5. Dreaming.
T: I'm just going to go strait to disclaimer because I have no wish to spoil what little plot this chapter has! Not mine and yep warnings the same!
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When he blinks back into consciousness he is met with the familiar grassed expanse of the space deep in his heart.
Why was he here?
'You are in a deep sleep.' This comes from a pale, effeminate man dressed in a stylish mix of clothes that recall his sisters fashion sense to him with such vividness that he enquires,
'Do you know Neesan?'
The man smiles and touching the cloth above his heart replies,
'I love her.'
There is a moment of silence and then Subaru asks of this other,
'You are here because you are a Dreamseer, is that not right?'
'I claimed that title once, yes.'
'Why no longer?'
'Because though I have still the gift to perceive both the future and the dreams of others it seems that gift is not perfect.
'Over a year ago I saw Hokuto-chan dying…saw one you loved slaughtered by another that you cared for…
"Yet that dream did not come to pass…her faith in that man proved well placed and she lives still.'
'Did he truly save her for love of me?'
'I can not tell you certainly one way of the other, for dreams are convoluted things at the best of times and the dreams of the Sakurazukamori are even more so.'
'Can I see?'
There is a hesitant moment where he believes this other will refuse him and then the green of the depths of his heart fades into a vivid darkness.
Amid this shadow stands a mirror and a figure that looks as the Seishiro that Subaru recalls still; with his glasses askew and the sweet smile clear on his face.
Within the glass of the mirror is reflected the image of Seishiro as he is now, the blind eye unnerving still to Subaru as he looks upon it.
The kindly Seishiro has blood upon his hands and as Subaru looks amid the darkness he sees the broken body of an almost doll like woman.
'She told me that the one I loved would be the one to kill me, the one to become Sakurazukamori next…' This is the Sakurazukamori, and as Subaru turns to look again at the mirror he notes that it is now the kindly Seishiro who is trapped behind the glass.
The Sakurazukamori regards the mirror a moment and then he smashes it, the pieces falling as cherry blossoms to the ground.
Beyond the frame of the mirror is a pathway made of skulls and as the Sakurazukamori crosses out onto its surface there is the faintest of crunches as his weight crushes the fragile bones.
The Sakura sits at the very edge of the path and stood within its shadow are a representation of Subaru as he had been within the year of the Bet and the man that he is now.
The Sakurazukamori regards the younger Subaru a moment, his hands stretching to trace the invisible markings upon the boys hands before he remarks,
'You are my toy and I am assure that losing you would be hurtful and yet…'
His hands rise to tangle into the hair of the younger Subaru, the gesture reminiscent of one ruffling the fur of a favourite pet, then he leases the boy and turns to the older Subaru.
There is a confidence about this image, a feeling of self satisfaction that the true Subaru has never felt…May never feel.
The Sakurazukamori raises a hand to smooth at the hair of this Subaru but is stopped by a strong hand gripping his wrist.
The older man looks confused a moment and then this confident Subaru gestures to a thin band of gold upon his wedding finger.
'No, you can not wed…not when you belong to me.'
The older Subaru shakes his head and purposely walks away from the shadow of the sakura, an unknown girl coming to join him at his side.
The Sakurazukamori has a hand pressed hard now to his chest and there is such confusion in his eyes that the true Subaru has to stop himself from crossing to comfort the older man.
'What is this pain?' The older man enquires before the dream fades away.
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The dream is as so many that he had had before and yet unlike on these previous occasions the pain within his chest remains.
Not an actually physical pain, but rather, an odd almost hollow like sensation at the centre of his being.
Pushing himself free of the tangles of his bedspread he crosses though into the darkness of the living room.
He does not bother to turn on the lights; his eyes…eye…having long since gotten accustomed to filtering as much light as it could from the shadows.
Thus he spots, almost instantaneously, the fax that awaits him and placing the confusion brought forth by the dream to one side for a moment he settles into his chair and begins to read the information printed on the fax sheet.
It seemed Hokuto-chan was again trying to reach him, though by the details that had been sent to him, it seemed she was more desperate this time to find him.
Another pang of that sharp, empty, feeling and not understanding why he uses his gift to find out the marks upon Subaru's hands.
He finds them after a span of time that is not normal and regarding the pale light of their bindings, which should have shone as a star, he feels again that empty sensation.
His heart is beating faster now and he finds that he can not quite catch his breath.
What was happening to him?
What had happened to Subaru?
One person and one person alone could answer these questions for him without judging him, without asking too many questions…
He had to find Hokuto.
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T: The logic in regards to the inside of Subaru's heart is that it started off as this nice forest like place and that when Seishiro betrayed him the trees vanished into grass, then when, later on, he kills Seishiro the grass fades into the arid wasteland you see in one of the later Anime episodes.
As to the dream sequence…place you own meanings on the symbols! Oh and yes Seishiro is putting narrative to his own dream, but then I tend to do the same when I'm just falling asleep/waking up. R+R to feed a praise starved authoress!
