The End of an Era [Rin Akinyi]

Mae walked slowly back towards the Studio, with Rin's unconscious body with her... She didn't pay anyone looking at her any mind. The rain pouring down on the streets made her clothes all wet and sticky, and the streets were now slick with water. Thunder echoed far off in the distance, and it's rumble shook the streets ever so slightly. Today had been so eventful that even Mae found herself shocked somewhat. They had met up not too long ago, discussing ideals. Then they had gone to find Asha Vatishta, and not finding him, they sought angel for advice... Rin had tried to kill the Angel in her desparation... Mae had stopped her, and this lead up to the present... Where she now was holding that very same girl she had stopped in her arms, walking the streets away from the Event... It had ended on such a sudden note... But perhaps it was better for it to be postponed. In a way, Asha and Rin got what they wanted... But perhaps not in the way they had expected to get it...


After a good hour or two, Mae eventually made it to the enterance of the Studio, where she, much to her suprise, and relief, found Calvin...


// Damn it, Rin... Where are you? // Calvin looked down on his phone in frustration, as if it was the iPhone in his hand that had wronged him somehow. He had attempted to call her at least five or six times by now, all of which yielded the same result... Voice-mail. Everything was set to go. Yuki had already fixed a private jet for them to get out of here... Why did she have to vanish the day everything went to hell? It was no stretch to say that he was worried out of his mind.

Just when he was about to call again, he heard someone's footsteps splashing in the water... "Huh...? Mae?" It took him a moment to register the overflow of information sent his way. The moment he laid eyes on the unconscious girl in the red-head's arms, the phone slipped out of his hand, crashing loudly into the ground, as he rushed over to the two. "... Rin...!"


Calvin's shocked reaction was pretty much expected. Here she was, carrying one of her best friends in her arms, and Calvin was that girl's manager. If he had acted any differently, he wouldn't be a manager in the first place... Or at least, not a good one anyway. "I'll explain later... Would you *Huff* help me get her in?"

So... He noticed her. That's good. As long as they would get inside, that was all that they needed... No use in standing out here, potentially getting a cold... although, considering how long Mae had been outside in the rain, it really didn't matter too much for her...

"Well... You're in for a long one... I dunno if I can explain it all by myself but... Well..." Mae sighed deeply, some of her now completely soaked hair out of her face, looking at Calvin with a hopeless expression... "Where do I even begin...?" The day had been so eventful... Might as well start from the very beginning... "You know about personas and everything right? Well, that's a start..." She said hesitantly. "Right now, there used to be this... "Event" going on all over the island along with these alternate worlds... This event's purpose is simple, yet ever so important, as the future of humanity hinges upon this... Everyone with a form of Supernatural gift can participate in this event, dedicating themselves to one out of 8 angels, as a sort of election... Each angel has a wish which will shape the future of mankind. Rin was aligned with one of said angels. He's known as Asha... You get me so far?" Mae raised an eyebrow at Calvin.

"Trust me, this is relevant... So I met up with Rin earlier today, and she asked me a bunch of questions... Which I can only assume she meant to ask me as a sort of test to see if I was ready to see Asha... And I passed. So we went on to see him, and well..." Mae took a deep breath. "Asha was nowhere to be found. Rin got worried... More than you could possibly imagine. She got desperate, and so, we went to the Radio tower to see another Angel, who knows the conditions of all the other angels fairly well. Rin's state of mind at the time was... less than stellar. She threatened the Angel... Saying that she would kill her if she didn't tell Rin the truth... And well, Rin didn't get the answer she wanted so... She tried to assault the angel using her own powers..." And now here comes the part which Mae dreaded the most... But she had to tell him. Calvin had all the right to know what Mae did... "I'm not very proud of what I did... But it was the right thing... I stopped Rin from doing something she might regret... I'm the reason she's now unconscious... If you want someone to blame, blame me..." Tears had started rolling down Mae's cheeks. "S-Seeing her like that... I... I was scared, Calvin... But I stopped her before she could lay a hand on the angel... It hurt seeing her like that... It was for her own good, but... I still can't help feeling guilty for what I did!"

"I... suppose so... But regardless, you would be affected by this regardless of where you are... If we can't stop this, life on earth as we know it will cease to exist... So, in one way, it's perhaps a good thing you coming here. Rin can fight with us... She has done so on a couple of occassions already... And besides... She's a good friend of mine. I'm so glad I met her..." Mae looked down on the girl lying on the sofa. She looked so peaceful there...

"Will do. I'll keep her safe. Just... don't mention to her parents what I did... okay?" The last thing she needed right now was getting involved in some family drama... Right now, she had to keep a good look on her friend.

"Oh thank god, you're alright!" Mae said, embracing her friend tightly. "You attacked Angel... I chose to stop you before you did something you might end up regretting... 'I only kill out of mercy' remember? I know that Asha means a lot to you... but Angel did nothing wrong... Rin... What happened to Asha... I know what it is... The event is over. It's been postponed indefinetely due to the current events with the Primordials. The Mother, who created the angels... made the wise decision to call it off until we have dealt with the current threat, as right now, an event like that would only be a source of distraction from the main goal... Saving the world... But don't worry... Asha's completely safe." Mae would then look into Rin's eyes... "I'm sorry I knocked you out cold..."

"Yeah... I'm afraid that's the case... But in the end... didn't you get what you wanted? Pushing back the event?" Mae asked, tilting her head to the left slightly with a worried look on her face... In a way, this was what she had wanted, no? Humanity wasn't ready to face the Primordials and deal with the Event at once... The Mother had seen that, and decided to call it off until the threat was dealt with... Now, what that actually entailed for the angels, Mae had no idea... Perhaps they would return one day, when humanity was ready to make a decision... Until then, they would just have to keep on trying their best to improve upon themselves...

"Rin... You're not weak... Had you been weak, Asha would never have accepted you in the first place... You were at least brave enough to take a stand, and fight... And make a decision which I couldn't... Look at me, Rin... When I stood in front of Angel for the first time... I couldn't muster up the strength of will to join her... Even though Jack, Quinn and Nagisa did so without a second thought... And you managed to find your own angel to bond with... I didn't..." She would embrace her friend, wiping the tears rolling down Rin's cheeks.

"Although... No-one should really be in that seat either... Not alone, at least. Regardless of strength, or wisdom, one person can not guide humanity on the right path... That's just not possible... So stop blaming yourself for being weak... I know, it hurts standing by, watching idly as others do everything for you... I've been wanting to help fight Thesis and Ananke as much as anyone else... But... When it comes down to it... Perhaps I was scared of them... Thesis almost killed Ayane back on Malstu when it's alternate world was corrupted... I swore to take down Thesis with my own hands, as an act of revenge... But now, I see things in a different way. Taking down Thesis and Ananke should not be something one does alone, because everyone has something on the line here, and they have an equal right to fight for their beliefs... At least... That's what I feel." She sighed deeply before continuing on, with a wry smile on her face. "Sometimes I wonder why I'm fighting in the first place... But then the first thing that comes to mind... Is my friends... Sharaku, my family... I'm fighting for them... I'm fighting for your sake as well... So, I'm not giving up just yet, and neither should you. If you give in to despair now, they are already lost... It's in times like these where you have to stay strong. Fight for Calvin, Mallory and heck, even your own parents. You have an amazing gift, Rin... Don't waste it..."

"I understand your frustration over that... Not getting some form of closure between you and Ananke... But there's no use in beating yourself up over it... What's past is past, and as harsh as it may sound, it's nothing we can change... All we can do is look forward, with our heads held high, and try to change the future for the better." Poor Rin... She was so devastated by all of this... "I won't leave your side... Remember? We're friends... We stick up for eachother, even when things look bad... Your actions today may have been foolish and reckless, but... at least now, we learned a couple of things... We're the only ones on this island that knows the Event has been postponed indefinetely..." At least that gave them some sort of purpose... "Once this is all over... I'll stay here, on the island, dedicating myself to prepare the Azorean people for the next Event... Because I feel that this is far from over..." Jack was probably off with the others by now, fighting Thesis or something... whatever was causing this strange weather... Hopefully he didn't do anything too risky, but knowing him... Ugh...

"Rin... Just because you couldn't support him doesn't mean that it's too late... I dunno about you, but... If you feel this weak and miserable... Then I suggest doing something about it. This isn't over yet, I'm sure of it..." Mae looked at Rin with a determined look on her face. She wasn't going to let her friend be like this... It hurt to see the normally cheerful and proud DJ Mae had met all these weeks ago be this tormented by her own actions...

"Stop saying that!" Mae resisted the urge to give Rin a big slap right accross the face. "You're not worthless and weak! You're my friend, damn it! There's no use in tormenting yourself over something like this. It doesn't help anyone, Rin! Least of all, Asha. You can still change for the better!" Mae frowned at her friend, her tone slightly raised. Not a full on scream, but it was definetely louder than normal.

"Rin... I'm still here with you... If you need a new reason to keep fighting... I'll help you find one... That's what friends do... You can still get stronger. There's still time..." Not much of it, but nevertheless, they still had time to do things...


She couldn't hold it back anymore. Mae slapped Rin pretty hard. Her eyes were furious. Why could she not understand? Did she really want to be this miserable? Of course not! And Mae wasn't going to let her friend keep hurting herself like this anymore. "Are you even listening to yourself!? YOU'RE NOT WORTHLESS! YOU'RE NOT WEAK! We all make mistakes! It's called being human! You can't sit here and blame yourself forever!" Tears rolled down her cheeks now, and her voice started shaking. "Please... Don't you understand that you're important to me?" She didn't even care that Rin was leaving after all this... That was her choice in the end. But Mae couldn't just let her leave... Not like this anyway... If anything, She wanted Rin to leave Azores with a smile and fond memories with her... Not this self-loathing Rin that sat in front of her now...

"I suppose so... But there's always something good coming in the end... At least, that's what I think..." Mae sighed deeply. At least the slap had worked... sort of. She stopped crying at least, so that's something positive... "Sorry I slapped you like that..." Mae looked down on her lap...

"Well... If you don't have a purpose now... You should look for another one then... You can't live like this..." Mae laid her hand on Rin's shoulder... "I'm sure you'll find one eventually." With or without Mae's help... Purpose wasn't easy to find... but if anyone could do it, Rin could... Mae had to believe in her...

"I suppose that's true... But they had no friends who were willing to back them up... They ruled with Fear... Not compassion and care... If no-one cares about you, do you care about others then? No... You're different from all the tyrants. I can see that. So, don't compare yourself to them, please." Oh, poor girl... She needed to go through this eventually. And Mae was going to help her through this ordeal. "You're far from alone..."

"All I want is you to be happy... Is that so wrong?" Mae sighed, looking deeply into Rin's eyes. "Well... It takes more strength to return... If you need help with it... You know where I am." And that was that. She wouldn't let Rin face this on her own... Not in her current state of mind.


Mae looked at Rin with complete and utter disbelief. Did she just say she didn't want to live anymore? "Rin... Please... don't ever think about taking your own life..." Mae clenched her fists tightly. She was shaking visibly... Rin was someone she couldn't possibly afford to lose... Honestly, Mae didn't listen to the rest of what Rin said... She was just so... shocked that Rin would consider suicide as a viable option. "...I won't let you..."

"Alright... As long as you come out okay..." That was now Mae's goal... To see Rin smiling genuinely at the end of all this... She made herself a promise to make sure that happened... No matter what.


And with that, she pulled Rin into a tight, almost motherly embrace, that she wouldn't let Rin squirm her way out of... "I'm here for you... Always..."

"Rest well, okay?" Mae said faintly, as her friend fell asleep on the couch. She had earned her rest. After all, today had been an exceptionally long, and exhausting day for Rin... Mae stood up, looking around for something like a blanket to cover Rin with... Naturally, there wasn't anything, really, so... Mae's jacket had to suffice. It was still a little wet from the rain, but it should do nicely... After that, the girl sat down next to her friend, keeping a watchful eye over Rin until Calvin returned... Oh, how relieved she felt that Rin was now safe... Hopefully things would go better for her and Calvin... She had to get ready for the future herself... "..." Mae was tired as well... Her vision started getting blurry, and before she knew it, the girl had fallen asleep on the couch...