A Love That Transcends
"Apollonius, where are you?" Celiane called out into the dark abyss; an echo was her only answer. She wondered where he went off to this time. The frequency of his disappearances was growing. He usually went for a walk to think because according to him Man thought too loud. She understood what he meant.
The Council of Kings spoke aloud any plan or method they thought of and Apollonius had to suffer through hearing every minute detail that included extensive torture of his own brethren. She once asked him why he didn't speak up and he had looked at her sadly and said, "Every word that I utter in defense of my people is one step further into mistrust and my downfall."
She tried to understand what it must be like for him. He was looked upon with hatred and scorn by man everywhere he walked. Everyone wondered when he would turn around and slaughter them like he had for millennia. Every word that Celiane said in his defense was thrown back in her face as being blinded by love. She thought that at least she had love while many of those who accused Apollonius didn't have any one in their lives.
A select few often questioned her sanity, for how could she love a despicable creature such as a Shadow Angel. She often replied that the Heart has reasons that the mind can not comprehend. That usually kept them quiet for a couple days. Though many had questioned her sanity before Apollonius came into her life. She had been a woman who had thrown herself into the war between the Shadow Angels and mankind. Apollonius seemed to be the only one who never questioned her about her decisions.
Thinking of Apollonius, she still hadn't found him. Celiane looked through all the underground caverns and caves that the humans were currently inhabiting. She wondered if he had gone up top. Poe hadn't appeared yet either. The little creature must be with him. She usually could be found floating around the chambers that they shared. That had been one of the first places she had checked only to find empty.
Her footsteps echoed louder as the caverns grew larger as she continued to journey further into the darkness. Though Celiane knew that the world was vast and that many mysteries remained she thought that the Underworld contained even more unknown and mysterious elements than the top world could ever hope to hold.
Apollonius grew anxious if he was underground for too long. He always longed to see the open blue skies above his head and feel the cool breeze ruffle through his feathers. The stillness and dankness of the world below made him feel claustrophobic. He was used to having the freedom and liberty that the endless skies granted him but down there it always seemed to be closing in around him.
Celiane often traveled with him up top but only to check the destruction that his brethren had wrought and to stay by his side. Though she knew what he had once been, she trusted that he would never return to being the monster that had wreaked a path of death and blood into the hearts of mankind. She had forgiven him long ago but he had yet to forgive himself. Apollonius looked up into the clear blue of the sky before him and his soul yearned to fly once more but he could not. He tore his eyes away from the temptation before him. If anyone saw him take flight now, after all Celiane had done to carve out a place for him in her world, it would be a cruel betrayal.
Apollonius didn't know how long he stood there but soon he heard rustling behind him. From the beat and tempo of the rustling of the grasses he realized it was Celiane long before she spoke.
"I'm still amazed each time you do that," she exclaimed as she came to stand next to him. He was hovering a foot above the ground with his wings still pressed tightly against his back. He remained silent. She knew that he wasn't in the mood for discussion. There had been enough of that for today.
He peered at her out of the corner of his eye. Celiane stood regally beside him. Even he could tell she was at peace, she still held herself as if she could be ready for battle at any moment. He knew it was an ability that served her well for the harvest beasts could strike at any moment. The only warning they usually got was strange haunting melody that was played just before the iridescent blossom portals appeared that allowed the beasts passage into the human world.
There were time that their melody stroke a chord deep within him and he yearned to be dancing to it once again. The humans feared that song for if they listened to it for too long, they would become entranced and thus become easy prey for the harvest beast. Most of the time the cherubims that guarded the harvest beasts weren't even needed. For once a human listened to that melody, there was almost no hope that they would come out of it alive.
He remembered the one who was behind the music, Otoha. That song was filled with her sorrow; the sorrow that Toma evoked in her. Otoha knew that her lord would never reciprocate her feelings so she had had to find a way to rid herself of her emotions. This song was her outlet. In the end, it had served the Shadow Angels well. Because of it, the humans were easier prey and thus the Tree of Life was well-fed.
Since he was the only one able to listen to the song without being affected, Apollonius found himself warning the humans when a harvest beast was nearby. They would then stick anything they could find into their ears to protect themselves. He recalled the first time he saw Celiane succumb to Otaha's melody. It was also the first time that he saw the trance up close in a human. She had stopped moving and her head went limp. Moments later she raised her head only for it to hang limply on her shoulder. Her eyes stared vacantly ahead and then she started to sluggishly move forward in the direction of the harvest beast. Apollonius had growled.
A small part of him had still pitied Otoha but the larger part was enraged that she dare use her ability to bewitch that which was his. He may have been a fallen Shadow Angel but he still had some of his own power; he was not completely cut off from Tree of Life. Before Celiane gotten very far from him, he grabbed her around her waist and drew her to him. She struggled for all she was worth. He turned her around to face him and completely wrapped his arms around her in a bone crushing hug. He then proceeded to whisper some words in his own tongue into her ear and gently kissed her lips. Celiane stopped struggling.
He knew when she finally came too. Her eyes lost that vacant look and the fire that he loved returned. Her blue eyes then began to tear up and she buried her face into his chest.
"So much sorrow," he heard Celiane whisper. Apollonius had a fair idea as to what she was talking about. Otoha's song crept into the deepest darkest recesses of the soul to drag out all the pain and sadness it had ever felt. It attacked you in the one place you were most vulnerable. Her song amplified the individual's sadness by her own and so the soul was then under her spell.
The soul caught would be in shock by the overload and they would do anything to rid themselves of that pain. Otoha weaved into her song that the souls might have reprieve if they come to her and the only they could come to her was by the harvest beast. Apollonius would not allow Otoha to have her. Since Otoha's song brought out the soul's pain, he had too drive back that pain with the exact opposite. Per his name, he could call up emotions that brought warmed the soul just like the sun warmed the Earth. He made Celiane remember the first time they had met and the passion that they had evoked in each other. It was that emotion that allowed him to able to call back Celiane.
After that first attack, the other humans demanded that he do the same for them. It took a while to explain to them that to be able for him to call up that kind of emotion in them he had to have some kind of intimate relationship with them but also he could only do that with a select few. If he had all of his former powers, he could do that for each and every human but in order to have those powers back he would have too return to Altandia, his home. The humans didn't want that because he could betray them to his fellow Shadow Angels.
Apollonius knew that the longer he was away from his home, the weaker he became. His powers had started to fade soon after he joined forces with the humans. Celiane seemed to be the only to notice his weakening state. His red hair lost its luster and he became pale. She worried for him.
A faint touch on his arm, pulled him out of his revelry. He looked down at Celiane and knew that she worried him for him still. He slowly lowered himself to ground. Her eyes widened when she realized what he was doing. She knew how much he detested touching the Earth. As soon as his feet touched down, he visibly shivered as if as a chill had threw him. Celiane never truly knew why touching the ground affected him so but he knew why. It was because he was not of the earth's womb; he was a stranger and the earth tried its hardest to be rid of him. But millenia of abuse from the humans, her own children, caused her power to diminish and all she could do was cause him to tremble. Celiane often asked him what the cause of his trembling was but he would never be able to explain it to her.
Apollonius and Celiane silently held each other. She, a mortal woman who did her best to protect her people, and he, a fallen Shadow Angel who had wreaked havoc on the humans for centuries, watched the sun set together and Apollonius couldn't help but feel that this might be one of the last times he ever felt the warm rays of the sun. Night was approaching and it was to be a cold one.
I just might continue this. I don't know yet. I've always thought that Celiane and Apollonius got the short end of the stick in the anime. I wanted to see more of them in the anime than Apollo and Sylvia. Please tell me what you think.