I am disappointed with this chapter. Don't expect anything good
And thank you Mendax for reviewing! ^.^ Dammit is not a swear word.
UNEDITED

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It's Bliss to Forget

Chapter Three: Frustrations Clung to Me

Summary: Fea Cruz "died" before he could seal away Teito's memories. Burdened with the past and all the lies and deceits that went along with it, Teito marches on towards his destiny: Death. Think it'll be easier this time around? WRONG.

Brotherly! Mikage x Teito
No pairings

"..." - Speaking
italics - Thinking and flashbacks

*Back to present, 30 minutes later*

"Three... two... one... CLEAR!"

The room lit up in blue light as a feeling of intense shock and pain coursed through Teito's body, eliciting a totally manly scream from Teito's mouth.

"W-WHO THE HECK DID THAT?!" Teito shouted when he was recovered enough to speak, twitching sporadically.

"YES!" Teito turned his head to the side. Three nuns stood cheering under some strange pink light. "The lamb from heaven has successfully been revived!"

"We're sorry for electrocuting you," a nun with a peachy skin tone and an oval-shaped face apologized a few seconds later, her rather large blue eyes sparkling with mirth under her long eyelashes. She had a long, up-turned nose, a small mouth with thin lips and what seemed like dark pink hair poking out of the sides of her black veil. "But you were having a severe panic attack when we arrived!"

"We then shocked you, you would snap out of it!" Another nun added, a bit guiltily as she took in Teito's twitching form. She had large amber eyes and a very round face with chubby cheeks and a small up-turned nose. Bits of golden blond hair could be seen framing the sides of her face.

Teito looked incredulously at them, slowing scooting away from the three crazy women. He hissed when his back began to burn.

"Ah! Don't move!" The three said simultaneously, immediately closing in on him.

Teito hissed when they strated grabbing onto his arms and shaking him. "God dammit, you're hurting me!" Teito shouted in frustration.

"I-I'm sorry," the blonde said guiltily, though the other two looked unapologetic.

"My name is sister Athena," the blue haired and red eyed nun introduced. She seemed to be the shortest of the three of them, though her eyes clearly showed that she was far from being the youngest. "And they are Libelle," the pink one, "and Rosalie," the blond one.

"It's nice to meet you lamb who feel from heaven!" the three said... at the SAME. TIME.

"Why do you call me that?" Teito ask, remembering them saying something like that before as well.

"Because you fell from heaven," they said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "From a hawkzile."

"Bishop Castor told us," Athena added.

"I see..." Teito said slowly. "But that still doesn't explain why you're here, in this room."

"We've come to feed and dress you little lamb," they all said at the same time, their smiles way to wide to have been innocent.

Meanwhile, Mikage had been having a rather pleasant dream... a dream so wonderful, Mikage wouldn't mind dying right there if it meant staying that that dream forever. It was a dream... about a magical place... called yakisoba land.

It was a land covered in food, the food of god...

Ground covered in bread. Instead of water there is yakisoba soup. The trees hold dangling yakisoba rice balls...

On the cliff looking out to the yakisoba soup ocean was a white table and a single chair. On the table was a simple yet elegant PERFECT dish Mikage had ever set his eyes on.

It was... It was... It was...

"YAKISOBAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Mikage yelled in his sleep at the same time Teito was electrocuted.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" (Teito's manly screams)

Five minutes later, Mikage groaned, his head slightly pounding as he barely heard sounds of screaming, still mostly immersed in his yakisoba hallucinations.

Yawning, Mikage sat up from his bed, yawning widely as he stretched his arms out above his head.

That is until he met a very peculiar and unbelievable sight: Teito flailing, surrounded by over excited (and probably high) cute nuns.

Cute nuns. Surrounding Teito. Mr. Antisocial.

Mikage blinked slowly. No, they were still there. He pinched himself. They were still there. He rubbed his eyes. They were still there. He then shrugged, muttering something about too realistic dreams and slide back down onto the bed.

Unfortunately for Mikage, Teito had seen Mikage from the corner of his eyes. Teito didn't quite catch what Mikage had said before going back to sleep, but he didn't really care. It wouldn't change what he was going to do to the blond for Mikage's helplessness.

"Here!" Athena said, offering him a spoon full of chicken soup. "Eat something! You have to regain your strength."

Tito glared at her angrily, not able to believe the nerve of this girl. I'm not a baby! Stop treating me like one! was what Teito wanted to say but he knew that by saying so he would be proving himself wrong.

"And after the meal comes the medicine~!" Libelle said, holding up a jar of what seemed like melted nightmares and poison with a too big to be normal smile on her face.

"That," Teito could not help but remark, his face turning slightly green, "is what hell looks like."

Libelle looked at him, her smile faltering for a moment. "A-ah, but little lamb, it's really, really good for you!"

"Yes!" Rosalie agreed holding neatly folded white sheets in her arms. "And after medicine comes a change of clothes!"

"Now say 'ah'!" Athena said, pushing the still full spoon a little too close to his face.

Teito leaned back at the sudden invasion of personal space, inwardly seething at the presumptuous women. God, I know I'm short but not that short to be confused with a toddler! "I'm not hungry," Teito told Athena firmly.

"Why not?" Athena asked, backing away a little from the teen. "Bishop Castor-sama said you didn't eat anything for at least a day now..."

"My stomach is... still queasy from falling from the sky," Teito told them. "If I eat anything now, I'll probably throw it up... so if you don't want to clean up the vomit, you shouldn't force me to eat." Hopefully that works...

Rosalie gasped. "My, you're such a kindhearted and caring lamb! Don't worry about us, little lamb! We'll clean up any mess afterwards!"

It wasn't a compliment...

"If you really feel like that, little lamb, then you really must take your medicine! It'll make you feel much better!" Libelle said.

"But you'll have to eat something first or else you'll pass out," Rosalie informed the brunette. "The medicine is too strong for the body to handle without food in the stomach. It's like... alcohol!"

It doesn't make it any better! Teito scream inside his head. "Why are you even helping me? Can't you just leave me alone?" Teito finally asked.

"You... want us to leave you alone?" Rosalie asked confused. "But you're hurt!"

"And who's fault is that, I wonder," Teito growled.

"The people who gave you those chains!" Rosalie said, pointing at the glistening metal.

"...What?"

"They hurt you and tried to imprison you, so you ran away! Little lamb ran far, far away!"

"..." Teito was expecting something along the lines of 'No one's fault, silly!' or 'It's all in the grand scheme of God,' not... that...

"We're helping you because you are confused and suffering," Libelle said, clasping her hands in prayer. "Your eyes are unfocused and filled with rage, yet you do not know who to focus your rage on, or even if there is any viable person to put that blame on. Your shoulders are tense, as though you are ready to bolt at any moment."

"We're trying to get you to trust us!" Rosalie continued passionately. "Because if you do, you'll be more relaxed and your eyes will smile!"

"Eyes don't smile," Teito told her, causing her to look at him oddly. What? It wasn't his fault he couldn't help but point out their flaws! They made it too easy!

"This is just that kind of place, you see," Athena explained, being the calmest of the three. Teito had a feeling he would be getting along with her the best. "Whenever there is someone in need that comes knocking on God's door, we do not hesitate to help them to the most of our abilities."

"It surprises me how people like you can still exist in this f-er, messed up country," Teito replied, barely catching himself saying something he doubt any nun would appreciate. "People who would help others without having some ulterior motive."

"We aren't really helping you for no reason, though," Libelle told him, kindly. "No one does anything without reason or without expecting to gain something out of said actions. That's just something we humans do."

"You should be thankful that you and your friend ended up here instead of somewhere else!" Rosalie added. "It's a sign that you have been forgiven and blessed by God."

"You're wrong..." Teito said, getting fed up with their now trite words. "You're all wrong... I'm not here because I was blessed by your God..."

... I'm here because I'm cursed by Him...

*Half an hour later*

It was only after the nuns had left that Teito realized just how large and empty the room was. Spare the two beds, one side table closer to Teito's and two chairs, there was no furniture in sight. The walls had no paint, the floor was hard stone and the ceiling gray with spots of black. There were some thin white curtains draped over the large windows, but that was it.

This room could easily fit ten people, yet there are only two beds...

The nuns had left still untouched tray of food and the jar of medicine on his side table after extracting a promise from him that he would finish it before morning. Since Teito had all but refused to even touch the jar, they had no choice but to apply ointment on his injuries instead. They had warned him, though that the ointment would not be as effective so they would have to come by tommorrow night to apply it on him again. Teito didn't really want to spend more time with them, but he was definitely not drinking the devil's meds.

Teito was now wearing a bluish-white robe with the Church symbol on its back that went down to his ankles. He was also given a pair of brown shoes which were a bit larger than his feet.

"Sorry! That was the smallest size we could find that would fit your feet!" The nuns had giggled as Teito pushed all three of them out the door and slammed it behind him with a huff.

Teito still growled at the not-so-subtle crack at his size as he laid on "his" bed before letting out a deep breath.

Teito would be lying if he said he was worried. No, he wasn't worried, he wasn't even scared.

He was terrified.

"This is bad," Teito muttered, drawing his feet closer to himself. "Very, very bad..."

The Barsburg Church of the seventh district was said to be the second largest power house throughout the nation. It commanded large numbers of bishop and soldiers and held in high esteem throughout all the nations of the world. It was a sanctuary, where any prisoner or convict could find peace and where any commoner could find relief from the heavy burdens of everyday life.

It was also the last Teito had wanted to end up in.

Sure, he knew ever since he and Mikage had left the academy that they might have to seek asylum in the church, but Teito had really been holding that as a last resort. Heck, Teito hadn't even meant to head towards the seventh district! How they had managed to get so close to the church on a hawkzile was also unexpected... though also a prime reason why he and Mikage had crashed in the first place.

It was a pity that six people had already seen him like this. If he had had known, he would have at least changed his eye color to something more common like black or yellow... on second thought, no, not yellow, never yellow. Teito would rather die than pretend to be *shudder* Mikage's little brother. No, black eyes would do just fine. Auburn hair wouldn't hurt either...

Teito shook his head. No! He was getting distracted.

"Tonight's vessel is truly beautiful."

Teito's name had to change. The couldn't find out he was here, that he was still alive.

Does the Pope even remember how I look like?

"Tonight's vessel is truly beautiful."

Teito shivered. I can't risk it. The Church is both safest and most dangerous place to be at. I have to keep a low profile around here and try not to attract too much attention to myself.

But if the military asks them about you, you won't be able to get under their radar, the small, nostalgic voice in his head reminded him.

"Damn it, didn't think of that..." Teito bit his thumb nail as he tried to come up with something. "For one, Celestine is here. Two, no one knows my name... for now. Maybe I can get both Celestine and me without anyone noticing...? Or should I just get myself out? I could probably drag the military away from here- no, they're smart. They'll leave some soldiers behind to get Mikage if he ever dared tried to leave."

Ugh, this place is playing with my mind! Teito thought, messing up his hair with his hands in frustration. It's not safe here! Not for me, at least. But Celestine...

Teito turned to see Mikage sleeping on the other bed, a very noticable and disgusting drool falling down his face. A tick mark appeared on Teito's head. If I left Celestine here, he'll be safe... but since he's an idiot, he'd just run after me and get caught by the military, no doubt...

But FIRST of all... Teito hissed in his head. He got out the bed and stormed over to where Mikage was blissfully unaware of the danger he was in. Teito reached out and grabbed a chunk of Mikage's hair before pulling him up and with an eighth of his strength throwing Mikage at the opposite wall.

"WHAT THE HECK TEITO?!" Mikage screamed, tears in his eyes as he stared angrily at the shorter male.

"SHUT UP YOU, YOU STUPID BLONDE PAIN IN THE BEHIND!" Teito screamed back, punching Mikage on the top of the head. "And shut up!"

"Oooowwwww..." Mikage moaned, but then he blinked, suddenly noticing their surroundings. "Eh? Where are we?"

"You recovered way too fast," Teito hissed, his whole face engulfed in angry shadows, causing Mikage to scoot away from the angry brunette as fast as possible.

"A-ah, um, Teito buddy w-wanna hear about my d-dream," Mikage asked nervously. "I-it was about Yakisoba! So, so, soooo much Yakisoba! And there was a lake and a river and a tree a-and you too Teito! Yeah, you were surrounded by cute girls-"

Teito hit him again, this time banging him down to the floor.

"Whhhyyyy..." Mikage cries, dejectedly.

"So you were awake at that time..."

Mikage shivered before making a be-line to the closer of the two beds (which happened to be the one Mikage was originally in) and hid himself under the covers.

Coward, Teito thought, looking at the pathetic shivering pile of linen in front of him. Sighing, Teito face-palmed, still pissed off at the blonde but suddenly too tired to do anything about it.

"...we're at the Barsburg church," Teito told the blonde, making his way back to "his" own bed.

"The Barsburg Church?" Mikage asked, poking his head out from under the covers to look at Teito in disbelief. "You mean the one in the seventh district? How the hell did we manage to get all the way here?"

"When we crashed the hawkzile-" Teito started

"Um, excuse me, but we crashed? More like you crashed us," Mikage clarified.

"Freaking word smith," Teito grumbled under his breath. "Fine, when I crashed the hawkzile, some bishops found us, so they took us back here."

"But isn't that a good thing?" Mikage asked. "This church is like an asylum for those on the run."

"No, Celestine, bad. Very bad," Teito spoke as though talking to a four-year-old. "Bad men know we here. Bad men can surround us. We no leave. We stuck."

Mikage threw a pillow at Teito which Teito caught easily enough. "I really wish you wouldn't treat me more like someone my age than a toddler," Mikage weakly glared.

"It there a difference?"

"...You are so lucky that I'm starved, tired and in pain right now... Not at all how I was in my dream..." Mikage sighed, longingly. "Man, was that a good dream... ah I'm hungry now... but I'm too tired to go food searching."

Teito laughed humorlessly. "You'll be more likely to get lost in a place as large as this," Teito muttered to himself before his eyes fell onto the covered tray still on his side dresser. "..." Teito walked over to the side table and picked up both the medicine and the tray.

"Here!"

"Eh?" Mikage looked up from his stomach and saw a tray and... what looked like hell incarnate being held out to him by Teito... who wasn't looking at him. Mikage looked at the tray, then at Teito's head then back to the tray again.

"...It's for you, baka."

"R-really?!" Mikage asked, breaking out in a bright, happy smile as he took the tray from Teito's hands. "Thanks a lot Teito!"

"Don't thank people for their pity, Celestine," Teito lectured sternly. "They'll see you as weak and will take advantage of you."

"But you never pity me!" Mikage told him, as he slurped down the soup as quickly as possible. Within a few minutes, the once full bowl licked clean of its contents.

"Celestine, from now on, you can't call me by my last name," Teito told Mikage after the blonde finished eating.

"I never call you by your last name," Mikage told him, both confused and happy.

"That- no, I mean you can't tell anyone what my last name is," Teito clarified.

"Why not?"

"Can you just do something without question?" Teito asked, irritably. "If you had done that to a superior officer, he wouldn't mind stripping you of your rank!"

"Fine, fine, I won't tell anyone... Does this have anything to do with your height?" Mikage asked innocently.

"Ma, Teito, why are you so violent to me lately?" A rather bruised Mikage asked later on. "You were never this mean to me before!"

"..."

"Is it because we're suck here?"

"...Yes."

Mikage sighed, falling back onto Teito's bed. "Teito can you just relax, already? I know this situation isn't ideal, but we won't get anything done if you don't let go of that anger of yours."

A tick mark appeared on Teito's head. "GET OFF MY BED, YOU DAMN MONKEY!" he screamed.

"Aww... but your bed is softer!" Mikage whined. "Can't I sleep here instead?"

"NO!" Teito yelled, the dreadful feeling of Déjà vu beginning to sink in as Mikage drifted into slumber. "Get up! I said get up!"

After several failed attempts to wake Mikage up without bashing his skull into the wall (he didn't want to get in trouble for anymore property damages), the brunette decided to take the easy way out and went to sleep on Mikage's bed which was surprisingly was harder than the other bed. I'm more comfortable on harder mattresses anyways...

When Teito woke up the next morning, it was to the pleasant sound of birds chirping and the not-too-pleasant sound of Mikage's snores from the other bed.

Teito groaned and sat up on the bed, stretching his limbs as he yawned tiredly. He felt lighter and considerably more calm than last night. He swung his feet over the side of the bed and got to his feet before walking towards the door. He knew he should wake up Mikage but he didn't really feel comfortable talking to him, since it would also mean apologizing to the blond for slamming his head into the wall and bruising him.

If I apologize to him, he'll think I'm becoming more softer with him, and then he'll get some crazy idea that we're both friends when we are not! Teito reasoned with himself.

But you should still apologize for acting so uncouthly, the same little voice from before said. You are a prince after all.

Wrong! Teito argued I'm not a prince anymore! I'm just a run-away sklave- Teito banged his head on the door, repeatedly. "No! Bad! Don't argue with yourself, Teito! Don't talk to yourself either!" Teito hissed.

"Teito what are you doing?"

Teito stopped abruptly, turning around to see Mikage staring at the younger boy weirdly.

"...None of your business." Dammit, now I have to apologize! "Er... Mikage..."

"Yeah?"

"Um..." Teito pointed at the pile of clothes Rosalie had left on the chairs. "Change," Teito demanded before walking out the door, leaving a bemused Mikage behind.

Smooth, said the voice sarcastically. Teito ignored it.

Teito felt his heart rate slow down as he took in the benevolent surroundings. The church was by no standards beautiful, not with its plain white walls and hard marble floors. The water alternated from shade of blue to shades of green and back, but that was perhaps the only color this place had. Lush green grass could be seen underneath a few trees within the plaza, though that was it. Not knowing what else to do, he headed for the closest tree and sat down underneath it. The leaves rustled in the wind and hazy streams of light made their way through the branches. Huh. I never noticed it, but it kinda looks like an ocean of green... as if I'm underwater.

Teito's mind wandered back to ten years ago when he first visited the church. Back then, it had been a splendid gold color, with soft red hues and multi-colored marble floors. Tasteful tapestries could be found in many of the internal rooms and food stalls could be seen lining the church's plaza. Jewel-encrusted cloths and curtains hung from the ceilings and lavish carpets and rugs used to be placed all around the fountain for children to play on.

Unfortunately, when the Raggs War began, the church sold nearly all of the tapestries and jewels to foreign countries to raise money for refugees of the war and to help rebuild the country after the war ended. As a testament to the fallen kingdom of Raggs and all those who have lost their lives or had been sold into slavery, the church scrapped off the golden paint of the church and somehow managed to bleach the marble floors into a pale blue. Teito had heard rumors that some bishops wanted to go as far as to paint the Church black, but nearly everyone opposed this since the church was still a holy sanctuary, not Verloren's palace.

Teito turned his head when he heard the sounds of gates opening. Teito turned his head to see a flock of people wearing brown, worn-down cloaks walking through the gates, chattering excitedly with one another.

Those must be the townsfolk, Teito assumed. Have they all come for early prayer? Teito sighed. So tired... this place is too troublesome...

Outtake #1:

Hermit

"...Do I really have to drink this stuff?" Mikage asked, poking the glass jar.

"Yes," Teito said unsympathetically.

"You... sure it isn't poison?"

"Of course not. I never drank it before."

"But you want me to drink it..."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"If you don't drink it, the nuns will come and shave your head off and force you to become a monk-hermit thing and abandon you at the top of the Yamamichi."

"What?!"

"Exactly."

"WHY?!"

"Because... be cause for it."

(A/N: Yamamichi is the mountain road bordering the sixth district)

Outtake #2

Mikage, the Prophet

"Little lamb?" Rosalie asked, as she poked her head into the room just as Mikage finished putting on his new clothes. It was similar to what Teito wore, only longer and more blue. "Are you still awake?"

"A lamb?" Mikage asked, staring at the door. Hisd eyes widened when he saw who it was. He pointed a finger at her. "Y-you!"

"E-eh?" Rosalie asked, startled. "Oh, big lamb! You're awake too?" She walked into the room. "Hello! My name is Rosalie and I'm-"

"You're the woman from my dream!" Mikage exclaimed in shock.

"H..hai?"

"Yeah, I remember now! There were three of you! One had blue hair and another had pink hair and you were all sitting under the Yakisoba tree praying for a lamb chop!"

"Y-you know of me and my companions?!" Rosalie asked stunned, walking closer to inspect Mikage's face. "But how?! We have never met before! And in a dream?"

"Definitely! Not only that, one of you guys' names started with an L, the other with an A!"

"Excuse me, young boy... but could you be a prophet from the mystical Holy Mountain Celestia in Yamamichi?!"