Disclaimer: I don't own them, they own me.

Warning: implied character death

~HAPPY NEW YEAR!~


It seemed so easy back then. They offered me wings and I had no choice but to accept. They never asked me if I wanted this. If I agreed to all the torture and suffering at their hands. Which I didn't.

But, as I said, there wasn't much choice left for me. And some part in me that was able to look further than the pain of the next round of injections was joyful and impatient. They promised me wings, though at that time I had no idea that it would one day become the shattering horror of my life.

Back then, my wings had no black feathers.

They made me stronger, faster, agile and lethal, these uncaring scientists. They made me into their weapon, their sword carrying arm, and I went along.

I learnt to flap those wings and I rose...

There was nothing comparing to that intoxication. To hear the whispers of admiration and jealousy, the flattering praises and the promises of higher, closer, more.

I spread those wings and I soared...

Every gust of wind, every flex of will and muscles brought me closer to my destination. High up, where you were, shining sun, unconquered light, promise of the endless dawn. Every victory, every drop of blood shed was my ascendancy, every new drop of poison in my blood was the promise of the stratosphere.

And more and more I wanted...

I was almost there, almost there, almost but not quite, but you looked at me and there was something in your eyes that drew me like a magnet, that made me want to reach you. To be equal to, to be worthy of what I had in my sights. The perfection of you.

And I tried so hard, but once there, I had to realise that these wings were held together by nothing but wax, too weak, too weak! I gave it a last, desperate try, but the wax just melted faster, faster from the heat and the exertion, faster from the desperately struggling flaps of my wings, they betrayed me, belied my dreams of greatness.

Now, the sound of waves crashing against rock is coming closer and closer and so close...


A/N: In Greek mythology, Icarus' father, Daedalus, attempted to escape from his exile in Crete, where he and his son were imprisoned. So he fashioned a pair of wings of wax and feathers for himself and his son. Before they took off from the island, Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea. Overcome by the joy of flight, Icarus soared through the sky curiously, but in the process he came too close to the sun which melted the wax holding his wings together, and so, Icarus fell into the sea.