The Death of Eagle Vision in Three Movements

"I never felt true love until I was with you, and I never felt true sadness until you left me." – Anonymous

As far as anyone was concerned, the life of Eagle Vision was a lie.

Ever since he had been told of his awful fate of falling into a deep slumber, everything associated with him vanished. His eyes closed for a final time, and a once-great-gem of the Autozam Empire became nothing more than a shadow of the real Eagle, who's soul had died a long ago.

The Great Guru Clef would visit Eagle every day after his sleep commenced. He would listen to his thoughts. He would feel his pulse. He would follow the hollow wavering of his breaths, slowly inhaling and exhaling. All signs were wrong, and everyone knew. Including Eagle himself, who was even too distant from the real world to worry about what was to come.

Everyone knew that Eagle was destined to sleep eternally. Everyone, that is, except Hikaru. The young warrior had worked so hard to save Eagle's life once before, and she was the piece of dignity that kept him attached to his previous life. Alas, the young girl was too naïve to understand the reality of the situation, and too fragile to face another death.

Every day, Hikaru would enter the world she had found by accident long ago. She climbed through the marble hallways, only coming with the intent of talking to Eagle.

"How is he?" she would ask Guru Clef.

"He's doing great," Clef lied. "He'll recover in no time," He would always try very hard to avoid looking into her crimson eyes, always filled with hope.

And then, she would enter the grand room and talk to Eagle, and Eagle would talk back. They chatted about their beautiful world, how nicely she was growing up, and the lovely lives all of his friends were leading.

"I want to keep you up to date," Hikaru explained to her friend, "so that when you finally wake up, you won't feel so lost."

Eagle thanked her deeply for sharing all the changes he was missing. And, much like the actions of all of her friends, everything he said to her was a lie as well… He knew he wasn't recovering at all, but as long as he could continue to hear her smile, he would have all he needed in life. The light that she offered to his darkness was all he needed to be happy.

And for years, Hikaru would visit Eagles shrine, telling him of her journeys and sending him her wishes. But as time went on, Hikaru's life changed so that she had other occupations to fill. Her visits became more and more rare, until one day, Eagle did not hear her voice at all. He did not mind, so to say. He felt her presence still in his heart.

"She'll visit tomorrow, I'm sure" he thought. "And when she does, we will have the greatest conversation over everything I have missed."

But she did not come the next day, or the day after that. Eagle waited patiently in his crystalline bed, waiting for her voice to comfort him again. But time wore on, and her voice did not reach his ears. The only voice he heard now was the voice from Clef, although his mutterings about Eagle's case worsening weren't the greetings he appreciated.

"I'll wait for her," He decided one night. "The next time I speak to anyone will be to her, and only her." And with that, he fell into a darker level of subconscious, only comforted by the beating of his heart.

"Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible." – Mother Teresa

Guru Clef walked into the hallway with a heavy heart. Eagle had been asleep for a long time now, and he had not shown any signs of waking up. Even worse, his patient had kept to himself with his thoughts. A dangerous move, the sage considered, because now Clef was forced to rely on a science that wasn't entirely accurate. Clef shook his aching head as he walked to the golden cot where Eagle slept, and checked his current situation. Clef coughed lightly to himself, disregarding an illness he had gained due to old age.

"Clef?" Eagle asked, his thoughts weak from the recent lack of communication.

Clef jumped at the sudden sign of life. After such a long time, Eagle has spoken. This could be great progress towards recovery, Clef concluded as he smiled brightly. "You gave me quite a scare, Eagle," he said, almost crying because of the joy he now felt. "I was almost sure that you were gone for good."

"Nope, still here. You can't get rid of me that easily," Eagle remarked, trying hard as possible to make the near truth seem like a mere joke. "I just haven't had much to say is all."

Clef chuckled. He noticed his good friend was not laughing along, and asked, "What's on your mind, Eagle?"

"I've been asleep for such a long time, I believe."

Clef nodded. "Forty years, to be exact."

"Has it really been that long?" Eagle said, almost amazed a person could lie dormant for such a period of time. Before Clef could respond, he continued, "What happened to all of our friends?"

Hesitantly, Clef answered. "Let me see… Fuu and Ferio have been married and raising a family here in Ciphero for at least thirty years. Our country is greener and more beautiful than ever… Umi's returned to Earth, fallen in love with a young human male… Alas, we haven't heard from her for a long while…"

"Yes, yes," Eagle responded impatiently. "What about Hikaru?"

Clef wanted to tell Eagle about the life Hikaru had lived; leading a noble cause beside the man she had fallen in love with. He wanted to shatter every false hope Eagle had felt because of the lies where she claimed he was her true love. He wanted to tell the sad truth: that the moment she found out he would not come back, she gave up her love for him and left him as the shadow everyone else ignored. Clef opened his mouth to tell his good friend the truth; but sweet relief never came. Instead came the sound of desperate breathing.

"Clef!" Eagle yelled, realizing what was happening. His only friend left was old, and showing that the years of tending to him, and not himself, would lead to his ultimate demise. Eagle yelled for Clef, grasping onto his last hope of communication with the outside world. "Clef, can you hear me?"

"I can," he said between staggered breaths. "But now… I must…"

"No, Clef! Don't leave me!" Eagle screamed. "You're the only one who can hear me now! You're the only person who cares about my survival, even when no one else would. Please, I need you now more than ever to survive! Please, don't go…"

But the old man could not hear his cries for help. Clef had fallen at the feet of Eagle's bed, now only a lifeless body that had once been his only hope for survival.

For the first time since his deep slumber began, Eagle felt that he was truly alone.

"Love is a hole in the heart." – Ben Hecht

Eagle slept on for many more years. His thoughts were said aloud all the time, hoping to have anyone respond. His words were never answered, except by the echoing within his own mind.

The body of Guru Clef slept peacefully at his feet. A long time ago, Eagle had tried to stand and move his friend to another place to lie, where he wouldn't have to decay on top of a slowly dying friend. Eagle's body would never reply to his pleas, and Clef was left as he was. Along the way, rodents started to climb atop the decaying body and gnaw at the sage, watching the sleeping man with their beady eyes, waiting patiently for his death to take him as well.

All the while, Eagle slept. He detached himself from the world completely, falling deeper and deeper into his own safe haven, where nothing could hurt him. He soon forgot about his dead friends, or the vines that slowly grew and caressed him. He forgot about the thoughts he had once shared, and even how to speak.

But he held on to a shred of his past: the piece of his life that had been touched by his friends. He remembered how everyone used comfort him, until they simply chose not to anymore.

"They're all dead now, I'm sure," Eagle thought to himself, almost laughing at the irony. He was the one who died a long time ago, and yet he was the only one left alive.

Eagle thought of Hikaru, the one who inexplicably disappeared last. He never knew why she left his side, but hoped it was because she had fallen in love with someone else. Being in love with a dead man was a dangerous hobby, after all.

The death of Eagle Vision of Autozam was stretched over the course of hundreds of years. The moment he died was not a mere second, but a lapse of time. And, unlike the deaths of all of his friends, he died peacefully and happily. He felt a warm light for the first time, and he chose to follow it without hesitation.

The hole in his heart, which he thought to have been empty the whole time, was finally filled with the light shone from his friends.

And thus, Eagle Vision's sleep concluded.

"Eventually, every heart dies." – Michelle Mace