Divinitas

033 - Inverted Crosses

~ * ~

Waking from nightmares always left one feeling disconnected from reality. There would be a long moment where the nightmare seemed real, and reality was but a far away dream.

The reality that revealed it to to Phoenix’s senses as he floated to the surface of consciousness seemed surreal. A reality that was out of place, a scene that was dug up from the past where it should never have been disturbed. Utterly familiar yet so alien, that person standing before the mirror in an outfit of black and gold and royal purple.

A stab of deep and pure resentment knifed through Phoenix’s soul. ‘Hate you hate you hate you’ was the beat it drummed out. Yet underlying this his heart trembled like a candle in the wind, chanting another tune. One that repeated the mantra of ‘need you need you need you’ and ‘don’t leave me don’t leave me don’t ever, ever leave me!’

Phoenix closed his eyes, shutting out the image and shaking his head as if to dispel it from his mind completely. His hand reached up to touch his forehead. What was that just now…? That deep running painful resentment he had felt tearing through his soul?

“You’re awake finally?” Aether’s amused voice carried over to Phoenix’s ears.

The younger boy opened his eyes again, lifting his heavy head from the pillows. Aether’s room. Nothing threatening. Well, nothing more than usual at least… He frowned. Then… what was that he had just experienced? And… what the hell was Aether wearing.

“You look really silly in short shorts,” Phoenix stated flatly, staring at Aether’s long legs. His very nice, well toned, smooth skinned legs…

Aether laughed, walking over to Phoenix and pulling him from their bed. “All for you, my Phoenix. You like looking at them, don’t you?” he asked huskily in Phoenix’s ear, pressing his taller body against the younger boy.

Phoenix stiffened as he felt Aether’s hands wander down his body, pressing themselves against his backside.

“Hmm… These are a perfect fit on you,” Aether breathed, sliding his hands up and down Phoenix’s firm buttocks.

“Get you hands off me before I bite them off.”

Amused laughter again, though to Aether’s credit, he back away from Phoenix nonetheless. “Come. I want to show you something,” he said, smiling as he beckoned from before the full length mirror.

“No,” Phoenix answered stubbornly, refusing to budge an inch. “Nothing you ever do to or show me is any good,” he growled, glaring.

“Aren’t you lying to yourself, Phoenix? Or are you saying you haven’t enjoyed sleeping with me this last week? You seemed very content when you snuggled against me these past nights. And you must admit, I have been on my best behaviour around you. Really, I could have jumped you so many times but I did not, restraining myself to only kissing you. Surly you can grant me one little favour and come over here,” Aether reasoned, giving Phoenix a pointed look. “I am not going to bite you, Phoenix,” he added when the other boy still hesitated.

“You jerk. You already have bit me…” Phoenix seethed, but walked over to Aether all the same. He had to give the fiend some credit. Everything he had said was true. Besides, they were boyfriend-boyfriend now, weren’t they? Phoenix resisted the urge to pray for the ground to open up and swallow him whole. “Alright, what’s so special?”

The only answer Phoenix received was a playful smile and Aether pulling him forward to stand in front of the full length mirror.

“Look.”

The fabric of reality tore, slipping for a moment just as the eyeless mask of lies fell from his face. And for a moment outside of time, all facades were thrown aside.

Two familiar strangers stared back at him. Dressed in the clothing of gods, flowing black enriched with gold and red, the other with royal purple. Bare arms pulled him back into an embrace, holding him protectively, comforting without being restrictive.

“The Child of Fire and the Child of Soul. Destined for a fate beyond your wildest dreams…” Aether’s voice whispered into Phoenix’s ear as he bent to nuzzle his neck. “This is my Dream. To possess the power to always hold you, to always have you. To re-create the past where everything was perfect, when you were mine…”

The fiery figure in the mirror tilted his head, letting the golden haired youth plant tender teasing kisses upon his smooth skin. So intimate, all of this. So familiar and so necessary. His heart was whispering again. ‘Yes, want me. Need me. I need you to need me. I don’t care what you do to me. Just need me…’

“Even if it means you will destroy my Dream…” his seemingly bodiless voice floated from his mouth. “A future that depends on no one, created with only my will and my strength… So no one can ever be the cause of my downfall.”

Too late.

Phoenix’s eyes snapped wide open, the contents of the reflection fully slamming into him. “You fucking dressed me! When in hell did you change my clothes!” Phoenix exclaimed, shoving Aether away from himself and staring incredulously down at his ridiculous outfit. His hand picked at it with forefinger and thumb, as if afraid to make any further contact with the material. “I look like a slut…” he moped, making a face at himself. “Ugh. And can can see my stomach in this too… What is it with you and showing off your handiwork on my flesh?”

Aether gave Phoenix a seductive smirk. “I had no choice but to dress you, Phoenix… In case you didn’t realise, you fainted. You’ve been out for several hours and it is now quarter to eight. What choice did I have but to prepare you for your stage debut?”

At the mention of the s-word, Phoenix began to looked faint again.

“No you don’t,” Aether’s softly chiding voice tugged Phoenix from his dazed stupor. “There’s no time for you to pass out.” He took hold of Phoenix’s face in his hands, bringing their heads close to one another with a sinful smile. “Besides… I am not that nice to let you escape your fate so easily,” he whispered, pressing a taunting kiss toenioenix’s somewhat horrified lips.

Phoenix squirmed free, shaking his head wildly. “That’s it! There is no way in hell am I going to parade around like some clown on stage in this outfit! I’m jumping out the window!” etheether sighed, easily latching a hand onto Phoenix\'s wrist and tethering him to himself. “Why is it that your answer to every undesirable situation is to jump out a window?” he pondered. “Firstly it was to escape my asking you out. And now this… Don’t you know running away from your problems solves nothing?”

“Asking me out?!” Phoenix exclaimed, his plans of ending his horrible life by splattering himself on the ground forgotten. for forced me to fight you, beat the crap out of me, sexually harassed me, raped and tortured me, not to mention starved me, and you call that ‘asking me out’!?”

The older boy gave an eloquent shrug. “Details, details…” Aether’s smirk softened, seeing that Phoenix was still hurting, and finally released his hold on the younger boy. “Wanting something you can not have is a terrible thing,” he said softly under his breath. “And you can not begin to imagine how much I’ve always, always wanted you.”

Stillness fell over Phoenix with hearing these words. In some ways, they echoed his Wish, yet reacted violently against his Dream. Phoenix’s brow creased in a frown. It didn’t make sense to him, all of this. His emotions, his desires… Aether.

Something icy cold came into contact with Phoenix’s collar bone, slowly surrounding his neck. The boy jerked away from the contact, his instincts and memory reacting fearfully to the feeling of something, anything, encircling his neck. His hand darted up to touch the heavy weight, only to find an exquisitely worked necklace hanging there.

A black inverted cross with a ruby that caught the fire of his eyes set in the middle. A sign that rejected Heaven.

“Why…” Phoenix stuttered, fingering the pendant and chain that encircled his neck several times. It was an antique. It was… familiar. “Why did you put this on me?” he finally managed to ask, lifting his gaze to connect with Aether’s.

“Because it’s yours,” Aether replied simply. “Just as this is mine,” he added, showing Phoenix a single earring before easily inserting it into his left earlobe. The same inverted black cross, only smaller and set with a deep violet gem. Aether gave Phoenix a playful smile. “They complete the outfit, Phoenix,” he explained with a wink, and proceeded to drag the struggling boy from their room.



~ * ~

Imagine, if you will, the most embarrassing situation of your life. Multiply it by ten, and that was the feeling Phoenix felt.

At least for him though, he had another twelve people to be embarrassed with. It was really all anyone could hope for in such a situation. Yes, at least he wasn’t going to be laughed at alone.

Perhaps, if humans were a less selfish creature, they would hope that others did not have to suffer their own miserable fate, and that they alone would bare the brute of all the humiliation in return for sparing the rest. Unfortunately, we all know such humans do not exist, and so, thirteen students paraded around on stage in front of the entire student body, who, despite their best efforts not to snicker at the unfortunates, were laughing their asses off.

One may ask why these thirteen students agreed to such a public suicide. For four, it was because they wanted to. For the other nine, it was because they were threatened with the failure of every subject by their Principal if they did not. Oh, what a fair and wonderful world we all live in.



~ * ~

“Hate you hate you hate you hate you,” Phoenix muttered continuously under his breath as his hurriedly rounded up the few personal items he had brought to Aether’s rooms since moving in with him. He had long ago striped himself of that hideous outfit, and didn’t give a damn that he was walking around in just a pair of boxers.

Aether watched Phoenix with an amused expression, having already changed back into casual clothing. His left hand toyed with the earring dangling from his ear, the one article of the outfit he had not removed.

“Really, Phoenix, you’re over reacting…” Aether said casually, lounging on the couch with a manga propped up before him.

“You… I am going to make you suffer for this,” Phoenix growled, finally finding the clothes he had been wearing before he had passed out from shock and horror.

If only he had stayed unconscious… Then he wouldn’t have had to make a total fool out of himself in front of the whole damn school. And no, tripping and falling flat on his face had not helped his situation one bit! The ringing laughter from that little accident was still bouncing off the inside of his skull.

He hastily pulled his clothes on and tossed his belongings onto a sheet, wrapping them up and slinging the makeshift back pack onto his shoulder. “I’m leaving you!” he announced angrily and stormed out of the rooms before Aether could even open his mouth.

Once the ringing in his ears from the slamming of the door had subsided, Aether placed a bookmark in his manga and smiled softly to himself. “I probably did cross the line this time…” The agile boy pushed himself up and cast his one-eyed gaze around his suite of rooms. “Well, it looks like I will be moving too.”



~ * ~

A pair of icy silver eyes gleamed from the darkness, seeming to hang in mid air within the star strewn night sky. A hateful victim who watched his tormentor prowl in the light.

“What did you mean, Ari? When you said Aether was one who clung to the past?” Gryps’ voice demanded emotionlessly, his form almost invisible at his station on the window sill.

“Hmmm?” Ari wondered with a smile, looking up at Gryps who had been eyeing him as he undressed. It had been fun, dressin as as a girl and so easily fooling so many of the student population. The illusion would have been complete if only had more womanly endowments… But that would have been very, very disturbing. “What do you mean what did I mean?” the smiling boy asked, letting the skirt drop and pool around his ankles.

“Don’t play innocenri,”ri,” Gryps said darkly, his eyes flashing.

Ari gave a delicate laugh, unclasping the top garment and letting it fall carelessly to the ground also. Stepping out from the pile of discarded clothing, the silver haired boy made his way to the window, placing a hand on either side of the frame, housing Gryps in. “What do you think I meant, dear Brother?” he drawled, leaning his face in close enough so that their breaths mingled. “Doesn’t the uniforms of the Children look familiar to you? Haven’t you seen them somewhere before, in this life and our previous one?”

Confusion flashed through Gryps’ eyes. Oil paintings. Beautifully rendered portraits. Brilliantly expressive eyes. Flowing cloth. “The portraits in the Heart of Genesis,” the younger twin stated quietly. “His motive for all of this… Is to recreate our past.”

“Correct,” Ari affirmed with a dark smile. “Aether is a being that can never let go of something once he has had it in his grasped it… These outfits…” He ran a finger down Gryps’ chest, touching the sleek black material that covered it. “The portraits… And most of all, his powers, and his Sacred Bird of Fire.” The unpleasant smile widened. “Did you notice the inverted crosses both he and Phoenix wore just now? They’re originals. To think he kept them all this time. Our God of Soul is truly a sad creature.”

“Just as you are.”

Ari merely laughed, closing his eyes for a moment before reopening them. “Yes. Just as I am. The other half of your soul.”

The two twins stared at each other, one with a twisted smile on his lips, the other an inverted image of that smile.

“By the way… Casi’s lips were very, very soft…” Ari whispered finally, breaking the stillness and pressing his own lips against Gryps’ cheek, placing the kiss exactly where Casi had kissed him before.

A shock of icy electricity ran up Gryps spine, spreading to his finger tips that ached to both shove Ari away and pull him closer. The decision was made as Gryps grabbed Ari around the neck, long slender fingers wrapping around it with metallic strength. “Shut up,” Gryps said softly, fingers flexing. There was a sick desire to snap Ari’s neck, to destroy this copy of himself that was so deplorable.

Gryps’ action did not faze Ari in the least, but rather, the older twin smiled, delighted at the turn of events. “Do it, if you want,” he whispered in an overly calm voice that hinted amusement. “I’ve already died once by your hands…”

The words sent a horrifying shock through Gryps’ system, his body shoving Ari away in disgust. He felt sick. He couldn’t stay a moment longer. Out, out, his body was screaming. Get away from him before you suffocate.

Ari watched as Gryps stumbled to the door, pulling it open and almost falling in his haste to depart. “It must be killing you, being with me…” Ari said softly, a contented smile gracing his lips.



~ * ~

The coldness of the doors and floor seeped through the material of the uniform and into his back, numbing everything but the pounding thoughts in his mind.

If Aether was not stopped… If nothing was done… Then he would be forever locked in the same body as that tarnished half of a soul. He could never live like that. Never, knowing what that part of his soul had done, how sick and twisted it was. The last thing Gryps wanted was to have Ari anywhere near him… Even if it was now almost painful to not be in his constant company. There was some part of him that needed physical contact with Ari. Needed it, craved it.

The silver haired boy bit his lower lip. His hope was that the officials on the outside would use his information and somehow halt this slow but sure movement towards his inevitable destiny. Close the school down. Scatter the chess pieces like grains of sand on the wind. It was his only hope to retaining the scarce traces of freedom he had left. If destiny continued to dance to Aether’s whims… Then everything would end for him.

Gryps lifted his head from his arms that rested on his knees drawn up against his chest. Glazed eyes stared at the portrait that hung opposite the entrance to the Heart of Genesis.

“All because of you, Incendium…” the ghost of Gryps’ voice echoed through the large empty chamber. “He’s doing all of this because of you and the past…” he rhe red eyes in the portrait stared fiercely back, defiant and challenging.

A bitter smirk crossed Gryps’ lips. “If there were no you, Incendium, Aether would have no motive. And then everything would be fine, wouldn’t it…”

The contents of his lifeless words slowly penetrated the turning wheels of his mind. If he killed Phoenix… If he removed the key… Everything would be fine.



~ * ~

The first thing that assaulted Phoenix as he approached his dorm room was the high pitched squealing able to be created by only little boys and hyperactive girls.

“From one hell to another,” he sighed, resigning himself to his fate and opening the door. He took one look and dropped his belongings.

“Don’t look. You’ll only be corrupted if you do,” Draco advised, walking up to the horror-struck Phoenix and leading him away to sit at the table, facing away from the offending scene.

“They’re… They’re jumping on my bed…” Phoenix finally managed to stutter in a tiny voice. “And… And they’re both… squealing… And… And Yuki is shedding and drooling all over my sheets…”

Draco patted Phoenix comfortingly on the back. “It’s not that bad…” Draco reassured him. After all, the poor boy didn’t know what else those two had done on his bed… Like play house and making a little fort… “I’ll get your bed back for you, alright?”

Phoenix nodded dumbly. Why…? Why did all these things have to happen to him? What horrible, unforgivable crime had he committed in his past life to deserve all of this?!



~ * ~

A cross. A sign made by those who believed in Heaven.

An inverted cross. A sign made by those who rejected Heaven.

Why did Aether give him such a thing?

The blood red ruby glittered in the faint starlight, glancing off the smooth black metal that formed the cross itself. It retained its coolness despite the length of time Phoenix had held it in his hand.

It was very early in the morning, but sleep still alluded Phoenix. If someone had been observing him, they might had mistaken it for his being preoccupied with thoughts. Whilst that was also true, the real reason was because he was starving.

He hadn’t eaten since breakfast yesterday morning. It seemed that ever since he had come to Genesis, someone had decided that starving him would be a fun way to further torment him. So events just conveniently fell upon meal times.

Thus Phoenix’s reason for lying awake on his rather messed up bed and staring at the black inverted cross.

The flaming haired boy slowly rotated it in his fingers, letting the light play upon the smooth and engraved surfaces. Its weight and texture felt so familiar in his hand. As if he had played with it a thousand times, looked upon it a thousand times.

“Because it’s your.”

Somehow, it felt as if Aether had said those words with a double meaning.

“Because you’re mine, ka…” Phoenix whispered, closing his eyes and letting his hand drop down to his bare chest, the cross and chain falling over his heart.

Strange that he didn’t feel touched by this gift. It wasn’t like the time Aether had given him that white shirt patterned with the phoenixes down the front. Back then, he had felt pleased and embarrassed. With this gift, however, there was just… a sense of uneasy familiarity.

Exhaustion began to overcome the protests of Phoenix’s stomach, and the boy was slowly lulled into a dream spiked sleep.



~ * ~

“I want you to wear th

Burning red eyes glared at a violet and gold gaze. “For what reason? To force me to acknowledge what you have done to us? To make us say we denounce Heaven?” Bitterness and hatred.

“To reassure me that you are no longer the Property of Heaven.”

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