Note: Post-AOS, say about 3 years. Continuing on from the "Best Ending"
Scenario. I'm assuming that Soma was 16 in AOS.
**************************************************************************** *********
The chill-bone hue of the moonlight glowed softly upon the cobblestone; it was so late that anyone still outside had nothing but mischief on their minds. The shrill whistling wind ripped withered leaves from the branches, causing them to dance about the lone figure almost ritual-like, as stray dogs barked and bawled in the otherwise still night. The scent of dew- dropped grass and moonflowers made the air pungent and heavy.
The man seemed immune to the frigid autumn air as he prowled the streets; Shadows stretching out to welcome him with a cold comforting embrace, whispering in his ears of the endless sins of humanity, without prejudice or judgment placed upon the silent words. His dark eyes gleamed brightly as they locked upon a shivering petite creature resting against the lamppost.
As soundless as death he loomed over the hapless person, looking upon her with smoldering, hungry eyes.
The young girl gave a startled gasp as her large doe-like eyes grew large with surprise and dismay. She was shivering in the black cut-off and dark blue low-rise short shorts that barely covered her at all. It was clear by her unsuitable dress for the season, and the late hour she was out that she was a lady of the night, probably a poor runaway that was picked up by the wrong type of man and was forced to work for him to repay the 'debt'. Her stance-shoulders hunched, arms across her soft cleavage, and standing in a manner that one knee crossed over another-give hints that perhaps she was a virgin, that this was her first night out. Though one would suspect her extreme twitching, jittery manner was not just nerves-perhaps that certain man already gotten her addicted to whatever drug he has?
Fallen Angel or Hapless Victim, it didn't manner to the stalker as he circled her, purring like a panther with her cubs, as he traced a finger down her jawline, her olive skin quivered under the touch, gooseflesh appearing on her. Then the man whisper low, his voice husky and dark that he will take her away from the filth of the streets, he would take to where such a petite and pretty young creature would be appreciated.
His smirk grew into a wicked grin as she relaxed and leaned into her touch, liquid eyes slipping close, completely exposed and vulnerable to him. Her rose lips parted in a soft sigh as she raised her head, dark tresses tumbling down to expose her swan-like, unblemished throat. He leaned down, as if to give worship to the beautiful, dew-kissed flesh.
Blood rose to the surface as she jerked, her bee-sting lips opening in a scream....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"AH!" The youth bolted awake, his Sapphire eyes opened in an expression of horror of recognition and dread. He glanced over to the clock, the bright digital numbers reading 11:22 in a flashing pattern.
"Oh just great, not only a nightmare, but the power went out... Was it a natural outage? Or did I do something in my sleep to cause it?" He ruminated aloud, as he ran sweat-soaked palms through his short snowy hair, trying to steady his vital signs. Since about three years ago, he always suspected the strange occurrences that now frequent his life was somehow the doing of the more unsavory aspect of himself.
After a few minutes, Soma Cruz slipped out of bed, his black pajamas clinging to his androgynous frame as he wondered around the house, thinking over the dream. It was so vivid, he could almost tasted the blood of that girl upon his lips, and the warmth of her body.
Did it happen? Did he somehow change while he was asleep and attacked her? Or was it stress of College Life and his "Dark Self" giving him these nightmares to torment him even further? Perhaps he should check the news just in case.
"Of all things, why am I getting it now? I need all the sleep I can get." Soma bemoaned the fact as he quickly popped into the dorm study room to steal a cup of over-brewed campus coffee. After he got back with the questionable liquid, he plopped on the couch that some of his companions (He can't really call them friends) had nicknamed the "Concrete slab", and thanked himself a million times for resisting the urge to share a room.
He smiled slightly as he found the TV still worked as he turned to the local news station, reading the time on it: 3:45, and the caption about the latest gaffe of the Japanese Parliament.
Well, it's too late to get back to sleep... he thought to himself, only half listening to the report as he practically gulped down the steaming cup. He reached for the small fridge, looking inside to see if he needs to throw away anything after that brief outage, and what he could eat.
"I think I'll spoil myself," He talked to himself (A bad habit he picked up about three years ago that he hasn't really gotten the heart to break) as he decided on what to have this morning. The-white haired young man pulled out the package of bacon, the egg carton, and milk from the refrigerator, closing it with his foot, placing the contents on the counter. After that, he took a bag of pancake mix from the cupboard, pouring the eggs, powder, and milk together, and finally throwing the bacon and two eggs on the stove.
"Five... Four... Three... Two...--" He counted, waiting from the inevitable at this time of night.
"Heya there Cross, Hmmm... Bacon, Scrambled eggs, and pancakes, you really know how to spoil someone." A cheerful male voice caroled as the door was flung open (Faulty door locks rarely work anymore, and the Staff/Soma was too lazy to replace it), as a slender redheaded youth with gray eyes and dark leather clothing barged in. "Mind if I come in?"
"Please, it's Cruz, not Cross, Benji, and why bother asking if you barge in everyday any ways? And by the way, you're right on time." The pale young man groaned. This was nearly a nightly ritual, since Benji would just come in from Night Classes, and Soma always been a morning person, but lately, he's been waking at hours that even he found ungodly. So according to Benji, it means he has the right to "Share" food with him. Some nights it was annoying as hell, on other nights it was actually nice to share company since Mina was still at the Shrine.
"You look like hell, Cruz, what happened?" Benji cocked his head, peering up at the taller boy as he watched the bacon sizzled and curled up.
"... Nightmares, lots of them, so vivid that I thought it was real at first." He grumbled, as he poured the batter into another pan.
"Damn, go see a Doc about it." Benji scratched his ear, shaking his head.
"I doubt one could handle my situation." Soma replied more curtly then he intended. And if I try, they'll put me into an asylum... He thought to himself as he flipped the flapjack over.
"Can you tell me what they are about? Maybe just talking about it helps?" The redhead questioned as he stole the first pancake, taking butter and syrup from the fridge to fix it up.
"No... I can't, it's... Personal, and hard to explain... look... just forget I mentioned it, okay?" He hissed, then sighed softly. "Sorry, I've just been very stressed." Soma rubbed his temple, his dark brows furrowed together in thought, as he scooted the eggs across the hot skillet, watching them become yellow and fluffy.
"You sure? Maybe if it's too personal, you should write it down, or talk to someone you trust deeply about it?" The college sophomore asked with some concern, as he eyed the served bacon with greedy eyes. "If its bugging you this much, I doubt it's gonna go away." He stated as he nabbed half of the bacon and the eggs with a fork he took from Soma's cupboard.
"Maybe I will, I just don't know who...." He trailed off, for once not yelling at Benji for stealing food. "So... What is going on?" He started awkwardly; he never really initiated a conversation with the daily intruder before, just always letting him control the subjects. He gathered what food was left and slide into the chair.
"Well, There was a power-outage in the dorm, guess you were probably asleep, If it weren't for the emergency back-up of word, I would've lost a good third of my law thesis, it lasted only about a half-hour or so. Oh, I heard those Frats had to evacuate their houses because of a rat infestation, remember, last month it was worms! It's really pathetic, isn't it?" He chortled as he pictured those brave, strong jocks feeling in terror from little earthworms.
"Oh...." Soma blanched at the news; it was another thing that he always suspected was his fault, almost every month it seems that the Fraternity houses often suffer from vermin infestations of one type or another. Of course he never did ask if it had happened before he moved onto campus, but he had a sneaking suspicion that the answer was no.
"What's wrong, Cruz, shouldn't you be happy, after all isn't most of those creeps who pick on you are from those Fraternities?" He spoke between bites, savoring every taste.
"They could get sick... Oh, I better get dressed and into class, so I'm afraid you have to go... right... now...." The snow-hair man rose to his feet, 'helping' the night owl up and out the door rather forcibly, not wanting to talk about it any further.
"Jesus Christ! You could just say you want me to leave!" The redhead yelped as the door slammed shut. "He needs to work on his manners...." He muttered to himself as he walked back to his room.
"Sorry, but I don't want to talk about it." Soma told himself as he pulled out a blue long-sleeve shirt, black jeans, and that white duster of his that he never found the heart to part with, despite the faint traces of blood and god-knows-what-else that seems like only he could see. "I can't believe it hasn't even gotten ripped considering the hell I've been through." He pondered out loud as he stripped himself of his pajamas, pausing to look at his body in the mirror.
He had let his moon-pale hair grow out to just below his shoulders, the slightly wavy locks framing his slender face, his midnight blue eyes has dark circles around them, which contrast sharply with his smooth, ivory skin. He scowled slightly, the hand resting on the mirror slowly clenching into a tight fist; his eyes squeezed shut as he felt disgust rising up in his throat upon seeing the scars upon his body. Those poison-irritated claw marks of the Skull Millione, the deep gash from the Final Guard, the numerous, puncture wounds from the talons of the harpies, and other shallow injuries that have all but completely disappeared. To him, they were disgusting; proof he doesn't want that what he has been through wasn't just a horrific nightmare.
With that, Soma jerked away, turning his back against the mirror, shoving his slender legs into the pants, and pulled them up. He had thrown the shirt on just as quickly, and returned to the table to finish his food. Unlike what he said, he did have an extra two hours before he had to walk to class.
The foreigner ruminated about his life as he paced the room, at one point he went to see if he could finish the term paper on the psychological purpose of mythological monsters, but his mind was too far away in distance and time to really think on it. He stood transfixed at the sinking moon, fingers tracing the form of the elm branches cradling the celestial object... it seems that if he looked hard enough, he could see the form of...
"SHIT!" He flew away from the window, and nearly knocked himself on his back. "Damn, God-damn... You are not seeing monsters Soma, monsters exist only in the Demon Castle, and that's gone now, remember? So you better stop looking for monsters, okay? Okay." The near-albino groaned to himself as he steadied himself, closing the blinds, shutting out the mesmerizing moon.
"Moon watching leads to lunacy, quit it." He muttered low to himself as he shuffled through his textbooks, reading books, and resource materials, trying to keep himself in the now, as he continued to have a conversation with himself, for the same reason. "Gods, look at all these, Lovecraft, Rice, King, Stoker, Tsukiyaroo, Arashi. Fuck, I try to close that part of me, but even in these minor details, I find I am opening myself to it. What the hell am I going to do?" He scowled, throwing the boxes into a cardboard box, and planned to call the second-hand store first thing after class.
"What the hell am I going to do?" He cursed and muttered to himself as he decided to leave early, and slammed the door behind him, not caring if he woke anyone up, too lost in his thoughts to notice the lack of humanity around him, nor the Sylphs playing mischief with the russet-toned leaves.
He just wanted to be a normal introverted, sexually questionable, psyche major, college student. God, was it too much to ask?!
Evidently, it is... He thought that self-supplied answer bitterly to himself as he stopped in front of Professor Hekate Thanatos' lecture room; he looked over the name and numbers of it without really reading it. Then he sighed as he knocked on the door, and then entered, thinking it would be a long day.
He didn't know just how long it would just be for him.
**************************************************************************** ********** I think everyone talks to themselves when alone, and the last two names on the list are completely made it, if they actually belong to any authors, it is pure chance.
Standard disclaimer here, folks, no sue, okay?
Brownie points to anyone who spot the secret in the fic!
**************************************************************************** *********
The chill-bone hue of the moonlight glowed softly upon the cobblestone; it was so late that anyone still outside had nothing but mischief on their minds. The shrill whistling wind ripped withered leaves from the branches, causing them to dance about the lone figure almost ritual-like, as stray dogs barked and bawled in the otherwise still night. The scent of dew- dropped grass and moonflowers made the air pungent and heavy.
The man seemed immune to the frigid autumn air as he prowled the streets; Shadows stretching out to welcome him with a cold comforting embrace, whispering in his ears of the endless sins of humanity, without prejudice or judgment placed upon the silent words. His dark eyes gleamed brightly as they locked upon a shivering petite creature resting against the lamppost.
As soundless as death he loomed over the hapless person, looking upon her with smoldering, hungry eyes.
The young girl gave a startled gasp as her large doe-like eyes grew large with surprise and dismay. She was shivering in the black cut-off and dark blue low-rise short shorts that barely covered her at all. It was clear by her unsuitable dress for the season, and the late hour she was out that she was a lady of the night, probably a poor runaway that was picked up by the wrong type of man and was forced to work for him to repay the 'debt'. Her stance-shoulders hunched, arms across her soft cleavage, and standing in a manner that one knee crossed over another-give hints that perhaps she was a virgin, that this was her first night out. Though one would suspect her extreme twitching, jittery manner was not just nerves-perhaps that certain man already gotten her addicted to whatever drug he has?
Fallen Angel or Hapless Victim, it didn't manner to the stalker as he circled her, purring like a panther with her cubs, as he traced a finger down her jawline, her olive skin quivered under the touch, gooseflesh appearing on her. Then the man whisper low, his voice husky and dark that he will take her away from the filth of the streets, he would take to where such a petite and pretty young creature would be appreciated.
His smirk grew into a wicked grin as she relaxed and leaned into her touch, liquid eyes slipping close, completely exposed and vulnerable to him. Her rose lips parted in a soft sigh as she raised her head, dark tresses tumbling down to expose her swan-like, unblemished throat. He leaned down, as if to give worship to the beautiful, dew-kissed flesh.
Blood rose to the surface as she jerked, her bee-sting lips opening in a scream....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
"AH!" The youth bolted awake, his Sapphire eyes opened in an expression of horror of recognition and dread. He glanced over to the clock, the bright digital numbers reading 11:22 in a flashing pattern.
"Oh just great, not only a nightmare, but the power went out... Was it a natural outage? Or did I do something in my sleep to cause it?" He ruminated aloud, as he ran sweat-soaked palms through his short snowy hair, trying to steady his vital signs. Since about three years ago, he always suspected the strange occurrences that now frequent his life was somehow the doing of the more unsavory aspect of himself.
After a few minutes, Soma Cruz slipped out of bed, his black pajamas clinging to his androgynous frame as he wondered around the house, thinking over the dream. It was so vivid, he could almost tasted the blood of that girl upon his lips, and the warmth of her body.
Did it happen? Did he somehow change while he was asleep and attacked her? Or was it stress of College Life and his "Dark Self" giving him these nightmares to torment him even further? Perhaps he should check the news just in case.
"Of all things, why am I getting it now? I need all the sleep I can get." Soma bemoaned the fact as he quickly popped into the dorm study room to steal a cup of over-brewed campus coffee. After he got back with the questionable liquid, he plopped on the couch that some of his companions (He can't really call them friends) had nicknamed the "Concrete slab", and thanked himself a million times for resisting the urge to share a room.
He smiled slightly as he found the TV still worked as he turned to the local news station, reading the time on it: 3:45, and the caption about the latest gaffe of the Japanese Parliament.
Well, it's too late to get back to sleep... he thought to himself, only half listening to the report as he practically gulped down the steaming cup. He reached for the small fridge, looking inside to see if he needs to throw away anything after that brief outage, and what he could eat.
"I think I'll spoil myself," He talked to himself (A bad habit he picked up about three years ago that he hasn't really gotten the heart to break) as he decided on what to have this morning. The-white haired young man pulled out the package of bacon, the egg carton, and milk from the refrigerator, closing it with his foot, placing the contents on the counter. After that, he took a bag of pancake mix from the cupboard, pouring the eggs, powder, and milk together, and finally throwing the bacon and two eggs on the stove.
"Five... Four... Three... Two...--" He counted, waiting from the inevitable at this time of night.
"Heya there Cross, Hmmm... Bacon, Scrambled eggs, and pancakes, you really know how to spoil someone." A cheerful male voice caroled as the door was flung open (Faulty door locks rarely work anymore, and the Staff/Soma was too lazy to replace it), as a slender redheaded youth with gray eyes and dark leather clothing barged in. "Mind if I come in?"
"Please, it's Cruz, not Cross, Benji, and why bother asking if you barge in everyday any ways? And by the way, you're right on time." The pale young man groaned. This was nearly a nightly ritual, since Benji would just come in from Night Classes, and Soma always been a morning person, but lately, he's been waking at hours that even he found ungodly. So according to Benji, it means he has the right to "Share" food with him. Some nights it was annoying as hell, on other nights it was actually nice to share company since Mina was still at the Shrine.
"You look like hell, Cruz, what happened?" Benji cocked his head, peering up at the taller boy as he watched the bacon sizzled and curled up.
"... Nightmares, lots of them, so vivid that I thought it was real at first." He grumbled, as he poured the batter into another pan.
"Damn, go see a Doc about it." Benji scratched his ear, shaking his head.
"I doubt one could handle my situation." Soma replied more curtly then he intended. And if I try, they'll put me into an asylum... He thought to himself as he flipped the flapjack over.
"Can you tell me what they are about? Maybe just talking about it helps?" The redhead questioned as he stole the first pancake, taking butter and syrup from the fridge to fix it up.
"No... I can't, it's... Personal, and hard to explain... look... just forget I mentioned it, okay?" He hissed, then sighed softly. "Sorry, I've just been very stressed." Soma rubbed his temple, his dark brows furrowed together in thought, as he scooted the eggs across the hot skillet, watching them become yellow and fluffy.
"You sure? Maybe if it's too personal, you should write it down, or talk to someone you trust deeply about it?" The college sophomore asked with some concern, as he eyed the served bacon with greedy eyes. "If its bugging you this much, I doubt it's gonna go away." He stated as he nabbed half of the bacon and the eggs with a fork he took from Soma's cupboard.
"Maybe I will, I just don't know who...." He trailed off, for once not yelling at Benji for stealing food. "So... What is going on?" He started awkwardly; he never really initiated a conversation with the daily intruder before, just always letting him control the subjects. He gathered what food was left and slide into the chair.
"Well, There was a power-outage in the dorm, guess you were probably asleep, If it weren't for the emergency back-up of word, I would've lost a good third of my law thesis, it lasted only about a half-hour or so. Oh, I heard those Frats had to evacuate their houses because of a rat infestation, remember, last month it was worms! It's really pathetic, isn't it?" He chortled as he pictured those brave, strong jocks feeling in terror from little earthworms.
"Oh...." Soma blanched at the news; it was another thing that he always suspected was his fault, almost every month it seems that the Fraternity houses often suffer from vermin infestations of one type or another. Of course he never did ask if it had happened before he moved onto campus, but he had a sneaking suspicion that the answer was no.
"What's wrong, Cruz, shouldn't you be happy, after all isn't most of those creeps who pick on you are from those Fraternities?" He spoke between bites, savoring every taste.
"They could get sick... Oh, I better get dressed and into class, so I'm afraid you have to go... right... now...." The snow-hair man rose to his feet, 'helping' the night owl up and out the door rather forcibly, not wanting to talk about it any further.
"Jesus Christ! You could just say you want me to leave!" The redhead yelped as the door slammed shut. "He needs to work on his manners...." He muttered to himself as he walked back to his room.
"Sorry, but I don't want to talk about it." Soma told himself as he pulled out a blue long-sleeve shirt, black jeans, and that white duster of his that he never found the heart to part with, despite the faint traces of blood and god-knows-what-else that seems like only he could see. "I can't believe it hasn't even gotten ripped considering the hell I've been through." He pondered out loud as he stripped himself of his pajamas, pausing to look at his body in the mirror.
He had let his moon-pale hair grow out to just below his shoulders, the slightly wavy locks framing his slender face, his midnight blue eyes has dark circles around them, which contrast sharply with his smooth, ivory skin. He scowled slightly, the hand resting on the mirror slowly clenching into a tight fist; his eyes squeezed shut as he felt disgust rising up in his throat upon seeing the scars upon his body. Those poison-irritated claw marks of the Skull Millione, the deep gash from the Final Guard, the numerous, puncture wounds from the talons of the harpies, and other shallow injuries that have all but completely disappeared. To him, they were disgusting; proof he doesn't want that what he has been through wasn't just a horrific nightmare.
With that, Soma jerked away, turning his back against the mirror, shoving his slender legs into the pants, and pulled them up. He had thrown the shirt on just as quickly, and returned to the table to finish his food. Unlike what he said, he did have an extra two hours before he had to walk to class.
The foreigner ruminated about his life as he paced the room, at one point he went to see if he could finish the term paper on the psychological purpose of mythological monsters, but his mind was too far away in distance and time to really think on it. He stood transfixed at the sinking moon, fingers tracing the form of the elm branches cradling the celestial object... it seems that if he looked hard enough, he could see the form of...
"SHIT!" He flew away from the window, and nearly knocked himself on his back. "Damn, God-damn... You are not seeing monsters Soma, monsters exist only in the Demon Castle, and that's gone now, remember? So you better stop looking for monsters, okay? Okay." The near-albino groaned to himself as he steadied himself, closing the blinds, shutting out the mesmerizing moon.
"Moon watching leads to lunacy, quit it." He muttered low to himself as he shuffled through his textbooks, reading books, and resource materials, trying to keep himself in the now, as he continued to have a conversation with himself, for the same reason. "Gods, look at all these, Lovecraft, Rice, King, Stoker, Tsukiyaroo, Arashi. Fuck, I try to close that part of me, but even in these minor details, I find I am opening myself to it. What the hell am I going to do?" He scowled, throwing the boxes into a cardboard box, and planned to call the second-hand store first thing after class.
"What the hell am I going to do?" He cursed and muttered to himself as he decided to leave early, and slammed the door behind him, not caring if he woke anyone up, too lost in his thoughts to notice the lack of humanity around him, nor the Sylphs playing mischief with the russet-toned leaves.
He just wanted to be a normal introverted, sexually questionable, psyche major, college student. God, was it too much to ask?!
Evidently, it is... He thought that self-supplied answer bitterly to himself as he stopped in front of Professor Hekate Thanatos' lecture room; he looked over the name and numbers of it without really reading it. Then he sighed as he knocked on the door, and then entered, thinking it would be a long day.
He didn't know just how long it would just be for him.
**************************************************************************** ********** I think everyone talks to themselves when alone, and the last two names on the list are completely made it, if they actually belong to any authors, it is pure chance.
Standard disclaimer here, folks, no sue, okay?
Brownie points to anyone who spot the secret in the fic!