Flora and Fauna
How long has he been staring?
Only their god knows.
He could literally imagine his brother's taunting smile leering over him from the Great Spirits, but that didn't matter, because all his focus now laid towards the person before him.
Her.
She who was renowned for her angelic beauty but beasty personality. The same girl who was deigned popular among the Patch officiants for her headstrong ways. The one who was considered an enigma even by the now Shaman King himself.
Oh, how he managed to admire her despite the dire situation. Despite the hopelessness and uncertainty. He was always the one who initiated hope, the one who always brought positivity out from within. However, his fiancée plunging into an abrupt abysmal slumber has caused even his unwavering heart to stir violently. It took all his willpower to prevent himself from faltering in defeat.
'Are you happy now?'
He heard his consciousness ask whilst he glanced upwards, out of the window, peering at the starry night sky as if expecting an answer from one of the twinkling heavenly bodies. It was as if he knew this was done in purpose as an attempt to test his patience, to challenge his resolve.
Was this his first test after that promise he made with him? Did he want him to admit defeat so bad that he dared to start by taking away his most beloved? Was he intending to keep her as a sort of a trophy?
Surely, his brother wasn't that heartless, was he?
Finding himself wallowing in doubt was never a good sign. Was this all it took for his spirit to start breaking down?
Simultaneously heaving a sigh, his gaze fell once again, fixing his deep mahogany orbs on golden wisps of her striking mane. They have lost their lustre for she has been asleep for days more than three. Here lips were beginning to chap, and he was only thankful that some colour remained on her porcelain cheeks despite everything about her has paled. The ambiguity of her condition continued to create this strengthening turmoil within him and everyone around them.
When will she wake up?
Will she even wake up?
Agonising thoughts about the future plagued his restless mind. He always knew that in the world they lived in, death was always a possibility for all of them. He constantly had the idea at the back of his mind that one day, one of them may not make it and it will take a toll on all the others whom they would have left behind.
But why did it have to be her?
He had lots of things important to him. He could bargain another form of happiness or two. But why, after all the things he has endured, all that he has been through, and all of the weight he was willing to carry over his shoulders, why did it feel like he owed his happiness to the world?
He watched her ethereal face, her delicate eyes shut. How he missed staring at her clear honeyed eyes that were once full of life. He felt the entirety of his emotions uproar once again by just doing so. Only she had this effect on him. Only she had him in the palm of her hands even when she lay silent and unconscious.
A small smile crept onto his jaded face as he continued to admire his fiancée— no, his wife.
To him, she was already his other half in spirit as much as he was hers the moment they made those promises to each other, both spoken and unspoken, before they set on the inevitable mission of freeing his twin from a millennium worth of hate.
"Come on, Anna. Please, I need—" he choked on his words, "I need you here with me."
Yoh was unable to finish his words as he felt a tear escape. His eyelids joined to erase the negative images that invaded his mind. He failed to generate his voice even though he wanted to, as his body needed an insurmountable amount of air to be inhaled then expelled back. He staggered at every breath, and he was almost ready to accept defeat by tightly squeezing her clammy hand, all while burying his face onto the mattress beside it.
All hope slowly abandoned his reason.
A drop of salty liquid reached their merged hands.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Plop.
A pair of eyes snapped open to reveal a mesmerizing mix of hazel and ochre. It didn't take long until the bearer blinked inevitably to filter the amount of blinding light from everywhere. Her gaze roamed without moving anything else from her petite bodice. It was weird waking up to the sound of water droplets but without a single sign of moisture from where she lay.
Time passed before she could fully assimilate her surroundings and the situation. She realised that she was in a territory both familiar and unfamiliar.
She was floating.
And for some reason, there was nothing but an infinite myriad of bright kaleidoscopic colours around her. She heaved a sigh as she finally concluded where she was.
"About time, sleepy head."
She needed not to turn her head to know whose voice it belonged to.
. . . . . . . . . . .
A/N: The idea for this fic has been inside my head for several months now, and I guess I finally found the courage to write it, just as the anime remake has ended. It was meant to be a one shot, but my enthusiasm got the better of me, so I decided to section it into three chapters. I plan to upload the final two chapters on the next two Thursdays, to honour the end of the anime (and as an attempt to curb our SK Thursdays withdrawal).
Special shout out to spiritshamani on Twitter for the short comic they featured here: /spiritshamani/status/1518761396464504834?s=21&t=jJuWoCRJWmeB4LbHQa0T-w , which I swear to Hao, gave me all the goosebumps, because at the time I saw their artwork, this fic was a work in progress but we absolutely had so much similarities in our ideas, it was sick!xD
Anyway, hope you all tune in to this work of mine for the next two weeks, and kindly tell me what you think.
Show me some love!;3
