A Little Piece of Heaven
Chapter 25: I Do
"Bring it to me," Ansem holds out his large hand in the assumption that I retrieved what he never told me I was supposed to look for. But, I do have it, and I give it to him rather tiredly.
I have something on my mind.
"Don't you have enough books?" I stretch and sigh. He looks over the hard covers and papers I got him with a critical eye.
"No," he says bluntly, but I suppose that preference isn't a bad thing. Hey, he reads. Can't argue with that.
"Anything else?" I ask him. Please say no. I'm hungry, tired, and all I want to do now is lay down.
"No," he sets the books I had taken down on his desk.
Hallelujah!
"But, seeing as you are here now fixing something up this afternoon would be highly appreciated," he drawls.
Ughhhh. I have a feeling that this is a demand rather a simple suggestion.
"Alright," I suppose cooking something isn't too much of a strain. I'll do it if it will keep him content.
Business has been dell with, so he moves to walk past me and out the door. I start to follow after him, but he stops halfway, and turns to me. I grow nervous.
There is something in his fiery eyes. He pauses almost confused as he samples the air through his nose; tracking it to me. He then takes a piece of the ends of my hair through his gloved hand, holds the purple strands to his flaring nostrils, and frowns the hardest frown I have ever seen him muster.
Uh oh.
"Who was there," he spits backing me aggressively into the wall. He shuts both of the study's doors. I break into a cold sweat.
"He said his name was Xemnas," I wince as he crushes me against hard metal with his body weight. I try to protectively turn my head to the side, but he clutches my chin securely in place so that I look him in his face.
Venom gleams in his features at the sound of the name. "What did he want, hmm?" Ansem growls, raising his voice.
"He only told me where I could find what I was looking for," I answer through hurting teeth, and an aching jaw line.
"If you value your well being, Phoebe, you'll stay away from him. Do you understand?" there is ferocity in his words. I understand. All I can do is shake my head.
"Good," he breathes and we stare at each other. The acid still drips from his bared teeth. I rub his stomach gingerly, coaxing him into letting me go. But, as I do I can't stop myself from leaking a question.
"What is it about you and him?"
He glowers. "History," is all I get. "Now, come. No more questions. My mood has been soiled,"
I stay quiet, but I'm still thinking.
What kind if history does Ansem and Xemnas have? Who exactly is Xemnas, and what does he want with me?
I'd find out sooner or later.
The bellowing voices of a choir of men echo strong in the towering cathedral. Their mosaic tunes are followed by the high pitched accompaniment of women, and the pluck of a piano. Sickening laughter of highly perched heartless-as if they were gargoyles- flows on the polished walls and stained glass windows. She walks dazed at first, down the isle. Someone is holding her arm. Maleficent, clutching the crease of her elbow tight, guides her past the church pews. She's shocked, but confused when the witch gives her a wink, and a reassuring squeeze.
What is this?
Black rose pedals litter the thin strip of carpet stretched out in front of her. A little girl with velvety red hair and blue eyes sprinkles them in front from a basket. The long flow of a white-corset dress covers her legs. She then notices the veil covering her face from view, and the bouquet of roses in her sweaty hands. She is nervous. Why?
And then it clicked.
This is a wedding.
She is the wedding bride.
Before she knows it her arm is let go. The veil is lifted from her eyes by the most handsome man she's ever seen. Her man. Clad in an all black suit and bow, he flashes her his same malevolent smile shaping the evil she had come to love.
"You look beautiful, dear," he takes her small hands in his.
The words to reply won't come. She wants to cry, but she isn't sad, she can't even tell if she's happy because her heart is so overwhelmed. She sees her mother and father (but mostly her mother's dramatic crying), all the other people she recognizes, and some of the people she thinks she knows sitting in the vast wooded rows. Then there are the floating faces of imps looking on like mindless, blood thirsty zombies. They're waiting for the end. Of her wedding, or was it something else? Their sharp amused smiles where disturbing. It pricked fear at the back of her mind. Her groom saw this, and sparked an expression that told her "not to worry about them".
Then she casts a small gaze on the groomsmen. She knows none, but the best man. Paranoid, a boy with silver hair and sea green eyes stands to the groom's side almost too young to be there. The men that follow after him range in height and body types. A red head here, a man with blue hair and a face scar there, a rather large man with dreads, a blonde with a deck of cards in his front breast pocket, etc. She felt like she should know them. But, how could she when she had never seen their faces before? It was the same for the bridesmaids.
The pastor lifts his head to reveal his face, and after a pause for silence, begins to speak.
Dearly Beloved...
We are gathered here today...
She bottles in her shock, because she knows who the pastor is; neatly dressed with a white square at his collar. A bible is held, and poised in his upturned, spread hand. Xemnas continues, they all continue, but she can hardly focus on anything around her. She keeps starring into her husband-to-be's eyes; those demonically beautiful eyes.
Time skips ahead in a sinister blur. A vintage sheen glazes her eyes over and quickens her already erratic heartbeat.
The ring bearer; another boy she recognizes with bounce, messy, spiked brown hair. He's holding her ring.
Slowly but surely comes the moment of truth, choking away all other answers to the question she knows is coming.
"Do you take this man in death for the rest of your unnatural life?"
Xemnas' profound voice booms with sinister majesty. A smile carves its way onto his face as he looks at the couple with a gleam she doesn't understand.
"I do,"
It's as if the words leap out of her bubbling a brew of darkness in her heart and bursting towards the surface of her body and soul. Hot tears threaten to ruin her make-up.
"Do you take this woman in death for the rest of your unnatural life?"
"I do,"
The words rip from her groom's throat like a deep, demanding, and wicked purr. He moves closer and they look at each other so hard that they may have been able to pear into each others' souls.
"I now pronounce you,"
The kiss her groom locks her in burns deliciously down her throat. The room air turns thick like ice and darker than darkness itself. Those hovering gargoyles become restless; their mindless cackling growing louder and louder." The master has a bride," they chant and spew. Her pure white dress blotches until it's entirely black, and the background fades away into a pelting rain that would never grow wet.
"You and I will live forever. Let's start the killing," her demon whispers in her ear touching her with sin; warming her thighs under his large hands.
Screaming.
And this time, she loves it.
Thoughts still linger heavily on my conscience as I do my after-shower rituals. I lather cocoa butter on to my skin, of which, is a slightly darker shade than I remember. But, that's only one of the few things the darkness has changed. I asked Ansem if my eyes would ever be like his, but he told me no. He likes them brown. I laugh quietly to myself ebbing away the pain that still lingers in my chest. It's been starting to hurt more and more. I wonder when it will pass. The darkness gets worse before it gets better, so I press on still allowing myself to hope. Though, one thing has changed.
My dreams. I recall the one I had last night with such vivid detail. Was it a nightmare or something much better? Ansem was right. I can't tell the difference anymore. It all feels the same. But, it felt so real. Maybe I wish it was real.
Everything floats back to Xemnas. I remember our encounter yesterday. I did not tell Ansem (and for a good reason) that he told me a bit more than where I could find the office books.
If you really want to know try browsing the computer...
I don't know whether or not I can trust that. I don't even know what he meant. What computer? But, I'm curious. I hate that I am. What exactly is he 'hiding'?
Aren't I supposed to trust the ones I love? And I do. I love Ansem so much.
The lotion soaks smoothly into my skin. Pulling on my clothes, I strut out of the bathroom. Ansem looks up at as I emerge and lifts his hand to form a corridor of darkness.
"Done?" He seems rather impatient this morning.
"Yes, do we have to go?" I pout. I would rather us both stay here and lay in bed (since we do a little bit more there than just sleep).
He gives me strict look. His mood hasn't improved since yesterday. He wouldn't even fool around with me last night. Hopefully that'll change, or I'll have to change it myself.
"Come, Phoebe," He steps through the murky black depths and swirling tresses.
"Coming," please let this go by quickly. I fix my bow tie and follow reluctantly through the corridor with him.
"So, are we going to meet with Hades, or are we going to the coliseum," I've been to this world many times before. He probably dragged me a long to be guide. It's one of the few worlds that change my wardrobe. Which is kind of why I like it. "Ansem?" I look around, but I don't see him…at first. The muses dress gets caught in one of the straps of my sandals. I bend down to set the fabric free and went I stand up straight I met with one heck of a surprise.
"Don't say a word," If I thought the frown he had yesterday was an unhappy one, it was nothing compared to the scowl he had now.
Ansem emerges from a thicket noticeably taller than he already is. I'm puzzled as he glares at me. "What?" At first I think he might be naked when I see the top of his completely bare body through the thick bushes. But then, he reveals more of himself, and believe you in me, if I was drinking water at the time I would have spat it all out.
"You're a centaur!" I gasp and sputter into an uncontrollable laughter. It was apparent that Ansem had never ventured to the Olympus coliseum inside the city of Thames. Oh god. This is rich. I'm never going to let him live this down. He trots uncomfortable to me with all four of his long, black Clydesdale legs. He stands next to me his tail in a twitch, his arms prudently crossed, and a timid rustle in the strong muscles of his strong body.
"Don't mock me, woman. We're leaving, now," he sorts and turns swiftly on his hocks cantering the opposite way of where we are supposed to be going.
"No, no, no! We just got here, big boy," I block his way, and he stomps a pair of front hoofs.
"Move, we are leaving," he hisses.
"And stand up Hades? I don't think so," I push him near his lower stomach on the man part of his body. He backs up awkwardly trying to work his way around me. Frustrated, his swats my hand away from his bronze skin. He twitches at his withers.
"I do not want to negotiate appearing as this," he spins in a graceful circle gesturing to "his body". His hooves make crescent patters in the soft earth.
"You don't have much of a choice," I put my hands on my hips and look directly up at him.
"Fine," today must not be his day.
"At least you look…sturdy," I bite my finger nail.
"Not now," he growls walking heavily at my side as I lead the way into the vast and fast-paced city.
"You know, I've always wanted a pony," I slur suggestively stroking the soft, shiny coat.
"Phoebe," he seethes like he'll kick.
"You'll let me ride you, right?" That's me. Still being suggestive.
"Phoebe,"
"I'm kidding, sheesh,"
Now, let's not lie to ourselves. Hades can crack a good joke.
"So what says the man with the horse's ass?" he struts through the passages of his underworld. I try to follow his and Ansem's conversation.
I die on the insides because as much as I want to laugh, I can't. Ansem is going to slaughter me when we return to Hollow Bastion. I can tell he's watching me smile and cover my mouth. When I snicker (loud, too) he turns to scowl at me. Hades isn't paying attention, though.
Oh boy it's not even past noon yet. Today shall be daunting.
Author's Notes:
Not as much as I wanted to get done in this chapter, but I had to keep it within a number of pages. More shall be continued in the next!
I'm sorry Ansem, I couldn't resist the lovely opportunity.
R&R!