Theme: 31, Flowers
Characters: Kharl, Nohiro, Rath (in spirit)
Pairing: None
Warnings: None
Need to Know Info: Takes place during book 18's extra story "Flower".
Title Provider: Fade to Black (Alexz Johnson)
Everything Reminds Me of... Everything You Are... Fades to Black
There is a feeling, a scent, a warmth in the air around him. It has nothing to do with the flowers—or maybe in the end, it does.
The heat of the black tea radiates through the porcelain, through his immaculate white gloves, through his cold skin; it touches his cold heart with tentative tendrils, settles in his throat, holds the words in. Without willing it, his free hand traces the outlines of pure white, pale purple petals.
It reminds me of a flower…
The boy smiles then, a shining, gentle smile against ivory rim of his cup.
"You're strange," he giggles, "but I like you." It is an odd thing to say, but for a moment, looking at the dark-haired man through the shimmering steam of his own tea, it seems absolutely normal. No, the Alchemist realizes as the words resonate inside him, it seems almost familiar.
He is, for a bare second, unsettled, and there seems to be something in his mind (a memory, a dream, something not quite as solid as either of those) that struggles to answer. He feels as if there are words he is supposed to say—words he knows, yet cannot find. And then in the next moment the feeling is gone, and he is, once again, simply staring over the gold-plated rim of a teacup at a smiling stranger. The boy chatters idly, and though he nods along, Kharl's mind is miles away, thinking of another dark-haired child.
Perhaps it is only indulgence, but the Alchemist imagines. If those strands of hair were just a little darker, and these a little whiter… If those eyes were dappled crimson, if that smile glinted with fangs… Playing pretend is a game he has never grown out of, and here it makes things suddenly easier, suddenly more meaningful.
"I never knew my parents," Rath murmurs, but the weak grin does not leave his face. "They might even be alive somewhere… I just…" A hand slides through his tussled hair, ivory and black strands mingling and tangling around his fingers. "I can't remember." And then his grin is back in full force, as if nothing at all weighs upon him. Kharl thinks that this new acquaintance has more in common with his son than he ever expected—they both love to hide.
For a moment, the Alchemist stops watching the boy across the table and contemplates the flowers that sit coldly beside him. They are pale, plain, and simple. They do not draw the eye; they do not seem to affect anything at all. Their too-fragile white faces seem insignificant, especially when he compares them to the bouquet of roses sitting a table over. But when he stares at them now, there seems to be something there that wasn't before. These are flowers that have sparked devotion; these are flowers that shed a light he cannot explain.
He takes one, only one, from the bundle, and turns it between his alabaster fingers. A steady lilac eye surveys its form—he holds it up carefully before the roses. White petals stand out solidly against the black; the lilac and the golden pistils seem as if part of the same plant.
The tiny ivory bloom, insignificant alone, is suddenly starkly illuminated, is made grand—and makes grander the midnight rose. Kharl wonders if they were not always meant to be together, and for a moment, he cannot tell them apart.
"I can't remember my father," Nohiro's, Rath's voice says, "but I bet he'd be someone like you."
…I was once desperately searching for…
Theme 32: Night
Ruwalk stands beside him in the darkness.