A/N: I love "The Walrus and the Carpenter"- if you've never read the books you should at least google and read the poem. :P
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When he finally felt he was a safe distance away, he breathed a sigh of not-quite-relief. He was still trapped in this hellish forest with even less idea of the direction he was travelling in. Kamui found himself torn between hoping he ran into someone else he could ask for help and terror that he would run into any more weirdos. So he wandered, drawing his arms around him for warmth and protection, as though they could actually offer it. After what felt like hours of nothingness and waiting, he sat down and fought the urge to cry.
You're the Kamui! He scolded himself harshly in his head. The fate of the whole WORLD is on your shoulders. You are NOT going to just break down here in the middle of nowhere and cry just because you've gotten a little turned around.
He sniffled a little, despite himself.
"What's this? A little lost savior weeping in the forest?" A voice that sent spears of ice down his spine asked from behind him.
He jumped and spun around to face a man he vaguely recognized. He frowned, trying to place him. He was momentarily distracted when he noticed that all of the trees were different from before. Their petals were no longer dark and expansive but pale pink and fragrantly delicate…
"Sakurazukamori!" He cried, leaping back a few feet.
The man smiled and took another drag from his cigarette before answering. "Yes, that is who I am. And who are you?"
"What… you've met me before and knew who I was… and you just called me 'little savior'."
"Yes. But who are you?" Sakurazuka repeated, calmly tapping away ashes from the end of his cigarette, making Kamui briefly wonder if he was also the source of forest fires or something.
"I'm Kamui. You already know that."
"But who are you?" Sakurazuka loomed over him.
"I… I'm Kamui. Stop playing games you bastard!" Kamui made a move to shove him away but the Sakurazukamori dodged his hand easily, still smiling that sickening grin.
"But who is Kamui?" he asked.
Kamui opened his mouth to answer but before he could reply, Sakurazuka unexpectedly stepped back and performed his usual vanishing act in a flurry of sakura petals. Kamui scowled at the lost opportunity to snap back something clever even though he had not yet thought of a good retort. He was caught off guard however when instead of just disappearing, the petals formed a kind of cocoon, and then collapsed away, revealing that they had transformed Sakurazuka into someone else.
"Fu… Fuuma?" Kamui shook his head. It couldn't be.
"Who are you?" He asked again, in that familiar childhood voice. "Who is Kamui?"
"I… I am. Fuuma wait!" Kamui reached out a hand but felt it slip through thin air as Fuuma suddenly vanished.
Who is Kamui?
The words echoed in the air and Kamui suddenly was not sure if he had imagined it or if someone had really spoken them aloud. He tried to shake away the feeling of helplessness and continued to wander but being hopelessly lost at this point was not making him feel any better at all.
Just when he was on the verge of giving up hope again, he saw a flash of color between the trees before him and recognized the velvet waistcoat. This time, much to his relief, Subaru did not run away when he called his name.
His reaction however, to Kamui's grateful approach and relieved hug was less than reassuring.
"Where is he? Am I too late again?" He asked breathlessly, as though he had been running a long time to reach this spot.
"What are you talking about Subaru?"
"Seishirou-san. Is he already gone?"
Kamui frowned. "If you mean the Sakurazukamori, then yes, he's gone…"
Subaru swore, a small careless act that Kamui would have brushed off from anyone else in the world.
"Subaru?"
"I have to go. I'm late."
"Late for what? Subaru don't go please!" Kamui felt childish for clinging to him like this but everything he had seen and heard that day had unbalanced him and he didn't want to lose his anchor to sanity, ignoring the irony of the fact that of all people it was Subaru.
"Nono, I must go. I'm very late." Subaru insisted, speaking more rapidly than normal. Had he not known better, Kamui would have almost thought he was on drugs.
"Late for what?"
"Too late, in fact. I fear." Subaru said softly, gently pushing Kamui away.
"For what?"
"For my wish."
"What wish? Subaru!" Kamui screamed as the older man disappeared again into the tenebrous woods.
"You've got all the time in the world!"
"That's not very much is it?"
I will not break down. Kamui insisted to himself. I will NOT. Even if I am completely hopelessly lost and alone and have no idea what's going on or what direction to go. Or even where I would go if I knew which direction to take. What am I even looking for? Kamui felt his breathing grow more rapid as panic set in.
Who is Kamui?
"No! Stop!" He put his hands over his ears, falling to his knees.
"Stop what?" A cheerful voice asked. He lifted his head and through eyes blurred with tears of frustration realized that two people in matching daisy yellow coats and hats were bent over in front of him, their gleeful faces just inches away from his, as if they could beam away his sadness with their smiles.
"Sorata? Yuzuriha?" he asked, ashamed at how watery his own voice sounded.
"What's wrong kid?" Sorata asked, every beat to his words on its way up.
"I'm… just not having a very good day I guess." Kamui replied, hesitantly. At least these were people that he considered friends, he thought. And they didn't seem any more crazy than they normally were.
"Oh!" Yuzuriha clapped her hands together as if delighted by this prospect. "I know just the thing!" Kamui waited for her to whip a packet of pocky out of one of her many enormous coat pockets. "A song!"
"Of course!" Sorata immediately agreed, giving her a big hug. "That's just the thing for a situation like this! Now- you just sit there and we'll cheer you up in no time!"
The two of them pushed Kamui into a sitting position and leapt up to stand in front of him, side by side. They cleared their throats in unison and before Kamui could protest this absurdly timed performance, Sorata began to recite in a sing-songy voice:
The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright -
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night. (1)
Yuzuriha jumped in, taking over the poem.
The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done -
'It's very rude of him,' she said,
'To come and spoil the fun.'
"You see," A voice interrupted the poem, "Sometimes people try to shine when a little darkness there must be." The three of them looked up to see Fuuma lounging lazily on a tree branch above them. "Of course, even the moon herself is rather presumptuous here isn't she? Thinking she has the right to spoil the night with her own weak light." He flashed them a feline smile before asking if he could continue the poem. Without waiting for an answer he began.
The blood was wet as wet could be,
The bones were dry as dry.
You could not see a soul, because
No one was left alive:
No birds were flying overhead -
There were no birds to fly.
Yuzuriha gasped and covered her mouth in horror. Sorata frowned. "That's not…" he began but Fuuma held up a hand, silencing them both. Kamui just stared, afraid to say anything this time lest Fuuma disappear once more
The Devil and the Chosen One
Were those left to remain;
They wept like anything to see
Such grief of those in pain:
`If only Fate had found a way,'
They said, `to spare us from this shame!'
`If seven seals with seven dreams
Worked for half a year,
Do you suppose,' the Devil said,
`That they could get it clear?'
`I doubt it,' said the Chosen One,
And shed a bitter tear.
`O Dragons, come and walk with us!'
The Devil did beseech.
`A lonely walk, a lonely talk,
Our secrets we will teach
We cannot do with more than twelve,
To give our grace to each.'
The eldest Dragon looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest Dragon closed his eyes,
And shook his heavy head -
Meaning to say he did not choose
To leave his sterile bed. (2)
But other Dragons hurried up,
All eager for the fight:
Their tales were scrubbed, their faces washed,
Their scales were clean and bright -
And this was odd, because they were
Aware that die they might.
The Devil and the Chosen One
Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little Dragons stood
And waited in a row.
`The time has come,' the Devil said,
`To talk of many things:
Of life- and death - and sealing fate -
Of prophecies- and dreams -
And why the earth is crumbling now -
And how angels get wings.'
`But wait a bit,' the Dragons cried,
`Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath!'
They cried from where they sat.
`No hurry!' said the Chosen One.
They thanked him much for that.
`A brand new world,' the Devil said,
`Is what we chiefly need:
Courage and honesty besides
Are very good indeed -
Now if you're ready, Angels dear,
We can plant the seed.'
`But what of us!' six others cried,
Turning a little blue.
`To leave us out, that would be
A dismal thing to do!'
`The Seals are mine,' the Chosen said.
`To shield the world you knew.
`It seems a shame,' the Devil said,
`To play them such a trick,
After we've brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!'
The Chosen One said nothing but
`This one's blood's too thick!'
`I weep for you,' the Devil said:
`I deeply sympathize.'
With sobs and tears he looked up
into the Chosen's eyes,
Knowing they were only waiting
Until one of them dies.
`O Dragons,' said the Chosen One,
`You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none -
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd murdered every one.
Trees did not lend the acoustics necessary for echoes but echo these last words did nonetheless in Kamui's ears.
Yuzuriha simply stared at Fuuma in shock, her hands still clamped over her mouth, only her huge terrified eyes revealing her horror. Even Sorata seemed to have been rendered speechless by this vignette.
Fuuma grinned madly at both of them then leaned forward to Kamui, tracing his jaw line with his index finger ever so delicately. "Do you see yet, Kamui?"
But Kamui only felt more confused. "I don't understand…" he said slowly. "I just… I want Fuuma back. And I want to go back to how things used to be. I want life to return to normal…"
Fuuma sighed in disappointment. "I'm afraid then that you shall still be here a while." He gave Kamui another unwelcome caress and a taunting smile before vanishing again, leaving the ghost of those grinning lips to linger a moment longer than the rest of him.
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Characters:
Seishirou = The Caterpillar (I originally thought of him as the Cheshire Cat but changed that to Fuuma for reasons I'll explain in a second. The Caterpillar though, beyond the image of him smoking, which given that Seishirou and Subaru and the only smokers we know of in X seemed appropriate, represents an imposing figure to Alice in the book.)
Fuuma = Well, here the butterfly and the Cheshire Cat. The Cheshire Cat reappears to Alice, somewhat explaining things as she goes along but also rather tormenting her, which just seems incredibly Fuuma-like non? In this chapter he was also the butterfly though. Later he's going to appear again as both the Cheshire Cat and other characters. This is my twisting of the concept that he appears to different people differently in X. :P Sorry if it gets confusing.
Yuzuriha = Tweedledee
Sorata = Tweedledum (Or vice versa maybe, I'm not sure. :P This was actually originally inspired by a picture I love of the two of them that can be seen at [ http: / gallery. aethereality. net/ download. php? id=305 ] – copy/paste and remove the spaces. :P It's adorable. I always liked the idea of Yuzuriha and Sorata as good friends. In a way, while Kamui and Subaru seem close in a similar souls kind of way (or at least that's how I always saw it), I thought Yuzuriha and Sorata were like that as well. I thought it would be cute then to mimic CLAMP's making Kamui and Subaru twins in Tsbuasa by making Yuzuriha and Sorata twins here. I do not mean to imply that they're a couple, just to be clear.)
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Notes:
First of all, I'd like to mention I'm really happy with how my version of the Walrus and The Carpenter turned out- if you read the original poem (can be found through google), I tried to keep very close to the original while making it about something completely different and feel the effort was mostly a success although I had to cut two verses.
1. The first two verses featured here are the original verses of the book, it's only when Fuuma starts reciting that the poem changes.
2. I have no idea how old Kakyou really is, but for some reason I always figured he was the oldest of the Dragons of Earth/Angels/Minions/Team Fuuma. He's the one I'm referencing here.