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Scars
Wednesday, October 25, 2006 to Sunday, November 5, 2006 at 7:10 PM
By cloud
Set in Sparta
Bold is for emphasis
Italics is for thoughts or telepathy
Example: “Innocent Sin Incarnate”
It means that the person is speaking "innocent", using telepathy for "sin" and is using telepathy, emphasizing, and speaking "incarnate".
Both of them stayed with me the entire day, no matter how bored they were. It made me mad at myself for not treating them better, since they were trying to include me in conversations when I really didn’t give much of an effort.
Today, I would have visited Danica at market, since that’s where she went to get me some food. No, I didn’t eat it. Yet. But Danica’s even more sensitive than the others and she can tell if I’m in her mind or not. The rest of them, except for Raine, can’t tell until some time has passed.
Right now, it’s midnight, and both of them have fallen asleep, except, they’re sleeping right beside me, with me in the middle. It feels sort of weird, since we haven’t slept together like this since . . . well, for a long time.
It feels like it’s been such a long time since Raine’s left. Part of the reason why I silently visited everyone was because I wanted to see how they were doing, and to see how the Spartans would react. They didn’t really pay attention, although there was some gossip I randomly heard. The changes in the city have captured their attention more. Just like Lloyd said, Raziel has forfeited his position as ephorate for the man named Vespir. I haven’t seen him yet, but Lloyd says that he has dark brown hair and dark blue eyes.
After Vespir took Raziel’s position, so many vampires started flowing into our city. Our control over the Spartan government is waning, although Damien and Arandis are still the kings, the ephorate still has a lot of control. They can dethrone kings, remember?
For some reason, every time I take “major” action, something always goes wrong. Raine is usually there to solve the problems, but she’s not here this time. I know it might seem like I’m blaming bad luck for Raine’s departure, but . . . Why does everything have to fall apart when Raine leaves?
I want so badly to apologize to everyone, even though I know that only some of them agree with me, they just don’t agree with the method I used. But I hadn’t realized she had become so kind.
Even though everyone says that I’ve “stopped diving”, they all still keep their minds open for me, but I haven’t tried diving into Raine’s mind. Actually, I haven’t dived into her mind for a very long time; she’s usually here with me when I’m not.
I always find out useful information whenever I dive into their minds. They keep so much stuff hidden from me, I could probably have enough questions to last them two years. Like the fact that I’m a mark for vampires, I never knew that. Although, I did know that they could become stronger than a vampire, just not even stronger than the oldest vampire. Normally, being around vampires doesn’t scare me, but the vampires I’m always around and the people I’m always around, are always carefully investigated before I meet them. Now, I suppose you could say that I’m even more scared than I usually am, but I think that you could also say that my fear only increases because Raine isn’t here.
As my sister, Raine was always there for me. I think that the fact that her life and ten others were entangled with mine only firmed her resolve to protect me. She even became a vampire for me, because the vampire’s power is the strongest power she could immediately acquire that could conceal my presence. And even though she knew that other people’s lives were tied into mine, she never really trusted them. But she needed them, and so she let them in. Well, she let them in after I somehow convinced her to, and a few years after that, here we are. We’re the ones that the Spartan government is standing on, and without us, this civilization will fall. If I had been more knowledgeable back then, then I think that I would have changed a lot of Sparta’s aspects, then maybe they would be able to stand up themselves.
I guess that there’s no point in trying to think of things I could have changed in my past, is there? I can’t go back in time, no matter how much I wish I could. The only direction I can go is forward. I want to apologize to Raine, and even if she won’t go back to the way she was, no matter how impossible that sounds, I at least want us to be united.
“Well, I’m glad that you’ve sorted yourself out.”
It was Raziel. He was standing in my doorway, the moonlight falling beautifully into his silver hair, making his skin glow a ghostly white. Light grey robes flowing across his body, he walked towards me on my bed. His eyes glowed in the night, just like Raine’s did, but I noticed that they weren’t that beautiful ocean water blue, but darker, more deeper and somewhat sinister. Is this person really Raziel?
I sat up, and no matter how many times he does this, I can never get use to it. I can never sense Raziel, and that bothers me more than anything.
“Why are you here?” How could he even get in?
“I have my ways,” he smiled sheepishly. “Come. Raine’s just outside.”
Sighing, I followed his form through the numerous hallways of Lloyd’s home. I forgot how easily you could get lost in these halls. I know that I probably shouldn’t be doing this, but . . . I want to fix everything. I want everyone to be together again. I want everything to work again. And I want to see Raine. I guess I want that more than anything else.
Despite it being midnight, it wasn’t as dark with a full moon out. The wind was softly blowing outside. The moon’s soft light illuminated an altar in the distance, surrounded by the black form of gently swaying trees.
This is the first time I’ve ever been out. At least, from what I can ever remember. There’s not much to look at, I mean, the Spartan’s had a good military, not good art. The house that Lloyd lived in was in the middle of a sort of “square”, that’s what I heard some of the people calling it, so there was a lot of room in front of our home. Walking out into the center of the square, I looked at the bare street I walked on, at the plain buildings I passed, at the plants I could barely discern, but could sense in the darkness.
For once, you could say I felt so free. Like I could just run away and no one would know where I was. It felt good, but it was also scary. Being free means more than just being free from bonds, but being free to feel other people’s discrimination, to feel the emotions of those who are rejected and live a life of fear and hatred.
They were watching me from behind. Raine and Raziel. Silently, I could feel their eyes scan over me, over my flowing white night clothes.
I turned around, and it was hard for me to discern where Raine was in the darkness. She still wore black, I knew, otherwise I would have seen her at his side. But even though I couldn’t really see them, and I couldn’t really sense them, I could still see their eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes, shining as brilliantly as the stars in the sky. But they weren’t that luminous water blue. They both were a very dark blue, like the darkest blue of the deepest part of the ocean. It sort of made me scared, because their eyes are never that color.
“Raine . . .” I said softly, walking towards them. And, then, I felt everyone. I don’t know why I didn’t feel them sooner. They were all around me. Arandis, Mireya, Damien, Steve, Blank, Lloyd, Gabrielle, Decius, and Danica, all of them unconscious, and just lying there; their pure, once-conscious minds slowly being tainted by unconsciousness.
“What have you done?” I could barely even speak. My body was frozen, no matter how much I wanted to runaway. Raine wouldn’t do this, would she? I could feel water falling from my eyes, down my cheek. I was finally alone. “Raine—” What are you doing? I don’t understand. Doing this was as if she was asking me to die, but then so will she. Her vampiric nature will not save her, as it will not save me since it’s too close to death.
“—she’s very efficient,” Raziel interrupted me, “isn’t she?” He smiled, his hand rising up to regard her, “Follows orders rather nicely, no wonder you wanted her back.”
“That’s not why I wanted her back,” I cried out, my hands trying to furiously wipe away the tears.
I only wanted her back because she was my sister. She was always with me, and once I pushed her to be with Raziel, she was with him more often. It made me jealous, angry, and sad. I remember crying so many times, realizing that even if she was with me, she couldn’t really be happy. She had to be alert. She had to protect me. My sister gave everything to me, and I never gave anything in return. Even when she wanted something so simple as happiness, I could never just relinquish it.
So I forced myself to give in. I forced myself to make her pursue something that would make her happy, even if was another person, it shouldn’t matter to me. But it did, and I forced myself to completely close the space between us by making her choose: me or Raziel. But I could only make that space widen. “I thought you loved her.” I can never solve my own problems.
“He does,” Raziel replied, completely confusing me. “Raziel does, but not me. You have heard of me, haven’t you? The newest member of the ephorates?”
“Vespir.”
“Yes,” he nodded. “I was the one who sired Raziel, you see. I can control him through . . . diving, I believe that’s what you called it.”
And it’s true. You can control someone through diving, but it’s very dangerous since the person’s mind can be damaged. Two consciousnesses actively fight for control, and that also means that there are two, separate, subconscious’, as well, and in one person. When I dive into a person, my consciousness and that person’s consciousness merge, but I don’t carry my subconscious with me. It stays within my body, and make’s it “live”.
“But why?” Why chose Raine? Why chose us?
“Because your kind is dangerous to us,” he answered simply. “There’s a story about your ‘family’.”
“Years ago, there was a family of vampire hunters who promised the gods they’d eliminate us, and so those gods granted them powers. You see, even though the gods created humans, the humans created vampires. And the gods realized how much of an improvement the vampires were over the humans, and they were jealous.”
“They made a generation of people possessing power that would rival even a god of lower status—power equivalent to our oldest vampire. But they realized that humans were not just weak in the body, but in the mind. Humans succumb to emotions so easily, especially anger and humiliation, so they made them work to reach their highest potential.”
“As a sort of failsafe, they made one of those people the ‘core’. The one with their comrades’ lives tied to their souls and emotions ruling their minds.”
“That is who you are,” Vespir paused, “Except, you see, your generation was especially hard to track down, and the hardest to kill.” He glanced at Raine, “Especially with her. Took me seventeen years to break her, Akira. You must mean a lot to her, since she was the only one to reach the highest potential in speed.”
It was their eyes. I don’t know why I didn’t make that connection sooner. Remember when Lloyd said that Vespir had dark blue eyes? Well, it must be a signal that he’s infiltrated Raine’s and Raziel’s minds. Even though he says he’s broken them, I don’t believe it. They’re not that weak.
I can see the “threads” binding their consciousness. But Raine must have been under this for such a long time. What if she falls? Why hadn’t I noticed sooner? But there’s still a chance, right? If there’s a way to free her, then I want to try to penetrate her mind.
“Do you want to be lost, too?” he asked me. And suddenly, he appeared right in front of me, and I knew what he was going to do, so I grabbed at one of those threads just as I could feel him hit me. Before I even knew it, I landed on my back on that altar of stone. I could feel the blood seeping out, feel the suddenly invading cold. Everything . . . hurts so much. The bones in my arms and my legs were screaming and clawing, but I had to ignore them. Deeper and deeper I sunk myself into Raine’s mind, trying desperately to tear away at the binding.
He was right in front of me, his dark blue eyes creating flashing trails in the darkness. A silver blade, one of Raine’s duo of curved blades that will forever scar you, was in his hand, and he was raising it up to strike me, but just as he would pierce through my already bleeding skin, I saw his night blue eyes fade into water blue.
“Akira?” Raziel looked at the blade in his hand, and threw it on the ground, suddenly holding me in his arms.
He had come back, and at that moment I was so close to just crying in his cold arms, but I had to stop myself, because he won’t last long, not under the hold of some stronger than him.
“I am—Vespir did this, didn’t he?” He shook his head furiously, “I knew I should have left. I’m so sorry I—!” He paused, thoughts filling his mind, empty memories becoming full, “Aim for her subconscious, Akira.”
In those few precious moments, I made myself fall into Raine’s mind, hoping that the force would get me away from all those empty feelings. They were literally empty. I mean, they were there, the emotions, but there was nothing to support them, to make them real. It’s the mark of a consciousness being erased.
The moment I dove into her subconscious, nothing but Raine and her yearnings to be free, to help me, surrounded me. But it was too late.
I felt Raziel’s fingers jerk back from my face, felt my body hit the rough surface of the stone altar. I could hear the blade leave the ground, and feel the slashes ripping into my already broken arms, at my legs, at my stomach. I felt the blade dulling, felt the black night of Steve’s mind become grey, and then black again, and I started crying even harder. Even now, when they’re in so much pain, and I’m in so much pain, they’re still trying to help me.
I can’t move at all anymore, and I want so badly to heal fast enough so that gnawing blood scent will just go away. I can sense the dull blade falling through the air, uselessly attempting to hack through the last inches of bone I have left. The only thing I can feel is the pain that just explodes, and I’m cringing and crying and yelling, the blood beneath me spreading even further. My eyes are clenched so hard, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to open them again. And no matter how much I want to yell, I know that it doesn’t matter how hard I cry out, because it’s too late. And no matter how much I wanna scream “don’t give up on your life!” I know that they can’t save me.
His sword hovers right above my neck now, and he’s desperately trying to separate the pieces of my rapidly healing body. But I can feel Raziel coming back, his consciousness screaming within his subconscious to awaken. Just as I felt the warm tip of his blade touch my neck, felt it pierce my skin, it stops, and his eyes fade into the color of the ocean.
He wants to run away. He feels so much guilt and sadness and anger that he can barely stand it. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to see me again, to see my broken body covered in blood, to see Raine die by his hands. “Please hurry, Akira! I can only hold him back for so long.”
He smiles, even though his beautiful white face is splattered with my dark red blood.
When I dive into her mind again, I can feel him with me, and when we get there, he tugs at the binding with me. No matter how hard I try to cut through it, it won’t work. But for once, even though I felt so scared and frustrated and rushed, it wasn’t as bad as it was before, because there was someone here with me.
Vespir’s blackening consciousness was slowly awakening, and I could only watch as Raziel is thrown out of Raine’s mind, his hands holding tightly onto select binding threads. It unravels, and the moment even the tiniest holes are opened, her emotions and thoughts flood over me and overpower me, forcing me out and into my consciousness, into the ever-changing eyes of Raziel.
“Goodbye, Akira,” he somehow manages, his voice soft, on the verge of deepest sorrow. He tries to lift the sword again, to throw it far away, but Vespir takes control immediately and plunges it into my heart, tired of interruptions. But at that instant, long black hair intermingles with Raziel’s silver, and a blade pierces through his heart, severs his spine, rips through his neck and beautiful hair.
“Raine . . .” I somehow manage, one of my still-healing arms suddenly reaching out to grab onto her hair. Red staining black, she grabbed my blood-covered hand just as it slipped. But the moment she looked at my bloodied form, was the moment she was taken away from me.
So many vampires just suddenly appeared, pushing Raine away and lifting me up. I could feel them pulling off my reconnecting limbs with their supernatural strength, throwing them into fires that suddenly burst from around me.
I could hear Raine trying to free herself, feel the sudden desperateness overcome her. I wanted to tell her that it was okay. I was able to fulfill my wish. I was able to see her again, able to feel her again, to hear her, to know her. I just wanted her at my side, and now I have that, so . . . .
Let’s go home, Raine.
And, for the first time, she smiles, nods her head, and closes her eyes.
Alright! This is the last chapter!!!! I really hope that you liked it—I both loved and hated writing it. Tenses are annoying!
There might be plot holes, by the way, since I didn’t have enough time to really think everything through. Especially since I pretty much came up with that little myth about vampires in a second—when I was writing it, actually.
This is the first time that I’ve ever written a story that ends like this—you probably don’t like it, considering EVERYONE dies. Haha, but this is my first story where everyone really does die.
Okay, I’m not sure what else to say. It feels really good finally getting this story out. My next story will either be an angels and demons one…’cause I’ve already started writing it, just not recently. Writer’s block.
Anyways, the angels and demons story is inspired by the stories of Edana. She’s an awesome writer, btw. She has no idea who I am, but I love her writing anyway. Then I’ve got one that’s like that one "Brothers & Sisters" show—except it’s much more twisted. It’s also shonen-ai, featuring my most faved couple ever—Sable & Seraph!!! Yay! Make sure to read the one-shot I have! Or not…
Thanks so much for reading! I hope you liked it!
cloud