The Same Scenery: Mawaru Penguindrum drabbles
Momoka | Sanetoshi
"I found you."
"Again?"
"A thousand times over now."
There was water in her hair, streaming down her cheeks, pooling around the edges of her eyes. And still she was sunlight itself.
Standing only three feet small at his side, the one who appeared a young girl lacked an umbrella. As did he. They found shelter together under an awning.
It had been years since they had crossed paths. Thin red paths.
"Funny how this rain keeps happening," he noted, not awfully concerned about the sudden storm.
"It's not so bad," beamed the child. The tone of her soft voice turned to a bit of a pout, "but I do have something important to do tomorrow. It better go away by then."
Amused, he found himself giving a half hearted chuckle. "Pity the rain if it should have to incur your wrath." She must be sticking her hands into someone's issues again. How irritating.
There would come a time. She would find a way to split her soul into pieces, in order to continue her hopeless cause. But it would be painful, to lock herself away one day. For good. No one could believe in her kind of miracle anymore, in this modern world. She would be lost and he would be found instead. The one who seemed a man grinned with delight.
So delighted that he would turn to pat the child on her head. Instead of the girl he found a young lady in her place, but the same large, peculiar eyes stared up at him- they were remarkably like his own. The same plum tint to her short hair, the same immature roundness to her cheeks, still soaked by rain, but nearly a woman grown. A peculiar shadow crept out across the ground from her feet.
Out of the corner of his eye he thought he could see the universe- some universe- within it, trailing out behind her like a dazzling shroud across wet pavement.
Upon second glance it disappeared.
He allowed his gaze to wander up, to take her in.
"If this is the way you wish me to see you, perhaps it's merely a hint that I should ask you to dinner."
And you remain the slyest of dogs.
A suppressed laugh nearly broke from her lips. Instead she shook her head and leaned back on her heels a little.
"I simply like this form. It reminds me of so many wonderful things that could be, a while from now." Her attention seemed drawn somewhere else for a moment. "My only wish is that you take me seriously."
"And I fully intend to." The one who seemed a man pushed away the light pink fringe from his face. His long hair was dripping, same as hers. "It is also my intention to lead you astray. I have done so many times before." He said this as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
"Think whatever you'd like. I shouldn't have to remind you," her voice was soft; soft as her touch as she drew his face to look at her, "Everything about us is a grand illusion."
The man in the white coat blinked several times before a serene expression came over him.
"Everything that was, or will be," he echoed her gentle tone. A hand of his came to intwine over hers, warm against his face. "But people love to play imaginary games. They can still die playing them."
In that moment he could feel to her core, and he hated what he found there.
The one who seemed a sophisticated man in a long white coat already had a plan of action, set forth by the one power he took orders from. In a few years time it would be so.
Tragedy.
"Do you still long for me?" She smiled.
"With every breath I take. My finest shame," answered the one who appeared a man. "I long for the end of your existence as well. The time will come."
Light never abandoned her eyes, but she nodded her head and closed them slowly. "I understand what path you've chosen. I understand everything..." It was from her position among the stars that she had seen his plan take shape. Understanding everything about the world and what caused its tragedies would always hurt.
"It was never my choice. You've heard of a thing called fate-"
A crooked smirk crawled up the corner of his mouth. As sure as the lightening cracked its twisted path across the sky, she looked right through him. Straight to the rotted center of what he was. But the words he spoke were only truth. She was well versed in Truth and had been for ages.
What disturbed the one who seemed a man so was the way she remained so optimistic, so childlike... despite everything and the weight of the world she was forced to carry for others. So many others. From century to century in a hundred different forms. How could the humans even know?
Perhaps one day you will come to your senses and leave them to rot.
But that would be impossible.
It was a shame that they could no longer keep secrets from each other. Cruel, because they had been soul mates from the very beginning of time. They were the only two of their kind in the entire world.
He had his slight of hand, deceit. At times she felt there would be no way to overcome him. As long as there was sacrifice, however. Someone willing to sacrifice- and that is why she kept faith in people.
"You may take me to dinner," her voice was curt, finally.
It hadn't caught him off guard, though that didn't stop his gaze from widening. Their arms linked together as the pair stepped out into the thinning rain again.
"Anything for a princess."
: end of first part :
