A/N: Happy New Year's Everyone! I hope this Year is full of blessings for everyone out there!
I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has been up to date with this story, I know I will never find the right words to express my heartfelt gratitude toward all those who read and review TMTETS and BKMN, but I promise you all I will see these two stories through to the end, though the delays are still going to be there.
Now, to be honest, this chapter was going to be - by far - the longest I've written. (I was already at 15,000 words and nowhere near done!) So I found it necessary to cut it in half. Therefore, do expect the next chapter to be posted up sometime soon.
Also, I'm almost done with school! Yay! So I should have more time to write on BKMN and TMTETS this year than I did the year prior.
Don't forget to Read & Review because it is your Reviews that help motivate and inspire me to publish faster.
Enjoy.
THE MOON THAT EMBRACES THE SUN
Chapter XII
Teddy's Acrimony: Part IV
Above a Baroque-styled stairway - overlooking the solemn hall below - a proud, antiquated clock stood.
Promoting its own unkempt arrogance within every 'tick' and 'tock' uttered beneath its obtruding breath, it mounted its wooden display with an air of dignified grace that marked the stairway landing as its own.
Inside the wooden base, the clockwork's inner machinations turned confidently at every passing gearwheel. Clicking once here - twice there - without so much as missing the beat with which it synchronized perfectly.
Its deep, even tempo, mellowed out into a slow, but steady gait. Leading the imagination to believe that the clock - itself - were a cavalier riding straight out of the throes of battle; worn from years of extensive use, but still as vigorously clear as the perfervid rampage of galloping war horses.
At the front of its tempered lens, the anachronistic clock's elongated hands moved in calculative snaps. Ticking from the farthest hour, to the nearest second. Counting down each Roman Numeral that lay sprawled against its widened, weathered face.
Beneath it, its golden pendulum - which hung just below its finely chiseled features - rocked from side-to-side. Swaying with each rhythmic stanza as it practically etched itself onto the disarrayed tone.
'Tooooonggg!'
It screeched onto the uninhabited hallway.
'Toooonnnggg!'
Within the open space of the manor's obsolete entrance, the crescendo of the clock's sound reverberated. Merging down the endless array of hallways and corridors, with the same tempered ease as that of a soulful aria, into a stormy duet that embraced the chaotic accompaniment following the downpour; just outside the graveled driveway.
There was not a single crook, cranny, or crevice that failed to rumble beneath the vacant croak of the clock's pulsing heart. Making its announcement deafeningly clear. Even to those that were nowhere near it. Endlessly striking the waist of its primeval bell; over and over again.
Suddenly, its booming toll found itself interrupted by a child's hesitant voice. Calling out between the pauses of the bell's song.
"Luka-kun, wait for me!"
Beneath the kinetic pendulum's golden streak, two children could be seen traversing the shadowed hall below.
One, guided by his inherent willpower to locate a possessed toy as he relied on the walls to support his small body's uneven pace.
The other, an unwilling companion in this wayward journey.
'Tooong! Tooong!'
(crash!)
'Tooong! Tooong!'
The rampant strike of a lost lightning bolt.
A muffled scream from a frightened little girl.
All brought to a calamitous halt by the sound of the clock's bellowing toll.
"Luka-kun! Please wait!" Luna cried out.
But he would not stop.
And as the night's phantom song continued to rise, its morbid soliloquy began to find its untimely end. As it denounced all emotions, but the darkest ones, to the everlasting night.
Evoking, in its stead, the one hideous emotion that had long since been buried beneath the foundations that built this palace of shadows.
A dire sensation.
Accompanied by a gut-wrenching sentiment.
It was one such thing that felt both arduously oppressed, and alacritously released.
Emotions so dark, so deep, and so full of regret that they could only - ever - be understood by the residents of the heartbroken manor.
Quivering, the platinum-blonde covered her pulsing eyes.
Because beneath tightly shut lids, guided merely by the sound of her younger brother's lead, straight into a hellish maze of ill-lit corridors; as they ventured further into their unknown jaunt...
Luna was beginning to feel them too.
~S.O.V~
Within a darkness so bare,
that it welcomed no light;
and an abyss void of light,
that it saw no end,
Regina's slumbering self could be seen drowning beneath spiritual repose.
A placid,
destitute,
and deathless repose.
And though she could feel her body moving,
this form of self she was imprisoned within was no more than a vagrant soul,
wandering the sea void of life,
void of sound,
and emotion,
that dragged her further from the waking world,
and deeper into the blackened, bottomless sea.
She could minutely feel something coiling around her wrists, ankles, and neck.
Pulling her...
Submerging her...
Deep into that chasm of damask and dark that smothered her like a clammy cloak, as it plunged all of her surroundings into a calliginous darkness that disoriented her wandering self.
And when the dreaded realization began to set,
of an imprisonment she would probably never escape,
panic began to arise.
What was happening to her?
How had she gotten here?
What was going to happen now?
How could she go back home?
She needed to go back home!
Back to her siblings.
Back to her uncles.
Back...to her...
'Otou-sama!' her heart screamed.
And at the thought of the raven-haired vampire, she struggled against the hold so tightly clinging to her transparent limbs.
Resistance.
Opportunity.
Escape.
All which stirred within like nails in a blender.
Threatening to burst out of her heart,
out of her chest,
at any second without warning,
should they be given the chance to.
And just when she thought she wouldn't be able to hold out against the pain ransacking at her existence,
she was abruptly met with a deafening silence that froze her.
And it was within this blackened space,
as deep as the ravine of an ancient ocean floor,
that Regina discovered her will was not strong enough to withhold opposition for long.
Not when the darkness had greater mastery over its control of her.
Possessing her completely,
and ravaging her slowly fading being,
until she soon felt herself succumb to its oppressive willpower.
Eating away at her thoughts,
Strangling her voice,
and forcing its imposing will onto her.
Confining her.
Imprisoning her.
Onto a lightless plane that ridiculed her desire to escape by letting her roam within an endless lacuna that held her captive without restricting her.
But a cage that held no bars was of no consequence to her.
Not when a minaciously spreading serenity began to fill the void around her like fog above a crevasse.
Wringing at her senses with an alarming absence of...
Well...
Everything.
And yet,
even with all the confinement, seclusion, and solitude around her
- a triad of mankind's subconscious fears jam-packed into one -
there was no fear invoked within her.
And she soon realized why.
After all,
how could she know terror,
when those same shadows that clung to her
and drowned her into this slumbering despair
just as equally
consumed her sense of fear?
A world that forever slept in darkness,
was devouring the one emotion she should've felt more vividly than the rest.
The irony of it all tormented her.
And as this forced submission began to weigh heavily upon her slumbering eyes,
so too did the force of the will behind the iron curtains guarding her,
begin to unavoidably reach at her heart.
Shutting her mind away from all that encompassed this impenetrable cage.
Offering her no more than an unsteady stage,
in which she began nothing more than an unwilling observer.
Watching in horror as a stringed marionette played her role.
In front of her.
While the puppet master hid behind the shadows of her torment.
She needed to escape!
She had to get away!
She had to...
But...
even if she did find a way to escape this Tartarean agony,
Would she be able to find her way back to-
'Back?'
'Where was...?'
Back...
'Back-?'
Where?
Grasping at the sides of her head, she began to suffocate within this abusive illusion, where she drowned into a state of nothingness.
A nothingness that deluded her sense of life and self, by indulging her with an enrapturing quilt of peace and tranquility that this eternal quietude provoked.
The vestiges of life were escaping her,
while this state of nothing,
for which existed a lack of life,
gave life to a fearsome masked entity.
One that slowly intoxicated her senses, until it numbed them.
One that dragged her deeper below this chasm, until she'd hit her weakest point
where hope was met and lost.
One where everything she'd once held so precious and dear,
would be swallowed within this ethereal state.
Where all senses would derive from darkness,
and to darkness,
they would return.
And yet,
the silence that should've been left behind;
the one thing that was as deafening to her as the lack of emotions this place wrought within her,
the one thing that should've felt more alive because it lacked everything,
was as equally empty,
as it was hostile
of her existence inside this godforsaken realm.
A faint sliver of reasoning came to her,
and before darkness had a chance to swallow that too,
she spoke to the darkness enveloping her.
"Pl...ease"
A stream of tears rolled down her cheeks.
"He...lp"
Before she descended deeper onto the shadowed cavity beneath.
"M...e...!"
All of a sudden,
An echoing sound began to call out to her from the distance.
Distorted by the silence between.
Muffled by the nothingness left in its wake.
She listened.
It was murky, but oh so clear;
and it was screaming out her name.
"Re...gin...a!"
Her heart pulsed.
That voice!
Why was it so familiar?
Again, it beckoned.
This time, softer than before.
But with equal fervency.
"Re...Gi...Na...!"
Who was it,
calling out to her,
within this darkness?
Then,
just when she thought the darkness was going to devour whatever was left of her decimated being,
that same voice
calling out to her from afar,
broke out into a melody as sweet as the hum of a bird's morning song.
Increasing its crescendo from a distance as great as the valley surrounding the manor, until it practically rung against the cavity of her ear canal. Whispering gently onto the recesses of her slumbering mind as if awakening her to a new morn.
And as the orange hue of light burst through her close eyelids,
so too did the realization of what was so obviously concealed before her,
awaken her senses and restored her will anew.
The voice that called out her name from within darkness' blight wasn't alone.
No.
It was accompanied by a chorus.
~S.O.V~
Gracefully stepping out of the bathwater, as it sploshed within the porcelain tub, Hime grabbed her royal blue bathrobe from the hanger and wrapped it around her nude body.
Releasing a deep breath that crystallized the steam of the bath into microscopical snowflakes, the blonde-haired teenager walked absentmindedly toward the towel rack to gently dry her damp locks. All while residual droplets of the bath slid down her silky skin.
Once her hair was sufficiently dried, she placed the towel against the edge of the sink without much thought. Running the cold water of the silvered faucet to nearly frigid temperatures, a strained look plastered itself over her beautiful features as she practically bore a hole through the water basin from the intensity of her gaze.
'How did it all come down to this?' she thought apprehensively, while dipping her hands into the cool liquid. Trying to will away the memories of her, and her brothers', previous argument after what had transpired downstairs with their Fathers.
"...The two of you. You don't even give a crap about Nee-chan..."
Akumu had accused them - her - with as much vehemence as she had seen him express toward his own Father, today.
"...The first thing you did when we were downstairs is run to your lazy ass dad! You didn't even bother to see Nee-chan at all!"
He may have been right about that.
But...still...
'Just who does he think he is telling me that I don't care about my Nee-sama?' She huffed in annoyance.
At times, she'd often catch herself wondering if Akumu's venomously bladed words were well-thought out by the redhead before he cast them out onto the open; knowing full well the damage they'd inflict onto those on the receiving end. Or if he really was just an idiot little boy who'd sputter whatever nonsense came to mind without a shred of consideration over who, what, or where they were meant for.
Like today.
How could that damn jerk be so insensitive to her!
His own sister!
She was older than him, dammit!
All she had done was gone to hug her Daddy! What was so wrong about that?!
What could have been so wrong about it, that - in his eyes - it was reason enough to humiliate and condemn her with such baseless accusations as her 'lack of consideration' over their eldest sister?
'That stupid little...ugh!'
Feeling the water get colder and colder beneath her palms, Hime removed them quickly from the basin and shook off the remaining droplets. Not at all hearing the little 'clink' 'clink' of the miniature hail she had dispersed across the room.
The second-born daughter could never understand her brother's fanatical devotion for their Regina, when it was he that had bitten off the hand that fed him, when he pulled them into this fiasco in the first place!
If their sister was in this situation it was because of him!
Not her!
And, to all this, how dare he say she didn't love Regina, when it was she that grew up with her longer than any of the others?
She knew her sister better than anyone else in the entire world!
Loved her more than anyone else in the whole wide world!
Including that bullheaded brother of hers!
'I care about her too!' She pouted, 'She was my sister first!'
Of course, she wasn't the type of girl to outwardly express her love for Regina like the rest of her siblings did, but she was sure her Nee-sama knew how much she cared for her.
Right?
Gripping the edge of the marbled sink in silent frustration, Hime stared upward at the fog-filled mirror, and wiped away the excess to reveal an irritated red around the aquamarine of her eyes.
"What the hell?!" She practically pressed her forehead against the glass of the mirror, as she looked deep into her eyes - shining bluer than ever, thanks to the prominent red that tinted the sclera around it.
'This can't be happening! Not to me!'
Panicking, the pads of her fingertips brushed lightly beneath the preeminent eye bags - swollen and puffy like an octopus' lips - while her mind rambled on, trying to process what she was witnessing.
Surely the image reflected back at her, with a bloodshot gaze that could star in any horror film festival, couldn't possibly be her own!
She had to be imagining it!
Yes!
Yes, that's what it was!
It was all just a simple misunderstanding. A figment, of her own overactive imagination, making her believe she looked as imperfect as-!
Was that a zit?!
"Ugh!" she groaned in disgust, splashing her face with - close to freezing - water. "Just look at me! I am a complete disaster! How can I possibly let anyone see me like this? Let alone, Daddy?!"
Rubbing at her cheeks, viciously, a sigh of relief abandoned her when she realized the red dot on her cheek wasn't a zit. Still, that didn't mean she was any less frustrated by the 'less-than-perfect' appearance she sported.
Especially with that hideous look in her eyes!
Exasperated by the outcome, Hime raked her fingers through her hair, joining the elegantly dampened golden locks into a messy bun above her head; while continuously scrubbing away at her face, until she could practically feel the pores tighten from the sheer amount of pressure they were subjected to.
Glaring up at her reflection once more, the blonde-haired dhampyr bitterly concluded that no amount of effort would rid her of the redness in her eyes; and, once she finished patting herself dry with a towel, felt her emotions surge forward in an angry flash of aquamarine, that stilled the warm breath from her lungs and turned the room icy cold.
With an angry thrust, she slammed the towel into the basin, but was abruptly startled out of her silent tantrum, by an ominous shatter that reverberated throughout the tiled lavatory.
And as she looked down, pieces of the shattered towel - dispersed all across her naked feet like broken glass - came to view.
'Oops...my bad' she thought unapologetically, as she kicked the frosted pieces aside, and made her way toward the adjoined room to get ready for bed.
~S.O.V~
Back downstairs, the final tolls of the Grandfather Clock were beginning to die off into a distant echo, rumbling down the ill-lit corridors of the vacuous manor like the howls of a wounded beast. Luna, after having taken an extensive walk - which led her and her baby brother nowhere and alone - began to soon wonder if Luka even knew what he was doing. Or where he was going.
Granted, they weren't exactly lost. What with persistent foolhardiness toward an aberrant goal being more prominent in Luka than it was in Akumu, Luna felt it was safe to assume they were - at the very least - nowhere near hitting a dead end.
However, despite the youngest's apparent dexterity, the situation wasn't exactly any better than before.
What if they really ended up being lost, or worse? Actually be already lost?!
Who, then, could they turn to for help when there was no one around? The place was already scary enough on its own, for them to be roaming about it at this time and hour.
Also...
Hadn't her Nii-chan once warned her that the monsters would pop out of the dark to eat kids who weren't in bed and asleep?
She didn't want to get eaten by those scary monsters!
And she most definitely didn't want them to eat her baby brother!
"Luka-kun..." she trembled; and as she broke out into a cold sweat, Luna's focus began to muddle like pond water on a rainy day, that - by the time she took notice of Luka's ambitious roam - he had already made it past the first corridor. Marking quite the distance from where she stood.
"Luka-kun!" She cried out, louder than before, alarmed of the evident gap between them, "W-Wait for me!"
But the boy in question, immersed within his own thoughts to take much notice of her surroundings, couldn't hear her. Much less pay attention to her rising jitteriness.
And Luna, thinking that Luka was blatantly ignoring her, shuffled her feet with a downcast gaze.
Had Luka-kun grown tired of her mousiness?
Was that why he was ignoring her?
Saddened by his unintentional dismissal, Luna quietly bore her gaze at his back, secretly awed by the courage displayed within every movement exerted from his small body; from the violet strands of his baby mane swishing back and forth, side to side, through every grunt forced out of his independent trudge, to the small fumbling feet padding furiously across the carpeted floor.
Luka stopped for no one, and nothing.
And that was a commendable aptitude she often wished she could've been born with.
But, even so, the admiration toward her young brother wasn't enough to cloud her concern over the safety of his well-being. Especially when looked just about ready to topple over at the slightest push.
"Luka-kun," she tapped his trembling shoulder, unable to contain her worry for much longer, "do you want me to help?"
The violet-haired toddler, who had his fists flat against the wall, turned to her slowly - a first, since the start of their endeavor - and shook his head.
'I can do it.'
Was what his heart was telling her, and - rather reluctant - she ended up conceding to his will.
Whatever it was he was looking for, he wanted to have the liberty to be able to do it - for the most part - on his own. She understood that.
Really, she did.
But that didn't mean that she wasn't hurt by his lack of reliance on her.
She wanted to trust him; and she knew he was more than capable to do things on his own, but he was still just a baby.
'I can't let him do it by himself! I want to help, but...' she glanced around the building, 'Where to start?'
Musing, she watched her brother silently struggle to keep himself upright.
'I wonder what Luka-kun is looking for, and...why does he want to find it so badly?' Dithering, she nearly tripped on her own two feet when she noticed her brother scuffle with his weight, before nearly toppling onto the ground. Thankfully, though, he was more dexterous than she thought, and he managed to shift his weight from one leg to the other to keep himself upright.
"Luka-kun, maybe I-!"
He didn't look at her, but his shaking head was an obvious 'no', even in dark.
Saddened and concerned by his bullheaded independence, Luna decided to be a little bit braver, and started looking around the manor too. Maybe there was something that he wanted that was near where they walked.
But...what could it be?
On the other hand, the boy in question who - much unbeknownst to him - caused his distraught sister to fret over his every step, hardly appeared to care much about his own physical restrictions.
Instead, he opted with persevering with an unnerving aloofness to his actions that - much to Luna's chagrin - was like watching an innocent fawn drink off the banks of a crocodile infested waterhole.
However, seeing her brother's displayed efforts put to the test, while he steadfastly pursued something he wanted, even when all odds stood blatantly against him - was quite impressive.
Not to mention, admirable.
And, again, that awe surged.
But, in spite of the impression her inattentive brother left on her, there was one thing about him that baffled her more than his determination to find the object of his desire; and that was Luka's unwavering will, which almost seemed uncharacteristic for a boy his age.
It was a side of himself he rarely showed others. Especially their older siblings, and the only reason why Luna was able to grow accustomed to it was because, apart from Regina, she was the one he usually spent most of his time with.
But, it was thanks to that shrouded obstinance of his that he was able to continue his search for the bear without pause.
Which was why, undeterred by his aberrant surroundings, Luka followed through his single-handed pursuit of the possessed bear.
Guided by his keen sense of intuition, and aided by his endowed ability, the violet-haired toddler focused all of his willpower on finding that talking bear and its wandering whereabouts. So much so, that he ensured he was meticulous in every action; from holding onto his stubby legs quivering from the unaccustomed weight of his body, to practically scanning every room, corner, and hallway passed with the power - he hadn't realized - had been activated.
He was this close!
This close to finding Teddy!
He couldn't give up now!
But it seemed like luck was not on his side this morning.
Because for every step taken on his end, the distance appeared to increase on his. Almost as if that silly bear didn't want to be found.
Then, the unthinkable happened!
Just as he was about to reach the foyer of the entryway, where the antiquated clock had given a final toll - like the vestiges of death's sigh - Teddy's trail had disappeared.
Just like that.
As though it simply...vanished.
This, of course, did not bode well with Luka, who - obviously upset - huffed and pouted, but still kept on moving.
It was preferable to continue that to start back from square one.
And while the disgruntled boy glared at his surroundings in silent contempt - alexandrite eyes glowing like moonlight over wine - his sister, Luna, stood nervously behind.
Apparently, while the boy rummaged through his surroundings in search of the bear, Luna's quick attempt at bravery had - just as quickly - backfired, when the previous pulsing in her eyes struck at her mind like the sting of a needle.
She had looked away for the quickest second, but when she looked back at her surroundings - especially at the walls encasing her - an aversion, that she hadn't felt before, was being returned tenfold by the manor she unwittingly traversed.
And though her brother's initial reassurance had given her the resolve to see this through to the end alongside him, it was that dreadful sensation of impending danger; lurking in the air and clutching at her chest, that - instead of dissuading her fears - had only urged her to run back to the safety of the living room.
Where her Princely Jii-chama was.
Even if that scary Papa was also there.
Holding back the rush of terror that washed over her, she practically ran toward Luka; who, at this point, had stopped relying on the wall and, instead, crawled his way toward the front of the stairway, as he sat himself directly beneath the unlit chandelier of the entry hall.
"Luka-kun, we sh-"
But her attempt to dissuade him was short-lived because, just as she had called out to him, she was immediately silenced.
Now, facing her, she could see the color of his incandescent violet - which rivaled the shade of his hair - boring his gaze at her like a bright bluish-purple flame.
Only...
He wasn't looking at her, but at something behind her.
Scared, she too turned back, but there was nothing there. Save for the empty darkness they had just crossed.
Turning back toward her brother, she now noticed he was looking at a different corner of the hall and, visibly confused by his behavior, tried calling out to him once more. However, instead of acknowledging her existence, the alexandrite-eyed boy continued to glance around the open space around them.
He was searching for something. Something that was hiding beneath the walls and tapestries of the obsolescent manor. But Luna couldn't see it, nor hear it.
Even when the room had grown strangely quiet.
Then, in a whiplash, Luka turned his back to her and glared up at the chandelier.
"Luka-k...?"
Without warning, his eyes began to dart from one end of the manor to the other; as if following the trail of a helpless bird scampering across the ceiling, scouting frantically for an escape.
Yet, that strange look in his glowing orbs did not denote enthusiasm.
Much less entertainment.
It was a look that felt inexplicably...cold.
And much like a spider's calculative sight landing on a hapless prey ensnared within the confines of its captive web - flailing for dear life - so too, did Luka's eyes gleam with the same predatory glare.
When he finally stoppled glancing all around, it was to scrutinize a spot in particular; just atop the second floor; where the Neo-Classical columns intersected with the railings of the staircase.
Furrowing his brows, until they wrinkles into a single crease atop his juvenile forehead, Luka dared not move his gaze away.
Luna, who was now more confused than ever, approached him.
"What is it, Luka-kun? What's wrong?"
But, if he heard her, he made no sign to show that he did.
And it was only when the silence prolonged for a few more minutes, that Luka finally gave up and crawled his way toward the iron rails of the stairway.
Luna, already disquieted by his reticent behavior, couldn't help but find his attitude just as odd as that of her red-haired brother's. Especially after the incident where said brother was about to use his powers to fight against their blonde-haired sister.
At that time, her brother's heart had flared. Turning the usually distinguishable colors of his heart into a mix that didn't quite resemble him.
However, with Luka, it was a completely different story.
'Nii-chan's heart didn't feel this...' She stared at her little brother's back, '...different.'
Reaching out to touch him, Luna could almost hear an odd discord mixing in with his even heartbeat. However, before she could lay her palm against him, a streak of lightning crashed, and she - shocked by the loud noise that sizzled in its wake - found herself frozen in place, while her brother continued on his way.
'It's okay,' she quietly whispered, clutching the cloth of her gown, 'It's all gonna be okay. Luka-kun is here with me. I'm not scared.'
But, she was.
No matter how much she tried to deny it...
She was.
'I-I'm no-not s-scared,' she thought uncertainly, 'I'm not scared!'
Luka, still walking toward the stairs, had been well aware of the lightning, but never once stopped to consider his surroundings.
Much less, the tormented sister he left behind.
"L-Luka-kun...Eek! W-Wait!"
Biting softly onto her lower lip, Luna hastily hurried after him, listening to the echo of the 'tap tap' that her slippers made against the cold, marbled floor.
"Lu-Luk-kyaa!" In vain, she muffled her scream, while the tears poured out of her wide-eyed ruby; and clinked onto the bluish-marbled ground like raindrops against an Ivory Tower*.
Sobbing beneath her tightly clasped hands, she hiccuped her way out of the main path. All while those ghastly shadows slashed through the light of the candlelit gargoyles on the handles of the stairway's rails, in much the same way as the storm's residual lightning flashed outside.
With her wits about her, she rushed to the nearest corner of the room - where the main entrance met the divided halls - and hid. Tucking her head between her quavering arms, she tightly shut her eyes. Terrified that those same shadows, clinging onto the walls within their morbid illusions, would soon find her and...
'No!'
Burying her fingers through her hair, Luna held her head tightly, and violently shook it from side to side.
'I'm not scared. I'm not scared. I'm not scared...' Inwardly, she chanted her hushed mantra with the fervency of a prayer, as she silenced her ears from the torrent of rain, greeting her at the windows with its eerie thrum. All while the wind blew through the forsaken cracks of the chipped wood, as though it were in a hurry to invade the lugubrious home.
'I can do this,' she willed herself, 'Nee-chama said I was a big girl. She told me I was brave. I have to be brave. For Luka-kun!'
Little did she realize her brother could fend for himself pretty well without her, judging by the focused pace he kept on his own.
'I'm not scared!' she mustered her courage once more, 'I'm not scared!'
"I'm not sc-!" but the words stuck to the base of her throat. Stopping mid-sentence before they had a chance to erupt from her quivering lips.
Wide-eyed by the vile emotion surging within, a hideous chill soon ran up her spine - paralyzing her on the spot.
Luna's eyes darted all around her, just as Luka's had moments prior, searching for that uncomfortable sensation that ransacked every nerve in her body. But all she could see were the shadows clinging to the walls - tainting them - with their macabre illusions. As well as her little brother, holding onto the rail of the stairs in the distance.
With unshed tears in her eyes, the child hugged her chest tightly; feeling as though it were being ripped apart by a distorted wave that rose from the center of her heart, up toward the iris of her eyes.
Suddenly, the ruby hue awakened with an outburst. Alighting with its luminescent color, the creamy demeanor of the platinum-blonde's horrified expression, with an almost phantasmal glare. Pressing her palms against the wall she had sought refuge behind, Luna took notice of a black mist sizzling throughout the walls of the manor, like a spider's thin - sticky - web.
This wasn't the same sensation as what she felt, during the power struggle she had been chastised for, earlier.
Nor was it the impending danger wreaking havoc in her heart.
This time...something different filled the air.
Something that felt like a tightly drawn curtain slowly unfolding before her eyes.
Like a shot, a sharp pain stung the side of her head.
"Owie..." she winced.
Rubbing her head softly, she was surprised - and almost alarmed - to see flashes of red filling her vision. Staining the floor and walls like splotches of dried paint.
Nevertheless, with the same quickness with which those grotesque images appeared, they disappeared.
Almost as if they had never been there to begin with.
As though they were residual memories. Imprinted emotions. Left behind to show what once had occurred within these very walls of the castle-like home.
They were dark, and sinister, and they were what she had caught wind of the moment they had first stepped onto the cobblestone of the walkway.
But, at that time, the sensation evoked had been nothing more than a warm hand printed against cold glass.
Visible to the eyes.
If only for an ephemeral moment.
Now, it was something that felt gravely uncomfortable, saddening, and frustrating. Nevertheless, there was something else that existed within all that cloud of negativity circulating her.
Something that didn't feel quite right.
"Luka...-kun..." she tried to call out to her brother, but that strain in her voice couldn't release her words as more than a mere whisper.
The flashes of red returned.
This time, with emotions.
Anger and pain on the ground.
Hatred and hunger on the stairs.
And if she squinted, she could almost see two transparent figures yelling at one another in those aforementioned locations.
Filled with an undefinable trepidation, not to mention terror, Luna tried calling out for her little brother once more, but he was too far - and she, too afraid - to reach him.
Hyperventilating from the shock of what her powers wrought, the child couldn't understand what was happening to her, much less what it was she was currently looking at.
Were those splotches of paint, dragging on the ground and dyeing the walls...blood?
'No,' she begged as the tears fell onto the ground, 'Stop...Please, stop!'
And, as if obeying her silent will, the surge of power slowly decreased in intensity until her eyes lost their luminosity and returned to normal, once more.
~S.O.V~
"...Domine...Iesu..."
What was that?
"...Domine...Iesu..."
What were those voices...
Singing in the distance?
"...Domine...Iesu..."
All around her, faint whispers, spinning their gossamer-like chorus into a crescendo that rivaled the drop of a pin within a vast canyon, fervently recited their hushed prayers onto the darkness entrapping her.
"...Dimitte...Nobis...Debita...Nostra..."
Her eyes, leaden from the subconsciousness she had been subjected to, could hardly focus on her surroundings.
It was much too dark - and she, much too tired - to orient her weightless being within the realm of shadows where she had been cast off onto.
But, after much expended effort from her part, she managed to draw her slumbering consciousness back to her.
Only for darkness to take its toll and try to submerge her back in.
It was a mental tug-of-war.
And one which she feared she'd end up losing her freedom to.
"...Salva...Nos...Ab...Igne...Inferiori..."
The quietened chorus began to resound around her, practically making the air against her lungs quiver like gale before a storm.
Beneath the shadows unfolding like waves across a tempest, those voices surged.
Urging her to find the strength within to fight the darkness.
To rise against and oppose the unending slumber.
And just as wind chimes sang on a windy day,
so too did those voices resonate within her like a vacuous roar rumbling against the walls of an empty room.
Ringing sweetly within her heart until it filled her with a peace more welcoming than the one darkness enveloped.
But it wasn't enough.
"...Domine...Iesu..."
Beneath veiled sight, Regina could feel her esse* capitulate to darkness' blight.
Her sense of self waning.
Reaching a point within her fading essence, where it was becoming apparent how inconsequential her existence was to both time and space inside this inky frame.
And rapidly,
she descended.
Rapidly,
she succumbed.
Returning and resigning herself with every remnant left of her,
to that perpetual slumber from whence darkness ordained.
Feeding her Heart,
Body,
Mind,
and Memories
to that intrusive, and all-devouring darkness.
Until it could satiate the eternal hunger of its bottomless belly.
"No," an exhausted resistance came to mind, "I...can't...I-!"
And then, the voices sang:
~Dimitte nobis debita nostra!~
With nothing to grab a hold of, but the sound of fervently praying voices - joined together - in choral symphony, Regina forced her hands together to join them in their impassioned prayer.
But when she felt too weak to continue, the darkness tried to envelop her once more.
And again, the voices sang.
~Dimitte nobis debita nostra!~
It wasn't enough.
But by their fervent prayers, and their passionate cries, she was continuously pulled away from the enslaving darkness.
And though it was rapidly gaining its win,
They refused to let her succumb.
Tucking her legs against her naked chest, and subconsciously wrapping her arms around them, Regina felt like a child embracing itself within its Mother's womb.
Searching for a sense of security amid this hostile environment.
And even with the knowledge that there was no such security in this place, hope rekindled the burnt out flame.
Fighting with her.
Fighting for her.
~Salva nos ab igne inferiori!~
She could hear it once more, and the fogginess of her mind began to clear.
There it was!
That song she heard!
That prayer she knew!
And as her thoughts returned to her, Fatima's Prayer* arose within the tenebrosity that encased her being inside this sightless plane, and rung loudly around her cocooned hold.
Nevertheless, among the angelic chorus cutting through the discomfort gnawing at her heart, there existed a single discorded melody that crescendo-ed from deep beneath the shadowed realm; like a withered vine wrapping around a hedge of blooming roses, or a moth feeding off a butterflies' field.
It made her inexplicably queasy.
One of her hands immediately flew straight toward the center of her breasts.
There was something there.
Something foreign was stuck in there,
right at the center of her chest.
Right at the center of her heart.
And it had no right to be there!
Unbidden to the darkness that wrought within her, Regina felt a chill reach from the top of her neck to the bottom of her spine, brush like an icy touch down her naked back.
~Perduc in caelum omnes animas!~
Shrouded in nothing but the obtrusive darkness trying to consume her, like the voracious mouth of a starving beast, Regina tiredly opened her eyes and looked onto the distance where the voices were coming from.
Light!
Thousands of little specks of light!
Like stardust in a moonless night!
Flickering softly.
Evenly.
But just as quickly as they had appeared, they were gone.
And darkness reigned once more.
At this point, she didn't know what else to do.
How else to resist.
Around her, she could feel the hostility of this blackened cage emerge.
It neither wanted her, nor did it desire to let her go.
And it was that oppressive pressure falling onto her that continued to weigh her down into the abyss.
But she could not succumb,
no matter how much her subconscious yearned to.
The more she resisted, the more she fought against this oppressive power forcing her into submission, the more she felt herself ensnared within the toiling coils wrapped around her being like invisible chains.
Grasping at her ankles, tugging at her wrists, and clenching against her throat until it forced her to open into a position that well resembled what an ancient crucifixion demonstrated.
And without much fight, she was rendered immobile.
'Why am I here?'
With her head hung low, she let the constant constriction pull at her as it wished, feeling as the strength left in her body ebbed away like a melting glacier.
Slowly,
but surely.
Then,
the voices returned.
~Praesertim eas~
The tiny specks returned with full vigor, brightening up the distance like stardust after a comet's descent. Pulsing through every singing voice with a fervency that she could only - ever - attribute to those raised as devotees like her Mother.
And though she was bound by invisible chains, amid a sightless place, the whispers breathing their vehement prayers against her ears filled her with a strength she wasn't aware she possessed.
So, making the sign of the cross with her fingers, bound as they were to the rest of her outstretched limbs, Regina looked up to the heavens and finished the first prayer her Mother had taught her.
The one the voices never completed.
~ Quae misericordiae tuae maxime indigent ~
Suddenly, the chain of voices that had begun the prayer stopped.
As if they had taken notice of her presence, they soon began to fade away in a breathy exhale, and the lights - her only form of hope manifested physically - began to extinguish one by one.
But they weren't all gone.
Before her, no bigger than a coin, a single orb floated.
Approaching her, it rested against her lips before bursting like a bubble into trillions of tiny specks that clung to her body like glitter.
And she understood what it was.
What they had all been.
Remnants.
Memories of a past, fragmented, like a shattered mirror. Replaying scenes from long ago that had been forgotten in favor of focusing all her time on what mattered most.
The present.
But the fact that they were still there was no longer comforting, in the least; and the presence they evoked within her could never be enough to extinguish the disquietude it wrought.
However,
once the tension began to confound her and overbear her senses, a single voice - more eminent than any of the others had been - spoke in a language she could not understand.
And just when she closed her eyes once more, thinking that she had lost the battle, the lighted specks in her body spread like wildfire, and consumed the darkness that once had reigned.
She was free.
Finally free!
Or at least, that's what she thought.
Terms Definitions
Ivory Tower - An ivory tower is a metaphorical place—or an atmosphere—where people are happily cut off from the rest of the world in favor of their own pursuits, usually mental and esoteric ones
Esse - Essential Nature or Essence (Spirit/Soul/Anima)
Fatima's Prayer - The Fátima prayers are a collection of seven Catholic prayers associated with the Marian Apparitions at Fátima, Portugal in 1917. The one used in this story is translated as "Lord Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy."