-: Agnus Dei :-
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Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.
( "Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant us peace." )
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-: Chapter I :-
Darkness.
Powerful, overwhelming, swirling darkness.
It blinded her all-seeing eyes, engulfed her body with almost tender arms like a mother would do with a crying child. Honey-sweet, it lured the girl to come closer, promising her paradise after all that she had been through. It had been too much.
One step was hesitatingly set.
Another one.
And another.
As the soft crisping of dead leafs was heard under her bare feet, the soft trinkling of liquid came closer. Although she could not see it, for the moon had mysteriously disappeared into nothingness, the smell of cold, fresh-scenting water lingered around her; beckoning to approach.
She shivered once. The nightly air was surprisingly cold, but it only bothered her slightly. She had been happy to accept the outer world, no matter how freezing in its temperature and demeneaor, to flee from what she had left behind her now. Her past. Her so-called 'home'.
Yes, she could almost reach it! She could hear the water flowing swiftly and was enchanted by it. It sounded so peaceful, so soothing. But above all; it sounded warm, no matter how cold it probably would be when she would reach a hand out to touch its surface. She longed for warmth.
The girl was so occupied with reaching the lake, that she did not notice that the sound around her, except for the streaming of water, had stilled. No nightly forrest dwellers that ran around in search for food, no rustling of leafs despite the soft breeze, no crickets that performed an evening musical. There was nothing but an eerie silence, only every now and then interrupted by ragged breathings or the slight splattering of liquid.
Or maybe she noticed it, but didn't care for it. She had been called naïve many times in the past, those forgotten memories that had been locked up deeply in the darkest chambers of her mind. She no longer wanted to think about it. She did not want to think at all, only seeking for something that could hold her, console the sadness that had left its scars on her heart.
…Her home…
It was gone, everything had vanished. Leaving her behind and alone forever, a little lamb so easy to lure towards the claws of the wolve that longed for fresh meat.
'You are a failure.'
She gripped her hair tightly, eyes squeezed shut. A memory had broken from its shackles, had freed itself from the dark chamber. It hurt her so much…
'…Not good enough to breathe the same air as every single one of us. You weak, pathetic excuse of an living being!'
"No!" She cried out loudly, tears treathening to fall once again, stinging her fragile eyes.
'The ony useful thing you can do is to leave us. Sacrifice yourself to the Gods in order to let us finally live in peace, then you are at least somewhat usable.'
A thud was heard as the girl fell onto her knees, hugging her trembling form because there was no one else to comfort her, no other living soul save for herself. Heavy sobs raked through her body as she tried push the memories away again, the torturous images of her childhood. The cracking sound of dry leafs being perforated beneeth her was vaguely heard, almost like a dream. White flowers appeared where tears had enriched the earth, but were invisible in the darkness.
She was alone.
Alone.
The only one here, a weak human being deserted by the caring rays of the sun, out of reach of the light and entirely devoured by an abyss of obscurity forever.
Never-ending pain would await her.
She didn't want to.
No.
No more pain…
No more hatred, being laughed at and ridiculed because of her strange powers, that some would call a gift. She called it a curse. It had driven father even more away from her, had he even been close. The weight of it all leaned heavily upon her shoulders, pushing her down bit by bit until she would finally break, snap like a twig in a severe storm.
Her sobbing lessened slowly due to exhaustion. Pupil less eyes blinked once and looked around, found nothing but darkness. The faint sound of rolling waves echoed in her ears, almost unnoticably becoming stronger. For a second the image of an snake-like arm arising from out of coal black water appeared before her eyes, but she was to tired to actually react. Her head lolled a bit. Almost immediately she sat up again, a bit startled with herself as she thought she could never sleep at this …place.
She looked around again. The dark was everywhere, covering her surroundings like a black satin sheet. Stars were nowhere to be found, leaving her utterly blind.
How ironic…
Her head fell backwards as sleep finally overtook. Rustling of leafs cracking under her weight broke through the silence of the forest, but there was no one to hear it.
Just as no one was there to notice the thick tentacle that rose from the depths of a lake.
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"Hello there, little girl…"
Her body shot up. Frantically she looked around; what was that voice? Ears perked, she listened carefully, but it was hard since her erratic heartbeats did not help very well. Goosebumps appeared and rippled pale skin as her blood flowed through her veins, pumping adrenaline in her limbs in case it was necessary to elude.
The sound of splashing water could be heard quite clearly now and although she tried to pay no heed to it, inner turmoil began to grow in strength, fear crawling within her like a serpent that poisoned her thoughts, screaming in her mind to run away as far as possible, to fly while it still could.
And suddenly, there was silence.
Only her panicked breathings could be heard every now and then, but no more flowing of water. The threatening feeling of something coming closer never left her, though.
The girl got up very slowly, frightingly looking around like a deer cought by a hunter. Darkness was ever so blinding, seemingly suffocating her. Taking a raspy breath, she stood on her feet again, a bit hunched due to fear for the unknown. She focused her attention in front of her and gasped loudly as a vague silhouette was suddenly noticable throughout the dark. She could see dark stains on its torned clothes, dark red…
…Blood.
A hand was reached out to her. She gave a yelp and clumsily took a step back, almost falling in the process, shivering with fear for what was going to happen to her.
A dull pair of eyes stared at her, lifeless as a ghost's. Tremblings travelled down her spine as fear terrorized her every thought, paralyzing her soul as if being hypnotized.
Something white flashed in the empty stare. The girl gasped as her feet suddenly moved as if on their own record, carrying her closer to the being. Wanting to struggle against the invisible force that was surely forcing her to walk, she stopped as those dead eyes held her from doing so. Teeth were suddenly bared as the creature smiled at her, fangs showing slightly.
A scream forced itself out of her throat as an hand grabbed her arm, feeling so cold that the small hairs on her limbs almost came to life, fed by an electric pulse. Another hand placed itself on her mouth, forcing to be silent.
White eyes stared in utter fright in front of them, closing once then opening, as if to try to ban the being out of their sight. Beams of sweat ran past her temple. The cold, slimy hand around her horribly shaking arm held it as if it was planning to never let go while feeling as if it sucked on her skin like it was a snail; slithering further and further, soon encircling her entire arm…
…wait.
The silouette had disappeared. But by whom was she still held?
Slowly, very slowly, the girl casted lavender eyes towards her arm, currently engulfed by something… black.
She screamed again as another tentacle came out of nowhere, but found that she couldn't for there was already one circled around her mouth, squashingly and wet. She could feel the suction of it everywhere; her lips, her cheeks, her nose, her neck; covered with thick back slimy skin and the stench was so rottingly horrid and putrid… the sickening feeling made her want to throw up.
Within mere seconds the third tentacle had wrapped itself around her stomach like a lover's embrace, almost tenderly forcing her to walk. When she didn't budge, strong arms lifted her slightly, her feet hysterically bungling above the ground as she was dragged over to an unknown destiny.
The girl attempted to scream, to fight, to claw her way out of this monster's grip; but it held no avail as she felt sleep trying to overpower her once again. She struggled and squirmed, fighting against the sleep and at the same time trying to unwrap those disgusting tentacles, but they only tightened more around her, to the point she was almost strangled.
'Anyone! Please, save me! Please…!'
She felt the life slowly slip away from her, like sand running through your fingers, as she could no longer get any oxygen. A shock went through her as her feet suddenly touched water; cold, freezing liquid overcame. In one last attempt to get free she struggled her entire body weakly, but was soon paralyzed at the feeling of dark water engulfing her entire legs. Her eyes fell closed; she tiredly opened them again, fighting while hysterically screaming in her mind, dazedly hoping that at least someone could hear her desperate callings through telepathy.
The tentacles never lost their tight grip as now halve of her body was underwater. Tears began to fall from fearful pale eyes as they looked for the last time into the obscurity that seemed to mock her before finally being covered by deathly tired eyelids.
'…I think this is it… My sacrifice.'
The cold water embraced her wholy as she was pulled down more and more, towards her final resting place; far away from the reach of the light, just like her life always had been.
Darkness overtook.
Pale flesh slowly sunk to the bottom of the lake, glowing in the dark abyss before disappearing forever.
The sound of streaming water died down; soon the lake was calm again, as if nothing had occurred. The only thing that fell out of place was the single white flower that floated on the surface, before withering and being overtaken by the water too.
'…Are you happy, father?'
-: End :-
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A/N: …OK, that was slightly depressing… For those of you who didn't read Cirque d'Horreur; I'm sorry, this is probably really vague! n.n; To understand it, you'll really have to read the other story. (No, I'm really not trying to advertise here! 0.0) And for those of you who don't understand the last part; the withering flower is a symbol for Hinata being taking over by the darkness, thus actually saying that this was what happened before she met Sasuke in Cirque d'Horreur. This is her history, this is how she ended up within the dark world of demons and monsters. It plays long before she will meet Sasuke and it is probably really vague, but I promise it'll be clear in the following chapters of Cirque d'Horreur. :)
As for the title; this came out differently than what I originally planned; maybe I should make it a multi-chap instead of a one-shot? It depends on you, my dear readers! - dramatic music-
Well, hope you all enjoyed it; please let me know what you thought about it! I love reviews… n.n