Till the End

Authors note

Hi everyone, thank you for checking out my fanfic and hopefully I can get you hooked on it. LOL...the reason for writing this fanfic is because I didn't really get a closure for the love triangle. Xiao Yao never really got to choose or make it clear on who he wants in the end because they both died, so that kinda bugged me, although I do know who he loves. I do really like both girls but when it comes to who to be with Xiao Yao I really like Ling'er to be with him because they were meant to be, according to the series. So warning to Xiao Yao and Yue Ru fans that there won't be much romance between them, but I’ll try to be fair to her to some extent because love isn't really fair. I do hope Yue Ru's fans will enjoy this fanfic also.

Veevee

Prologue

This is the prologue which takes place right at the end of the series. I hope that didn't confuse anyone.

Xiao Yao walks endless toward nowhere. Does it even matter now, where he ends up? He had lost everything and everyone... well almost everyone... He looks down at the little baby girl in his arm. The oval shaped face, and the pink lips and her ivory skin only brings him more pain. When would the ache in his heart ease? If it wasn't for this child he would not have had the courage to survive all alone in this world, but now he can barely bring himself to look at little Yi Ru. Her name brings back the face of that 'Evil Woman', the one that had loved him, sacrificed for him, and always by his side. Yi Ru's face only hurts him more, because all he sees is that innocent girl he had met on the Divine Spirit Island... the one he loves, the one he protected, the one he cried for, the one he would die for, but she was the same one he had lost. Ling'er dying in his arm had felt no heavier than this little baby that he is carrying.

Step by step, where is he now? Step by step, why does everything seem so different? Step by step, no more familiar faces. Step by step, no more annoying girl following him. Step by step, no more proper and well-mannered disciple. Step by step, no more... tapping of the nose.... His eyes tear up and he could barely make out where he was going, for the tears are pouring freely now.

Suddenly he sees a figure from a far. He walked on not really caring. But as his visions recover the figure was too familiar to him.

"# 7..." he whispered then quickly ran over to him. He didn't even wonder why Jin Yuen was alive, he just wanted to see a familiar face. Closer and closer he gets to the figure and there stood Jin Yuen smiling calmly and staring at Xiao Yao's running figure. Xiao Yao stops right in from of Jin Yuen and stood there to take in this vision of his friend. A second later he wraps his arms around his best friend and disciple but he felt nothing. He looks at Jin Yuen but somehow he can see through him. Jin Yuen smiles meekly at him.

"Xiao Yao shi fu, I really don't have much time, but it saddens me to see you so sad. Please don't be like that, everyone will not want to see you to become like this. Death will come sooner or later, we've just took this step a little earlier than you. But we will see you one day soon." Jin Yuen tries to comfort Xiao Yao.

"Why couldn't I have died with everyone? Maybe that way I won't be so unhappy and the heart's ache will not be so painful." Xiao Yao said.

"Xiao Yao shi fu, you will not be alone." Xiao Yao looks up at him with confused look. "All my life, the thing that I love the most, and most treasure is Yue Ru. I have used up all my energy to preserve her body." Xiao Yao jerks up with life but before he could ask what Jin Yuen meant, his disciple continues. "Her body is in the Bat Cave behind this mountain. Go there and take her home."

"How can this be? We saw her crushed under those mounts of rocks. How can she still be alive?"

"Well, she's not really alive..."

"What?"

"But she's not dead either. Although I had used my energy to save her body, her essence was dispersed into many pieces out into the world. I caught most of them in time and put it back into her body but 10 have escaped. You have to find them, and when all 10 are put back to Yue Ru's body she will come to life again. But you must do this before her body will dissolve into thin air... like me." Xiao Yao's eyes widen as he notice that Jin Yuen seem to get lighter and lighter until he can barely see him anymore. And then his disciple disperses into thin air with a last whisper to Xiao Yao. "Please take care of her, you're her only reason to live now..."

Chapter 1, Part I The end is only the beginning...of another chapter

It has been six painful years, but it isn't only Xiao Yao that thinks it is unbearable. Little Yi Ru, although still at a young age, is finding her life to be painful from the beginning. Ever since she could remember things, there has always been a woman that is more important than her to her father. She couldn't understand it. How could a woman, who's like practically dead,can hog all her father's attention like this? Xiao Yao is rarely home since the day he brought Yi Ru and Yue Ru back to his aunt's inn. Mostly he goes travel around to find Yue Ru's essence and so far he has found 8. It has taken him six years for eight of the tiny essence that he had used his life to go find. So little Yi Ru had grown up seeing her father go then come back from 6 months to a year later. He would walk into the inn, pat her on the head, then goes into the sleeping woman's room. Again and again she tries to get his attention. She would always be good and get good grades and do chores and be respectful to elders...etc. But she gets no more than a mere glance now and then. She grew jealous of that sleeping woman. It wasn't fair, nor did she understand why or where the sleeping woman came from. Sometime she had peered into her room and caught glances of her ghostly pale face but usually great auntie would shoo her away.

Xiao Yao didn't think much these days. He gets up in the morning, he goes find the essence, he goes to sleep. He knew his aunt took great care for Yi Ru, so he didn't have to worry much about the little girl. Truth is, he couldn't bring himself to look at little Yi Ru. She looks exactly like Ling'er, the little girl that he had saved along with her Lao lao ten years before he met her on Divine Spirit Island. He focused his attention nowadays on finding Yue ru's essence, and when he's home, he would sit in her room. At time he sat next to her bed, holds her hand in his and talks to her. Talks to her about life, about the queer things he finds when he goes travelling, about how the world is so vast and wonderful that she needed to keep up and wait for him to bring back all her essence. Then he would take her travelling like he had promised her. He really wanted to fulfil his promise to always travel with her, he has owed her so much already, he can't wrong her anymore.

Little Yi Ru was sitting on the ground playing with a doll her great aunt had made for her when she saw her father walk in. He had been gone for 6 months now, and here he is again, her sorrowful father. She never really knew why her father seems to always be sad... but they weren't ever close enough for her to find out.

In he walked, barely stopping to pat her lightly on the head and walks straight into Yue Ru's room. Her great aunt walks out from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron asked, "Was that your father?" Little Yi Ru nodded, so she went back into the kitchen.

Little Yi Ru walks quietly to Yue Ru's door and peers into the room. There her father sat next to the woman, putting her hand into his, his face full of sorrow, regret, caring, etc. She couldn't help but wonder about her mother. If her father cares so much for this sleeping woman, then what of her own mother? Had he loved her? Had he cared for her? Or is it little Yi Ru was a mistake with some girl he didn't even like, and all his thoughts, love, and care is just for this sleeping woman, that he can't even spare a little for his own daughter. Although Yi Ru is only six, she had a very mature mind and understood many things that kids her age wouldn't even bother to notice. Yi Ru grew jealous of her father's attention to that lady so she threw down her doll and stormed out into the street. If being good won't get him to notice her than being bad might. She didn't care if getting in trouble is the way to get some attention from her father, just as long as he acknowledges her existence. More and more she became a wild kid. Unrestraint from stealing or made fun of others, mean to younger kids, etc. More and more villagers would come to the inn to complain about Xiao Yao's daughter, but he would act like nothing happened, which made little Yi Ru more angry and out of control. Her great aunt did not know what to do, the father didn't care and the daughter is so rude and bad nowadays-even she, as the aunt, couldn't stand her. Sometime she would yell at Xiao Yao to care for his daughter a bit, it's his fault his daughter is like this now. But yelling at him was like yelling at some that's deaf.

When a neighbour came to complain about Yi Ru letting his chickens out, Xiao Yao just sat there eating his dinner like nothing had happened. Yi Ru stood there staring at her father, shaken with anger. Who is this heartless man that calls himself her father? She threw down her bowl of rice and stormed out of the inn.

"Yi Ru, child where are you going?" Her great aunt yell out to her, then to Xiao Yao, "Aren't you going to see how your daughter is?" Xiao Yao kept on eating and didn't answer for a while.

"She'll be fine. She just needs some fresh air." His aunt shook her head and gave up. She stood up, leaving her dinner and walks into her room.

Yi Ru ran and ran. She hated, hated him. How could he be so heartless to his own daughter? She passes houses, restaurants, etc. and ended up near a river. She kneeled down and tries to catch her breath. She did not know how long or far she had run, but nor did she care. She sat there looking out to the river and she thought how unfair it was and how she didn't like that sleeping woman so much. And soon her head drooped and she fell into a deep sleep, tired from her running.

The night grew deeper and deeper, and still Yi Ru did not come home. Her great aunt was now pacing the inn back and forth with Xiao Yao sitting there, though looking calm, but inside he was starting to get worry. His aunt turns to him yelling about how he could be so calm when his daughter was missing, and on and on she went on yelling at him, but stopped abruptly as he gets up and walks out of the inn, saying he's going to find her. Xiao Yao's heart was racing now, the longer he looked and with out finding Yi Ru the more he began to realize how important his daughter was to him. He can't lose her, he would kill himself if anything happens to her. His worry turns to panic when dawn began to seep through the sky and still no sign of his little Yi Ru.

Chapter 1 Part II

Yi Ru holds herself in her sleep but began to wake up when she could not find warmth. She wonders why she is so cold and where is her blanket? and why does her body ache so much? Opening her eyes suddenly she realizes where she is, or at least that she is not at home. She remembers now, running away from her father and just running and running. But where is she now? Nothing seems familiar, which makes her start to panic. She runs around the forest searching for some familiar path, but it is like going in circles. Then she sees some woodcutters carrying their woods, so she follows them, hoping they would lead her to town. She is too scared to ask them for direction, so just follows them in secret. Luckily they did lead her to a town, but she does not recognize this place. She couldn't possibly have run that far. Yi Ru walks around to find any familiar faces but this town is much more crowded than the one she lives in and everyone seem to be on the run, so she couldn't ask anyone. She grew tired and hungry and regretted running away. At a corner she sat with her arms wrap around her knees and cries. She did not know how long she sat there crying but no one seems to notice her which made her lonelier and more lost; she cries harder.

Then there is this wonderful fragrance that makes her stop crying. She looks up to find a lady smiling down at her. All thoughts of being lost and lonely vanish at the sight of this lady. Yi Ru could not believe someone could be so beautiful, or gives off such a fragrance. As she stares at the lady in awe, the lady bends down to her level.

"What's wrong?" The lady asks warmly as she wipes Yi Ru's tears with her sleeve. Yi Ru couldn't speak, she just stares at her. "Are you lost little girl?" Yi Ru nods. "Don't worry, your family will find you soon." Yi Ru nods again, her little mouth still gaping at the lady. The lady turns to her maid then turns back to Yi Ru giving her a big piece of candy.

"For you," She said, and Yi Ru whispers a light thank you and continues to stare at her. The lady pats her on the head, "You can thank me by promising me that you'll never cry, ok?" Yi Ru nods. "No matter what happens, remember not to cry." She smiles then gets up, but turns back to Yi Ru and whispers in her ears. "Oh yes, and remember don't tell anyone you have seen me ok? Or I'll be in big trouble." She gives her a wink and smiles. Yi Ru returns her smile.

"It'll be our little secret." Then the lady taps Yi Ru's nose lightly and leaves. Yi Ru smiles and looks at the lady walking away but then she notices her father from a far and quickly hides the candy in her pocket. Xiao Yao runs up to her and grabs her into his arms.

"I'm sorry, Yi Ru. I'm sorry for everything. I've been a bad father..." He pulls her out to look at her then grabs her into a big hug again. Yi Ru was stunned, she has never seen her father like this, especially not to her. It seems like today have brought her many surprises; that beautiful lady then this side of her father that she never knew existed.

"Never... I will never wrong you again. I promise..." He looks at her, "Can you forgive me?" They stare at each other; Yi Ru is too shock to say anything so she wraps her little arms around his neck and gives him a tight hug. Xiao Yao closes his eyes and smiles lightly in happiness. He is just relieved to have found her safe and sound. But then he remembers something...

"Little Yi Ru, who was that you're talking to?" Xiao Yao asks in eager. He could've sworn seeing a girl talking to Yi Ru, but did he really see that girl tapping his daughter's nose? Yi Ru quickly replies she wasn't talking to anyone, that he must've mistaken someone else since this town was so crowded with people everywhere. Xiao Yao knows he couldn't have mistaken what he saw, but he did not want to push her, he was just glad that he have found her. Everything else... let's just say was a trick of his mind...

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