Divinitas

013 - Seperation Makes the Heart Grow Fonder


\"I\'m surprised you\'re here,\" the commanding voice of the Principal spoke up, a cup of strong coffee in his hands.

Aether smiled, facing the glass wall behind the Prial\'al\'s carved desk. His office overlooked the ocean and one could see below, right on the lip of the cliff, the broken Gate Into Eternity. The sight of the sawed off arms of the two angels always brought some degree of bitterness to Aether\'s tired soul.

\"After all, one usually likes to play with their new toy rather than just leave it.\"

\"What makes you think I have not already?\" Aether asked, eyes never leaving the perfectly carved wings that stretched up to Heaven behind the twin angels that stood facing one another.

The older man raised an eyebrow. \"He is the one you constructed the School of Genesis for, isn\'t he? You mentioned a person who hurt you when you first approached me all those centuries ago.\"

\"Has it been that long? Time flies, doesn\'t it.\" Aether turned around and swung his agile body up onto the desk, stretching out his long legs over the newspaper the Principle had been reading. \"But no. He is not part of the motive. Merely an added bonus.\"

Dark eyes assessed the youthful figure lounging in front of him. There was a distant quality about Aether just now. As if he was lost in a past he had never shared with the man he called his friend. \"You\'re lying,\" he finally said, lifting the cup and taking a long hot sip. \"You tell me that, and you tell yourself that, but you know it\'s not true.\"

The piercing amethyst eye rolled around to lock on dark ones. \"Does it matter? We have the four Children. Now all that remains is to awaken the Divine Beasts within them and await the right time. Just hthe the four replacements for me before the beginning of the second semester. Genesis needs to taste their souls significantly before consuming them.\"

A long silence followed before the soft chink of china hitting china rang throughout the room as the Principle placed his cup down. \"Whatever you say, Aether… Still, it\'s considerate of you to let your Phoenix tch tch his wings after you\'ve clipped them.\"

The Child of Soul simply glared.

In the uncomfortable stillness that followed, both occupants in the office heard quiet footsteps walking away from the closed double doors.

oks oks like we had an eavesdropper.\"

\"The true Chif Aif Air,\" Aether said without appearing concerned in the least. \"Let him be. He plays the part of catalyst and disease. The more he knows, the more the undesired part of him will be weeded out.\"

\"I hope your confidence is not ill founded.\"

With a smile, Aether dropped his feet onto the ground, absently straightening his dark purple shirt. \"Have I ever given you reason to doubt me?\" he asked rhetorically before walking from the office. The door shut behind him with a soft creek of its hinges.

\"No. But unlike before, you\'re now distracted, and you do not realise it.\"

~ * ~

Each step hurt. Jolted the wound that threaded through him. So why was he walking still? And down the long sloping road he had laboured up only a week ago? He wasn\'t running away. He just needed to be away from those two for a while. And there wasn\'t any rule saying he could not visit the town below Genesis any time that he pleased.

Except maybe for the fact that he was completely broke, and the most valuable thing adorning his body was no doubt the silver collar he so loathed.

A sigh escaped his lips as he finally dropped down on a bench outside the tiny train station by whose means he had arrived at this sea-side town. At least he was full. The enormous breakfast he had consumed would last him the whole day if it came to that.

It was such a peaceful place here, this town. Its main source of income came from the tourist population, and all year round there was a healthy flow of them. Located on the lip of the continent, only feet away from a beach that belonged in a picture perfect painting, it was a primary location for those on honeymoons and relaxing getaways from the stressful city life.

Traffic here was quite scarce. And for the first time, Phoenix realised to what purpose that they taught Equestrian Skills at Genesis. Since public transport was practically non-existence within this small town whose school comprised of no more than two classrooms and a small playground, a lot of the children travelled around on horseback.

Phoenix seethed. Trust him not to have put the two and two together before now. He could have spared himself the long walk back up to the damned castle.

The Castle of Genesis. He could see it from here. Sitting on top of the world. Its towers gleamed golden in the sunlight that streamed through the passing clouds. It was where Aether resided like some king. Aether… He was something Phoenix had strained not to think of since last night.

The person that brought the most destruction to his life. The person that gave him the feeling of completion. How ironic life was. How it played with him like a mere puppet. He could lie to himself and say the feeling was just a by-product of human lust, that it was normal for a teenager such as himself to feel blissful and complete whilst he was being given a blow job by a beautiful boy…

A groan ground out of his mouth. He proceeded to bang his head on the back of the bench, desperately trying to hammer away the images from the day before.

Something icy cold was suddenly pressed up against his forehead as he lifted it for another bang on the painted wood. \"Looks like you might need something for your headache,\" a deep voice spoke up from above him.

Phoenix looked up to see an icy can of soft drink held out for him. Smoke from a cigarette owedowed behind it, hiding the face of the one that had so kindly stopped his self abuse. \"Thanks,\" the boy muttered, somewhat shakily taking the offered drink. In doing so, he caught a glimpse of the person standing before him.

Short sheared strawberry blond hair shadowing a direct no-nonsense dusky blue gaze. A thin cylinder of tobacco hung from his colourless lips. \"Usually, taking my cigarette break doesn\'t involve saving idiots from giving themselves a concussion,\" he muttered, the smoke bobbing up and down as he spoke. The young man dropped himself down on the bench besides Phoenix, exhaling another breath of smoke. \"Haven\'t seen you around here before,\" he said, eyeing the boy beside him with his piercing smoky blue eyes. \"You\'re from the castle, aren\'t you?\"

Phoenix couldn\'t help staring at the ring through his left eyebrow with its tiny silballball sliding up and down as the man tilted his head to take another drag. \"Err… Yeah, I am…\"

He blew the smoke out through the corner of his mouth before speaking again. \"Better be careful. I\'m not suspicious like some of the older population in this area, but none of the rumours are good concerning that place. They say there have been several student disappearances. None of the families here let their children attend that school… Not that we can afford it, mind you, it being private and all.\"

Phoenix\'s eyes widened, remembering the caution Ares had given him when he had first met the Child of Fire. Of the fate of the scholarship students from the previous year.

\"Nice accessory you have there, that choker. Suits you,\" the young man complimented, grounding out the cigarette butt on the bench and flicking it from his fingers. The glittering sunlight caught a thick silver band around his middle finger with an unusual design engraved onto it. The black engraving reminded him of a heart with dark wings.

Phoenix choked. \"Um, thanks,\" he managed to splutter, a forced smile on his somewhat pale face.

\"Well, that\'s my ten minutes up. Gotta get back to my job of taking orders and clearing tables,\" the man said, standing up. \"Don\'t kill yourself over whatever it is bothering you, okay?\" Without a backwards glance, the figure walked across the street and into a restaurant that looked out over the softly roaring ocean.

An unexpected act of kindness. Phoenix was pleasantly surprised. Though shocked was perhaps a better word for it. In this day and age, having grown up in an aggressive city, kindness bestowed upon a stranger by a stranger was about as common as finding a million dollars on the streets. He had all but forgotten it existed, unconditional kindness.

\"Miracles probably can happen, eh?\" Phoenix asked himself, opening the can of soft drink and downing half of it. \"He\'s not bad looking, that guy… But Aether\'s definitely got a better looking body… Even if he\'s a heartless bastard.\" Instantly the boy clamped a hand over his recently kissed mouth. \"I can\'t believe I just said that…\"

The whole purpose of his coming down here was to forget, if only for a few hours, his immanent fate that awaited him so patiently. Yet as he walked along the beach on a brick foot path, his back to the Castle of Genesis, it was like a tiny voice kept whispering his name over and over in his ear. A tiny voice that grew in volume and urgency with each step he took further away from the school, until it was as if someone was screaming it out loud via loud speakers.

\"My hands… They\'re shaking,\" Phoenix observed at one point, holding out his palms and staring. \"I haven\'t been able to not think about Aether since coming here. Why?\" The boy squeezed his crimson eyes shut and hugged himself tightly. It was so warm, the weather. Summer still. So why was he shivering?

Head lifted to the Heavens, as if demanding from them the answers to his unspoken questions, Phoenix wandered off the path and onto the beach. Instantly the golden warm sand made their way into he sneakers. Sneakers that had holes in the sole.

\"What am I doing here?\" he whispered. \"I\'m nothing more than a street rat, so why am I even trying to change my stars? Sa… Street rat owned by a Prince. Maybe I should be just happy?\" He wasn\'t thinking straight. His whole body demanded to be taken home now. Home? When had where Aether was been home? \"What is the matter with me!\" The scream pierced the constant roar of the waves, making the few people who played on the serene beach turn to look at the bewildered boy.

Fingers curled around the collar his neck and tore at it, trying desperately to rip it from this throat. The unforgiving silver bit into the white fingers until red welled up from the flesh. \"I am not his! Get this off me, get it off!\" he shouted out to the horizon. He staggered to the water and collapsed into shallows. Bleeding fingers dug into the soft wet sand, stinging. \"I hate him…\" he gritted out between clenched teeth. \"Hate him. Hate him!\" He began punching the water, each impact making him more wild, more removed from his surroundings.

Something red dripped into the crystal clear waters.

\"I\'m bleeding again…\" He touched his stomach, fingers coming away dark red. A sad bitter laugh welled up from his throat as tears fell from his eyes and joined the blood. \"Why… Why am I longing for his touch?\"

He sat back on his legs, looking at the sun as it began its journey into the earth. It looked as if the sky was on fire. And the ocean was red. Like his blood. Exhaling, the boy let his body fall backwards, arms stretched out. As if nailed to a cross, Phoenix laid in the salt water, feeling the cold sea foam wash over his legs and soak into his hair. Unmoving, he watched the sky darken and the stars blink into existence.

\"I\'m missing him… Aether.\"

~ * ~

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