Well, I managed to finish this chapter just before midnight! Phew!
Sora Takenouchi Reborn
Chapter 8
The Truth Revealed
The return to consciousness is hard. There's a knot of discontent inside me, a pain without a name. I feel the dark waters of the swamp around me, feeding me, protecting me, and unwillingly I rise toward the surface of my mind. The swamp whispers inside of me. It knows I'm here. Waking……
Yes. Slowly I rise from the shallow lake I have been for some time lying unconscious in. My energy has returned to me and I feel better than before. But still there was no change in my heart. It was still shrouded in darkness and was still repelling from the light. Still did the misery remain like a disease that had no cure. Everything around me……….so green, the trees, the leaves……..and yet so beautiful. The butterflies, the frogs, the small lizards, the fish, the colourful birds, all the creatures of the swampy forest circulate around me, gazing into my empty face, as if I was the only one they truly loved. The bayous go on forever. And I realize the foolishness of my journey: I have come here looking for a man I know is dead…..looking for the only one who could help me. Alec Holland. Who are you? How will I find you? What can you say to me if I do?
"Hello."
I look upwards and see a tall dark green figure looking down at me. The figure was covered in the greenness of the swamp, his face was hard to identify, but he possessed a gorilla shaped skull which seemed to sound more human. His red eyes glare at mine and his pupils expand as he looked closer into me…….my soul. His hands, his feet, arms, his legs, his body, all covered in the swamps that surrounded me. I've never met a god before. He's beautiful.
"Hello…….you…….IT'S YOU!" I cried, "You're the person I was looking for. I didn't know you'd be like this….." The green giant remained silent, not making a single moan or sound, only his faint breathing could be heard in the naked atmosphere, "How did you find me?"
"I….knew."
"How did you know?" I asked. But even through his heart I could tell the answer. I could feel the answer. The giant layed his hand onto my shoulder to help me stand up. I was able to get up myself anyway. But his hand was still attached to me, like a leech that wouldn't come off your skin, just staying there, taking the life out of you, "This is so strange. I'm sorry. It's just been so hard……they killed William. And my sisters. Except for Sarah, and she's just a baby…" Without moving his lips and saying any words he settled my down on a nearby log and we sat together like a couple who just got married, "And I think they snatched Sarah, because when I went back she wasn't there. Not anywhere. And Pamela Isley wouldn't help me. And Woodrue wasn't there." I look away from the giant's stare and begin to shed tears as my sadness grew stronger within my deepest sympathies and heart. A sadness that was about to erupt from a volcano of the heart, "And I thought were dead. But the masked man said you were here. And I didn't know where else to go…..*sniff*…….and I'm here and I don't know what's going on….*sniff*…… and I don't know what I am…..*sniff*….. and I don't like it and……" Why did I want to get close with him? His scent, the essence around him attracted me with the smell of pure liberation. He was like my guardian angel. Protecting me….making me feel so good…..watching over me…… I turn to him and sink myself onto his green chest, shutting my eyes and giving a slight smile of pure love like I was in Heaven itself. I stroke the fur lightly on his skin with my hands, my body and head I breathe in deeply into his essence and let a sigh that seemed like an eternity, I felt like I was falling into another dream of illusions, "……and it's not fair."
"Hush." The giant moved his hand up to the side of my neck, and like a low flying plane flying above the sky, his hand's shadow flew over the skin of my neck and my face and halted at the center of my forehead, clearing the hair that got in the way. And then slowly he placed his soft furry hand onto the surface of my warm purple skin.
He slides into my mind like a silver fish; and then he catches my simile and is amused…….we are together in a new world. I have no word for it. The Green, he tells me. He calls it the Green. I feel him reading the traceries that other lives have left upon my cell spirals. And, reflected in a green mirror, I see him inspecting old memories……borrowed and long abandoned……
"Listen….I will tell you…….a story. Once upon a time, there were three….boys…who thought they knew….everything. They saw what man was doing……to His world. Alec…..William…..and Sean. Alec dreamed of fertile deserts…..of food for the hungry…..William and Sean dreamed of air….they dreamed of showing mankind that the world was one thing…..all connected., intertwined. William and Sean wanted to make people of plants……breathing in carbon dioxide…..breathing out oxygen….feeding on water and soil and air….they had dreams of sending them to the Amazon…..to the rain forests….to create a new world……to save an old world from dying. Alec….and his love….made a…..magic potion……and they were killed because of it……."
"But you…..you were Alec! How…..?"
"Hush…that is another story. William and Sean made many things….but their….plant people…..remained only a dream…..a failure….and then….one day…..Sean's true love came back to him. Sora Takenouchi, Sean's first baby child. I…..saw her once before she died of such a very young age……she was very sweet and would have made the most beautiful girl ever to exist."
"So Sean's first child was named….?"
"Sora Takenouchi. Her name was Sora Takenouchi."
"And then?"
"After the tragic death, Sean and William took from the baby…..nothing she needed…….any longer. RNA……DNA……genetic material…..and for the first time….for the only time….Sean's and William's dream bore fruit….."
"Yes….what happened then?"
"I do not know…for certain…but I can infer….the first….of your kind to mature….was much more human than plant. The only plant life she possessed was her strong bond of love between flowers……she became a heroine……along with some others……perhaps…..she sought revenge….of some sort…..perhaps…..that is too….simple….an explanation….."
"She…..was killed, too."
"Yes."
"And then……there was me."
"Yes."
I open my eyes and see the giant's lift away from my forehead. The light shone in my eyes after the shadow of his hand moved away from my face. And still the creatures of the forest watched me, with the giant.
"So……..how does the story end? And why did Sean's and William's process pnly work with Sora? And what happens now?"
"I know….some things…..others I…..suspect. I know too little of…..May Queens. How the story ends….? That is your affair. What would you like?"
"I'd like to find Sarah. To get her back….I want….." I sigh….he knows…… "You know what I'd like. You have seen into my mind and heart. You know my heart."
"Yes." The giant and I got up from the log. Once again he hand attached to my shoulder. This time it seemed as if it was to stay longer, "Very well…..I…can find…..Sarah for you. She is a plant…..after all…..if she is still alive. As for….the other matter….I believe….this will work……"
In the instant, the giant literally inserted his hand into the insides of my chest. The pain was so great I had to scream and cry. My eyes shut tight, my mouth gaped open, but no sound emanated. I struggle but the giant held me tight as he dug deeper and deeper into my body. And then, all of a sudden, the pain stopped.
I open my eyes and see the giant holding something in his hand. Something that must seem most important to him, and to me………it was life. For he presented that 'something' to me.
"Take these seeds. You….will best…..know where to sow and place them…….."
"I……"
"Now: the little sister." Again, his mighty hand was placed onto my head….and then……I saw her…….Sarah……… "There. You see?"
"Yes."
I look down at the palm of my hand which carried the green soft seeds that looked alive and well. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen…..life. I shut my eyes softly as tears began to fall down my cheeks, and trickling sideways past the faint smile on my lips. Alec, was indeed, my guardian angel. I knew it in my mind and in my very heart. He was so. And I wanted to cry. I wanted to cry as hard as I could. For all the things that he gave me. My fairy wings flutter and I slowly lift up from the ground. And with my eyes still shut, I fly up to the giant and hug him with all the sadness and thankfulness I had to offer. My eyes begin to flood with tears, it overflows, like sandbags trying to prevent a flood but eventually fails and all the raging water is unleashed. And finally I let it all out. I weep……I sniff….and I cry. My arms wrapped round his body, I felt like I would never let him go. The giant in response only stroked my hair meekly, like a furry kitten just born out of the mother's womb.
"I….*sniff*……can never thank you enough……..*sniff*…….but……*sniff*…..I just want to say……*sniff*……thank you……" And before I departed from the giant's warm body, I kiss him on the cheek with a love that would never wash off, a love that could never be forgotten or broken, a love that would stay far beyond eternity itself. I fly off, holding my seeds close against my chest, wings fluttering as fast as they can, and tears shedding more and more from my stinging painful eyes of the truth I had for so long been searching for…….now finally revealed……..
"Alec, who was that?" said Linda coming out from the leaves of the rain forest and wrapping her arm round his hunk.
"She was……is…..a child…of an old friend. I was….giving her…..babies." Linda raised an eyebrow and gave a sly smile.
"Uh. Right." She said, "Y'know, Alec. I, uh, I think we're going to have a really big talk about this."
I really enjoyed writing this chapter. This was my favorite of them all. But hey, don't go! It ain't over yet! Still more to come! And keep sending more reviews please! Thanks you guys! ^_^
I'll try to get the second chapter up for 'A Digital Clockwork Orange' (based on the film by Stanley Kubrick) as soon as possible.
E-mail: charlesxavier85@hotmail.com .