Title : Blink
Author : DnKS – giRLs
Rating : PG
Pairing : Lockon-Tieria
Disclaimer: Not ours, had not been ours, and will never be ours
Warning: None, it seems… just… it happened after the end of first season… and we presume you are aware of the things happened around that timeline…
As he blinked his eyes, the scenery around him changed. He opened his eyes to the view of green rainforest. He found himself sitting on a thick carpet of green grass. Sunlight passed through the leaves of great old trees, filtering through the ground. The air was permeated with heavy scent of ripening fruit. There were even birdcalls audible though no bird he could spot being present.
He blinked again. And when he opened his eyes, the scene remained unchanged. He frowned.
He heard a rustle, and then he saw someone stepped from the wood to the clearings he currently occupied. A certain someone with messy hair and wide grinning smile. In his hands he brought some flowers which he unceremoniously dropped to his lap.
"Morning, princess," the newcomer said to him with a wink of his eye. "Your humble servant, Lockon Stratos, has gone to the depth of the wood before the sun rose from its slumber only to bring you these flowers to match the shade of your eyes."
Lockon, he thought, yes, of course. That was the newcomer's name. How could he forget? He knew him, more than just knowing him, even. But there was something nagging at the back of his head. Something that screamed at him that something was not right.
"Tieria?" his companion asked him. He watched as the other—Lockon, he reminded himself—dropped to his knees in front of him. They were staring at each other and he could see worry in the other's eyes as he asked, "Is there something that matters?"
He did not know. Truthfully, he did not know. Something was amiss but he could not place it anywhere in his mind. And yet… and yet when he looked at the worry expression Lockon had in his eyes, he suddenly found himself not really caring about the nagging feeling anymore. He just wanted to erase that expression from the other's face, to replace it with the usual stupid grin he was so familiar with.
He raised his hands, touching the face so close with his own. His mouth opened to form words but a sudden rush of wind robbed him of his voice.
He blinked.
As he blinked his eyes, the scenery around him changed. He opened his eyes to see a cup of coffee on the table before him. He noticed that he was inside a small cafeteria. People rushed by him, conversations flew past him. It was a busy hour, he realized. He also realized that there was someone standing beside him.
Turning his eyes, he met a pair of eyes twinkling with mirth. Those eyes seemed to captivate him. He could not look away from those eyes, as if he was afraid that should he turn away, those eyes would disappear. He did not want those eyes to disappear. Not again.
Not again?
"Tieria…" the owner of those eyes said to him with laugh in his voice. "You're staring."
Those words made something rise in him. He could not identify it, though. He just felt his cheeks heating up. It seemed his companion found his situation delighting him for he let out a loud cheerful laugh.
"You're blushing!" said the still-laughing man. "This must be my lucky day if I managed to make you blush!"
He could not understand why the other looked so happy. But, he decided, he loved the expression his companion was showing him. He loved those sparkling eyes, that carefree smile, even that messy hair. And he so loved the feelings of those fingers as they touched his cheek.
"God," the owner of those fingers whispered affectionately to him. "You are beautiful."
His eyes grew wide. For a moment he felt an unexplainable urge to grasp the hand touching his cheek and never letting go.
Don't go.
His mind was screaming at him. Suddenly he felt so afraid. So very afraid of him going away from him.
Don't go.
He stared at the man in front of him.
Lockon.
Something clicked in his mind. At the very same moment, someone bumped into him. He lost his balance and saw strong hands reaching out to him. But they never touched his body for something happened before they made contact.
He blinked.
As he blinked his eyes, the scenery around him changed. He was floating in space. Darkness was everywhere around him. His body felt so light and he could feel the wind caressing his face, hair, and body.
Wind?
He turned his face and was not really surprised to find that he was not alone. There was someone else there on his side, floating with him in that netherworld.
That certain someone turned his face and he was staring right into Lockon's eyes.
"I am dreaming," he said in such certainty.
Lockon regarded his words with a slight smile of his own. "Why are you thinking so?"
"You're dead," he answered. Such simple fact, such simple words, yet he could feel the weight of those words pressing him as he let them escape his lips. Finally he realized what the nagging feeling that continuously disturbed him was.
"You sure I'm dead?" Lockon, the still-smiling Lockon asked him as if it was not a big deal that someone had just informed him in his face that he was dead.
"Yes…"
"You wish me dead?"
He turned his face away, refusing to meet those eyes that seemed to accuse him.
"My wish," he said. "Holds no importance in this matter."
"And why is that?" suddenly Lockon's face was right in front of his own. So very close until he could feel his breath and see every strands of his hair being blown by that unearthly wind. "Why is your wish not important?"
"Because no matter what… no matter how I wish for it," he said, his voice steady. "You're still dead."
"Hmm," the other said. "But you have a choice."
"Choice?"
"What will you choose, Tieria, the reality with me being dead," Lockon, or Lockon's ghost, or the image of Lockon he created in his dream, said to him. "Or join me and discard that mere concept of reality."
"I…"
"How about it?"
"…can't…"
"Join me, Tieria?"
"No!" he said with newfound resolve. The image of Lockon flickered before him. He closed his eyes, refusing to look. "You're not him. He won't ask such thing."
He felt a touch of something warm on his lips. Fingers, he wondered, or maybe lips. He did not know. He could not tell.
"So you have decided."
The fingers, or lips, withdrew and he could hear a clear laughter permeated the air. He so wanted to open his eyes but he could not bring himself to see that image again. Not with it constantly reminding him of things he had lost. Not with it constantly reminding him of the person he had lost. Not with it kept making him feel things he should not feel.
"I love you."
Those words were audible in his ears. He did not know if it came from his lips, or from Lockon's lips, or from both of their lips. It was not important, because shortly after that he blinked…
…awake.
He blinked awake to a dark room. No green forest, no busy cafeteria, no Lockon. Nothing.
He sighed and rolled to his back. His eyes stared at the white ceiling above him. The bed was lonely and cold with only him occupying it. There was no warm body being pressed on his back. There was no arm holding him in loving embrace. There was no tickling breath attacking the back of his neck.
"You're not him," he said again, more to himself than to anyone else. Yes, what he just experienced was merely a dream conjured by his exhausted mind. It was not real, and he should never wish it to be real. There were still so many things for him to do. He should not let himself be trapped in his wild imagination, in his pathetic dream.
"I cannot discard reality," he said again to the empty room. There was no one to hear him but he hoped that he could hear him as he whispered his next sentence. "Yet I never chose it either…"
But of course, there was only silence.
-end-
(A/N: um… so that's that, our first shot in the 00 fandom… don't we all miss our beloved Lockon (sigh) anyway, some reviews would be nice. So, if you would kindly leave your opinion regarding this fic, we would be much obliged. Thanks for reading and we hope you had a great time reading this.)