Child of Dance

Yuri was in shock. He didn't know how long he stood there, looking a fool and just staring uselessly at the figure before him. Wingless, but a figure. Another living, breathing, soul. For how long had he danced, praying that someone would find him? How long ago did he give up hope, but continued going through the motions anyway, just to pass the time? Yet here stood what he dreamed of seeing for so long. Someone else in his world. The figure was gray, his hair cut short, his clothing gray, his eyes gray, his skin gray. He was clearly a being of the monochrome world, but at least he was a being. Yuri tried hard not to scare him off, tilting his head and smiling carefully. Could this being speak? Please, he prayed. Could this being pass into the ring? Oh how he hoped so. Could they touch? Yuri reached out his hand.

The boy stepped back.

"No, wait," he tried, his voice loud in his ears. When was the last time he had used his voice? It didn't sound as he remembered. It was deeper. Much deeper than he recalled. The person must have understood, because the boy stopped his retreat. Yuri didn't realize it was his eyes that caused the pause, not his words. His eyes had been the siren call to stay. He had been afraid he'd lose this chance to interact, and it showed through his eyes. Had he known, he would have been angry at himself for showing such fear, but in the moment, he could only thank god that the boy wasn't leaving so soon. His eyes watched the other's lips as they moved. Was the boy trying to speak? He heard nothing. Perhaps his confusion showed too, because soon the boy was stepping closer and repeated himself, but still Yuri heard only silence. "I can't…hear you," Yuri explained, furrowing his brow. The boy came closer again, careful, inching just enough to the mushroom ring to barely touch the edge.

"Are you a fairy?"

Yuri stared. A voice. A voice that wasn't his own. Something fell onto his hand and he blinked down at it. Water? He was…his fingers reached up to his face. He hadn't cried in so long. He thought he had forgotten how.

0

Otabek wasn't normally one to show his expressions so easily, but shock after shock was appearing on his face today. First the sight of the fairy. Now the sight of the tears. Had he done something wrong? Said something wrong? He nearly wanted to reach out to the boy to comfort him, but a rhyme from his childhood rang out in his head. His eyes briefly glanced at the grassy circle again, ringed by healthy white mushrooms. 'The only thing within the ring is pain and end of day….' Surely it was nonsense, but then again, he had thought fairies were nonsense just an hour ago too. Otabek's eyes returned to the boy's, finding himself suddenly locked with emerald again. Like gems, he had thought as a child, and gems still rang true now. Gems with a fire in them. The boy's voice, deeper than he expected and with a pleading tone, did not match his eyes. The voice sounded fragile, but his eyes looked utterly unbreakable.

"I can hear you. I can actually….wait…what did you call me?"

Otabek was roused from his musings by the fae's voice. Why was the boy so surprised to be able to hear him? Wasn't that why he called him over, to hear him more easily? Or was this just to get him to enter the ring? Otabek was wary, yet he felt his instincts say that wasn't true.

"A fairy. That is what you are, aren't you? You have wings…" he nodded to the glittering things coming from the boy's back, looking as delicate as sheer curtains, yet sturdy enough to maintain their shape behind him. The fae's gaze flickered briefly to his wings before staying locked on Otabek as if afraid he'd disappear if he looked away for too long.

"I am me. I've always just been me, wingless. Yuri. I am Yuri," spoke the fae. Yuri, Otabek said to himself.

"Why are you here, Yuri?" Otabek dropped trying to get the confirmation of race that he didn't really need from the fairy. What else could he possibly be? Yuri was the textbook description from his old nana's tales, with the exception that he was bigger than what 'sprite' would make you envision.

"I've always been here."

That couldn't be true. No. There'd be no way he could survive in this forest. There was no food, no water, no life. Otabek's eyes dropped back to the rich and healthy grass beneath Yuri's feet and the equally healthy and thriving mushrooms around him. Maybe there was some life…but no. Always? All this time, there was a fairy in his backyard and he never knew? Except deep down he did know, didn't he?

"Nine years ago…Were you here nine years ago?" he asked, but he knew without an answer that it was true. Yuri was the boy he saw. The fairy he had told his parents about.

"Always," Yuri repeated, eyes setting on Otabek with a fierceness that rivaled a tiger's roar. It spoke more than his words did. That one look reprimanded Otabek for making him have to repeat himself. Otabek couldn't help it. He gave half a smile.

"Are there any more fairies?" Otabek asked, to which Yuri only cocked his head in confusion. Otabek gestured to his wings again. "Other winged ones?" he clarified, but the fae shook his head.

"You are the first anything I've seen since the wingless that walked by many dances ago," he explained. His expression grew a bit distant, a certain level of excitement Otabek only just realized had been there dying out. "I have been….alone. Always."

"Why didn't you just leave?" It made no sense. He had wings. He could go anywhere, right? Apparently not, because when Yuri lifted his hand towards Otabek, something strange happened. Otabek had tensed, unsure of what to expect, even leaning away some, but Yuri's fingers stopped right at the edge of the grass ring, the skin spreading smooth over some invisible barrier.

"I cannot."

0

Otabek sat with Yuri for hours, just…talking. He was amazed at how little the fairy boy knew about the world and even more amazed how little the boy knew about fairies. All that he knew was what he could see from his prison. A prison which Otabek still didn't understand. He had tried to pull the fairy out of the ring, reaching in and grabbing the pale boy's hand. Nothing stopped Otabek from passing through, but the second Yuri's hand reached the edge again, it was like trying to move a mountain. Otabek was positive there was no way in hell that the fairy boy had strength enough to stop Otabek's attempt. Such a slender frame was toned from dancing, yes, but not strong enough to resist being pulled by Otabek without even trying. So there was definitely something at work here keeping the fairy locked up. Something that had been keeping Yuri locked up for all his life, alone in a dead forest.

Otabek had almost been amused by the way Yuri stared at his hand once he had let go of it after their brief moment of contact, but any amusement was crushed when he heard him say he had no idea other people were so warm. There was something sad to Otabek that this teenage boy had never felt the comfort of contact in his entire life. He felt bad for him. It was why he dared to stay, for just a little bit at least, to try to ease what must be a lonely existence, but it was Yuri's personality that made him not want to leave. Yuri, for all that he had never gotten to experience, was full of fire. Opinionated and passionate, even about new concepts he was only just learning about. Otabek admired him. He realized when Yuri locked his eyes with Otabek's once more during a promise that he'd walk out of this forest one day, that Otabek had always admired this fairy. Ever since he saw him that first time, a mirage in the woods. Yuri's unyielding eyes had stayed with him, even when the rest of the details faded, and his eyes trapped him now.

The sun was going to be setting soon, and it would be too cold to linger any longer. Otabek knew he had to find shelter and build a fire. "It's getting late," he worried if he left, the fairy would disappear too, even if he knew Yuri was trapped here, "I need to leave." Yuri went stone faced, frozen, his previous smile wiped clean from his face.

"But….the sky is only a little more gray….it will lighten again. If you stay," he spoke as if he couldn't see the pale blue of the sky fading to pink, purple, and soon navy.

"Yuri, it will be black out, and cold. Too cold to stay. How do you keep warm?" he hadn't thought about it now, but Yuri's too small clothes hardly looked suited for a night out exposed to the wind.

"Cold doesn't happen here. Nothing happens here. The light changes shades of gray, but it's not warm like you said it was. It's just….light."

"Yuri…you keep saying the world is gray. Can't you see color?" Otabek asked, confused. Yuri looked indignantly at him, almost as if he were offended.

"Of course I can see color! But only here has color. Only gray extends past the mushrooms."

That…couldn't be right. Otabek reached into his pocket and pulled out a compass. It was brass bottomed with a bright red needle. "Yuri….what color is this?" he asked, holding it. Yuri scowled at him.

"Is gray. Like all of your things. The wingless are boring with design," he huffed, causing Otabek to smirk just a bit. He reached past the mushrooms to quickly hand the compass to Yuri, placing it in the boy's cupped palms. He watched as Yuri's eyes widened.

Yuri stared at the little thing in his hands. It was smooth like a blade of grass, but hard like a stone. But more amazing was the color. Yuri had never seen this color, which Otabek soon told him was red. And the bottom was called brass. Curiously, when Yuri turned, the needle of this compass thing turned too. He wandered his circle with it and soon was delighted to see the needle dance as he moved.

"The world isn't gray, Yuri. It just looks like it from where you are. But…I do need that back," Otabek called to Yuri who had soon adopted a mischievous grin.

"If you want it, then come and get it," he called, holding it out to his wingless companion…two feet away from the edge of the circle. Otabek didn't seem too keen on taking the bait. Yuri's smirk faltered, his arm relaxing to hold the compass at his side. He looked at the wingless evenly. "Otabek. I want to see what you look like outside of the gray." They stared at each other for what felt like an age. Otabek sighed and Yuri started to deflate, his wings drooping at the refusal, but then the wingless stepped past the ring and into color. Otabek wasn't in shades of grey. He was many colors.

Yuri hurried over to inspect these new colors up close. His skin was darker than Yuri's own. It was still light, but not like Yuri's unblemished almost luminous level of pale. His hair really was black like he originally thought. His eyes were brown though, but rich and so much warmer than the dirt between his toes. Then there were his clothes. Yuri wore plain white garments and though Otabek's clothes did have a lot of black and grays, there were also small splashes of color like pale blue stitching on the inner jacket, gold buttons, and auburn gloves.

Yuri took no notice as the other had suddenly tensed again, but Otabek quickly relaxed once he realized the fae's fascination and exploration. To think someone once told him fairies were evil creatures that only brought misery and pain. How could Yuri, this Yuri, possibly be evil? An easy smile fell into place on the boy's face as he watched the fairy. Preparing for night was forgotten in the self-contained world of the fairy ring.