Momento Mori

By: Jackie Almasy

--

"Hold onto me…"

The whisper came quickly and hoarsely. Yumemi's trembling form obeyed, wrapping her pale arms tightly around his chest. She could feel the semi-rough texture of his red shirt wave in the wind. The leather strap crossing up his chest rubbed against the base of her neck.

She could feel Munto's erratic heartbeat throb against his ribcage and hear his slightly shaky breath. As soon as her hands and nails were firmly anchored in the blazing red short, she felt one strong and slender arm wrap around her waist.

Whimpering slightly, Yumemi felt the hot wind of war blow over them. Her brown hair flowed in the wind, shiny strands glistening under the sun. Her dress ruffled against the howl of the air, the metallic echoing of war robots, magical spells, and sword clashing rippling through the sky.

Standing up straight, Munto looked around at the remains of the ship that had tried to take Yumemi. Once a large ship of the strongest metals known to the Heavenly Realm citizens, the spy unit for Guridori's armies was now reduced to nothing more than scrap.

His body still ached and shook slightly from the anger he had felt. Just a few minutes ago, Munto had been informed of Guridori's forces kidnapping Yumemi from the set of guards he had assigned to her. Without even thinking, the Magical King had run with all his might and speed for the spy unit that had been described. The vast numbers of enemies between Yumemi and him had not mattered.

Sheer anger and hatred had pulsed through his veins, ignoring the screams of his Generals to stop. His body had flown through the skies like a red dart, his eyes narrowed in the passing winds. Just seconds way from her, just long and agonizing away from the ship holding her.

As soon as the ship has come into sight, Munto has brought his arms to his chest and crossed them, clenching his fists. The air around him has begun to shake as his power grew, the hundred of tiny enemy robots darting towards him.

The haunting image of the young girl crying his name in a dark and unfamiliar place filled his mind.

"How dare they...!"

As his spell reached the critical point of getting out of control, the silent scream from his mind echoed through the infinite reaches of his unconscious. It gave wake to the power of his attack.

"YUMEMI!"

The assault had spread out around him in a 360 degree manner, disintegrating anything drastically close and horrible scaring anything else near.

Shaking himself out of memory, Munto's grip on Yumemi tightened. Kneeling down to push himself off and head back to the Magical Kingdom, he whispered one last sentence before putting all focus on the battle once more.

"Whatever you do, don't open your eyes and don't let go…"

Kicking off from the wreck of metal, Munto and Yumemi's form soared through the air. The awaiting forces of the Generals began appearing in the distance.

Turning his gaze to the right, the blazing blur of a long snake-like robot darted through the air towards them. The sunlight gleamed from the long scythe blades, causing Munto to squint his eyes. Bringing his hand up, the energies focused and launched a large red beam at the enemy robot. His eyes widened in shock as it was split in half mere seconds before colliding with them.

Yumemi's form shivered tremendously, whimpering openly as she could not stop the tears of far from falling. She buried her face more into his chest, not caring if she looked scared of weak at that moment.

Clutching her form tighter to him, Munto rolled his body in mid-flight, clenching his fist once again. Wincing, Munto's whole arm began shaking, using every ounce of strength left to focus the attack. As the growing ball of colliding energies gathered, another group of enemy soldiers rushed towards the Magical King and the human seer.

Holding in painful grunts, Munto suddenly let it all go, the air deathly silent before a huge explosion followed. Suddenly shoved backwards by the amount of force, Yumemi finally let out a scream of fear.

Bringing his free arm to cradle her head, Munto closed his eyes and curled his body around hers. The howling winds rushed passed their ears, and just as quick as they were launched backwards, Munto's form landed back first onto the ground.

Biting into his lower lip, Munto grunted and gasped heavily from his throat as his skin collided and ran along the stony ground. Cutting through his shirt fabric quickly, a small cry of pain escaped his mouth as his skin began being cut drastically. His clutch on the young psychic never ceased and slowly, his body stopped.

As she felt them stop, Yumemi opened her wide green eyes and leaned up. She witnessed the panting being below her and the realization of what had just happened dawned on her. Munto could have been hurt badly or worse, killed but still, he had come after her. He had protected and saved her.

Closing her eyes again, Yumemi gripped his open shirt once again and thrust her head down onto his chest. The tears of utter relief rolled down her cheeks, falling off and hitting Munto's bare skin.

"What are you crying for? You're fine."

Munto's grumpy and exhausted tone spoke up as he pushed his body up onto his arms. Looking down, his gaze of baffled and slightly annoyed feeling emitted.

"Because… Because Munto, you…,"

Snapping her head up quickly, Yumemi's eyes met Munto's. Gasping softly, Munto was shocked to see a genuinely scared and worried gaze staring back at him.

"You could have gotten hurt! Or worse, dead! You… You purposely put yourself in harm's way! For,"

Her flushed face looked down, a very light blush spreading along her cheeks.

"For me..."

Looking away, Munto remained silent. Slowly, he raised a hand and placed it on her head. His tone surprised Yumemi as it was calm.

"Don't cry Yumemi. It's okay. I'm fine, aren't I? Besides… we can't afford to lose you."

Shivering at his words, Yumemi smiled a small smile. Strangely, his words comforted her and soothed some of her fears. Leaning foreword, Yumemi wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his chest.

Ignoring the seething pain of the cuts on his back, Munto looked down at the girl and sighed in relief. Safe and out of harms way, he lifted an arm and wrapped it loosely around her own form. Closing his eyes half way, Munto allowed the girl to cry into him and let out her feelings of relief.

--

I know it isn't what I promised next for a one-shot but I needed to get this idea out of my system. I had been writing a paragraph here and there on all sorts of papers and homework. What finally pushed it was a music video I saw on Youtube. The music video was a tribute to the Yumemi/Munto pairing to the song "Sunlight" by Natalie Inbruglia. For those interested, I will leave a link to it on my profile.

As I return to my abyss of homework and project for upcoming finals in 3 weeks, the wait for Munto 3 gets even more intense. I don't know about you guys, but I have high hopes for it.

Till next time,

Jackie Almasy