AN: Based on the songs "The Finite Magician" and "Unfading Flower" by Niwatori-P. If you haven't heard them yet, Youtube them! They're both really nice (and bittersweet) songs.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the clothes on my back... and my laptop.
Both the Magician and the Doll are Kaito, but they weren't given names in the original songs, so I didn't name them.
Also, I know some of this is probably contradictory and don't make sense. But, well... life doesn't make sense, SO THERE. -brick'd- And, sorry that the ending is a bit rushed; I kinda ran out of writing fuel. D8;;
At the edge of the world, there lives a Magician who seeks infinity.
He does not truly remember when it began, but it has and anything beyond that is unimportant.
And, although he does not remember when he decides, he does remember when he creates the Doll. Strangely, it is probably the clearest memory that he has. So clear, in fact, that he doubts that he will ever forget it, even if he never reaches the infinity that he so desperately longs for.
The Magician creates the Doll so that it would help him on his quest for infinity. Ironically, it is exactly the Doll that makes him realize that infinity might very well be impossible.
It is because of the doll that he realizes that he himself is a "finite" being.
Ah, but, "Such is the way of the world," he says, with surprising callousness.
He finds that he does not understand the Doll in the least, even though he is the one that created it.
It had been based on his own self, yet it is not like him at all.
It is so earnest and innocent that the Magician does not know whether to be grateful or infuriated. (Actually, nowadays, he is not sure of much of anything anymore.)
"Is anything the matter, Master?" the Doll asks, clear concern lacing its voice.
Feeling an unusual twinge of annoyancce, he does not answer.
"Master?"
The Magician suddenly smiles, one full of a dark cynicism. "Do you know the legend about a flower that never fades?"
It shakes its head.
"Well, it has been said that a long, long time ago a seven-colored flower was planted. And, it is said that, to this day, that flower still continues to bloom somewhere in this world." The words are said in a tone of ambivalence. The Magician knows that the myth is false, but a sudden, uncharacteristic anger has seized him, and he wishes to cause some anxiety to the Doll so that it would stop bothering him.
"Do you wish for that flower, Master?"
The Magician laughs. "Doesn't everyone wish for something that could continue infinitely so that they themselves might be closer to infinity?"
The Doll tilts its head. "Then, I shall go and bring it back for you, Master."
He waves off the declaration. "That would be quite stupid of you," because such a flower does not exist.
"Even so."
"Flowers are beautiful because they will eventually fade away," the Magician tells the Doll.
"Even so," the Doll answers, "even so."
Without heeding the warnings of its master, the Doll leaves on a quest for the flower that never fades.
Even now, the Doll's words continue to ring in the Magician's ears.
"Even so, I wish for you to smile, Master."
Even the Doll is "finite", the Magician realizes.
Even the Doll can fade away.
There is no infinity.
He is "finite", the Doll is "finite", and even the world is "finite".
But, the Doll does not realize that yet.
And, when it does, it will be...
"Things like Eternity are beautiful because they don't exist," he had once said.
But, now he begins to question the truth of those words.
Infinity and eternity are not the same.
It takes the Magician a long while to realize this, to accept this.
Just because infinity does not exist does not mean that eternity is also nonexistent. Even if infinity cannot be obtained, eternity is another matter entirely.
"Can I obtain eternity?" the Magician now asks himself.
And, he discovers that he already knows the answer.
"Not alone."
The Doll will soon return, he believes.
So, he waits.
And then, together, the Magician and the Doll will finally be able to obtain...
an eternity