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To say her heart had died with Mai was both a truth and a lie. Maki’s heart had always belonged to two people, and only two. Her twin sister, her literal other half, the person who was both her perfect mirror and her foil, the reason she could strive to be better and the thing that held her back. Mai’s death was a tipping point that sealed an order of execution over the heads of those who were supposedly her family, the clan that sired her, whose blood sang in her veins.
But it was another death that truly sealed the death of her human heart.
That was you.
Just a servant to a clan, a girl her own age who was doomed to be nothing but a servant for the rest of her life. But Maki refused to let that happen. You were the missing piece of her in a way her sister could never be, the future she saw ahead of her was only worth living til if it had you in it. Maki was going to become a sorcerer even without cursed energy, would ascend to grade one to prove her worth, and before leaving the clan her only demand was going to be that you were permitted to come with her. Just one servant cut away from the clan so that she could take you with her - and then, once Maki had a safe and stable place, Mai would be free to pull away from the clan too and find safety there with the both of you.
But the clan had struck before anything could be done, before Maki could truly do anything for herself, following the death of clan head Naobito - and not only Mai had been killed, but also you. In the chaos, Naoya had been able to slip away from her deadly hand for just enough time to slit your throat, and leave you right in Maki’s path, the tatami mats soaked in the deep red of your blood.
When she’d found you, her rage had been a red hot flame burning bright in her core, threatening to turn anything in her path to nothing more than a scorch mark on the ground beneath her feet. After finding you, it turned colder, more calculating. A precise set of moves like Naoya was half of a boxing match, while Maki was playing chess in the other corner of the ring. She knew then, even more than she already had, with a true clearness that allowed her mind to settle and her hands to stop shaking, that she wouldn’t leave the grounds until every member of the Zenin clan was dead. Only children left alive, not held responsible for the sins of their parents.
When Maki passed her mother, the woman dragging herself through blood soaked halls, trembling on her hands and knees - she passed her something. A blade. Her mother wasn’t clear on what it would be used for in that moment, until Maki spoke.
“I’m going after Naoya.”
She had no clear idea how it would turn out, but with that knife clutched in hand, she knew what she’d do if that boy came back alive.
Sure enough, Maki’s mother with her last breaths, plunged that knife into Naoya’s back and finished him off for good. Then, when Maki passed back through the compound to collect yours and Mai’s bodies, she took the knife from Naoya’s back too. After all, she was going to need it.
The blade was a cursed tool from the Zenin clan’s inventory, and before Maki could go head first into the culling games, there was one other thing she needed to do with that knife. It was designed to be a weapon that could threaten but never harm, and granted its user the ability to cut doors into the air around them to escape conflict and keep themselves from harm.
The fact that it was used to take a life, however? It corrupted the energy poured into the tool, breaking it away from its intended use, and tainting the object, as if its own will was ignored and forced in a new direction. And it wasn’t just any cursed energy, but Zenin energy, with such a strong potency and determination that to drive it away from its purpose was to permanently corrupt the tool, and alter its use.
So, in Maki’s hand, not only turned from its purpose but also held in the hand of a non-sorcerer despite singing with Zenin blood, the blade’s fate was sealed, because not only was she not a sorcerer, but a woman with no cursed energy at all. From a tool used to cut through space to create passage for its maker and those who came after, tainted with the death of one of the members of that very blood line, to a tool able to be used to change the course of fate.
A knife that can cut into the fabric of reality itself to make a door, tainted by death it never should’ve seen. What would its ability possibly turn into?
Naturally, a door to the underworld.
Because there was no chance that she was carrying life on without you.
The fact that her ledger was filled with red, her hands forever stained with the crimes she’d committed against those who were supposed to be her own, was of no concern to Maki Zenin. Why should she care for what she did to them, when they’d never once hestitated to question what it was they did to her?
Doorway opened, knife tucked safely into her pocket to ensure their safe escape, and the soul split katana in hand. You can never be sure what you’ll find in the afterlife, after all. She’d already glimpsed it once, in her goodbyes with Mai, but now what she’d see would be different. She knew that in her heart. Those final moments were a way to find peace with what was about to happen, to say a goodbye she otherwise wouldn’t have a chance to. Where she was headed now would undoubtedly be different.
Sure enough, she was right. Maki stepped through the door, and when it closed behind her and the light disappeared, leaving her standing in a room of nothing but suffocating silence and humid air, she didn’t hesitate. The only way is forward, so that was where she headed. Onwards and onwards until she had what she’d come for, because there was no future that she lived to see that didn’t have you in it.
Whatever had the misfortune of crossing Maki’s path, whether with intention to swing or simply approaching to see what was storming its way through the quiet halls of the dead. Nothing would be able to stop her from getting what she wanted, not the spirits that lingered around corners, and not any sort of guard for the doors, no creature or person or anything in between. Maki had something beyond tunnel vision, because the very strength of her heart relied on getting you home.
“You, girl.” A voice echoed from above.
“Don’t get in my way.” Maki retorted, not once taking a pause from her path to even look for where the sound had come from.
“You don’t belong here.” It said, closer now.
“Then let me get what I came here for, and I’ll leave again.”
“Take something from here? From death itself? Girl you are mad.” It laughed as it spoke, a dissonant and broken sound that on any other day might’ve sent a shiver down her spine.
“Then fool all who think they can get in my way.”
Maki turned back to come face to face with the figure that was communicating with her less than a foot away. It’s breath smelled of death as it fanned over her face, and its face was an image she couldn’t force her mind to conjour, nothing and everything at once.
“You reek of death.” It said.
“So do you.”
A pause followed. Lesser beings might’ve shrivelled down, backed up, apologised maybe. Maki didn’t falter for even a moment.
“I will see you again. Years from now, in this same spot.”
“You can tell me your name then.” They both took a step back in tandem, and Maki turned away to continue. The figure’s hand cut through the air, and a dozen creatures that thrived in the darkest parts of the underworld dissipated into ash and smoke, ceasing to block Maki’s path.
“Until we meet again, Zenin.”
The deeper she descended, the more things she encountered. Impressions of lives, ghostly creatures, things she hardly processed before her blade had sliced through flesh, and sometimes seemingly just air, but it was all the same to her. Obstacles in the way of her goal.
The moment you were close, she knew it. Since Mai’s death, Maki had changed. Her senses were more acute, her body stronger and more capable - and now, she could sense your presence in a way that she couldn’t before, and could make her way directly to you instead of having to search for you without direction. All senses were dialled towards you, with full trust in her instincts to take out anything that might be considered a threat to her, or to you.
Sure enough, by the time she was holding you in her arms, there was a circle of bodies turning gradually to ash, the scent of brimstone and death thick in the air. Repulsive, settling across both your skins, but it didn’t matter in the wake of you being there. She hardly noticed anything else when she was able to look at you.
“Hi.” You whispered, a smile slowly tugging at your lips despite the disbelief that settled in your chest. Surely, there was no way this could be Maki. There was no world in which the Zenin clan was able to cut her down, no matter what Naoya said. She’d never let herself die by his hand. But there she was in front of you, flesh and blood - real.
“We’re leaving.” Were the first words from her mouth.
“What? Maki-”
“I didn’t die. I came to get you.”
What?
Come to get you?
“Maki..” You mumbled, head slowly shaking as you attempted to process what it was she was saying. There was no chance, surely there wasn’t? She’d come to get you? She must’ve meant that she’d woken up here and come to find you, just as you’d woken up not long ago, surrounded by darkness and creeping shadows.
“I cut them down, every last one. I can’t believe I used to think they were strong. When Mai died.. something changed. I’m stronger than I used to be, and now I can take you home. I didn’t need to prove anything to them.. I showed myself I was more capable than I ever thought I could be. They’re gone, and now we don’t have to worry. I can take you home.” Maki leaned in slowly and gently pressed her forehead to yours. Your fingers trailed over her burns for the first time since she’d recovered, feeling the rough texture where there used to be smooth skin. You’d kissed this skin so many times, and now it has changed. But it was still Maki - your Maki. The girl who’d said for years that one day she’d walk away for good, better than her family, and she’d take you with her.
“They’re all gone?” You asked, lifting your eyes to meet hers. You didn’t even remember looking away.
“Every last one. The Hei, Naoya, my parents.” She confirmed, her free hand taking yours away from her scars to gently hold it. Hands that had cut down dozens of people, now cradling yours like she was scared you’d somehow shatter.
“Are you not taking Mai back too?” Still, you weren’t sure that this was real, but for now you’d reply as if it were.
“Mai and I got to say goodbye. She.. she was ready to go. She gave me her strength, and that’s how I got this far. But you? I.. I can’t do it without you. I need to know that when this is all over, you’ll be at home waiting for me. The only family I have left is Fushiguro, I can’t lose you too.” You’d not heard Maki sound so fragile since she was a little girl, still afraid of her father’s raised hand.
“You’d never lose me, Maki. I’ll be here, waiting for you.”
“No.”
Suddenly, the world was upside down. Maki had hauled you up and over her shoulder. You felt as the warmth rushed to your cheeks - you’d not realised she was strong enough to do that. Was this what she’d meant when she said that Mai had given her strength to Maki? It was incredible.
“Where are we going?”
“Out.”
She said nothing more than that, so you asked no further questions. You felt as she reached into one of her pockets to retrieve something, and then a blinding light hit your eyes, pooling around her. What the hell was that? When you looked up as you heard a screech, you saw more than a dozen of those unsettling shadows approaching at a rapid pace.
“Maki!”
“Close your eyes.”
She whipped around, and you clutched at her waist for stability as it happened. There was a faint poof of sound, almost like a cartoon, and when you opened your eyes, you watched as their ashen remains hit the ground. She’d taken them all out with just one swing of her blade.
Then, the darkness was gone, and only the light remained. The world around you shifted and returned to colour, the slight blurring of it dissipated, and left only the real world behind.
“How..”
“I hate the Zenin clan. How could they have something capable of that just locked away?” She grunted, gently lowering you to the ground in front of her. She’d really done it. She’d saved you, even after you’d died, in a way that had never been done before, in all of history. At least, as far as you knew.
When you surged forward, it was the first time you’d ever caught her off guard. Your lips met hers and it was clumsy, unpracticed, but it was perfect. There was nothing that could’ve possibly matched the thrill of finally kissing her, even if the walls were coated in blood, and you knew around the area somewhere was piles of dead bodies, the people who had hurt and controlled the both of you for your entire lives.
“Take me home.” You whispered. You carried Mai’s body from the compound carefully together, and headed to somewhere Maki knew was safe. She had to chase just a few loose ends, and you waited at home for her to return. She’d come back to you - she always did. She’d proven that in a way nobody else ever could hope to match.