Fandom: Spiral Suiri no Kizuna

Title: The Man in the High Castle

Author: Syra X

Theme(s): #27 Pride; High and Mighty

Pairing/Characters: KanonexEyes

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Spiral does not belong to me

Summary: Kanone is a proud man.

A/N: This is a bit experimental for me; new fandom, new pairing, new style of writing, I guess. The grammar's a bit iffy, but I wrote this on little sleep late at night. >> Anyway, this was for the 30smiles comm. on livejournal, (I got KanoneEyes! Yay) so there will be more stories for those two.

Also, 'The Man in the High Castle' is the name of a Spiral ep. (second to last) That trend may continue, it may not,

-x-

If there was anyone who was born to be in power, it was Kanone. He was a proud man, one who was so set in his own ways that he could not acknowledge any other path. Eyes thought it was quite simpleminded to believe that their paths never crossed, because they did. Both of their philosophies rested on the key point that they were cursed. They just had different approaches to that curse- that was all. But that alone had angered Kanone; he hated being usurped. Kiyotaka Narumi, who had also been born to have power, but of a kinder, more benevolent kind, had taught Eyes and Rio and Ryoko and Kousuke what hope was. And Kanone hated hope.

Kanone lived in a high castle, and he looked down from his barred windows at those who dared to hope. Eyes marveled at how dangerous Kanone was up there, how cruel he was behind his smile. It was a fake smile that didn't mean anything to anyone. Except to Eyes. Kanone smiled at Eyes sometimes, a smile that softened his face and made Eyes forget for a moment that the other boy could bury six inches of metal in him in the blink of an eye. Eyes was special to Kanone; he wanted to keep the white-haired pianist in the castle with him, his Rapunzel of ivory keys and hair and eyes so blue that they hurt.

But Kiyotaka Narumi came and played the prince and Kanone didn't smile like that anymore. He was all pointed edges and betrayals and thinly veiled jealousy. Of course Eyes missed him, more than he would have voiced if they had all the time in the world. But they didn't have all the time and Kanone and Eyes would never be able to fix their haphazard fairy tale. They wanted a fairy tale where the wicked witch vanquished the prince and carried Rapunzel to a place they could both endure and they had an almost-happily ever after. But Kanone was too proud to acknowledge what he had lost, and even Eyes, his Eyes, could not make him see. Because Eyes belonged to Kanone, through and through, even if he could only glimpse him through that distant window.

Of course, Eyes knew that Kanone had fallen. That he had dared to hope and had lost to the knight in shining armor with the irises in his arms. It was not just that he had lost, but that he had lost Eyes. So he climbed back into his tower and swore never to open the door again, even if Eyes was there, begging to be let in. Eyes would never beg, though, he would request one thing with a face made of stone and a heart that wasn't. All he wanted was a smile, a real one, so that his last memory of Kanone would be gentle and soft and vulnerable like only Eyes knew.

Kanone never gave him that smile, because Eyes never asked in the first place. Fairytales don't end like that; Rapunzel rides off into the sunset with her prince, having thwarted the wicked witch once and for all. It doesn't matter if she wants to go back or if the wicked witch is in love or if the prince is simply carrying Rapunzel to another castle.

They wouldn't have ever worked out, anyway. Eyes was too silent and brooding and Kanone was angry and confrontational underneath his razorblade happiness. They were too in love not to be a tragic story. Cursed children never get happy endings or rainbows or smiles that they don't have to guard. They aren't allowed to write their own fairy tale, because no one is. The plot is fixed, only the casting ever changes.

And each time, the prince wins his princess.