float away in the wind. He laid her down quickly, pulling off his shirt to rest under her head. It seemed all he could do. He couldn't revive her like a mortal, only magic would have helped her when she was dying. He held her hands tightly, trying to stop himself from shaking. Someone will come, someone will save her�
He held her until her hands started to feel cold. He was brushing her hair out of her eyes, her always messy hair she wouldn't stop fussing with though she knew it would never be tame. He had finally come to realise just what had happened.
She died to save me.
He didn't care anymore. He grabbed her in his arms and held her tightly, crying for the woman he had first fallen for ten years ago. The girl he had a crush on had turned into the strong, beautiful woman he held in his arms and now she was gone. His best friend's death was the result of his enemies and her refusal to leave him unprotected. All she ever did was care for him.
The great warriors of the past, present and future formed a circle around the couple, bowing their heads for one of the bravest of warriors in all of history's time. She had been chosen to become the first witch in her past life and now in this one she had been selected to serve the most powerful of their kind. Slowly every warrior threw down their weapons as their most humblest tribute and awaited the arrival of another hero in the long line of history on earth.
Zodiac cried in her arms until the sun set and she faded away like the mighty heroes of the past, leaving behind only her stone and her sword as any indication of her great heroics and bravery.
Both Zodiac and Echo would awake from their dream at exactly the same time and, for five blissful seconds, they would look at one another from opposite sides of Pepper's bedroom and know that in a time that seems like centuries from now, they would know of their love for one another and would rejoin and be happy in the next life. Their time of understanding past as their destiny dissolved from their minds and left them only vague about why, just why did they wake up at the same time. They would continue to fight against the evil they face until that faithful day where they would part until their next lives, unaware of what they were both about to accomplish. As the Oracles had told those lucky enough to be blessed with their presence: ignorance is the gift every creature in history will never learn to love.
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