Chapter Five---Silly Little Games
Dante sat outside his brothers window all night. At midnight, when Matron was soundly sleeping in the chair outside Cale's door, Aden and Stone joined him. Looking to his best friend, Dante could read the worry in Stone's ruby eyes. It was buried deep behind those swirling crimson depths, but Dante could see it plan as day. Stone was much more calm and unphasable then Dante was, so when the silver haired boy saw what lurked behind stoic orbs he began to panic. He turned to Aden but the amethyst depths were calculating and far off.
"Dante?" A small voice startled Dante from his thoughts. He turned to find Eden and Rae standing behind him, looking rather forlorn.
"Is Cale going to be ok?" Dante scowled. Eden pouted.
"Of course he is. I won't ever let anything happen to him. I promised." Eden nodded and sat between Aden and Dante, resting her head on Dante's shoulder. However, the ten year old was in no mood to be comforting or anything of the sort and he shrugged her off. Eden looked at her life-long friend with confused grey-blue orbs. Dante didn't return her gaze. Instead, those perfect peridot eyes were fixed firmly on the boy in the room.
Over the next year Cale often had the same frightening nightmare. But he never talked about it. He didn't wake up screaming anymore and he rarely walked in his sleep. Sometimes the nightmare would change, the voice would say more, he would catch a glimse of Dante, Stone and Aden.
But this was different. The boys were older. They were fighting. Cale had never seen such hatred in his brothers jade eyes as he did in those dreams. The ones where Aden and Stone were no longer his friends but his enemies. The ones where his brother broke his promise to always be with him.
The ones where Dante died.
"Cale?" Eden's voice called for him but he made no move to find her. Instead he turned his gaze back out to sea, letting the wind ruffle his hair. Dante and Stone were diving for those sparkling rocks again. The ones that Matron sold to the man in the sparkling rock store in town. Matron would give Stone and Dante money after she sold their rocks, and they could buy whatever they wanted. Dante always bought something for Cale too. The thought made Cale smile. His brother wouldn't leave him.
"Cale! There you are come here." Cale didn't move, didn't answer Eden. This did not phase Eden. Cale hardly ever said anything anymore, even though he was only 5.
"Matron gave me these to play with but I'd rather use them on you, you're so much prettier then me anyhow." Cale wasn't sure if he wanted to be prettier then a girl, but he let Eden put her make-up on him anyways. It always made Eden smile when Cale decided to be nice enough to 'play' with her and he liked to see her smile.
"Matron promised to teach me to french braid too." She told him, while carefully lining his eyes with black. She leaned back to study him and he could see the scrunity in her eyes be replaced with a sudden idea much to mature for her 11 years.
"She said if I practiced enough, I'd be able to do it on my own hair one day. Stone won't let me practice on him. So, I thought maybe you'd let me practice on you." Cale didn't say yes and he didn't say no. His jade eyes stayed locked on Dante and Stone who played in the calm October sea.
"You know, Rae misses you. Playing isn't as much fun when your by yourself." Cale thought about the green eyed brunette that had been his friend. Before the nightmares. She had such a pretty smile. But when Cale stopped playing, stopped talking, Rae soon stopped asking him to play. She tried to sit with him, just be with him through the day. But for a 7 year old, sitting still is frustrating when you wanted to be running around.
"...Well...here look." She held up a mirror for him to look. Eden had lined his eyes in black and smeared it a bit around his eye lids. Cale tilted his head. He looked...dangerous, intriguing. He kind of liked it. And, very slowly, he gave Eden a smile. Her eyes lit up and she grinned back, extremely pleased with herself for making the younger boy smile. It was quite the accomplishment.
"Come with me. I want Matron to show me how to braid." Cale took one last look at Dante to find him talking with Aden while Stone was lying on his stomach, letting the sun warm his back. Turning, he followed.
"Your going where?" Dante asked, his eyes narrowing. Stone was listening from his spot on the beach.
"The Trabian Garden. The man I talked to in town said something's that made me think a bit. Like maybe it wouldn't be so bad." Dante narrowed his eyes further, jade eyes sparking with contempt. Going to Garden was like an unforgivable sin in Dante's eyes. Aden was glad Dante didn't see through his lie. Well, it wasn't all a lie, but he couldn't tell him everything yet.
"You're going to a Garden in two years too, so don't look at me like that. Dante, I'm still going to be one of your best friends. Come on, don't hate me." Dante turned away. Aden was leaving. To be one of them. And soon, Matron would send him to one of those Garden's too. It really wasn't Aden's fault. He had no where else to go.
"Yea, I guess...you're...you're gonna come visit right?" Dante tried to hide the tremor in his voice, the fear of losing Aden. Aden grinned at him.
"Of course. And Matron even said I could write to you guys too. She'd give you stamps so you could right back. And besides, once we're all SeeD, we can go save the world on our own, just like we've always planned." Dante grinned. Maybe Aden was right and Garden's weren't so bad after all.
"See?" Matron asked, carefully and not so gently, pulling Cale's silver locks into a tight braid. Eden 'ooh'ed' and watched intently as Matron finished the braid to the base of Cale's head and secured it with a clear rubber band, letting the rest of his hair hang lose. She didn't want the poor boy to look too much like a girl.
"Do the other side, please?" Eden begged, unaware that Cale's scalp was now numb from the pulling. Cale looked up as Stone and Aden walked in, followed by Dante. Stone looked at Eden.
"That is exactly why you will never practice on me. You're not turning me into a girl." Cale rolled his eyes. He didn't really look like a girl. Rae giggled as Eden stuck her tonuge out at Stone. Dante inspected his brother carefully.
"He kinda looks dangerous...for a runt." Cale disliked being called runt and decided right then and there he would someday outgrow his brother and then call him runt. Matron finished the other braid and Cale shot up from the floor like a coiled spring.
"Matron do you think--" All sound suddenly vanished.
Cale looked around. He was alone. It often happened that he had these 'day dreams', where it was just him and the voice. So he sat, and looked around at the swirling fog. He could see a figure approaching. Somewhere inside, he hope it was Dante.
"Cale..." The voice was distinctly female and somewhat soft. The figure grew closer and he could see it was a woman's body.
"...What?" His voice cracked as he spoke, protesting the sudden use.
"...Save him...save yourself..." A laugh filled his ears, one that sound horribly familiar.
"From who?" Silence eminiated from the figure for a long time. The laugh once again rang in his ears, a pretty sound he longed to hear again and again.
"...From her..." Suddenly, he wasn't in the same foggy, bleak landscape his 'daymares' always put him in. Cale looked around the large building filled with people much older them him ,all busy and rushing around. He spotted a strikingly familiar girl beside a fountain. Her hair was a blend of silver and blonde and she sat laughing with a young boy with lazy violet eyes and spikey auburn hair. Her eyes captured him. One brilliant, pure indigo and one lovely emerald. Something was so familiar about her it almost hurt.
Something...
--
"Cale?" The world rushed so quickly back into focus, Cale stumbled a bit. Dante steadied him with a worried look in jade eyes. 'So familiar' He thought, thinking back to the girl. Dismissing it, he simply walked into his room, not acknowledging his brother's question.
Soon Dante would leave, just like Aden was going too. And he would be alone. How could he protect Dante if he wasn't with him.
How could Dante save him from his nightmares?
A.n: Ohhhhh spiffy ne?
Sorceress Fujin: Hehehe here's more! Oh btw, loved Brand of Wutai. Rocks my non-exisitent socks! hehe
Jasmine: Well, you'll just have to wait and see if it was Ultimecia or not now won't you. Its a good reason to keep you reviewing lol
Becca: Nuuu! -grabs Sorceress Fujin and hides her- MY muse not yours, no touchy! -dusts her Muse off and takes off with Becca's skittles- Hhehe yes, go long reviews! hehe Well, don't melt to the point where you can't review cause here's chappy five!
Jack Hanek:The plot is unfolding but its going to twist more and your on the right track but I can't give it away or it wouldn't be worth reading. kweh, review!
i Ultimate!