Divinitas

024 - Watashi no Yume

My Dream

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The way the mind drifts, when one floats in the abyss between life and death. Touching on the present, lingering in the past. Yet always shackled to the earth, to the vessel, to the prison. Always a slave to Life, yet seduced by Death.

\"I\'ve taken another step to destroying your dream of being free of me. Will you hate me even more now, my lonely Sacred Bird of Fire? I know you will. Because you\'ve always hated me. That part of your soul will never change. I accept that. I just never want you to stray from me. Ever.\"

Why say such words when the person to whom they were directed could barely stay conscious, with so many sources of pain welling up from his body? When jagged crystal shards jutted out from his limbs, stabbed through tender flesh and muscle, biting into cool black marble underneath. Foolish, really… Because they seemed a dream. Would be remembered as a dream. Ah, but was this all just a game, Aether? Conflicting dreams…

\"I will make my dream a reality, Phoenix. I will bind your soul to mine. I will own you for all of time.\"

He couldn\'t move. Moving was pain. Pain… wasn\'t nice. Physical pain was draining. Exhausting. But that was fine, really. It kept the plague of emotions at bay. The tidal wave of burning hatred and anger that pushed in on his mind, threatening to crush the serenity that such pure material agony caused.

Another pulse passed through his body, a heartbeat magnified a thousand times, yet was not his own. Warm and comforting, yet so alien it seemed impossible. The heartbeat of Genesis.

Just a dream. Not real. Couldn\'t be real. Even his being pinned to the black marble floor by the person he was unfortunately and fundamentally connected to couldn\'t have been real. Yes, soon he\'ll wake up and find it was all a dream.

Phoenix\'s crimson eyes fluttered open again, peering through the haze at the brilliant ceiling above. Several tall paintings hung on the circular wall around him, still, lifeless, even for all their realism. They were not like the images painted on the ceilings of Genesis… Those images that were not created by human hands. But these portraits. Smiling or scowling. They looked so familiar.

There, the one with the long silver hair and eyes. Didn\'t his icy glare resemble the one Gryps\' often shot him? Or the young man with the straight raven locks and deep sapphire gaze. So serious, always thinking… Like Draco. Yes, even the book held in the portrait\'s hands was just like the ones Draco always had his head buried in.

Fatigued eyelids drifted over the crimson orbs again, shutting out the steady gaze of the paintings. How much time had passed now, since he had come to this place? Why was it he had come? Looking for something? Someone?

A child\'s delighted laughter echoed through the confused emptiness of his mind. Or was it outside…?

\"Ne… Why did you come to Genesis, Sacred Bird of Fire?\"

Eyes the colour of sunset opened to see a doll-like child sitting on a wooden chair, swinging its legs contentedly, a delighted smile on its face.

\"I…\" Phoenix began, realising he was standing, free from all pain. The child sat few meters away staring at him with large golden eyes. \"I came because I was offereschoscholarship here… I came because I thought I could carve a new life for myself. One that was not tied to my past, and one which I could proudly say I created with my own hands.\"

The child giggled, hoping off the chair and running forward until the child and boy was standing toe to toe. \"That\'s funny, Sacred Bird of Fire.\" The child grinned up at him and suddenly wrapped its arms around Phoenix\'s legs, small hands clutching the black fabric. \"I missed you. Why did you leave for so long?\"

\"You missed me…?\" Phoenix asked, his voice catching in his throat. \"Who are you?\" A backward step was taken, but hobbled by the encircling arms, the slight boy fell back instead, falling into darkness.

A scream erupted from his throat as the agony of his wounds suddenly burst back into existence. How he wanted to curl up and just cry. How pathetic he couldn\'t even do that, restrained by his limbs pinned into the very ground. It was torture, to listen to his own cry of pain echo round and round the chamber, dying so very slowly, followed by his soft meowing sobs that accompanied his streaming tears.



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Amused dark eyes regarded the figure standing behind his desk, hands clasped neatly behind his back and looking out the full length window. How often Aether took that station, framed by the golden light of the sun reflecting off the crashing waves below, his mysterious gaze locked on the Gate Into Eternity.

\"It\'s been almost a week now, hasn\'t it, Aether? Since you\'ve confined him to the Heart of Genesis? Of course, there\'s no risk of his dying, since he\'s currently connected to Genesis itself by the shards you impaled him with, but he\'s certain to be in constant pain…\" the Principal mused, a small smile on his lips as he approached his desk.

\"Actually, it has been seven days and six hours exactly. And yes, he is in constant pain. But he has no more tears to shed. After crying for the first three days, anyone would find their tears in short supply,\" Aether replied in the same conversational tone. He turned around and smiled coldly at his companion. \"You needn\'t worry about the boy. He is my concern. You and I will both achieve what we wish for. We simply have to be patient.

\"By the end of this term, the true Children will have their rightful titles. And once they repossess their elemental weapons, it will only be a matter of time before the Devine Beasts within them awaken. Then all that we await is the alignment of the Heavens with the Gate Into Eternity, my friend.\"

\"You say all this as if nothing will go amiss. You assume the Children will not object to your plan, their destiny. You forget they are human right now. And will be for the most delicate part,\" the older man shot back, raising a dark eyebrow at the Child of Soul leaning up against the transparent wall, his features obscured by the sun low over the horizon.

\"The only one who will object is the one who is most human. I will make him mine completely before then. So none of this will matter.\"

The Principal smirked. \"You make yourself blind to matters of the heart. Your\'s and his.\" He laughed as Aether\'s expression darkened at hearing his words. \"Ah, but I tell the truth, do I not? You are the most insecure person I know. The beautiful boy who picked up a sword to protect his fragile heart…\" he mocked in low tones, touching his hand to his heart in false empathy. The man broke the silence that followed with his deep ringing laughter. \"Strange, don\'t you think? For me, a Devil, to talk of the matters of the heart? Ah, but it is a Devil who lacks all such emotion, that knows them best. Because we are not blinded by them as you so obviously are.\"

\"Enough.\" The single word issued from Aether\'s lips, icy and deadly. The golden haired youth stalked past the Principal, eyes directed forward. \"Do not cross me, Principal. And more importantly, do not interfere with my personal life,\" he warned before close the door and disappearing from view.

The dark mysterious man smiled to himself. \"Well. This is what I get for dealing with a creature with a heart. No matter how closed off and protected it is.\"



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Aether closed the door to his rooms silently behind him, leaning up against for support. Everything was dark, like his mind. If someone asked him, why did he do this? For what purpose? Could he really give a truthful answer?

The statements so often repeated within his mind… because Phoenix was his and no one else\'s, because he owned the boy and could do with him as he pleased… That was a cover, wasn\'t it?

Smooth eyelids squeezed shut, and perfect hands came up to clutch the angelic face. Phoenix. His Sacred Bird of Fire. Locked away safe deep below him in the Heart of Genesis. Where he may never escape from. Never leave him.

\"Does you head hurt?\" a dry whisper came from the depths within the darkened rooms. \"Full of thoughts of how to torture me next? Too many to contemplate so you don\'t even know where to start?\"

The confusion instantly left Aether, dark violent gaze turning to the four poster bed. Its velvet drapes had been pulled back, revealing a slight figure curled up in the middle of the mattress. The silk sheets had been pulled up around the boy, and dark patches stained it where the blood had soaked through.

\"You freed yourself from the Heart of Genesis. How. Why,\" Aether\'s cold voice spoke softly as he walked towards the fallen Phoenix.

The fragile bundle moved, perhaps drawing the sheets more tightly around itself. The voice that spoke was weak. To be expected, really, for a person who had been imprisoned as he was for a week. \"I pulled myself free… The shards… They\'re still there, stuck in the ground. But my blood isn\'t… I think the floor took it into itself? I don\'t know.\"

Standing at the foot of the bed now, Aether could see clearly in the darkness Phoenix\'s wounded form. Both fresh and dried blood marked his pale skin. Blood that really shouldn\'t be there. But… \"Oh? Well, you blood does have a superb taste, Phoenix. So why did you cause yourself all that unnecessary pain? After all, it was painless if you didn\'t move, wasn\'t it? Well, after the first few days.\" Amusement had crept into his voice. Did he always have to be like this…?

\"Because you didn\'t.\"

\"I didn\'t do what?\" Still speaking as if all this was an delightful joke. As if he enjoyed playing these little mind games with his prey. Yes, even his sick smile was there on his perfect lips.

\"You didn\'t come and free me. You left me there. You… abandoned me…\"

\"I see…\" The mattress gave under Aether\'s weight as he settled on it. Without hesitation, Aether placed a hand on Phoenix\'s forehead. His heart skipped a beat as he felt a fever burning up within the boy. Illness was one thing Phoenix\'s body did not have any refined defence against. A stab of fear ran down Aether\'s spine.

\"And… I really… really… hate you… for leaving me there…\" Phoenix\'s voice had dropped to a near inaudible whisper, forcing Aether to strain to hear the words above the rapid beating of his own fearful heart. \"Do you remember my dream, Aether? I told you. My dream. It\'s to be free of you. So yan\'an\'t abandon me… and make me feel worthless like those kids did at the orphanage. I… challenge you to a duel, Aether… I want my freedom… back…\"

Phoenix\'s strained breathing relaxed and deepened as the boy\'s consciousness slipped and was lost, leaving Aether sitting there, staring with one visible amethyst eye, open wide with shock and disbelief.

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