Shadow Trainer Ash
20th May 2003, 07:16 PM
Well... here's a Kingdom Hearts fic I wrote up. Nothing special but... yeah
Summary: "I want to live. in a world where I'll have no other names except the one I was given." AU. Two worlds exist in one, a world for each child whom exists by the darkness. Four very different individuals begin their journey to find a Utopia of forever lasting light, falling into each other's care along the way. Riku/Sora Cloud/Squall
Author's Note: This fic has some reference to Japanese mythology, though it has nothing really to do with it in general. I mostly just took some names. ^^; Besides, I've done very little research on the mythology of Japan (only about a years worth), so I couldn't make it like that even if I wanted. But below I'll put down some things that may make some of the events make sense:
Ekibyogami - the god of plague
Takitsuhiko - the god of pouring rain
Haniyasuhiko - the god of earth
Amenotokotachi - heaven; one of the first five powers brought to earth's creation
Amenominakanushi - sky; one of the first five powers brought to earth's creation
Gaki - in Japanese literally meaning "bratty child." Though in Japanese mythology they were referred to as "hungry ghosts". They're kind of like vampires, as I've heard
For a brief summary of this fic, it basically centers on Riku, Cloud, Sora, and Squall trying to find a world of light rumored to be an ancient fairy tale. Riku, Cloud, and Sora are Gakis who are mutated physically. Therefore they are treated cruelly for what they are and their differences, though they are accepted by Squall (whom mainly follows because of his relation with Sora and developed feelings for Cloud) whom is a prince of a royal family in the poverty stricken city of Yokokuhen. He's also the steward to Sora (the son of the king of the city), and often protected him from the treatment he received within the palace walls. (Sora has only one working eye, and has a pretty much dead limb for a right arm) Cloud is blind for reasons I'm not going to mention here, and Riku is an orphan whom has been on his own since birth. Basically all the characters are thrown together (some quite reluctantly) to commence down the true road of their lives, striving to know what they'll find at the end. I'm actually quite excited about my idea, and am very proud of what I've accomplished with this fic so far. One main character WILL die near the end, although. But since I'm evil, I'm not going to mention who. ^_^ ::evil grin:: Just beware that this fic contains SHOUNEN-AI and some hints of yaoi, and if you don't know what that is, probably shouldn't read this fic. It's not serious though, I promise. This story isn't going to go above a PG-13 rating.
Look to the Sky
by satoshi
chapter one - pythagorean theorem
The Death Messenger was beautiful. Despite his wicked name, the angelic looks that surpassed his body clearly shone to the world like a gold and black angel, baring extensive leathery wings that bled from his spine and exposed his vampirism character. Though lacking grace due to the cigarette that rested limply in his teeth, he seemed quite languid and content in his position, slouching over the bench and pressing the frame of his boots to the cordon. When the train quivered, the soles of his feet would droop just a bit and slaver down the cubicle until they eventually reached the bottom, relaxing at the turf with a thud. To others aboard the train, he was gorgeously corrupted. They pointed at him, and easily did the man shake his shoulders and laugh. Looks meant nothing to him, and as far as he was concerned, people were erased doodles upon black paper. Voices was the only form of distinguished judgment, and according to the thick ebony glasses which lied limply at his nose, his pupils had gone blurry long ago. Like death he was blind.
A lustrous golden charm hung flaccidly at his neck and coiled uneasily at the chest, taking the form of a gorgeous seraph with folded wings, carved flawlessly. Clasped together, the hook on the edges told that it was indeed a locket, but by the stainless facade of the surface, could be implicated that it had never been opened. A faded inscription scrawled in the corner and kept hidden in the back, where no one but he could gain access. It was like a hidden message, a letter given by a sentinel, a sentinel that protected him from the darkness.
Prodding him persistently with the broken dowel shaft, Riku sighed restlessly and crouched in the man's shadow, remaining silent as he watched the embers die away into the ashes. He had been on this road for as long as he could remember, a road to the "promised land", where he could live in unity with others. He didn't even remember when he had commenced on this journey, only that he had always been there, taking the path leading down the endless road. No matter how far he walked, it kept growing, wringing further and further until it surpassed the world. It was endless. He didn't even remember when he had met the ****sukai "Death Messenger" Cloud either; only that he had been besides him for about a year or so, not believing in Riku's journey but going along anyway. He was rather distant though sarcastic, but by the ice that shone in his cerulean eyes, one could tell that at one point in his life he had been broken awfully; a moment in his life that would leave a permanent scar. Bearing bat wings and a streak of causing terrible calamities wherever he walked, an Ekibyogami, his horrid nickname stuck to him; though it seemed to cause him no discord. Then again, Cloud was more of a listener than a talker when it came to emotions, and silence consumed him when he begun to feel ill. To Riku, it seemed as if Cloud were almost impervious to feelings, though he couldn't comprehend of how anyone could bear to live like that. Without going insane, that is. But yet he felt somewhat attached to the blonde and suffered strong emotions for him. He liked—no, loved Cloud… but yet all his actions said otherwise. And sadly, there seemed as if there was nothing he could do about it.
In his mind, it seemed as if he wasn't allowed to get along with others.
Wavering at the touch of the rod, the ****sukai wagged his shoulders and rolled to his side, kicking his foot until he felt Riku's body compress against his own. The cerulean bulbs of his eyes burst open, and a tiny smile tugged at his lips. "Riku, what are you doing here?"
Shrugging, the hoary locks of the teen recoiled at his skull, prying his thumb across the slick surface of the dowel. Tan and lustrous, it appeared to be made out of bone and scraps of metal, blazing to the scorching horizon and beaming out his faint reflection in the sheen. According to the pastel shape of his face in the rod, his forehead was too big and his eyes too narrow. But such was the price of attempting to gain access to his reflection. But, he thought solemnly, I have a right to know what others see when they look at me.
Of course Riku knew better. He, quite honestly, grasped what people saw of him quite clearly. In legends Gakis were vampire phantoms bent on hunger and destruction; feeding on whatever their souls took element of. And, as Gaki himself, one of the Haniyasuhiko constituent, the boy felt forlorn and attached to being like everyone else in the world; striving on living a normal life where he was accepted as another being instead of a monster. Like in the orphanage before the signs began to show and the hourglass was embossed on his neck. The hourglass that showed how much longer he had to live. That's why the cloak he wore… was so vast and languid. "I came to tell you that we're docking soon. Thor Station is only a mile away." The rod slid between his knees and casually he tossed it like a grandfather clock. "We're coming into quite a large town."
Cloud's hands moved almost mindlessly across Riku's lap until his fingers handled the seize of the rod, bringing it to the earth of the train and heaving his body into the atmosphere. He looked almost ghastly under the glasses, and as he tumbled shoddily through the hall, compressed his spine to the transom breathing heavily. Eyes frozen on his figure, Riku stared a moment before Cloud beckoned his hand, grinning dimly. Casually he removed the cigarette from his lip and squashed it callously beneath his boot, stomping in all directions until only a stick of ash resided on the oak wood, faintly gleaming, bleeding till death. "I'm okay. Just a bit tired."
Riku took a deep breath, staring at his friend bleakly and drenched in somewhat doubt. Cloud got tired easily, and no matter how much the boy would try to make him lower his actions, the man was too stubborn to take back his usual antics, which usually ended in a rabid bicker between the two.
Leisurely Riku's eyebrow inclined, and abruptly did the train begin to roar, belching smog and decreasing in speed. The earth beneath his feet quivered and waved against the tracks, and gradually the wheels skid to an unexpected stop, whimpering like a trodden wolf and whistling with age and ache. At this Cloud's grin grew wider, and his arms spread with his crass voice, wobbly jumping to his feet until his position relaxed and formed an arrogant pose in which Riku noted as Cloud's way of acting "high and mighty." Sometimes he figured that Cloud was full of more egotistical thoughts than he was worth, standing there headstrong as his wings outstretched from his spine. "Alright! So, you ready to hit the road again?"
Shaking his head, Riku stared at the blonde tactlessly, waving his shoulders as his neck strained. Cloud never knew when to give up, even if both of their feet were glued to the ground in their fatigue. He was a determined soul of both destruction and rebirth, and whenever his mind was put to something, it remained knotted in chains. "But Cloud. Shouldn't we try to find a place to rest?" Cloud leveled his shaft and probed it into Riku's chest, prying it up his cape before shaking his head sourly, his incisors piercing his upper lip. Then, removing his glasses, the ****sukai looped the rims around his throat before staring at his comrade blankly, eyes somewhat astonished. Never before had he seen Riku let down a source of voyage, and it surprised him of how quickly he had done it. Headstrong and arrogant, Riku on no account put something into inoperative dealings, too pompous in himself to back down on anything. "Huh? Are you joshing me or something?"
Sighing, Riku adjusted his mantle and frivolously tossed it behind his shoulder, buckling the clasp and fastening it till the cloth turned taut. Like dove wings it fluttered, gracefully adjourning at his backside and waiting till the next time it would take to the skies. Riku always knew it was best not to mess with Cloud when he began to get sassy and impudent, especially if he was planning something up his sleeve, keeping it hidden within his eyes. Sometimes Riku would assume that he was more developed than he was, even if Cloud had suffered additional steps up the ladder through the arduous courses of life. "No, no of course not."
"Then stop babbling like a mindless idiot and let's get goin', alright?"
Baring his fangs, Riku growled deeply beneath his throat and reluctantly followed the ****sukai, lugging his eyes to the top of his head as sleep swelled within. His feet and ankles engorged frailly, and as he pushed through the hungry crowd in aggravation, felt quite evident of how Cloud was an Ekibyogami. With that retarded stick of his, he could just easily whack whoever got in his way, without the provocation of trying not to loose body parts. And truthfully, all Riku could do was thank the lord that Cloud didn't wield a sword.
"You take advantage of everything too easily." Riku probed his skull with his fingertips as he seized the rim of Cloud's cape, wrenching the man to the side as the train begun to disembark. The steps were old and grimy, slippery and caked in mud. Groaning in annoyance, the Haniyasuhiko heaved his friend down the staircase and pulled him loose, snarling beneath his throat.
"Cloud, you're such a dumbass, you know that?"
Grinning, the ****sukai laughed. "Quite clearly, yes."
The fatigue sensation swelled within Riku's eyes only completed the rank of his irritation. "I'm leaving at that. You get on in the city by yourself for a night, and I'll come get you in the morning. You'll see how much you take me for granted."
Astounded, Cloud's arms rested, shock residing in his eyes. "Huh? What are you talking about?" Cleaving his fingers through the honey strands of his bangs, he continued. "Are you trying to tell me that I can't get along by myself?" When Riku lingered upon his silence, the ****sukai's eyes narrowed, steam converting his face. "What, you think I was doing nothing before you came along, then? I was actually getting along quite well by myself. I'm a lone wolf by nature."
Hurling his cape over his shoulder and buckling it at the neck, Riku took one last look at him before traversing upon the grounds of the city in a huff, feeling granted of getting him off his shoulders. "Then I guess you'll be howling to the moon alone tonight, because you wont be seeing me till morning." His eyes nicked the sharp sheens, which crept from the midst of his cold pupils. "If I find you, that is. Besides, this journey was supposed to be mine. It has nothing to do with you."
As Riku continued on, a small figure locked onto them from behind the crevices of the cordon, his cerulean eyes batting at the sight. He could see the charm the man with the wings wore, and a once his chest flopped into ice. It suddenly hit him that he would do anything to get that talisman, and eyes narrowing, disappeared into shadows.
"And I-" Looking up from his position, Riku felt his chest run cold. Remorse overwhelmed him. Looking ahead, the silver teen stared into a gaping fissure of traversing faces, not one of which he recognized. Cloud had gone.
-+-
Closing his only eye, Sora quivered and coated his arms in his hands; regret foaming through his entrails and bubbling promptly in his mouth. His right arm lied drenched in a heavy crimson cloth, and lifelessly did it limp at his side, never budging from the spot in which it dangled. His right arm was comatose, and forever was it obscured from life.
"Father is going to kill me." His soft cerulean eye grew shallow and leisurely did his fingers probe the bandages that caked the left surface of his face, moaning crossly at the ache that seared from his fingertips. For as long as he could remember he had looked like this, born buckled in noticeable parts and hidden away from the world. Even as the prince of the Ningen Shakai of the foreign islands, he was distorted and known as a "Kuzusukeiki-gaki", which, to Sora's displeasure, gave him even more of a motive to mourn solemnly to himself every night abandoned, forlorn under the bed sheets. What was the use of being a prince, someone of royalty, when you couldn't even take your place? Let alone make friends?
Tearing a claw through the mahogany locks of his skull, the youth shook his head mentally and strained his neck, elapsing his fingers through the tiny barbs that faintly bud from his jaw. He sure hoped that it was a beard that was growing there, not just some sort of rash; but with such small whiskers, it was hard to tell if he wasn't just growing fur and fooling himself. Besides, who knew if he were adopted or not? For all he knew, he could've easily been switched at birth, in actuality belonging to some poor merchant in the east instead of the royal family of the Lords. Of course anything was possible, as he would often murmur. Especially since he didn't possess the raven hair which customarily flowed in his family's bloodline, and bore blue eyes of the sky instead of the traditional bleak gray of the earth; such where his name originated. Besides… no one else of his family had turned out deformed.
Frowning, the boy slumped to his knees and buried his face in his hands, staring at the corner where the picture of his mother had once relaxed; standing on the ancient oak desk. Accidentally had he broken the desk and shattered the picture when trying to reach the upper cupboards, splintering apart his only memory of his deceased mother. Devastated did he caress the dejected pieces of glass in his fingers, whimpering and trembling all the same. His mother had been the only one in his family who had ever truly cared for him.
"Sora? Are you in there?"
Instantaneously Sora's head burst up, his eyes maturing at the resonance of his father's deep and vigorous voice. His knuckles pounded amidst the steel barricade of the castle dorm, and soon after the door let out liberty with a thud, tossed aside effortlessly. Sora's father was an elevated, sturdy black-haired man with hard steel eyes. Even from afar he looked like an emperor, alluring to the public and strong in the arms; everything Sora wished he could be. But as Sora's shoulders sagged, his limp arm cascading insensibly, he realized how scrawny he really was. His figure and disability wasn't even well enough to become a serf in the backfields of the manors.
"Father." Sora bowed honorably to his father and plunged to his knees, stooping into his guardian's shadow. Sweat bled in beads across his body, and the heart breathing in his chest throbbed tirelessly. If only his father didn't-
"You stupid boy!" The encrusted coat of Sora's face began to pulse in agony as his father's hand socked him in the jaw, transferring his chin to the tile of the floor. His teeth snapped together, and a stream of blood dripped leisurely from his cheek. Faintly he could feel his arm twist in a bizarre angle, warped behind his back and pulled at the socket. Badly did he want to start howling to the world and understand why it enjoyed tossing him about, cry to his father and comprehend his actions towards his only son. but everything seemed so far away now, and only weakly could he pull himself up.
"You already killed her." His father's voice quarreled, his breathing growing low and thin. "And now you go and destroy even more evidence of her existence. What are you trying to do to me, boy?"
Eyes burning, Sora choked into sobs, callously coughing back his cries. Beckoning his eye, his face began to set ablaze to the tears that slavered his jaw. Soon after he had been born was when his mother had passed into the grave, and forever had his father left the blame on him. Sora himself was known as a bad omen, and nothing was there to wash it away. It was all his fault.
-+-
The town of Yokokuhen reeked of fog, a faint haze layering upon the city. Like a ghost town people walked, cold like stone and coated in ice. But to Squall, all was customary as expected, and as he skipped the cobblestones of the path whistling, his shirt unbuttoned and flapping at his sides, everything seemed good and anticipated. For a noble the streets of the commoners were no different than the drifting halls of the manors, besides the fact that the realms of the serfs were far more shoddy, caked in grunge and no where near the style he was accustomed to. He also noticed that the outside world was much brighter, a world where the sun shone like the stars and wavered upon the traversing people whom fed vividly upon its rays. Though the same in many ways, the commoners and nobles lived in different worlds upon the same earth, striving to survive and endeavoring in diverse customs. Each side held their own traditions, and the more Squall thought about it, the more he pondered of which life was better lived. They say the wisest men experience both deficiency and aristocracy before they fade from the living world.
Observers watched as he passed and gradually he replied with a beckoning gesture and smile. Dashing across the streets, he sensed the asphalt pulling at the soles of his boots callously and endeavoring to maintain him to the earth, becoming attached to his presence. He knew he looked odd, a rich folk prancing down the common streets; dressed in the elegant clothes of the royal family with an apple wedged in his teeth. But as he always thought, looks really meant nothing and it all depended of how you saw yourself, which was what created your true reflection.
Breaking into hiatus, Squall's teeth burrowed into the flesh of the apple, savoring the sugared juice of the fruit as it slavered down his jaw. Though misty, it sure was a beautiful day-showered in blue skies and spacious ashen clouds, not one tainted in age or blistered with the hatred of rain.
Grinning, Squall gnawed again into the apple, ambling forward until a certain face caught his eye. Inclining an eyebrow, the prince tossed the apple behind his shoulder and watched it stagger across the street, converted into the grungy substances of the earth. Leisurely the face turned towards the noise, his aloof sapphire eyes gleaming broadly to the opening sunlight. To the golden locks that drooled erratically from his skull, his pupils appeared almost emerald; clear and untouched.
"Did. you just drop something?" Shrugging, Squall tossed his mahogany hair and beamed, catching up with the stranger's pace as his fingers jabbed abrasively into the back pockets of his khakis. He was a beautiful man, and unique as well. Bearing two extensive ebony wings, his unique attire told Squall that he was indeed from somewhere far away, a place remotely hidden from capital walls. But as they continued to amble on, it soon occurred to him that not once during their conversation had the stranger looked at him. It was rather odd talking to someone when they didn't make eye contact, but Squall figured that it was just his way of doing things and mentioned nothing of it. Besides, it was none of his business anyway. "Are you from this part of town?"
"No. I'm just visiting." Pulling a strand of golden hair between his fingers, he leisurely tugged it behind his ear, looking fairly remorseful. His eyes seemed to wander off a bit, but soon wandered back to the earth; obscured by his eyelids and empty stare. Languidly he slouched, and in Squall's eyes his posture was horrid, a look of a commoner. It suddenly dawned upon him that a commoner was indeed what this man was, and it appeared bizarre to Squall of why such a normal face ceased to stick out like it did. "I think so, anyway."
"You think? Wouldn't you know?"
Cramming his hands into the cleaved pockets of his cloak, the blonde said nothing more and stared into the sky impassively. The lustrous chain at his neck dangled lifelessly, and brilliantly did it linger with the light. The very sheen of the object caught the prince's eye. Squall squinted and tried to gain access to the words scrawled near the locket's clasp, but gave up when he perceived it as another language; one of a diverse civilization in which he couldn't comprehend. All he could assume was that this outsider was indeed from another continent, not baring any similarities of the assorted cosmopolitan of commoners grazing the Yokokuhen streets.
"That's a nice necklace you got there. Your girlfriend give it to you?" Silence pulsed between them and the shoulders of the stranger seemed to waver, drooping low to the level of his spine. He seemed to be reflecting his thoughts leisurely, and when Squall's hand grew adjacent to the charm, curiosity stitched through his fingers, the stranger's eyes narrowed sharply and shed a composed warning growl. Ice encrusted his pupils and immediately his eyes grew cold. Looking up, Squall's chest lunged remorsefully and quickly he beckoned away, sighing as he shrugged heedlessly. Even if he didn't understand why, Squall implicated that the necklace was indeed something important to him.
"Sorry. I'm quite curious by nature, so don't mind my ignorance." Brushing the coffee locks from his cerulean eyes, Squall strained his collar and leisurely held out his hand. "Name's Squall. And you are…?"
The blue eyes stared back at him blankly, and silently his voice countered, the tension in his body unwinding. "…Cloud."
"Cloud, eh? Well that proves it then."
Inclining an eyebrow, Cloud stopped in his tracks and turned where Squall's voice was produced. Aggravation was inscribed through his eyes, and as his fingers begun to wring the stiff glasses encircling his neck, illustrated it evidently to Squall. "Proves what, may I ask?"
"That you're not from around here."
A long, meditative silence scorched between them and leisurely did Cloud's eyes compose with frustration, shaking his head as Squall whistled a snicker of mirth. "You're quite the jokester, aren't you?"
Grinning firmly, Squall entwined his arm to his chest. "Best in my class."
"I bet you are." Cloud embraced his wings to his spine and began to dissociate from the conversation, trudging almost mindlessly and practically tripping over his own boots while he ambled on. Staring after him, Squall gazed at his outstretched hand and shrugged, stabbing his fists into his khakis as he took off after him.
"So where are you from, anyway?"
Cloud's eyes grew tender and vividly they detained a pastel sheen. Even if he was barely inquired such a question, it still disturbed the man of why a stranger he'd most likely never see again was posing it in such gravity. But all in all, it scared him above all else. "...Around."
"No really. Where are you from?"
Steam wheezed from Cloud's ears and instantaneously he felt the anger surpassing him. Even though this "Squall" was most likely naïve of his history lineage, it was painful that such memories were being brought up in a so-called "formal conversation". Breaking into a sudden stop, the blonde looked obviously irritated and at once turned Squall's opposite way, hatred bared in his eyes. "Look! If I—"
Tapping him lightly on the shoulder, Squall stared in concern as the man bowed around in wrath.
"Cloud. I think you were meaning to talk to me, not the wall."
Eyes blaring, the ****sukai seemed to gleam with darkness, his face twisting into an unceremonious rage that ripped his fists apart. "Just leave me alone, you jackass! Just who do you think you are, coming up to me with such personal inquiries!" Instantaneously he began to take egress, gripping his shaft in his knuckles and breathing through thick air. His heart in his chest was burning with fire, and no matter how solid his eyelids pressed to his skull, the pain never ceased to pursue. Every time he overdid himself.
Darkness buried into darkness as he shut his eyes.
-+-
"I guess that's understandable." Squall stared across the table to the blonde who distantly probed his tea basin, obviously aloof to the steward's sudden sense of exposure. His soft cerulean eyes stared off into nowhere, and often his chair creaked as he moved restlessly, oblivious to the people whom stared at him from the inn walls. "I guess I should've noticed."
Shaking his head the blonde sighed, and leaning back in his chair indolently. He knew Squall meant well, but obtaining help from such an ignorant foreigner. it was unnecessary. Besides. it was useless. Gazing at the yawning fabric of his shirt, where it had been curled up to the shoulder by Squall's hands, two pairs of wings tainted in black were visibly carved into his shoulder. Remorse swelled through his heart and almost instantly he pulled it down. "Well actually I'm quite happy you didn't. I'm treated quite rotten when I'm figured out."
"I don't quite comprehend that."
Bringing the beaker to his lips, Cloud's eyebrow inclined. "You wouldn't."
Laughing, Squall grasped the warmth of his tea and grinned, bringing his eyes to closure. "I suppose your right. I wouldn't, would I?"
Silence seemed to linger within them, and when nothing was spoken, Cloud's voice rang out through the stillness of their conversation. It conveyed through his ears and made his mind tranquil, just to know that not all of his senses were screened with gloom. "You know, I used to be in the army. Actually, for a monarchy quite like this one."
"You don't say?" Interested, Squall's fingers firmly gripped the edges of his basin, intently listening to the blonde's lexis.
"Yeah. Only it wasn't really a real monarchy. It was more like a village, a place for Gaki people. Only a king ruled it.
"This marking on my shoulder, as you probably know, is a symbol of the Gaki. There are many different clans living around and all of them have different symbols to prove their existence of being part of a group or family. My people were known as the People of the Tsubasa, though none of us besides the people in high power had actual wings.
"I was born an Ekibyogami, as I already told you, and therefore I had to hide that part of me from my people. I had green eyes, then."
Fire blazed in his eyes, and leisurely he turned to the ceiling.
"It was customary to join the army at a young age, so when I was nine I enrolled under Sephiroth—the army's general. I met… her when I was fifteen… when my right eye turned blue..."
-+-
"Cloud. I want you to protect this for me." Delicate fingers bowed at Cloud's hands as the maiden placed the ornament into his possession, flatly caressing it through his fingers. The edges probed his palms and impaled cracks in his flesh, but yet his hands enclosed it in his fingers, not caring whether or not he bled. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and never was he going to let it go. "Let it be your wings… your wings to the light and to the darkness."
The honey locks of Cloud's skull draped over his eyes, and the ebony eye patch that hung limply across the right side of his face grew taut. Only recently had that eye lost its vision, striving in the darkness. But his angel, the gorgeous maiden of the bastion was too brilliant, too vivid in gold, to reduce into nothingness. Forever she remained in his sight, his guide to the light. "You will loose your other eye soon… such is the sacrifice." Silently her emerald eyes grew tender like fawn tears, sluicing the candlelight into a peculiar, yet stunning radiance. Her very existence, the radiance that blossomed amidst her, could make anyone cry. Even the fire that danced wildly upon the candles bled its tears through the wax. An Ekibyogami-gaki was truly a creature of the darkness, shrouded and forced to take a hold of its power and worship its reality. Their very being was obscured in shadow by blinding their eyes, obliging them to take its path. But with the angel, Aerith knew the light could guide him.
"Aerith." Shaking his head, Cloud gestured her forward and allowed her to drape her arms around his neck, embracing her body into a tight kiss that only leisurely broke apart. His hands deftly flowed down her spine as her face buried into his chest, crying silent tears. "It'll be alright." Miserably she stared up at him, and weakly Cloud smiled. "It's part of my role."
"I know." Liberating from his collar, her gaze locked onto the floor, the crimson kimono she wore beaming gracefully to the candlelight of the cathedral. "I… guess I wouldn't understand." Beneath her crystalline tears, she smiled at him. "I'm just foolish. I can't even leave this church, so I guess there's much I don't understand." An Amenotokotachi was a Gaki of pure light, one whom could only live in sacred and blessed places guarded by the ancient beings of divine nature. Being removed from a church or alter of such sources could easily kill a creature of a sort, no matter what the purpose.
"Don't speak of such nonsense! There's no way in hell you could ever be considered foolish."
Tenderly Aerith's head shook, the emerald glow within her eyes growing dim. "Everyone is foolish at times, Cloud. Don't ever forget that."
-+-
Tears oozed from the lids of Cloud's eyes and metamorphosed into a pupil of crimson veins, his features blistering with red. Squall intently stared and remained silent, lost to words as he watched the weeping man.
"The wings of the angel represent my own." Gazing into nothingness his hands wringed together, catching the tears that slithered through his fingers. His voice began to crack, and his following words appeared forced and detained. "And she died… a day after that." Staring, Squall roused a strand of mahogany hair as his heart begun to submerge into the pits of his stomach. Feelings of remorse swelled within him, and ice blistered through his heart. He couldn't help but see how beautiful this man was, and how anyone could see any differently. These emotions... were feelings he had never felt before.
"I killed her." Pulling his arms around his face, the man buried into their depth and broke into a sob, screaming into the darkness. "I… I let her die."
Attachment was what was bulging through Squall's soul. He wanted to comfort Cloud… tell him it was all right. And another piece of him… wanted to do something even more. It was all too much… too much for him to handle.
But as he watched him cry, sob into the cloth of his arm, he felt useless.
If only he had his own wings to the light, he thought.
-+-
sore wa totemo hareta hi odayaka na egao ni
shiroi hana o ichirin sotto soeta
utsukushii mono wa toki ni kanashii mono
yagate kuru wakare kanjite
kuroi retsu narabezu ni hamida****e kao ageta
itsu ka mita sora o omotte
ikisaki wa dore kurai tooku tooi tokoro na no?
mou nido to wa modorenai hodo tooi tokoro na no?
aitakute aenakute semete tsutaete hoshii
saigo ni kureta namida sono subete wasurenai
Deficiency webbed its fingers everywhere in the shrouded metropolis of West Yokokuhen. Commoners grazed the lands and the Aristocrats walked high above them, displaying their shortage of impartiality. But yet the town was filthy, scorched in dust and smelling of blood, polluted until the hills reached up into the gorgeous gardens of the nobles, where the castles and manors roamed in the seas of endless grass. It was truly a city where street tactics became necessary, and as the blonde roamed the streets endlessly and watched the crumbling edifices pass him by, a sense of emptiness couldn't help but rouse in his chest. He felt frozen in this dark city, creeping among the shadows and trailing wherever the light discharged its beauty. Even though he couldn't see the things around him, it felt evident that everything was sluiced in silence, the sadness that wept invisible tears and slavered through the poverty and deceit. This feeling was enough, and as he ambled on, the honey locks that bounced off his skull caking his eyes, it continued to linger.
Squall was gone. Cloud didn't know if he had left him, or if the man had left himself due to his behavior, but at the moment it didn't seem to matter. He was only a stranger, after all.
But then. why was he thinking about him so much?
Fingering the angel ornament entwined between his fingers, Cloud weakly smiled and allowed the bony chain to suspend, watching the charm twirl and glow to the sunlight. It was like a real angel; gleaming in gold and healthiness, afraid of nothing, as it belonged to the light. It was the only thing he could see. the angel and the angel alone. Its light was bright enough to pierce through the strongest of darkness, and forever did its wings guide him. Retorting the fetter into his palm, the man dangled his thumb near the angel's clasp, pondering if it really was the time to open the locket. Curiosity sewed through his fingers as he handled the clasp, but almost immediately they recoiled. The voice. her voice was calling to him, telling him that the time hadn't come; and yet, as he released his fingers, felt somewhat redundant.
It wasn't hard to feel regret.
Cloud's chest begun to feel hard and clammy, the memories haunting his mind slowly enticing back together, forming the missing pieces which had been obscured by regret. Directly he began to once more wring the chain around his neck, only to find it gone, empty and isolated from his touch.
Fear instantaneously stabbed through his heart and spurted blood beneath his skin, warping it pale. Anger pursued like a shadow, and Cloud was thrust into a convulsion of wrath. He could faintly see it as it was being handled away into the darkness, captured by a ghost of the shadows and dragged into its realm. But no matter where the thief was heading, Cloud was resolute in following.
"Give that back you bastard!!" The bandit turned at once towards him, and what Cloud saw almost tore him apart, curling his blood and sending him panting in disbelief. Time froze around his figure and beckoned his mind to recall the memories as they swayed endlessly about him. The voices. they were mocking him. Cloud's fist tore into a deathly clench, tearing blood straight through his skin. Flames of inferno grew strong within his eyes, and beneath the dimness of his vision, saw a ghastly gray eye staring back at him.
He knew that eye.
Flashes of blood, clashing swords and a scream blazed through his mind and left the memories scarred as ashes. Revelation impaled him and immediately uncontrollable wrath sent him howling after the thief, nothing on his mind except revenge. The revenge that would set vengeance upon the eye that had murdered his love, the seraph that had given him his angel, his only chance of sight.
But before he knew it he was lying on the pavement weeping, in dirge of tears. His body convulsive, he sobbed in hysterics and lashed out at anyone who came too close, stumbling through the darkness. Never before would he be able to see again, and without the light to protect him.
He could already feel himself becoming consumed by the obscurity of the night.
By the next morning when Riku found him, his body was seen curled on a train bench howling, sweating beneath his anxiety and anger. But the boy couldn't help but notice the blood swelling down his spine, where his right wing was now mislaid.
Ever Free translation:
It was a bright day. On your peaceful face
I laid a chain of white flowers.
Beautiful things are sometimes sad things.
I sense the farewell that has been long coming.
I break out of the black line and look upwards,
thinking of the sky I once saw.
How far away will you go?
Is it so far away that you can never come back?
I want to see you but I can't; at least you could tell me.
I won't forget any of the final tears you gave me.
Summary: "I want to live. in a world where I'll have no other names except the one I was given." AU. Two worlds exist in one, a world for each child whom exists by the darkness. Four very different individuals begin their journey to find a Utopia of forever lasting light, falling into each other's care along the way. Riku/Sora Cloud/Squall
Author's Note: This fic has some reference to Japanese mythology, though it has nothing really to do with it in general. I mostly just took some names. ^^; Besides, I've done very little research on the mythology of Japan (only about a years worth), so I couldn't make it like that even if I wanted. But below I'll put down some things that may make some of the events make sense:
Ekibyogami - the god of plague
Takitsuhiko - the god of pouring rain
Haniyasuhiko - the god of earth
Amenotokotachi - heaven; one of the first five powers brought to earth's creation
Amenominakanushi - sky; one of the first five powers brought to earth's creation
Gaki - in Japanese literally meaning "bratty child." Though in Japanese mythology they were referred to as "hungry ghosts". They're kind of like vampires, as I've heard
For a brief summary of this fic, it basically centers on Riku, Cloud, Sora, and Squall trying to find a world of light rumored to be an ancient fairy tale. Riku, Cloud, and Sora are Gakis who are mutated physically. Therefore they are treated cruelly for what they are and their differences, though they are accepted by Squall (whom mainly follows because of his relation with Sora and developed feelings for Cloud) whom is a prince of a royal family in the poverty stricken city of Yokokuhen. He's also the steward to Sora (the son of the king of the city), and often protected him from the treatment he received within the palace walls. (Sora has only one working eye, and has a pretty much dead limb for a right arm) Cloud is blind for reasons I'm not going to mention here, and Riku is an orphan whom has been on his own since birth. Basically all the characters are thrown together (some quite reluctantly) to commence down the true road of their lives, striving to know what they'll find at the end. I'm actually quite excited about my idea, and am very proud of what I've accomplished with this fic so far. One main character WILL die near the end, although. But since I'm evil, I'm not going to mention who. ^_^ ::evil grin:: Just beware that this fic contains SHOUNEN-AI and some hints of yaoi, and if you don't know what that is, probably shouldn't read this fic. It's not serious though, I promise. This story isn't going to go above a PG-13 rating.
Look to the Sky
by satoshi
chapter one - pythagorean theorem
The Death Messenger was beautiful. Despite his wicked name, the angelic looks that surpassed his body clearly shone to the world like a gold and black angel, baring extensive leathery wings that bled from his spine and exposed his vampirism character. Though lacking grace due to the cigarette that rested limply in his teeth, he seemed quite languid and content in his position, slouching over the bench and pressing the frame of his boots to the cordon. When the train quivered, the soles of his feet would droop just a bit and slaver down the cubicle until they eventually reached the bottom, relaxing at the turf with a thud. To others aboard the train, he was gorgeously corrupted. They pointed at him, and easily did the man shake his shoulders and laugh. Looks meant nothing to him, and as far as he was concerned, people were erased doodles upon black paper. Voices was the only form of distinguished judgment, and according to the thick ebony glasses which lied limply at his nose, his pupils had gone blurry long ago. Like death he was blind.
A lustrous golden charm hung flaccidly at his neck and coiled uneasily at the chest, taking the form of a gorgeous seraph with folded wings, carved flawlessly. Clasped together, the hook on the edges told that it was indeed a locket, but by the stainless facade of the surface, could be implicated that it had never been opened. A faded inscription scrawled in the corner and kept hidden in the back, where no one but he could gain access. It was like a hidden message, a letter given by a sentinel, a sentinel that protected him from the darkness.
Prodding him persistently with the broken dowel shaft, Riku sighed restlessly and crouched in the man's shadow, remaining silent as he watched the embers die away into the ashes. He had been on this road for as long as he could remember, a road to the "promised land", where he could live in unity with others. He didn't even remember when he had commenced on this journey, only that he had always been there, taking the path leading down the endless road. No matter how far he walked, it kept growing, wringing further and further until it surpassed the world. It was endless. He didn't even remember when he had met the ****sukai "Death Messenger" Cloud either; only that he had been besides him for about a year or so, not believing in Riku's journey but going along anyway. He was rather distant though sarcastic, but by the ice that shone in his cerulean eyes, one could tell that at one point in his life he had been broken awfully; a moment in his life that would leave a permanent scar. Bearing bat wings and a streak of causing terrible calamities wherever he walked, an Ekibyogami, his horrid nickname stuck to him; though it seemed to cause him no discord. Then again, Cloud was more of a listener than a talker when it came to emotions, and silence consumed him when he begun to feel ill. To Riku, it seemed as if Cloud were almost impervious to feelings, though he couldn't comprehend of how anyone could bear to live like that. Without going insane, that is. But yet he felt somewhat attached to the blonde and suffered strong emotions for him. He liked—no, loved Cloud… but yet all his actions said otherwise. And sadly, there seemed as if there was nothing he could do about it.
In his mind, it seemed as if he wasn't allowed to get along with others.
Wavering at the touch of the rod, the ****sukai wagged his shoulders and rolled to his side, kicking his foot until he felt Riku's body compress against his own. The cerulean bulbs of his eyes burst open, and a tiny smile tugged at his lips. "Riku, what are you doing here?"
Shrugging, the hoary locks of the teen recoiled at his skull, prying his thumb across the slick surface of the dowel. Tan and lustrous, it appeared to be made out of bone and scraps of metal, blazing to the scorching horizon and beaming out his faint reflection in the sheen. According to the pastel shape of his face in the rod, his forehead was too big and his eyes too narrow. But such was the price of attempting to gain access to his reflection. But, he thought solemnly, I have a right to know what others see when they look at me.
Of course Riku knew better. He, quite honestly, grasped what people saw of him quite clearly. In legends Gakis were vampire phantoms bent on hunger and destruction; feeding on whatever their souls took element of. And, as Gaki himself, one of the Haniyasuhiko constituent, the boy felt forlorn and attached to being like everyone else in the world; striving on living a normal life where he was accepted as another being instead of a monster. Like in the orphanage before the signs began to show and the hourglass was embossed on his neck. The hourglass that showed how much longer he had to live. That's why the cloak he wore… was so vast and languid. "I came to tell you that we're docking soon. Thor Station is only a mile away." The rod slid between his knees and casually he tossed it like a grandfather clock. "We're coming into quite a large town."
Cloud's hands moved almost mindlessly across Riku's lap until his fingers handled the seize of the rod, bringing it to the earth of the train and heaving his body into the atmosphere. He looked almost ghastly under the glasses, and as he tumbled shoddily through the hall, compressed his spine to the transom breathing heavily. Eyes frozen on his figure, Riku stared a moment before Cloud beckoned his hand, grinning dimly. Casually he removed the cigarette from his lip and squashed it callously beneath his boot, stomping in all directions until only a stick of ash resided on the oak wood, faintly gleaming, bleeding till death. "I'm okay. Just a bit tired."
Riku took a deep breath, staring at his friend bleakly and drenched in somewhat doubt. Cloud got tired easily, and no matter how much the boy would try to make him lower his actions, the man was too stubborn to take back his usual antics, which usually ended in a rabid bicker between the two.
Leisurely Riku's eyebrow inclined, and abruptly did the train begin to roar, belching smog and decreasing in speed. The earth beneath his feet quivered and waved against the tracks, and gradually the wheels skid to an unexpected stop, whimpering like a trodden wolf and whistling with age and ache. At this Cloud's grin grew wider, and his arms spread with his crass voice, wobbly jumping to his feet until his position relaxed and formed an arrogant pose in which Riku noted as Cloud's way of acting "high and mighty." Sometimes he figured that Cloud was full of more egotistical thoughts than he was worth, standing there headstrong as his wings outstretched from his spine. "Alright! So, you ready to hit the road again?"
Shaking his head, Riku stared at the blonde tactlessly, waving his shoulders as his neck strained. Cloud never knew when to give up, even if both of their feet were glued to the ground in their fatigue. He was a determined soul of both destruction and rebirth, and whenever his mind was put to something, it remained knotted in chains. "But Cloud. Shouldn't we try to find a place to rest?" Cloud leveled his shaft and probed it into Riku's chest, prying it up his cape before shaking his head sourly, his incisors piercing his upper lip. Then, removing his glasses, the ****sukai looped the rims around his throat before staring at his comrade blankly, eyes somewhat astonished. Never before had he seen Riku let down a source of voyage, and it surprised him of how quickly he had done it. Headstrong and arrogant, Riku on no account put something into inoperative dealings, too pompous in himself to back down on anything. "Huh? Are you joshing me or something?"
Sighing, Riku adjusted his mantle and frivolously tossed it behind his shoulder, buckling the clasp and fastening it till the cloth turned taut. Like dove wings it fluttered, gracefully adjourning at his backside and waiting till the next time it would take to the skies. Riku always knew it was best not to mess with Cloud when he began to get sassy and impudent, especially if he was planning something up his sleeve, keeping it hidden within his eyes. Sometimes Riku would assume that he was more developed than he was, even if Cloud had suffered additional steps up the ladder through the arduous courses of life. "No, no of course not."
"Then stop babbling like a mindless idiot and let's get goin', alright?"
Baring his fangs, Riku growled deeply beneath his throat and reluctantly followed the ****sukai, lugging his eyes to the top of his head as sleep swelled within. His feet and ankles engorged frailly, and as he pushed through the hungry crowd in aggravation, felt quite evident of how Cloud was an Ekibyogami. With that retarded stick of his, he could just easily whack whoever got in his way, without the provocation of trying not to loose body parts. And truthfully, all Riku could do was thank the lord that Cloud didn't wield a sword.
"You take advantage of everything too easily." Riku probed his skull with his fingertips as he seized the rim of Cloud's cape, wrenching the man to the side as the train begun to disembark. The steps were old and grimy, slippery and caked in mud. Groaning in annoyance, the Haniyasuhiko heaved his friend down the staircase and pulled him loose, snarling beneath his throat.
"Cloud, you're such a dumbass, you know that?"
Grinning, the ****sukai laughed. "Quite clearly, yes."
The fatigue sensation swelled within Riku's eyes only completed the rank of his irritation. "I'm leaving at that. You get on in the city by yourself for a night, and I'll come get you in the morning. You'll see how much you take me for granted."
Astounded, Cloud's arms rested, shock residing in his eyes. "Huh? What are you talking about?" Cleaving his fingers through the honey strands of his bangs, he continued. "Are you trying to tell me that I can't get along by myself?" When Riku lingered upon his silence, the ****sukai's eyes narrowed, steam converting his face. "What, you think I was doing nothing before you came along, then? I was actually getting along quite well by myself. I'm a lone wolf by nature."
Hurling his cape over his shoulder and buckling it at the neck, Riku took one last look at him before traversing upon the grounds of the city in a huff, feeling granted of getting him off his shoulders. "Then I guess you'll be howling to the moon alone tonight, because you wont be seeing me till morning." His eyes nicked the sharp sheens, which crept from the midst of his cold pupils. "If I find you, that is. Besides, this journey was supposed to be mine. It has nothing to do with you."
As Riku continued on, a small figure locked onto them from behind the crevices of the cordon, his cerulean eyes batting at the sight. He could see the charm the man with the wings wore, and a once his chest flopped into ice. It suddenly hit him that he would do anything to get that talisman, and eyes narrowing, disappeared into shadows.
"And I-" Looking up from his position, Riku felt his chest run cold. Remorse overwhelmed him. Looking ahead, the silver teen stared into a gaping fissure of traversing faces, not one of which he recognized. Cloud had gone.
-+-
Closing his only eye, Sora quivered and coated his arms in his hands; regret foaming through his entrails and bubbling promptly in his mouth. His right arm lied drenched in a heavy crimson cloth, and lifelessly did it limp at his side, never budging from the spot in which it dangled. His right arm was comatose, and forever was it obscured from life.
"Father is going to kill me." His soft cerulean eye grew shallow and leisurely did his fingers probe the bandages that caked the left surface of his face, moaning crossly at the ache that seared from his fingertips. For as long as he could remember he had looked like this, born buckled in noticeable parts and hidden away from the world. Even as the prince of the Ningen Shakai of the foreign islands, he was distorted and known as a "Kuzusukeiki-gaki", which, to Sora's displeasure, gave him even more of a motive to mourn solemnly to himself every night abandoned, forlorn under the bed sheets. What was the use of being a prince, someone of royalty, when you couldn't even take your place? Let alone make friends?
Tearing a claw through the mahogany locks of his skull, the youth shook his head mentally and strained his neck, elapsing his fingers through the tiny barbs that faintly bud from his jaw. He sure hoped that it was a beard that was growing there, not just some sort of rash; but with such small whiskers, it was hard to tell if he wasn't just growing fur and fooling himself. Besides, who knew if he were adopted or not? For all he knew, he could've easily been switched at birth, in actuality belonging to some poor merchant in the east instead of the royal family of the Lords. Of course anything was possible, as he would often murmur. Especially since he didn't possess the raven hair which customarily flowed in his family's bloodline, and bore blue eyes of the sky instead of the traditional bleak gray of the earth; such where his name originated. Besides… no one else of his family had turned out deformed.
Frowning, the boy slumped to his knees and buried his face in his hands, staring at the corner where the picture of his mother had once relaxed; standing on the ancient oak desk. Accidentally had he broken the desk and shattered the picture when trying to reach the upper cupboards, splintering apart his only memory of his deceased mother. Devastated did he caress the dejected pieces of glass in his fingers, whimpering and trembling all the same. His mother had been the only one in his family who had ever truly cared for him.
"Sora? Are you in there?"
Instantaneously Sora's head burst up, his eyes maturing at the resonance of his father's deep and vigorous voice. His knuckles pounded amidst the steel barricade of the castle dorm, and soon after the door let out liberty with a thud, tossed aside effortlessly. Sora's father was an elevated, sturdy black-haired man with hard steel eyes. Even from afar he looked like an emperor, alluring to the public and strong in the arms; everything Sora wished he could be. But as Sora's shoulders sagged, his limp arm cascading insensibly, he realized how scrawny he really was. His figure and disability wasn't even well enough to become a serf in the backfields of the manors.
"Father." Sora bowed honorably to his father and plunged to his knees, stooping into his guardian's shadow. Sweat bled in beads across his body, and the heart breathing in his chest throbbed tirelessly. If only his father didn't-
"You stupid boy!" The encrusted coat of Sora's face began to pulse in agony as his father's hand socked him in the jaw, transferring his chin to the tile of the floor. His teeth snapped together, and a stream of blood dripped leisurely from his cheek. Faintly he could feel his arm twist in a bizarre angle, warped behind his back and pulled at the socket. Badly did he want to start howling to the world and understand why it enjoyed tossing him about, cry to his father and comprehend his actions towards his only son. but everything seemed so far away now, and only weakly could he pull himself up.
"You already killed her." His father's voice quarreled, his breathing growing low and thin. "And now you go and destroy even more evidence of her existence. What are you trying to do to me, boy?"
Eyes burning, Sora choked into sobs, callously coughing back his cries. Beckoning his eye, his face began to set ablaze to the tears that slavered his jaw. Soon after he had been born was when his mother had passed into the grave, and forever had his father left the blame on him. Sora himself was known as a bad omen, and nothing was there to wash it away. It was all his fault.
-+-
The town of Yokokuhen reeked of fog, a faint haze layering upon the city. Like a ghost town people walked, cold like stone and coated in ice. But to Squall, all was customary as expected, and as he skipped the cobblestones of the path whistling, his shirt unbuttoned and flapping at his sides, everything seemed good and anticipated. For a noble the streets of the commoners were no different than the drifting halls of the manors, besides the fact that the realms of the serfs were far more shoddy, caked in grunge and no where near the style he was accustomed to. He also noticed that the outside world was much brighter, a world where the sun shone like the stars and wavered upon the traversing people whom fed vividly upon its rays. Though the same in many ways, the commoners and nobles lived in different worlds upon the same earth, striving to survive and endeavoring in diverse customs. Each side held their own traditions, and the more Squall thought about it, the more he pondered of which life was better lived. They say the wisest men experience both deficiency and aristocracy before they fade from the living world.
Observers watched as he passed and gradually he replied with a beckoning gesture and smile. Dashing across the streets, he sensed the asphalt pulling at the soles of his boots callously and endeavoring to maintain him to the earth, becoming attached to his presence. He knew he looked odd, a rich folk prancing down the common streets; dressed in the elegant clothes of the royal family with an apple wedged in his teeth. But as he always thought, looks really meant nothing and it all depended of how you saw yourself, which was what created your true reflection.
Breaking into hiatus, Squall's teeth burrowed into the flesh of the apple, savoring the sugared juice of the fruit as it slavered down his jaw. Though misty, it sure was a beautiful day-showered in blue skies and spacious ashen clouds, not one tainted in age or blistered with the hatred of rain.
Grinning, Squall gnawed again into the apple, ambling forward until a certain face caught his eye. Inclining an eyebrow, the prince tossed the apple behind his shoulder and watched it stagger across the street, converted into the grungy substances of the earth. Leisurely the face turned towards the noise, his aloof sapphire eyes gleaming broadly to the opening sunlight. To the golden locks that drooled erratically from his skull, his pupils appeared almost emerald; clear and untouched.
"Did. you just drop something?" Shrugging, Squall tossed his mahogany hair and beamed, catching up with the stranger's pace as his fingers jabbed abrasively into the back pockets of his khakis. He was a beautiful man, and unique as well. Bearing two extensive ebony wings, his unique attire told Squall that he was indeed from somewhere far away, a place remotely hidden from capital walls. But as they continued to amble on, it soon occurred to him that not once during their conversation had the stranger looked at him. It was rather odd talking to someone when they didn't make eye contact, but Squall figured that it was just his way of doing things and mentioned nothing of it. Besides, it was none of his business anyway. "Are you from this part of town?"
"No. I'm just visiting." Pulling a strand of golden hair between his fingers, he leisurely tugged it behind his ear, looking fairly remorseful. His eyes seemed to wander off a bit, but soon wandered back to the earth; obscured by his eyelids and empty stare. Languidly he slouched, and in Squall's eyes his posture was horrid, a look of a commoner. It suddenly dawned upon him that a commoner was indeed what this man was, and it appeared bizarre to Squall of why such a normal face ceased to stick out like it did. "I think so, anyway."
"You think? Wouldn't you know?"
Cramming his hands into the cleaved pockets of his cloak, the blonde said nothing more and stared into the sky impassively. The lustrous chain at his neck dangled lifelessly, and brilliantly did it linger with the light. The very sheen of the object caught the prince's eye. Squall squinted and tried to gain access to the words scrawled near the locket's clasp, but gave up when he perceived it as another language; one of a diverse civilization in which he couldn't comprehend. All he could assume was that this outsider was indeed from another continent, not baring any similarities of the assorted cosmopolitan of commoners grazing the Yokokuhen streets.
"That's a nice necklace you got there. Your girlfriend give it to you?" Silence pulsed between them and the shoulders of the stranger seemed to waver, drooping low to the level of his spine. He seemed to be reflecting his thoughts leisurely, and when Squall's hand grew adjacent to the charm, curiosity stitched through his fingers, the stranger's eyes narrowed sharply and shed a composed warning growl. Ice encrusted his pupils and immediately his eyes grew cold. Looking up, Squall's chest lunged remorsefully and quickly he beckoned away, sighing as he shrugged heedlessly. Even if he didn't understand why, Squall implicated that the necklace was indeed something important to him.
"Sorry. I'm quite curious by nature, so don't mind my ignorance." Brushing the coffee locks from his cerulean eyes, Squall strained his collar and leisurely held out his hand. "Name's Squall. And you are…?"
The blue eyes stared back at him blankly, and silently his voice countered, the tension in his body unwinding. "…Cloud."
"Cloud, eh? Well that proves it then."
Inclining an eyebrow, Cloud stopped in his tracks and turned where Squall's voice was produced. Aggravation was inscribed through his eyes, and as his fingers begun to wring the stiff glasses encircling his neck, illustrated it evidently to Squall. "Proves what, may I ask?"
"That you're not from around here."
A long, meditative silence scorched between them and leisurely did Cloud's eyes compose with frustration, shaking his head as Squall whistled a snicker of mirth. "You're quite the jokester, aren't you?"
Grinning firmly, Squall entwined his arm to his chest. "Best in my class."
"I bet you are." Cloud embraced his wings to his spine and began to dissociate from the conversation, trudging almost mindlessly and practically tripping over his own boots while he ambled on. Staring after him, Squall gazed at his outstretched hand and shrugged, stabbing his fists into his khakis as he took off after him.
"So where are you from, anyway?"
Cloud's eyes grew tender and vividly they detained a pastel sheen. Even if he was barely inquired such a question, it still disturbed the man of why a stranger he'd most likely never see again was posing it in such gravity. But all in all, it scared him above all else. "...Around."
"No really. Where are you from?"
Steam wheezed from Cloud's ears and instantaneously he felt the anger surpassing him. Even though this "Squall" was most likely naïve of his history lineage, it was painful that such memories were being brought up in a so-called "formal conversation". Breaking into a sudden stop, the blonde looked obviously irritated and at once turned Squall's opposite way, hatred bared in his eyes. "Look! If I—"
Tapping him lightly on the shoulder, Squall stared in concern as the man bowed around in wrath.
"Cloud. I think you were meaning to talk to me, not the wall."
Eyes blaring, the ****sukai seemed to gleam with darkness, his face twisting into an unceremonious rage that ripped his fists apart. "Just leave me alone, you jackass! Just who do you think you are, coming up to me with such personal inquiries!" Instantaneously he began to take egress, gripping his shaft in his knuckles and breathing through thick air. His heart in his chest was burning with fire, and no matter how solid his eyelids pressed to his skull, the pain never ceased to pursue. Every time he overdid himself.
Darkness buried into darkness as he shut his eyes.
-+-
"I guess that's understandable." Squall stared across the table to the blonde who distantly probed his tea basin, obviously aloof to the steward's sudden sense of exposure. His soft cerulean eyes stared off into nowhere, and often his chair creaked as he moved restlessly, oblivious to the people whom stared at him from the inn walls. "I guess I should've noticed."
Shaking his head the blonde sighed, and leaning back in his chair indolently. He knew Squall meant well, but obtaining help from such an ignorant foreigner. it was unnecessary. Besides. it was useless. Gazing at the yawning fabric of his shirt, where it had been curled up to the shoulder by Squall's hands, two pairs of wings tainted in black were visibly carved into his shoulder. Remorse swelled through his heart and almost instantly he pulled it down. "Well actually I'm quite happy you didn't. I'm treated quite rotten when I'm figured out."
"I don't quite comprehend that."
Bringing the beaker to his lips, Cloud's eyebrow inclined. "You wouldn't."
Laughing, Squall grasped the warmth of his tea and grinned, bringing his eyes to closure. "I suppose your right. I wouldn't, would I?"
Silence seemed to linger within them, and when nothing was spoken, Cloud's voice rang out through the stillness of their conversation. It conveyed through his ears and made his mind tranquil, just to know that not all of his senses were screened with gloom. "You know, I used to be in the army. Actually, for a monarchy quite like this one."
"You don't say?" Interested, Squall's fingers firmly gripped the edges of his basin, intently listening to the blonde's lexis.
"Yeah. Only it wasn't really a real monarchy. It was more like a village, a place for Gaki people. Only a king ruled it.
"This marking on my shoulder, as you probably know, is a symbol of the Gaki. There are many different clans living around and all of them have different symbols to prove their existence of being part of a group or family. My people were known as the People of the Tsubasa, though none of us besides the people in high power had actual wings.
"I was born an Ekibyogami, as I already told you, and therefore I had to hide that part of me from my people. I had green eyes, then."
Fire blazed in his eyes, and leisurely he turned to the ceiling.
"It was customary to join the army at a young age, so when I was nine I enrolled under Sephiroth—the army's general. I met… her when I was fifteen… when my right eye turned blue..."
-+-
"Cloud. I want you to protect this for me." Delicate fingers bowed at Cloud's hands as the maiden placed the ornament into his possession, flatly caressing it through his fingers. The edges probed his palms and impaled cracks in his flesh, but yet his hands enclosed it in his fingers, not caring whether or not he bled. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and never was he going to let it go. "Let it be your wings… your wings to the light and to the darkness."
The honey locks of Cloud's skull draped over his eyes, and the ebony eye patch that hung limply across the right side of his face grew taut. Only recently had that eye lost its vision, striving in the darkness. But his angel, the gorgeous maiden of the bastion was too brilliant, too vivid in gold, to reduce into nothingness. Forever she remained in his sight, his guide to the light. "You will loose your other eye soon… such is the sacrifice." Silently her emerald eyes grew tender like fawn tears, sluicing the candlelight into a peculiar, yet stunning radiance. Her very existence, the radiance that blossomed amidst her, could make anyone cry. Even the fire that danced wildly upon the candles bled its tears through the wax. An Ekibyogami-gaki was truly a creature of the darkness, shrouded and forced to take a hold of its power and worship its reality. Their very being was obscured in shadow by blinding their eyes, obliging them to take its path. But with the angel, Aerith knew the light could guide him.
"Aerith." Shaking his head, Cloud gestured her forward and allowed her to drape her arms around his neck, embracing her body into a tight kiss that only leisurely broke apart. His hands deftly flowed down her spine as her face buried into his chest, crying silent tears. "It'll be alright." Miserably she stared up at him, and weakly Cloud smiled. "It's part of my role."
"I know." Liberating from his collar, her gaze locked onto the floor, the crimson kimono she wore beaming gracefully to the candlelight of the cathedral. "I… guess I wouldn't understand." Beneath her crystalline tears, she smiled at him. "I'm just foolish. I can't even leave this church, so I guess there's much I don't understand." An Amenotokotachi was a Gaki of pure light, one whom could only live in sacred and blessed places guarded by the ancient beings of divine nature. Being removed from a church or alter of such sources could easily kill a creature of a sort, no matter what the purpose.
"Don't speak of such nonsense! There's no way in hell you could ever be considered foolish."
Tenderly Aerith's head shook, the emerald glow within her eyes growing dim. "Everyone is foolish at times, Cloud. Don't ever forget that."
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Tears oozed from the lids of Cloud's eyes and metamorphosed into a pupil of crimson veins, his features blistering with red. Squall intently stared and remained silent, lost to words as he watched the weeping man.
"The wings of the angel represent my own." Gazing into nothingness his hands wringed together, catching the tears that slithered through his fingers. His voice began to crack, and his following words appeared forced and detained. "And she died… a day after that." Staring, Squall roused a strand of mahogany hair as his heart begun to submerge into the pits of his stomach. Feelings of remorse swelled within him, and ice blistered through his heart. He couldn't help but see how beautiful this man was, and how anyone could see any differently. These emotions... were feelings he had never felt before.
"I killed her." Pulling his arms around his face, the man buried into their depth and broke into a sob, screaming into the darkness. "I… I let her die."
Attachment was what was bulging through Squall's soul. He wanted to comfort Cloud… tell him it was all right. And another piece of him… wanted to do something even more. It was all too much… too much for him to handle.
But as he watched him cry, sob into the cloth of his arm, he felt useless.
If only he had his own wings to the light, he thought.
-+-
sore wa totemo hareta hi odayaka na egao ni
shiroi hana o ichirin sotto soeta
utsukushii mono wa toki ni kanashii mono
yagate kuru wakare kanjite
kuroi retsu narabezu ni hamida****e kao ageta
itsu ka mita sora o omotte
ikisaki wa dore kurai tooku tooi tokoro na no?
mou nido to wa modorenai hodo tooi tokoro na no?
aitakute aenakute semete tsutaete hoshii
saigo ni kureta namida sono subete wasurenai
Deficiency webbed its fingers everywhere in the shrouded metropolis of West Yokokuhen. Commoners grazed the lands and the Aristocrats walked high above them, displaying their shortage of impartiality. But yet the town was filthy, scorched in dust and smelling of blood, polluted until the hills reached up into the gorgeous gardens of the nobles, where the castles and manors roamed in the seas of endless grass. It was truly a city where street tactics became necessary, and as the blonde roamed the streets endlessly and watched the crumbling edifices pass him by, a sense of emptiness couldn't help but rouse in his chest. He felt frozen in this dark city, creeping among the shadows and trailing wherever the light discharged its beauty. Even though he couldn't see the things around him, it felt evident that everything was sluiced in silence, the sadness that wept invisible tears and slavered through the poverty and deceit. This feeling was enough, and as he ambled on, the honey locks that bounced off his skull caking his eyes, it continued to linger.
Squall was gone. Cloud didn't know if he had left him, or if the man had left himself due to his behavior, but at the moment it didn't seem to matter. He was only a stranger, after all.
But then. why was he thinking about him so much?
Fingering the angel ornament entwined between his fingers, Cloud weakly smiled and allowed the bony chain to suspend, watching the charm twirl and glow to the sunlight. It was like a real angel; gleaming in gold and healthiness, afraid of nothing, as it belonged to the light. It was the only thing he could see. the angel and the angel alone. Its light was bright enough to pierce through the strongest of darkness, and forever did its wings guide him. Retorting the fetter into his palm, the man dangled his thumb near the angel's clasp, pondering if it really was the time to open the locket. Curiosity sewed through his fingers as he handled the clasp, but almost immediately they recoiled. The voice. her voice was calling to him, telling him that the time hadn't come; and yet, as he released his fingers, felt somewhat redundant.
It wasn't hard to feel regret.
Cloud's chest begun to feel hard and clammy, the memories haunting his mind slowly enticing back together, forming the missing pieces which had been obscured by regret. Directly he began to once more wring the chain around his neck, only to find it gone, empty and isolated from his touch.
Fear instantaneously stabbed through his heart and spurted blood beneath his skin, warping it pale. Anger pursued like a shadow, and Cloud was thrust into a convulsion of wrath. He could faintly see it as it was being handled away into the darkness, captured by a ghost of the shadows and dragged into its realm. But no matter where the thief was heading, Cloud was resolute in following.
"Give that back you bastard!!" The bandit turned at once towards him, and what Cloud saw almost tore him apart, curling his blood and sending him panting in disbelief. Time froze around his figure and beckoned his mind to recall the memories as they swayed endlessly about him. The voices. they were mocking him. Cloud's fist tore into a deathly clench, tearing blood straight through his skin. Flames of inferno grew strong within his eyes, and beneath the dimness of his vision, saw a ghastly gray eye staring back at him.
He knew that eye.
Flashes of blood, clashing swords and a scream blazed through his mind and left the memories scarred as ashes. Revelation impaled him and immediately uncontrollable wrath sent him howling after the thief, nothing on his mind except revenge. The revenge that would set vengeance upon the eye that had murdered his love, the seraph that had given him his angel, his only chance of sight.
But before he knew it he was lying on the pavement weeping, in dirge of tears. His body convulsive, he sobbed in hysterics and lashed out at anyone who came too close, stumbling through the darkness. Never before would he be able to see again, and without the light to protect him.
He could already feel himself becoming consumed by the obscurity of the night.
By the next morning when Riku found him, his body was seen curled on a train bench howling, sweating beneath his anxiety and anger. But the boy couldn't help but notice the blood swelling down his spine, where his right wing was now mislaid.
Ever Free translation:
It was a bright day. On your peaceful face
I laid a chain of white flowers.
Beautiful things are sometimes sad things.
I sense the farewell that has been long coming.
I break out of the black line and look upwards,
thinking of the sky I once saw.
How far away will you go?
Is it so far away that you can never come back?
I want to see you but I can't; at least you could tell me.
I won't forget any of the final tears you gave me.