Lost In Your Eyes
Mmph.
Altair desperately tried not to sneeze.
It wasn't easy. Not in the dusty, stale air of the room
he was in.
Controlling himself by sheer will, he finally managed
to stifle the dangerous annoyance. He sighed quietly in
relief.
If I had made any amount of noise, little as it would
have been, it could've set off half a dozen alarms. You
have to admit, the Evil's security is tighter than a prissy
Light perfectionist. It covers every single square centimeter
of this entire complex...
He nervously glanced around in the empty room he had
slipped in from the underground tunnels the Light army had
established. Yeah, I heard it took years just to create
that tunnel without the Evil dudes finding out. Let's hope
the work pays off with this gamble... After relaxing for the
moment, he quickly got to work.
Len's brash voice rang in his mind. "Yo, Altair! No
regrets on this mission, 'kay? It's straight and simple, in
and out. First one finishes gets to harass the one who
hasn't! I know what sector you'll be in!" His silver eyes
glinted with reckless, mischievous laughter, his forest
hair drifted out like the dark leaves of the few remaining
forests on their world.
Altair shook his head in amazement. Kind of
overconfident isn't he? If anyone finishes first, it'll be
me. Altair told his friend silently, across several blocks
of dirt. Len was in another area, setting up his own
object, following orders.
Orders... his superior's face flashed into his mind.
Vega's normally expressionless face had raised an eyebrow
at his tenseness just before they entered the tunnel.
"Altair, you're not bothered by what the others say, are
you? Those cracks are just because you're new. They do that
to every new recruit. Don't take it personally." Altair had
started. Vega's impulsive manner was nearly impossible to
attain by anyone else, except for Altair. Vega had taken
him in immediately when he entered the ranks of the Light,
unceratin and unsure of his position. For which he was
grateful. "I have faith in you." The simple sentence struck
home and Altair was determined not to mess up on this
mission. It was incredible enough that the famed Vega was
going on this deadly mission with him, it'd be drop-dead
humilating if he were to botch it up in the face of his
'idol.'
Carefully controlling his breathing, Altair bent over
his drab knapsack and quietly withdrew the components.
Skillfully, he started to assemble the standard issue bomb,
brushing back his tawny hair with one hand, wiping away
sweat as well. Straight and simple, just as Len said. This
shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes. He clicked
the bomb into place, completed.
Yep. Now comes the hard part. Hacking into the
stupid computer system without any of those Evil buzzards
finding out. Altair removed his small laptop from the
larger area of his colorless knapsack and flicked open the
lid cautiously, switching the power on with a noiseless
click. He entered his codename and password. Keys clicking,
he typed quickly and without error as he entered the Evil's
database for this center and hacked his way through to set
the right circumstances for his bomb to go off, as prior to
his instructions.
Done, he said to himself, satisfied. He stood up and
turned to make some last minute adjustments to his bomb.
Then I'm going to jock over to Len's and throw his words in
his face! Silently, of course. He started to bend down.
Elsewhere...
An Evil commander angrily studied the screen. Even
after a month since the incident that had set off his foul
mood, he still smoldered inside, burning for revenge. I
know I should leave this kind of stuff to the technicians,
but I want to check it out for myself. This is the most
likely base the Light people ought to attack right now, and
I'm going to make sure that won't happen!
The computer beeped. His vigorous and analytical
program had found an unusual occurance to the normal
patterns and readings in the normal signatures of the
everyday activities.
The commander sat up and stared intently at the
screen. Hey! I've got something! He reached halfway for the
button to the alarm when he realized... Wait. It could be
*him*. If it's *him* I want to deal with *him* myself. I'm
going down! He entered a command to shut down every sensor
in the area the computer sensed the anomaly in and
holstered a neutron disruptor. If it's *him*... Lord, am I
going to hurt *him*. He left his office, barking shortly to
the soldiers guarding outside his door about some excuse
that they accepted.
*BANG!*
The sharp crack startled Altair and stopped him
where he stood as a huge clash of energy hit his arm,
damaging it heavily. He fell to the floor with a thud loud
enough to set off the alarm. Pain shot up his nerves, but
Altair quickly focused at his attacker. Oh great. An Evil
soldier. How did he discover me?! I didn't make any mistake
that would've caught attention unless... unless he had been
looking for it. Ivory hair sprang wildly, falling over
feline sapphire eyes.
"So it is you," the guy hissed. "I'm going to have
your ugly head, you sorry piece of supposed morality."
Heavy sarcasm liberally adorned the last word. "I'm going
to take you apart and make you wish you've never been
born!"
Altair winced and then studied his situation more
carefully. The alarm would have bought over a hundred
soliders here already if it had gone off, but nothing's
happening so... this guy must have unplugged it or something.
Which means... Altair pieced it together with the enraged
guy's words. "Is it just me," he gasped out, his reasoning
done with a flash, "Or do you have a grudge against me
personally?"
"Grudge? More like a blood vow of revenge!" The angry
words cut like blades into his ears.
"Mind telling me what I did that was so offensive?"
Altair asked with some irony in his voice, resisting the
urge to add, 'Lemme guess, I poured salt into you coffee
when you got up on the wrong side of your bed or cot or
something.' Altair wondered tightly why the man hadn't
killed him yet and sounded the alarm.
"Don't you remember that little girl you killed a
month ago, Light soldier," the teen sneered, wild hatred
glinting from electric blue eyes. "Gienah, remember?! I
read the reports, you're the one who killed her, weren't
you?! Well, guess what, *Light*," the boy made it sound
like a curse," soldier. "Hasn't it ocurred to you that she
might've had a family? People who cared about her? I'm her
older brother, Scheat."
Altair froze.
"Scheat..." the wordless whisper moved the small,
fragile girl's lips for the last time. The regretful,
disappointed look of failure glimmered in her amethyst eyes
as she died.
Altair stood in shock, staring frozen at what he'd
just done. He hadn't even thought, just reacted. Attacking
an enemy outpost and fighting against full-grown,
bloodthristy Evil soldiers were one thing, but the
unexpected valient charge of a girl barely nine years old
had thrown him off. She had actually gotten to him and
unsheathed the razor knife strapped to her thigh before
Altair registered the fact that a supposedly undecided girl
of nine, still about four years from determining where
she'd be in the war, was attacking him with lethal intent.
He reacted automatically, firing his gun at point-blank
range. He didn't miss, not even a butterfingered moron
could miss at that range and he was one of the best
marksmen in his troop.
Len had been with him on that mission; he too had been
freshly entered to the Light army at thirteen as was Altair
himself. They had met and quickly become best friends.
"Hey, man!" he broke uneasily into the zombie-like state
his friend had fallen in. He alone was staring concernedly
at his friend, the others on the team had shoved past him
in disgust, or ignored his turmoil entirely. "Snap out of
it! If she made up her mind so early, she must have been a
hard ambitious gal. Don't dwell on it, or you'll get mowed
down! Move it, man! You may have powers and abilities the
rest of us 'commoners' may not have, but ya still don't
know how to use 'em! Maybe in a couple of years you'll be
hotshot like your god Vega, but for now, get outta the way!
Forget the girl, she's not innocent!" Len yanked him out of
the path of oncoming soldiers and Altair snapped out of his
daze. He moved mechanically after that that, his mind on
remote.
She was innocent. Altair said to himself, I know she
was. She just believed in her side, and she fought for it-
died for it. Scheat... he must have being someone important.
Her role model probably, that's why she decided so early.
She knew she failed to protect the outpost, that's way the
pain, resignation, and despair flashed through her eyes...
Altair shivered. I'm never going to forget this. Besides
ruining my reputation, I'll never forget that look in her
eyes... God, I feel so dirty. I can't believe I killed a
sweet little girl over a worthless hunk of land... I did so
coldly and- and- savagely. Is this what fighting in a
never-ending war is like? God... if it is... I don't want war
to exist at all.
So this is 'Scheat.' Altair thought, totally out of
the home range of what he should have been thinking. The
pain in his left arm surged up from the dull throb that had
been tolerable. He shook slightly from his position on the
floor, droplets of beaded red falling down with his
convulsions.
Scheat had calmed down slightly from his former fiery
tirade, but was now lecturing intensely about the
'morality' of the Light. Each of his words stabbed into
Altair's heart and he kept seeing the sweet, round-eyed
face of the nine-year old girl that was his attacker's
sister.
"Doesn't it bother you?!" Scheat told Altair
heatedly, "To hear the screams of the murdered, the tears
of the innocent, and to see the devastation you've
wreaked?!" Scheat stood here breathing heavily in his
passionate display, still aiming the neutron disruptor at
Altair's head.
There was a deep silence. Scheat shifted nervously as
he raised his eyes to focus more on the wounded form on the
ground. He started to speak but was jolted silent as Altair
suddenly spoke up.
"Doesn't it scare you?" a soft whisper murmured, "The
feeling of the dead haunting your every step?"
Scheat blinked, surprised at hearing an echo of his
own thoughts, then stared suspiciously at the form. "You
have odd views for a Light soldier."
"Odd? No," the voice replied slowly, "Don't be so
quick to judge all of us when you've only meet a few. Not
all of us have such horrible views..." Altair raised shining
eyes to meet Scheat's confused face. "Though I thought all
the Evil soldiers were like that. You and I... our views
aren't that different are they?"
Scheat shook his head, attempting to clear it from
that breathy undertone. Why am I listening to this guy? He
killed my SISTER!! But why does he make sense?! I should
have killed him quickly instead of listening to him! Now... I
can't. That's not the way I operate. It's immoral... As if
step with his thoughts, the form moved to a sitting
position. Scheat automatically cocked his weapon unerringly
at the figure.
"If you're going to fire," Altair said, clutching his
wounded arm, "you'd better do it now. What if one of your
people found you conversing with the enemy? Not a great
picture is it? Finish me." He obstructed his eyes with a
curtain of light falling hair.
Scheat stared, then snorted, noting the surprised
jerk in Altair's reaction. "That's not the way we do
things," he told him mildly. "I guess the Light have
stricter and crueler principles than we... Harsh."
The soldier, a kid really, finally looked straight
into Scheat's sapphire eyes, confusion written all over his
face. Scheat studied him more carefully. "I won't kill you
defenseless. It's not honorable. However I certainly can't
let you go of course."
A small smile quirked the delicate face. "Indeed... I
really apologize for... though I know it wouldn't be anything
to you. I hope you could forgive me... It may sound lame, but
I really didn't mean to- to hit her. She just- defended her
side, your side. She was incredibly courageous."
Scheat stilled at his words. "Hn. Of course being
sorry wouldn't make up for it. Nothing you can ever do
would. Now, come on," he shoved his weapon into the small
of Altair's back. "Let's move. We're going to see the head
supervisor-"
"ALTAIR!" A familiar voice shouted in alarm.
Altair froze. Len? Then he realized what his friend
would do. No! I don't want-
BOOM! A concussion tore over concrete to strike out at
Scheat.
Altair pushed him out of the way in less than a second
before it hit over their heads.
"Len! Stop! Don't shoot!" Altair screamed, struggling
up.
"WHAT?!" Len yelled, his voice a pitch higher than
usual.
"Don't shoot!" Altair could feel rather than see the
stunned gaze Scheat was boring into him.
"What are you talking about?! He's an Evil member!
He's holding a bloody gun to your head and you-" Len's
tirade was cut short by the sudden pounding steps of a
troop of soldiers.
"Sir! Look out!" an alarmed voice of a well-trained
soldier boomed. A click, and then-
An explosive force tore through Altair's chest,
sending a fine spray of fiery crimson out with its
entrance.
**BAM!!!**
**BAM!!!**
A frightened six-year old stared wide-eyed from
beneath a hidden panel in the floor.
"Don't move. Don't leave there for any reason. Don't.
For the love of Light, just this once, Altair, do NOT think
of disobeying! Please..." the begging whisper ran through the
boy's mind. Words that his mother had hissed to him before
pushing him roughly in the secret panel. Then the insistent
pounding started, thudding on the specialized metal of the
front door.
Bam. Bam. Bam. BAM. BAM. BAM BAM BAM *BAM**BAM*.
Then came that awful, splintering **BAM!!!** Shards of
metal shot out from the explosion, becoming deadly
projectiles of flashing razors.
The sickening sound of metal dully ripping through
flesh resonated through the air.
"AHH!" screams from his parents who were defiantly
standing in front of his underground place.
His father gritted his teeth and quickly tried to pull
back the trigger of the laser slicer he'd gotten a few
weeks before.
Too late.
A sudden wave of darkness in the form of shadowy
clothed people flew in through the destroyed remaints of
the door and--
A brief haze of flaming light and nauseating slicing
clouded through Altair's mind.
Finally, finally, the shadows left. They vanished
soundlessly back out the door.
Altair distantly remembered standing up from the
panel. He remembered walking as though in a dream, to the
sticky, glassy vermillion pools welling from tattered flesh
and limbs scattered across the wreaked and splattered room.
He didn't know how long he had stood, impassively watching
the rippling waves of darkening red.
A whisper of a movement.
Altair raised his head and looked around him. He
finally recognized a large and relatively untouched chunk
of- of- He started slowly, then sprinted. He fell to his
knees and grasped a hand, ignoring the wet and metallic
scent of scarlet liquid soaking into the material of his
pants. "...Mom! Mom!"
Clouded eyes managed to focus onto his face,
bloodless lips curving into a faint smile. "...Al...tair..."
"Mom! Hang on! I'll get help! Don't move-"
"...good... safe..."
"Mom?! Don't move!"
The bloodied hand tightened slightly and Altair
stared fixatedly on the barely moving lips.
"...stay... safe. Don't let... Evil... change... you... "
"Don't move, mom! Don't..." a sob choked his throat
through the futile words. Tears ran down his cheeks as he
pulled the bloodstained hand to his cheek. "I- I promise!"
A sadly joyful sweet smile formed on her face and
her lips moved as if to speak again, but she fell limp in a
single expelled sigh.
"Mom? Mom..." Altair squeezed his eyes shut.
God... the tears... they won't stop. They won't stop.
Why do they hurt so much? Why does living have to hurt so
much? Why... Why... Why did this have to happen? It- it isn't
FAIR!!
Hours later... the sound of running steps sounded in
the path up to Altair's house. Loud panting wheezed through
the form that had suddenly stopped at the broken door.
A sharp gasp...
"Oh my... GOD! Mom! Dad! Altair...!" Altair's older
brother screamed in horror.
Altair looked up. His face was utterly dry and
expressionless as he stared up at his brother with frozen,
still, deadened eyes. "Vega... Vega, the Evil people came
today..."
Vega only stared with shocked eyes as he numbly
listened to what his younger brother told him. Tears
started streaming in a trickle down his face as he pulled
his remaining family into a fierce hug, sobbing.
Scheat stared in horror as Altair slowly crumpled to
his kness, a dark stream of brilliant red cascading from
the torn organs showing faintly through a gaping hole in
his chest.
Uh... Altair's mind froze completely, oblivious to the
fact that his chest was practically in shreds. That's
right, isn't it? I promised mom... I wouldn't let Evil change
me. Did I break that promise? I don't think so... Did I?
Dimly the sounds of shouting and running reached his
ears.
"Soldier, halt! I am NOT under attack! You are NOT to
shoot any Light soldiers until further notice from ME!"
Scheat's voice... Altair thought, Does that mean... he
doesn't hate me anymore? I hope so... I don't want him to
hate me... I never HATED Evil... Does Vega? He... he had changed.
He had grown indifferent since then; becoming stronger and
more focused...
"Altair!" Hands caught him, gently holding him up. The
urgent voice struggled to register in his mind, but it was
all fading away.
Mom? Is that you? Altair could see a familiar warm
face, hear loving laughter, feel the gentle brush of a soft
hand against his cheek...
"ALTAIR~!" Two strident voices rang out in horror,
bringing him slightly out of the daze he'd fallen in.
That's right... I can't leave until I...
Altair opened clouding eyes. He saw the vaguely
familiar form of Scheat sigh with relief above him and
suddenly realized that the shots the soldier and Len had
fired had alerted all the others and... the Evil members at
the HQ they were suppose to infiltrate. People were surging
forth like an unstoppable tide.
Some stealth spies we are...
Altair weakly managed to raise his failing eyes,
concentrating hard on finding one... no two faces in the
blurring crowds of Light and Evil. He met Len's eyes.
"Len... why does Evil exist? Why can't we... just have
peace? Why does *evil* always... always appear to come back...
no matter what... in any form... to destroy everything I love?
Why do I always have to fight against... and am expected to
win? Why can't I ever be allowed... to... lose? Why...? Vega...
why?" He whispered softly, finding the other person he
loved as the closest to his soul, speaking to him alone. He
looked into Vega's shocked, familiar eyes and smiled a
soft, lonely smile, his lips curving ever so slightly and
closed his shining eyes. Altair gasped out a gentle sigh.
All his muscles went lax.
A sudden silence descended upon all those present.
A formidible lady with flame hued hair strode forth
slowly and called out, "Scheat! Report! What is going on
here!?"
"Shaula..." Scheat whispered, "Didn't you hear him? This
Light soldier? He has, had, views like- like-"
"Like us," Shaula finished shortly, her penetrating
emerald gaze lingering on the still form. A strange look
that resembled empathy was sparkling from her eyes. "Very
odd. Still what are we going to do with these
infiltrators?"
All the Light soldiers tensed; some dropping the wince
they expressed at hearing the infamous Shaula's name.
"Great.... All of us are caught because of that stupid
green kid," Scubens, a high ranking officer, commented
bitterly. Her blue eyes were hard and unforgiving, she
tossed her flaxen hair back comtemptuously. "I knew we
shouldn't have taken such a dumb, ignorant, fresh out here
to do such important stuff--"
*BLAM!!*
A fist caught the obnoxious moving mouth and threw the
almighty lieutenant back six feet, sucker-punching her
hard. Len stood with his back to the raised guns of the
Evil side, breathing hard and looking positively murderous.
"Shut up! Altair was way better than YOU. He gave it
all he had and you diss him for an unexpected element! I
don't believe this!" Len cursed unpleasantly for a minute.
"@$$! If I had known there'd be !@%&$# like you, I'd
probably never joined! Those Evil people even act better to
each other than you guys!"
"Stand down. All of you," a slightly choked voice
ordered roughly. It was Vega, his normally expressionless
face a mask of chaotic turmoil. "No one is to attack any of
the Evil. No one. Understand?"
Roughly twenty eyes swerved in unison to stare at the
sudden order. Some of those belonging to the Evil party.
The rest took it calmly more or less and stood down,
obeying orders they didn't really understand.
The Evil just stood there. Their confusion was obvious
as they turned to their own superiors for orders.
"I also order you to stand down," Shaula ordered.
"Don't fire unless they do, but don't let them leave the
premises until we figured all this out!" Scheat simply
nodded his agreement as his own troops looked at him
questioningly.
"Man, I don't believe this!" complained another high-
ranking Light soldier. "Vega! What are you doing? Just
because some low-ranking kid screws up and gets killed,
another idiot socks a lieutanant in a way higher rank for
criticizing, you're commanding a halt to this mission?!
Plus, that messed up kid ruined the whole thing by
protecting an EVIL soldier, right? Boy, wait 'til the
report comes in that we messed up something planned for years
because some-"
A fiery plasma blast abruptly enveloped the offender
and evaporated him.
Vega stood calmly with his arm extended, showing his
hidden powers for the first time in full view. There had
been whispers of a precious few that had the inborn ability
of supernatural and magical powers.
It looks like the sayings about Vega are right... Len 's
mind ground out slowly. Though I'm sure he shouldn't have
just busted out his cavalry like that in public.
"I have no use for those who diss our members for no
reason. Does anyone else share that sentiment that that
former piece of bull just said?" Vega paused, waiting.
"Good."
The Evil looked awed and even a little frightened as
they heard who was also among the party that had intruded
on their premises. "Vega..." the hiss was whispered through
the crowd. Shaula looked impressed.
Len looked shocked, along with a considerable number
of other people, but it was he who asked, "Um... Vega?"
Vega turned and looked down at Len, who cringed
slightly at the expression in his eyes and continued
nonetheless. "If you don't mind me asking... why's Altair so
important to a superior like you...?"
Vega stared at Len for a long moment, his lips pressed
into a thin line. Then he smiled bitterly, and slowly
answered in a soft voice, "Because... Altair is my younger
brother."
Len fell over. Jaws dropped all around the room. "Br-
Br-Brother?!" he yelped, then stopped short as he realized...
A single tear crept steadily down Vega's pale ivory
face, followed by another and another. "Yeah..." he said in a
strangled undertone. "My brother." He squeezed his golden
eyes closed. Eyes that were nearly a duplicate of Altair's.
Brothers. The crazed thought raced around Len's
stunned mind. I do not believe this...
"Brothers..." Scheat stared incredulously. "We didn't
have any information on this!"
A slight smile, bitter and rueful, twisted Vega's
lips. "Maybe, you weren't suppose to know, for a reason.
Can't you think of what it is?" Pain-filled eyes drifted
involuntarily to the form in a small pool of glassy, bright
red. "A fat lot of good that did," he continued fiercely.
The Evil soldiers stood around uneasily. This wasn't
in the manual. They were suppose to fight their enemies,
not stand around listening to one of their dramas unfold.
Nonetheless, some had tears creeping secretly out of the
corners of their eyes which they hastily wiped away,
glancing surreptitiously around to see if anyone had caught
their sympathy.
"Come on," another Light spoke up, vehemently, "The
great Vega, the one who has led the Light to dozens of
victories, is giving up just because someone close to him
is killed? This is war! We have to fight to defend our
people! Don't you care about who's right?!"
Vega spoke harshly and bluntly, with impossile tears
falling from his eyes. "I don't care who's wrong- or right.
I just don't want to fight anymore," he told them all.
"Altair was the closest to my heart, he's the *reason* why
I fight in this war! I'm not going to be the one to call
him a fool for his dreams of peace." Vega strided over to
the limp and motionless form on the moist ground, nearing
the Evil troops.
They tensed, but didn't do anything.
Vega knelt down and gently picked up Altair's small
form, affectionately brushing back damp locks of hair from
the cold, childish face.
"Ah, bro. You always had a good reason for fighting
for the Light. Unlike me, who just wanted to-" A
crystalline tear fell from darkened eyes. "Wanted to avenge
mom and dad. You wanted to fight, so that there wouldn't be
any more like us. Any other kids who'd lose their parents
to war. So you fought for the Light, thinking it was the
morally correct side to fight for... I guess you... and I,
gambled wrong. Or right." A mysterious, thick mist
gradually enveloped Vega.
Both sides started. Vega looked up, straight at Len
with piercing eyes. A soft smile, like Altair's, curved his
mouth. "Len... we'll be back. One day... when everything's
clearer, we'll be back. Wait for us... wait for him. Wait for
Altair." The mist condensed and turned opaque for a moment
then abruptly dissipated in a burst of wind. Vega and the
sweet soul he carried were gone; leaving the milling,
confused armies of Light and Evil to battle it out by
themselves.
Len stared after them with solemn silver eyes. "I
will," he spoke softly, almost inaudible to himself.
Epilogue
On a lonely and forgotten beach near the sea... a
draught of arcane fog swirled briefly, revealing a dark
figure. The tall person walked into a home, aged and
shabbily fixed up, pausing by the torn door, closing vivid
eyes. He let the sea breeze weave into his raven hair,
remembering.
This is where it began... and even so, afterwards we
still had never truly abandoned this place. Because we left
a part of our soul here, that's why it could never be
forgotten. We came often to remember... oddly, it became one
of our favorite retreats. Secret, private this was a place
where you... sad eyes looked over the still burden he held in
his arms, and I loved to be together at our most tormented.
You claimed you could hear father's voice in the wind,
mother's touch in the sand... but that was a long time ago.
Are you with her now? Are you with dad?
The figure opened his eyes and stood silently. Call me
selfish Altair, but I can't do this again on my own. I'd
rather... Forgive me. If this works, I hope you'll forgive
me. If it doesn't... I'll join you in peace.
Vega drew a deep breath and trailed in the door,
turning left in the hallway, still remembering the house's
nooks and crannies even after so long. He paused, then went
back to the dusty, worn kitchen, which was the room closest
to the door. Rips in the floor, tears in the wall, all were
the signs of the battle that had taken place so long ago.
He gently propped up the form he carried in his arms
against a tattered wall.
The place of our resurrection should be in the pools
of blood from which our condemnation arose. Where our
parents died, we shall arise once again to this mortal
world of sin and emotion, or fall to the sweet darkness of
oblivion. Vega slowly raised an arm, brilliant pinpicks of
light and color sparkled along his form and Altair's. They
thickened and spun themselves into thread that wrapped
steadily around both men. A slender, hollow clear thread
attached itself directly to Vega's wrist, glowing on
contact and fastened itself onto Altair's wrist.
Vega winced at the sudden wrench, expected as it was.
He gritted his teeth and bore it. For Altair... anything,
everything I would give. Anything to take away that look in
his eyes when I had raced home that day; when I heard about
the attack on our house. Anything, but Death is not the way
I want that blank, dead gaze to disappear. That same look
in mom and dad's eyes... Vega shuddered, his breathing turned
shallow and he relaxed almost unwillingly. He looked
through slitted eyes at Altair's vanishing face as the
building thread of the spell he wove obscured his own
vision. Brother... one way or another, we'll be together
again... Darkness.
The glistening cords, translucent yet opaque,
eventually completely hid the two beings concealed inside
it from view. The thin line connecting two dry chrysalises
glowed, pulsing with life.
Abruptly, the chysalis containing the motionless form
of a sandy haired teen shimmered, the other throbbed in
time with the heart of the one inside of its chamber.
Slowly, the still form took a breath. Then another. A
thin thready pulse began inside slowly mending wounds.
Altair lived. Inside the safety of the chambers the
chysalis provided, he lived. In time, he might become well
enough to live outside of his cocoon. It was all a question
of will, strength, luck, and time. Vega's life supported
his loved one's.
It was all a matter for hope.
*End*
(
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