Thank you Kitsune-001, Hatori Soma, Wolfje, Chibi Tanny, Silvermane1, 'No One', pheonix013, Gecko Osco, BigSister2 Markanovanlink, jess-eklom, Sir Gawain of Camelot (You did it! You gave me one dozen reviews. As a reward, you get the next chapter... what; you were expecting something else?)
SSS
"..." I tried to speak, but my throat felt harsh and constricted, like I was being throttled. The hazy image of the snake floated above me. Why did he look at me with such sorrow?
His rough nails prodded my lips; a trail of wet coolness dribbled down my chin. I tried to move my mouth, but my lips felt like they were immobile for a second; then with a conscious effort on my part, my mouth parted slightly. Water was gently forced into my mouth; however, I meant to talk, and I found it rather difficult to do with a small stream running over my tongue. At first, the water felt as fire would when it hit the back of my throat, then it delightfully chilled the ache for a moment. Afterwards, my throat was as dry as before I drank.
I watched the blurry lines of green. He moved his head to the side, and it was like watching something move very fast. Apparently, my eyes could not keep up with the settle movement.
I attempted the speech thing again. I knew I was capable; I've done it before. I had to move my lips in sync with my tongue. The throat was suppose to rumble as vocal chords orchestrated a stream of sounds that stringed together to form vowels and consonants. Those sounds could be formed into words, and words came in handy to form complete sentences. I got the lip part down, but my tongue remained glue to the roof of my mouth, and my throat refused any form of cooperation.
Was Trowa talking? There was also a time when I knew how to listen.
My eyelids rebelled along with my throat and ears. I was surrounded by darkness once again; all senses were cut off in the literal blink of an eye. At least, it didn't hurt when I slept. I wanted to stay in the simple darkness forever.
Hazy light -- the same as last time. It was just a tad brighter, a mixture of neon blues and greens.
My sense of touch was extremely sensitive compared to my sense of sight. My cheek rested on a hide of smooth, cold skin. I wasn't so distanced to the world that I didn't know it was Trowa. Knowing that he was so close to me, put me at ease. Nothing could hurt me with the snake's protection.
I heard a lot of moaning...; was that me? It sounded horrible. Trowa must have thought so too. A hand that felt like a cold compress brushed my bangs aside and rested on my overheated forehead. I didn't realize it until he touched me, but I had a severe fever. My cousin died from a fever... That thought didn't frighten me. If I were to leave this world, at least my last moments in it would be with Trowa. It was impossible to feel fear with his calming presence, as impossible as feeling dry in a lake of clear water.
Once again, my visit to the conscious realm was short. I was soon drawn back to my dreams.
There was a lot of red; I was standing over the corpse of a large beast. The poor thing was mangled and picked at until the bones protruded through the skin that had been torn from the muscle and tendon. It was rough work done by teeth and claws instead of knives. The animal moved; it was then that I realized its true form, Trowa. I couldn't recall whether I spoke the name or not. I couldn't hear my voice, but I knew I screamed.
Crouching low and tearing at the body was a huge feline.
Stop it.
It's bloody lips smiled. The murderous cat twisted around and left me alone.
Wait!
I stared into the hollowed eyes of my forbidden love.
Take me!
The cat continued to stalk away. I could not move to follow it, and I could not provoke it to tear me to shreds. It was horrible. The beast gutted me, but not physically. My emotions lied dead, spilled from my gut, and lying with Trowa's corpse. I kneeled and began to weep.
The image shifted, like moving the sand to form another layer of Earth. Now I was staring at a pair of bare feet standing on a plane of black. My eyes travelled up, taking in every curve and angle of the legs. I stopped at the knee, unwilling to let myself travel any further up. I knew this person; though, I only saw his legs. And I loved him; I had no idea why. How could I love him when my heart already belonged to a reptile?
Gentle hands stroked my hair, and my face was pressed into the thigh. I felt like I could meld into this person. I hugged the left leg desperately, tears trailing down the smooth thigh.
The image of the corpse flashed in my mind. In a desperate voice, I asked the person if he could save my snake. My breath caused goosebumps on the fair skin. He said that saving that creature was the last thing he wanted to do. I cried harder for Trowa and for myself. Despite the harsh words I could not hate this stranger.
My fingers ghosted down the back of his thigh. The sensation of cool soft metal greeted my fingertips.
I woke up from the odd dream to find myself grasping onto Trowa. It felt uncomfortable to feel the trail of dried salt water on my cheeks. I was laying down on what I thought was a bed of soft needles. My mind and eyes were in no condition to decipher my current location, but it was dry.
It still felt as though my head was on fire, and my body refused to stop shivering. It was hard to move, but I managed to bring my upward body up. A familiar sense of dizziness overtook me, as my eyesight blackened for a few moments. When I blinked again, I saw clearer. The first thing to grace my sight was Trowa, and I felt a little guilt for my unfaithful dream... It was only a silly dream. I looked past his green head and to the high wooden ceiling.
"Don't overdo it," I was warned by the cautious reptile.
My voice sounded odd and creaky like it needed to be oiled, but I replied, "I...won't." A small smile appeared on his face when I obediently laid down.
Something soft and juicy was pressed to my lips. "Open up." A small piece of orange was pushed through. I guessed it to be an orange because of the texture. My tongue was in league with my throat and refused to work. It could have actually been any grapefruit. I ate about half of the fruit when I declined more pieces by firmly shutting my mouth. The hunger was there; I just didn't want to swallow anything else. Every piece of fruit was a cruel task.
Something strange happened; I could have sworn I saw a glint of green in Trowa's predatory eyes before he bent down and pressed his cool lips to my hot forehead. "Now sssssleep sssacrifice," he commanded gently. I was about to protest to the treatment and the old nickname, but I did feel extremely tired.
Not even all the king's horses and all the king's men could have woken me up from my slumber, so it was no surprise that the sounds of yelling and fighting didn't. It all sailed over me and became part of another unusual dream. (1)
"Hey?" Trowa's voice was unusually smooth, like honey. "Are you still sleeping?" He also corrected his speech impediment. Good for him. Now if only he could let me sleep. A hand pressed against my forehead; it was unusually soft. "At least your fever's gone," he said. I frowned. That voice was definitely not Trowa, and that person was definitely not male. I opened my eyes at the same time the window was opened, and I shot out of bed.
I was in a bed! My skin rubbed against sheets; I've grown accustomed to sleeping outside, so the small luxury made me feel like my skin was tougher than sand paper in comparison. It was odd getting used to a regular bed again.
I scanned around the room. There was little furniture: a dresser, a chair, and a nightstand. All of them were made of the same type of wood. The room didn't make me feel too distanced from nature.
The woman stood by the door with a smug expression that seemed modest at the same time. She was tall for a woman, reaching the average height of a man. Though, she was wearing a male tunic and breaches, she still couldn't hide her feminine form. Her eyes were light blue and very friendly, and her honey hair was tied in two plaits over her shoulders. With both hands on her hips she greeted, "So you came back from the dead in a sense. It's not like I'm a necromancer, but if you had gotten any worse you might have needed one. Though, I doubt you would want your soulless body rising from the dead."
It took a while for me to register her words. Necromancer held no meaning to me, so I ignored it. But was I that sick?! Wasn't Trowa watching over me; where was he?! "Who are you?" I asked the question that was next on my priority list.
"I'm Sally the Benevolent," she boosted. I tilted my head at the title. She obviously sensed my confusion, because she explained, "A sorceress is given a title when she graduates from her covenant. My disbelief was obvious. "You don't believe me?" She sighed and leaned against the door frame.
"Sorry, I don't believe in sorcery or any fairytales," I revealed.
Slowly, I stepped out of the bed onto the warm floorboard. It must have been later in the afternoon or early in the evening, as wood tended to soak up the heat slowly as the day progressed. I had flooring in my old room and hated stepping on the wood early in the morning with bare feet.
I walked to the door without looking back at the 'sorceress'. I felt bad for being that discourteous, but I needed to find him.
"I wouldn't leave if I were you," she informed. "Trowa would miss you." I spun around so fast that I was sure I was going to fall, but I didn't.
"Trowa?"
"Yes," she confirmed. "And if you sit down like a good boy, we can chat until he gets back." I walked over to the bed and sat down again. She perched right next to me.
"What's going on?" I asked without even looking at the self-proclaimed sorceress.
A hand was placed comfortably on my shoulder; it was almost natural. "Didn't the prince tell you about me? I was the sorceress that was exiled."
My mouth seemed to unhinge. I couldn't put together any coherent words. The moment was too surreal; this woman was admitting that she knew Trowa when he was called a prince, but that was impossible! Finally, I accused, "You're lying!"
"Why would I lie about such a thing?" she said in a very mature matter. It was like she was too old to argue, or that I was too young to argue with.
"Then he paid you," I suggested.
"With what?" she questioned. "I don't know where he would hide the money... do you?" I backed down for the moment.
There was no motivation for her to lie to me. 'Quatre, you have to consider all possibilities. When you eliminate all the possible solutions, then what's left must be the truth,' my father's words were as clear as though he was with me. I realized that I was acting as ignorant as those villagers. I was instantly disgusted by my own stubborn behavior. Perhaps, Sally and Trowa were telling the truth. There was no evidence to dispute their claims. Maybe, my snake was a prince.
Eagerly, I asked, "Can you show me some magic?" If magic existed, then Trowa was telling the truth.
She smiled just as eagerly, "Of course, but don't make a habit out of it. I'm not a street performer, you know."
She looked directly into my eyes, and as though she was playing pick-a-boo with a toddler, she covered her own. She lifted her hand and continued to stare directly at me. "Well?" I wondered in slight confusion; I looked around the room, expecting to see something spectacular.
"Don't you see?" she asked. I shook my head. "My eyes are brown."
"Oh," I said without any true understanding.
"They're normally blue," (2) she informed with a frown. She sighed before covering her eyes again to turn them back to their natural color.
"Oh."
"Kids these days just don't get subtlety," she muttered. "Here." She improved her trick by covering my eyes. When her hands left, I was staring at myself. A teen with the same pale skin, blue-green eyes, and light golden hair was smiling back at me. "How's this?" she questioned with my lips and her voice. Besides the fact that she made me sound like a girl, the transformation was perfect. (3)
I let myself believe. A warm feeling erupted in me that I welcomed with open arms.
Hope.
(1) Never fall asleep with background noise. Whenever I fall asleep with the TV/Radio on, the voices invade my dreams.
(2) The eye-changing scene I got straight out of CRAFT.
(3) Quatre does have a girl's voice, but I love it... Considering I love any character Ai Orikasa plays. I definitely prefer Japanese voice talents. Though Trowa's english voice is nice..., so is Sally, Dorothy, and Une, and I love Sylvia's english voice. Other than them... I can do without the english, but that's just me.
