Second chapter! thanks for waiting for so long... well, maybe this can be your valentine's day gift? It's my first birthday gift in some years XD. Sorry, needed to tell it.
This chapter includes some character death, a lot of OCCness, a good amount of OCs and Toto's side of the movie!
Enjoy!
Posso essere più stupidi? - Can I be more stupid?
Serenata para Cristina - Serenade for Christine
Chapter 2: Present
Part 1: Until we meet again...
Cielo couldn't help but gaze at the neighbouring nest, where the small baby crows were having their first lesson of flying.
-And remember you must feel the air currents below you, so they carry you. Today we will only land safely.- Brisa, Cielo's best friend and the hatchling's mother, was telling them, taking Cielo back to the day she said similar things to the bird now sleeping besides her. Toto, her companion for the last years, wasn't the same as all the crows she had known in her complete life.
He was an entirely different bird, flesh and blood and stone at the same time. Her mother had called them a Creazione, beings the parents of the parents of her parents beyond memory had seen when the crows had been said to be white. But he trembled in pain and memory all the time, not entirely bird, but a winged being with human soul. Something created by dreams and hopes and the little magic of the mystery of the night. And being his companion for years made her body ache. Her body and her heart, since Creazioni weren't able to have children of their own.
Crows are known fo being particularly loyal and territorial creatures, and thanks to that Cielo had been with Toto for nearly twenty winters. And that was far more than her parents had been alive. But she could feel her time coming to an end, and she felt the sadness of Toto's lonely future once she was gone, with no memories to share together. No eggs being broken from the inside, no first flight for the little ones. No sleepless night and no deadmeat hunt for them. The memories she was to left behind for him were not bird's. The memories they had shared were human's: the sunsets, the places visited, nights spent under the stars, the smell of flowers, the smell of the rain, the light of the summer...
Birds don't understand other's loneliness, but thanks to her time by Toto's side, she could feel his stony heart, and she had acquired a human heart of her own, thankful of the time together, thankful of the cold and the warmth, thankful of the food, the water, the worms, the young cats, the old dogs, the times they had being together...
-Toto...- Cielo said, following Nube's flight, as the youngest of the hatchlings landed safely on the soft grass bellow his family tree. The stone crow stirred in his sleep and opened a single yellow eye, which looked at her with all the love, desire and hope they had shown eighteen springs ago, a red sunset as she was flying by him.
-Yes, mio amore?- his masculine voice interrupted the silence created between her words and the flapping of the neighbour's wings.
-I'll die this sunset- she said, knowing it was what her heart had been saying since the moment she had awoke that morning to eat by herself. Toto had been sleeping all the time, tired of pretending to be a real bird by sleeping and flying and eating, everything just for her. -I'll die this sunset- she said, turning to see her mate to the eye, so he could be safe of the true meaning of her words.
-No...- he began, but then he stopped himself. A flurry of feathers enveloped her and she found herself in the tender embrace of Toto's wings, the only way he knew how to speak when words couldn't say what he wanted to say, or when his own brain couldn't find the adequate words to say what he was feeling. And she rubbed her head against his, and pecked on his shoulder with love, the only way she could respond to his embraces and human heart.
~o~o~o~
They were watching the horizon together, side by side, on the top of Cielo's favorite jacaranda, among the purple-blue flowers she so dearly loved. And there, with her stomach full of her favorite mouse meat, half asleep thanks to the red lights of the sunset, she finally understood what no bird and no human was able to understand, something that she knew thanks to her side near a Creazione. Her vision blurred for a moment thanks to invisible tears and the white hand of the death. Her heart thumped thanks to the revelation and she closed her eyes in bliss, barely moving her beak to the sound of the words.
"Dreams and hopes give a life, but purpose gives a soul. Nobody really dies, as long as they live in someone's mind. Memories is how we keep on living, even after our body decays."
-Ti amo Toto- she said before her breathing stopped.
-Ti amo Cielo- he said before noticing the cold besides himself. And then he cried once again in his life, without watching the eyes of the female by his side, burning his wings with unconditional love, until the moon walked by the night sky.
~o~o~o~
Part 2: Porcelain creation.
Wings flapping, feathers left behind. Overcoming sadness, loneliness running by his side.
Nobody knows the mistake of loving for an eternity. Nobody but the creations. Nobody, not even the gods knows the eternity better than creations, because the dreams of the men are eternal, because the hopes of the men last forever and they are the same again and again. A unpure heart can't conquer the forever, but the pure heart don't want the eternity. And Cielo had been a pure heart. And he had made the mistake of loving her without thinking back. Eternal longing, eternal pain, eternal memories.
He had been learning to cope with it for the last three hundred years and still his heart felt the need to have her by his side every afternoon after going from stone to flesh. His eyes still deceived him with the vision of her, last thing in the morning, when a young, curious crow went to look at what was him.
He had been racing the pain around the world watching the marvels and wonders, looking around and losing his past in the process. He had been trying to win a present.
And then, a beam of hope. The feeling of something like him, looking at the same stars he did, hoping under the same moon not to be alone. Maybe. And that was what he was looking for now.
~o~o~o~
-Bonjour!- she said, roses on her lips, an apple flower in her hand. And Toto, standing on the branch of the same apple tree, made a reverence the best way he knew inclining his head to a dangerous angle, under the risk of falling of the branch.
-Good afternoon mademoiselle- he said with affectation and a hidden smile, before flying down to land on the window sill besides her.
-What are you looking for?- she said with the familiarity of a young teenager before a family member and Toto laughed out loud for the first time after Cielo's death.
-The sky- he said after thinking a little about his answer and she stood in the silence of the friends, before sitting down by him, her small shoed feet dangling under her. Toto looked back at her from the vision of the blue sky, where he was lost, looking for something that would not be there again. The little girl, Alouette, was the better known doll by the local birds, because she was able to talk and walk all alone. Création, they had called her, looking like a fifteen years old young woman, dressed in a brown and cream long gown, soft blonde curls falling at the sides of her oval face, blue eyes looking at the blue sky, from her ten inches height.
-Ciel...- she said at last, after a long, long silence, white and pink petals raining around them, falling into the room through the open window. -Ginette liked the sky and the apple flowers- she said before her silence made the male answer -She died young, and lived short. And now she is in her beloved Ciel. And she showed it to me too.- Alouette stood up and put her hands to the sides of his head -Look.- she said before Toto closed his eyes to live again a memory never forgotten.
~o~o~o~
When he opened his eyes, he was in front of a young woman, not older than seventeen, with pale yellow skin and big brown eyes. But he was not he anymore, but she, and she moved her hands for the first time and walked to the girl and was received in loving arms by her.
Ginette was her name, eighteen her age and hepatic encephalopathy her ghost. Her father had been a doll maker and so was she, since the age of ten. Since young she had been weak, sleeping all day and feeling confused. So, knowing she was going to die soon, she wanted to make something where her heart could live and she made a doll.
Alouette learned of the world by Ginette's lips, both girl and doll sharing a soul and a heart, loving the same things, living on the same memories, until the child began to smile, to dance and to sing when the mother couldn't. Then their hearts were separated , the child knew achievement, the mother, pride, and both of them, loneliness.
Ginette died one year later and Ginette's mother, the grandmother, loved the child as her child masterpiece and memory. And love was the way she continued to live, by the heart of Ginette's mother, her cousins and their children, to the last generation of doll makers.
And one night, under the light of the moon, Ginette returned to her, white and pink as the apple flowers, smiling and shining.
-Come- she said, and showed her the way to the safety in the dream of the ones with an eternal soul- come when your heart is ready and when your time is over.-
~o~o~o~
-The place to go when you are ready and there's nothing left- Toto said, opening his eyes.
-There's always something left- Alouette said, bringing her hands back to their place, by her hips -because they will always live with you, in your memory, in your eternal memory of Création, all of them, Lysander, Muta and Cielo. They will always live with you.- She looked back at the sky, her painted eyes without pupils glazing over the memory. -She couldn't remember anything at the end, she was confused all the time, she was constantly scared and finally she went to sleep and never wake up.- Blue tears began to fall to the grass from her eyes -But she is still alive, here- she said touching her chest and then touching his -As Cielo lives here.-
~o~o~o~
Part 3: Place to go...
Leaves falling, cold wind and a forest in the middle of nowhere, in the place where dreams and reality fuses. Toto could feel himself returning to his stone self all the time, just to turn his head and see he wasn't. The scary sensation never let him go as he flew after the black and gray shadow of his love ones.
His place had always being the sunset... twilight better said, when the first star begin to shine, just after the sun had died for the day. And that twilight he had been dreaming of Lysander and his little hammer, of Muta and his eternal bad jokes. Of Cielo and their time together, pretending to be two teenager birds in love... and then, just as he turned from stone to flesh, the soft feeling of feathers on his beak called him to reality to see the devoted eyes of the crow he still loved. -Time to fly- she had said just before leaving him behind, and he lost sight of her between the trees of the forest.
-Come... mio figlio- Lysander's voice sounded by his side, before he saw the gray shadow of the man running to enter the forest.
-Come on, birdbrain, time to wake up- Muta's gruff voice called him from a high branch of the first tree and Toto turned just in time to see his brother first flight, under the shine of the full moon, the night of the beasts and magic, before flying on his own.
And his race against his love had turned into a race again time and memories. Trees began to be icicles and the warm wind of the summer nights, winter blizzards. And he felt the pain again, the regret and the hate for himself as he turned into stone forever.
-Forgive yourself- Lysander's voice was soft as cotton and as warm as a mother's hug against the cold.
-I can't- Toto replied, full of death and stone.
-You can never win against time, birdbrain- Muta's voice encouraged him, flexing his wings in warm currents of air,carrying him far and far above.
-Nobody wins against nature- Cielo's voice dissipated the fog surrounding the trees, leaving sight of the end of the forest and the light at the end of it.
-Forgive yourself, for you had no way to save us nor the right to fight. Accept the truth and live, because we will live as long as you remember us- Lysander said and he extended his left arm in front of him to let the tired crow rest on it. They were at the entrance of a tunnel of trees light beyond it. And Toto came to rest on the offered limb and pecked the man's hair with love.
-I couldn't stop your sickness, nor your old age- Toto accepted and the man nodded, caressing the feathers on the crow's head, in silence.
-I couldn't stop the earthquake. I couldn't be on time to save you- Toto said to Muta, who laughed before patting his ample stomach.
-Not that you could carry me with those scrawny wings, birdbrain.- Muta replied, earning a heartfelt laugh from the stone crow.
-I couldn't stop the time for us to be together- Toto said at last, looking at the eyes of the love of his life, who just smiled as only the birds can.
-We were together, as birds should be and you gave me the happiness you could, the best way you could- she said.
-Got there, where you go once there's nothing left to do with this life, and begin a new one, be reborn now that your heart is ready to do so. Forgive yourself and remember, as all the Creations do when it's the time to go on- the three said at the same time and Toto left Lysander's arm, to flight into the light, without turning back.
~o~o~o~
Part 4: The Cat Creation.
Time came and went, in the middle of the courtyard of what was known as "The Refuge for Creations", where a pillar was raised and the crow creation liked to sleep the dreams of the past and future. Creations came and went the same as time, to share stories, to remember love, to rest in their quest, to find a purpose.
It's said there's a Creation for every human hope in the world. For every hope that is hoped for other, that has a purpose, and has a way. Toto's purpose, as he discovered the night he had been welcomed into the "Refuge" was to fly. He was meant to be the wings in which dreams might become realities and wishes might raise above the clouds, into the stars. That was his meaning, and his purpose, and he used to fly every night, above the children's dreams, to listen to their wishes and take them to the top of the threes, where they could see the distant moon. But as he learned, even it that was what he knew was meant to do, nothing was gained that way. So he came back, every morning, full of words and empty of meaning.
That was, of course, until the afternoon when the sun set had brought the shine of hundred suns into the courtyard, blinding the unsuspecting creations with the light. And a cat had come behind it, walking on shoes feet, wearing a light gray, almost white suit, a cane on his right hand, a portrait under his left arm, a top hat between his ears and a confused expression in his yellow-green eyes.
Silence greeted him, the eyes of half a dozen beings on him, before he took off his hat ans made a short reverence before them -Good afternoon... my name is Baron Humbert Von Gikkingen. Pleased to make your acquaintance.- were his words, smoothly said, before the creations cheered the newcomer.
Von Gikkingen, as most the creations liked to call him, came to live inside the smallest of the houses, the one suiting his liking. His best friend was Toto, a fast friendship, ganied in equality of conditions: A lost love.
~o~o~o~
-Serenata para Cristina- or Christie, the creations called her -is the same as you.- Toto said on the afternoon tea, while eating some mulberries on Baron's balcony's rail. He was the only one who called the cloth and wood creation by his title, since it was far easier than his given name and his last name. -She was made for a loved one too, with all the hope of a suit to be accepted. Maybe that's your purpose, the same as her's.-
The young girl, ethereal body humming always the same song, spent her entire nights in the dreams of the young boys and girls, praying for their love, and it was wellknown that every time a confession was made and the distant sound of her song could be heard, the love would be true.
-I don't think I might be able to bring a couple together- the aristocratic cat said after a short silence and a sip of tea -Miss Christie's creator was together with his love and my creator lost his.- and gazed at the portrait on the wall, the same he had been carrying when he had arrived to the "Refuge", nearly two months prior.
-Oh, sorry- Toto apologized, knowing how delicate it was the love theme for his friend. After all, dear unnamed Louise had been destroyed by a bomb a couple of years before.
-There's no problem- the cat smiled and looked beyond the window, to the courtyard where the song creation Christie was dancing happily at the rhythm of her own music with another doll creation, Myrddin, made of clay and emeralds.
-Maybe, if you know the world outside the "Refuge" you might find your purpose- Toto said before offering his back to the cat lord and, together, they took off to the sky.
~o~o~o~
Part 5: First time for everything...
-There!- Baron's sharp eyes saw it first when they flew above the trees, searching for a lost doll in the local park. It was their first time flying and they already looked like a team, after they had agreed to help the little girl, crying alone on the bench for her lost doll. Toto knew her immediate wish was for it to be returned and Baron wanted to be of help, not being able to shake off his gentlemanly ways, so they had searched all around the park until seeing the doll, stuck between two branches thanks to a group of bullies who were, as one could suspect, bullying the girl. So Baron and Toto had listened to the girl, returned the doll to her, given some words of encouragement and finally the girl had stood up to her tormenters and everything had been alright for everyone: the boys had a new friend, the girl had the courage to speak her mind and Baron and Toto had finally a way to fulfill their purposes, giving meaning to their lives.
-How do Cat Bureau sounds?- Toto asked in jest and both friends laughed in the way back to the "Refuge".
~o~o~o~
Part 6: The girl who speaks to cats.
-Konnichiwa Toto!- a cheerful voice greeted him some seconds before the actual presence of Minawa came into view. She was a beautiful magpie with three circular black sports in her chest, therefore the reason for her name.
-Hi Minawa!- Toto greeted back -Are you alright?- he asked, since the female bird had been depressed for two weeks, because of the disappearance of her twin brother Michinaga.
-Yeah, Michi returned home last night and you won't believe what he told us!- she said with an anticipation tone often used by young birds, and without waiting for Toto's answer, she continued -That a human saved him!- Toto's expression of surprise wasn't lost to the bird, who laughed hard -and that's not all, it seems she can speak with cats!- Now Minawa was nearly upside down thanks to the laughter, but for Toto it wasn't laughing matter. He flew directly to the Kawa's tree to speak with the older brother. And he found Michi there, gazing far at the sky.
-Konnichiwa Michi- Toto saluted before landing on the same branch the teen bird was.
-Hey...-the younger answered absently, before falling into silence.
-Minawa told me what happened- Toto spoke once it was obvious the young wasn't going to say anything more.
-Yeah... you won't believe me too, will you?- Michi asked in a bitter tone of voice, without watching the other bird next to him.
-I do- Toto simply said and Michi turned around, surprised to hear the only two words he had needed to hear. And with no more words, both took off in the direction Michi took them, to see the girl who could speak with cats.
~o~o~o~
-It's her- Michi said as they landed on a branch at the other side of the street from where they could see a girl playing happily with a doll. She had big brown eyes and short brown hair in a ponytail, and an oval shaped face, framed by her rebel bangs of hair.
-How do you know she can speak with cats?- Toto asked after sensing the girl's wish; for a friend to play with.
-Because while she was treating me, a stray cat, a big gray one, asked her to give me to him, so I would become its meal, and she said not, because I was going to be okay- Michi answered after a shudder and, since Toto wasn't going to say anything more, returned to his family tree.
Toto stood there a little more time, just enough for the girl to go to bed, then took flight and searched for the ideal one. In an apartment building some streets far he found what he was seeking for. A girl, a young girl with sandy brown hair and two little brothers was sleeping and dreaming she would make a good girl friend in her new school, so Toto took both the dreams, mixed them together and returned to the "Refuge", thankful he was able to pay back the favor of saving a friend's life.
~o~o~o~
Part 7: The criminal cat from a kingdom of lies.
Toto was flying far above the city, just watching for abnormal things. And certainly a very fat cat, white as the moon and big as a dog walking (or better said, wobbling) along the street was abnormal.
-Hey! Fatso!- Toto yelled as he launched himself to the white mass of fur below him but was forced to pause on the air, in the middle of his flight by the force of the cat's gaze. And now that he watched at it closely it was far thinner than what he had expected.
-What'cha want birdbrain?- the gruff voice from the cat almost caused the stone crow to turn back to his original form. But his confusion lasted only a single instant, before he could feel the actual wish from the cat. He wanted to be someone new and not to be alone.
-You don't have to listen to me- Toto said slowly flying by the cat's side -But there's a place where you can go, whenever you want to meet others like you. There, no one will find you, unless you want to. I promise...- and smiled at the sudden memory of his younger brother -You Pork-bun-
-Shuddup birdbrain!- the cat yelled, but Toto couldn't help but feel the relief in his voice and soul.
-What's your name?- Toto asked conversationally.
-Don't have one- the cat answered evasively, but Toto immediately knew he was lying, and yet again, the memory of his brother resurfaced, his smiling face at the side of the face of the cat.
-What about Muta?- Toto suggested and the cat stopped cold in his tracks.
-Muta?-
-It means "change"- Toto answered, earning the first heartfelt smile from the cat.
-Sounds good, overgrown chicken!- Muta said before taking off in a race, and Toto laughed hard. Maybe it wasn't fair to "revive" his brother through a friend, but no harm was made by it. After all, maybe... maybe that extremely big cat could have, at least a part, of his brother's soul.
And Toto took off after the cat, none of them really caring about the fact that Muta didn't know the way to the "Refuge" or the fact that maybe the other creations might not be happy about having a mortal among them.
~o~o~o~
Part 8: No good deed goes unpunished.
He was sleeping when the girl came, but that didn't mean he couldn't notice the fact that she was entering the courtyard, like so many small children before her. Curiously enough, the only humans that could enter the "Refuge" were the ones that believed in magic, and lately, only the little children believed. But she felt somewhat different... and familiar.
-I see you have visitors today- he commented, just after turning back to flesh for the night. It was then, before the shock of Baron's words and after his own words that he noticed the familiar feeling coming from her. The girl who spoke to cats...
The jolt from Baron's words, commenting on the girl's looks, brought him back to reality, and he could immediately see some kind of... admiration... from the lord to the teen.
But chances were always needed to fight with Muta and spend their friendship like that. So she was in troubles for saving someone... how natural it seemed for her! Maybe it had not been the first time, but it surely seemed like magic was not normal for her, that she didn't understand the undercurrents of destiny and how the lives of others were slowly spinning around her.
Mulberries, yes, they needed mulberries. Surely the girl would love them.
The night wind called him to cool off his confusion, since he was seeing something he couldn't be seeing. Some called it "the red thread of fate", but it looked nothing like that. It was more like an aura around the girl, a mortal with immortal soul. And he felt so sad, because loves like those could not bear fruit ever. He was the living proof.
Cats... was it normal to be a cat parade running around the commercial district in the city? Yeah, well, it was pretty normal for one or two cats to be wandering together... but fifty?... why was it so abnorm...?
-Posso essere più stupidi?- he yelled to himself at the top of his lungs before returning to the Bureau, just in time to give warning for something already happening and for be of help to his friends and the girl.
There was frustration on Baron's sight when they couldn't follow them anymore, but it was soon replaced in his brilliant mind by an idea before he jumped into the water. And all that meant was problems when he was like that.
~o~o~o~
Part 9: Bridges.
Friends...
Can you imagine how many friends were needed to save one person, a fat cat and a walking and talking doll from falling to their death?
Well, that was his goal.
To get together all his friends, and all his known ones and all the ones who were in debt with him.
It was the biggest case he had been into since he knew the cat lord.
And for God... he was enjoying every second of it.
School's roof... peace and silence. Words of goodbye cawed by his friends and the hope in the girl's eyes.
Secrets...
-One more thing to do- he said and Muta extended his front legs to be pulled. Just the Muta he was when something was really needed and the way only them could talk through, without fighting.
-What was that about, birdbrain?-
-Change- Toto answered when they were almost at the school clock. And those were all the words needed. They knew the change. Firsthand.
-They know the truth- Muta confessed just as they were coming close to the end of the journey.
-They had- Toto answered as he descended for Baron to make a final show of appreciation to the girl and the cat lord jumped to his back, to go directly to the Bureau and get back to their lives.
The girls words could be heard over the sound of the wind and, even tough they had to fight to keep the world upside up, Not Muta, nor Toto could fail to notice the longing in the doll's eyes.
No...
Baron not...
It wasn't fair for him to suffer too...
And like that, the three of them knew she was one of those humans who could believe in magic and be mature at the same time... all thanks to the pain of a love that could never be.
Only one more chapter to go! (weeeeee!) look forward to it! (this is a BaronxHaru)
Thanks very much Chocolate for your review! it gave me the strenght to keep writting!
