Woot! Lucky number thirteen! I can't believe the story has gotten this far. My deepest thanks to anyone who has reviewed, and now… back onto the story…
I have seen the future and it's like the present, only longer- Dan Quiensberry
(Midorai's POV)
I sat on the floor in front of the Niwas, smiling sheepishly as I held up the cards, which Kosuke, Daisuke's dad, gently picked up. He smiled at me, flicking through the deck with his fingers, with surprising speed.
"Do you know how to read them?" he asked, handing them back.
"Yes, I learned from an old friend, Daisuke asked me the same thing. I can read for you guys if you like," I replied quickly, smiling at the family shyly.
"Ah…. That's fine, but thank you," Daisuke replied quickly, waving at me hurriedly. He soon began to mutter something about not wanting to bother me.
"Why don't you do it, Daisuke, we have nothing better to do," Emiko replied, ushering Daisuke on hurriedly, and soon, the boy was blushing, though I didn't know why.
"Here, just shuffle the deck, it's that simple," I replied, handing my deck over to him, letting the thick deck rest on his calloused palms.
"Fine," he murmured, and soon, his nimble fingers began to shuffle the laminated cards, and I could see the card faces flick up to me for some brief instants, and I was surprised to see just how fast he could shuffle.
"I feel sorta foolish," he replied as he handed them back. The moment the laminated cards hit my palms, I could feel the familiar tingling, like small needles pricking my palms. I sighed, letting the tips of my fingers rest on the tops of the cards, and finally, and began to lay them out, laying them out in my favorite format, the Celtic Cross.
On the backs of the cards, inlaid with small gold filigree, was the eternity knot, and in the corners were the holy trinity signs. They were familiar, exact replicas of the one's Desdemona had, but she kept them in a jewel incrusted velvet bag, while I just let them rest in the plain linen sack that they came in. I tapped my fingers quietly on the backs of the cards, and then, closed my eyes, and slowly steadied my breath.
"And the first card..." I flipped it over, the card represented the reader itself, who they were. I sighed, and cast my eyes down, and slowly began my reading, my voice hushed as I felt he power flow though my fingers and into the cards, willing them to listen to me, and to show the past, present and future.
"You… are torn in two… Almost as if you are only one half of a coin…" and suddenly, I felt it, the power tingled in my fingers, and suddenly, my lips started to speak by themselves.
"The lovers, upside down. There is turmoil in you, you are afraid of… and angel… who is impure, evil… there is pain… and love. You feel lost, afraid of being alone, that if the other half of you leaves…" suddenly, my lips stopped, my voice suddenly going quiet. It was the last two cards, and I slowly flipped the second to last one over, and was surprised at what I saw. The 10 of swords.
It was an intricate painting, of a woman, bound in chains. Her hair was a deep red, falling in wet curls around her body. She was crumpled in defeat, her hands held above her head, bound in chains. She was chained to a large sword, nine other swords hung above her. But her face was held in an almost beautiful rapture, a gentle smile on her face. She seemed peaceful, almost as though she was happy, and large black wings were folded around the sword. It was an eerie card, meaning pain, but happiness.
And finally, the last card… Daisuke licked his lips quickly, and I watched his eyes dart to the card, and finally, I flipped it over, letting it float down the ground. It was Death.
A woman dressed in black, an elegant sickle clasped in her pale hands. Her dark eyes held no vestige of a soul.
"Change… it means nothing more then something will happen, a change for the better… what… even that I cannot say," I whisper, and as my fingers still rested on the card, I looked up, casting a glance at Daisuke. But what I saw scared me, as I looked up, instead of Daisuke, I saw a young man, dressed in Daisuke's clothes, with oddly cut purple hair and stunning gold eyes. I saw Dark. For the moment I faltered, my finger left the card… and there was Daisuke again, with a curious expression was on his face.
"Midorai, are you okay?" Daisuke leaned over to me, but my vision seemed to be back to normal, though I was curious as to why I saw Dark, it just didn't make sense.
"Yeah, I'm… fine," I replied, holding a hand to my head, trying to steady my dizzy head.
"Don't worry about the reading, their not accurate," I sighed deeply, slowly shuffling the cards back into the deck, 'I hope…" I thought to myself, and then promptly dropped them into the linen bag they came back into.
"Yeah…" he murmured, and looked away, and I felt suddenly guilty, even though I had no power over the cards.
"Really, don't worry!" I replied quickly, trying to shove the image of Dark out of my head. Why did I see him?
"Well, that was quite interesting," Kosuke suddenly added, standing up and stretching his lean form.
"Hm… the snow still hasn't stopped falling…" Emiko murmured for a moment, and then it happened.
With a soft whir, the lights flickered, and suddenly, with the sound of someone sighing, the power died and darkness fell onto us, encompassing the small living room.
"Great, and now we have no power," I muttered, standing up slowly, brushing the dirt off of my jeans.
"Aw…" I heard Daisuke groan and the floor boards groaned as he stood up. The house was oddly dark, and very still, the air seemed dead, just resting there until better things happened.
I could just barely hear the rustling of a blanket as Emiko cuddled closer to Kosuke, and Daiki moved his robe around his old body to ward off the already settling cold.
"Is it just me or did it get a ton colder in here?" Daisuke asked me as I headed off to find the candles. He quickly followed me, his sock covered feet shuffling across the tatami mats.
"We have no power, thus we have no heater," I replied, and already my breath was billowing from between my lips, into the frigid air.
"Oh… I think we have an old space heater somewhere," he replied, trailing off as he tried to remember the lost space heater's current location.
"Hmpf…" I replied quickly, pulling open a drawer and closed my fingers around a bundle of thick wax candles.
"Here, we have candles… but no matches…" I feverently searched the drawers, looking for a book or box of matches… but there was nothing. I couldn't even find flint or rocks.
"I think we used the last of the matches a week ago, it's on the shopping list," Daisuke replied, and sighed as he began to search for what I guessed was flashlights.
But the search turned up negative as he closed the various drawers. It was quickly getting darker as night fell upon us all swiftly. I was already chilled and without candles, we couldn't find out where the space heater was hiding. Exhausted, and my lungs aching from the frosty air, I finally decided that if we couldn't find some way of producing fire, I'd do it myself. But this was going to only as a last resort.
"Midorai, are you having any luck so far?" Daisuke asked quietly, as he closed the last drawer, sighing deeply.
"Nope…" I replied, annoyed, and somewhat scared. I was afraid that of all times, Wyngs or Skye might try to take me back, and right now, I had no place to run.
"We're going to need candles really fast," Daisuke moaned as I heard him slump down the already chilly floor.
"Don't give up hope just yet!" I cried out, feverently shoving the junk in the drawer around. But there really were no matches, nothing to start a fire with. I sighed, looking over at Daisuke in the dim light.
"It's cold, and we need fire to light these candles… just promise that you won't ever tell anyone what I'm about to do," I whispered over, and he just looked at me curiously.
Quickly, I placed a long, tapered candle into it's crystal holder, and then snapped my fingers. As I did, I muttered the spell softly, letting it just escape my lips. Fire seemed to almost leap from my fingers to the wick, and suddenly, there it was, the candle was burning.
It was an illuminating moment, and suddenly, you could see everything so much clearer. The world didn't seem so frightening in that brief moment of discovery, and I sighed, looking over at Daisuke, who looked at me with confused and amazed eyes.
"How did you do that?" he whispered over loudly, even though we didn't need to remain quiet. I jus stood up, grabbing the candle gently in my hands, and made my way out. As I reached the door jam, I cast a playful look back, and smiled.
"Do what?" I asked innocently, and made my way into the living room to find the space heater.
There we go. My friend Sabs keeps saying that I shouldn't do anything gothic in this story, but Midorai's past is very dark and gothic, and she's a deeply troubled girl. But that's not the point, my apologies to anyone who doesn't like it, and thanks for reading. The next chapter has Kellan in it! (I luv Kellan!) and please review! Thanks!