"What if you slept
And what if
In your sleep
You dreamed
And what if
In your dream
You went to heaven
And there plucked a strange and beautiful flower
And what if
When you awoke
You had that flower in your hand
Ah, what then?"
~Samuel Taylor Coleridge
...~*~...~*~...~*~...
Wings fluttered. A bird took flight.
Dunamis watched, gaze dull. He was flightless. He was trapped in this temple of stone and stars, bound by duty. The necklace was heavy around his neck.
I want to fly. I want to be free from this fate.
The stars watched coldly, their decree unyielding.
His back burned.
...~*~...~*~...~*~...
A thick, swirling expanse of dark purple mist suddenly exploded into existence across the sky. For a moment, that was all that Titi could see. However, in a split second, the cloud rapidly compressed into two feathery masses on either side of the falling figure.
They were wings.
"Dunamis!" Titi shrieked, eyes wide and disbelieving.
The wings were limp and trailing, useless in halting Dunamis's descent, and Titi was terrified that the guardian was going to slam into the ground and die.
But the wings jerked to life, Dunamis's head snapping back as they caught the air. His body hung listlessly as the wings beat the air.
Suddenly, Titu felt himself tugged along as Tsubasa grabbed his hand and dragged him through the crowd. Yuu was being pulled with Tsubasa's other arm, keeping the orange-haired blader pressed protectively against his side. The mass of people were screaming and shoving as phone cameras flashed and recorded. Together, the trio pushed through the throng to reach Gingka and Kenta, who were a colourful beacon among the chaos.
"What's going on?! Where's Madoka?" Kenta was yelling as the two of them met up with the group.
No one answered, too busy staring at Dunamis, who hovered above, level with about the eighth floor of the hospital. His wings churned the air, but he seemed to be unconscious, his eyes closed and limbs slack.
…~*~...~*~...~*~...
Fire flickered back to life behind him, its shifting light only illuminating the oily surface of the manacles and the dusty condition of the hallway floors.
Flames were burning down the walls as he attempted to run, but the chains were heavy, so heavy around his ankles. The numbness had receded, but it was replaced only by pain. He struggled to even move, ashes and smoke choking his throat. Everything was going up in a mass of sparks, the fire devouring the entirety of the hallways.
You must wake up.
And he was lashing out at his nightmares, at the curse, at anything.
Because it hurt.
It hurt so much.
He was burning.
…~*~...~*~...~*~...
Dunamis crouched on the ground, cold stone digging into his knees. His bones ached with the chill. His breath fogged out in rapid, panicked clouds that mimicked the rhythm of his pounding heart. He stared at his hands.
They were covered in blood.
The blood of his parents.
The blood burned. Flames began to spring to life around him, as if he were on the funeral pyre.
…~*~...~*~...~*~...
The wings spasmed, Dunamis's body jerking like some kind of sick puppet. The wings splayed out, and suddenly there was dark fire wreathing their feathers. The flames roared, and someone in the crowd screamed.
It began to rain fire.
Flames and sparks drifted down from the still beating wings. Where they landed on the concrete, blazes of black fire sprung to life.
The mass of people began to panic, running away from the hospital and spilling into the streets that had come to a standstill in the traffic jam. Cries and shouts filled the air as the crowd pushed and shoved their way to safety, desperately avoiding the flames.
"Dunamis!" Titi screamed, buffeted from all sides as he struggled to go against the flow of the mass of people. Dimly, he registered that he had left his group of friends. He continued to fight against the throng of panicked bystanders. They were fleeing from Dunamis. He was going towards him.
Because to him, Dunamis was more than a friend, a mentor, and an opponent in beybattles.
He was a brother.
Titi had lost his family. His parents were dim memories who disappeared without any reason that he knew of. Any recollection of his parents were buried under years of loneliness and self-deprecation. He didn't know why his parents had abandoned him. Maybe he had been too much of a burden, maybe he'd been unwanted, unloved from the beginning. But, watching from the shadows, he'd seen happy families during his years of solitude. He'd also watched Gingka and his father laughing and smiling together. He'd seen Yuu and the one he called "brother", Tsubasa, interact in such a way that his chest ached at their closeness.
He felt like what Yuu and Tsubasa had, he and Dunamis had too.
Titi was not willing to lose another family member, especially not his brother. He would not lose Dunamis. No matter what, he would save his brother.
...~*~...~*~...~*~...
It opened its eyes, watching the puny humans scream beneath it. The wings were keeping the body aloft and showering the people below with flames.
It grinned.
Oh, dreams and nightmares hold such power. Just a fraction of my power is needed to bring such wonderful fear. The rest is taken care of by the boy.
It experimentally shifted its shoulders, exerting some power in its wings. The wings stuttered in their rhythm and began to descend.
In the back of its mind, the guardian was screaming.
Vaguely, it could feel the flames that ravaged the boy's mind, trying to force him to regain control of his body. It knew that such unconscious attempts of usurping the curse's control were useless.
The guardian is too weak, too easily shattered. He is seeking refuge, retreating into the maze of his own mind. Even while a part of him is trying to force him awake.
It laughed, its feet finally touching the ground. The black fire licked up its ankles, neither harming nor offering warmth. It was a cold flame.
"Dunamis!"
A child ran towards him, pink hair wind-tossed and blue eyes wild.
It smiled, arms held out in a parody of a loving manner.
Sleep boy, while I destroy the world you hold dear.
...~*~...~*~...~*~...
Dunamis looked like some sort of terrible angel, deep purple wings sprouting from his back and his hospital robes darkened from its usual sky blue to a inky black. Flames had sprouted up by his bare feet, but they didn't seem to bother him in the slightest way. His face was thrown in shadow by his bangs, but his arms were held out in welcome to Titi.
Titi didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Everything's going to be okay. We'll figure out what's wrong with Dunamis, and he'll go back to normal. He is already getting better. Look! He's waiting for me.
But something seemed wrong.
Even as Titi optimistically looked towards a brighter future, there was a sinking feeling in his heart. He could ignore it all he wanted but the fact remained.
Dunamis had changed.
The curse had taken over and was wreaking havoc using his body. It was probably hurting Dunamis's body in the process.
There was a vague impression that just his love for his brother could save the guardian, but he knew this was a naive idea. In the end, Dunamis was suffering, and Titi didn't know how to help him.
And he knew there was no way that the real Dunamis would have even attempted to hurt those innocent bystanders, especially with a smile on his face. The flames and the wings were just physical signs that his brother was not what was standing before him.
Titi stopped.
He looked at the curse that was wearing Dunamis's face. The wind blew the obstructing bangs out of the way.
Its eyes were cold.
Titi let the tears run down his face.
"You're not Dunamis."
It smirked, the expression twisting Dunamis's face into something horribly cruel as it drawled. "I suppose even fools can realize it when they stand before a far superior being."
Titi retreated back a step before he hardened his resolve. His hands fisted by his sides, and his eyes narrowed in determination.
"Give him back!" He shouted, even as his cheeks still shone with the remnants of tears. "Let my brother go!"
The curse chuckled, a low chilling sound that made Titi involuntarily shudder. It took a step forward, wings dissipating from its back. A purple miasma began to writhe around its form even as the flames roared to new life, twisting and dancing around it.
"I will not loosen my grip on this body", it hissed. "Until it is completely dead."
The miasma shot towards Titi, and the flames raced towards the boy as well.
Titi screamed.
...~*~...~*~...~*~...
A scream pierced through the pain of the burning. It seemed to echo through every corner of his mind, reverberating off the hallways and rising above the crackle of the flames.
Suddenly everything stopped. The pain, the fire, the disintegration. Every flickering memory, glimpsed through the holes in the walls, froze like a movie put on pause.
There was an urgent pull.
Wake up!
Before him stood a door, dark and forbidding. Dancing torchlight seemed to make its surface liquid and alive.
The scream rang in his ears.
He pushed the door open.
...~*~...~*~...~*~...
Titi laughed as Dunamis play-wrestled with him on the steps of the temple. It was not unusual to hear the sweet sound of a child's laughter within the stone halls anymore. But it was out of the ordinary for Dunamis to play with Titi outside of bey-battling.
Dunamis could not help the bark of his own laughter when Titi used his nimble fingers to tickle his sides.
Dunamis could not remember the last time he had laughed like this, carefree and full of joy.
He watched Titi catch his breath, a wide grin still splitting his face. The child was like a beacon of light in his once dreary life.
Starlight and moonlight lit up Titi's eyes, making the blue shine brighter than the guardian had ever seen.
I have not felt this feeling for a long time. This feeling of... family.
He is like a brother to me...
And I refuse to lose another family member, especially not him.
I will always protect him.
...~*~...~*~...~*~...
A/N: Sooooo, hi. After like forever. I'm so, so sorry. Life just whacked me over the head and ran me over. Repeatedly. That coupled with a general lack of inspiration and time have severely limited this fic's progress. I am forever grateful to any readers that have stuck around and to my reviewers. This chapter has been sitting unfinished in my writing folder for months, and I'm finishing it now and uploading only because I am stuck at home recovering from pneumonia. Yeah. I got pneumonia in summer. -_- Anyway, I can't make promises on updates, but since school is out, I'll try my best to finish this fic before school starts back up. There should only be a few chapters left. Sorry again for the wait, and thank you for reading and sticking out the aforementioned long waits.
Storywise, the curse took over and started wreaking havoc. Dunamis was still trapped in his mind (the hallways), reliving memories. The curse used its power to twist Dunamis's memories and feed his power in the real world. Thus the wings and the flames. The flames in the hallways are actually his subconscious trying to wake him up. And finally, the catalyst for his awakening is Titi. Hope it wasn't too confusing. I know the last chapter was hard to wrap one's head around.