Author: Death bride
Rating: K
Note: this story is supposed to begin when Leon Orcot and the count haven't been closed to each other yet. After the chapter "Daughter", to be clear. This is the world of dreams, where D questioned himself and Orcot about all things had happened.
Disclaim: PSOH doesn't belong to me, neither do its characters.
Ah, read and reply, please, 'cause this is the first time I write an English fanfic. And may be the last. This manga moves me so deeply that it makes me do something I'm usually not accustomed to do.
The first dream.
2.30 AM
2.30 am is always a magic moment. Even if you don't know, 2.30 am is always a magic moment. Respect the darkness, and slow down a bit at 2.30 am. If not, perhaps you will fall, fall forever into the silent storm of the dark silent city.
D woke up a 2.30 am. At first, he didn't know what to do. It was not the first time he suddenly woke up in the dead of night. Thousands of time before he had to leave his bed, or stay up all night, because of his shop, his animals or his duties. The most recent one was when this annoying detective called him at midnight, yelled into the phone about something D could not remember.
But this time was different. The count could feel it at once. The scent of the night had vanished. All his pets were silent. The count had an insecure feeling, as if time and spaces had chosen this very moment to twist. His red curtains, his books on the shelf, his Chinese robe…all gave him an "unreal" impression.
All looks exactly the way things had to be. Yet not.
Where was Q-chan? He was not here. D felt his throat so dry that he could not speak at all. Suddenly he realized how secure and peaceful this magical beings had always made him feel. Q-chan was always a truthworthy and faithful companion. Not like his grandpa, who spent all his time traveling throughout the world, not like his father, who…
Stop thinking about it. The young master of the pet shop ordered himself, like thousands of time he had done before.
Just simply stop thinking about it.
It was 2.30 am. . D closed his eyes in the bed for a long time. But when he opened his eyes again, it was still 2.30 am.
With a sigh, the young master left his bed, and after a period that was supposed to be 15 minutes, he had dressed up and opened the door.
No, it was still 2.30 am.
The streets were silent. Chinatown was silent. All the red lanterns had turned to dark. It was strange, Chinatown couldn't be silent, and neither could the human city. D knew.
The only thing moving in the street was the wind... As chilly as the sigh of a dying person. The only source of light was the moon. D looked at the cold and motionless moon hanging in the darkness. But tonight was not supposed to have moonlight. All Chinese knew.
"Good morning, my dear count D"
D turned his back. A point of light was floating behind him. Somebody was approaching, nearer and nearer. Coming from the darkness was a young woman. She dressed in black and held on her hand a glowing sleeping human baby. A black tiara was on her head. But from her voice, D could smell her smile. A mischief smile, like those D had thrown to his customers
Could she be some customer? But not, D knew that she was not. In fact, he could see there was something very inhuman in this young lady. Her steps didn't touch the street. The black lantern floating above her was not lit. And above all, it was her voice. She spoke with so light a voice, that it made you wonder if it was just your imagination or not.
"My dear count, if I were you, I would never come out of the shop at this time"
"I beg your pardon,"
"Oh, you don't need to be that polite…" She broke into a sudden laughter, so noisy that it made D feel uncomfortable. But the child was still sleeping.
And Q-chan was still nowhere to be found.
The black young lady stood before D. Her very existence raised in him a strong feeling of disgust. But the Chinese never told.
"In fact, we're neighbor, you see" The young lady continued with an especially high-pitched voice "I saw the rabbit you sold to that couples a few days ago..." She stopped, and when she spoke again, her voice broke into an uneasy high-pitched laughter "A very nice one, my dear count"
Q-chan was still nowhere to be found. D looked up to the moon. It was still motionless. Maybe it was not the moon at all.
D whispered to himself. Maybe it was not the moon at all. Just a stone lamp. Just a window on the stone sky, showing out the light from another world.
"Excuse me, count D. To have a chance to chat with you is very lucky, but something has to be done right now" The girl smiled again, D knew it. Maybe she smiled at him, too. D was not used to be smiled at. It was him who always did that to the customers. But this girl was not his customer, and clearly not more human than he was.
"I beg your pardon, but I haven't seen you in the neighborhood" D spoke silently, actually with no hope she would answer. There was something inside him telling D that this girl is not to be messed up with.
But that girl did answer. Again, D could feel her smile on him.
"Me? Oh, my count D. You must see that you have been too lucky not to meet me, too lucky not to be here…"
Where was Q-chan? A light suddenly set on D. Maybe Q-chan was still sleeping in the real world. Unfortunately, he was not here. Unfortunately, he could not be here. Unfortunately, he could not help D out of his own loneliness.
"Who're you? And where is this place?"
The question slipped through his lips before he had time to think about his manners.
"I am, count D, something similar to you" The girl silently spoke "And this place is the place no people should come. People. Or your races. You must have figured out already… how intelligent you are…"
She stopped to kiss onto the baby's fore head. The wind blew up the black tiara, and D could see in a moment a golden, beautiful eye.
"You see, it's not my intention to be here. And I don't know how to come back..."
"How is that rabbit? You know what will happen, right?" The girl asked. This question turned his smile into a cruel smirk.
The young lady nodded.
"Still you don't know where we are?"
They were in Chinatown, but this was not the real Chinatown. It was just the image of Chinatown. Duplication. Lonely and gloomy duplication.
"This is your heart, my dear count. And I am just like you. We are the shattered pieces of broken dreams"
The wind suddenly became stronger and stronger. Chinatown or the illusion of Chinatown melted into the dark. The tiara fled away, together with shattered hallucinations, and in her eyes, he saw the golden light of forgotten dreams.
"My job is to bring the dead children to their tombs" she said. "But this one cannot die. It's not allowed to die. It will have to suffer through its dreams. ..Do you feel like to look at it?"
No. D knew at once he'd rather not know. But he couldn't move. The darkness of his very dream tied his feet at the place. This girl moved forward. The baby suddenly opened his eyes and cried. But nobody would bother to answer. The baby's crying fell into the terrible silence of lost dreams. If only D could reach this human child with his hands and killed him, spared him forever from this cold and lonely world. But he could not. He could not touch the baby. His body became heavier and heavier untill it collapsed into the nightmare of the dark city.
When D opened his eyes the next morning, the sun was shining brilliantly over the noisy and colourful Chinatown and through his red windows.. There was nothing left of last night walk. Q-chan was next to him, sleeping in his bed. Maybe everything was just a dream.
The phone suddenly rang. But he didn't bother to pick up. It might be his customers, the detective, or even his father. Then it is silent again.
Anyway, he had to wake up. The time continue to flow. Never could he stand back like last night.
,,,And never could he tell anybody on earth, how in his lost dreams, he saw himself in the form of a dying human child.