Welp, it's been a good few months since I updated so why the heck not. Think of it as a Mother's Day update or something? Idk, but I hope you all enjoy!
02 - Someone Dear
As soon as she knew the boys weren't right behind her, she turned for the nearest alleyway and leaned against the brick wall. Avis was near-breathless, her stomach curling as the past twenty-four hours caught up with her. Yuui was dead - her fiance and best friend was dead.
The thought passed her mind over and over, the images of the execution flashing before her eyes. Unable to hold down the sick feeling in her stomach, she turned for one of the nearby metal cylinders and lifted the lid. The contents stank of garbage, which only served to make her throw up inside it quicker. By the time she was done, she was sweating and shaking, throat burning and a foul taste left in her mouth. She'd barely even noticed how much time had passed, and idly wondered if the trio had found anything new by now.
Avis dared a peek outside the alley, finally giving herself the time to take in the city - or at least this part of it. There were lights and flashing images everywhere, people as far as the eye could see. She couldn't remember a time when she'd been around so many people, had seen so many eyes and ears engrossed in mere daily living. Amongst them all, she suspected, not a single person had lived a life similar to her own - not a single one lived in a world of dog-eat-dog and every man for himself. It gave her both a sense of jealousy and relief - jealousy, that she was the one who had to endure such abhorrent conditions; relief, that entire generations were as close to being at peace as she had ever seen in her lifetime.
Another wave of nausea passed over her, stomach curling in rebellion as she tried to calm herself down. She breathed in and out slowly, deeply, and took a few steps back towards the garbage; she suddenly whirled around on her heel and tossed the lid of the cylinder away frantically and dry heaved into the garbage. Nothing came up this time, but the taste of bile was too obvious to ignore. After a few minutes of heavy coughing, Avis pushed herself away from the garbage and let out a breath. Her stomach no longer rebelled; the only thing she could taste or smell more than bile was expired food and drinks. All was right with her immune system for now.
A hand landed on her shoulder - immediately she reacted. Her first thought was to whack the person behind her with one of her wings, but soon remembered that the appendages were held tightly in place by the bandages around her torso. Instead, Avis whirled around and grabbed the wrist, flung the offender at the opposite wall, and readied her other fist to deal a hard punch to the jaw. The offender groaned and raised their arms in defense, but the blow never came.
Another hand had seized her own; a gruff voice followed, demanding to know what her deal was. Avis blinked, defensive instincts fading, and soon recognised who it was she had been just about ready to beat to a pulp. The panic that coursed through Avis brought back the nausea, but she fought extra hard to keep it down as she resisted against her assailants. Her stomach lurched as a loud voice finally clicked in her mind: The ninja.
Kurogane shook her arm again as Fai came to Syaoran's aid, pulling the boy away from the two adults. Avis scowled and attempted to pull her wrist out of Kurogane's grip, but only succeeded in making her stomach lurch once more at the exertion.
"What the hell is your problem?!" Kurogane went on.
Deciding that she did not want to projectile vomit on this angry warrior holding onto her with a vice grip, she ceased struggling and tried to steady her breathing. "Defensive instinct," she said. "Archivis - we follow a natural instinct to violently attack anything that sneaks up on us. To protect our wings, I mean," she added. It was a half-truth - Archivis certainly did teach their young how to defend themselves from attacks coming from behind, purely to keep their wings safe. But Avis's generation had never been given the chance - Bellatorans took over the land, and suddenly an entire culture was outlawed and replaced with another. Traditions like hunting on the eve of a new season and exchanging books in place of money - everything was gone.
Avis had had to teach herself how to defend her wings, and that had been a challenge in itself.
Kurogane appeared to dislike her answer, but released her nonetheless. She rubbed her wrist, shook her hand to get the blood flowing again, and jumped when Fai wandered over to them curiously.
"You look rather tired," he noted. "Are you unwell?"
She shrugged and lied, "My kind learn things at a rate that's above what most consider average. This world is a lot to take in, and I'm struggling to not take in too much at a time."
"Would you like to return to Arashi and Sorata's house?"
"No." Avis shook her head. "I'm fine. Just- Yeah, I'm fine."
Immediately after she regained her breath, she made her way to Syaoran and apologised for almost attacking him. He seemed to understand her reasoning, forgave her and said he should've said something to indicate his presence rather than startle her.
They began searching once more, this time with Mokona and Syaoran engaging Avis in avid conversation. Syaoran held a particular interest in the wings she had mentioned having, while Mokona was more interested in what kind of world she lived in. Her answers were short ("Big, white; no, I'm not showing you. Vast, wet; no, I don't particularly want to go back right now.") and eventually stopped altogether, the two appearing let down at Avis' reluctance to talk about her world and her wings. Fai and Kurogane stayed behind the trio, silent as could be, until finally they wound up back at the house they'd started from.
The ninja had decided to make it blatantly obvious that today's efforts had been a waste of time, followed by the annoyed critique to find a better way than just wandering to find the "Goddamn feather, already". They entered the home again, made themselves comfy in their respective rooms, and reported to Arashi today's events. She threw out the suggestion of coming up with a routine to follow, a plan to help them find the feather; Syaoran and Fai liked the sound of the idea, immediately holding a meeting between the group in the room Sakura was sleeping in.
"We need to think of it like a treasure hunt," Fai said cheerily. "Only we don't know if the treasure is a place, person, or item."
Mokona bounced up and down on Syaoran's shoulder, reminding everyone that it would sense the feather's power straight away when they got close. Fai nodded in approval, then looked to the group for suggestions. "I can't quite use my magic to track down the feather," he noted, "mostly due to the fact that I doubt magic could even trace it. I have a feeling Syaoran may be as in the dark as I am." He looked to the younger boy in question, waiting for confirmation. Syaoran simply nodded and told the group that he wasn't sure how to find the feather with his current knowledge.
"That leaves Kuro-rin and Vivi," Fai sang. Avis twitched at the nickname, remembering every other time Yuui had called her that. It had been like a codename - in case the notes he would send her were stolen or read by someone else.
While Kurogane yelled at Fai for the childish nickname, Avis merely glared daggers at him. He seemed to take enjoyment from their annoyance, and she had the slightest feeling that this wouldn't be the only time he'd do it.
"Well?" he prompted. "Any ideas?"
Avis had a few, recalling the ways Aloysius had always succeeded in games like tag or hide and seek. I just know where all the good spots are, he'd say, and the rest is child's play.
She laughed quietly as she thought back to the one time she'd thought she knew where he hid all the time, only to be proven wrong when searching till sundown bore no fruit. Aloysius had felt so bad when she'd finally given up and holed herself up in her room - bad enough that he'd put together a hastily drawn map that labeled all of the good hiding places he knew of and stuck it on the back of her door.
She wasn't even aware that she'd zoned out until Mokona jumped up and collided with her face, knocking her onto her back with a grunt. Avis quickly sat back up, allowing the small white thing to land in her lap, and looked between the three men with wide eyes.
"The hell are you findin' so funny?" Kurogane demanded. Avis shrugged, leaned back on the palms of her hands, and looked to Syaoran curiously.
"Do you think Arashi or Sorata have a map of the area? Or if there's any outside?"
Straight away, Syaoran jumped to his feet and ran off to find Arashi. He was gone for a few moments, yelling out to the others that there was indeed a map in the house, and then the trio waited as he and Arashi left to find it.
"Care to reveal this marvelous plan of yours, Vivi?"
Once again she glared at Fai, but still replied, "Method my brother used in games. Find all the good hiding places, learn about them, and the rest is child's play."
The reminder that the feather could be anywhere, more so in anything, was raised. She went on to explain that that would be where Mokona came in - if they followed any major areas where a lot of people were, taking Mokona with them, they'd be bound to run into something powerful enough to catch its attention. "A market or a major building," she suggested. "Even popular areas like a park or something."
Fai clapped in praise while Kurogane grumbled about how much time this plan would take up, to which Avis grumbled back that her purpose didn't involve doing a sloppy job because someone was too impatient to wait. Kurogane snapped at her, ready to give her a good shouting to, but was interrupted by both Mokona leaping at his face and Syaoran returning with what was assumed to be a map.
"From the looks of it," Syaoran said, "we've already covered this area and found nothing." He ran his index finger along a set of lines in the map, passing over words Avis could not read. "Which would leave a few immediate areas we could investigate."
Fai clapped twice, pleased with the small progress. "How about you two mark some spots we can look at tomorrow?" he said. He quickly jumped to his feet and waited for Mokona to jump into his arms, cuddling the small creature as he turned on his heel. "Meanwhile, I'll go see if Arashi can brew us some tea."
Each step she took was light and without purpose. Beneath her feet she felt the heat of the sand, felt each grain get caught between her toes.
Never before had she seen this place. Never before had she dreamed it. Yet here it was - here, in this dream that existed deep within her thoughts - waiting to be explored.
Hills of sand shifted with each change of the wind's course; in the horizon shapes rose and fell, their creator unsatisfied with the outcome. As she treaded further and further towards the horizon, past dust clouds and ever-changing hills, she thought idly to herself how this place came to be.
Avis began to list what she knew out loud, hoping someone heard her. "'Tis a desert," she noted. "Endless, from the looks of it. Something is moving the sand, creating and refusing the maintain one shape."
The hill she began to scale suddenly disappeared, leaving a drop that Avis was quick to descend. She yelped once when she landed, felt the sand get caught in her clothes; that didn't stop her from getting back up and trying to get to the root of the shifting sands. She continued to wander, this time with purpose, towards the horizon. "Impatient," she added. "Confused. Probably stubborn as all hell-"
As her left foot strode forward, the sand began to whirl beneath her. Avis shrieked, arms flailing as she spun and sank. "Hostile," she yelled, hoping the sand heard her loud and clear. "Short-tempered."
The sand ceased its shifting, leaving her caught knee-deep in the newly formed hill; as soon as it did, sand rolled towards her, took shape. Finally the sand circled around her again, coiling around whatever wasn't submerged in sand. She was held tightly in place as the sand froze, waiting for a new shape to take form, and then stared in horror as it morphed into a snake's head staring her down.
It hissed once out of curiosity, then began to change shape once more - this time to a human torso and head, leaning towards her as the face was sculpted to resemble someone. Avis waited and waited with her breath held until finally she was face to face with her brother.
"Prone to lashing out in defense," Aloysius added to her list. She squinted at the sand, unable to let out even a wheeze of breath in surprise; it sounded so much like him, but the voice was so grainy and unclear - almost as though she were listening through floorboards.
"I-" She tried to come up with something, anything to respond with. "You-"
Aloysius smiled, and then his face morphed into Yuui's. Avis felt her heart lurch into her throat. "You're a creature of vast knowledge," Yuui told her. "Much like my form, your thoughts are endless and deceiving."
"The sand?" she choked out. Yuui nodded and laughed deviously, face morphing into that of Lady Euphemia. Flashes of memories passed by her, all of them containing the same jealous, vindictive Bellatoran noble she was staring down with pure hatred.
Lady Euphemia reached out to take hold of Avis' chin with slender fingers, only to stop with a smirk when Avis yelled venomously, "Don't touch me!"
That earned her a long, shrill laugh; as Lady Euphemia leaned back to guffaw heartily, her long curls fell from her head and joined the sand once more. When she leaned forward again, she had taken the form of Aloysius once more.
"I am the one who watches and waits," he explained to her. The sand holding her upper body in place fell apart, allowing her to move her arms once more. "The qualities you have listed apply to the both of us, I would say."
She considered his words with a hum, subtly trying to pull herself out of the sand as she did so. Aloysius went on, "It's a funny thing, waiting for so long to find someone whose heart is just right." Aloysius fell apart, only to reform once again as Lady Euphemia. "And I think yours is just that."
Just as Avis had pulled herself out of the sand, pillars rose around her and came crashing down in her direction. As the sand buried her in the last precious seconds she could spare, she watched as Lady Euphemia fell apart and became nothing but sand once more.
She awoke with a jolt, breathing heavily as her body and mind had to remember that it was only a dream - nothing more than a dream. Avis sat up and rubbed up and down her arms, patted her legs, felt her face; everything was fine. She was in the Hanshin Republic. She was away from the desert and Lady Euphemia.
Air. She needed some air. Avis stumbled to her feet and scurried over to a nearby window, doing her best to make sure she didn't wake the rest of the group in the room. She unlocked the latch and opened the window quietly, inhaling deeply as the fresh air blew into the room.
Slowly she turned around and leaned back against the wall beneath the window, allowing the breeze to hit only her head. The light from outside illuminated the room; from her spot she could see everyone was still asleep - even Kurogane, who looked as though sleeping lightly was part of his job description. She released a relieved breath and turned back around to face the window, deciding to admire the view for a bit longer while s got the fresh air she desperately needed.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed - the big screen, as Sorata had called the flashing square on the building across them, was distracting her rather well with its random scenes of food, clothing, and houses. Avis wasn't even sure she'd heard anyone stir from their sleep while she was admiring the view. She was more than certain someone was awake though, especially when a quiet voice said behind her, "You'll catch a cold just sitting there."
Syaoran was behind her, a folded blanket tucked under his arm while his own blanket was draped over his shoulders. Avis shrugged and slid the window almost shut, leaving only the tiniest amounts of wind to blow in at a time. She took the blanket the boy offered and wrapped it around herself. "Can't sleep?" she asked him. He shrugged in return and sat down beside her, immediately training his gaze on the sleeping Sakura.
"I just had a strange dream," was all he said, and then he turned her question against her. Avis shrugged back, repeated his own reply. Silence fell over them as they watched their respective areas, barely making eye contact as time began to pass once more.
"You're dedicated," Avis muttered after a while. "Doing everything you can for her, I mean. It's commendable."
Syaoran glanced at her warily. "I just can't bear to lose her. She means too much to me and everyone else back home."
"In a way, you've still lost her. She won't remember you, correct?"
He nodded grimly, face paling considerably as the reminder hit him. Avis sighed to herself and lifted her left hand from under the blanket, staring at the finger the engagement ring used to rest on. "It may sound selfish or insensitive of me, but I know how you feel," she told him. "Somewhat, at least."
"You do?"
"Yes." She curled her fingers into her palm, clenching her fist tightly. The finger looked so out of place now, lacking the one thing she truly owned and appreciated. "After all, you and I lost someone special on the same day. The only difference is that you have a chance to start over, reclaim that bond."
Syaoran leaned towards her slightly, curious. "You left someone dear in your world?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yes," she said. "And I doubt I'll ever get him back."
