AN: This chapter deserves the long author’s notes that I usually type. No one reviewed on the last chapter. No one reviews this fic anymore at all, I think. I would love reviews. But I believe I understand that this fanfic has probably gone pretty far downhill. I had promised that Setsuna’s and Rosiel’s stories would converge eventually and that never happened. I don’t have the creative insight at this point in my writings to attempt that sort of thing. So for now, this is a crappy little story centering around Rosiel and Katan. Anyway, this is the last chapter, yes, the very last chapter. I can’t continue to write any more of this fic. Once we get past the wing rending, I think I’ll have to go sit in a corner and cry…

Also, this story is dedicated to Josh, my Katan, who is in South Carolina, as I write this, for basic training for the army. I miss you Josh! I’ll be waiting for you to return in August!

REVISION: It's been months since I've written this and Josh has now returned from South Carolina. In fact, it's freaking November. Happy Holidays everyone.

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Forever By Your Side

Chapter Eight

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Keep quiet.

Nothing comes as easy as you.

Can I lay in your bed all day?

I’ll be your best kept secret.

And your biggest mistake.

The hand behind this pen relives a failure everyday.

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This room was the most awful thing an angel could be forced to endure. The concrete enclosure was stained and streaked with congealed blood and feathers, and the room reeked of metallic blood and terror and misery. This was the room where angels were sent to have their wings torn from their bodies.

Rosiel took it all in relatively silently. Truthfully, there was nothing more he could endure. He had already broken his mental limit and the contents of his mind could not be quieted. It was simply that his mouth no longer knew how to function; otherwise the contents of his mind would have been spilled into the air. The last shred of sanity in him hoped that Sevotharte would not be so cruel as to extend this fate to Katan as well, who he had made a relative effort to save from this. He sighed and a small giggle escaped with it. After this, there would be no redemption for him. Once his wings were gone, he would lose his mind completely and he would crave the flesh and blood of other angels for sustenance. The viruses and bacteria of the atmosphere would invade his body, and with his only defenses against them removed, he would have no chance of fending it off. “Goodbye my Katan…” he whispered solemnly, a small sad smile gracing a face that would only be beautiful for a short while longer.

Katan was being treated mercifully. He was sitting alone in the cell he had been in before. This was Sevotharte’s vision of mercy; his other option was forcing Katan to watch Rosiel’s wings be removed from behind a large picture window. He had made the decision not to watch. But now as he thought about it, he wondered if that was the cowardly option. He began beating on the cell door with his fists, hoping to catch the attention of someone, anyone, and be allowed to talk to Sevotharte. Of course, this was most likely a hopeless desperation and his energy was being wasted. Rosiel was…lost to him…

And so the horrible process was to begin. Rosiel smiled sadistically as he was chained roughly to the device of his undoing, his smile turning to a horrified and pained grimace as a thick metal hook pierced one of his wings, just below the joint, and he choked out a sort of shocked sob. All of this was repeated again, and then once more, as he was prepared for the barbaric procedure. At last, his expression strained and tight, he looked toward the picture window to see the face of the tyrannical Sevotharte, and a dreadful and unreasonable laughter erupted from him, dying almost as quickly as it had started, melting into sobs and soft chuckles. “K-…Katan…farewell…” the disgraced Seraphim whispered, tears streaking his face.

“Katan…” was his last coherent thought as the ghastly device began to rip and destroy his once beautiful wings. Screams of nearly impossible volume and unimaginable pain tore from Rosiel’s lungs, coalescing with the sounds of splintering bone and the steady splatter and trickle of blood.

The cherubim slumped against the inside of the door, sobbing and holding his face in his hands, all hope now lost. Even at this distance, his master’s inhuman screams penetrated the walls of the cell. “Rosiel-sama…my beloved…my mas…ter…” He wept uncontrollably, with no one to solace him. Not even with a brutal slap or a harsh word. No more gentle caress to clash with a maniacal glimmer or mumblings of death and destruction. No more. No more. No…

Not so mercifully, the procedure was finally over, and the shattered remains of a once beautiful being were heaved to the floor with a sickening splat, the Seraphim having landed in the standing pool of his own blood. His breathing came in ragged gasps and his eyes blazed with something beyond his usual insanity. This angel was no more. Slowly, the toxins of the atmosphere of Etenamenki seeped beneath his skin and he began to change. Rosiel was no more.

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So wear me like a locket around your throat

I'll weigh you down, I'll watch you choke

You look so good in blue

You look so good in blue...

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AN: And so the story is finished. Depressing, ne? I know, I'm probably going to get alot of crap from everyone for ending like this, but I simply couldn't keep the story going and I'm sort of a fan of the tragedy. I recently watched the movie A Tale Of Two Cities. I own the book but I've never read much of it. It's terribly sad. If you're also a fan of tragedies, you should really consider Charles Dickens as an author to read. Anyway...that is the end of my story. Keep watching my fictions. I may write something new sometime. laughs Maybe. I love you all. Review and spread the word. Namarie.

(Song: "Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner" by Fall Out Boy)