Welcome, welcome, everybody, to the ultimate Rune deathfic. This was a request (...actually, I half-suggested it) from a good friend of mine, and the idea was just too interesting to pass up. (That, and the fact that I might earn a reputation for killing off Rune.) So, here ya go.

This is the only fic of mine in which I have the entire thing, the entire story, written out before posting. The author's notes, too-- I normally write those in QuickEdit. Certainly a first for me... So enjoy yourselves, and review.

...Oh yes, and the red-haired youkai is an OC of mine. Unless, of course, you can tell me of a shapeshifter in Dragon Knights. (And I refuse to use Envy, so the red-haired youkai stays.)

Dedication: This chapter of the fic is dedicated to Hiei (also known as Markaleb here on FFnet-- yes, I know that's you), whose suggestion made the request possible. The prologue would probably not be here if not for her n.n;;; Thanks for your help in killing off one of your favorite characters.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights.

Chronicle

Prologue: Tintlet's Mistake

She stood in the middle of the clearing, her curly blond hair fluttering slightly in the wind, bright blue eyes gleaming dangerously. All around her, nature was in bloom. Magnificent oaks were thriving as they sheltered the fertile grass from the sunlight’s gentle touches. Wildlife, big and small, raced through the trees and trampled over the underbrush. It was truly an amazing sight.

But she wasn’t here to admire the scenery.

“Who are you?” she growled, glaring at the youkai across the clearing. “What do you want with me? What do you want with Rune?”

The red-haired demon smirked. “What do you think I want? I want you to kill him.”

“W-what?” The faerie-girl did a double-take, staring at the demon and the blonde-haired boy beside him. What? “B-but that’s... that’s Rune!”

The youkai sighed dramatically. “Tintlet, Tintlet, Tintlet. You don’t know anything, do you?”

“B-but--”

“Look at him.” The youkai sauntered over to her, draping one arm around her shoulders and gesturing toward the aforementioned elf. “Look at him, look at his eyes. That can’t be the real Rune...”

Tintlet peered closely, moving slowly forward as she looked. His eyes were totally dead; he didn’t move or say a word. But that face... wasn’t it her lover?

“...Can it?”

Abruptly realizing that the youkai’s hand was no longer on her shoulder, she whirled around to find...

“Rune?”

Although the image of the blonde-haired elf stood where the red-haired demon had once been, the face still wore that characteristic, youkai-like smirk.

“How do you like it?” the demon murmured in Rune’s voice. “Now you have two to decide from...”

All of a sudden, the world was swirling all around her, in strange hues of blue and violet and black, and the two identical images of Tintlet’s lover faced her, both wearing identical youkai-like smirks.

“...how will you choose which one to kill...”

She looked down at her hand; had she been holding something before? Slowly, the faerie held up a tiny gray bottle; harmless-looking but in reality quite deadly.

“...when you have two of us?”

Tintlet’s hands shook as she realized what the small bottle held.

It’s...

Scared, she looked up; surely one of them had to be real? But no, they both wore a very un-Rune-like smirk, something Tintlet’s beloved would never have done.

Slowly, truth dawned upon her.

It’s not him, she realized. Neither of these two is Rune. He wouldn’t do this; he wouldn’t look like that!

Confident now, Tintlet lunged for the nearest Rune. Grabbing his wrist, she threw the little gray bottle.

And as that bottle hit his arm and shattered, and as the revival water poured out over his shoulder, the elf’s expression changed. It was no longer a cocky smirk, but a look of pain and horror. A look that only the real Rune would wear.

And Tintlet realized that she had made a deadly mistake.

-End prologue