Track #2: Enchanted
Taylor Swift
The light pelting of the rain wakes her up from her state of unconsciousness. She has tasted first the salty droplet that runs across her cheek before she can take a look at her surroundings. Grunting, a dull ache resides in her head making it hard to open her eyes.
Fact 1: It's raining
Fact 2: She's hurt
Getting up, she slowly stands on her shaky legs and wipes away the water from her eyes. What happened? Where is she? The dull gray surroundings brought by the rain does not help her fix her problem. Everywhere is surrounded by trees and bushes. Looking up, she sees a cliff right above her. She squints. Ah, that's what happened. That's quite high, it's surprising she's still alive and just acquired a minor head ache.
Feeling her pocket, she retrieves her phone to call for help but there was no signal. She resorts on shouting but after ten attempts of making her throat ache, there is no response. She sighs. Tying her wet emerald hair, she tests her legs. No broken bones. Huh, strange. Might as well she starts walking and try to find her way back to the camp before it gets totally dark and dangerous. Who knows what huge and wild animals live in this forest.
For a rare moment, she thanks her parents for giving her emerald hair for she can quickly camouflage with her surroundings.
She is about to go when a gray cloth catches her peripheral vision. Turning around, she sees the back of a tall man with shiny raven hair that oddly dry despite the weather.
"Uhmmm, excuse me! I fell from the cliff and now I'm trying to find my way back to my friends. Can you please help me?"
No response. The man remains standing on the rock.
"Or even with just the directions? Do you know the way to the camp?"
The man finally turns his head sideways and glances at her through the hole of his white mask. This takes her aback, suddenly remembering her parents' warning of suspicious, dangerous men. Well, she doesn't know yet if he is dangerous, but that white mask makes him suspicious enough.
"Uhhh… Uhmmm, well, I guess I'll be going now."
She turns around and starts walking away when all of sudden, a mass of gray appears before her making her gasp in surprise. "H-How?" She looks back at the rock he was standing on earlier which is a good few feet away from her and thinks back if she heard any footsteps. She didn't.
So does it mean that he flew?
Impossible. Must be her head ache making her hallucinate.
But when she sets her eyes down, she sees that his feet are not touching the wet ground. Wide eyes and mouth agape, all she can do is take a step back, almost stumbling if not for his hand catching her arm.
Speechless, she stares at the floating man before her and notices how purple his eyes are.
"Do not be afraid. I am not going to hurt you."
The voice comes out gentle and kind which makes her panicked heart calm down at once. A strange warm sensation is coming from his hand traveling to her skin. "What are you?"
"I am the forest and the forest is me."
"So you are a forest spirit? Or are you the Forest God?" Just by asking the question makes her feel crazy. This must be some kind of hallucination. There's no way she's actually meeting a supernatural being.
But the man doesn't answer her and instead says, "It is dangerous for you to travel in this weather alone. The others will definitely see you as a potential prey." He removes his hold on her arm and a blast of cold quickly envelopes her. Shivering, she hugs herself tightly.
"But I need to go back. My friends are surely worried for me. They need to know that I am alive."
"You will be eaten alive if you go now." He sighs. "Well, I'll be in-charge of you at the moment until this rain stops."
"How can I trust you that you're not one of the bad guys?"
The man looks up and seemingly takes a deep breath as if he's running out of patience. "Well then, if it will make you feel better…"
And he transforms right infront of her into a… errr… he still a man but his clothes have turned into a pair of black pants and white polo shirt with a long black coat that reached his knees. The mask is gone and before her is a, okay, she'll admit it but if this is his way to gain her trust easily, he is mistaken, before her is a handsome face of a young man who couldn't be much older than her. And his purple eyes, oh wow, his mesmerizing purple eyes are fully revealed.
"Is this better?"
She nods.
"But first…"
Suddenly, she feels warmth spreading through her body, eliminating the cold that has been invading her skin. She watches in amazement as her wet clothes turn dry and how the rain seems to stop pouring on the place where she stands. She looks up but all she could see is the gray sky.
"An invisible umbrella? Wow."
"Come with me."
And this time, she doesn't hesitate to follow him.
"What do the earthlings call you?"
For some unknown reason, she is willing to tell him her true name. "My name is Cecaniah. And you? What is your god or spirit name?"
She reaches for the next rock to hold onto but her feet slip and she slides down the small cliff when a hand quickly grabs hers stopping her descent. The next thing she knew was she's floating in the air and was gently laid down on the ground.
Peeking at the edge, she shouts at the man beneath. "You should have done that at the very beginning! I don't want to fall from a cliff more than once!"
"But I wanted to experience how humans climb a mountain," he says with a confused look.
Seeing him with a human face with human expressions is not doing any good in Cecaniah's mind and heart. Seeing him like this makes her forget that he is not like her, that he is not a human, but instead an ordinary man who is stuck with her in the forest. They have been walking in the forest for more than an hour and a sense of familiarity to him is blossoming in her heart.
"Yet it is much easier and less dangerous this way!"
"This way?" Suddenly he's right infront of her, floating, just centimeters separating their faces and all she can do is stare, too surprised by his closeness. "Hi," he greets with a heart-stopping smile.
"Hi."
She watches him land beside her and dust off his clothes of invisible dirt. "Anyway, I can't tell you."
"Huh?"
"My name. I can't tell you my name. Humans are too weak to utter our names." He starts walking with his hands on his back and she immediately catches up with him.
"Try me."
He just raises his eyebrows at her. She huffs. "Fine, I'll give you one, then. Hmmm… 'Eric'?"
The man scrunches his nose. Cute.
"No? How about 'Alexander'? Still a no? Hmmm."
Cecaniah walks backwards infront of him and scrutinizes his face. She is so deep in thinking that she doesn't notice the light blush on his cheeks.
"You look like a… Lelouch."
"Lelouch?"
"Mmm-hmmm."
He tries saying the name once again. "Lelouch… Lelouch. I guess it's acceptable."
"So Lelouch, where are we exactly going?"
"We're here."
They stop infront of a wide sparkling lake that is almost overflowing because of the non-stop rain.
"You must be hungry. I'll find food for you. Meanwhile, you can take a rest there." He points at a small cave lying just few feet from the lake. It is quite unnoticeable at first glance for it is covered with bushes and vines.
Inside the cave, Cecaniah finally inspects her body for further injury that she didn't notice earlier. Huh, there is a large scratch on her left leg but strangely, she doesn't feel any pain. Another one on her upper right arm. No broken bones, too. She checks her phone for any signal but there's still none. Kallen and Shirley must be so worried by now. Particularly Shirley, she's an expert worrier, and she can imagine what worst scenarios her ginger friend could be thinking by now. She needs to contact them soon.
Going out of the cave, Cecaniah tries to find a spot where she can find a signal when a movement catches her eyes.
Lelouch is catching fish but not… in a normal manner.
Instead the god/spirit splits the water of the lake into two and there he is in the middle, calmly picking up the poor fish lying on the dry ground that are left behind by their precious water, and putting them on a basket she doesn't know where came from.
"Hey!" But he doesn't hear her so she runs to him and taps him on his shoulder which takes the god/spirit by surprise. The water quickly returns sweeping her with it and shit, the lake is too deep. Cecaniah reaches for something to hold onto but there is none and God, she doesn't know how to swim and if she didn't die from falling off a cliff earlier she's certain that she's going to die from drowning now and she can't breathe and the water is filling her lungs and…
"Are you okay?"
One moment she's underwater, the next second she's floating over the lake. But she's still gasping for air and there's not enough air in her lungs and oh her lungs are still filled with water and she's still going to die.
Her eyes widen when a pair of lips touches hers. Her grip in his shirt tightens as she feels a strange sensation in her chest. His lips are soft and warm, she can taste the salty lake water from them. She can feel her cheeks getting warm but he isn't kissing her, no he is giving her air to breathe and at the same time absorbing the water that filled her lungs but still, this is too intimate. Her heart is going to burst out of her chest.
"Breathe," he whispers while wiping her lips with his thumb. Cecaniah follows his lead and in a few seconds, she is breathing normally again.
"Why did you do that? You surprised me and I lost my concentration. See, you're drenched again." He puts his hand on her head and she feels the familiar warmth again.
"The fish… How can you do that to the fishes?"
"Huh?"
"They were helplessly lying on the ground while you were picking some of their friends. Can you just fished normally? Oh, you didn't see how they are struggling for water a while ago."
Lelouch laughs suddenly taking her by surprise. "You're quite an interesting earthling. Well, shall we do it this way?"
Grabbing her hand, he stretches both theirs and a fish floats from the water up to their height. Then he motions to the right and the fish goes in the basket.
"Wow."
"Amazing, isn't it?"
"Yeah." But she isn't looking at the lake anymore but at her companion. She watches as his raven hair moves with the breeze. She watches his eyes shine as another fish floats up from the water. She watches as a small smile forms on his lips as if he is amused. He is more than amazing.
From the very beginning when he had helped her until now when he had just saved her. And whether this is real or a dream, she will not forget this moment – the moment when she met an enchanting being who manages to capture a part of her heart.
After eating, he shows her more of his abilities including healing her scratches and creating light to help them see at night. She gets to walk on water and understand the whisper of the trees.
When the rain has stopped, a rainbow appears in the sky. Lelouch calls her from outside the cave and she finds him standing by the lake.
"Watch this."
Slowly, the color red appears on the water followed by the color orange then yellow until the whole lake is a wide expanse of rainbow. Holding her hand, he walks on the surface and stops at the middle.
"According to your fellows, there's a treasure at the end of the rainbow."
"Well, I don't see one," Cecaniah says distractedly, still in awe and amazement by her surroundings. When she doesn't hear a reply, she looks back at him and finds him smiling at her. "What is it?"
"Nothing. I just think that perhaps they are right."
They spend the night getting to know more about each other. She learns that Lelouch has been roaming around the forest for at least five hundred years now and has never left its vicinity.
"Don't you want to go outside and see other things?" Cecaniah asks.
"I would if I could. But my presence gets weaker the farther I am from the forest."
"Do you at least have other spirit friends here?"
"There are a few. But my kind is the type that lives alone."
"And you're 500 years old? That's… That's just sad, Lelouch." She suddenly has the urge to cry.
"Do not worry your pretty head, Cecaniah. I am fine and used to it… And see, within these 500 years, we have met." Lelouch stands up and with a wave of his hand, fireflies light up their surroundings. "Rest assured that I will never forget this encounter for you have enchanted me with your beauty and free spirit. This memory shall be my company for the next 500 years and so."
She stares up at him. The fireflies create a halo of glowing light around him yet his purple eyes are glowing the most. He is still Lelouch but the night is doing something that made him more otherworldly and unreachable. He is still Lelouch but he is more of a god/spirit now. He is still Lelouch, near but so, so far away. And at that moment, she wishes to every spirit or god out there, to please… please… don't let this day just be a hallucination for her.
"If I come back here, will I find you again?" she silently asks.
"Not if I find you first."
In the morning, the woman is awakened by two hands shaking her shoulders.
"C.C.! C.C. wake up! Are you alright?"
Opening her eyes, she finds Shirley's tearful face above her. "You're alive! Thank God you're alive!"
She is quickly enclosed inside her friend's arms but C.C.'s eyes are roaming around the cave looking for a certain raven haired man with purple eyes and gentle smile.
"Where is he?" she utters.
"Who?" Kallen asks.
This time, C.C. looks infront of her and finally notices the medics and police that her friends bring with them.
"He's gone?"
"You're all alone here when we found you. You must have hit your head." Shirley runs her hand on her head. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah."
"You must be referring to the one who called us through your phone," Kallen states.
Fact 1: She was found
Fact 2: He was gone.
She wants to cry. Oh God, she's going to cry.
Upon looking down to hide her incoming tears, she notices that she is holding onto something. And there it is, the single proof that none of what happened yesterday was caused by hallucination. That she was indeed with him and experienced all of his magic and kindness.
There it is in between her fingers, the proof of her enchantment.
A white mask.