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Special Ch.5: Duty or Heart? (Part 2) |
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That's right. Two entries from Flotsam in a row. So much good stuff to tell that one couldn't hold it all! wink xd Warning: contains spoilers and secrets that you can't see in Anastasia's view, not to mention awesomeness.
My dreams that night were anything but happy. I dreamt about sitting on the beach with Anastasia, talking and laughing. We were both happy and I felt that she loved me. (Nothing wrong there.) 'Flotsam, I want to tell you something,' she said. I leaned in closer, looking away so I could hear better, and she whispered in my ear, 'You're a fool.'
I turned and there was Lelouch beside me. Darkness swarmed between us, enveloping me so that it almost squeezed my heart into my throat. To my surprise, Lelouch reached into the darkness and pulled out my actual heart. 'She never loved you,' he said, looking disdainfully at the object in his hand, 'and she never will.' He squeezed, hard, and the pain made me scream myself awake.
During the day, I went on as if the nightmare had never existed, an art I had perfected while working for Ursula for fear was a sign of insecurity, which was not an option around my mistress, past or present. When it came time for our lesson, Anastasia resolved to teach me fighting magic. (This was, according to her books, semi-advanced magic, so I felt excited.) After seeing how to manipulate water between solid, liquid, and gaseous states, I quickly learned how to, as she called it, "water-bend."
We engaged in battle soon after. Ana pulled a mass of water from the pool (We were bending on the shore of the grotto.) and evaporated it into thick mist. I looked around, trying to locate her, but then I sensed something moving behind me. I turned and pulled the water ball out of her hands and sent it back at her, soaking her clothes. She was quick to recover though; she pulled the water out of her clothes and jumped onto the little island of ice she formed with it.
She sent a wave crashing my way, which almost caught me off guard, but then I blew directly into the face of the wave, freezing my breath and the wave with cool inner energy. "Pretty good, wouldn't you say?" I said, peeking out from behind the frozen wave. She sent a torrent of ice daggers toward me in reply. (I guess she really was impressed.)
I let heat pulsate from my inner energy as I turned all of the daggers back into- Aah! I had missed one. It didn't matter though because I sent a huge tidal wave back at her, knowing I would drench her so that she'd have to come back and fight me on the shore. She came back all right, but not before she parted the wave. Damn!
"Are you all right?" she asked, looking at my right arm with concern. That was the arm that Ursula had broken when we had first met, and it hadn't really healed too well yet. "It's fine," I said, trying to smile as pain throbbed through my upper arm. I joked, "Now we have matching injuries."
I indicated her upper left arm, the place where Lelouch had wounded her in the Realm of Dreams. (Nearly a fortnight had passed since their encounter but she still moved her arm slowly, as if it hurt to move.) She nodded as she bandaged the cut near my elbow. "That's enough training for one day," she said, "but from now on, a fighting session is in the lesson plan. I'm surprised you progressed so much on the first day. It took me at least a week to perfect all the moves I taught you."
I smiled to myself. The student had surpassed the teacher today, and Ana had seen it for herself. As Ana finished up binding my cut, after spacing out for a moment or two, Jetsam came up to us. "The sun is newly set," he said. Whoa! Did I get up late or what? "It's time to go wolf-hunting." Now I remembered; Ana had said we should look for Mat before we asked his royal "Pain-in-the-a**" about the orb we had found.
The sunset cast eerie shadows as we walked along the beach and through the secret alley towards Jareth's operahouse. I say eerie because they reminded me of the darkness that had nearly strangled me in my dream the previous night. No wonder I was, what you humans call, "jumpy" when something moved close alongside us. It was only Mat though, and Aoi too, who had recently returned from fighting in the Realm of Shadows. (I could tell they had been there because of their life-leeched skin and their lack of updates on my mistress.)
After filling them in, we ascended the operahouse steps together and went inside. (I noted Ana's care not to step on the compass rose on the landing on the marble staircase and followed her lead. The last thing we needed was for Lelouch to discover that we had broken into his home, by accident or otherwise.) Jareth was less than happy to see us at this late hour, but he led us into his office nonetheless. "How long have you known about this?" Ana asked once we had all settled somewhere in the rectangular office. "Lelouch can't have been here forever. The merchant said that he ran into the abandoned operahouse in Sunset Town and never returned."
Ah. Just I had thought, Jareth didn't tell us everything. I leaned against the glass cabinet, smiling smugly, as he answered. "I left him alone for a few months so he could take in all his heiritage, but eventually he summoned me back for one final task: building this theatre as tribute to him and his family; 'Make it just like it was in my great-great grandfather's time,' he told me. I remained true to design plans, from the statues and the candleabras down to the wall hangings, curtains, and, as you found out, secret passages."
"So, he's been here for, like, 10 years or something?" Mat asked.
"That's about right. I was asked never to betray his secret to anyone, particularly die-hard fans of his forebearer's legacy. However, that didn't stop me from keeping an eye on him. (I thought you were charged with preventing people from spying on him Jareth, not doing the spying yourself.) I'm curious to see as to what he wants us to see about him now; he hasn't produced one of these in a long time."
"What is it exactly?" inquired Aoi, indicating the orb Ana and I had found which he carried over to a crystal stand in both hands.
"It's a stargazer," he replied. "That's what I call them anyway." He went on to say that Lelouch created them to show tangible versions of his future. They didn't always come true, but I knew Jareth had been wrong before. "Let's see what he has in store for us this time."
We all gathered around the crystal and when he placed his hand on it, colors began to gyrate and spin inside, a whirlwind of confusion and chaos. It must have been a very powerful thing indeed because Anastasia was shocked when she tried to touch it, electrically of course. The emotional shock came when the colors finally settled and we were looking at Melissa and Lelouch lying in bed together.
(Nothing wrong so far, except for the fact that Melissa was topless. That was a little unusual because I had never seen her without at least a bra on, even after she became human. [Author: scream Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!] I found out what was wrong when Lelouch turned over so that he was on top of her; the red bedclothes slipped down, revealing everything beneath them was absolutely bare, as he surveyed her like a sea-lion surveys a tasty fish.)
Ana turned her head away and said something I couldn't make out. Mat let out a jealous roar and transformed into his wolf form right there. Aoi, Jetsam and I just stood there, unsure of what to do. "Lelouch, why?" Jareth asked no one, his eyes looking towards the heavens. He must have heard us or something because then Lelouch was staring right at us. He cursed Jareth as Melissa gathered the sheets around her, obviously frightened and almost as if she could see us too. Lelouch splayed his hand and the crystal shattered into glittering purple dust.
Jareth took his leave of us, saying he needed to be alone, but I could see the tears in his eyes as he left the room. He passed the person near the doorway as if they weren't even there; the person, who was Phoenix Rose, sighed a sigh that was weighted down with pity, sympathy, and, maybe it was my imagination, fear. "I feared the worst for this angel," he said as he crossed the threshold and came over to us, "and now, it is most likely possible if we don't take action."
I immediately knew he meant Melissa and shut the door before our conference began. (The last thing we needed was Lelouch knowing our plans, if any.) Ana and Aoi deliberated a little as to why Aoi hadn't been affected by the stargazer as much as Ana had, and then Phoenix remarked, rather regretfully, "If only my friend had the friendships that you have. He never would have been without support to carry him through the darkness."
"What friend?" asked Ana, genuinely curious.
"Just an old companion I met on my travels. He told me that he had been in love with a chorus girl at the Parisian operahouse. His innamourata had spurned his love for another and he grew irascibly envious."
I could tell that he was referring to himself when he said "chorus girl" and "Parisian operahouse". Even still, I knew better than to interrupt a good story. Phoenix went on about his love and how it had ended when he let Christine go (not leaving out the details as to his bloodline I might add). After she had left, higher powers had punished him by granting the Curse of Calypso. "What's the Curse of Calypso?" I asked, although I had some idea of the answer he would give.
"I thought you would ask Flotsam," Phoenix replied. "Calypso was a nymph who lived on the island of Ogygia. Heroes that had lost their way washed up on the shores of the island. They all left eventually with new knowledge gained from Ogygia, but Calypso always tried to make them stay even when she knew it was their time to go. Why did she make such efforts, even when she knew it was useless? She loved them in some way or another.
"My friend (i.e. I) would be cursed with eternal life for Calypso was immortal and could not die. And keeping true to the legend, women would come to him, women he could not help but fall in love with in some way, but he could never have a serious relationship with any and all of them."
Phoenix didn't seem angry at all as he recounted the history of his punishment. I guess when you can live forever, despite the fact of having to change bodies every few years, you have a lot of time to learn how to control your shadow side, or release it if you're dark-natured. He finished his story by saying that there was one advantage to having eternal life: "You can change your appearance." He turned to go, but not before he looked pityingly at the company before him. As he turned his head away, his eyes flashed the brilliant blue that they had been when he was an ordinary man. 'He's slipping,' I thought as Anastasia looked towards the sapphire around her neck, 'and he knows it.'
Two days after our conference, Ana started work at the operahouse, thanks to major appealing to and convincing Jareth that it wasn't a bad a idea. While she was away, Jetsam confronted me, just as I had confronted him a few weeks ago. "How can you go around saying that you love her and not do anything to prove it?!" he demanded of me. "I know that if I was her boyfriend, I wouldn't be ashamed to admit to anyone."
"Yes," I told him, "but we're not even there yet. Anastasia hasn't said anything about it since the day she left for Sunset Town."
"Then make her talk about it. If you want her, fight for her." He turned away, sighed, and as he slunk away, I thought I heard him whisper, "Just like I would." [Author: I wonder what he meant by that. confused )
Later that night when Ana came home, she told me, Jetsam and Mat, who had come in with an unconscious Melissa over his shoulder earlier that afternoon, about her day at the operahouse. Mei Li, as she had decided to call her operahouse alias, had walked into the theatre to practice for her orchestral audition. "I was swept up in 'March of the Siamese Children' when suddenly a voice resounds and Lelouch appears out of the shadows," she said. "He didn't say much but I gather that he values Melissa's love more than we first thought. He values it so much that he wants to keep it locked up where no one can see it, like a precious stone in a museum."
"I always thought that 'shadow-stalker' treated her more like an object than a person," Jetsam observed. "Now I know why."
"Mat, you look like you've been to hell and back today," Ana went on, indicating Mat's drenched hair and scuffed clothing. "What's up with that?"
"You'll never believe who I found in town today." was his response. Melissa had come downstairs while we were talking and even though she was drastically changed (Her pink hair was now bleached white and her beautiful brown eyes had darkened to an imposing red.), Ana ran up and embraced her long-lost friend. After more or less smothering Melissa with affection, and getting kneed in the gut as a result, she went upstairs to her bedroom. I followed her; for some unknown reason, I felt like she was in great danger tonight.
I went through the open door as quietly as I could. 'That's strange,' I thought as I went over to her bedside. 'She never leaves her bedroom door open at...' I stopped mid-thought as I felt a dark prescence hanging around her, a deadly prescence. It didn't seem to affect her at all for she smiled in her sleep. Under different circumstances, I would have reveled in seeing her like this, peaceful and quiet, but the darkness that permeated around her made me wary.
"She will die tonight," said a voice. I tensed up, searching the dark room for purple eyes. "Don't worry Flotsam. It's me," said Phoenix as he strolled over to the bed and sat down beside me, his golden eyes luminous in the dark.
"What you said... are you going to kill her?" I asked, a defensive hand hovering over my mistress.
"No, but I'm afraid the darkness of her own heart may do just that. Not to mention-" He doubled over in pain before he could finish. "Ugh! Sexual fantasies are so painful, particularly when Calypso's curse prevents you from realizing any of them."
I stared at him. I hoped he didn't mean what I thought he did. "This is why I need you to help me Flotsam." Oh, no. I won't let you make the same mistake twice, not with my mistress. "It's not for the reason you... here. Maybe it would be better if I just show you because it's about time she knew my secret."
He touched my forehead and, as if by magic, I was transported back to Erik's (or was it Lelouch's) hideout. What was this around me though and why did I suddenly feel warm? Was I sick? No, I didn't feel sick. When I reached around behind me, I found that my tail was gone [Author: Oh no! Not his tail!], but strangely it felt normal, just like the fact that I had something on the right half of my face. Wait! The right half of my face?!
'Yes', Phoenix thought. 'I'm allowing you to see through my eyes, in my true form no less, but I'm doing this because I need your help.'
'What do you need me for?' I thought back. 'Aren't you just going to do to her what Lelouch attempted to do with Melissa?'
'That's exactly what I need you to prevent me from doing. Her love for me will tempt me to ask her for this very favor. Knowing this, you must-' He stopped as Anastasia began to materialize inside the red cloak that surrounded us. 'Tell me when I'm going to far,' he finished.
I felt Phoenix's hand, my hand, sliding into the small of Anastasia's back while the other grabbed her right hand and turned her towards him, towards me. "Be not afraid my dear," he said. "Open your eyes (Her eyes were closed.) so that I may behold your beauty in all of its splendor."
Ana kept her eyes closed, defiance and distrust in her features. The last time she had listened to the Phantom's voice (which Lelouch had inheirited from Phoenix), Lelouch had erased her memories and had caused her pain that neither she nor I would ever forget. I knew this was the reason that caused her to burst into tears and cry like a lost soul.
Phoenix shushed her lovingly, like one would shush a crying child, as he wrapped his arms, my arms, around her protectively. His hand stroked her long brown hair as he said, "It's probably fair that you don't trust me. My voice has caused you much pain and suffering already. The pain you have in your heart makes me ashamed of what I have done."
Wait! What was he doing? His hand found the knot that held her nightgown together and undid it. The whole top part of the red and black garment fell away revealing her buxom figure underneath all the way to her hips, safely wrapped up in her section of the red cloak that surrounded us. I stared out of Phoenix's eyes, too stunned, or was it thrilled, to say anything.
"What are you talking about?" Ana asked, returning me to the present. She opened her eyes and stared at Phoenix for a few moments, gratitude in her eyes for the person she saw holdin her in his arms. It didn't last though for she squrimed out of Phoenix's arms, my arms, trying to escape. [Author: I was trying to cover myself!]
She wasn't getting away that easily. It was hard to tell who was in control when Phoenix, or was it me, pulled her back into his bare chest with one hand and wrung his other one through Anastasia's hair. As she recovered from the embarrassed flush she had gotten when she had opened her eyes, I felt her shivering. Was it from fear, from excitement, or was she just cold? It felt exhilerating whatever it was. I felt Phoenix tighten his grip just a bit as if he knew it thrilled me.
"So this is what it felt like," Ana murmered from somewhere against my chest.
"What?" Phoenix and I asked as one.
"When Melissa was getting laid with the Prince of Shadows. Who knew the feeling of someone's flesh against your own could feel so nice?" The feeling was mutual. I hadn't felt this way since the night when she had had me sleep with her after her bad dream.
As if to voice my feelings, Phoenix said, "That's exactly why you shouldn't be ashamed of your body. You've blossomed into a beautiful young woman." He put his right hand under her chin, forcing her to stare into his eyes. She didn't resist. "It's only fair to warn you that I'm not wearing anything underneath this barrier between us."
'That's it!' I roared. 'You've gone too far.' It was my turn to comfort her. I had let Phoenix have his fun, but playtime was over. Now in complete control of his body, I reassured her. "Before you get overexcited, Ana, I can assure that you are perfectly safe with me."
She seemed to calm down after I said that. Ugh! Some part of me wanted to do more. 'She loves you,' a little voice told me. 'She can't resist you. She won't.'
"O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence!" I entreated the voice aloud, unconsciously quoting from Anastasia's favorite play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream." "Love takes the meaning in love's conference."
My hand drifted down to her waist as I continued, "I mean that my heart unto yours is knit, so that but one heart we can make of it Two bosoms interchained with an oath, so then two bosoms and a single troth." The little voice must have been speaking because "Then by your side, no bed-room me deny, for lying so, Anastasia, I do not lie." dripped a rather questionable amount of seduction.
She smiled coyly as she responded to my Lysander. "The Phantom riddles very prettily." The voice finally won out and I took advantage of our position by pulling her lips to mine. I closed my eyes so as to better savor our first kiss. 'So this is what it felt like,' I thought, euphoric at the passion that so readily issued from her lips.
'When Anastasia kissed Lelouch in the Realm of Dreams?' Phoenix thought back. 'Yes, I imagine it was. Is this your first kiss?'
'Why do you care?'
'Because you're doing it my body.'
Well, that was awkward when you thought about it. I pulled away; suffice to say, I would have stayed there if Phoenix had let me. I used Anastasia's recitations to give me time to back to myself. "Now, beshrew my manners and my pride, if Anastasia meant to say the Phantom lied! But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy, lie further off in human modesty.
"Such a separation as may well be said becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid." She was right. What had I been thinking? "So far be distant, and good night sweet friend. (She kissed me on the cheek near my... I mean Phoenix's mask.) Thy love ne'er alter, till thy sweet life end."
'My turn,' Phoneix thought, settling back into control of his body, 'and thank you for helping me. I shouldn't have said something so reckless.' As he enveloped Anastasia in his arms again, he whispered, "I have eternal life, so that shouldn't be a problem."
I woke up, in my normal form again, to find my mistress in my arms. "Hey, what's the big idea?" she said indignantly.
Best to tell the truth since I couldn't hide anything from her. After I apologized, I told her, "Phoenix came by and told me to hold you still. (This was partly true since he had asked me to help him and would help to explain why I was in this position, which Phoenix had probably put me in. Not like I was complaining or anything.) He said, 'It's about time she knew my secret.' and then disappeared." ('And me with him,' I added silently.)
"Come to think of it, Erik did say something about having eternal life. Wait a minute!" Something dawned on her. "You don't mean-"
"Now you know," I replied simply. That seemed a good enough response for her because she snuggled into my chest and fell asleep again. 'If you only knew,' I thought as I wrapped my arms around her, smiling as I too drifted off. 'If you only knew.'
The next few days passed in a blur. Mat and Melissa were rarely at home, what with Mat rehabilitating Melissa to the Realm of Light and all, and Jetsam and I were kept busy at the grotto while Anastasia was at work. It wasn't until one clear and cold night that anything siginficant happened. Anastasia hadn't come home from work yet and I was sitting up waiting for her. The moon reflected pale and pure inside the pool of the grotto and all was quiet.
I pulled out my oboe and began to play. I looked at the moon's reflection in the water, thinking about my mistress and assorted things, but mostly Anastasia. The reflection of a shooting star snapped me out of my thoughts and as I listened, I could recognize the dangerous melody of "Past the Point of No Return" issuing from my oboe. I stopped playing immediately and looked at the star. "Please, let her be safe," I said, fervently hoping that what humans said about wishing on shooting stars was true. (I had dismissed it as childish nonsense when Anastasia had first told me about it, but after seeing through Phoenix's own eyes it seemed as if anything had been possible.)
Not too soon after, a black shape appeared against the moon. At first I thought it was a witch (Jetsam had told me that some witches could fly.), but then it started getting closer. It was heading for Anastasia's bedroom, so I followed it hurriedly. (Don't ask me how I knew that, but I did. Maybe the witch had some idea of where she was.)
When I made it out onto the balcony, the thing was low enough in the sky that I could discern what it was. It was a dark-winged angel, holding something in its arms. (I could tell it was an angel because of its feathery wings.) The angel turned and I saw that it had my mistress in its arms. Was she dead or was she just sleeping? I called out to it, not hiding the rising anger in my voice. "What have you done to her?"
"I hold myself fully responsible Flotsam," said Phoenix as he flew over and perched on the stone railing of the balcony. "But she was the one who almost killed herself tonight, not me."
Killed herself?! "Before you go off shouting insults at me, I suggest you make her feel like she has something worth living for. I can't save her every time Lelouch and Melissa move her to do such things."
"What are you saying?" I asked him, genuinely shocked. "You're not leaving her again, are you?"
"That's part of what led her to her attempted suicide. No, I'm staying with her, but as a teacher and friend. I'm not good for her as a lover."
"You're the only one who-"
"No I'm not. The night when I let you see through my eyes, I let you have complete control of my body, right?"
"Only after I said you went too far."
"Wrong. You were in control of everything I said and did the entire time."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm reiterating what I said long ago. You area a better match for her than I could ever be." He handed Anastasia into my arms, turned around, and jumped off the balcony into the night sky. There was nothing else to be done.
P.S. You notice how Flotsam is using my nickname more often. Also, I wonder what Jetsam meant by "Just like I would." Could it be he's in love with me too?!
 srs diva 2011 xxl · Mon Jun 08, 2009 @ 05:57pm · 1 Comments |
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