Divinitas

004 - Of Child and Sacrifice


\"Fuck! Damn it! That bastard!\" Phoenix roared, slamming the pillow he was resting on with his fist. It wasn\'t Aether\'s seductively smiling face, but hell, it would bloody suffice for now. The boy was lying on his stomach upon one of the beds in the hospital wing wearing only his faded and torn blue jeans. His upper torso was wrapped tightly in white bandages, covering the gash from Aether\'s lethal katana.

In the absence of Aether\'s intoxicating presence, Phoenix\'s fiery temperament had returned in full force, and he was not at all happy at having been treated as a thing that one could use and throw aside without a second thought.

Draco was leaning against the wall, deep in thought and reading a smbookbooklet he had picked up from somewhere whilst Phoenix was having his wound treated. Every so often, he would flip to a certain page, muttering to himself.

\"Ah, Phoenix, you\'re really mad, aren\'t ya?\" Chima inquired, sitting on a stool next to Phoenix\'s bed, happily swinging his legs that didn\'t quite touch the ground.

\"Hn, of course I\'m mad! The fiend just sliced my back in two for no reason! I mean, sure I tried to punch the guy, but he dodged it! And he was the one who fucking butted in on my fight in the first place!\" Phoenix exclaimed loudly, pummelling his pillow harder to vent his frustration. \"What was with that anyway? I mean, why butt in on my fight that didn\'t concern him one bit?\"

\"He did refer to you as being his property. So perhaps he was protecting you?\" Draco offered, not really pay attention to the tantrum that Phoenix was currently throwing like a child.

\"But I\'m not his fucking property! That\'s the whole point!\" Phoenix shouted with passion. It was a good thing the hospital wing was currently empty. After all, the first day of the semester had yet to even begin. \"Damn it, he really has me pissed. He even said to me \'I will own you\'. What kinda thing is that to say to some stranger? He doesn\'t even know me! And how the hell did he know my name?\"

\"I don\'t know,\" Draco said calmly, pushing away from the wall and taking up a seat next to Phoenix\'s bed. \"However… I think I understand Aether\'s reference to you being his property.\" Draco\'s long slim fingers expertly flipped to a marked page of the booklet he had been examining, which Phoenix realised was a Metamorphosis rule book. \"It says here that any player of Metamorphosis may challenge another player to a one-on-one duel to settle conflicts of a personal nature. The outcome of the duel will be determined by the one who initiates the duel. The one who is challenged must accept the duel, and no one may interfere.\"

Phoenix began to make some kind of protest, but Draco silence him with a gesture, eyes never leaving his thin book.

\"There\'s more. If the challenger is a Child, and the one being challenged is a Sacrifice, then should the Child win… The Child holds ownership rights to the Sacrifice until such given time that the Sacrifice wins his freedom back through another duel, or is summoned by the Council of Genesis to fulfil his or her duties… In other words, the Sacrifice would become the Child\'s property,\" Draco concluded, shutting the book with finality.

Phoenix simply stared at him with wide unblinking red eyes. A look of absolute disbelief, fury, and something akin to fear played rapidly over his flushed cheeks. There was no torrent of curses from Phoenix. Just outraged silence.

\"Sacrifices?\" Chima spoke up, large green eyes looking from Phoenix to Draco. \"But Phoenix isn\'t a Sacrifice, so it shouldn\'t matter, right?\"

Dark sapphire regarded Chima\'s small upturned face and the look of concern displayed there. \"Chima, the School of Genesis calls its scholarship students Sacrifices.\"

The boy\'s clear emerald orbs blinked, not really understanding the significance of the older boy\'s words.

\"It doesn\'t explain why we\'re called that. But I doubt the reason is positive,\" Draco answered quietly.

A bitter laugh broke Phoenix\'s silence, welling up from his throat like a black demon. \"I knew it. I knew it! Of course there had to be a catch. Nothing is ever offered freely,\" he bit out, sounding almost disgusted. \"I mean, why would anyone in their right mind offer me a scholarship? Me the trouble maker, me the one who never does what he\'s told? Well, it all makes perfect sense now! They\'re just going to use me for something and then fucking throw me away! And any stupid orphan would suffice for that purpose!\"

\"Phoenix!\" Draco took hold of the shaking bs shs shoulders, his grip careful not to brush against the stitched wound beneath the thick bandages. \"Calm down. We don\'t know anything for sure. It\'s foolish to jump to conclusions!\" The black haired boy was slowly losing his outer calm, the beginnings of a distressed frown appearing on his forehead.

Phoenix\'s arm lashed out, hitting away Draco\'s hands. \"Just don\'t.\" Those two words were muffled. The boy had buried his face into his pillow, and stubbornly decided he would rather suffocate than face his two friends with tears in his fierce red eyes.

Neither Draco nor Chima knew how to react. The younger boy fidgeted on his stool, eyes flickering fromenixenix\'s prone form to the window beside him, looking with longing at the view outside of the wide expanse of ocean. He\'d never seen such a large body of water in his life, having grown up inland, away from the Mother of Life that was the sea.

\"My, my, what was all that noise in here?\" the motherly nurse demanded as she walked into the room. \"I could hear your voices all the way from the clinic!\" She directed her faded blue eyes to Phoenix, who still hadn\'t lifted his face from the pillow he had previously been pounding. \"And you, young man, getting into trouble the first day you\'re here, I told you to lie quietly and rest. Your voice was the loudest of all!\" she chided. When Phoenix didn\'t react at all, the nurse gave an exasperated sigh. \"I feel I will be seeing you often in here,\" she muttered, disapproval clear in her voice. \"I\'m always telling the Principal he needs to put an end to that Metamorphosis game and confiscate those weapons your children carry around! But no! He wouldn\'t listen to me. The man just smiles and tells me not to worry! Not to worry! How can I not worry when I\'m treating wounds that require eight stitches? Ah, men! They are hopeless!\" the nurse ranted whilst busying herself with straightening random objects around them.

A loud rumbling sound caused the nurse to pause her ceaseless fussing and turn to the source sitting upon the stool.

Chima grinned sheepishly at her. \"I didn\'t get to have lunch,\" he explained, running his small hand through his wild chestnut hair, effectively messing it up further if that was possible.

The nurse huffed, not at all pleased to hear the boy had skipped lunch because he\'d been waiting to see how Phoenix was. \"Well, I take it all three of you haven\'t had anything to eat since this morning.\" Another reluctant sigh. \"Get out of here then, all of you. You\'re obviously well enough to leave the hospital ward if you\'ve enough strength to be shouting at the top of your lungs. It\'s about time for dinner to be served anyway.\"

\"Dinner? It\'s time for dinner?\" Chima perked up, instantly jumping off his stool and moving towards the door. \"Hey, Draco, Phoenix, I\'ll go and mind us a table, okay? Don\'t straggle behind too far, else you\'re gonna miss out!\" With that, the boy was gone, his running footsteps echoing along the long corridors.

\"Go on then, shoo,\" the nurse said to the remaining two boys. \"Time and tide waits for no man, and neither does this school\'s cafeteria. Miss out on dinner, and you won\'t be getting a bite to eat until morning,\" the nurse warned, and bustled out of the room, returning to her office.

Draco silently rose from his seat, pocketing the small Metamorphosis rule book in his pants. \"It\'s not simply the rule concerning the Child and Sacrifice that\'s bothering you, is it? You\'re whole attitude changed after your encounter with Aether,\" Draco observed quietly. \"Even though you put up a front…\"

Slowly, like a wounded anime uncoiling its stiff limbs, Phoenix rose from the bed, soundlessly placing his bare feet on the cold stone floor. The boy didn\'t raise his ruby eyes to meet Draco\'s sapphire ones as he stood and proceeded to pull on the shirt the nurse had provided for him.

\"Aether… Disturbs me,\" Phoenix revealed in little more than a whisper. \"I\'ve never been afraid of anyone in my life, Draco. Never. Not even the adults would had the power to punish me when I was a child... But Aether…? When he laid his violet eye upon me, I felt such profound fear as I had never before. And I don\'t understand why.\"

Draco\'s dark blue eyes watched as Phoenix slipped on his worn sneakers. His actions lacked the fire and energy that had burned from the depths of his spirit earlier that day. Everything about him bespoke of a broken soul, one that failed to see the reason for breathing, to keep moving forward.

\"And it wasn\'t just that…\" Phoenix contd, md, moving towards the exit with Draco following. \"Everything about him: his hair, his eye, his scent… I can still feel him with my senses as if he\'s standing right be me. me. It\'s such an intimidating sensation, and so disconnecting… The way he looked at me. The way he spoke to me. No one has ever acted like that towards me before. I don\'t know how to react to it… Fuck. Listen to me. I\'m going on and on about shit all…\"

\"Like he was obsessed with you.\"

The statement was spoken softly, yet it startled Phoenix, his eyes going wide.

\"How do you feel towards other boys, Phoenix?\"

His crimson eyes became even wider. \"How do I feel towards other guys?\" he repeated, face contorting into a grimace. \"I don\'t fucking know. I\'ve never gone out with anyone. I\'ve never even had a crush on another human being!\"

\"Then have you considered the reason you feel such apprehension is because you feel something for Aether? An attraction perhaps?\"

Phoenix just gapped at the suggestion.

\"And because you\'ve never actually known affection, you do not know how to react to it? Thus the whole prospect frightens you?\"

For several minutes as the two made their way to the dinning hall, Phoenix just opened and closed his mouth repeatedly like a gold fish. Oh, he wanted to form words, but was unable to as his brain was revolting against the horrible concept of even feeling a simple physical attraction to someone who was twisted enough to call him his property.

Finally, as they reached their destination and the surge of noise from the cafeteria enveloped them, Phoenix simply shook his head firmly. \"No fucking way.\"

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