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Act 1.3 Serenade
I make plans to break plans and I've been planning something big
["The Phrase Is" The Academy Is]
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"Who are you?"
"….Finn Fish."
Perhaps that wasn't as informative as she had hoped.
"Oh. Well. Lovely… Um, how exactly did you do that again? With the rock. Just for clarification."
"A miracle."
Marron rolled her eyes. "Riight. Because those happen all the time."
Finn cocked her head, "They wouldn't be miracles if they happened all the time."
Marron stared.
"I have to go." She pointed in a random direction to emphasize her statement.
Finn followed the direction out over the water.
"So yah, good," She laughed nervously, "The whole meeting with you… ah, Finn? Finn. Right…. Bye."
Marron pivoted on her heel, leaving.
"Marron! Wait for Finn!"
Incensed, Marron started to turn around, "I never told you my name! And why should I wait-"
She stopped.
Looked around. Where…?
Than turned again.
Face to face with a miniature Finn.
With wings.
Marron screamed.
Finn screamed.
…They took a breath.
They both screamed.
Marron backpedaled until she felt the distance sufficient enough to turn tail and run.
"AIEEeee… eh… Finn knew she shouldn't have changed so soon."
But like all other great bits of wisdom, it came too late to help.
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Far enough away, Marron finally exited the subway station she had entered when her leg had started to cramp. She noted the district before turning out to the street. A large hospital occupied several blocks but beyond it lay a small coffee shop. Perfect.
Putting her flight out of mind, she walked into the shop, inhaling the scent of fresh beans and letting it calm her.
"You're too cute to look that troubled."
She turned sharply to a boy sagely hovering over a cup of coffee. His wild hair concealed what she knew to be sea blue eyes. Damnit…
"Why don't you join me in a cup."
So damn certain. Haughtily, she informed, "I don't like the taste."
"Neither do I," He grinned up at her "I just like the feel of it in my hands."
She looked at him, hard. Tired, she allowed a small smile to play at the corner of her lips. Marron proceeded to flag down a waitress and seated herself across from him.
"Don't get any ideas."
"Not at all. I don't even know your name."
"…Kusakabe Marron," She stated grudgingly.
He grinned at her, "Nagoya Chiaki."
The waitress brought over Marron's coffee while Chiaki continued to bask over his cup. Marron shifted uncomfortably in the silence.
"What?" Marron looked up to find herself under casual scrutiny.
"I haven't," he paused as if choosing his words carefully, "seen you anywhere else have I?"
"On the subway platform idiot."
"No, I meant somewhere… else. You weren't out last night were you?"
Her memory helpfully recalled a flash of purple, which brought her thoughts to Finn. She stiffened and replied, "I wasn't out anywhere you would have been."
"Ahh, I see. I must be mistaken," he accepted it easily, perhaps not wanting to believe otherwise.
He smirked, reverting from his serious countenance fully as he moved to grab her hand. Caught in his stare, she barely noticed as his thumb started caressing the back of hers.
"I need to get back Marron. But I'll take that after date kiss next time." He winked at her.
"Pervert!" she jerked herself back.
She paused, then snapped, "And what next time!?" But there was only his retreating figure.
Marron sat back irritably. She looked down at her hand.
In her palm was a scrap of paper with his number and directions to 'call me baby ^_~'.
On the other side was his bill.
"CHIAKI!!"
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"And how much do you love me?" An impish grin. The other playfully made a grab for her.
She danced away and caught sight of him fully. He was beautiful. And wet. She laughed at him and kicked up more water.
"Whoever said anything about love? It is merely an affliction of affection that I will soon depart from," He laughed back at her, years of sword training letting his lithe form move swiftly.
She let out a loud indignant noise as he guffawed over her expression. She tucked her rosary under her shirt then jumped at him, both spilling into the water.
Amused, she innocently moved the thick black strands away from his face, knocked loose from his tie. Caught in his gaze, she moved closer. He came to meet her.
Her eyes slipped shut, briefly catching her reflection in the water.
Purple eyes blinked back at her.
Marron's own eyes shot open. It had ended badly she thought. She paused, unsure of where that certainty came from, and more the troubled for it. Distressed, she turned to the nightstand in search of the light. Anything to keep her slight panic down.
Her hand instead landed on something small and warm that immediately sounded its anger at being manhandled.
Marron yelped and pulled back. She tumbled out of bed as she realized what it was.
"Gah! Can't you leave me alone!?" she cried out in frustrated despair.
Finn harrumphed, flying over to her, "Marron needs to warm up her hands!" She changed tactic, "Finn has to explain something to you now."
Marron sat up onto her bed, making the connection, "So you are the same Finn? Did your maturity level go down with your size?"
"Ayah! Marron!"
There was no bright flash. No smoke or audible pop. Just a sudden shift and Marron was abruptly aware that Finn was now taking up the breath of the foot of her bed.
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"Better?"
"… You're not going to kill me are you? I don't really own anything of value either-"
"I am not a thief!" Finn hissed. She paused in sudden humor and motioned aimlessly in the air, "You are."
"Right… So, what? Like you have a prior claim on the air I'm breathing? This is my house!"
"I'm not what you think I am. And I'm not here to hurt you."
"So, what do you want?"
"Jesus."
"Hey, you brought it up."
"No! No. He was one too. Stop interrupting Marron, it's a poor defense mechanism."
Marron rolled her eyes skyward and leaned against the headboard. She couldn't think of a reason why she was letting this conversation continue.
"There isn't enough time. I should have found you sooner but there were … complications." She forced out a shrug. "Christ was the most recent, the most successful. I think it lay in the apostles but Acc- others thought it lay in the crucifixion. There were a few others that tried to do what Christ did-"
"Drinking the kool-aid?" Marron deadpanned.
Finn sent her a piercing stare, "None of them were successful. Most of those die before they realize what they can do. …Not all of them from natural causes."
"And what is it that you think they can do?"
"The world.. it's not as simple as it seems. There's gravity and then there is levity. The physics of the world, the gravity and the speed of light, those are fixed points. But there are areas that are negotiable, where E=mc2 translates into levitation and walking through walls. Marron what I want from you is to walk through walls."
Marron sent her a comprehending look. "So you're saying you can turn small because you clap your hands and believe. I'm not.. I am pretty sure I'm not like that. What makes you think I'm even like that?"
Finn shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not exactly human. I'm Faye. And what you can do, what I know you can do is something on a much smaller scale. Think of belief as having a quantifiable aspect to it. Like energy translates into matter. You can move energy from one place to another, belief works the same way. It's like a battery. Faye, live on belief passively. Kaitous have the ability to gather and move it around."
Marron shrugged helplessly, "I'm not a Kaitou. I'm sorry, you've been misinformed."
Finn looked at her hard. "That ship didn't sink itself."
"That was Miyaka!! That was her crazy scheme! Maybe it's her you're looking for."
"I'm sorry, I misspoke. The ship sinking was indeed your friend's doing. Saving all of you, that was you."
"I just found a life raft. That's all, that's it. That's not a miracle, that's not anything but dumb luck."
"I knew some gods of luck who would tell you otherwise."
Marron waved her hands in the air, " Ok, fine whatever. But the thing is, You're not the first fairy I've seen. There's a kaitou, a real kaitou, not all capitalized with importance like yours, but I saw another one with Sinbahd."
Finn stiffened momentary, " There are events in motion that require immediate action. Because of Sinbahd, because of what he is and what he is trying to do." She paused, "Marron, I've known about you for a very long time, I've felt your birth, and I had tried to hide you, please believe that, if nothing else. But I need you, Marron the world needs you."
Marron shook her head, raising herself off the bed, "This is bull. I'm not that girl. Please, you've made a mistake."
"You won't even believe your own eyes?" Finn offered quietly.
"Sure, I'm half awake and I saw a fairy. That's credible."
"I am .not. a fairy." She paused, rubbed her eyes tiredly "You can't always put yourself though the lens of what other people believe to be true. Not if you're going to be of any use to me."
"Whoever said I wanted to be!?! I am not a convenient-"
"No, you're not even sensible. I'm offering you a chance to be one of the greats."
"And what a price to attach to it! Look, my life isn't perfect but I like it. I'm top of my class, have a brilliant career in works, and people who give a damn about me."
"But not the ones that matter! The rest is just pretty frills that doesn't mean anything."
Marron turned her head away. "Get out."
She was too old to be sorry, too old to have misjudged her tactics so terribly. To misjudge her kaitou so badly. "…I can give you your family back."
"I asked you to leave."
"I don't offer things rashly. Your father loves you both, it would be simple to arrange."
"I don't want your plastic arrangement! If he won't come on his own, I don't want him here."
"It isn't artificial you silly girl! You can't manufacture love, hell, you can't even predict it! It's the sort of pure belief that can't be touched that way! In any way!" She took a calming breath, "In exchange for your services and upon their completion and the termination of our joint venture I will give you the means to bring your family together."
The room started to contract with the impeding dawn, the light smalling the darkness.
"What would that be?"
The alarm started to buzz.
"Cupid's arrows."
Daylight hit the highest stories of Tokyo.
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[Dreaming Omega]
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