Author's Note: Maybe I will be able to update more often than I said. The story seems to be flowing together rather nicely. I know what happens in the next few chapters up until near the very end.
My name ain't Dorothy
These ain't ruby shoes
Can't click my heels
Any time I choose
And fly way
-Jessica Andrews-
Try to Wish
Chapter One: Solitude
Emptiness. The void surrounded him. He had been here for only a short moment, but it felt like an age. The darkness wound in and out of every one of his thoughts. The sound of a door opening echoed all around him. Soft foot steps sounded from behind.
"May I join you?"
Clef spun toward the voice. Umi stood be hind him. She was younger and dressed in her junior high uniform. She was not looking at him. He eyes were focused on a point to the side of him.
"Thank you" She said as she sat down on an invisible chair. "Hikaru and Fuu? I think they are sleeping now." The water knights sunk farther down in to her chair. "Clef, I…I…I have wanted to apologize to you for such a long time."
It was then that he knew. This took place five years ago. The knights had only just been summoned for the second time. It was on that first night that they had returned that she had come to him. That was the night he began to fall in love with her. He reached towards her, taking a hesitant step forward, but his hand only brushed air. She had vanished. He turned almost wildly, frantically searching for some sign of where she was.
"It is a strange thought you know."
This time the voice came from right beside him. Clef turned towards the sound. There she was, older this time. She was wearing her high school uniform. What was this? When was this?
"If it works that way how does anyone else know?" She was smiling up at him. Amusement was etched across her face. "Isn't that too private a ceremony to invite people to?" She giggled slightly. "But really, how do you announce it"
Umi inched toward him on what appeared to be some sort of bench. She ran her fingers through his hair. "Do you really want to be with me?"
This was three years ago, no two years ago. It was the afternoon that they first discussed marriage. The day he explained Cephirian custom to her. Almost a year before he first shared his bed with her to become her husband. He wrapped his arms around this Umi. "I want you to be with me always." She faded from his arms. Why was he being tortured like this? Was the purpose? His head fell to his hands. His heart was breaking for what felt like the thousandth time. Why did this have to hurt so badly? Why could she be here?
Gentle hands ran over his shoulders and to the clasps at the back of his robes. His head snapped up to stare into the eyes of a rather disheveled version of the water knight. Her blouse was hanging off of her shoulder and her skirt was no where to be seen. She smiled at him.
"Will we regret this tomorrow?" Her eyes sparkled with a look that said she knew she would never regret this. She bent forward to kiss him. Clef's arms snaked around her waist only to find that she no longer had a waist. He was alone again. He dropped to the ground, and pounded the nothingness with his fists.
"What do you think about children?" He looked up slowly. This vision wouldn't last any longer than the other ones he told himself. She is gone.
"I would like children"
Umi was sitting beside him. She was barely covered by the thin sheet she held up to her chest. Her eyes shone with hope, and love. His heart shattered further in his chest. Why was this being done to him?
"Hideaki. I like that name. If I were ever to have a little boy I think I would name him Hideaki."
Clef gazed at her. This conversation had happened only a little over a week before Umi left to visit her family. Why was he seeing this?
"Because I had a friend named Hideaki when I was younger. I called him Huki. He moved away after elementary school."
He face glowed more. How long had this conversation been? They had stayed up most of that evening discussing a family.
"Nao or Emi, I think. I never could come up with a girl's name I really liked." Her laughter echoed as she began to fade away.
"Clef…"
The Mage turned toward the sound of the voice. "Umi?"
"No."
His eyes fluttered slightly as he opened them. Fuu was standing next to him carrying a small tray with food and what looked to be a tea of some sort.
"Clef-sama, I know she will return."
He glanced down at the ancient scroll he had fallen asleep on. He knew they argued the opposite. In fact the possibility of the portal opening again any time soon was very unlikely. Even Hikaru, the strongest willed in all of Cephiro could not open it again. No matter how many times she had tried. These last few weeks had been hard on everyone.
He graciously took the try from Fuu and set it down to cover the diagram that haunted his mind. She was right. He told himself. Umi will be back. His brain may have thought that, but his heart did not believe it. He wanted more than anything to have her back in his arms right at the moment. The mage let his eyes wander up to meet the wind knight's. He was burdening them with his sulking. Tomorrow, Fuu, and Ferio were to pledge themselves to one another ceremoniously for the peoples of Cephiro, and here she was worrying over a poor broken old man.
"I am sorry." His voice cracked with disuse.
Fuu shook her head. "No, you do not need to be. If I lost … I have no idea what I would do."
Clef nodded in silent understanding. He knew that she knew. He could read it in the knight's eyes. "You are free to leave. You needn't stay here to keep an old man company while his wife is away."
She bowed to him politely before turning to exit. And Clef was left alone with his thoughts once again.
:Author's Note:
Sorry the chapter is short. I am working over points in the old fic so that they meet up better in this one. I have already started work on the next chapter. It should be posted within the next week or so, but I cannot promise anything. I am liking this new version. It makes more sense I think and I hope that there are less cultural inaccuracies. The whole tasuki watching tv in the morning eating cereal was all too American. Many changes await for those who have read the past one.
