Well! Now we get right down to it... Most of you were absolutely ravenous for this chapter. lol. Whoever was/is "impatiently waiting" may still kill me for posting this chapter. RaevanDawn... sorry, but you'll probably cry a little more. But on a personal note, I feel like I've just written the next Star Wars saga... this thing has been so ------- long! But my novel's gonna be even longer. (sigh) I probably wrote the last five pages of this in one sitting.
Disclaimer: I've been really bad about this but it's a no brainer ppl!
To Jem46: no offense, but WTF? To post my novel online? (shakes head frantically) HELL NO! Some slimy bastard would no doubt yank it out from under me, then I would really be out for blood!
Quick note! Books are like movies, you can stop whenever you want. Those of you who wanted a happy ending... finish the sentence.
Enjoy!
Chapter 10: Without the Mask
Despite the windowless walls, Clef knew exactly what time of day it was. Umi had departed for the manor a few hours after daybreak and had been gone a few hours thereafter. Still Clef sat on the edge of the desk, as placid as he had been the moment Umi left the room. A lock of his lavender bangs once again snuck across his line of sight (Umi had hinted repeatedly at his thinned hair) and, this time, he let the strand hang. His mind was too occupied to bother him with minor annoyances. The faces of his friends and comrades ran before his eyes, all wide-eyed with jaws dangling. How many times would he have to tell the story? What would he say? It had been stressful enough to tell Umi who he was (even though she had figured it out mainly by herself). How could he tell the public? And even if somehow he did manage to keep the tale identical with every recitation, his image of a normal mortal would be shattered and his old routine destroyed. People would seek him out for miracles or revere him and never give him a moment's peace.
He had thought about this since the moment his eyes opened that morning. Umi had been completely oblivious to the conception and glided away after a brief kiss. A smile flickered as he remembered her face when she left; her eyes were bright and her face was absolutely aglow. He sighed. Umi would have had plenty of time now to tell several people. If she did or not was anyone's guess.
Shaking his head, he got up, picked up the jacket he wore as Councilman Clef, and slowly made his way up the winding stair to his former office. Lantis would undoubtedly be at work this late in the day. What time was it exactly?
As predicted, Lantis was at his desk working diligently, but the rest of the room was empty... or rather, exactly as Clef had left it.
He reached the last step then came a ginger knock on the door.
"Come," Lantis said without looking up from the papers in his hand.
In walked the tall cadet. Her brown eyes locked on Lantis then she caught sight of Clef. She smiled, "Good afternoon councilman."
"Is it?" Clef asked.
She nodded. To Lantis: "This came for the Guru, sir." She paused then turned to Clef and held out a small envelop, "Or should I say, this came for you."
"So you know?" Clef asked.
"Who in this room doesn't?" She smiled again. Once the envelop was in Clef's hand, she bowed to him and Lantis then took her leave.
"Then how long have you known?"
"Known what?" Lantis asked as he sat back in the chair, a grin on his face. "Know that you, Clef, weren't dead? Know that Zenosis was the Guru? Or know that 'Clef' was Zenosis?"
"I suppose it doesn't really matter," Clef said with a smile. "But what of Presea?"
Lantis got up, walked to Clef, and clasped his shoulder. "You needn't concern yourself with her. If you must know, I told her the small details but she uncovered the truth for herself." He squeezed Clef's shoulder reassuringly, "She'll be alright," he said, too soft for Clef to hear. With that he walked to the door and said, "The Councilman's daily agenda has been completed. There is nothing you need to worry about for today, less that letter should contain some urgent errand."
Clef looked down at the red wax seal and saw the Ryuuzaki insignia. He didn't notice the door closing behind Lantis.
Lantis sighed and walked back to his old office. Presea was waiting for him, standing by the window. "I have completed all there was on the list you gave me," she said, still staring out the window, her back to her superior. "And I am sure that Hikaru wishes for your company on this fine day."
Lantis looked over her shoulder and at the gray sky, its clouds pregnant with a drenching downpour. He raised an eyebrow. Usually Presea was more subtle. He walked up behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder. "I am sorry," he said.
"I'm not. The only thing I regret is that I did not have the will to let events take their due course."
"You tried to intervene?"
"I tried to..." She took a quick breath to strengthen the confidence in her voice. "I tried to forewarn Lady Ryuuzaki before she left, but she would not listen. Or if she did listen to my words she did not hear them." She paused and bowed her head. "I fear for him."
"As do I," Lantis said. "But he made mention to Lord Ryuuzaki, whose unconscious muse passed on to my ear, that there was a part of Lady Ryuuzaki he wanted to free."
Presea nodded, "I only pray that the woman will emerge before the child destroys..."
"Go home cadet," Lantis said softly. "There's nothing else for you to do here today." When she didn't move he gently squeezed her shoulder and said more firmly, "That's an order."
"Thank you sir," she whispered before ducking from his hand and briskly walking through the door. She paused briefly by Clef's door and raised her knuckles to the wood, then withdrew and hurried down the hall, down the spiral stair, and out the gargantuan double doors into the gloomy streets.
Clef had sensed her at his door and opened it to find her already at the end of the hall. Her footsteps were more hasty than usual and there was a faint scent of salt in the air. He called after her, but either she didn't hear or she ignored him, her pace doubled until she was nearly jogging toward the double doors. He reached the top of the stairs and she lowered her shoulder into the door. "Presea," he called again. When his voice hit the crowded space behind him the parroting men dropped their utensils, documents, and jaws. He paid them no mind.
Running down the stairs he bolted for the door. He caught a glimpse of her bright hair through the door before a sudden gust slammed it shut.
Her feet couldn't carry her far away fast enough. The urge to turn around and throw herself in his arms fought a losing battle with the necessity to run; an advocate fed by the pain in her chest. Why was she not congratulating him? Why was she not jubilant? Rare was it that an Eosye Kespa ever caught sight of the reward he lived for, rarer still was one who could reach and feel its warmth.
But just how is an Eosye Kespa any different from the immortal soul? Does the soul, once conscious, not set its own standards and then strive to exceed them?
She understood him more than anyone could at that moment. Whereas his inevitable bane would be the lack of endearment, hers was the inability to touch, to hold, to kiss, to love, to endear him. Shame wrapped its bitter fingers around her throat. And whereas he had endured lifetimes of this pain, she was at her end of tolerance shy of a decade.
Her fingers fumbled for the vial on the chain about her neck. Gripping it tightly, she flicked the stopper out as she yanked and broke the chain then threw the bitter contents down her throat. Feeling him still behind her, she cast the vial on the cobblestones and kept running for home.
Less than a minute later, Clef's boot crunched the remains of the vial. He stopped and scanned the ground for the origin of the sound. Lightning made the chain glint and the broken glass flash. Squatting down, he examined the glass neck of what was left of the vial. Small in size and the glass walls somewhat thick.
Presea's presence faded in the distance. He stood and closed his eyes.
Presea burst through the gates of the GLTC (Gray Level Trainee Complex) and ran straight for her chamber on the second floor. Fellow trainees and friends called to her. She didn't respond to any of them. Her hand fumbled for her pocket and withdrew her key. She struggled to keep her hand still, suddenly so shaky. Key inserted, she bolted through the door and locked it behind her. A coughing fit struck her, bringing her to her knees.
"Presea..." Clef whispered. Opening his eyes, he locked onto her fading life force.
"Shenol taka-ki."
Presea heaved for breath as she stared at her hands. Her black leather gloves were coated with spit and blood. "This wouldn't have been quick enough," she mumbled. "Wouldn't have done me any good if I had been caught during the mission." She smirked. Which I'll never live to see anyway. Taking a quick breath she pushed herself to her feet and started removing her jacket.
Her eyes took one last glance at her room. The bookshelf with volumes of fiction and reference stacked and littering the floor. The quiet table always set for one. Her paper screen shielding the far corner. The bed with its smooth sheets and deflated pillows.
She dropped her jacket on the floor, no sense in housekeeping now. One hand let her hair down while the other tugged to loosen her shirt from her waistband. If she was going to die, she was going to be comfortable. She collapsed on the bed and curled up with her head on the pillow. Closing her eyes, she waited.
The deadbolt slid free and the door opened.
A sleepy smile graced her lips, "So, death is come."
"Is that who you wait for?" Clef asked.
She felt the bed depress beside her. "Who else?" she asked. "I'm surprised you came. I was sure you would be at Ryuuzaki manor by now."
His hand hovered above her head. She was radiant with her hair spread about her face. Now that radiance was slowly draining. Why? Why would she throw her life away? Was she ill? Some sort of disease that had dragged her to the void. Was she afraid? Fearful of the mission within two days. Had a fortuneteller dripped such poison in her ear? A death in the family perhaps? She only had one sister: Sierra. Had something become of her sister? Had she given up on her dreams? No reason could justify.
"Why?" Clef asked as he touched her brow.
She opened her eyes and turned her head to face him. Her eyes shimmered and a tear slid down her cheek. Her hand reached up and brought his down to her lips. She smiled, "I know you'll be happy with Lady Umi."
Was that why? It had to be. Everything made sense to him now. Her shyness in casual/private conversations unrelated to duties. Her never-ending generosity and willingness to be at his side. Then there were her words on the rooftop. 'Phantom, toy no more with the strings of my heart.'
"I wish I could have loved you," she whispered. "Or at least that we could have talked more... maybe over a cup of tea."
Taking his hand from hers, he gingerly scooped her up in his arms. His hand pressed her head to his chest.
"Why now?" Presea whispered.
He kissed her brow. "Because before I died, you did the same for me," Clef replied. Somewhere a man is crying... because your love of me stole you from him, he thought. "Nay," he said then kissed the bridge of her nose. "You did more."
Her lips parted, awaiting his.
Their lips never met. A coughing fit cut short the last moments Presea had. With one mighty cough and a spray of blood, she died.
Clef held her body in his arms long after her spirit left. But he still felt her beside him. Death had yet to come.
The room was suddenly cold. A fetid stench stirred nausea. Time slowed and black smoke choked the dreary light from the hallway. "You're not needed here," Clef growled, clutching Presea's body.
"And still she summoned me," a voice answered. A tall black woman stepped from behind the paper screen. "Though I'm not surprised."
"Explain."
She shook her head. "I don't need to explain, unless you're that blind."
"I am not blind Sandara!"
"Oh?" Sandara mocked. "Then you know that she is the twentieth -no- thirty-first! woman to have died of wanting." Clef's face went blank. Sandara lifted a jetted eyebrow. "Guess not." She sighed, "Amazing how you never fail to continue the trend. You take a gamble. You survive the debt. You torment a patient soul... until they can't take anymore." To Presea: "Come, it's time we went."
The presence of Presea's spirit faded. Sandara took one last look at Clef then disappeared behind the screen.
Clef's eyes suddenly stung. The room sweltered and a spicy scent wafted to his nose. His stomach coiled, pushing bile up his throat. He gently laid Presea down and tugged at his collar. A static discharge snapped at his ear. More sparks flashed around his arms and legs, biting his flesh. A white veil fell over his vision, laced with white lightning.
Not again!
He rolled off the bed and crashed onto the floor. Curling into a ball he clamped one hand over his mouth and the other over his eyes.
Why? It wasn't her time to die!
Fire ricocheted through every vein and slowly seeped through his skin. Smoke rose in thick spirals and drifted out into the hallway. Voices gasped and feet thundered toward the door. "Hurry! Get some water!" "Presea!"
Shenol... taka riva.
Two of Presea's closest friends burst in the room. One bolted for Presea's body, picked her up, and hurried out of the room. She came back with a blanket to help the other slap out the flames. Blaze quelled, the one who carried Presea left to see to her friend. The other knelt down beside the blackened patch on the floor. She glanced at the table. The only candle in the room stood in its bronze dish, snuffed and quiet. Turning her gaze back to the blackened wood, she reached down and traced a gray line all the way around. A hand print.
Clef let the river's current spin him around until his lungs screamed for air. His hand latched onto a submerged root and he hauled his head above water. He clung to the root, shook, and gasped for breath. His body still burned.
Why is this happening? I never knew Presea... not as well as I should have. How could she love me? Love... Umi.
He whispered her name to calm his soul. Her face, her smile, her shimmering eyes flooded his mind. The memory of her lips on his made him shiver and his lips tingle. Closing his eyes he took a breath and lowered his head underwater.
Its believed that lovers know when their other half suffers. That no matter the distance one knows when his/her lover is in need. Though Umi's face was crystal clear in his mind, her voice wouldn't reach Clef's ears. He couldn't persuade himself to turn the feel of the water in his hair to her slender fingers. No arms came to embrace him.
At the same moment, Umi was so busy chatting with Hikaru that she was completely oblivious to Clef's cries; her heart was deaf.
The whole of Cephiro, however, was not so deaf.
Hikaru squirmed in her chair as she looked around the room for the fifteenth time.
"Hikaru!" Umi said. "Are you listening to me?"
"Sorry," Hikaru said, still looking. "Do you hear something?"
"No." Umi turned to her father who was sitting at her left. Her eye twitched when she found Ryuuzaki gazing out the window, toward the river. "Do you hear anything father?"
He didn't answer.
"Father!" she repeated.
"Hm?" looking at her.
"Do you hear anything?"
"Don't you?" he asked. He swallowed and put his cup down to rub a circle over his heart.
"Someone's calling," Hikaru said.
Ryuuzaki suddenly bolted from his chair and hurried out to the stables.
"Humph!" Umi huffed. "Where's he going?"
A loud whinny shot to their ears. "Easy now!" Ryuuzaki's voice said. "Easy Nightshade."
Hikaru hurried out to the front entrance, Umi reluctantly followed. "What's going on?" Umi demanded.
Just then, Nightshade kicked his stall door down, dashed for the gate, and was gone. Ryuuzaki fought the urge to call for his steed, even though he knew his stallion could never catch Nightshade now. Umi shook her head, turned on her heel, and went up to her room.
Clef still held his body submerged and had nearly forgotten he needed to breathe. Without warning, teeth clenched his jacket and hauled him on the riverbank. Nightshade whinnied and nudged his ribs gently.
"Yet again, your luck amazes me," came a voice. Clef lifted his body on shaky arms and snarled at the figure before him.
"What more do you want, Death?" he sneered.
"Nothing from you," Sandara said cooly. "Save for one last chess match."
Chess... one word solves the metaphor for life. Any time that word rolled off Sandara's tongue, it brought Clef to the other side. He was the only mortal Sandara ever cared to challenge anymore.
The other side isn't what you'd expect. When people think of Death, we tend to link it with torture and punishment equivalent to that of hell before the messenger angels ferry the departed to their true, final resting place. But Death hadn't come for Clef, she would take him if he gave an inch, then she would have to wait eternity again for another of his "rare breed" as she called it.
Clef blinked and he was standing in an all too familiar room. No windows. No doors. No walls for that matter; the universe served as all three. There was just a four level chess board already halfway through a match, and two chairs. Sandara was already sitting in the black high-back on the other side. Clef walked to the white high-back and sat down. Sandara smiled as he accepted her challenge (even though he had no choice in the matter), her white teeth stood out against her dark chocolate skin. Instead of the usual, airy black dress she wore to collect souls, it seemed she was feeling generous. She wore a tight dress with a high slit the color of Umi's hair; the dress women in Cephiro wore during wedding engagement ceremonies. He clenched the arm of his chair and ground his teeth.
Her smile broadened. "You don't like it?" He narrowed his eyes. She clicked her tongue, "Tell you what," she began. "If you win this match -or make it worth my while- I'll report to your colleagues and inform them that I claimed you, and claim you I shall."
"I don't see how that's a reward for me."
"You will... mortal."
His eyes widened. "You'll strip me of my fate?"
She smiled. "You always did have a sharp wit."
The smile growing on his lips died. "What's the catch?"
"You see! You are quick." She lifted a crystal glass of "red liquor" to her lips. "Mmm..." she moaned. "Now that's good, fresh and blended with despondency, pain... and," she paused to sniff the bouquet. "Arsenic with some amateur's magic catalyst. Hah! No wonder she didn't die on the spot," she mused. Her eyes returned to Clef. "Oh I'm sorry! Where were we? Ah yes! Your move."
Clef studied the board, he had four pieces left. Sandara had seven: six of them pawns but about ready to touch his side of the board, and her queen piece was waiting like a black widow in the far corner of the first level. Clef was relieved to find his king was safely on the fourth level and all of Sandara's pawns were on the second. He found his knights on the third level, but to his dismay, his queen was on the bottom level and far away from the square the would transport it to the fourth level (or the second level for that matter). Why?
"I see you've noticed the layout, now here's the catch. The queen you've chosen isn't even aware of the levels above her -Presea would be on the fourth with you had you chosen her. Your knight, Nightshade -or should I call her Zeritolokido?- is just one level below you. Wise choice, on both of them actually." She chuckled. "Shame there isn't a Gemini piece, Zeri and her lover, Suelvo, would be a powerful ally. Now you know your other knight. You remember the rules of course. Now move."
Both of his knights were one square from the portal to the second level. Then they would be able to move one more square forward, taking out a pawn a piece, then another a piece with their three square sidesteps. Sandara acted surprised when he took that move then moved the remaining two pawns to the transformation square. One became a black knight, the other a rook.
"Recognize anyone?"
Clef closed his eyes. Lantis and Prince Ferio where the obvious answers to both metaphors. The only question now was, who would he have to take off first? Who would he condemn to an early death? That was the deal with pawns. Until they transform, the souls the pawns represent are safe.
"Now..." Sandara said lowly. "Let us play God, and your queen plays with us."
"NO!"
Umi swayed as she entered her room. She suddenly felt lightheaded and sleepy. Wobbling to her bed, she collapsed and let sleep take her.
Clef's queen piece moved two squares and into the portal leading to the second level. Right in front of Sandara's rook! Sandara took her move, transporting her knight to the third level after taking out one of Clef's knights. Farewell, yet again, Suelvo. Then the black queen moved...
Umi found herself outside the threshold of the royal throne room. 'How did I get here?' she asked herself. 'What's that sound?'
She stepped up to the heavy oaken doors and pressed her ear to the wood. Unable to determine the sound, she knocked. "Hello?" she called.
"What? What more do you want of me?"
She recognized him now. "My apologies Prince," she said as she sprang away from the door. "I didn't realize you wanted to be alone."
Hurried feet sprinted for the door. The handle turned and the door flew back. Umi started and bit down on a yelp. Piercing amber eyes glowed on Ferio's dark face. "You!" he growled. Mercilessly grabbing her arm, Umi winced as he jerked her inside. The thunderous clash of the doors slamming to rang in her ears. He swung her around, grabbed her other arm, and threw her back against the wall. "How dare you come here!" he roared. "How dare you!"
The rook slid toward the white queen; toward Umi.
"On the day of our wedding you... you-" He drew a long, narrow dagger from his belt and pressed it to the underside of her jaw. "You dared -in front of the entire court! Including your father!- you brought the back of your hand across my wife's face. And then!" He was squeezing her neck now. "And then, when word reached your ear that she was with child, you had her executed by your own assassin."
"No!" she cried.
"Silence!" he boomed. "I know it was you! Why? I don't know, but I know it was you! Perhaps you thought it revenge for my not pulling rank in Clef's trial? Did you? Or were you merely jealous that Fuu had a lover and you had lost yours. I wept for Clef! I mourned him as though I would my own brother! I would trade everything I own if that would bring him back for you, for Cephiro!" His eyes glazed then darkened. "But that wasn't enough for you." He grabbed her hand, wrapped her fingers around the dagger's hilt, and made her press the blade to his breast. "You've had your revenge Lady Ryuuzaki... now I will have mine. My blood will be on your hands just as my love's."
"I didn't kill Fuu!" she cried. "Fuu was my sister! I could never hurt her."
"LIAR!"
He winced as he pressed her hand to his breast. A thin ring of blood stained his robes.
Clef gripped the arms of his chair until his knuckles were white. In the act, he felt his youth run down his arms, through his wrists, and out into the chair arms through his fingertips. His dread of the advancing rook kept him from noticing his hair had returned to its snowy sheen and was already falling out about his shoulders. His face fell with gravity at an accelerated rate and shriveled with his hands.
Sandara smiled and took another sip of Presea's blood from her wineglass.
A sudden thought struck Umi. "Clef's not dead," she whispered.
Ferio paused, panting from the pain. "So you had Fuu killed for sport?" he growled, then yelled. "For pleasure!"
She shook her head, oddly overcome by a wave of placidity. "We're both dreaming," she said softly. "We're asleep. And in reality, Clef's still alive -no, he's the Guru himself!- you're happily married to Lady Hououji (though I can't say if I know she's with child), and all of us are living peacefully in Cephiro's stability."
It was apparent in his eyes that he wished for her words to take material form before his eyes. His hand loosened around hers. "The Ryuuzaki clan does not lie."
She shook her head, "We're simply no good at it because of our genuine hatred of it."
He took a breath, sheathed his dagger, but kept loose hold on her jaw. "Hear me Lady," he warned. "If this is merely a dream, then all is forgotten when I wake. If Fuu is lying beside me, I will not mention this again, in public or confidence. But," he growled, "should the pillow beside me be empty..." He jerked her chin up. "Your father will be no protection. You'll wish for death every waking and sleeping moment, but you will neither. I'll expose you to Clef's celestial eyes for what you really are. And then, when disease and old age finally take you, even he will shed no tear for you."
"I understand," she said, unflinchingly.
He dropped his hand from her face and clutched his still barely bleeding chest. "Go now," he commanded. "You're dismissed."
She curtsied formally then walked calmly to the door. She paused and turned to see Ferio seat himself in a one-armed sofa. "I'll fetch a surgeon on my way out."
He cut his eyes up at her and thrust his finger at the door. She bent her knees quickly, bowed her head, and left.
Sandara nearly dropped her glass and the liquid on her tongue in her lap.
Clef couldn't suppress his profound relief and joy when the rook stopped but two squares from the white queen. He let his head flop back against the back of the chair and breathed a loud sigh. He didn't lift his head to see his queen advance to the second level, and then, miraculously, promptly to the third level! His turn was over.
Sandara rose her knight to the third level and left the rook where it stood (Ferio was useless to her now).
The black queen moved withing range of the portal to the fourth level.
Clef pulled his head up and a wisp of thin hair fell over his nose. He pulled it back toward his ear but found it fell loose in his fingers. He lifted another tendril from the corner of his eye, that too fell limp in his fingers. Shaking those off, he finally noticed the hairs sticking like spiderwebs to his black uniform. He raised his eyes to Sandara and snickered as he shook his head.
"Something amusing?"
He rubbed his eyes then pinched the bridge of his nose. His cerulean eyes darkened like an angry sea in a storm and he held up his fist, then the middle finger.
She cocked an eyebrow as he stood. "I beg your pardon!"
"Beg all you want," he said lowly. He slapped the hair off his arms and shoulders then ran both his hands over his scalp, pulling what was left out. Wadding everything into a ball, he paused. What to do? He smirked then pitched it into a nearby black hole. When he sat back down, he leaned back and finished his thought out loud. "Beg all you want, it'll never happen."
"What won't?" she growled.
He grinned then answered bluntly, "You'll never get laid."
She clenched her jaw.
He laughed, "Oh come now, Death! You told me at the beginning to make this worth your while. So tell me now, honestly, how many mortals tell you to go fuck yourself?"
She chuckled and raised her glass, as if to toast to him. "Not many I'll grant you that," she replied. "One thing I never did care for about you was that you're a brazen, true, and crude fellow." She took a sip and let the rest of her anger dissolve. "You're move."
"You already..." His voice trailed off. He didn't need to ask. Death had taken her move and her knight was within striking distance and slowly sliding down the path toward Umi. Lantis... what sadistic plot would twist his limbs and force his voice?
Sandara studied him with savage satisfaction. He had pushed the edge with her before, nearly in the same manner. And every time, it rose the same surprise and malice. Much as she hated his boldness, she admired it; once she tore him to shreds she would never find another soul that could combat her so. Despite his efforts, she saw the fraying threads that held his sanity intact. All he was now hinged on this blue-haired fool; how easy he made his destruction...
Umi stepped through the door to the throne room and onto grass wet with the morning dew. Trees groaned and swayed their budding branches at the spring sky. Then the air held its breath.
Sandara closed her eyes.
A faint, phantasmal arm draped comfortingly around Umi's shoulders. She gasped as she felt her body walk out from her. Throwing her hands in front of her face, she gawked with wide eyes at her evanescent hands and arms. 'What's happening to me!' The question left, but not through her lips.
"Come now," a voice said beside her ear. "Don't be alarmed."
Umi whirled around to find... nothing behind her.
"He wouldn't want you to be afraid."
Turning, a woman with pearly skin masked by a black veil offered her hand.
"I want to show you something," the woman said. "He'd want you to see this too."
With no consent of her own, her hand took the woman's and allowed this stranger to lead her through the trees. Every step brought a cold sensation that lasted but a split second. The dew cooled the bottom of her feet and sent a shiver up to her knees. She held her dress above the grass and the woman said, "Yes, no since in catching cold."
Trees seemed to move on their own passed them. Once, Umi thought she heard someone from up ahead. With the repeat, the woman let go of her hand and disappeared up ahead. A group of people were standing in a circular cluster, heads bowed. Men had their arms around their wives, sisters, or daughters. A few of the woman wept inconsolably. Then faces started to fall into place. She recognized the emerald haired prince (standing alone!) with reddened eyes and heavy shoulders. Lantis kept silent vigil from a nearby tree, his eyes averting from the central object to a blue-haired woman. Her father stood beside the woman with his arm around her. She nodded occasionally as he whispered then turned up to look at him.
Umi gasped, it was her!
She blinked and took the place of her double. Her father's face clearly showed the battle between anguish and comforting his daughter. She offered a weak smile (so much pain... so sudden) then turned her face back to the closed casket.
"I want to see him." The words came as thought they had a mind of their own.
"Are you sure?" Ryuuzaki asked, begging her with his eyes to say no.
"I want to see," she repeated.
Ryuuzaki looked up at a blonde haired man (the hangman, Umi recognized him) and whispered, "Open it."
Umi stepped up behind the man and clenched her hands. Her breath caught in her throat as the hinges creaked softly. Shadow masked the black figure inside, then daylight curled in around the lip of the lid and illuminated a strand of lavender. She screwed her eyes inwardly and screamed, on the outside, her face was as smooth as polished marble.
There seemed to be a layer of dust over his face, his scared, swollen face. His hands rest peacefully on his chest, holding the white rose she'd picked from the gardens that morning. There had been a reason why she'd done that, now she didn't know.
Women and children wailed when the hangman pushed the lid all the way up.
"Such a sweet man!"
"Why'd he have to die momma?"
"Such a sweet man, and not a moment's happiness."
"Why'd he die!"
"Poor, young Lady Ryuuzaki, I heard she fancied him."
"Poor child, this must be hard for her."
"Why'd he have to die? What'd he do wrong? Momma!"
"Hush!" All voiced quieted. Lantis stepped away from his tree. "That's enough. Clef is free from his persecutors now. He wouldn't want a tear shed on his account." His voice softened. "You know this as I do." He paused and smiled. "So! Tell your children stories of the times you shared with him. Remind them of his virtues, for all of them were true. (Ferio smiled) He loved this country, he left it in far better shape than he found it. It's our turn now. He'll keep watch from heaven." He chuckled, "Sincerely, I doubt he could do otherwise. Now go home, weep if you must, then weep no more."
In life or in death, time melted away when she gazed at his face. Despite the bruising from god-knows-what and the obvious rope burn below his chin and the dust on his face, he looked like he was sleeping. At any moment she expected to see his chest move.
Twin hands on her shoulders made her start.
"Come milady," Lantis said. "It's time you retire."
"One moment," she said.
His jaw was locked in place and his lips! So cold; ice isn't that cold! Her eye caught sight of the rose on his chest. A premature sentence swirled in her mind; the reason wouldn't come... not yet.
Days went by. She slept in the comfort of her own bed but never quite woke up. Her eyes were dazed and her funeral dress only left her back to wash it. Ryuuzaki kept himself busy with matters that "desperately needed his attention." Hikaru never came to see her (no had even mentioned her, even Lantis). Ferio sent his condolences then tried to console her with happier tidings: Fuu was pregnant! He requested possible names (hoping to lighten her spirits, they only sunk). Names, children... with the man she loved. Fuu was lucky. Umi seethed with jealousy. She came out of her room and called her mother's name. Ryuuzaki froze on his way through the door, and walked slowly to the foot of the stair. "Oh Umi," he moaned. "Don't you remember? Mother's dead. She died giving birth to you."
Umi returned to her room and screamed her hysteria. She needed someone to hold her, to let her cry on their shoulder.
Ascot! Surely he'd take her back. This time she could give him her mind completely. She'd have to to escape her grief. Her heart ached so that she couldn't eat or sleep. The only errand she allowed herself to take was to Clef's office. Lantis greeted her, as councilman.
Once she asked the crucial question.
"Lantis (she couldn't say "councilman")," she began. "Where's Hikaru?"
Lantis stopped writing, looked up, cocked his head, and said. "Who?"
"Hikaru, your fiancé."
He shook his head, "I've never been engaged."
She exploded into the romantic tale. She explained in intricate detail how he had found Hikaru after Clef established the Clean Sweep Act (which had a clause two actually that he thoroughly defended stating that all urchins were to be cared for in shelters or given as proper a burial as the aristocrats would pay for). That when Clef saw him carrying Hikaru, that Clef requested he take care of her personally (said she was in critical condition and only Lantis had the expertise for). When she regained consciousness and was rid of her delirium, he kept her under his wing, supposedly unaware (or at least denied publically) of his attachment and affection.
She said, in less than a year, the Clean Sweep Act was abandoned (aristocrats had had enough) but Clef had given orders to the Academy to continue care with their assigned "survivor." By that time he and Hikaru were practically inseparable. Clef did all he could to allow them time alone together and balance Lantis's attention with Cephirian matters. His plan had worked until her father's last masquerade. Then, she said softly, it was discovered that Hikaru was pregnant. She hurried the ending. Lantis chased after Clef before he could take Hikaru away and revealed himself as the father. Then, with her father's blessing, Hikaru was relieved of servitude and given to Lantis.
"You are engaged," she insisted.
"To a street urchin?" he asked, stupefied.
"To my best friend," she corrected.
Now he couldn't suppress laughing. Him engaged to a street urchin! The Lady Ryuuzaki! Friends with an urchin! Friends! Of all the nonsense!-this was the mother load!
"What's so funny?" she hissed.
He shook his head and wiped the tears from his eyes. "That sounds like Clef," he mused. "He was the only man I knew stupid enough to disobey the caste. I, however, am not."
"You dare to call my lover stupid? Need I remind you "councilman" that I -myself- broke the caste system-"
"You break the caste like blind men break bread."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Before your liaison with Clef, you had many men in your most intimate company. Including that farm boy -I forget his name; not that it matters. And before him there were at least four lower caste men-"
Umi blinked, suddenly her eyes were losing focus. Lantis's form was narrowing and... of all things... changing gender. The pearly faced woman, who lead Umi to Clef's funeral, leaned in on her elbows as Lantis would have done. His voice faded as the undertone of hers gradually took its place.
"Four lower caste men!" she repeated. "Every time you've had an ounce of stress in your life, there's another man. Single, married, young, or senile, you're not choosy."
"That was then, maybe," Umi said, her voice quivered. "I'm not like that anymore. I found Clef. I love him!"
The woman laughed. "Is that what you think? You may have found him, but with your little trip to the farm fields, you and that boy took the Tears of Heaven. You abandoned any loyalty that might have been in you. And, because of you, Clef turned himself in to the Chancellor. Chancellor Vision was more than happy to hang him for false crimes."
"You're lying!" she screamed. "Clef's alive!"
The woman threw her head back and laughed. "Are you so naive? You were at the funeral not but two days past. You kissed his dead lips!"
Her hand flew to her mouth. The image of his battered face, with the blood bruising around his neck where the rope snapped it, flashed before her eyes. The realization of Death's work hit her like a broadsword through the breast. She collapsed onto the floor, sobbed, wailed, then finally took her hands from her face and screamed.
"But the spell was broken!" Umi moaned. "Ascot left. Guru came -Clef came back! He said he wasn't fit for his position anymore. He said he was no longer an Eosye Kespa!"
"You were dreaming dear," she said as she glided to Umi's side then knelt softly. "It's only natural to make up alternate scenarios. The part of you that recognized that maybe he was the man you truly loved, created that for you." Umi shook her head. "I know it feels real my dear. But it's just delaying reality.
"It's not your fault you know. (Umi looked up) You are who and what you are. You were just simply born that way, you accept it and make most you can with it. You're a beautiful young woman, you'll find someone else who will rapture you just as much -if not more- than Clef ever did."
Umi stayed still for a little while, then finally sniffed and nodded.
"Good girl," the woman cooed. "Come now, let's get you home so you can rest."
Again Clef gripped the arms of his chair, this time in anger. Play God indeed! he scowled as he glared at Sandara's closed eyes. His eyes flicked down to the still advancing black knight (now a space and a half from claiming his queen) then back to Sandara. Fair's fair.
He closed his eyes too.
Umi stumbled into her room and crawled halfway on her bed then collapsed in another crying fit. She missed dinner that night and Ryuuzaki didn't come to fetch her. Best to leave her alone, he thought. She'll find her own way out.
She woke the following afternoon and trudged to her desk on the far side of the room. Opening what she thought was her diary, three words in large, childish letters greeted her tired eyes: "Things Zen Said."
"Must be the wrong book," she croaked. Curiosity made her turn the page before she would find the right book. Phrases she knew already greeted her as she watched her handwriting mature as she must have aged. Then a little diary-like passage caught her eye.
'I asked Zen why he is still so unhappy. He replied, "It's who I am to be unhappy. I can't change that because I choose not to change it. Anyone else who wanted to be happy could change their unhappiness. There is no such thing or entity as Fate. People say they can't help what they are because they were born that way. That's their excuse for not changing. They've convinced themselves that they're powerless at that moment. Once you accept that you have no power, then you truly can't change. I've chosen to give up my power of change." He gripped my shoulder and warned me, "People will tempt you. They will say 'It's not your fault. You were born this way, might as well make the best of it.' Well, let them be damned! You can do anything you set your mind to! Including, above all... finding happiness."'
Clef gasped and opened his eyes. Those words were all he could give... even for one of
Eosye Kespa, Death ruled in her realm. All he could do now was pray.
Umi was suddenly bounding with energy. The words had done as Clef hoped, but took a twist. She recognized that she had to find a place where she could be happy. But her spirits fell when she thought of giving herself to another man. The woman was right about one thing, she'd never been loyal or faithful to one man. That was going to change! Another quote of Zen's spoke of a place where living and death merge. She changed that idea to the thought of heaven where Clef was waiting for her now (she'd accepted he was dead). In order to be faithful, she'd have to find a place where she could live alone (any man was too tempting; "creature comforts"). She thought long and hard, becoming more and more depressed with every rejected idea. First she thought she'd just leave the city. Where would she go? To the wilderness where monsters roam? No. Another nation then? Somewhere where she could coexist with the locals and yet be incompatible sexually. That entailed learning a new language, new customs, and leaving her father behind. No. Her inexperienced mind then left suicide. That way, she wouldn't have a chance to be unfaithful. Clef would be waiting for her in heaven. But self-suicides were condemned to perdition. No. Her intentions of suicide were pure (not realizing they'd be like any other suicide's final wish). She simply couldn't manage to find happiness with what she was, what she'd been given to work with. Hikaru was gone. Fuu was never really close to her. Ascot wasn't her type. But, from what Lantis had said, Chancellor Vision was still around. At all costs she had to get away from him! At any and all costs! Lantis would take care of Cephiro. That left her father. Ryuuzaki was an old man, even by Cephirian standards, and he had sworn the moment her mother was lowered into the ground that he would not sustain his youth. Then after the beginning of the Reformations, he'd prolonged his promise to death. Now the Reformations were over, he would leave her soon if she stayed alive.
Down to the kitchens she flew. She called for her father, when he didn't answer... she picked up the sharpest blade she could find, and gripped it in both hands.
No... she didn't even reach for the doorknob. Zenosis's scowling words battered her ears before she so much as turned toward the door: "Suicide is NEVER an option! We're put here for a purpose and we fulfill that purpose without our knowledge. Why do you think I'M still here?"
Oh if ever self-loathing mated with loneliness, their offspring would have been the demon on Umi's shoulder at that moment!
A light rapping came to her chamber door. "One moment," she called then frantically wiped the tears from her face. She hurried to the full length mirror beside her wardrobe. Her hair was a mess. Her dress, wrinkled. Her face was pale and her eyes and nose were red from crying. The rapping repeated. "One moment!"
"There's no formal company here tonight," a voice called. "Please come as you are."
"Lantis?" she called.
"Yes?"
She opened the door slowly, catching sight first of his strong sword arm, then half of his masculine chest up his throat to his square jaw. Damn the seductress!
He almost smirked. "Is there some way I can help?" he asked. "You look distressed."
She stared at the space between their feet. Close the door, part of her said. The others wanted her to either pull him over the threshold by the belt or command him to knock her down and ravage her. In the end, he invited himself in and closed the door behind him. Removing his coat he laid it on a chair and sat down.
"It's not your fault you know," he said soothingly. "Clef chose this fate for himself."
"He chose it?" she whispered.
"You did nothing wrong. In fact, you did what most women would have done in your place. They would have taken that potion just as you did. It's not a surrender, to find someone else to be happy with. You're not being unfaithful if the man's dead."
"What are you saying?" she asked as she stood in front of him, ready to leap onto his lap.
He stood and looked down at her. The space between them was so slim. "I'm saying it's alright to be what you are. You're not held anymore by being faithful or loyal. He'll understand. I get the feeling he'd actually do the same thing you're fighting."
"You think so?"
He nodded then grabbed her face and claimed her mouth. Ah such creature comfort. She twisted to accommodate the size difference then pushed away and undid his belt.
Clef watched as the knight slid onto the queen's square, a tear fell from his eye. "Umi...
my love, please..." he closed his eyes and clutched at his heart. "Don't give in. You're not what you think you are. I know that and I love everything about you, even this so called seductress side you're so afraid of now."
Sandara opened her eyes. The boulder was rolling down hill, and there was nothing Clef, Zenosis, or the Guru could do to stop it.
She closed her eyes again.
Umi laid obediently on her back and let Lantis please them both. The size difference was uncomfortable to start, but Lantis proved he had had a mistress or two before.
Umi looked up through rocky vision at the ceiling and saw the woman with the veil floated above them, surrounded by a black aura moving like hair does underwater. 'Am I dreaming?' she asked her mind.
The woman put a finger to her lips and nodded. "This has all been a dream my dear," the woman whispered. "All just one horrible nightmare, but it's nearly over. You only have but to endure this moment with him and it will all be over."
Umi smiled. 'It's not so bad really.'
The woman grinned. "That's a good girl." She floated up into the ceiling whispering as she went, "This will all be over soon."
But it was already over. The knight slid completely onto the queen's square, knocking her
into a hole that opened when she was touched and lead to some place below the first level.
Sandara sat back and grinned, her eyes still peacefully closed.
Clef was grinding his teeth with his bald head in his hands and his elbows on his knees. The fire burned under his skin, making him glow, and electricity returned to bash his bones.
"Umi... Umi... Umi... no..."
She sat up, but Lantis was gone. Her thighs ached and light-bluish bruises were already forming on the insides. A light rapping sounded on her door. "Umi? Are you alright?"
It was a soft, feminine voice. Umi bolted for the door, she had to know. Upon throwing it open, she came face to face with the very shocked expression of her mother. "Momma?" she asked, fearing it too good to be true. "Mother!" She threw her arms around her. "You're here!"
Lilia giggled and hugged her daughter back. "Why of course I am!" she said. She cupped Umi's face. "Whatever made you think I wasn't?"
Umi shook her head. She had more important places to be than home. "Just the most horrible dream," she replied. She smiled and waved as she hurried for the stairs. "I'll tell you all about it when I get back."
"Back?" Lilia called over the banister. "Back from where?"
"I'm going to visit Clef. Bye! I'll be home by dinner!" With that she let the door fall shut behind her as she ran for the road.
Sandara's grin would have disgusted him had he cared. She glided from her chair to hover over his shoulder. "You know I was just looking out for your interests," she cooed (as only Death can). "She would have destroyed you one day. I only wanted you to know what you were getting yourself into before you committed to her." She sighed and leaned down to whisper into his ear. "The image of the woman you put on her face would never come to be, you know that now. We can't fight what we are (or at least, we choose not to more often), that would be the same as fighting a mountain with a broken hand. Through lifetimes and eternity, there is a chance that it could be done, but the process is just too painful."
She pulled his shoulders back and he let his head roll against the back of the chair. His eyes opened with the impact on the back of his skull. Fresh tears fell and he opened his mouth but wouldn't breath. He had enough air to say what was on his mind; what he believed to be true.
He looked up into the bright lights beyond. The cosmos had always been something he wanted to show his beloved. He would have shown her sights far more beautiful than the glowing clouds of stardust and the swirling nebulas, and teased her with the fact that all she saw paled to her beauty.
Sandar's cheek was now beside his, she was coaxing him, trying to persuade him to turn his lips to fit against hers. No. Eosye Kespa must die their own way.
His eyes fixed glassily on a blue dwarf star far away. So far and yet he could reach up and take it. Her face smiled at him from the hot blue center of the star. He almost saw her reaching down for him. So much light from a dwarf.
The black hole slid into position beneath him.
Sandara's words were nothing more than tuned vibration.
He spoke his soul.
"I'm just... not... meant for love..."
Sandara screamed and threw herself away.
The blue dwarf disappeared from his sight as the lightning had its way and burned out his eyes. No pain on his part (least, none that could outdo the pain in his chest), just a horrific display of flesh, bone, and blood torn apart by fire and lightning.
Mortals say they see their life pass before them when Death's kiss comes, before their bodies are dismantled by rot. Immortals perish in a way loosely similar.
Clef watched his mistakes, regrets, and hopes fly by as his brain cells fired the memory then exploded. The fire ate his flesh little by little as the black hole drew him to his grave. Crimson light consumed what the fire had yet to. The chair, his last support, shattered and dumping him into the black hole's pull.
Voices. Voices bombarding what was left of his mind.
Anger at himself
Hatred for her treachery
Loyalty to those he once protected
Confusion for his actions (those he took or didn't)
Wisdom in his years
Curiosity to the opportunities he would now never have
Sorrow for those he failed
Fear of never reaching his aims
Romance for his love
Chivalry for his country and cause
Regret for not living life
Guilt for the planets whose blood stained his hands
Lust, to feel the pleasures with a woman
Trust, trusting himself to survive and what little remained trusting her
Each of these pieces of his character fell away in a mad fury to escape oblivion in the hungry, black mouth. All that was spared from the separation and fire, was a tiny rose-colored speck of light.
Little light of love... for the woman in the blue star.
Umi stumbled on the cobblestones outside the headquarters, then she steadied herself and ran for the heavy double doors.
She'd never run far enough...
THE END
So! Was I smoking something ruthless or what? Hope you enjoyed what you could. But! Books are like movies, you can just as easily stop when you want (little late by this point I know), so last chapter may have been the stopping point you want.
Who knows? Maybe I will write the sequel after X-mas.
P.S.- Jem46: my novel is only five chapters so far and already over 31,000 words... the title thus far tho is Shards: Legends Reborn. Find it in bookstores when or if you can!
Silvanus16