J: You're not supposed to be publishing this, you know.
/yawn/ I couldn't resist the temptation! Each time I try to hold a story down, my brain screams at me to publish it. So...
Tenma: Wait, is this about me?
Yep. I don't own IE or any of its characters. They all belong to Level-5.
J: Remember to vote in her poll!
Lost Angel Ch.1
Matsukaze Tenma's POV
The dreams. They keep on coming. One moment, I'm a young child again, happily swinging my feet as my father carries me on his broad shoulders. I am naive but luckily know nothing of the dark.
Another moment, I'm a junior high student, excited about entering my dream school and playing soccer. Sad and confused when a navy-blue haired guy plays roughly and destroys the team of that school. He is like a dark knight in shining armor. He sneers tauntingly, the smugness fitting comfortably on his pale face. I can feel danger and power radiating from him. He hides his world of pain artfully under a cover of smirking masks and piercing words.
But his features keep on changing. They are shadowed with darkness and dappled with light, between the two worlds.
Next, I remember myself in a white hospital room. An orange-haired boy hides beside the bed, wanting so desperately to escape from his white prison and go to enjoy the fresh air from outside. He waves to me, signaling me not to make a single noise that would give his hiding place away.
His features are again hidden from me. A bright light shines from his face. He is warm and accepting, just like the sun. His carefree laughter lights the room up and brightens the world around him.
My mind shades them from me. I can't remember how they look like. All I know is that I miss them deeply in my heart. Even more than my parents.
The dark knight and the sunny boy. Who are they?
Suddenly, the dream shifts. I see the three of us, me, the dark knight and the sunny boy. We are standing in front of a pair of golden gates. Bright light shines from beyond them. The three of us reach out our hands. We try to pull open the tall doors.
Before any of us can manage it, a huge shadow casts over us. It picks us up, engulfing us in fire. I can only feel pain, fear and hopelessness. But I fear more for the other two boys. I try to join hands with them, but they are swept away mercilessly into the wave of heat and suffering.
I am falling, falling. Down, down into the dark. The beams of light fade. I am stuck at the very bottom of the abyss, unable to run.
Then the laughter starts. Horrible, cackling laughter. I cover my ears, but the sound tears through me. I am clawed apart by it. I feel sharp teeth sink into me. I am helpless, nothing I can do to help myself.
I see the two other boys. They are suffering like me.
I feel my own heart breaking, into a million pieces, crushed into bits, burnt into dust and ashes…
With a choked gasp, I awake from my dreams. Morning light is streaming from the gaps between the curtains and the window. I am sweating and crying, rivers of tears flowing down my cheeks.
Taking a deep breath, I wipe away my tears. Rising to open the curtains, I let the gentle light flood the room.
"Why?" my question resounds in the empty room. "Why that dream again?" I wonder aloud.
Nobody answers. Then, the door is flung open. A woman with short brown hair and warm eyes stands there. "Good morning, Tenma!" The lady smiles.
I give her a weak smile back. She's lucky she doesn't know. "Ohayou, Aki-nee." I call her the name that has been imprinted in my mind of fake memories.
"Come on, it's time for breakfast." Aki-nee inspects my bedroom. "Young man, you'd better clean this dump of a room up!" she exclaims. "What will your parents think when they come home tomorrow?" She fusses over me for a while.
I let her. She doesn't know that the life I'm living is a lie. Nobody knows.
When Aki-nee leaves the room to let me change my clothes, I take my shirt off, and spread my wings.
They are pure white, and at least the length of twice my arm span. I inspect them carefully. A few feathers are out of shape, ruffled lightly by sleep.
I pat them down. I've had these wings since I could remember. I really don't understand what kind of creature I am.
Remembering what I am supposed to do, I dress myself up. I put on a pair of pants and a t-shirt. Then, I raise an arm up and summon my other self.
He appears, wearing pajamas like I do and waits for my command. He always does that each time I call him. He is loyal and answers to me only. That is a huge comfort to me, to feel companionship.
"Go." I wave at him.
He blinks, standing there. "Where to, master?"
I shudder slightly. It feels queer to hear my own voice speaking to me. "Go wherever the programmed Matsukaze Tenma s supposed to go to."
My other self nods. "Hai!" he answers cheerily. Throwing on some clothes, he dashes out of the door.
I sigh and sit down on the floor. I don't know why I can summon my other self. He is the exaggerated version of me. More bright, happy, optimistic, cheerful than I am.
Dwelling in my thoughts, I take out the many leather-bound journals and dairies of my real parents.
From what I have already read, I have decided that it seems that I am not human. When I first saw my wings, about a few months ago, I thought that I was some sort of mutant. Mutated, but still human.
I am an Angel. One of the beings from Heaven. This is what I have guessed and concluded that from my parents' writings.
But I think that there is something seriously wrong with me.
In my parents' diaries, they mentioned the things Angels have in order to be a true Angel. A pair of wings, check. A human counterpart, or other self, check. But the last point: A clear map to the Gates of Heaven… missing.
I don't know how to get to Heaven, back to my real home. I'm lost. Stuck in the human world.
And that's not all of my troubles. All Angels are born with a soulmate. Most are of the opposite gender, but there have been cases in which the two soulmates have the same gender. Like my case.
My problem is that I can't remember who my soulmate is. We've met before, I think. He's either the dark knight or the sunny boy.
I'm not sure which of them is him. The love and attraction I feel for the both of them is equal. And it is my duty to find my way back to Heaven, to enter the tall gates of Heaven.
Flipping open one of the books, I start reading.
We have to find out what's wrong with Tenma. Maybe his tutor, Aphrodi can help. Tenma doesn't seem to remember them. They've met before, but when that Incident happened, he forgot everything.
Aphrodi-san told us to hide Tenma in the human world. He said that he'll be guiding Tenma back to us.
There's something else. Tenma's mental map of Heaven has been removed from his mind. No matter what, he can't find his way back without help. And helping a lost angel get back to Heaven is against the rules.
"Hmm…" I mutter. "The same old stuff."
Picking up another journal, I try to find information on how to regain my mental map.
Unsurprisingly, I can't flip through the pages and scan everything for information I want to know. The first time I tried to do it, the book slammed itself shut in my face.
The books have probably been locked with a spell. It can't possibly be the wind, can it?! Impossible.
Each day, I just send my other self out and stay in the room, reading the journals and learning more about my ancestry, the Angels. And there's this talk of a prophecy, about certain angels who have to go through numerous, unknown tasks to prove themselves worthy of the quest. Several have died trying, or gone insane, and only a few have been strong enough to come back in one piece. I pity them for getting tangled in the prophecy.
Suddenly, there is this strong gust of wind, swinging the window wide open.
The loud bang of the metal frame crashing onto the wall is enough to snap me out of my trance.
I look up, expecting to see someone, or something, there. This has happened often enough for me to know my own expectations.
"What?!" I exclaim loudly before I can stop myself. I can hear cursing and swearing from outside my window. And my room is located on the third floor. What…?
"Who's there?" I poke my head out of the window in great curiosity. "What are you?"
Then I gasp without even meaning to. I simply refuse to believe my eyes. There is a blonde guy outside my window. His long blond hair is a few inches above his waist, tied into a side ponytail. And his wings. Long and graceful. My jaw drops.
"Hello, Tenma." The Angel looks at me with his dark maroon eyes. "How are you today?"
And then, Tenma's world goes crashing down around him! Ta-da!
Tenma: You're mean... Why can't I remember-
Shh! It's for the smart readers to decide!
J: Well, duh, it's in the summary.
Review, please!
