10. Dream.
T: I always have one troubled chapter in each of my stories and this is it for Graduation! It got drafted twice before I reached this version and I still don't like the over all effect of it…thus I issue a unique 'it gets better next chapter' warning! Everything else remains the same and yep, you guessed it, I still own only the plot!
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He is standing upon Tokyo tower, the city before him flattened and flooded simply for the sake of the war.
"Do you think it odd that such destruction is so beautiful?" The last is Keiichi and turning his head he is met with the others smiling face.
The scene shifts before he can form a reply and he is faced now with the semi darkness of the room beneath the centre of the pentagram.
Noruko is crouched before the invisible shield about the Shinken, one hand lying flat on what, to Kamui, looks little more than thin air and the other tangled hard into the edge of Suoh's coat.
"Are you certain that there is no other way?" He enquires, his eyes drifting to Suoh's face a moment before the fall, again, upon the Shinken.
"If Sumeragi-san were here to offer his insight then perhaps another solution may have been found….yet with him missing…"
Again the dream shifts and he is stood now beneath the shelter of the tree that Seishiro had claimed as his own.
"Why are you here, Kamui?" The words are spoken in a voice so akin to Subaru's that it can only be the Onmyoji and yet…
Both the words and he who had spoken then, seem so empty…seem to be wrung completely of all emotion.
"What has happened to you?"
Subaru smiles a cold, empty, smile and replies,
"I have died inside."
The dream shifts one last time and he is stood now beneath the Diet Building.
Hinoto is smiling in the same empty manner as Subaru had done and there is a general feeling of malice about here that he had not felt from her before.
'You must forgive me, Kamui, if I had but seen this coming…if I were not trapped by the Dreamseer of The Dragons of Earth…'
The smile broadens and he feels suddenly afraid of the princess…feels suddenly very alone in the basement.
He jolts suddenly into waking, the clawing panic he feels doused both by the soft light of the morning sunshine and the gentle comfort of Keiichi's warmth.
"What is wrong?"
"I thought you were asleep."
"I've been watching you toss about for a half hour now."
"Sorry."
"I do not wish an apology, Kamui, I wish to know what caused you such distress."
"I had a bad dream."
"About killing Fuuma?"
He knows that it would be simpler to reply to the positive…knows that it is wrong for him to burden Keiichi with what might be unfounded worries and yet…
He has no wish to again lie to the other…has no wish to again abuse the shear strength of faith that Keiichi has in him.
Thus he buries himself a little further into the oppressive comfort of the others arms and informs him.
"It was not about destroying Fuuma, but rather about the events leading up to the Final Battle."
"What occurred within these events to upset you so?"
He proceeds to tell Keiichi the entirety of the dream, assured that the other will listen carefully to his words and give him an insight into the images that may, otherwise, have been lost to him.
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He had long been anticipating a 'visit' from the other Kamui and thus it is only mildly surprising to find the boy waiting for him at his favourite restaurant.
"Good morning, Kamui-kun, I am glad to see that you are keeping well."
"Good morning, Sakurazuka-san." He smiles in the open and oh so cruel manner that defines his character and gesturing to the empty seat across from him he enquires, "Would you care to join me/"
"I would be delighted."
He settles into the indicated seat and orders a strong black coffee before he enquires,
"Have you a want to discuss my recent involvement with your 'friend'?"
"You have been 'interfering', have been using you're your influence to twist that boys mind and thus you have been making things infinitely more difficult for myself."
"I have merely opened his eyes to the truth of his situation."
"Yet why? Of what difference does it make to you if that boy lingers in ignorance or no?"
"That boy has become of significance within my life and within the life of he whom I cherish the most, thus I have want for him to be happy…have want for him to live his life free of false hopes."
"Yet by doing as such you have denied him the chance of fulfilling his hearts truest wish."
"That particular wish was something that even you had no want to fulfil and something that has been replaced now by more realistic and less volatile desire."
"I have no want to discuss that replacement wish."
"Then I shall let the matter rest…"
"You have want to say 'we all of us have secrets' and yet those words are sincere merely for the secret that you keep still close to your heart."
"I applaud your perceptive ability, Kamui-kun and yet, will all due respect, I believe we should move away from this matter."
"Do you think to threaten me, Sakurazuka-san?"
"My intent was more to 'warn' than 'threaten', Kamui-kun."
The other snatches Seishiro's coffee from him and, once he has consumed what remains of the beverage, he remarks,
"You have want to act out the succession…have want to give over all that you are to he that you love…no matter the misery that such an act will cause.
"My other self would tell you that you are being 'selfish' and would attempt to twist you from that desire…yet, unlike yourself, I have no wish to mimic the actions of my opposite and thus I am content to let you continue on this path."
"Are you not going to warn me away from Kamui?"
"You shall be the one to place him back into my influence, Sakurazuka-san and thus to warn you from him would be pointless, do you not think so?" 'Kamui' bows in an overly formal manner and then leaves him to ponder over his typically enigmatic words.
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"We know already that the flashes of this dream are separate occurrences within the space of time leading up to, and upon, the Final Battle.
"It is also clear to me that these flashes occur within a reverse order in your dream, for the first image you saw was clearly the last to occur chronologically.
"As to the images themselves…" Keiichi trails and the silence stretches for so long that Kamui believe this shall be all he hears from the other.
Eventually the serious look upon the others face intensifies and he remarks,
"We can forget about that last image for it holds little within it other than a warning of an upcoming flood, I would forget, also, the images within the chamber of the Shinken for I little understand that particular situation…"
"I comprehend well the warning within the image of Subaru and thus we are left with Hinoto…with that unnerving smile…"
"This image is a warning about Hinoto, a warning that she too is little more that an illusionary being."
"Yet if that is true what does it mean for us….for the Princesses wish?"
"It is clear that you can no longer trust the Princess in the unconditional manner that you had previously…that you must begin to view her as a potential enemy."
"You make such a change sound so simple…"
"I know this is hard, love and yet…"
"I have the 'fate of the world' to consider."
Keiichi places a chaste kiss to his forehead and informs him,
"You are letting the ugly nature of this situation swamp you."
"I know, Keiichi and I'm sorry…it is just…"
The unique pain of a Kekkai lances through his head and a brief image of Arashi blooms before him.
"I have to go!" He remarks as he pulls, at last, from Keiichi's embrace.
"What is the matter?"
"Arashi is in trouble."
"Be careful, sweet."
"Of course."
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T: I wished the first section of this chapter to be a show case of what might have happened from this point on and yet I couldn't get the dream working in the same fluid manner as the previous…thus I was left with the broken scenes and the terrible necessity of explaining each image rather than allowing the reader to draw their own conclusion.
This all proves that I write better when I let the story come naturally rather than planning what I want from it! Next chapter tomorrow.