-Chapter five- Dream the Not-so-Peaceful Night Away
By the time Laharl had finished with the remaining boxes and organising them, it was nearly 5pm and yet he was already beyond tired.
Still, Atsu had said she was preparing something special for dinner and it would take a while longer.
He'd been wandering around aimlessly until he heard a distinctive chime that was obviously intended for him to respond to.
In moments he was standing in the door, hand against the wooden frame, panting heavily from running the great distance he did – which was quite a ways, for he'd been such a long way away. Atsu gave him a welcoming smile and took him by the back and seemed to lead him inside.
"Come now, it's ready, Laharl!" she said cheerfully, her smile widening. "See what I've made for you,"
"It does smell good…" he confessed, glancing around as if to see the scent itself. It was very aromatic… and it made him calm. Similar to… "A Harusame Flower…?"
"Yes," she said softly, taking a warm dish off of the high counter and lowered it down so that he may see. It was a strange dish, freckled with Harusame Flower petals here and there, and which, no doubt from the heat and whatever else she'd added, had turned a slight duller or more grey while other pieces appeared a healthy green. It looked like these things were placed on a cake of some sort… but otherwise it looked beautiful; not edible. "It's my specialty, special because I only make it or people I hood dear to my heart."
Heart… he thought. Again with the heart… he pulled his hand up to his chest to see if it was still beating. She had told him it meant he was still alive, still able to love.
"Your heart is always beating, Laharl. Even when you are gone, the heart of your soul will continue to race, continue to love."
He couldn't help but let his eyes settle. A warm feeling fell over him, and he felt welcome, safe, and above all, accepted. He loved her poetic way of speaking – it always made him feel like this. It was as if her voice could carry over and embrace him like her very arms.
He wondered if some of this sensation came from the scent of the Harusame Flower that wafted through the warm, misty air.
He refused to think that was all it was.
"Are you ready, Laharl?"
"Hunh…?"
"For dinner, of course! C'mon, I made plenty for the both of us!"
Dinner had been finished for over an hour now, and Laharl, to put it bluntly, was exhausted, ready to collapse, and Atsu saw it.
"Come now, Laharl…" it seemed to be her famous phrase. She gestured for him to make his way to the mound of cushions he used to sleep on. She fluffed up a stray pillow and placed it at the top as he came near, slowly, for he was hardly able to keep himself up now.
He staggered toward her, rubbing his eye wearily, nearly tripping over his own feet for a moment and at the last second, simply let him fall into her ready arms. She lifted him swiftly up and let him down in the centre of the nest gently.
Neither of them knew just why exactly he chose to create this strange collection rather than choosing a futon or mere comforter to sleep on. But, in any case, he said it was comfortable, and easy to hide in. she had no objections to his choice and even confessed to the fact that she'd done it too when she was younger.
He'd basically fallen asleep the moment he felt the warm comforting soft of the pillows beneath his face.
Sleep had come easy, of course… and dreams came as so, two-fold. For some time and hours after he'd been asleep, Atsu noticed him shifting and turning, occasionally making a small stifled sound. She was never really sure what he was dreaming about.
A moment or so later, she heard a small strangled noise from the room he was in, curious, she ambled in to check on him, seeing if he was awake or not. She found him leaned slightly over the top, arm out as if he had previously reached out for something or…
"What do you need, Laharl?" she asked, thinking he was awake. He was not, but she saw his face was red and tense. Puzzled, she watched him for a moment.
"…mother…" was the single, sombre word he muttered, as he stretched his hand out as if to touch… as if to catch…
Atsu wondered what he could possibly be dreaming, wished she knew the things that must be racing through his mind as he slept. She knew that whatever it was, it was about his mother, of course… but what she could never know, was that again and again, his mind put him through that same night… that cold night.
Where the stars shone so brightly… where the moon cried down its tears of red upon his own tear stained face… where the colours seemed to bleed and spread together across the sky…
Where he would have to let go of his mother again.
In this terrible dream, he was seeing his mother as the beloved Red Prinny ascend into the cold night skies … seeing his mother's soul being lifted from the awful demonic shape it had assumed for the long time that it was…
For the long time he was with her and didn't know it.
But what would Etna have said if tried to stop his mother from leaving once he found out? 'Are you going soft on me, Demon Prince?' she would ask. And at this point and time, he would have stood in her face and shouted, 'yes! YES I am!'
Tears slipped down his sleeping face and he absently tensed, pulling the scarf in closer to him.
He wanted his mother back. He wanted to see her smiling face… wanted to let her take him in her arms one last time… To tell him she loved her son… Tell him she cared for him…
So he could tell her he loved her back, and just as much.
...If not, more.
And he wanted to tell her he missed her.
Atsu sighed mournfully and stroked his tearstained face gently with the back of her hand, a soft look in her deep violet eyes. It would be a long night for Laharl.
She knew it all too well.
Angst haters, feel free to flame ;)