Sayaka closed the door behind her hurriedly. She had spent the rest of the day avoiding Yuuhi's offer to take her home. She knows how Akira would react violently to any young men who ever got close to her. "Onii-chan!" Sayaka called out as she entered their big house's main hallway. She and her brother are mostly alone as their parents live in Europe for business. Sayaka and Akira had voted to stay in Japan for their studies, and their business-oriented parents had ignorantly agreed to leave their two children without care in Japan.
She saw the framed photograph of her and Akira on the table. She passed that same picture everyday but somehow she felt the urge to pick it up today. She smiled as she looked at the picture. She touched Akira's picture and took a deep breath. Onii-chan… are we commiting the greatest sin of mankind by loving each other so much…?
She was caught up in her thoughts for a moment, trying to recall when their illicit love had first blossomed. Being the ignored and unloved children that they are, they had found care and love in each other, but with no guidance, their love blossomed into something beyond sibling love.
How strange… it's so quiet today… She thought to herself suddenly.
She walked into the main hall. The windows are all open and a cool breeze swept the room. The bright sunrays fell upon her face from the glass windows. The transparent drapes were waving, tousled by the wind. "Onii-chan!" she called out again.
Again, there was silence. Aogiri Yuuhi… She thought to herself. Then she gasped in surprise at her own thought. She has never bothered to think about anyone before but her brother, let alone remember them all of a sudden. Disturbed, she shook the thought and the image of Yuuhi's smile off her mind. But she could felt a feeling of fondness creeping up in her heart for Yuuhi.
Ascending up to the second floor, Sayaka opened a door that led her into a big, spacious and bright library. She saw a figure sitting on a large leather chair in front of the open window. The drapes were also tousled by the same autumn breeze that was sweeping through the house. She walked towards the window and saw her brother, Akira, asleep peacefully caressed by the breeze. She looked at him for a moment silently, her lips slowly curving into a smile. She leaned down closer and touched his hair gently as to not wake him up. She toyed with a strand of his hair that fell across his eyelids and swept it away with her fingers, then lowered her face closer and kissed his lips gently.
Akira stirred awake, opening his eyes. "Sayaka…" he said softly, looking at her with sleepy eyes as she pulled away. Sayaka smiled, and Akira coiled his palms behind her neck and pulled her closer to him. Cradling her little body on his lap, the two siblings were now liplocked in a kiss.
"Sayaka… I love you…"
But suddenly Akira stopped, and his eyes widened in horror. Then he fell back on his chair.
"Onii-chan?" Sayaka looked at him, touching his face. "What's wrong?"
Akira grabbed on his head, and he stood up, howling, throwing Sayaka off onto the floor. "Onii-chan!" Sayaka screamed, afraid of her brother's sudden enraged condition. He was screaming and howling, curled up on the floor. And suddenly blood started to sprout out in the air, and his body looked like it was being slashed by an invisible force. But after a short moment, it all stopped. And there was silence.
Akira was on the floor, his hands holding up the weight of his body, panting hard. He was kneeling on a pool of his own blood that was still dripping from his open wounds.
Sayaka got up on her feet and ran towards her brother. She touched her brother's shoulder with trembling hands. "Onii-chan…?" she called out, worried. "Please… talk to me…" she said softly as her fingers touch his hair gently.
In a split second, suddenly Akira grabbed her wrist. He looked up and stared right at Sayaka. Blood dripping across his face. Sayaka froze in shock as she saw the change in his eyes' gleam.
Akira smiled, but it was a mischievous smile. Almost devilish. He wiped the blood off his nose with his hand, while his other hand still grasping tight on Sayaka's wrist.
"You're… you're not my brother…! You're not Akira!" she exclaimed as she tried to break herself free from her grip. "Hanashite yo!!!" she screamed.
Akira yanked her roughly towards him and flipped her over, pinning her down spread eagled on the floor under him. He flashed another smile and lowered himself down on her. "Sayaka…" he hissed by her ear. "What's wrong? It's me… Akira…"
Sayaka clenched her fists and closed her eyes. No… you're not Akira… Suddenly, the gleam of her jet black hair faded into a shade of violet blue, and as she opened her eyes, her pupils gleamed in the sparkling hue of gold. A surge of electricity ran across her body, and the force threw Akira's body away from her and knocked him right onto a wall.
Akira stood up, seemingly unharmed even from that powerful blow that just knocked him a couple of feet away at full blast. He started laughing as he looked at Sayaka's transformed self. "Tennyo…" he chuckled devilishly. "Who would've thought… I picked the body of a tennyo's brother!"
"What have you done with my brother?" Sayaka exclaimed angrily. "Bring me back my brother!" she said as she held out her palm, ready to blast him away again.
"I'd be careful if I were you… after all… this is Akira's body…" he smiled calmly.
Sayaka froze for a moment, realizing what he said was true. She pulled her hand back, her eyes welling up in tears. "Who are you…?" she asked finally. "And what do you want from us?"
* * *
Aya…
Aya opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by darkness. She looked around. It was empty.
Aya… The voice called out again. It was a familiar voice.
"Ce… Ceres…?" Aya answered, unsure that it was Ceres for there was no form nor sign of her around. "Is that you, Ceres…?" Aya exclaimed again. Am I… dreaming? She thought.
Then from the darkness, Ceres' perfect tennyo figure emerged into visibility. She was as beautiful as Aya remembered her to be, but then Aya noticed that she was injured. She was cradling her mana in her arms.
"CERES!" Aya yelled as Ceres suddenly collapsed slowly onto the bottomless pit. Aya leaped into the black vacuum to grab her. "Ceres! What's going on?"
As their hands touch, suddenly a surge of electricity flowed into both their bodies, and Ceres surged inside Aya's body, merging in. The bottomless pit was suddenly filled with bright blinding light…
"Aya…" Tooya's voice was heard, and Aya could feel his hands shaking her gently.
Aya opened her eyes and found herself in his arms, wrapped under a warm blanket. It was dark, as it was late at night. Aya looked up into Tooya's eyes.
"Aya… daijobu?" Tooya swept a strand of her hair gently away from her eyes. "You had a bad dream…?"
Aya suddenly registered the feel of her heart beating like mad. Then she recalled the dream she just had. But it felt so real… She thought. Ceres… what does it all mean? "Tooya!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Ceres…"
"Ceres?"
"I saw Ceres…" Aya started speaking. "She was in her perfect tennyo form… but she was injured. She was holding her mana, but she was in pain. In her eyes… I saw that she was crying for help… she called onto me… and she fell into the darkness. I leaped and fell into the darkness as well after her… and when I reached her…" Aya paused for awhile, then finally continued, "Ceres… Ceres merged inside of me…"
Tooya looked puzzled. "A dream…" he muttered softly. There must be something going on… something is wrong.
Aya… it's not a dream… Suddenly a voice echoed inside Aya's head. It was the voice of Ceres. I am inside of you now… once again we are one.
Aya's eyes widened in horror from the sound inside her head. But then she saw the look on Tooya's face and it seemed that he had heard Ceres' words as well.
Tooya… Ceres' voice echoed.
"Ceres!" Tooya answered, looking around the room searching for a form. "Please… show yourself to us…"
Suddenly Aya's body was lifted up into the air and the room was filled with electrifying tennyo chi. Her hair extended out longer and transformed into a magnificent hue of violet, waving in the cold night air, and her eyes of gold. And she was Ceres, once again. In shock, Tooya almost couldn't find the words for quite some moment. "Ceres… but, why?"
Footsteps were heard following the thunderous noises that had happened in the room, and the door into the room opened immediately. Yuuhi ran inside but stopped short when he saw Ceres floating in the air in front of a still stunned Tooya.
"Yuuhi…" Ceres smiled when she saw Yuuhi. The tennyo has always had a soft spot for him.
Yuuhi felt his knees getting weak. Glimpses of his memory over their previous nightmare associated with Ceres and Mikage started running back through his head. All the agony and death. Then he felt a hand touch his shoulder. It was Suzumi. She stepped into the room in front of Yuuhi.
"Ceres…" Suzumi smiled as she saw the tennyo that she hasn't seen for awhile. "Why have you returned? Is something wrong?"
(Flashback to heaven)
"Mikage…?" Ceres brushed the tree branches away as she walked through them towards her husband that she had seen standing by a crystal clear riverside.
Mikage turned around at the sound of her voice. Then Ceres saw that he was holding something in his hand. It was her mana. She was even more stunned when she saw the gleam in his eyes were all too familiar, the gleam of a possessed Mikage Shiso.
"Anata, what are you doing with my mana…?" Ceres asked calmly.
"I'm going to kill you." He said simply.
Ceres' eyes widened in horror as his words confirmed the gleam in his eyes. "Mikage…" Ceres muttered under her breath. "What's happening to you?"
Suddenly Ceres heard rustles behind her, she turned around only to find another figure of a tennyo standing there, looking at them. A Tennyo she hasn't seen in 5000 years.
"Ceres." She hissed. "Do you remember me?"
Ceres took one step back. "Freya…" she muttered the name she knew all too well. "Do you have something to do with this?"
The tennyo named Freya stepped up towards Mikage, and to Ceres' horror, Mikage coiled his arms around her. "I'm going to take back what should've been mine… Ceres…" she said again. "Five thousand years long I waited for him since you took him away."
"This is madness!" Ceres exclaimed. "Mikage, this isn't you! Snap out of it!"
Mikage smiled devilishly, and he tossed the mana onto the ground. Then he laid the sole of his foot on top of it, slowly applying pressure little by little. Ceres felt a wrenching pain take over her limbs as she saw a little crack developing on the mana's shell.
"Stop." Freya said, as she touched Mikage's arm. "We need her mana."
At the split second as Mikage removed his foot from her mana, Ceres took the risk of shooting a blast towards it, sending it plunging into the crystal water. Then she leaped into the water as well before the two could blink an eye.
Freya held back Mikage as he was about to go after her. "Don't worry about her. We'll go after her friends on earth." She hissed with a glow in her eyes.
"Who is this tennyo?" Yuuhi exclaimed. "I don't understand what she wants from you…"
"Her name is Freya… and she descended to earth before me 5000 years ago. She was young and naïve then, and she fell in love with Mikage at first sight… but never had the courage to approach him. She watched him every day from afar… until Mikage found my mana." Ceres said grimly.
"Ceres… you said your mana was damaged…" Tooya said. "Are you…" But before he could finish his sentence, suddenly he collapsed onto the floor.
"TOOYA!" Yuuhi exclaimed and went to hold his friend up immediately. Cold sweat was running on Tooya's face, and his breathing was irregular. Yuuhi knew that one of his 'symptoms' are occuring again. He looked up to Ceres. "Tooya is dying…"
Ceres' face ashened. "I know…" she said, her eyes reflecting sadness.
"Dying?" Suzumi said as she knelt down beside Yuuhi, who is cradling Tooya's head on his lap. She looked at Ceres and Yuuhi alternately.
"Tooya's life force is getting weaker and weaker as it had been empowered by my mana this whole time…" Ceres said. "His life force alone without my mana, was derived from those who came close to the mana underneath the ocean for 5000 years... although it's enough to create life in his body, but not enough to sustain it alone." Ceres said.
"Does Aya know this?" Suzumi asked.
"No." Yuuhi answered. "She must never know… until Tooya feels it's time to tell her."
Suddenly Tooya grabbed Yuuhi's palm. "Aogiri…" he muffled Yuuhi's name in between his breaths. "Daijobu… I can withstand this…"
"Hang on, Tooya." Yuuhi said, with a worried look on his face. "You'll be all right…"
Ceres was silent for awhile. Then she floated down towards Tooya. Ceres closed her eyes, and held out both her hands, as if she was holding a sphere, and slowly, a glow started to emerge atop her palms and it became bigger, and bigger…
"Ceres…!" Yuuhi exclaimed in disbelief. "Your mana…"
"You're not going to…" Suzumi started.
"Yes." Ceres opened her eyes. "My mana will keep him alive… and immortalize him once again…" she said, holding the magnificent mana in her palms. Although bearing a small crack, it's still glowing beautifully.
"But what about you…?" Yuuhi asked.
Ceres smiled at Yuuhi's concern. "I'll be fine…" She answered softly, and then she released her mana up in the air, and the crystal ball slowly descended down onto Tooya's chest, then faded into his body before glowing magnificently, filling the whole room with its violet glow.
A surge of electricity ran through Tooya's body. Yuuhi could feel it as he was holding Tooya. Then, Tooya slowly opened his eyes and sat up. There was an astonished look on his face, as he looked at his palms, feeling his every bit of strength flowing through to the end of his fingers, giving out a warm tingling feeling as immortality surged back into his body.
"Yokatta…" Ceres said softly, then she collapsed onto the floor and turned back into Aya.
* * *
Sayaka's hands were trembling as she stood there facing her possessed brother. Suddenly an invisible force swept through the room and all the doors and windows slammed shut. A soft violet glow emerged and it slowly formed a figure of a woman.
"Freya." Mikage, who is now in Akira's body, said with a smile. "What took you so long?"
The tennyo, Freya, smiled at Mikage and coiled her arms around his neck and kissed him. Then she suddenly turned and glared at Sayaka.
"Who are you… and what do you want from us?" Sayaka said, choking back her tears. She turned back into her original self. "Please… give me back my brother…"
Freya laughed a victorious laugh. She untangled herself from Mikage and approached poor frightened Sayaka. She grasped on Sayaka's face and pulled her closer, examining her face. "Hmm…" Freya mumbled. "Pretty girl." She said again, as she released Sayaka and pushed her away. "She would be very useful to bait that silly naïve boy Aogiri."
"Yu… Yuuhi?" Sayaka exclaimed in horror. She shook her head slowly. The image of Yuuhi's face appeared again in her head. His warm, friendly smile, and the way he laughs full-heartedly. Sayaka realized that she had liked him the first time she saw him at the station. "No… not Yuuhi… please…"
Mikage laughed devilishly. "How touching. I think she likes the boy." He said. "But do you like him that much that you would abandon your brother in our hands?" he said as he leaned backwards on the chair Akira was sitting before.
Onii-chan…
Mikage smiled at the expression reflected on Sayaka's face. "So, what do you say, little sister?"
====================================================================================
to be continued...
