Divinitas

037 - Fairy Tale Promises

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\"Well, that was an interesting bedtime story,\" Ari said with a smile, lounging back on his sleeping bag in the two-man tent he was sharing with Gryps. He watched amused as Gryps attempted to change out of his riding clothes without either touching Ari or the sides of the tent. A near impossibility in a two-man tent.

Gryps pointedly ignored Ari\'s comment, making a show of concentrating on his task of removing his clothes.

\"Oh, don\'t tell me you didn\'t notice…\" Ari drawled, reaching up and pulling on Gryps\' shirt just as he was removing it, toppling the already unbalanced boy on top of him.

Gryps slapped Ari across the face before quickly scrambling off the older twin. \"Don\'t you dare touch me tonight…\" he warned, eying Ari as he merely smiled, touching his stinging cheek.

\"I won\'t… I\'m more interested in both Chima\'s and Draco\'s past… Aren\'t you, dear Brother?

\"Death by water, death by air… Chima was spared because he understood from the very beginning. Genesis asked him to come, and he agreed… There was no need to make him… As for Phoenix, I do not know the details of his past, but I am willing to bet the reason he is an orphan is related to fire, yes?

\"Draco\'s mother died of inhaling water. I, representing air, killed our sister, and in turn, you killed me. The catalyst for our coming here. All four of us. Without our past circumstances, things would not be as they are, don\'t you agree?

\"Genesis is more powerful than I gave it credit for, controlling our elements through us subconsciously…\" Ari\'s smile widened, seeing the flicker of revulsion pass over Gryps\' face. \"Aether must have given the order along the lines of \'Bring them here by whatever means necessary.\' A mistake, if you ask me… He\'s going to have major problems if Phoenix ever finds out… But you won\'t tell, now will you? Dearest Brother…\"

\"You make me sick…\" Gryps spat out, distaste distorting his delicate features.

\"Yes. Now if you don\'t mind, do us both a favour and get in the sleeping bag. Or else neither of us will get a wink of sleep if you insist on sleeping separately. You know as well as I do our bodies loath to be separated these days,\" Ari smirked, pulling open the sleeping bag in a gesture of invite.

Gryps gave the older twin a disgusted and loathing look before crawling into the sleeping bag. He supposed he should be grateful they were both wearing boxers at least… Unknowingly he let out a sigh of relief when Ari slipped in beside him and snaked his arm around his stomach, flesh making contact with flesh.

Ari smiled, feeling Gryps relax in his arms. Yes, become more dependant, Gryps. Until you can not live without your Dearest Brother.



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The flap of their tent had no sooner closed when Phoenix\'s body hurled itself at Aether, hands grabbing at Aether\'s shirt collar and slamming him into the ground. The fiery boy\'s eyes were vacant, glazed with uncomprehending yet pure anger. His right fist was pulled back, smashing into Aether\'s cheek as his left pinned the older youth to the floor.

The metallic taste of blood stained Aether\'s mouth from the cut inflected by his teeth on his own flesh, the aching pain from Phoenix\'s fist rolling through his face to the back of his head. Again and again the fist connected, and again and again Aether let the blindly enraged boy take his anger out on him.

Part of Phoenix knew and understood. Everything that had been implied by Chimaera\'s and Draco\'s story of their past. He knew and he absolutely and utterly hated Aether for it.

A bitter and cruel smirk lifted the corners of Aether\'s blood stained lips, his hand reaching up like a claw and ensnarling Phoenix\'s fist as it came crashing down.

\"Stop now, Phoenix…\" Aether commanded in a whisper, the blood in his mouth thickening his voice.

Blood red eyes only darkened, the left hand on Aether\'s collar manoeuvring to encircle around Aether\'s throat. The golden haired boy let the pressure around his neck increase until it threatened to crush his windpipe, feeling a burning heat emanating from Phoenix\'s very skin. Only then did he smile even more cruelly, lifting his right hand and striking Phoenix across the face hard.

Streaks of red slashed across Aether\'s throat, Phoenix\'s molten hot nails tearing into skin and flesh as he was struck away. The younger boy fell heavily onto the floor of the small two man tent, knocking over the electric lantern set near the opening. The light flickered but clung onto its life.

Aether pushed himself up, hand touching his bruised face and cut lip before drifting down to touch the wet blood running down his neck. Already the damaged inflected onto his body was healing, the blood drying and flaking off his once more flawless skin. Superficial wounds were nothing to him; not even a stab wound took more than a day to fully heal. Thus was the curse of immortality.

Phoenix had not moved from where he had fallen, laying still enough to pass for a lifeless corpse, only his rapid short rise and fall of breath breaking the morbid illusion. His hand had cooled rapidly upon being tore away from Aether\'s throat, and now laid passively besides his head, fingers curled inwards.

\"I hated you just now,\" Phoenix\'s dry whisper brushed against Aether\'s ears. \"But I don\'t know why… I hate you and I resented you, more than I have anyone in my entire life.\"

The older boy remained silent, amethyst eye locked on Phoenix\'s form. The crimsons eyes were focused on the artificial light illuminating their small tent. Rather be blinded by the harsh light than to look upon Aether\'s face.

\"I could not see, I could not think, I could not move. I just… Hated you.\" A bitterly amused imitation of a laugh escaped Phoenix\'s lips. \"Funny. But… It felt right. It felt normal. Almost comfortingly familiar, hating and resenting you.\" The crimson eyed boy finally turned his head and fixed his burning gaze upon Aether. \"More so than being around you peacefully and contentedly.\"

Aether remained mute, yet reached out and grasped Phoenix\'s wrist, pulling the boy towards him. \"I told you, haven\'t I?\" Aether voice was cold and apathetic when he spoke, face only inches away from Phoenix\'s. \"I don\'t care if you hate me.\"

The blood red eyes smouldered, and in an unexpected reaction, Phoenix closed the distance between them and pressed his lips against Aether\'s. \"But I don\'t want to,\" were the words breathed into Aether\'s ear when Phoenix finally ended the one sided kiss. He then pulled back and glared at Aether\'s masked face. \"Even after all this, you still except me to fucking believe you don\'t care about how I feel towards you. You\'re a pathetic liar, Aether.\"

A soft pale smile finally broke the frozen expression imprinted on Aether\'s face. \"Come on. Let\'s get ready to sleep.\"

Without waiting for a reply or acknowledgement from Phoenix, Aether disengaged from Phoenix and began to remove his clothing, striping himself down to his usual sleeping attire which consisted of only his boxers. A bit put off by Aether\'s dismissal of their conversation, Phoenix shook his head to clear his mind and followed suit. It wasn\'t until both were lying in their own sleeping bags, the electric lantern extinguished, that Aether finally spoke again.

\"Once upon a time, there lived a Prince and a Princess in a castle on top of the world…\" Aether began quietly in a distant voice, arms crossed behind his head, eye staring at the black tent canvas over their heads. \"This Prince and Princess were brother and sister, but for as long as they could remember, they had always been alone. They never knew their Mother or Father. They did not even know if such figures existed.\"

Phoenix turned his gaze towards Aether, uncomprehending of why Aether was suddenly telling him what appeared to be a fairy tale.

\"The Prince and Princess were very lonely beings. They had only each other in that enormous castle. No one loved them, no one ever cared for them. Their servants were only that, and always kept their distance.

\"One day, as it was in his duty to do, the Prince left the castle on top of the world and travelled to another kingdom to discuss matters in each of the different realms and to ensure that all was as it should be. When he arrived there, he glimpsed something beautiful and amazing, something which he should not have seen. But the damage was already done, and nothing could be changed.

\"The Prince wanted this precious treasure that was the property of this kingdom. More than anything in the world, he wanted this, needed it. For the entire time he was there, whenever it was possible, he would seek this treasure out and merely gaze upon its magnificence, dreaming and desiring to own it. He believed, somehow, that having this treasure would end his loneliness.

\"Finally, the Prince could stand it no longer. He had to have this treasure, no matter what the cost. He knew he could not steal or take it by force from the kingdom. So he utilised the only option left to him.

\"The Prince sold half his soul for it.\"

\"That was stupid,\" Phoenix interrupted flatly, throwing aside for the moment the whole ridiculous nature of Aether telling him a bedtime story. \"Nothing is worth any portion of your soul. If you believe in such poetic crap to begin with.\"

Aether only smiled ruefully, keeping his gaze trained on the roof of their tent. \"Everyone is different… Perhaps for this Prince, it was worth much more than half his soul… Well, to continue, the Prince took his newly acquired treasure back to his castle on top of the world. For a short period of time, he was contented with his acquisition, and he no longer felt so lonely… Except, he never lost the feeling that something was still missing in his life. He could only justify that as being the emptiness one feels when they have sold half their soul.

\"Of course, this short period of quiet contentment did not last.

\"The kingdom who had sold their treasure to the Prince changed its mind. It wanted the treasure back. The Prince would not allow it, and finally, the other kingdom attacked the Prince in his castle on top of the world.

\"Everything was destroyed save for the castle. The treasure disappeared and neither the Prince nor the other kingdom could find it. The Prince was once again left alone to suffer as punishment, just as Prometheus was for stealing Fire from the Gods. Locked in solitude and silence in the castle on top of the world, his only company that of his younger sister. Only, the Prince had not given up his search for the lost treasure. He vowed he would find it and never let it go again.\"

Dark red embers stared at Aether from the darkness, trying to decipher and meaning from the story he had just been told. Phoenix finally gave up and asked outright. \"Why did you tell me this story?\" he demanded, brow furrowed beneath his black bandana.

\"Because it reminds me of myself and my sister…\" Aether answered quietly, the smile pale and flickering on his lips.

\"Your… sister,\" Phoenix echoed, a bit in shock.

\"I have mentioned my sister to you before, Phoenix. Don\'t look so shocked. It\'s not my fault you were too busy sulking the night I took you out to dinner that you neglected to note the fact in your hot tempered head,\" Aether said, turning his head and smirking at Phoenix in the darkness.

Phoenix narrowed his blood red eyes. \"Fine. I acknowledge that. Okay. So who is your sister then?\"

Soft laughter escaped Aether\'s lips, apparently amused by Phoenix\'s ignorance. \"I thought it was obvious!\" he replied finally, smiling almost broadly in the midst of the heated glare Phoenix gave him for implying how stupid he was. \"Casimir is my younger sister.\"

This time Phoenix really was shocked into silence. All he could think of was \'Aether and Casi… Aether and Casi… Aether and Casi…\'

Aether reached out and felt Phoenix\'s forehead when the younger boy neglected to reply for several long minutes. \"It isn\'t that big a deal, Phoenix…\"

The voicing of Phoenix\'s name had a profound effect on the boy. In the blink of an eye, Phoenix had pounced on Aether, sleeping bag and all, and was trying his damn hardest to strangle Aether or at least give him a concussion by banging his head against the ground whilst trying to strangle him.

\"Not that big a deal?!\" Phoenix exclaimed, fingers itching around Aether\'s neck. \"You two made my life a living hell for the first few weeks here! Damn it, both you and Casi still make my life a living hell! And you say it\'s not a big deal that you and her are siblings!? Grrr! You were her older brother all along and the two of you fought over me like some toy! I am never, ever, going to forgive you for this, you bastard!\"

All Aether did was laugh, willingly letting his body be abused.



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It took a while before Aether was finally able to pry Phoenix off his mangled neck. The boy had exhausted the last remaining reserves of his energy and had practically fallen asleep on Aether\'s chest.

Wrapping his arms around the docile form of Phoenix, Aether smiled bitterly to himself. He cared, did he? Whether Phoenix hated him, or felt a liking towards him. Was that, then, what prompted him to all but tell the story of his past, even if it was dressed up in an ambiguous fairy tale? Some sentimental part of his soul that wanted Phoenix to know the whole truth and stay with him still… By his own freewill. The Child of Soul smirked. Unrealistic dreams did nothing for anyone.

\"My sister and I… Will not spend the rest of eternity alone. I will not spend it deprived of your presence, Phoenix. You will become the Child of Fire, and take your place as the God of Fire once again… Even if you hate me for it.\" The older boy crushed Phoenix closer against him, possessive and determined.

Phoenix made a noise of protest at being squeezed to death in his sleep, oblivious to the promise Aether had just whispered into his ear.



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Gryps glared. Phoenix glared. Both were glaring at Aether and Ari whom were trying to look innocent and falling miserably.

\"You were blackmailing me with Aether\'s younger sister. Whom, if you had half a brain to compliment your half soul, you would never lay a finger on!\" Gryps accused of Ari, jabbing a finger in Ari\'s fake apologetic face. \"Don\'t expect me to submit to your whims ever again. I\'m moving back to my original dorm as soon as we get back.\"

\"And I\'m bloody kicking you out of our dorm, you lying, inconsiderate, sadistic bastard!\" Phoenix growled at Aether, crimson eyes flashing. \"Younger sister indeed. I\'m going to kick her in the shins as soon as I see her too…\" Phoenix seethed to himself, plotting ways in which he could teach Aether and his sister Casi a lesson they wouldn\'t soon forget.

Draco sighed. They were making a big fuss out of nothing. Granted, Casi being Aether\'s younger sister was a bit of a shock, but it didn\'t change anything, did it? There were probably something called \'principles\' involved with their outrage and sense of betrayal… But the logic of being upset over the fact of who Casi was escaped Draco\'s comprehension.

\"We should get a move on,\" the only logical one in the group spoke up, rousing the others from their own personal universe. \"We need to reach the checking point today and start heading back towards the Castle.\"

\"Of course,\" Ari agreed, glad for Draco\'s distraction. \"The last thing we would want is to run over time and miss the beginning of exams on Monday…\"

Naturally, Draco missed the sarcastic tone in Ari\'s voice. \"We don\'t have food enough to last us until Monday…\" the seventeen year old calculated to himself, looking most worried.

When they finally packed up camp and got on their way with Chima leading the pack, it was almost eight in the morning. The tension in the air was of course high, and the group was most definitely split. Strangely enough, it would seem that Phoenix and Gryps had unknowingly sided together in their mutual dislike for certain people.

Under Chima\'s navigation, or perhaps more correctly, sixth sense, the group reached the checking point without any mishaps, and despite being the last group to leave the school, they were the first to actually get their names marked off.

When nightfall threatened to consume the group with darkness, Chima picked another camping site for the group where they settled without too much difficulty. Of course, Phoenix and Gryps adamantly refused to share tents with Aether or Ari respectively, which only served to give Draco a headache. In the end, both Gryps and Phoenix decided to just sleep outside of their tents in favour of being forced into a confined space with the ones they were most pissed off at. And since neither Aether or Ari had any intention of sleeping alone, they opted for the open air as well. That was how four of the six people in the group ended up sleeping outside around the fire, despite there being three two-man tents erected.

Chima had been most insistent on sleeping inside, and bringing Yuki into the two man tent as well. Draco was too tired and suffering from a migraine to complain. That was how the raven haired boy slept with fur in his face.

It was in the early hours of the morning when it became apparent why Chima had insisted on sleeping inside whilst the majority of the group had ended up sleeping outside. It started raining cats and dogs. Heavy droplets splashed onto Phoenix\'s face, hitting the still hot embers of the fire with hissing sounds. It took the outside group exactly five seconds to get themselves inside their original tents, their feud with their partners not forgotten, but opting for a truce whilst the heavens opened up on them.

When the grey morning finally came, the sky held no hint of clearing any time soon, and the downpour was still comparable to that of a waterfall. Definitely, this was \'the worse test\' in the making.

With much bitching and complaining under one\'s breath, the group packed up their drenched camping gear and tacked up their saturated horses. Even Chima\'s spirits were dampened by the onslaught of wind and rain. The young boy in fact looked a bit worried, and seemed to want to hurry back to the castle.

Chima\'s unease increased as the day wore on. The water worn ground made the going slow, as the horses had to pick their way along the stream-like trail. If the choice had been Chima\'s the group would not have stopped for lunch, but Aether insisted, saying that both their horses and themselves needed a rest. The youngest boy agreed when he saw how heavily their horses were breathing. What Chima failed to notice was how pale and drawn Aether had become.

\"Are you alright?\" Phoenix asked Aether as they prepared to remount their horses and continue on their way after lunch. As much as he was pissed of at Aether for the whole not-telling-him-about-his-sister thing, Phoenix couldn\'t quite squash his concern for Aether either. Besides… He wasn\'t really that upset… It was just the principle of the matter!

Aether smirked. \"I thought you were pissed off at me.\"

Phoenix\'s water mattered eyebrow twitched. \"Fine. Be that way you stuck up, good for nothing, conniving jerk…\" Phoenix seethed through clenched teeth and promised himself never, ever to be concerned or ask about how Aether was again.

That promise was sorely tested though. As the day wore on, Aether\'s complexion became deathly pale, and his movements seemed sluggish at best.

In the late afternoon, as the group was on the final leg back to the school grounds, Aether pulled up Shiro Tsuki. If it wasn\'t for Phoenix\'s watching him out of the corner of his eye whilst trying to look as if he was ignoring the older boy, no one would have noticed. Aether had dropped to the back of the line since they remounted after lunch.

\"Hey, Chima! Stop for a sec, would you? Our golden boy here isn\'t looking so golden!\" Phoenix called out, turning Solar Flare and trotting back to Aether. \"You\'re not going to drop dead on us, are you? We\'re almost back at the castle. Hold on until then, okay?\"

Aether lifted his head and fixed his one eyed gaze on Phoenix. The fiery boy\'s eyes widened when he saw how colourless Aether\'s usually violet eye had become. \"I\'m fine,\" Aether said quietly. \"I wanted to go to the lookout.\" The Child of Soul uncurled his fingers from Shiro Tsuki\'s reins and pointed along a track that skewed off the main one on which they were standing.

\"In this weather? Are you insane?\" Phoenix demanded, making a grab at Shiro Tsuki\'s reins. He was a second too late as the drenched seemingly white mare suddenly took off down the side track on Aether\'s signal. \"Damn it! Aether! Get the fuck back here!\" Phoenix shouted out, trying to make himself heard through the downpour.

\"Phoenix!\" Chima shouted back. \"We have to get back! The river up ahead is going to be swollen! We won\'t be able to cross it soon!\"

Growling under his breath, Phoenix turned Solar Flare in circles to prevent the black stallion from bolting down the track back to the main group. \"Aether\'s lost his mind! I\'m going after him to kick his ass! You guys head back to the castle!\" Without waiting for a reply, Phoenix forced his unwilling mount after Aether.

The track Aether had taken off on led upwards, and the higher it went, the more rocky the trail became. Soon all Solar Flare could manage was a slow walk, finding it difficult to find firm footing on the rocks which were more like the bed of a stream.

A constant stream of curses issued from Phoenix\'s mouth, mostly about how big an idiot Aether was and how he was going to beat him to a bloody pulp when he caught up with him. What was Aether thinking anyway? He looked like shit and it was obvious he needed medical treatment, so the first thing he does is run as far away as he could from the source of it? The only logical answer Phoenix could come up with was that whatever he was sick with had also made him delirious.

After what seemed an eternity, Phoenix and Solar Flare finally reached the lookout. They found Aether standing at the edge of the rock piece that jutted out from the side of the mountain, pointing towards the ocean, Shiro Tsuki standing uneasily beside him.

\"Damn it, Aether, what the fuck do you think you\'re doing?!\" Phoenix demanded, dismounting from Solar Flare and making his through the lashing wind and rain to Aether. \"We have to get back! Chima said the river we crossed on the first day will be swollen and impossible to cross soon!\"

\"I wanted you to see the lookout,\" Aether replied calmly, reaching back and grabbing Phoenix\'s wet wrist to pull him closer.

The younger boy made a noise of surprise, shaken as he glimpse the drop below them and the grey expanse of space beyond the lookout.

\"You can see the castle from here… And the gate… At night, you can see the staircase to the moon if the time and moon phrase is right… It stretches from the moon right to the Gate Into Eternity…\" Aether whispered, the wind snatching at his soft words.

\"Aether, we have to get you back to the castle. The view is great, okay? I\'ve seen it now. But you look as if you\'re seriously coming down with something. Bring me back here on a clear day or night when you\'re better and it isn\'t pissing down. Please. Let\'s go,\" Phoenix prompted, taking hold of Aether\'s hand that still gripped his wrist.

\"Do you still hold strong to your conviction of refusing to become the Child of Fire, Phoenix?\" the older boy asked out of the blue, his grip on Phoenix\'s wrist slacking.

Out of surprise at such an off-topic question, Phoenix\'s own hold on Aether slipped, their arms falling back to their sides. \"I… Yeah, I don\'t want to.\"

A tired smile tugged at Aether\'s lips. \"Yes… One should always live for themselves…\" he breathed, turning away from the lookout and looking at Phoenix who still eyed Aether with concern. \"Let\'s go back, shall we then? I can hardly wait to have our date up here one night… Taking you under the open night skies with the moon and the stars as the only audience…\"

The heat came up into Phoenix\'s face so fast he had to turn around to avoid eye contact with Aether. Why did that fiend have to say such perverted and lewd things?!

A bolt of lightning cut molten silver across the dull grey sky, followed instantly by booming thunder. Shiro Tsuki started at the thunderous noise and light, rearing up and pawing the air with her silver hooves before bolting into the bush. Solar Flare jerked heavily on the reins, dragging Phoenix a few feet before the boy was able to halt the black stallion.

Stunned by the sudden turn of events and having forgotten about being embarrassed, Phoenix turned back to check on Aether. Only… There was no one standing where the golden haired boy had been only seconds ago.

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