Fires blaze
Spirits roar
A flare of light, and the one he loved is on the brink of death, and yet holds fast with a promise
And the promise is all that's left.
The same dream, every night.
When can I go back home?
His eyes turn to the stars around him, peaceful and ringing softly. They give him no answer. He squints at them, hoping for a pattern, a sign, anything, until his head is swimming. They yield nothing in return.
Please.
One turns to him, little and bright, listening.
Sagittarius?
It seems to wink at him. Yes, it is a star from Sagittarius's sign. Nanto, the little star. It forms the apex between Ascella, Kaus Media, Kaus Borealis, and Nunki. Nanto is the peacemaker, and the only star other than Kaus Media who is an apex between four. Nanto is impatient. She wants to help.
Nanto
Nanto flashes again.
Will you help me?
Nanto's joyful song rings loud in his ears. It is a promise.
Out of all the galaxy, only Nanto hears him. She reminds him of Kenta. And for the first time, the grief breaks forth. He hears a wretched cry torn from his throat, and Nanto darts around him soothingly. She is the peacemaker, after all.
Kenta is awakened by bright green flashes outside his window. The first thing that comes to his boyish mind is a UFO. The second thing is star fragments. He races to the windowpane and stares out.
Flash, Flash, Flash
A sound like sirens wailing folds itself around him. He runs downstairs to wake Madoka. "Madoka! Do you hear that!?"
She looks up groggily. "I don't hear anything, Kenta."
Is he the only one who can hear it? "Look out the window!"
They look out. Draco is still flashing, in a sequence, from Alpha to Psi. Alpha-Beta-Gamma-Delta-Epsilon-Zeta-Iota-Lambda-Mu-Nu-Xi-Sigma-Psi.
Faster, now. Thuban-Rastaban-Eltanin-Altais-Tyl-KaouPih-Edasich-Giauzar-Arrakis-Kuma-Grumium-Alsafi-Dziban.
Madoka murmurs their names as they flash, frantically transcribing an entry into her father's astronomy journal. "This is highly irregular behaviour", she says aloud, not to Kenta, but to herself.
All 13 flash in unison suddenly. Flash-flash-flash
Flash
Flash
Flash
Flash-flash-flash
And then Thuban goes dark.
He had raced out onto the city streets with the others. Eagle is screaming his head off high above them, trying to get away from the noise. Draco is flashing a signal to earth, from Alpha to Psi, head to tail.
All the stars begin to flash in unison, and the crowd goes crazy, crashing into each other. Indian people are very superstitious. A young girl turns and tries to run, but ends up smacking her head against the pavement and passing out. Tsubasa crouches beside her, protecting her from the stampeding crowd, all the while keeping an eye on the sky above him.
Draco begins to flash a pattern, Thuban in sync with Dziban. Morse code? Tsubasa doesn't know if the stars know Morse code. But his scientific mind orders them into letters anyway.
S
O
S
SOS. A cry for help.
"The spirit crying", moans the girl thickly. She is awake. Tsubasa tells her to keep still. He pulls the penlight from his keychain and shines it into her eyes. She doesn't have a concussion, but there's a large scratch on her forehead where she hit the cobblestones.
"Where do you live? We need to get you home."
"Not far", she murmurs. He helps her up, and she directs him, thanking him endlessly. They watch from the window of her shop as the flashing continues and Tsubasa holds a cold compress to her head, and then the stars are still.
She gasps and pulls away from him as suddenly, Thuban goes dark, leaving an empty space in the sky like the space between Eagle's loose feathers. Shortly afterwards, Rastaban disappears from the night sky as well. Shouts are heard outside. Women and children fall to their knees; men scramble for weapons. The girl cries out.
All of them disappear one by one, even Dziban. Hollow ringing suddenly covers the square; one star in the sky is shining almost as brightly as the sun. It's not a part of Draco. Nanto, the corner star in Sagittarius's constellation.
Then everything goes dark again, the stars sitting quietly where they always used to. Even Draco is there. Tsubasa wonders if he has imagined it all.
Quiet, quiet, quiet!
The screaming is all around him as Draco goes dark, commanding him to stop crying. It rises to an alarmingly angry crescendo and then stops. Ryuga can see Nanto humming away, calming Thuban and Edasich and all the angry stars.
Eltanin and Arrakis glare at him, the snake and the dancer paying attention to him for once. Eltanin hisses, and an ominous allegretto comes from Arrakis. Then they turn back to their starry business and leave him be.
Nanto?
Nanto hears him. Nanto looks up.
I'm sorry
Nanto rings sweetly. She forgives him.
When Tsubasa wakes, it is to dusty sunlight streaming in past the silk draping the window. The girl is asleep. He didn't know he'd stayed here the entire night. Embarrassed, he stands, ready to leave, but she wakes as well.
"Thank you help me last night", she says shyly, her accent thick.
"It was nothing. I should go", he tells her.
"No. You eat", she insists, hurrying into her kitchen. Well, she's up and running, which means she should be fine. That, at least, is good. But what to make of Draco's irregular behaviour last night?
After a moment, Tsubasa follows the girl, but she has disappeared. He finds himself in a room full of dazzlingly painted fabric, seeming to depict the milky way galaxy. Where there aren't paintings, there are shelves and tables bearing random objects. Where has he ended up?
She emerges from a side door and sets two plates on one of the tables. As they eat, she explains that her name is Alo. From what he can understand, she is a mystic of sorts. She reminds him almost of Dunamis.
"There is no way I can repay you", she tells him. "You have saved my life."
It was nothing of the sort. But he smiles, and leaves her to her ways.
"Alo, I do have one thing you can help me with", he says. "Can somebody who's dead speak through their star constellation? Like if they owned one of these?" He shows her his beyblade. Alo regards it reverently.
"You have a star disc", she says in awe. She cannot take her eyes off of it. He puts it away, and she looks disappointed.
"I have a friend who died. His constellation was Draco. I think he may have been speaking to somebody last night when Draco was flashing."
Understanding dawns in Alo's eyes. "Ajagara", she says. "Sky dragon. He was speaking."
"Yeah, I mean, yes. Do you think that could have been him? My friend?"
Alo turns excitedly to a table and starts sifting through the many bottles gathered there. "Many spirits go away. Strong one stays in its own way. They go to the stars because their life not letting go. And he speak."
"So he could still return? Or is he basically...dead? Or asleep?"
"Dead, no. Asleep, yes. Return...maybe. Spirit cannot come back on his own."
Excitement bubbled up in him and he fumbled for his cell phone. Despite the large crack in its screen, it still functioned. Eagle squawked at him angrily from the window.
"You have sick bird", Alo informed him, holding up a bottle and peering through it, then setting it down. "Can fix him for you, if you like."
"You don't have to do that", he says, shaking the phone irritably. It's out of battery.
"Alo owe you." She approaches Eagle cautiously. He nips at her, and suddenly she slices her hand down hard against his beak. Eagle loses his balance and flops over onto the carpet. Alo rolls him over on his back.
At first Eagle struggles, but Alo holds him firmly. She begins to hum softly. After the fifth note, Eagle is still. She removes her hands and he lies silently on his back on the carpet.
"He worry for Ajagara", she informed Tsubasa. "Eagle have connection with the heavens. He think Ajagara wants to hurt him. Very old bird", she notes, stretching out Eagle's wing.
"Yeah, I guess...but listen. Alo. Can we bring him back? My friend? I think he's calling for help."
"Maybe not can. Can try. Nanto helping too", says Alo, pointing at Sagittarius's corner star on the wall. "She bring Ajagara back last night when the dark was there."
"How would we do it?"
"We speak to Ajagara. When he take pity on us, he let the boy go. Been done before", she shrugs. "You know Nanto holder? The one who have the star disc?"
"You mean someone whose constellation is Sagittarius?"
"Yes, whatever you said", she says impatiently.
Tsubasa nods. "He was a friend of the boy who died. He's been missing him."
"So dragon holder still have too many ties on earth." Alo nods understandingly. "You can talk to this Nanto girl? On your phone?" she points to the cell phone in his hand.
"Yes. But he's a boy." Can they really do it?
Alo smiles. "Then we all set."
Nanto's chirping wakes him.
Song, song
He sees her smiling at him in her starry way.
What is it, Nanto?
Nanto rings joyously and swims circles around him, leading his eyes to where Tsubasa's view of the world is displayed. Nanto darts across the surface of the image, rippling it like a pond.
The girl in the image has a lavender aura about her. Help is on the way.