Raif/Emmy

[Queen of Hearts]

Raif: Matthew
Emmy: Alice

Raif:

There was nothing for me, nothing but the pressing sea of bodies around me. Pushing, writhing, grabbing, taking, giving, sweating, throbbing with the music, a multiude of heart beats in one. Many making one, one movement to the music. Swaying, dancing, pulling, shoving, sweating, kissing, feeling. The music wrapped around all of us, like a caress by the wind, and I could feel the shivers running up and down my spine.

In a single second, one instant, my whole life flashes before my eyes. For every single broken vow I have died a thousand times.
The words flash across my closed eyelids, my mind following the screamed words of the music, resonating deep within me. I was part of the dance, meshed in with a thousand other bodies, it seemed. Trapped, delightedly so, in the forest of flesh, soaked by the sweat of myself and others. Primal beats were thrown out against the music, merging with it, as a thousand feet moved across the floor. We moved in no direction, and every direction, all as one.

With my eyes closed, I let myself go, let my mind fall to pieces. I let the oscillating waves of the music carry my worries away, let it wash away my mind like the tidal wave of forgetfulness.
I had entered with a coat, and a shirt, but those were lost long ago. Did I care? Could I, when wrapped in the throes of the music? No, no, it mattered not. The tempo sped up, and so did we, moving faster, and faster, closer, and closer. I felt hands all over my body, and a thousand bodies beneath my palm. Every heartbeat thundered through my ears, pulsed against my skin, and I let go.

Though time turns every bone to dust, it can never turn our hearts to stone. But we'll never make it on our own when the beds in which we sleep are no safer than the secrets that we keep.

Whatever was within me, as of yet undiscovered but hinted at, let go with me. As I surrendered completely to the rhythm, the hooks deep inside of me let go, and spilled forth with energy. Like a shockwave, it spread from the very center of my being, and spread, arcing out from person, to person, and back again, growing as it went.

It gave physical form to the music, ascending from mere harmony to divinity, almost. My eyes shot open, the golden shimmering with an inner light burning within me as my normally pale skin began to glow with an abundance of power. It was trying to get out, to spill out of me like an overflowing, burning miasma of lust, of need, of want, of power.

Then the final hook was gone, and the world seemed to shift with a silent, rocking explosion. As if everyone in the dance released at once, they collapsed around me like wheat before the scythe. I was left there, standing, soaking, panting, trying to catch a breath that was flowing away with the receeding ebb of the music.

"Damn," was really all I could manage as I struggled to not pass out.

As much as I fought against it, going unconscious was in the cards. The world wavered around me, or rather, I tipped back on my heels like a drunken prom date all too ready, and found myself staring at the ceiling of the club. Then, there was nothing. Nothing more than a dream.

This, then, is what it comes down to: the end of everything that I have ever known, have ever loved, and have ever dreamed of. Every step I took, every battle I fought, every wound I suffered, was it but for naught?

I would hate to think so, but I doubt that is the case. It would be the irony that all I have done, all that everyone has done, has been for nothing. It boggles my mind to think that, that the end was coming no matter what, and we provided mere entertainment for…

For now, I will just call them the Enders.

The Enders, simply and obviously put, sought to bring about the end. Of what, I had wondered for the longest time, but I came to find the answer. And it was an answer I never wanted found, let alone wanted to be the finder of, after all.

It was the end of me that they worked for, and I was outmanned, overpowered, and overwhelmed. Who was I, but a mere boy, to warrant such attention?
Such hatred…

Malice…

Joy, as they saw my will to fight fading, as they saw me falling, as they saw the will to live slipping from me, like the sands of time through the hands of a lover who wanted just one more second, a mother who wanted to turn back time. Inevitably, the harder you try to hold on, the faster it escapes you.

It escaped me.

As it did, I let go of life, for I could no longer hold on. The Enders sensed this, and they renewed their attack, as if my failure revitalized them after the ages it seemed like we had been battling, a battle to claim eternity.

And apparently to claim my life, to bring me death.
I gave up, and let my sands of Time stop to flow, to let my thread of Fate be cut, to submit to death, once and for all.
I saw her there above me, as my body plummeted to the ground. She cradled my head in her lap, beauty absolute, my eyes burning just to gaze upon her. They took her from me, and it appeared that now I might be granted eternity with her.
Her hand, incorporeal as it was, combed through my hair, much as it had after relations when we had both been alive. The feeling, or the memory, I was not sure which, sent shivers down my spine, or where my spine was. Though I was still gazing upon her, the solar star that she was, I knew I was no longer in my body.
Death had claimed me, as it had her, and near everything I could have held, or did hold dear.

“You’ve done well, my bonny boy, as well as any could have done. Soon we will be together, forever, as we promised.” I was about to answer her, but her eyes bade me not to speak, but to let her carry me to the summer lands, where I would find rest. She was right, I knew that. No matter how much I had felt that this was too much for me, I did all that I could, and did what many would not have done.

I fought against impossible odds, and I gave my life, but not idly. I went down fighting, taking what I could with me. This, I knew, displeased the Enders to no, well, end.

As she leaned forward, her face reaching to brush her lips over mine, to let me taste the heavens once again, it all came crashing down. What was my reality was nothing more, as she faded before me, a silent scream tearing her visage into pain as she was ripped away.

As my reality was ripped away.

I knew, then, that it was not over. It never would be.
Rest would be denied me, and I would know naught but pain.
It started in the center of my being, the part that drops out of you when your world is shattered by an unfaithful lover, or the death of someone very close. From there, it spread to what felt like every fiber that made me who I was, shredding it apart, like the bark from a tree branch.

I was splintered, shattered, and finally broken.

I thought it was the Enders, giving me an unending agony for defying them, for daring to fight.

But I realized it was me, I was in control of my own pain, as I had been in control of my own life, once I realized it.

The pain, I enjoyed it, for deep down inside of me, somewhere that no longer existed, I knew what it was. It was the end, but not the one they wanted. It was my end.

I truly let go, then, and resigned myself to what was to come.
From my shattered body, lying broken and bleeding in an unbelievable crater on the world I left behind, that of the living emanated, well, something. I did not know what it was, other than the fact it made them fear. Even now, in pain unknown, so agonizing it was pleasure and then painful again, I could feel it.

The Enders, as that force radiated from my body, moving to cover the entire world, ran, pure and simple. Even they had the basic instincts of fight or flight, and they knew there would be no battle now. No, the only option left to them was flight.

But, inside of me was the power of All, Nothing, and Chaos.

In that moment, the world shattered, and existence ceased to be. The Enders were no more, now had never been, and with my will working, would never be. The world was recreated, and would begin anew.

I am vindicated.

Once I saw that it was under way, I knew peace was mine. She would be born some time, and perhaps if I was lucky, the Wheel might see to place me in her life once more.

I could dream of that, and so I did, as oblivion took me.

Moments later I awoke, blinking away tears, blinking away the remnants of a barely remembered dream, looking up at the concerned faces surrounding me.

I had hands helping me up, sliding over the slick, sweat-coated skin of my body. Every face seemed to be concerned, but I was not ruling out the possibility of finding a dagger in my kidney before the night's end. Especially with so many people around me. The ecstacy of the dance continued to ride me hard, as did the remnants, yet to fade, from the dream that had gripped me moments before. Whatever the dream was, I could not remember, but I know it left me aching.

Not aching in the way that, say, I had just ran a ten mile race. But aching in the way that every single person I had ever loved just closed me off from their lives, and then died before I could make amends.

That I was alone.

My soul felt ripped to shreds, my heart in tatters, and I could not help but silently cry. My hair hung limply, soaked through, around my head, and I kept it lowered as people ushered me towards the bar. None of them realized what happened, had forgotten their moment of spiritual release there on the dance floor. They only remember me falling to the ground like a comet to the sky, a reverberation shaking the reality around the dance floor.
I felt warm, damp towels being rubbed along my body, which felt cool to my fever-flushed skin. My normally pale skin was flushed red, as if I had spent the day out in the sun, and had a slight glow to it. Perhaps, they thought it was the light. Perhaps, they thought it was the simple heat of the room. Perhaps they attributed it to both.

I could not help but let out a sigh at the feeling of the towels sliding along my body, a stranger pressing upon me a glass full of ice and a little bit of water. I accepted it with thanks, and sipped at it, feeling the chill sliding throughout my body. I sighed once more, and within moments, when those closest strangers felt that I was not going to die right then and there, or in a few minutes, they let me be.

I huddled in over myself on the bar, wishing I had not lost my shirt somewhere in the dance. I was still not entirely certain what had came over me, but I could not deny it. How it felt. How I wanted it again. And again. And again. Again, damnit.

My fingers gripped hard at the metal shaft that ran along the bar as an arm rest, and I had to fight off a wave of dizziness, biting down at the inside of my cheek to ground myself once more. I sipped at the water, then spat it back into the glass, noting the blood and how it swirled through like smoke in the air.

Quite the interesting evening.

After a few moments of resting at the bar, of getting and drinking an unbloodied glass of water, I rose to my feet. The ground still seemed to waver a bit beneath me, as if I were on the deck of a ship out to sea. I steadied myself against the bar for a moment with one hand, and then continued on. Come now, boy; one foot in front of the other. We can do it, we can do it, was my mantra to get me towards the front door. I fumbled in my pocket for my claim ticket as I wandered, closing my eyes for the most part against the flashing lights.

Everything I saw, I saw as if through a haze, or a veil. I was still out of focus, a shift to the left, from reality. I could see the music flowing through the air, and I could feel and hear the heartbeat of every person in this place. I shivered once again as the thirst came back, as I almost turned and stepped onto the dance floor once more. But, I stopped myself.

And forced myself forward.

I handed over the claim ticket for my coat, and wrapped it around myself. It was a decent walk to the bus station, and a longer ride back to my apartment. I yawned a little and siddled out of the door, bypassing those still eager to get into the club.
A sigh slid from my torso through my lips and out into the night air as I stretched out in the cool, open air. I could breathe easier, I could feel the stars up above. As I walked along, paying little to no attention to where I was actually going, I looked up at the sky. It was rather clear, no clouds to be seen, and even for the light pollution of the city, I could still see the stars almost perfectly. Lights still left an arcing trace through the air wherever I looked, and sounds still seemed to manifest into physical colors in the air.

I closed my eyes and gave my head a good shake, sending droplets of sweat this way and that, and continued walking.

Emmy:

I had awoken from my afternoon nap, still weak from the meds they had forced down my throat. Perhaps they would never understand that no matter what they did, short of reducing me to a vegetable, would remove the things I saw, the abilities I had. They chose not to believe, that was their right. But I heartily wished they would stop trying to force me not to believe. Still, at least they cared in their own way, I thought glancing at the wall that separated my aunt’s room from mine. My uncle, her brother’s was on the other side of hers, which I was grateful for. I’d caught looks from him that chilled my spine.

On my right was my mother’s old room. I turned to look at that wall, wishing that I could see into it. It had been boarded up for long before I had moved to this place and I knew noting of the child my mother had once been. A wave of sadness passed over me and I closed my eyes until it was gone, then experimentally sat up, bracing myself for the headache that I was sure was going to attack me. After a long moment, a sigh of relief passed my lips when the expected did not manifest itself and so I ventured a step farther and pushed to my feet. I could detect nothing of the drug other than the rapidly fading sleepiness and the weakness in my limb. It will pass soon, I told myself as I made my shaky way to the bathroom. I felt sticky from the heat of sleep and wished for a shower. A moments consideration and I realized I likely would not be able to stand for that extended period of time and so I began the bathwater running.

Flipping the plug and leaning heavily on the walls, I made my way to the closet within which were the towels, pulling out two for myself and holding them in my hand as I glanced into the bath to check the water, I felt the familiar sensation of being sucked into a portal, and I had enough presence of mind to drop the towels and kneel on them. I had learned from experience that were I to be standing straight when the seeing came over me, that I would fall and likely sustain some hurt. Bracing myself on the edge of the tub, I looked into the still pool of water and saw a black circle open from the center and spread into a vision .

A gyrating milieu of bodies at one of those dance club places that she tended to avoid. Why here, what reason? She scanned over the crowd with her curious overhead vision and then one fell and suddenly the fallen one was at the center of her vision with no warning. This then was her quest. As she watched the one lay prone, her face back at her bath was frowning in consternation. There was something wrong with him past the obvious. He flickered somehow, like black shadows were swirling around him. She peered closer but he suddenly opened his eyes and looked right into the gaze she affixed above him, and her vision blacked out.

I suddenly came to, with my face inches above the bathwater. I blinked a few times at my reflection and stared at the water to see if it was going to impart anything else to me. These visions were terribly frustrating. As I slipped into the now lukewarm water, I pondered over the vision and what it had meant but no clear answers were forthcoming. Gradually, I became aware of a odd tug on my senses, a vague pulling in a specific direction. I sighed, not particularly wanting to leave the house but the feeling would not disappear and so I wrapped myself in the towels and went to hunt down some clothing.

The drawers in my room had long been emptied of everything excepting the floor length flannel nightgowns my aunt insisted on and so I snuck to the laundry area while the house slept, and finding a pair of jean and work shirt of my uncle’s, I slipped them on. They were big, but not too big, and with a few rolls of the fabric, I was at least decently attired and likely the clothes would not be noticed missing for a few days. I had no idea where I was going or how long I would be gone, and I was too deep in the pull of the compulsion to worry about the details.

I absently grabbed an apple from the counter and put it into my pocket, as I wandered through the kitchen, also lifting a roll and chewing on that as I pushed out the door. Carefully locking the door and pulling it shit slowly until I heard that little click, I ambled down the walk, not realizing that I was barefoot until I hit a patch of grass. Glancing down ruefully, I eyed the locked door behind me and shrugged. Thankfully it wasn’t too cold for barefoot walking, I thought and returned once more to wandering down the street in the direction of the quest, rather enjoying the breeze on my face and running through the wet locks that twisted their way down my back.

Waving cheerfully at a man who was locking his store up and who had turned to stare at me, I finished the roll and pulled out the apple, crunching on it as I rounded the next corner. And stopped in my tracks because there he was, the fallen one, wandering aimlessly before me, and just as I recognized him, the mysterious pull stopped. I sighed and simply stood there watching him, eating the stolen apple while I considered what I was supposed to do now.

Raif:

I was unsure of what time it was, and I was not entirely sure that I cared to remember or find out. What I realized is that the evening skies had clouded over in my walk. How far, or fast, I went, I was not aware of. I just knew I was somewhere that was not entirely too familiar to me, though every street in this city happened to look the same. I looked up at the clouds trying to cover the moon, and caught a raindrop on the face.

Then another, and another, and another as the night's sky started to open up on the world, washing away the dirt and grime, momentarily. I kept my face lifted to the stars above, and took a deep breath. Without realizing it, I let the coat slide from my shoulders and let the rain reslick my body. I let it cleanse me of the sweat and whatnot built up from being buried in a mass of writhing bodies. I shivered at the feel of the rain sliding along my body, like the tentative, exploring hand of a lover. The drops traced their way from my face, slowly down, following every curve as if to learn me by touch, to my neck, and along the hollows of my collar bone, tracing further down along the lithe frame of my torso, before being lost into the pants I wore.

I let out a laugh, quiet at first. Whatever worries worried at me, I let them wash away with the rain. Slowly the laugh grew a little bit louder, and I threw my head back and arched my back, arms out. I let the rain take it all away, in that moment as the droplets ventured from the sky to impact against the ground.

It was more than a drizzle, but much less than a storm. It was just enough to permeate the air with the smell of rain, to get a good flow of water going down the streets without worry of a flood.

After the few moments of standing in the rain, which felt like a lifetime or more, I stepped back and saw the small shelter for the bus stop. Even wandering aimlessly, if I needed or wanted to go somewhere, somehow I found my way there. I studied the schedule and saw that a bus would be along in about thirty minutes. Having nothing better to do, and unawares that I was being watched, I gathered my soaked coat up and put it in the covered-bench shelter and had myself a seat. I pulled my knees up against my chest and looked up at the sky, my one gold eye and one blue eye watching the stars as they made their infinitely slow travel through the sky.

[Queen of Hearts]

Emmy:

Normally the visions led me to things that needed help, raccoons caught in wires, little children starving in alleyways, but this one did not looked like her needed anything from one such as I. He was hale, with a strong undisfigured body that was revealed as he reveled in the rain falling upon us both. It was almost sensuous, the way he moved within the droplets and it fascinated and repelled me at the same time. I had done my best to avoid knowledge of the adult interactions , in part to avoid the eye of my uncle and in part because the whole idea was vaguely revolting to me.

I watched him slink within the small clear building, a frown crossing my features as I considered what it could have been for. Biting off the last bit of my apple, I searched around, and spotted a garbage can nearby, tossing the remains of the fruit within, then padding slowly in my bare feet towards the shelter. I wasn’t made uncomfortable by the rain, it sustained me in an odd way, I was feeling more alive than I had in a long while. The night was delicious to me, the fresh rain smell wafting to my nose, but barely registering with my attention so focused on deciding what I could possible help this boy with.

As he tilted his head to look at something, I realized that he was reading a notice of some sort pasted to the glass walls of the box. A little flash of envy ran through me, for I could not master the mystifying art of making sense from the symbols. As a child I had bounced from foster systems to psych wards and no one had ever seen fit to help me decipher the craft. My Aunt and Uncle had never considered schooling for me, and when I had brought it up once, I had received a cold explanation that I was not intelligent enough to learn. Perhaps they were right, but I would have liked to try. I sighed softly and moved another step closer, my bared feet splashing lightly in the rapidly growing puddles upon the pavement.

I walked to the glass where he had been standing. He was seated now, his back to me and I halted there a moment, simply watching and weighing. Nothing I had seen so far had given me a clue as to why I was needed here and so I felt I must go talk to him. The rain covered the sound of my steps as I slipped around the side of the shelter and stepped within. He was looking up at the sky and I followed his gaze up before clearing my throat almost shyly. I wasn’t used to starting conversations, or even to having them with others and I didn’t really know what I was going to say to him until it burst forth. “Hello. I’m Emerald. Call me Emmy. Why do you need my help?”

I coiled myself up on the bench to the side so that I might still look upon him, tucking my bare feet up onto the seat and readjusting the turned up rolls at my elbows before affixing my curious gaze once again to his eyes, noting the variant colors in an absent way. I had no sense of what could be normality and so I never considered that this could be something wrong with him. I knew no other but the family and the doctors they brought in to ‘cure’ me. As I watched him, I could see that odd little shadow flickering and I frowned a bit. “And why are there shadows on you?”

Raif:

I heard someone approaching, which was not all too out of the ordinary, this being a bus stop and all. I shifted over to be at the edge of the bench, leaving plenty of room for whomever was coming to join me in the wait for the next arrival. I whistled lightly to myself, stealing a glance at the somewhat young-looking girl who had taken a seat with me. I blinked at seeing her bare feet, but paid no real attention to it. People were oddballs now-a-days, surely enough.

Then, with her words, I turned my head and looked at her, and blinked once, then twice, as I tried to figure out if I heard her correctly.

Why did I need her help? What in the worlds did she mean? An oddity to match the oddities of the evening, no doubt.
"What?" was about all I managed to get out, in a voice as soft as the sounds of the wind moving through trees. I blinked again, hair hanging in my face as I studied her. Again, I wondered what she could have meant. I blinked again, as she spoke of the shadows, and I looked around me. I saw nothing out of the ordinary, I saw nothing that was otherwise odd, other than, well, the present company.

"You can call me Raif, Emmy" I offered, with a cautious smile.
"As for help, I'm not entirely aware I need any? Unless you have an extra shirt; it is getting a little chilly out here," I offered, pointing to the soaked coat I had, and the lack of shirt. I let the shadows bit go, not even having a clue of what to say.

Emmy:

Blinking as he said, “What?” to me, I automatically answered to him, “Never answer a question with a question.” in a perfect mimicry of my Aunt’s voice before nodding to his recital of his name. “Raif, Raif,” I tasted the name a moment, with a shake of my head, “Not exactly right but it will hold for now.” Blinking a moment at his request, I looked down at the work shirt of my uncle’s that I was wearing, the longest part of it almost reaching to my knees. “No, I don’t have an extra, I had to borrow this one. They took all my clothes.” She nodded with the impartial fact just as if she had mentioned that it was raining. I tilted my head, the sodden inky locks dripping down to the side as I studied him.

Without warning, I slid from the seated position, quickly and smoothly came in front of him and pressed my small palm to the bared skin above his heart. I was no child although childlike often, though I was diminutive by the societal standards. I barely topped five feet and was perennially thin due to the nausea from all the drugs forced into my body. Resting the pale hand upon his heart until the skin was warmed by the other’s, I closed my eyes a moment, then shook my head. “Scars but not shadows,” I said in frustration and then lifted a hand to each of his temples, not really looking at him at all, closing my eyes as my face hovered a foot from his own. “Not there either.”

I took a step back and nodded. “That’s the answer then.” I reached my hand out of the door of the shelter, cupping a handful of the sky gift and dipping my index finger into it, I drew some symbols in the air, which glowed faintly in my sight, starting of white and fading to black and I staggered a moment as the spell completely disappeared. Catching myself on the door way, I took a few deep breaths to steady myself. My stomach growled even thought I had only just completed my food for the casting of such seemed to take all my stored energy. After a deep breath, I looked back to him with true concern in my eyes. “It’s bigger than I thought,” I nodded. I was not sure if I had enough to save him.

I stifled a yawn, a little sleepy now and climbed up on the bench beside him, leaning my head on his shoulder. “When the bus comes, we need to take it to your sleeping place. That is where it all started.” Then I closed my eyes and half dozed, leaning against him. I had no fear of him, for he was now my project and should he hurt me in some fashion it would not matter. I could no more deny my help to him than I could the strange compulsion that had brought me here. Death for me would simply be a gentle relief from the torment of my existence.



Raif:

I was not entirely sure of what was going on, my mind in a bit of a haze from earlier in the evening. This little oddling was throwing me for the proverbial loop. I sat there, as she placed first her hand over my heart, and then over my temples. I listened to her speak, as she seemed to be examining me. With her face so close, I studied her, a bit uncomfortable having her so close in my personal space, and yet, not. She seemed harmless enough, if not a bit touched in the head?

I watched her gather the rain water, watched as she seemed to paint with it in the air, and watched as she stumbled. I almost stood, to catch her if she were to fall, but she caught herself on the wall. So I remained seated, continuing to be clueless on how to handle this situation, on what to say or do.

"What's bigger than you thought?" I asked her, still quite unsure what she referenced, what she spoke of. I shook my head a little bit, trying to forget what had happened earlier this evening. The fact that I was hunted, and hiding right beneath the nose of the enemy, had me on a constant alert. What was she? Some ploy to catch me unawares? Or just some innocent? Stumbling into this mess?

With her leaning against me, I unconsciously shifted a little bit so that she rested easier against me. I only nodded at her words, and let her rest. My sleeping place? The small apartment, barely furnished, that I made do in, when I decided to finally sleep. It was not much, but it got the job done, when I needed it. More often than not I was out in the city, or the outlying area, out in the trees in the forest not far from the city. Within a few moments, the bus was there, and I shook her gently awake.

"Time to go."

Emmy:

Paying no attention to his question and curiosities, I dozed lightly, though some part of me was aware as always, I was no innocent when it came to things that go bump in the night. But his presence was comforting and the drops of rain soothing as my mind worked over the issues at hand. His shadows were external, something was following him, watching him. Somehow I knew that his enemy was my enemy and also somehow knew that they were most strongest when he slept, and where he slept. I had to search his place for their talisman, I had to somehow protect him. He was important in something I could not yet fathom. His weaving was very tangled and so many treads were merged it would take time to sort it all. I could help him with his fight, if he even knew that he was in one, but first he would have to bind himself to me, something I suspected he was not likely to do.

His light touch was all I needed to become fully alert, eyes darting for a moment as the massive machine pulled forward in front of us. Nodding softly, musing quietly over the things I knew, I followed him onto the bus, blinking a bit at the coin slot. Tilting my head, I watched as my companion put enough in for us both and hid a secret smile, by directing it at the floor. He was already taking responsibility for me, perhaps feeling protective. This was good. It would help me later with the bindings if he had attached himself. I followed him down the aisle, stopping to “accidentally” lose my balance and touched a child sleeping on his mother’s lap. Glancing to the worry lines at his mother’s face, I whispered to her. “Have faith. He will survive this.” Avoiding the startled look from her, I crept silently then after Raif.

A soft chuckle as he stood aside to let me have the window seat, I pulled my knees up onto the seat and rested my cheek on them, watching the buildings pass, admiring the different architectures that made up a town. As my mind wandered on this track, philosophizing about how different textures make up any worthwhile art, like a town or a group of people. As I mused randomly, I hummed softly to myself, but also to the busload, a gentle song of harmony. Each of the se people would go about their day with a little more patience, a little more wonder. Turning my attention inwards from the window, I saw a beautifully illustrated pamphlet poking out from under my seat and I reached down and pulled it out, amazed by the vibrancy of colors. I turned it a bit, not exactly sure which way was up o the thing, and ran a finger across the painting on it.

Pulling it open, I realized that I was holding it sideways, due to the orientation on a painting inside made from what looked like tiny dots. Breathtaking. I showed it to the man sitting next to me, speaking softly. “Isn’t it amazing how a bunch of tiny multi-colored dots can make a picture, just like all the different buildings make a town, or the people make a clan.” There was a lesson in here and I mused over it, standing up absently as the bus stopped at the correct stop and I rose, settling the bared feet on the hard floor of the bus, putting a hand on his shoulder. “It is time,” I said softly to him, I had much to accomplish and I had already worked more today than I was used to. My stomach agreed with me as it growled, my energy resources running low with the extension of the applications I’d put them to.

Raif:

I paid the bus fare for both of us, and lead us to a miraculously empty pair of seats. As we sat down, I was hit by my own wave of tiredness, and as she looked around in a child-like wonder at the world passing by the bus window, I let myself doze a little. I did not venture forth completely into the folds of sleep, but delved just a little, my eyelids sliding closed. Almost as soon as my brain started to momentarily shut down for the doze, I started to whimper a little.

The dream was there, as it almost always was.

Run, child, run, the whispers of the forest called to me. I was in a forest of ancient trees that surrounded me, that grasped at me with prickly branches, that wanted to pull me close for nothing more than a hug as their limbs tore me to pieces, my blood fertilizing the ground. I ran, moving this way, trying to dodge that way, as the branches ripped through my skin little by little, bringing out droplets of blood.

Still, this being tore apart a bit at a time? It was better than what followed me. There would be no escaping that eternal torture which waited for me, behind me, which I ran from. Oh, by the gods, I ran from it. As always, it was there, breathing down my neck, its saliva splattering forth as it labored and tried to catch up to me.

If anyone watched me, if anyone dared to notice the young man in the seat, if they cared to pay enough attention, as I dreamed, they would see me phase, just a little, out of reality. I would blurr around the edges, shift and shake, and almost seem to fade from sight like a person being editted out from a photo when someone did not want them there, any more.

In the dream, I ran, I tore myself on the trees as I threw myself forward, forward, on and on and on! Run, child, run, the voice called out to me again, and I let out a sobbing cry. I could not run any faster, and my legs burned, and were tired. There, then, came the usual fallen, blackened tree, in this wood of immortality, tripping me up, sending me flying.

I landed, and it, the beast behind me, landed atop me. I started awake as the bus stopped, at my stop, barely holding back a scream as I could still feel the claws and fangs and everything tearing into my body, all at once.

I looked around, seeing that people thought I was just another crazy on the bus. I stood, and I followed my companion out of the bus, and lead her towards my apartment. Once inside, being hungry, being afraid, going by rote, I started digging through the cupboards and fridge, gathering what I could to make a quick and yet feastful dinner.

Emmy:

Lost in thought, I paid scant attention to the man until we reached the steps of the building, turning to mention something that was whisked from my mind by the thickening of the shadow which ensnared him. I was quiet then, upset with myself for having missed the clue, whatever it was that made it stronger, and I silently watched him the whole way to the place, silently standing in the center of what passed for a dining area, watching him rifle through his cupboards. Even if I hadn’t had the murky shadow to see, simple observation would tell Me that he was anxious. It was in the way his shoulders were tensed, the slightly jerkier movements than he had shown previously. I walked to him, projecting what soothing comfort I could and gently laid my hand upon his arm. “It will be alright,” much the same as I had assuaged the mother on the bus. I had little reserves left but I would push myself to the limit to protect him. He was too precious not to.

I glanced at what he had sorted out on the counter. “I need protein,” I told him gently, knowing from experience that it would give me more energy than the other types of food. Then I smiles and backed away from him, one hand reaching to the rippling shadows, my hand going right through them and landing on his chest a moment. I frowned and traced another patter in the air, but it fizzled and I sighed. :Yes, I need energy. I am empty.” I shrugged and turned from him, knowing that I could not ease him any further. I was saddened by the lack of strength that had never seemed to matter much before. Of course, he was the biggest project I had ever been given. I left him there and began to prowl his tiny quarters.

I was hoping to find something, some rock or feather, something infused with power that they used to focus on him while he slept. I doubted it was in the kitchen, and the dining room was literally empty, so I started in the living room, absently tidying up as I went, not that there was much here to clean. Once the living room was cleaned, and no signs of anything unusual, I snuck to the bed room, pushing the door open and peeking in. There was a definite aura of fear here, leaving a copper taste in the back of my throat. I hoped that he would be absorbed within himself to stay in the kitchen while I did my reconnaissance. Methodically, sorting through the room, not really noticing as the shirt I moved from the bed was folded and put in a drawer or as the cup was set near the door for a trip to the kitchen, I cleaned this room as well and frowned when after the whole process, I again came up empty handed. But then, why the fear? I was only getting more questions and no answers. I sighed softly and resisted the urge to use my magic here for I had not the energy to control it properly and I sadly slid through the hall to the kitchen, feeling defeated and tired on top of the hunger clawing at my stomach.

He was still busy in the kitchen so, after watching him a few moments unobserved, I returned to the living room, walking around until I felt a harmonious spot and then sat down on the floor, tucking my feet underneath me in a kneel, and rested my hands gently on my legs. I took a deep breath and started to hum just softly enough that you would have to be on top of me to hear it. I wasn’t using my powers with it, I was just relaxing myself. I went through a series of meditation exercises, beginning with the regulated breathing. After a few minutes, I sensed that he was closer to me and completed the current exercise, the color blending one and turned my head to the side to look at him gently. “The food is ready?”

Raif:

I was glad, for the moment, to be in the place that I currently called home, and her words helped ease my overworked nerves. There had been too many places for as long as I could remember, and not a one of them had truly been home. Perhaps just a place to take it easy, but never quite fitting what a home truly is. I let her wander off into my apartment, knowing that if she was a crazy out to steal something? She would not find much of anything worth it. Just a few different random outfits, enough so that I could go a week or so without having to do laundry.

For dinner, I grabbed some steaks that I had had cooked the day before, to make a number of dishes over the next few days. With a box of rice set to boil, I cut the steaks into strips, with vegetables and spices, I made a quick stir fry. I listened to her making her way through the small place, moving this here, that there, as if she was actually searching for something.

I shrugged a little bit, and continued with the food. She was an odd one, but the fact that I had yet to have a knife slipped between my ribs or a gun pulled on me? That was saying a lot. I put out generous helpings of the food, for there was plenty, onto plates, and moved to where she had knelt down on the floor. I knew not what she had been looking for, but it appeared she had not found anything out of the ordinary.

"Indeed it is," I replied as I knelt down not too far from her, and smiled slightly as she opened her eyes and spoke. I offered her the plate piled high with rice and steak-stripes, vegetables and a fork. "Eat up," I offered, and handed her the plate as I picked up my own and started in on it. I was rather hungry, myself.

"What were you looking for?" I asked, curiously, after a few minutes of silence.

Emmy:

Smiling gently at him, I shifted slightly to bring my legs into a cross legged Indian style pose and accepted the plate graciously. “Thank you,” was said softly and then nothing more as I surveyed the unfamiliar food and tentatively lifted the fork to spear on the steak strips, tasting it cautiously, then more enthusiastically as the flavors rolled over my tongue. I had finished off nearly a third of it, eating with child like abandon. I started when he spoke, having been involved with the new flavors and blinked at him in confusion a few moments before I understood that he had caught my stealthy actions in looking through his house. I shrugged a shoulder as I finished the bite, and frowned as the remembered failure came back to mind. “The focus,” I told him with an irritated twist to the tone for not having found it.

I took another bite and chewed thoughtfully before continuing on. “I was sure it would be here. But there’s nothing of power. Nothing unusual at all except the fear in the bedroom.” I shrugged a shoulder. “But I expected that.” I nodded firmly and returned to scarfing down the food he had provided. Halfway through, I had a sudden idea, setting the plate down on the floor and rising to my feet. I padded over to where he had carelessly thrown his coat and rifled through the pockets. Nothing within had the heavy darkness I was looking for and I shook my head and sighed “Its not there either.” I had been certain it would be where he slept. If it was an imbued object, there were other ways, they could have something of his too, but that would have been more difficult and surely he’d notice something that important to him missing.

I plopped down next to him and sighed, “It has to be something with them,” I told him sadly, “Which is going to be more difficult than simply breaking it here.” I mused softly, considering doing another attempt at seeing in the bedroom now that I had some food in me. I didn’t see another way. Turning to him, I smiled a bit, nodding towards his shirtless state. “You ought to get a shower or something and get some decent clothes on,” I absently noted the shift of muscle as he moved and flushed slightly, then glanced back to the ground, “You don’t want to catch a cold or anything.” The last was softer than the first and I slid from the couch, suddenly unwilling to be that close to him, although I wasn’t afraid that he would harm me. I was wary of getting emotionally attached. He was a project that I needed to save, and important person the needed to be helped.

I curled up on the recliner, pulling the slightly ragged blanket over my small form, with my back to him. Doing some deep breathing, I set my mind into a meditation cycle, while keeping my ears on his movements. I was crossing my fingers that he would take my suggestion. Hopefully he took long showers, I would need some uninterrupted time to cast the net that would bring me the emotions, especially the fear that lay so thickly in that room. If I could isolate that, perhaps I could get at the source and figure out how to break it. As long as they had this hold over him, he couldn’t fight. How it got to be my place to do these thing, I wasn’t really concerned with. I had my duty, my charge, and that was enough.

[Queen of Hearts]

Raif:

"You're welcome," I offered, a bit tense. I was still rather unaware of what was going on, no idea why I had let this girl come home with me. I shook my head a little, and ate a few bites of food. Mostly, I shifted it this way, and that way, along my plate, taking a small bite here and there. The dream refused to fade like usual, and I was left struggling to forget it this time. To push it away, to forget the feel of the razor-sharp branches digging and tearing into my flesh, as I ran, and ran, and ran like a scared little rabbit from the wolf, so hungry for flesh.

I listened to her as she spoke, quirking a slight brow at her. She knew something of what was going on, obviously. How much she knew, I could not even begin to fathom. I just looked at her, mouth hanging open just slightly, my head tilting somewhat to the side. The fact that she had yet to kill me, or chase me, rending flesh from my bones scrap by scrap? I guessed that was good.

"You're right," I nodded and set my barely eaten dinner to the side, and stood, looking down at her. I was not sure how to tell her, that this had been my birthright, whatever it was. This had been with me as long as I could remember, since I was barely but a babe, an orphan under a stranger's roof. I shuddered at those thoughts and shook my head a little.

I tried to think of something to say, of something to explain, but the words were not there. No one believed in the old gods any more, and none would believe that I was important enough to warrant a bounty on my head. I chuckled in a weary tone, and padded my way towards the bathroom. I took a detour to my bedroom, noting that it was a bit tidier than I habitually left it, and gathered some clothes. Once in the bathroom, with the door closed, I removed my clothes and threw them in the hamper.

I turned the water on nearly as hot as it could go, and stepped beneath the steaming water, letting out a hiss. It burned, but it let me know I was still alive, awake and alive. Twenty minutes later, I was toweled off, dressed in simple clothes, and heading tentatively back out into the small apartment, wondering if she was still there, and if so, what she had gotten herself up to.



Emmy:

I settled quietly in the chair, gathering my calm and my strength, for I would need it to sever the tie between the person who had set this curse upon my ward. They were obviously powerful enough to conceal themselves so thoroughly and to be able to get to the young man without having a focus set somewhere within. I had broken a few minor workings in my time but mostly old, devoid of power ones. This would likely be the biggest undertaking and I admitted to myself that I was apprehensive. I accepted this, then banished the doubt. Do it or die trying. I made this my mantra and repeated it to myself until I heard him rise and make his way to the other end of the small living space.

As I heard the click of the bathroom door, I rose from my place, automatically folding the blanket that I had been covered with. I scooped up the dishes and made a suds in the sink, settling them within to soak and adding some other dishes that had been lying around. Walking quietly down the hallway then, I paused briefly to listen for the running water of the shower and nodded once as I satisfied myself that he would be busy enough to give me the time needed. I pulled a small stick from the pocket of the oversized shirt I wore. With the stick, I traced a circle on the bed, chanting softly until the whole thing glowed with a light blue cast to it in my sight. Stepping through the small part yet unscribed, I seated myself within and completed the circle. As it joined, the power flared and became an orb. If one had the sight, I would be within a white-blue dome, that extended through the bed and met underneath it to form the globe.

Once the globe was complete, I took a deep breath and began a new chat, this one calling up that fear that I had been able to sense upon entering the room. Gasping as it hit me like a powerful punch in the stomach, I struggled with it until I could put it at enough of a distance to resume the application of skills. This type of thing was exactly what I had the globe for. If I were to fail, the globe would contract, incinerating anything within, but also preventing anything within from escaping. I was in control again as I Isolated the fear and caged it within a hastily made box. “You are not mine,” I told the emotion, making that wall, but it was strong and old and it was a hungry fear. I had never seen anything of it’s like and delved deeper. Through young adult hood, back farther into adolescence, childhood, and further still, until I saw the sweet toddler, lurching awake from the nighttime terrors.

My heart ached for the terrified little boy and I found myself wanting to hug and comfort him, rueful at the notion. Shrugging it off as I had a job to do , I tried to push further back, to isolate the cause, but I hit some sort of wall. There was a curious blankness to his beginning and I could not see within. Frustrated, I applied more pressure, but somehow this act released the captured fear and as I finally broke the barrier, the fear captured me and I was encased within his nightmare. Some part of me, even still, could see that this was not part of my own fears, which were more mundane. But that little part was paralyzed and its voice was insignificant as I found myself running for my life with something chasing me behind. My lungs burned and gradually I faltered, stopping and then with a sudden decision, I turned to meet my fate, and was swallowed by darkness, my body frozen in place upon the bed.