Disclaimer – Joy joy joy…this again eh? From now on…please refer to "Default Chapter" Thanxie ^^*
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~*~ The Day the Dream Ended ~*~
Chapter 4 ~ Premonition
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"You have all pleasantly surprised me with your excellent grasp of the topic I gave all of you last week, from which you were to write a short piece on. However," smiling at her students, who were mostly eagerly waiting for their project results, the language sensei, Omiguri-san, continued, "there was one story in particular that was so spectacular that I felt the need to share it with all of you, and to congratulate that person formally."
All around me heads turned and a few began to murmur, wondering between themselves who it could possibly be that pleased their strict teacher so much. Distracted as I was, I couldn't bring myself to think of anything that was happening at the moment. For some strange reason, I have not been able to take my mind off of my friends in the Majou no Sekai all morning, despite all the years that have passed since I last set foot there. In particular, I couldn't take my mind off of…a certain person…out of an urging sense of anxiety I felt for him.
Why do I have this uneasy feeling that something is wrong…that something horrible is happening to them…to him?
The sensei had started to talk again, and the next thing she knew, Chihiro felt the gaze of all her fellow classmates trained on her, and the sensei smiling at her. Still confused as to what's happening, Chihiro searched her frozen mind for what she could have possibly done to deserve this…and suddenly remembered what she had written about.
"Ogino-san, your 'Letters to the Unknown' was truly realistic and very touching. Excellent work!" Omiguri-san said to her, obviously taking pride in having taught her.
"Arigatougozaimasu, Sensei." Chihiro, standing to accept her paper, replied with a false enthusiasm that she had forced herself to sum up. Hearing what she herself sounded like, Chihiro grimaced mentally, scolding herself for living her life as such a façade.
But why do I do this? Settling back into my seat, I assumed to cast that big, fake smile on my face for the benefit of my congratulating classmates, I found myself wanting to scream in frustration. I had once thought that in hiding my emotions from those closest from me, I could prevent myself from hurting them. Instead…instead, I've grown into a completely different person…I'm hurting them worse than I was before.
But not as much as I'm hurting myself.
So why is it that everytime I think about them, my emotions always end up being so…so befuddled? Why do I always end up feeling so…empty? So incomplete? It's as if they owned a part of me, ever since I left there.
It's as if their memories are haunting me, wanting to remind me of who I once was, and the feelings I used to feel.
It's as if they're trying to help me, although they're not here.
Sighing a heartfelt sigh, Chihiro once again concentrated on the work at hand, wanting a distraction from these baffling thoughts. Unfortunately, the language sensei chose that moment to split the class into discussion groups to discuss the poem they had been reading. Blinking in surprise, Chihiro blindly tried to follow the instructions, realizing that she had spend most of the class musing to herself, too occupied with thoughts of the Majou no Sekai to notice the passage of time.
Stretching her arms, Chihiro looked around to see her friends crowding around her, obviously eager to talk…although not necessary on the assigned subject. With yet another inward sigh she braced herself, and turned to face the one who was currently talking. This is going to be another long day.
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The constant flashes of lightening illuminated the otherwise dark room, the many beautiful and expensive lamps in it made useless by the relentless thunderstorm. Standing near the window was a lone figure, watching the storm through her unusually worried eyes.
A quiet knock disturbed the silence of the room, and the great doors swung open without a reply by either sides.
"You called for me." Haku stated to the figure, still faced away from him, unmoving and unreplying.
Crossing the distance between the aged and worn-looking figure, Haku took his time to look around the room as yet another thunderbolt flashed in the scenery outside. He wasn't at all surprised to find that it was exactly the way he remembered it, although it had been awhile since he last came here. The large room was still expensively furnished, with precious jewels glittering out from under their hiding places where their owner had obviously hidden them, and with high piles of papers stacked upon the relatively small working desk, a reminder that there was much work waiting to be done. However, if his memory serves right, it has been awhile since anybody in the realm of the Majou no Sekai took an interest in work. Stopping just behind the figure, the young man called to his former master and teacher quietly.
"Yu-Baaba."
Yet that still provoked no reply. Curious as to why the once obnoxious and power-hungry old witch chose to be so silent, he moved beside her and glanced at her face.
Lines of worry were evident in the witch's face as she gazed over the lands which she once so freely roamed during their "days". However, it was not the concern he saw that baffled him. It was the sadness in the old witch's eyes that surprised Haku. Never in his lifetime of working as her personal lackey has he seen her so dismayed by something…or feel so strongly about something that didn't involve money or anger.
"Our world is dying, you know." she said to him quietly, eyes never leaving the storm-ridden land before them.
"I know."
Silence overtook them as the reality of those little words spoken by the two set in. It has been a fact, ever since the combined efforts of the two great witches failed, that the realm of the Majou no Sekai was dying. The spirits within it would be extinguished along with it, as would the human-captives and the many other creatures residing in its once beautiful green lands.
And that worst part? There was nothing anyone can do about it. When all else had failed, the witch sisters had made a pact to forget about their pasts and concentrate their combined efforts on the future. Working together, all which existed in the Majou no Sekai had thought it would surely work to save them. However, when they had tried to no avail, it was made a fact that they would have to sit by and wait for their own deaths. Those spirits who could escape did, and those who could not remained at home, spending their last days as prisoners of a magical storm that came from nowhere to perish them.
"I called you here to ask you a question." Yu-Baaba said after a long silence. Having her sound so humbled…or at least, civil…was strange. Having her—the woman who thought she knew the answer to all—ask someone else a question was something even stranger.
Nethertheless, Haku was curious as to what the question could possibly be. However, interested as he may be, his trained expressions showed none of his emotions. "Go ahead."
Chuckling slightly without humor, Yu-Baaba finally turned from her unbroken gaze upon the lands below them and looked at Haku.
"Some things about you still haven't changed, has it? Even after all this time away from being my apprentice, you still speak as little as ever, and with as little emotion as ever." Haku was surprised when a smile graced the old witch's features, making her much less foreboding and worn-looking.
"Ever since that little girl left, I don't think I've seen you get worked up like you would when she was here over anything, nor have I seen you smile like you smiled at her."
Glancing out of the corner of her eye, Yu-Baaba noted that an ordinary person would have noticed no change in the display of emotion on her former apprentice's face. However, she knew this young man who had once found refuge with her more than she would like to admit, and could see that he was merely keeping his face expressionless, to mask his hidden feelings...whatever they may be. Grinning slightly, she turned back to look out her great windows once more and continued to speak, as if she could not stop thinking of the times when the "little witch of a rebel" was here, ensuring havoc over her domain.
"As much as I hate to admit it, everyone misses her—even I do. It's all right to let your emotions show from time to time, you know." Knowing that she was not going to get a reply out of that statement, Yu-Baaba returned to the original topic at hand.
"The question for which I had asked you to come here today, then…I wanted your opinion on this: what are we missing in the Majou no Sekai?"
This time Haku did not even try to conceal his expression. A frown appeared on his face, clearly displaying the young river spirit's confusion over the blunt question.
"Missing…?"
"Yes, missing," Yu-Baaba let her own frown settle on her features, the subject at hand taking away her earlier cheerfulness. "We've tried everything, have we not? Yet the storm is still here, and the Majou no Sekai is still going to disappear. What could we have possibly missed that could prevent this realm from dying?"
Understanding smothered Haku's ruffled features. "You mean to ask what could whoever did this to our world wants from us that we don't already have…or that it doesn't already have?" the frown made its way back on his face. "I think a better question would be, what could it possibly want from us that it can't get by itself? Entertainment? We'd be more entertaining if we are alive."
Yu-Baaba heard the sigh coming from beside her, knowing that her former apprentice was trying to contain his anger at being so helpless in a situation he wanted to prevent at all costs. His question raises a very good point, however. She thought as she continued her stare out into the storm. What could a being as powerful as this one want from us? A being that is not, but is. How could we have possibly missed someone with this much magic…and one so destructible? What does it possibly want to get out of us? Or rather, out of destroying us?
Shaking his head slightly, and reminding himself that a certain girl had taught him that anger does not help in a civil gathering, Haku collected himself and spoke quietly once again.
"It just doesn't make any sense!" he said softly, as if afraid that he said it any louder, he could invoke his anger once more. "But we have got to figure his little puzzle out soon, otherwise…"
His sentence was left to trail as a single blue lightening-bolt flashed in the sky, causing the young dragon to hold his chest in pain, the magic in the air obviously taking a toll on his body.
It's not just the lands that are dying…he thought as he struggled to get the pain under control. As the blue lightening had become more and more frequent within the past weeks, the spirits had had to learn to live with the pain that its magic brought along. As a spirit of the river, Haku was in tune with the element which brought the magical bolts…meaning he felt the pain more than any other spirits.
I'm dying too.
Perhaps even faster than our world is.
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In the distance, thunder rolled. Chihiro snapped her head up from talking with her friends, eyes filled with dread and fear as she heard the words spoken by an unmistakable voice in her head.
Haku…
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Dun-dun-dun…! ^^* Sorry if things in this chappie seem kinda rushed/long to you! (And not to mention that Yu-Baaba is *very* much OCC…but for the sake of the story, I needed her to soften up a bit…a big bit ) I really wanted to get past all this and get some action (and Haku ^^*) in here already XD Or, in the very least, have something happen instead of just thinking/talking heads…thou that isn't so bad either, ne?
On a side note, in an actual class in Japan you're supposed to pay undivided attention to your teacher and glue your asses to your seats until break time, so naturally students probably won't do as much "discussion" in class as we do in the US or Canada…but oh well, works with the story!
^^* Special Note to 'Silent Tears' Readers –
As much as I love the way I had set up Silent Tears, I think I'm going to keep it as it is (no extension of chappies…sworrie to anyone who asked!)…But I was actually thinking of writing another one-shot (or actual fic, depending on how it goes) like the "letters for the unknown" I had mentioned that Chihiro had "written"… it would have somewhat of a connection with Silent Tears, to serve as my way of apologizing for not continuing it…although it will end up being a different story. Gomen ne, minna-san! But I wouldn't want it to just lag on cuz I'll just ruin it for myself o_O *shrugs* We shall see…but in the meantime, pls tell me what you think so I'll know what to do
Ciao lata :D
~Aqua Sunshine ^^*
