A/N: So, yeah. I've been working too hard on Cinderfella. And I couldn't resist but start something... hm, what's the worst? Angsty?
This isn't going to be very long, supposedly. Just watch... it'll be another Touched by an Angel thing (one of my many Tales of Symphonia fanfics) and I'll end up writing twice as many chapters as intended.
I'm not expecting many reviews... so, please surprise me! If this fanfic doesn't go over well, I'm deleting it. So, if you want to find out what happens, I recommend reviewing. Thank you. (heart)
Disclaimer: Okay, don't own it. The end.
Translucent Wings
Chapter 1 - Silent Prayers
The words we tried to speak were caught
The snow fell like a memory, distraught
Only sobs broke through the ice
Letting our hearts melt into our still life.
Blue half-orbs watched as snow fell as rain, making the world around pure white. It did not elevate his mood, in fact, it only tempted the tears that were swelling in his distant eyes. He just wanted to go home.
"Hey, what's the matter?" The boy's body jolted with the voice. "You've been awful quiet... which is strange for you."
"Nothing. Nothing's wrong..." he lied. What was he supposed to say? "Yes, I think I'm mentally ill. Yes, I sicken myself. Yes, I'm considering suicide." Hah! How about not? Freezing fingers dug themselves in between his thighs, searching for warmth. But only cold warmed colder. His entire being felt like ice... he was shivering in his many layers of clothing, while his soul was frozen and dying quietly.
"You sure don't look like it. You could--"
"Shouldn't you be focusing on the road instead of me?" he said quietly, voice sounding dead and strangled.
"Right..."
Why did it have to be this way? He knew that his nature caused him to be inadept socially, so this caused a decrease in the people he really talked to. But this... why? He wanted to kill himself for it. It was so wrong on so many different levels. The question was, should he keep going like this?
Before reaction could occur, the car tilted and spun, quicker in every second. Both occupants in the car screamed. The tears that begun had instantly spilled down the passenger's face. Was he going to die? No, wait, he wanted to see that face one more time... the very thing that kept him living!--
A blinding light overtook him, ridding him of any sensitivity in his body.
Translucent Wings - Silent Prayers
There was a fuzz of white that slowly focused into a room. Where was he? He racked his brains for the name of this place, but nothing came to mind. What was he even doing here? He thought as hard as he could, but no memories could be recalled. None. All he could recollect was a light, and waking here. Strange.
He looked towards the bed in the room, which was currenly occupied by a teenage boy. The face looked familiar, but his memory of it was faint. The couple who cried before it also seemed like he knew them. He wondered why he could not remember anything...
"I can't believe it... h-he's... dead?" The woman sobbed, brunette whisps of hair sprawled across the sheets and still-less body. "No, not my son! M-my only son! Sora, wake up!"
Sora... the name rang like an echo in his head. Did he know this boy?
"Julie, he's not breathing... h-he's gone..." The man caved and begun to cry, holding the woman. "He has been taken... to Heaven, with angels."
It was then that he picked up on something. Why wasn't he breathing? Why couldn't he feel the weight of his body? He flew towards a bathroom and in front of mirror, to find his image gone. Empty? Did that mean... he...
He was that boy laying in the bed! He wasn't in Heaven... he was a ghost! He was... Sora.
Without a place to go, he ascended upwards and out of the building (while having had passed several interesting floors) and began to fly across the horizon. His soul guided him above the town that he could no longer name... until he found a house. He found himself curious to peek into it, and was led into one of the top floors.
He traced the room, the walls covered in an assortment of posters. A television was playing, News Channel 7 broadcasting something that disinterested Sora. There was a boy about his age sitting on the bed, books scattered about. He was muttering to himself. At a closer look, Sora noticed that his silver hair was his natural color, or at least it looked that way. His eyes were a beautiful shade of green that almost seemed to glow. This boy definitely struck something in his mind, but that was also lost.
"I wonder if he knew me?" he thought aloud. To Sora's surprise, the teenager turned his head and looked straight at him. Surely people couldn't hear ghosts, right?"
"Who the hell-- Sora?" His eyes were wide and his face read fear.
"You... can see me?"
"Y-yes..." he squeaked. "B-but aren't y-you-- weren't you?..."
"What?"
"D-dead?"
"I think so. Why, aren't I?" He looked down. "Was I dreaming or--" but a scream cut his outloud remarks. Another person entered, a woman with equally silver hair.
"What's wrong, Riku?" she asked, worried.
He pointed directly at Sora. "Th-there's a ghost in here!"
The mother rose a brow. "Um, yes, your Ghostbusters poster... why do you have that thing anyway?--"
Riku glared. "No! He's right there!"
"I don't see anything sweetie. I think you've been studying too long. Get some rest, okay?" She left before Riku could anything else on.
"So does that make me officially dead?" Sora asked, clueless.
"I don't believe this... there's a ghost... in my room..."
"And he can hear you too," he said, slightly insulted. "But he'd like to know how you know his name."
"You don't remember me?" He pointed at his chest, as if to identify himself. "I'm Riku, from school. I'm in-- well, was in two of your classes. Surely--"
"I don't remember a thing."
"Nothing?"
"Nope. Nothing."
"That doesn't make you sad?"
"If I can't recall anything, why should I be sad?" He couldn't remember the feeling of happy, sad, or angry... all he felt was a great weight laying in his shell-less soul.
"...I think I'm still asleep..." Riku suddenly blurted. He began to slap himself across the face. "Wake up, damn you!" Sora could only blink absented-mindedly. Were people all this stupid, or was this boy in particular crazy?
After his face became the shade of a rose, he fell back onto the bed in a daze. "Wow. This is really... weird."
"You're weird," Sora said snidely.
"And you're one to talk?" Riku looked at him haughtily... Sora stared back.
"I don't know... am I? Tell me, what was I like?"
"Nothing like the way you're being now."
"Really?" He found interest in this, Riku. Amusing.
"Although... I don't know. You were quiet. The only person I ever saw you with was Kairi."
"Kairi?" Sora asked.
"You know-- er, this one girl. She's a pretty redhead, and nice. But sort of bold. When you were around her, I saw you laughing a lot more. In class, you never talked. You just... worked. And you were a teacher's pet."
"A... teacher's pet? Enlighten me, I forget what that means."
"Do you seriously forget everything?" Riku asked. He was surprised... Sora seemed to put pieces together, but forgot many things.
"I remember how to speak English," he replied, dark tones ringing in his voice. "Or this conversation wouldn't be going this way."
"Is this the real Sora, the Sora he never let free?" Riku thought. But... no. When with Kairi, his smile was too... pure. Perhaps Sora really forgot almost everything... he forgot what good and evil was... how to feel for himself and others.
"You still haven't told me what it means to be a teacher's pet," Sora grunted. He would have tapped his foot on the floor if it hadn't been for the fact he was nothing but a spirit.
"It means... you're especially nice to teachers, and you're on their good side."
"So being a teacher's pet is a good thing?"
"Well... I guess. Most kids think it's a bad thing."
"Why would they think that?" he asked cluelessly. Perhaps Sora really wasn't that bad after all.
"Maybe it's because you're sucking up?"
"Sucking up what?" Sora tilted his head. "Water?" There was a silence. Then Riku began to laugh. "What's so funny?"
"No... sucking up means to be nice to get what you want."
"That's not why you're nice then?"
"No, of course not! Well, I mean, I guess that's why some people do it. But many people are kind just because it's the right thing to do."
"Why?" Sora reminded Riku of a clueless child.
"Why? Well... hm. Because it makes other people happy, I guess."
"Happy?" There, suddenly, something stirred in Sora. The word itself, happy... it was tugging something deep inside. But what was it?
"Yeah, happy. Erm... it's... how do I explain it? You... feel... elated. Like, if you're happy enough, you feel like you can do anything."
"So happy is power?"
"No. Well, maybe in a way... but not physically."
"It makes you smarter?"
How to explain happy? Even if he took a dictionary and read the definition word-for-word, Sora would never get it. "No... not smarter. You... just have to feel it to know it. There's no real way to explain it... I guess." It was like trying to describe the sensation of color to somebody who was color-blind.
"You sure guess a lot."
"You sure like to ask a lot of complicated questions."
"I don't know what's complicated or simple." As if he were bored with Riku, he tilted back and levitated as if he were laying on a bed, two hands tucked behind his head. He stared blankly at the ceiling. "I just... haven't got a clue. I don't remember anything. And it's..." he shifted his gray eyes to their side to look at Riku's green for a moment, before they moved to stare at the white ceiling again. "It's making me feel..."
"Unmotivated?"
"Which means?"
"You don't want to do anything... there's no reason."
"...Yeah. I suppose that's what it is." Again, he looked at Riku. The fear seemed to be gone in the boy. "Unmotivated." There was a pause. "But there's more to it than that... I... how do I explain it? It's like... I..."
"What are you thinking about?" the human offered.
"I don't know what to do. Where to go. If I'm dead, why am I here? What happened in my life that possibly kept me on Earth?" Sigh. "I remember nothing. And it's a... sensation that bothers me."
"Sadness." Riku could tell in a heartbeat. "The thing you're feeling now... it's sadness."
"Sad... ness? Is that what you were asking me before?"
"Yeah. So you lied, you are sad."
"How was I to know?" Sora let a few more thoughts run through his head. This boy, Riku... he could teach Sora everything he forgot. And if Riku actually knew him, maybe he could learn about himself again? Maybe find what he was missing? But for now, he had to stop these feelings of... sadness. "So, what do you do to get rid of it?"
"Well, there's all sorts of ways people handle it. Something that works most often is trying to solve your problem of why you're sad. But I guess you can't really do anything in your case..." Ghosts couldn't do much of anything... a new hobby, intoxications of the body, a friend--
No. That wasn't true. Riku could see and communicate with Sora, vice-versa. But... being friends with a ghost? That was... weird! On the other hand, just meeting a ghost was freakish enough.
"I could be your friend though."
"Friend? You mentioned that word when talking about a Kairi girl. I know as much as it's a certain person of importance... but, what's it like?"
"Someone you care for. Someone that gives you reason-- motivation. Someone who eases your mind."
"Friend, huh? You'd really want to be a friend... of mine?"
"Sure."
"But... I'm a ghost."
"Hm. Yeah, your point?"
"...I don't know..." He blinked, before moving from his position and floating towards Riku, faces almost touching. "But if you're willing to put up with me, I'd love to be your friend... if it'll make my sadness leave."
"I don't know if it's that simple..." Riku blabbered. Being this close was scaring him. There was no breath, but he could just feel him... he could feel the vibes of his soul.
"But it's the only solution for me. Right?" Their noses touched-- and Riku fell backwards in startlement. "What's wrong?"
"You... I... I could feel that."
"And your problem being?"
"That's not even... you're a ghost! You have no body! So why is it?... Here, come here." Sora gave him a quizzical look. "See if you can touch me. Maybe it was just in my head... any extended touch would be fine."
There was a pause. Sora thought... An extended touch? Giving Riku what he wanted, he reached down and took Riku's hand. It felt like a real hand-- but cold like ice. He adjusted his own hand in Sora's and rubbed gingerly along the soft skin. "That's... really... strange..." He realized he was holding the hand like a lover and pulled away, face reddening. "I can... really touch you. Is that possible?"
"You just proved it was. So why did you ask?"
"I don't know..." Riku sighed. "Look, no offense, but now it's--" He quickly checked the clock. "midnight. And I'd like to get some sleep, I have a test tomorrow."
"A test... oh! Those things you write memorized facts on in school, right?"
"So you remember?"
"I remember factual things, not feelings or memories."
"You didn't remember what a teacher's pet was."
"And I forget other things here and there..."
"I wonder if it's normal for a ghost to forget their past." Riku spoke half to himself, crawling into bed. "But you really don't know anything?"
Sora shook his head, unseen by Riku. "I saw a light and then I woke in a hospital room. That's it."
"What led you to my house then?" Riku snuggled in the covers, trying to keep his consciousness long enough to hear Sora's reply.
"I don't know. I had no place to go, and I felt as if I wanted to come here. That's all. Maybe I do remember you-- in a strange, stalker-like way."
Riku chuckled lightly. "If you get bored, you can turn the television on, just keep it down. Goodnight." Before he could think to hear Sora's reply, the thought of where he was was washed away in dreams.
A/N: I have not a single sidenote. That's amazing. I also managed to write about five pages. Still amazing. And I kept this document in Arial, size 10. (changes it to Times New Roman size 11) Much better. (smirk)
So, this first chapter only took forever to write. I have in mind where I want to take this story... I just need to find the pathway to the end. Poor Sora is so sad. You may offer some suggestion, but I may not take it in light that it wouldn't advance my plot in the way I'd like it to be.
I love the fact I should be studying for my driver's permit and reading Read Dragon and Silence of the Lambs for LA... and I'm writing fanfics. I have until March to read, and I turn sixteen next Wednesday. But I'm just babbling. Haha. Plus I just got Tales of Legendia today... (it's on PS2 this time, go get it!) so that'll distract me more. Wheeeeee! (The characters remind me of Tales of Symphonia... and there's more cut-scenes! Fwafwa!)
Hmm... so in the classic words of a author, review! This story goes no where without reviews. I'm not busting my brain over it. ...bleah. Thanks for reading!