Dark Fascination
by Asurahime
~*~*~*~
Chapter Six
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The clashing flashes of light and steel are nothing compared to the conflicting emotions plaguing my thoughts. Piercing the thick silence and echoing through the dim land, the crimson and white crosses are a mere attempt at justifying the guilt and facing salvation. I have not been in the embrace of this region for as long as the others may have, but I feel as if I am just as burdened by the weight of my cross as those whose hands are stained.
I am no longer innocent. I have been caught in an never-ending wild storm which has laid my heart bare and torn as if ravaged by wild beasts. This is a new life, tainted not only with black but also with white. White is the presence of every imaginable color... a sense of purity and a message of innocence--a color created of deception. There is true light in this region just as there is truth: very little, but when uncovered, as brilliant as a newborn star.
But everything remains as an illusion, forged from silver and onyx and decorated by roses. Is my destiny to stay here forever? Is this my fate? To fight against the truth while blinded by the darkness and dazzled by the light? Guilt cannot be covered up by a white cross and the darkness in mystic eyes have shown me that.
Mystics battle for love. We battle for revenge. We battle for truth. We battle to cover the traces of our old lives. When we succeed, we can only live with a bloody cross and ask when does the darkness end? When does the present cease?
Everything becomes the eternal existence.
~*~*~*~
Draco could not suppress a subtle smirk as he descended the flight of stairs leading away from the training grounds. He could just feel Harry's glare boring irritably into the back of his robes every step of the way. "Training is over for now. I will come for you in due time. Just because you're the Prince will cut no ice with certain creatures you may meet." The Black Wing knew that he was testing the limits of his half-mystic charge, but he never knew that baiting the boy would be so interesting and easy. It was all Draco could think about as he evanesced into thin air, the platinum-blonde fringe of his hair falling into silver eyes to hide his merriment. "Remember your promise."
"Lord Harry, are you all right?" asked Hermione as she carefully tugged at the Heir's sleeves. She then frowned at the disappearing figure of the Messenger, just knowing that he had something to do with Harry's mortified state.
On the other hand, the Strategist had no qualms as he threw an arm around Harry's shoulders, surprising both the half-mystic and the Arch-Princess out of their gloomy states. "Enough of this!! Now that iceberg of a git is gone, we can give Harry a tour and the history of Facinaturu. After all, he's practically family now."
The rose-crowned girl flicked throughly confused blue eyes at the fire-haired mystic. It is not that she disapproved of his friendliness, for that is due to everyone's attraction towards the Prince of All Mystics; however, his insistence in unnecessary physical contact made her suspicious. It will not please Lord Severus to know that one of his subjects may be showing too clear a connection with his Heir. No, make that two because she had seen Draco behave in an even more solicitous manner towards the young half-mystic. "I suppose so. Let us go up to the lower right tower first."
Harry fixed Ron and Hermione a blank look but allowed himself to be led down the stairs and past the foyer. "The lower right tower? What is so important about that tower?"
The Strategist and the Arch-Princess exchanged furtive glances and gazed up at the said tower. "Well, you will find out when we get there. Let's just say that this will be your first lesson in Mystic History."
The emerald-eyed boy could do nothing begin to follow the two up another flight of steps, not realizing that he had lost sight of them due to his deep thinking. There were still so many things about his new life that he did not know... and even some that he would rather not know... Harry's train of thought abruptly stopped when he noticed a glint of black leather and pair of unfamiliar eyes observing him.
Turning towards his right, the half-mystic saw another mystic hiding in the shadows. When the mystic saw that Harry had seen him, he stepped into the dim light to reveal a young man about Harry's age. The new mystic was slightly taller, wearing black leather pants, boots, gloves, choker, and harness with no shirt. His dark blonde hair was streaked with dark red and tied back tightly with a black band, and in the middle of his forehead was an golden upside-down right triangle with a red circle in the center and flanked by two smaller triangles.
"So you're the human who inherited Charm Lord Snape's power," started the mystic, the misty light reflecting off of the ornamental triangle, collar, earrings, and the sharp twin fangs revealed when he smirked.
Harry was feeling more and more disconcerted as the man's amazingly amber-colored eyes searched his own. It would not have been so fazing if the leather-clad mystic's pupils had not been the sharp slits of a predatory feline animal. Soon, the half-mystic could not take any more. "Who are you? Stop staring at me!"
Rather than take offense, the mystic just smirked wider. "Aggressive for a human... This should be interesting. Someone is coming right now. I'll see you around."
A split-second later, two white-haired mystics guards appeared, swords out and hands poised to cast a spell. One of them faced Harry, a strained expression on his face and sheer confusion in his eyes. "Did you talk to Seamus?"
The other guard was not doing much better, for his voice came out with a hiss. "Infidel! How dare he sneak into Chateau Aiguille when he's been banished!"
What Harry did not quite comprehend was whether the hostility of their tone was due to the one they are chasing or towards him as well. Before he could ask, the two were already half-way gone. "He might still be around."
"That strange mystic's name is Seamus?"
~*~*~*~
Golden roses entwined the topaz coffin in the center of the room. Brilliance illuminated the circular room and reflected off the stained glass windows as a mockery of sunlight. Harry's face lightened up for a second before it subsided with hopelessness. He should have knowns that it was impossible that something so genuine and warm as actual sunlight could exist in a timeless region. "This light... is so cold."
Ron slightly smiled and shook his head, moving some rose vines out of the coffin's way to reveal the sleeping fack of a young girl with flame-colored hair and golden robes. "This is Charm Lord's eighty-first Arch-Princess, Princess Virginia."
Verdant eyes gazed at the girl sleeping in the coffin and at the Strategist in front of him before sending Hermione a questioning look. The Arch-Princess smiled in return before holding on to Harry's arm, nodding sad confirmation. "Princess Virginia is my younger sister-princess. She is skilled in the magic arts and is extremely loyal to Lord Severus. She is also the bravest princess in all of Facinaturu and has more than once proven thus through combat. Princess Virginia is also one of the deepest held in Fascination by My Lord."
Pale lips thinned even further as the forlorn Strategist traced the glass over the unconscious mystic's face. "She is also related to Ron."
"No, Ginny was my sister in the past life. We have both chosen to live forever together even though we are no longer related by blood," replied the green-robed mystic as he turned back to look at his companions. "Once mysticism sets in, one can't have anything to tie them down. That is the first thing you must understand."
"..... But I don't."
Hermione shook her head as she raised a hand towards Ron and the sleeping princess. "Princess Virginia used to be Ron's sister, but because of mystic rebirth, they are no longer related by blood. Lords such as Ron and Draco and Arch-Princesses such as myself are reborn into mysticism in similar yet different ways. Charm Lord will absorb the human energy of females into himself before giving them a small part of his own energy. On the other hand, Charm Lord will take the human energy of males and use them to feed the Eternal Flame that burns in Facinaturu."
Glancing around, the half-mystic was more than a little confused by the explanation. "Eternal Flame?"
"Yes," she said before pointing a finger towards a glowing cavern outside of Chateau Aiguille and at the far edge of Rootville. "Kurenai. He is not only the Eternal Flame, but is also the first mystic to ever grace the regions. The Eternal Flame supplies untarnished mystic energy in return, which is given to the Lords. This special type of energy drains off what little mortality mystics have left, thus turning our blood blue. Kurenai lives off of human energy because he has none of his own, just as no mystics except for one has no human energy left in them."
"And who is that last mystic?" asked Harry, his throat amazingly parched. Hermione hesitated as she tightened her hold on him.
The Strategist walked back slowly, raising a finger to delicately trace the silver lightning-shaped scar on the half-mystic's forehead. "Isn't it bloody obvious? You are."
Harry found that he could not speak as Hermione tenderly clung on to his arm and Ron trailed careful fingers down what used to be a mark for death. "So that is why my blood is purple?"
A soft beaming smile from the tawny-haired girl answered him. "There is a reason why Lord Severus is called Charm Lord, and that is because his blood has the power to fascinate those of the opposite gender and, if he wills it, those of the same gender. There is no resistance to this unspoken command and one will remain mesmerized. Humans, on the other hand, have absolutely no imperviousness to going under Fascination."
Disconcertion was evident on Harry's face and both Ron and Hermione actually found the expression endearing. "What does that have to do with the color of my blood."
"Yours is a special case, Lord Harry, because you are incomplete. Lord Severus had found you already dead or at least at the brink of dying, with most of your blood already gone. He then chose to save your life and transferred some of his own blood and thus some of his own power to you. His blue blood and your red blood make purple as you already know. However, while some mystics may reject you for being a human and some humans may reject you for being a mystic, they will find that they are not able to fight enchantment because of Charm Lord's power in you. Your mystic blood will keep on trying to destroy your mortality, but your human blood will continue to eradicate your mysticism. In the end, it is up to you to decide on what you will live as."
"But they why do I not feel attracted to him at all?"
Ron shrugged slightly, turning towards the door to leave. "I don't know. Perhaps you are immune to his charm because his blood runs in your veins. Not only that, but also because you have inherited his mystic power."
It was as if he had spoken in another language, for Harry's face paled even further. "I don't want... I have no need for power... And what is the purpose of all these coffins anyway?"
His female companion walked out of the room and rested a slender hand on the coffin in which the seventeenth Arch-Princess of Charm Lord slept on. "These coffins are our refuge as much as they serve to imprison us. Lord Severus never lets go of things that he has claimed as is. This includes you and me."
Harry's face twisted with distaste at the thought of the man with red eyes having a claim on him like a child lays claim over a pet. "How childish can one get?"
~*~*~*~
The glowing lights of the crystals seemed eerily brilliant as Harry led his two companions through the twisting balconies and staircases of the Castle of Needles. Slightly disillusioned by what he had learned from Ron and Hermione in Princess Virginia's room, the half-mystic did not realize where he was going until he was jerked back by a worried girl. "Lord Harry--"
Exasperated, Harry pointed a finger to himself. "Harry."
Hermione seemed to hesitate, but she caught Ron's taunting smirk and bit back a sharp reply. "Harry. We should not go into this part of the castle..."
Harry fixed her a stare before turning to look at the scene before him. As with most of the rooms that Harry has seen, there was a coffin in the center, an amethyst coffin to be exact. However, what's different with this room was that the roses within were all brittle and dead, even the ones curling around the coffin. The open coffin.
Ash was strewn around, the glowing crystals and stained glass windows in the room lay in shards on the floor, and the only source of light was the eerie gleaming of the crystals outside. "Is this place forbidden? That is strange... there's no one here."
the red lotus flame that sleeps within me
under the name of the lord of all fire
I set you free
guided by the sacred triangle
to the darkness that blocks my way
bring forth burning light
Fiery light erupted from the crystals on the floor and flared up into the ceiling, tinting everything they hit with reds, oranges, yellows, and an occasional pure white. "There, now it's not so dark," whispered Hermione.
Forbidden? The space looked more forbidding than forbidden, especially since the gate was opened with no wards or barriers. "No, but this is not a happy place," started the Strategist, unsure of whether to continue or to bite his tongue. Finding himself at the receiving end of a perfectly intense jade gaze, Ron decided to continue. "This place used to belong to Zero Princess, Lord Severus' first princess. She was also the only princess who ever managed to escape from the castle."
Next, all Ron saw was a flash of crimson as the Prince of All Mystics grabbed on to his collar, verdant eyes flashing with uncontrolled desperation. It was allurement in its purest form--unpremeditated and fierce. "How did she get away?!"
Quickly rushing over to aid the Strategist, whose eyes were glazed over, Hermione continued on with the lesson. "She committed suicide. Zero Princess drank a draught that was the opposite of the serum Draco had given you, giving her a short period of mortality, and she killed herself by blood-letting. By the cycle of birth, she was reborn into a human once more. Because Zero Princess no longer has mystic traces in her, even Lord Severus has trouble finding her."
Dark velvet seemed to caress Harry's ear as light glinted off white-blonde hair. "If you wish to know something else that is interesting, Lord Severus was looking for Zero Princess the night he ran you over. It's fortunate that he had."
Had he been surprised, Harry would have quickly jumped away from the sudden appearance of this entity. For some reason, he had sensed the midnight-blue-robed mystic near him and had time to steel himself. "Cycle of birth... I can't possibly be reborn..."
Amused silver eyes peered into his own, trained not to show any other emotion other than mild distraction and biting sarcasm. "Are you in such a hurry to leave then? Even if you follow Zero Princess' footsteps, know that you will still remember every bit of your experience here. That is the curse of mysticism--one never forgets, for time means nothing and neither does death."
Before the revived Ron could retort, Draco raised a gloved finger to signal his silence. "The lot of you should not be here, and I have merely come to get you out before any other foolishness is done. The Prince of All Mystics has had enough instruction for one day and should retire. This is Lord Severus' message."
~*~*~*~
Harry finally found himself alone as his three companions escorted him and left him in his room with bids of good night. However, what he could not brush off from his mind are the strange, hungry gazes the three of them were sending to him. The Arch-Princess he did not really mind, for within her eyes, the half-mystic saw nothing but unadulterated concern and hope for salvation. On the other hand, both the Strategist and the Messenger's bright eyes hold more than what Hermione's was telling him.
There was a need in them for possession. But even these desires are as conflicting, for while the Strategist wears his heart on his sleeve, the Messenger stalks his prey like a serpent before striking at the most vulnerable moment. But perhaps Harry was just seeing things, for he quickly put this out of his mind in favor of getting some rest.
Turning back to walk to his bed, Harry met with another surprise.
"Yo!" A familiar black leather-clad mystic was sitting at the edge of the half-mystic's bed, arms crossed over his chest and amber eyes looking at the silver scar on Harry's forehead.
Honest to say, Harry was far from pleased. "You again?"
Seamus raised himself off the bed and to his feet with all the grace of a cat, bowing in mock-deference while keeping his eyes fixed on the red-clad figure at all times. "I sincerely apologize for not properly intoducing myself last time. I am Seamus and if I am not mistake, you're Harry, right?"
Something about the comedian act of this mystic was slowly irking Harry even though he had no idea why; thus, he replied sharper than he meant. "I don't care what your name is. What business do you have in my room?"
The other shrugged, his good spirits barely dampened by Harry's reprimand and hidden insistence that he leave. "Easy there, Lord Harry unless you want another enemy. Mystics, as have obviously seen, are very easily affronted."
Raising an eyebrow at the chiding tone of the other, the half-mystic crossed his arms over his chest in a mirror of Seamus and walked further into the room, the phoenix-tail like hemming of his crimson robes flashing behind him like fire and Asura at his side shining dangerously in the shadowy mists. "How about you? Are you easily offended?"
"No. I'm different from all the others here. As you can see, they despise me. They say that I don't act like a high class mystic even though that is my standing. They even told me to stay out of the castle until I straighten my mind."
"But you sneak in?" Harry couldn't help but start feeling a little admiration for the pure nerve and perseverance of Seamus.
"The only one who can stop me is Snape himself. The others are no match for my power and intelligence," smirked Seamus knowingly, his triangular ornament glinted in the light, hinting that he was speaking the truth.
Stifling a scoff, Harry rested his right hand gently upon the silver hilt of Asura. "Well, aren't you just full of pride over that account."
"It's the truth," insisted the mystic, his eyes flickering on the sentient weapon Harry was holding. "I don't have to see to know that you have been in the company of the Black Wing for too long. You're starting to talk like him... it was quite interesting to hear that you drew first blood during your bout. But I am already tired of this small talk. See you around."
Just like the other mystics of Chateau Aiguille and just as he did before, Seamus quickly disappeared into thin air, leaving no trace that he had been in Harry's room. However, Harry stared at the spot where he was for a few more minutes in confusion. "..... What did he come here for?"
Brushing it off as unimportant for the moment, the half-mystic slowly allowed his guard to drop and faced the mirror in his room. His reflection stared back at him as it did in the pool of water some time ago. How long has that been? An hour? A day? A lifetime? He can't remember... although the pale face, emerald eyes, and raven hair present in the other's face are identical to what he used to have, how can he know that they aren't an illusion?
_I don't intend to tell you how to live, but as long as you are a half-mystic, you can only have chains of sin and a future of punishment... forever._
~*~*~*~
To be continued...
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Disclaimers:
This is my first slash story ever, so I am sorry if it offends anyone. I decided to cross two things I really love, which are the Harry Potter universe and the Saga Frontier universe into a crossover-AU work of fiction. Thus, I own nothing. I'm not really too certain about writing this piece since this is a whole new frontier for me. Please bear with me and I hope you enjoy reading.
Notes:
~Well, there is your Zero Princess for you. I promised her for this chapter didn't I?
~Wow, Seamus is wearing leather in this fic... that just makes me want to draw it. Note that he will be an important character, especially in the latter chapters of this monstrosity of a fanfic. Yes, he is strange right now, but he's going to get even stranger later on.
~Once again, there wasn't too much slash in this chapter... but it makes me want to hug it anyway... yes, I'm strange. Things are going to get even stranger in the next few chapters, and know that the entire fic isn't going to only be confined within this region of Facinaturu.
~Even if you have played SaGa Frontier before, I am going to rip that game's minimal storyline apart and add my own madness and theories into it!! Sorry for those of you who actually want me to stay on the game's actual storyline, but know that this is a whole, new, different type of insanity I am in.
~There's not really that many notes for this chapter... unless someone has a question that they want me to answer. The next chapter will also feature a talk with the strange, eccentric character of Cedric in my story. That is sure to be fun...
~Well, it's 11:28 P.M. when I finished writing this, so it's still technically 11/26 ^_^. Thus, I have not broken my promise!! *grabs the fic, prints it out and wraps it with wrapping paper* Yay!!
Thank You(s):
~In other words: to all those people who put up with me in reading this fic.
Cuey-chan: I do? *blushes and digs her pens into the ground, trying not to look up* Thank you. I also hope that you read the rest of the chapters as well as the first and that they are to your liking.
AtieJen: Hello again... you know what? I like Draco's possessiveness too... you'll be seeing Sev soon again. (*cheers* Alan Rickman was in People magazine as an incredibly sexy guy!!!)
Kupo: *love hugging moogles * No, the ideas aren't mine, but I'm tearing apart the storyline enough that... ah well. About that "Tom" thing... er... I don't know yet!! I'm confused about that issue too!! I think I'll decide who he'll be as I go along.
Popcorn: I'm glad that you liked the battle scene. There's going to be at least four or even more of them in the way, so keep an eye out for them!! Working with Disney would be fun though... maybe something like another "Kingdom Hearts" game? (Hideaki: Keep on dreaming, Asura.... no, just hurry up and write!!) Thank goodness someone else finds dressing up as Malfoy a good excuse!!!
Hippy Flower = Voldie's Kid: Don't worry, I'll post more!!
Willows: *blushes darkly, digs a hole in the ground and buries herself in it* Yes, the tenses are my biggest problem... they have always been!!! Thank you for commiserating me in my grief and thank you for the review!
The Hogwarts Four: *grins* You update, I update.
Gia: Here Gia!! Finally I got a bit of Zero Princess in. It should satisfy some readers' curiosity... unless it just added even more intrigue about her... Oh boy....
QueenStrata: Yeah!! At least I now know one person who has also played this game!! Yeah, I'm basing it on Asellus' storyline and Riki's quest *was* quite annoying... especially when he turns into a monster you don't want. Answer: learn DSC for your human characters. Overkill is fun!!! I like hyper people, and Cedric is supposed to be ooc-eccentric because Rastaban was eccentric. Harry is ooc because, like Asellus, he is still insecure about being changed into a life-sucking parasite... who's really, really, really cute. Three will be a little of almost every Harry-slash pairing in this, so don't worry. I've made my decision on what will be the last pairing, but it doesn't mean that I can't have a lot of fun on the way!! I will worship your lengthy review forever!! *gets down on her knees and starts the worshipping ceremony*
SapphireUndine: I am really glad that you liked this fic!! Here's the next part then.
Emimi: I'm glad so many people like my ideas and descriptions... there... I think I just named off all my good qualities... ^_^ thank you for reviewing!!!