I was inspired by the melody "Monster" by Detektivbyrån - I think it's perfect as a theme for Ros/Creasion.
This story takes place in the third arc of the manga and has hints of RosuAru - as usual, because I just ship them too much! I actually feel like Haruhara would have made RosuAru become canon in the end, if only Alba were a girl (judging from his other series, he supports het ships; but really, I don't know what to think)... Well, I will continue to ship them anyway! :)
Disclaimer: Senyuu and its characters belong to Robinson Haruhara, I only own my stories.
it's cold inside (or: the hero buried in snow)
[People need something to believe in; that's why heroes exist.]
Something cold and humid landed on the top of his nose, and he sneezed.
Still half-asleep, Ros forced himself to open his eyes and shifted his focus on the wall of the cave. He searched for the rusty blankets with his fingers, grabbed them and found that they were drenched. He suddenly felt very cold. Weird. The underground prison had always been a cold place, but the temperature had never gone past zero.
Again, something cold touched him – this time it was freezing and made him startle, totally awake, as it landed on his naked nape.
Ros sat quickly on the bed and gaped at the light, white snow that was softly falling from the ceiling even though they were underground. His eyes shifted immediately from the ceiling to Alba, who was bent over the table, apparently very busy in copying his notes from one copybook to another. In the dim light of the candles, his face looked very young, almost childish, but at a deeper look Ros could easily see dark circles under his brownish eyes. Every now and then, Alba looked up from his books to wipe the snow covering the top of the table, then returned to stare blankly at the pages.
Ros stood up in silence so that Alba wouldn't notice; he walked closer to the hero, leaning behind his back, just barely touching his right shoulder as he looked at the open book.
"What's the matter, yuusha-san? What's disturbing your little empty head this time?" he asked, seemingly bored, but with enough sarcasm to make Alba shudder.
"R-Ros…!" Alba looked up at him, noticed how close they were and immediately shifted his eyes. His cheeks were slightly flushed. "Uh, I mean, Sion? Did I wake you? I'm s-sorry…"
"Just Ros is fine, yuusha-san. How many times do I have to tell you? Are you deaf, or simply stupid?" Ros sighed and shook his head. "But that aside, I'm here to help you study, so you have to tell me if you don't get something."
"But you were the one who went to sleep…?" Alba argued, frowning, but he stopped at once when Ros sent him a lopsided smile which could easily mean 'I know' or 'I'm going to beat you up'.
"So, are you gonna explain to me why this room is full of snow, or what?" Ros said, crossing his arms on his chest. Alba tried to smile apologetically, but it ended in a grimace.
"I was trying something… a s-spell. But I think it was wrong." Alba mutteredas he flushed and looked away.
"Ah, you think?" Ros mocked him, making him blush even more.
"I could consider going away and leaving you here to freeze to death," Ros added, grinning at Alba's shocked expression, "but since I'm a really good person, I will help you solving this matter."
"Good person, as if" Alba muttered under his breathe, but Ros ignored him.
"You tend to focus on 'how to do something' too much. You don't have to think about that, just picture the result you want in your mind and go at it" he said.
"What?! You're telling me to do it myself?!"
"Think of it as a lesson," Ros smiled sheepishly. "After all, I even went out of my way to give you a tip. Don't waste it and do your best, yuusha-san." He sounded serious, but it was clear that he enjoyed seeing the hero in troubles – Alba knew him far too well not to know.
"Alright, alright" Alba said, realizing he didn't have any choice. He stood up, looked up at the ceiling and inhaled deeply to calm down; he closed his eyes for a moment and, when he opened them again, his left eye was colored with a glowing, bloody red. Staring at it, Ros couldn't help but shudder – even though it was something he should have been familiar with, he doubted he could ever accept it. He couldn't explain what he was feeling, but it seemed somewhat unfair that Alba had to become like that, like Creasion. The hero that was too strong to not be feared. The monster.
xxx
[1000 years before]
The first lights of the dawn flooded the dusty roads of the village. Because of the wind that had risen during the night, the flames were blown out of proportion in a few moments, destroying the villagers' habitations; only a rain of ashes and dust was left behind. The ones who survived the big fire had piled in a square – from above, from where Sion was observing them, they looked like poor, little ants that were driven out of their nest. They didn't have anything anymore. Everything had been destroyed, and Sion just knew that Rchimedes was behind it, because Rchimedes only seeked for destruction, suffering, cruelty. In that very moment, Rchimedes couldn't have gone very far, he never let himself too far away from Sion – he enjoyed playing cat and mouse too much and he always let Sion come near, only to run away just a few seconds before he could catch him. But this time could be the right time; perhaps, Sion's chance had finally come.
The hero quickly jumped down from the roof he was sitting on and looked around. In the very moment his feet touched the ground, the people who were staring at their houses burning finally noticed his existence and turned to stare at him. Sion knew what they were looking at. Everybody had already heard about the hero and the cruel demon he was searching for, and the light blue flame which glowed on Sion's head – the source of mana, the source of his magic powers- was sort of a signature itself.
Sion looked away as he felt the stupor and the fear surrounding him. He faced the houses, raised his hand and flicked his wrist slightly; that one gesture was enough to call the snow, which started falling from the sky, burying the fire under his enormous mass. Dark smoke raised to the clouds and the villagers started clapping their hands and muttering things Sion didn't want to hear. He quickly turned his back on them and ran away. Nobody dared to touch him, or speak to him. Sion ran away, and only when he stopped to breathe he noticed the snow was still falling. Everything was buried in a slightly disturbing silence, the temperature was falling rapidly and his breathe condensed in light, white clouds. Sion stared at the footprints that had been left on the snow and quietly pondered how human they looked, even though he was not: he was Creasion, now, the hero, the monster. He looked at his trembling hands and thought that this wasn't what he wanted.
It wasn't what he wanted at all.
xxx
As Alba pointed the palm of his left hand towards the ceiling, a light blue colored energy flowed from the tip of his fingers and the snow gradually stopped falling. The hero turned to Ros with a winning smile.
"Did you see that, Ros?! I did it!" he said, excited.
His smile quickly faded from his face, transforming in surprise and worry. He suddenly walked closer to Ros and hesitantly took his face between his hands, then he hugged him. Ros startled.
"What, are you that happy? Stop it, it's gross" Ros said, incredulous. He tried to push Alba away, without much strength nor conviction.
"Ros, you," Alba's soft voice shivered a little, "You look like you're going to cry..." Alba buried his face into the other's neck, with his cheeks and nape and ears completely flushed, and Ros started to feel incredibly embarrassed himself.
As he thought, he really didn't want Alba to be like Creasion. Alba was meant to be a hero, never a monster. It was just all so stupid.
"You're such an idiot, yuusha-san" Ros answered, but there was no biting at all. He lifted his arms and put them around Alba's waist, pulling him closer and settling the chin on his shoulder; Alba was warm, and warmth was all Ros needed now.
Finally the english scanlations have all been updated on the net, so you can easily read them and catch up with the story - I've read them all on batoto. I'm not sure how to relate with the fact that Senyuu has ended... That last arc was moving and also kind of mind-fucking, but all in all, I think Senyuu is reallt great. I wish it was more popular and it would get another anime season - I'm so sad it has ended, I don't even know :c
Well, I hope you liked the story. As usual, I'd love to hear your opinions!
Kisses,
nisha