Title: Chasing Dreams Without End [2/?]
Character(s): Fuyumi, Honey, a Hitachiin twin, Mori and his mother, Yuuko, Watanuki
Rating: T.
Disclaimer: Ouran High School Host Club belongs to Hatori Bisco and related companies. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle & xxxHolic belong to CLAMP and related companies.
Spoilers: Almost none for Ouran, quite a fair bit for TRC.
Word count: 1700
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CHASING DREAMS WITHOUT END
In the dark of the moonless night, a plot is brewing within the corridors of Shirasagi Castle as three brothers manoeuvre for inheritance of the throne to become the next Emperor.
"Is it true?" Princess Fuyumi asks her maidservant. Is this really so important to them that they've lost all regard for their family?
She receives a solemn nod in reply.
Mother, I haven't brought them up well, please forgive me. Give me another chance to fulfil my promise to you.
Sadness in her eyes, Princess Fuyumi says quietly to herself, "At this point, I have no choice."
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A blond general mounts his warhorse, armour and weapons strapped to his diminutive body.
Every night, he does this.
Every night, he fights in an unwinnable war upon the potholed terrain of the moon, the purpose of which has been diluted by the repetitive, interminable nature of the routine bloodshed. This is the inescapable heritage of the General, born to nobility and made for conquest, conquest and yet more conquest.
There is no joy in this mechanical existence.
All of his family has perished in this pointless quest to win the Moon Castle – so many lives lost based on the unverifiable rumour that the conqueror of the place will be granted any wish, a wish that will not even belong to their family in victory, but to the King of Yama.
The General doesn't know what to do with himself or the dense knot of hatred simmering away inside of him. For him, there is no honour in death on the battlefield, only stupidity. All that is required of him is to be mindless, to train and to fight – already he is invincible and still he grows in power at a shocking rate.
"General Haninozuka, it's time," says the captain of the chariot regiment.
Haninozuka nods once, and the armies are transported to the place that has served as the grave of his family members for too long. He is determined that it will not be his, too.
Tonight, he will choose his own path.
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High up in the sky, suspended in mid-air as though on angel wings is a palace of immeasurable beauty. Corpses are strewn across the imposing flight of stairs leading to the palace, staining the landscape with blood, dirt and death. Emptiness echoes through the caved-in hallways and fallen statues – there is nothing left in this place.
Save for one person at the pinnacle of the tower of astronomy.
From the depths of the spirit pool of magic mirroring the constellations, a flame-haired magician swims to the surface and emerges with a splash of crystal clear water.
After he clothes himself, he looks back at what he's done. The stars no longer reflect well, disturbed by the presence of a regal Empress lying at the bottom of the pool with arms folded neatly over her abdomen and flower-crowned hair splayed like fibres of silk. Against first impressions, this sleep will not be eternal. She will wake one day, and when she does…
This magician needs to be far, far away.
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In the once-idyllic land of Suwa, the holy barriers that keep out the ravenous demons are failing.
Screams rend the air as the monsters swarm the land unchecked. The Lord of Suwa and his younger son Satoshi have led their men to war but the strength of the chronically ill Lady of Suwa is waning, and her defence is often the only thing that makes these battles manageable.
The sentient beasts know this, and they are targeting the estate of the ruling family to hunt down the woman who is stubbornly standing her ground and giving her people hope…
And not all hope is lost, because there is a young man guarding the Lady Priestess's prayer chamber – her eldest son Takashi, pride of the Morinozukas, strongest of the clan in mind, body and heart. The favour of the gods rest on her children for they have inherited a little of her spirituality and much of their father's prowess – they respect that which should be respected and Takashi, especially, is immensely wise, capable of restraint and acceptance at the worst of times.
While Satoshi would have chafed at being left behind, Takashi had volunteered to stay, and wait for the monsters to come rather than charge to their location. Outside, he is defending his mother single-handedly, clean movements swifter than lightning, heavy muscle and energetic agility combining to take down all the enemies. His canny assessment has resulted in the decision to protect her as the top priority for a good outcome in this war even if it is painful for him to watch his precious younger brother and his honourable father ride out without him.
Takashi could not have guessed that the threat would come from inside the chamber, not outside.
Deep in prayer for blessings, the Lady does not notice the opening of a portal in the wall before her until it is too late. From the gateway between worlds, a broad, viciously sharp sword sticks through and stabs the priestess with the terrifying finality of a killing blow, witnessed by the eldest son whose supernaturally honed instincts had warned him of the presence of danger.
Enraged and despairing, Takashi crosses the distance from door to his mother in a flash with his sword drawn and dripping with black blood; like her, he is too late to prevent the tragedy. Running to retrieve whatever medicine and supplies are available in the (dead) physician's room, he panics as he attempts in vain to save his mother – he is not educated in this art, and he knows in his heart that it is over.
"Mother," he says, his sight obscured by tears. "Mother."
At the moment when she was mortally wounded, the Lady had relinquished her hold on the barriers, and in a second of ultimate agony she saw her husband fall trying to shield her youngest, then saw her youngest yield to furious recklessness and meet his own doom.
Here, crying in a way that he hasn't since he was a baby, is the only remaining legacy of her family.
Gazing back into her Takashi's eyes tenderly, she touches the tips of her fingers to his cheek, finally understanding the vision that she'd seen shortly after this child had been conceived – he is meant for a destiny that will affect no less than the entirety of the universe, and the universe itself protects him.
She exerts herself by recalling the heirloom of the family back to her from its forsaken position at the borders, trampled underfoot by the murderers of her beloved Akira. The magnificent weapon, a silver sword imbued with the might of a dragon, appears before them and clatters to the ground.
Takashi's whole face changes with the knowledge that all of his family is dead; it scares her, and she experiences a twinge of fear that he may go mad with grief and loneliness, crazed and utterly degenerated from the kind and disciplined boy she had raised. He is angrier than she has ever known him to be, his self-control on the verge of snapping and bristling with the clawing need to strike out.
She will not be there to help him overcome this challenge, the hardest that he's faced to date, and so she must have faith.
Summoning the last of her magic, the dying mother casts a final spell to send her son to another world where an omniscient, immortal witch exists to grant wishes – the Lady does not know what her son will ask for but she knows that this course of action is right, for the Witch is the other who has seen Takashi's future, and perhaps they have all been living for the culmination of events on this day.
Takashi opens his mouth in a soundless scream as her magic engulfs him, unwilling to let her die alone and desperately clinging onto her, filial to the end.
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In another Japan on the front lawn of a quaint house is where the gravelly scream of loss is heard, heralding the arrival of a warrior who has nothing left save the heirloom sword in his white-knuckled grip.
His presence is expected, despite the fact that he'd exploded out of magic rising from the earth unannounced.
"How fitting that you are the first one here, the foundation of the group, their steadfast rock," remarks the Witch, dressed to the nines in purple enchantress's robes.
At her voice, Takashi's head jerks up violently, fire in his eyes. He looks like he's going to attack anything and anyone from the unspeakable anguish that he is visibly experiencing; a bespectacled boy certainly believes that he will, and jumps in front of the Witch in an incredible show of courage… or foolishness, since Takashi so obviously trumps him in physical stature.
And then, when Takashi manages to restrain himself because she is not a demon and has done nothing wrong as far as he is aware, the Witch knows everything there is to know about him.
"Ah, I see that the Lady of Suwa was able to intervene before you could take up that sword to slaughter the monsters," she says with atypical softness, not that Takashi could have known how she is like. "This is Watanuki," – she indicates the boy – "and I am the Dimension Witch, Ichihara Yuuko. Because of time dilation, and because you are in no condition to meet any more people, you are here before the rest of your party. They will be here in two weeks' local time, and you will have to make a decision then. Your mother sent you to me for a reason – "
The poor boy stares at her bleakly, uncomprehending and demanding answers.
" – and there is no such thing as coincidence. Come, I will tell you what you need to know."
She walks up the wooden steps to the house without a backward glance.
Wiping his tears with his sleeves messily, Takashi climbs to his feet and limps after her like an abused stray animal, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
None of his injuries come anywhere close to matching the hollowness in his heart.