Black Hearts

Watch the world pass Through broken glass And wonder what went wrong

Chapter Five

Snow…? Yes, I remember the snow it's oh so cold out…but never like this, this feeling within me what is it?

I'm oh so cold.

Why can't I…

Feel…the pain.

What is it?

What do I…seek?

His black eyes shot open as he straightened in bed, a cold sweat on his brown. He clutched, with trembling fingers, his chest, which was on fire. He gasped as he closed his eyes and laid his head gently against the wall behind him. He turned to look out the window a light white snow fall filled his vision. The moon's glow radiated each individual snowflake, each acting like its own personally sun. He sighed running a hand through his hair. He brought his legs up, tucking them close to his chest and he rested his chin on his knees.

"Why…why am I having these dreams?" he asked no one in particular, and he knew he wasn't going to get an answer, of course he wasn't there was no one to answer for him there was never anyone to answer for him.

"I must say I'm truly impressed with your scores." The thin, frail pallid of a man stated re-adjusting his glasses as if they were blinding him from the true score written on the paper. He looked down at the young boy with black hair and odd auburn streaks going through it. The boy bowed his hair falling over his shoulders.

"Thank you, sir. But, compliments aren't needed I merely studied." The man raised an eyebrow and rubbed his chin.

"Yes, well, I suppose it's possible…but at your age children shouldn't be getting scores like these…these scores are better than even some teachers." The boy looked up innocently, but with a glint in his eyes. The man coughed and turned away, they both looked to the door as a man in a black chain mail and a long flowing cape stepped into the vast room. The room was lined from ceiling to wall with books of all colors and thickness, and in the back of the room there was a huge spiral wooden staircase that reached up to the second floor of the personal library of the Pallas home. The room was, by no means dark, unlike the rest of the house. Instead there were four very large pain glass windows that bathed the room in multi-colored light, the child sighed and turned away gazing up at the ceiling.

"Oh…you're highness I-I didn't see you come in." the man replied beginning to kneel, the man in black held out a hand.

"No need to be so formal. How did he do?"

"See for yourself." The boy heard the rustle of paper as his test scores were being handed over to his father. He hunched a little hoping that they would please him; otherwise he'd get the brunt of his father's anger tonight. He clenched his teeth at the thought, his hands, now balled into fists, shook with fear.

"My, my, that's is quite impressive." The boy's eyes widened as he looked over his shoulder at his father who had a content expression on his face, as his eyes scanned the parchment before him. His father extended his hand to the teacher and to his son who was peering over his shoulder.

"Come. We're going to go celebrate. Thank you for your time." The man with glasses gasped as a pouch weighed down with gald was dropped into his open palm.

"M-My lord I can't accept…" the black haired man cut him off, looking at him in earnest.

"It's the least I could do." The scrawny man with glasses bowed and silently half walked half ran out of the huge library. The man with black hair turned to the young boy who spun around and hunched up, he felt a strong hand rest upon his shoulders and he flinched instinctively.

"Come now Meridian no need to be scared, I'm very proud of you." The boy gulped and looked up at his father. He sounded calm; almost too calm it wasn't like him, at all. The young boy nodded silently as he followed his father out of the rainbow infused library and into the cold hard stone labyrinth of hallways, which was the Castle of Pallas.

He opened his eye slowly and was greeted with the silence and masking darkness of the room. He sighed as he closed his eye again a stray strand of hair fell over the right side of his face it laid across his shoulder he opened his eyes and picked the strand up limply with his left hand his fingers feeling the smoothness and glossiness that was his hair. His eye darted about the room the shadowy figures coming out of their hiding spots in the nooks and crevices in the walls seeking to give comfort to the half elf's torn heart.

"Dreams…dreams are for the weak and yet I still retain memories of the past, why won't it leave me I wonder?" he asked no one in particular holding his hair up to the light, he didn't know if it was the suns or the moons but they both did the same thing made things seem less ominous then they truly were a false sense of security for the weak hearted. He twirled it between index and thumb and then closed his eye once more.

"BUT FATHER!" the child screamed as he was grabbed by his hair, his father twisting a knot full into his clenched fist. He held the boy up to his face and leered.

"Shut up Meridian. You're not getting out of this room until you get a perfect score on your test just like Phanos, and…" he paused his eyes wavering the young boy looked up his eyes tearing from the pain.

"But…I-I tried my best! I can't"

"Silence!" a crack erupted through the hallway as the man with black hair struck his son across the face leaving a bright red mark. He grabbed the cellar handle and wrenched it open. Meridian's eyes widened at the stench and sheer horror of the room. A skeleton of a previous inhabitant lay off to the side bound in shackles that were rusted with time, water, and encrusted with blood. He whimpered moving into his father.

"Why…" he whispered. Looking pleadingly up at his father whose eyes flashed in malevolence. He threw Meridian into the cellar along with a candle.

"This'll teach to work harder! I don't want anything but success from you for now on!" he cried his voice thundering through the boys pointed sensitive half elven ears.

"I'm sorry. Please father, I-I'll try harder just don't leave me in here!"

"Sorry isn't good enough Meridian, why the hell couldn't you be like your brother!" he flinched as he heard the lock crack shut he drew his knees up to his chin as he heard the pounding of his fathers footsteps fade away, back up to the luminous hallways and dining areas filled with their rich sweet aromas. He let out a child like sob as he buried his head between his legs, and cried himself to sleep.

He woke up to the rapping of a bare knuckle knocking on his door.

"Enter." He said trying to sound as un-groggy as possible, but his sleep had been interrupted, not that he mind, he wiped a stray tear from one eye. It really didn't matter if the girl saw him in that state; emotions were far behind her now. He blinked a few more times just as a brown haired girl opened the door silently.

"My Lord, there's something I must tell you." She said monotonously. He waved his hand for her to continue as he pushed the covers off himself, he shuddered at the cold wooden floor beneath his feet, and the cold ran up his legs and through his body like a stream.

"There seems to be a caravan approaching the city, what should we…" she paused as he held up a hand toward her.

"I'll deal with it later. Just greet them as normal." She nodded and backed out of the room closing the door silently behind her. He sighed scratching the back of his head in annoyance.

"I didn't think that this place was such a big spot for trading." He growled brushing a stray lock from his eyes. He turned to leave then paused, he looked longingly at the window, and then he sighed pulling open the door and stepping out into the silent hallway of the Luin inn.

He didn't know how long he was sitting there but he could've guessed a couple of hours at most. Yet, when he looked at the clock only thirty minutes had passed him by. Why did it feel so fast? He looked at his purple-gloved hands clenching and unclenching them as if testing to see if they still worked. No one knew that he was up and fully dressed, he guessed that was the advantage of being in a castle, no squeaky floorboards to give you away. He sighed putting one hand over his right eye.

"What have you gotten yourself into now?" he asked himself looking into the mirror across the way. He looked tired, oh so tired and run down. But sadly he remanded the same; always the same never to change, and thus was the fate of those who embraced the power of the Cruxis Crystal. It was their gift and their curse if only Mithos had seen it sooner, if only he was thinking clearly enough to see through the darkness behind the crystal the fabled all powerful Cruxis Crystal. A fake mask to cover his inner turmoil he wished he could cry out, smash that mirror that showed his true inner self, wish he could just forget everything, he hung his head tears that should have been coming never did, tears of frustration and anger. A knock made him jump a little and he stared up not taking his eyes off the door.

"Dad? Are you up?" he heard his son ask from outside the door.

"Yeah, I'm up. Come in." he replied Lloyd noticed the sorrow in his father's voice and he opened up the door.

"You shouldn't be up, you should be resting."

"I'm fine, you forget we angels heal faster then most." Kratos exclaimed his hand moving over his stomach where his wound had previously been. Lloyd nodded in agreement.

"Well, we were going to go back to Dirk's, you up for it?" Kratos nodded solemnly.

"Oh, okay, well I'll call you when everyone is ready." Lloyd turned around and began to head for the door.

"L-Lloyd…wait." The red clad swordsman stopped not liking his father's tone.

"Yeah? What is it, is everything alright dad?" Kratos opened his mouth then shut it not an ounce of sound had escaped, he looked out the window.

"Yeah, never mind, everything is alright." Lloyd looked at his father incredulously. He sighed knowing that Kratos would tell him what was wrong in his own way, and time, he just hoped it wasn't too late.

The wind blew a cool clean breeze over his pale face. He looked up at the sky with its giant white clouds; they looked liked floating citadels in their own kingdom and world, separate from the corrosive earth beneath their royal flags. His eyes moved down and northward.

"The ruins of the Asgard ranch. I wonder what rats are lurking in its forgot chambers." He said aloud walking briskly towards the ranch.

Trees and weeds had taken over since the reigning half elf was disposed of. Those giant metal plated walls crumpled like pieces of paper and hidden amongst the amassing mounts of vegetative life. The secret passage was also covered as well, the giant boulder fused with the earth never to be moved from its position again. He sighed remembering when it was first being built the sheer amounts of time and energy put into creating the colossal ranch and now it was a broken down shell, empty and utterly bereft of life, on the inside. Or was it? He took a step forward his boots silently parting the strands of grass beneath his feet he walked through what would once have been the main doorway the inside was just as bad, butterflies of a multitude of colors fluttered in and out of site, creating some what of a rainbow effect to the naked eye.

"Just who the hell are you?" a rugged deep voice asked he spun around his cape fluttering about his feet, he bowed politely and looked up at the half elf wearing desian armor.

"So. The desians still exist after all? How pathetic to be reduced to something so low." He replied smirking. A crowd had gathered around him they were on broken pieces of scrap metal and the darkened archways that were scattered about.

"I'm willing to give you a second chance, a…shall we call it a second time." His voice rang out murmurs erupted through the half elven party.

"Tell us who you are first, you're one of those spies from one of those dammed refugee camps aren't you!" a bold, but very stupid desian cried out grabbing the black haired auburn streaked man by his collar. He smiled a sadistic glint in his eyes, he wrapped his cold hand around the desians wrist and twisted, he watched in amusement as the desian before him fell to the floor in agony, he heard a snap and let go, leaving the half elf crumpled on the floor sobbing with the pain of a broken wrist.

"Now…answer me! This'll be your only chance to redeem yourselves, to regain what little dignity you have left! Rise up and join me and together we'll create a new empire." He said looking around as they whispered amongst themselves.

"I-I'll join you." The half elf on the floor gasped he looked down smiling. The others nodded.

"Well that settles that, now for the real work." He stated as he began to pace.

"How exactly are we going to fight back, there aren't nearly enough of us left." An unknown voice rang out against the silence. He rubbed his chin still pacing.

"Yes well, this time around you'll have help."

"Help, sir? From whom?"

"Humans of course." They laughed, and he knew they would, his arm shot out and impaled the closets of the desian group.

"Gack!" he smiled as everyone silenced immediately the half elf he had grabbed wrapped his hands around his arm in a futile effort to pry his hand away from his chest, he felt around for a couple of seconds before the familiar texture of the heart brushed up against his fingertips. He pulled it out and the desian collapsed onto the floor unmoving. Everyone backed away fearful of what they just seen.

"W-what the hell did you just do him! Answer me!" he chuckled as he crumpled the white heart into a glowing powder between his hand. It rained down to the grassy floor below and a wind carried it away, he turned around a mob of angered half elf's circling in on him.

"Hm, the heart is such a fragile thing…don't you think?" he asked picking the few remaining bits of the white heart from his hand.

"Every being has one, no matter what the size is and yet they all end up the same way vile, corrupt and positively disgusting." He spat looking at the crowd who stepped back at his piercing gaze. He held out an arm.

"So, will you help me? Or will you die in pathetic defeat." Silence, it was all so silent then not even a whispering wind with its shrill voice could be heard, only them and him staring into one another's eye.

"Alright." One of them said hoarsely. The other desians nodded in unison as if the one choice by the bold spoke out for all of them. He brushed a loose strand of black hair behind his ear.

"Good. Now all we need in some humans." They looked back and forth between each other.

"May I ask, sir? But why humans?" he smiled a thin lipped smile.

"For their hearts of course. Now come we'll create a new age my way." He replied his eyes flashing.

It was cold then wasn't it?

Yes, it was very cold. But I never felt as cold as I did that day…that horrid.

Don't think about it.

But what if I…

It's not your fault. I understand.

The snow…its red, a pretty whitish red, I've never seen snow that color before.

Is it because…of what I said?

I'm…I'm so sorry.

Forgive me.

It's not your fault; I don't blame you for it I knew it was going to happen eventually.

Then why did you…?

I missed you.

Missed me…even after all of this you missed me?

I feel…a pain in my chest. What is this pain that I've never felt before?

You'll always remember the red; I know you will, the pools congealing at your feet.

I found a flower that matches your eyes.

It's a rare and beautiful flower that only grows in Ymir forest.

You have to live on, for my sake.

I'm so sorry, I-I wasn't able to…

Protect him, no matter what he becomes you mustn't blame him for his actions.

Of course I won't it's not his fault he was born into this.

I-I can see a light when I close my eyes. Is that normal?

Depends on the color.

It's all different colors. What does it mean? This river in my dreams.

Only time will tell when you truly figure out who you really are.

I think I understand now, I think I've found a purpose to live.

Since when did you need a purpose to live?

I don't know…I've just been so cold lately I-I just can't take my eyes off of the snow.

Ah yes, the snow. Magnificent isn't it?

It's black everything is black.

I'm…sorry. Forgive me.

Baaaah the friggen...script formatter on this site screws everything up, ya know! My poor utterly confusing text at the end! Ah uh yeah isn't it ironic that I made this update on Valentine's day? Omg people are going to be like, YAY a Valentines Day story...WRONG! It's an evil dark hidious story about corruption and my own pessimistic outlook on life which I portray through a half elf...damn now I sound like uber weird...haha. But seriously...people are corrupt, and damn are they mean, ah well life is mean, I'm seriously you live for however long and then you just...die and that's it, what the hell kind of future is that? Crappy one if you ask me, but enough of my blabbering...hope you enjoyed! Read and Reveiw! Please: D Lyrics at the beginning are from Assemblage 23 Purgatory! My Mushishi download is taking waaay too long that anime is amazing man, damn Ginko and his facial expressions XD Priceless.