Butterfly's Sleep copyright 1999 to L'Arc~en~Ciel.
Fushigi Yuugi and all characters are property of Watase Yuu.
VIII. Emergence
Fada siar air aghaidh cuain
'Se mo dhuansa "Cruit Mo Chridh,"
Guth mo luaidh anns gach stuaidh
'Ga mo nuallan gu tir. |
On the sea, far to the west
"Harp of My Heart" I call
Your voice in each wave's crest
Brings me closer to landfall |
--Gradh Geal Mo Chridh (Eriskay Love Lilt), Traditional Scottish folk tune
The next few days, Yui found Phillip's company much more interesting than any Celtic ruins he showed her and was almost sorry to have to leave for Italy so soon.
It was strange. When she had been Seiryuu no Miko, she had hardly known Miboshi, had not even known there was a Miboshi until Soi mentioned it in a passing remark. She had only seen him twice: once when he had floated in during a discussion with Nakago, and once in the abandoned tower where he had defended them from the Suzaku and Byakko seishis' attacks. And then he had died.
Phillip Cartwright was talkative, helpful, and carried himself with a noble air that Miboshi, not to mention the other Seiryuu seishi, had never had. Before they had gotten on the train to Scotland, he had bought her a book introducing her to Celtic culture, and then the entire way there had filled her ear with interesting facts about myths and druids and Samhain and bards and the Celtic farming system.
They reached Scotland in the late afternoon, and Phillip decided that before finding somewhere to stay the night, they should go traipsing around the countryside for a while. Yui followed him, curious.
"This place is famous for its Celtic ruins," Phillip said as she came up beside him in front of what looked like a large hill. "You see this mound here?" He pointed, and she nodded. "This is a burial mound. From the size of it, it was probably for a chieftain or a king."
Yui took a few steps forward. The grass was long and thick and green on the mound, and the trees surrounding it cast peaceful shadows over the ground. "A restful grave."
Phillip nodded. "There were legends among the Celts that these mounds were passages to the Otherworld…the spirit world. That somehow a man could go into the mound and live among the gods. There were legends…the legend of Oisin son of Finn is undoubtedly the most famous, though I doubt you've heard of it."
Yui shook her head. "I haven't. What was it?"
"It was the story of a man who fell in love with a woman from the Otherworld…but as long as he remained in one world and she in the other, they could never be together. He was the son of Finn McCoul, who is probably one of the most well known Celtic mythogical heroes." Phillip's gaze was searching. "A famous story."
As long as he remained in one world and she in the other, they could never be together.
"I see," Yui murmured. "What did he do, then?"
"He left his home and his family and went to her world. You can probably find the legend on the internet or in a library."
"A sad story," she said. The mound seemed to shimmer in the afternoon light.
He looked at her, puzzled. "Why sad?"
Because…
"I can sympathize with Oisin, I suppose. Leaving his world…it's a hard thing."
"Ah." He drew a breath. "I see what you mean."
Would you do that for me, Suboshi?
Could you?
Con te partirò
Paesi che non ho mai
Veduto e vissuto con te
Adesso si li vivrò
Con te partirò
Su navi per mari
Che, io lo so
No, no, non esistono più
Con te io li vivrò |
I'll go with you
To countries I never
Saw and shared with you
Now, yes, I shall see them
I'll go with you
On ships across seas
Which, I know
No, no, exist no longer
With you I'll see them |
--Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli, Time to Say Goodbye
She said goodbye to Phillip at the airport, with promise to write, and gave him Stephan's phone number just in case. Phillip looked at the number, raising an eyebrow.
"I might just call him. You never know what will happen."
Yui slept most of the way to Italy and woke when the flight attendant announced their arrival in Rome. The person who met her at the airport was a thin, willowy wisp of a woman who looked more like a model than a tour guide. The other members of the tour party were mostly older couples dressed in bright t-shirts and shorts, carrying cameras through the bus rides through old Rome. Yui felt out of place.
The city itself was grand and quaint at the same time. She flipped through the tour brochure the guide had given her, noting the places of interest. The Vatican. The old Roman forum. The Coliseum.
Yui had always wanted to take Italian in school, but there were no classes offered. Maybe in college, she had told Miaka when her friend had inquired. Italian, French, Spanish…maybe even Latin. Of course, that was still several years away.
The tour guide had promised an extensive tour, and Yui was not disappointed. The tour of the Vatican started early in the morning, culminating in the Sistene Chapel just before lunch. Yui had always wanted to see the builidng in which Michelangelo had painted one of his most famous works.
"Be careful," the guide warned in her light Italian accent as they entered the building. "They're still renovating and repainting, so things might be somewhat messy. What your step."
The inside of the chapel was dark after the bright outside light and Yui had to blink rapidly, waiting for her vision to clear and the blackness to fade away. The entire inside of the chapel seemed like one enormous art museum, and Yui barely heard the tour guide begin to explain items and importances as her gaze wandered to the ceiling.
There were scaffolds and paint buckets and tarps everywhere due to renovation, but what she could see was stunning. She could almost imagine the clouds moving, the figures dancing and swirling about in great crowds, the hand of Adam move to touch the hand of God…
"Excuse me, miss? Your tour just left that way."
The voice was heavily accented and Yui turned. One of the painters was standing there, smiling uncertainly. He was young, his face tanned from sun, his wavy dark hair pulled back in a short ponytail. Brown eyes. She looked over to where he was pointing, saw the tour group gathered at the other end of the chapel.
"Oh! Thank you." She started to walk away, but stopped when a hand caught her arm. She stiffened.
"Wait, miss…"
She turned around to meet brown eyes, slightly puzzled and shy. "Would you-would your name be Yui Hongou?"
She suppressed the urge to gape at him. "Yes. Why do you ask?"
He blinked, then suddenly grabbed her shoulders. "Yui-sama! Seiryuu no Miko!"
"Who-"
"You probably do not recognize me…I was known as Ashitare. One of your seishi."
Yui gave him a disbelieving look, running her eyes along his face again. The dark hair, slightly wolfish features, brown eyes…
"You remembered me?"
He nodded vigorously, his features lighting up. If he had a tail, it would be wagging right now. "Yes! I have had memories ever since I was a small child, but I was not entirely sure they were true. But I saw you and I knew I had known you before somewhere."
He released her arms and she stepped back, feeling lost and excited and frustrated all at once…Ashitare…if he was really Ashitare…
She had never known Ashitare. Nakago had never permitted her to go near him, for obvious reasons, and Ashitare had been killed too early, recovering the Shinzaho. Another seishi that had died because of her.
"Ashitare?"
His gaze was almost pleading. "You do not remember me?"
Slowly, she reached out and touched his arm. "I…I do remember you. Ashitare. It's…strange…"
They stared at each other in awkward silence. "I'm sorry," Yui said at last. "I don't know what to say. I never really knew you back in Kutou, and…"
He surprised her by sticking his hand out. "My name is Marco Bocelli now. Glad to meet you, Miss Hongou."
Yui found herself smiling as she reached out to grasp his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Marco."
Dolcemente, con amore
Hai risposto al mio gridare
Per sempre ognor, per sempre ognor
Qui a me, t'attenderò |
So gently, you touched my heart
I will be forever yours
Come what may, I won't age a day
I'll wait for you, always |
--Final Fantasy VI, Aria de Mezzo Carattere
To her surprise, Marco suggested a place for lunch to the tour guide, who accepted and invidted him to come along.
"I have some more work to supervise," he said. "But I will be there as soon as possible."
The restaurant he suggested was an ethnic pasta place, with bright colors on the walls and a small crowd of customers sitting on the worn but comfortable chairs and sipping their drinks while waiting for their meals. Yui sat by one of the tour couples, listening with half an ear as they described their children to another couple at the next table, and sipped her water.
Marco came in after a short time and made his way to her table. He was still wearing his paint-stained clothes, but he had washed his hands and it looked like he had combed his hair. The man behind the counter waved to him, and he waved back.
"I come here often," he explained to Yui, sitting down in the chair opposite her. "The manager likes my crew."
"Do you do renovations for a living?"
He took a long gulp of water. "Sometimes. My company is more of a historical construction and paint company, and we are used to more architectural contracts. But when they asked me to help renovate the Sistene Chapel, I of course took the offer."
There was another silence, and Yui stirred the straw between the ice cubes of her water. She had never been good at conversation, and conversation with Marco Bocelli was strangely unnerving. She remembere Ashitare the few times she had seen him, a large hulking bulk of a man, the strange insane gleam in his eyes and his jaws more often than not dripping blood.
"You do not want to see me here, do you?"
Yui's head jerked up. "What?"
Marco smiled sadly. "You are remembering me as I was in Kutou. You wish I was not here now."
"No! I…" She gave him a tired smile. "I suppose…how did you know?"
"I can see it in your face. I know I was never the best seishi, and I do not blame you for hating me-"
"I don't hate you."
"-but I can promise you I have changed. Would you believe me if I told you that?"
Yui nodded slowly. "I can believe that." Looking at the clean-shaven man sitting before her, large hands more suited for holding a pencil and paper than for killing and maiming, now.
"I was…not so good, when I was younger. I had served some time in jail before for several crimes. I had the wrong friends. But now-" he spread his hands. "Now I have grown older and wiser." Yui smiled at that. "I have a company, I work to support my family honestly."
"What family do you have?"
"I have no family of my own, but everything I do is for my mother and four sisters. My father passed away last year and for a while I did not know if I could support them on my own. But I think it is fine now. One of my sisters is studying at a university right now but she has a…scholarship? Is that what you call it?"
Yui nodded.
"Yes. And my family raises dogs. We used to own a large kennel until we could not afford to keep it and sold it another family. But we are still allowed to go in and inspect, from time to time. The family trusts our experience."
"That sounds wonderful," she said softly.
The waiter arrived, bringing her food, and she ate the spicy pasta silently. It was actually quite good, though different from the American pasta she was used to eating and definitely different than any noodles she had had in Japan.
"Ashi-Marco?"
"Yes?"
She stared at her food for a while, debating whether to ask the question after all. "What makes-what makes people change? Everyone I've found…you, Nakago, Miboshi…they've all changed. Why is that?"
Marco looked at her solemnly, then down at the table. For a moment she thought he wasn't going to answer, but then he looked at her again with a puzzled look in his eyes.
"I wish I could tell you. Change, I think, is something…" he seemed to struggle with words for a moment. "Change is something that can come to everyone, if they want to accept it. If I had been in different circumstances in Kutou, maybe I would not have been the way I was. I cannot really explain it, Yui-sama."
"I see." She brought some more noodles to her mouth.
"Do you trust me?"
"What?"
"I was not so trustworthy when you first knew me. I hope you can bring yourself to trust me now, if you want to. I would be glad to know you. I have changed, and I can tell you yourself have changed, have you not?"
She nodded. "Yes."
"If you would give me a second chance…?"
Second chances…
We're not the same people you knew, Yui. Don't let second chances pass you by.
Trust is the answer to everything.
"We all need a second chance," she said. "So do I."
Marco nodded and a brief smile flashed across his tanned face.
"I am glad."
Feror ego veluti
Sine nauta navis
Ut per vias aeris
Vaga fertur avis
Non me tenent vincula
Non me tenet clavis |
I am carried along
Like a ship without a steersman
And in the paths of the air
Like a light, hovering bird
Chains cannot hold me
Keys cannot imprison me |
--Carl Orff, "In Taberna," Carmina Burana
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