+ Fallacy, a 100themes Challenge +
Sarehptar
Theme: 37, Eyes
Characters: Kharl, Rath
Pairing: None
Warnings: Spoilers for volume 25, if no one's read that…
Need to Know Info: None?
Title Provider: Half Pain (Bana)
How Far Back Should I Have to Go? Tell Me...
Who are you? he wants to ask, but doesn't. He knows after all; who else could those red, red eyes belong to? But who are you, the question repeats, slithers in the back of his mind—because those eyes, reluctant to blink, keep changing.
"Kharl…" The word sounds awkward on those chapped lips, like a crane, testing the tepid waters of a non-existent pool. They break the surface, a heavy weight, and ripple in the air until the stillness is driven completely away. "Kharl…" When there is no hatred in the word it does not sound right, and he wants to tell the boy not to say it and wants to ask him to say it again.
Those eyes are wide and wavering. Like a sparrow, they alight on him, and frightened by their boldness, bate away again. And suddenly, in this moment he has waited forever for, he feels cold. He feels cold and distant and more than acutely aware that they are not the same people anymore. The dark-haired Dragon hesitates, and fear presses in Kharl's throat—because it looks as if the boy will apologize, and if he does, if he does, then something will surely die. It might be the memory of what was or the hope for what should have been, but it might just as easily be his living, beating heart.
The Alchemist tries to smile, but it falters, and he wishes for tears in that moment, because nothing but tears could make such a hollow smile beautiful. "Is it too late?"
"No! I remembered!" The words echo through the garden, sounding more tremulous with each reverberation. The boy brushes melting snowdrops from his cheeks. "I remembered," he insists, but those red eyes are, for a bare second, not his own. Lykouleon's eyes and Lykouleon's blood lie behind the words. "I did remember." The red, red Dragon Amulet hangs still, dull in the grey, impenetrable light of the storm.
Kharl cannot find the right words, and cannot help but wonder if the boy really wants the right words anyway—he has become so accustomed to lies a half-truth might be more warmly welcomed.
"You…" Ruin's gaze shines with desperation. "My servant… I never meant…" The rest of the words die, the fleeting light of perfection in those scarlet eyes dies, just as Ruin died. The boy shifts, cold and uneasy. He looks as if he might try to take the words back, but like so many more important things, they were gone the moment they were born.
"I never blamed you." But Kharl wonders if, somewhere inside himself, he did.
"Thank you." And when the boy smiles it is not his own, but wiser, softer. Perhaps it is the Blue Dragon Officer in those eyes—perhaps it is someone else. The snow continues to fall softly, and the world is nothing but white and red, red.
He closes the distance between them at last, to embrace a precious stranger who is his master and who is some much more. The boy is warm; ever-changing eyes slide closed in content and relief. It is only a loose, unsure touch. There is little of the happiness he hoped for, but there is none of the hatred he feared. It is not a cold embrace, but it is not a familiar feeling.
…Who are you? He cannot forget, cannot ask, and does not want to know.
Theme 38: Abandoned
He knows the human word now, for what he is. Youkai. It is not what she wants to hear.