The Path That Runs Around The Ends Of The World
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Category:
+S to Z › Utena
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
1
Views:
1,183
Reviews:
0
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Utena, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
The Path That Runs Around The Ends Of The World
Title: The Path That Runs Around The Ends Of The World…
Category: angst, insanity, and yaoi.
Rating: …I'd say about an R.
Pairings: …well… The story is about Mikage…
Warnings: warnings for angst, insanity, and vague references to semi-non-consensual yaoi intercourse…
Spoilers: Completely spoils the Student Council and Black Rose Saga.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosencrantz: I remember -
Guildenstern: Yes?
Ros: I remember when there were no questions.
Guil: There were always questions. To exchange one set for another is no great matter.
Ros: Answers, yes. There were answers to everything.
Guil: You've forgotten.
Ros (flaring): I haven't forgotten - how I used to remember my own name - and yours, oh yes! There were answers everywhere you looked. There was no question about it - people knew who I was and if they didn't they asked and I told them.
Guil: You did the trouble is, each of them is… plausible, without being instinctive. All your life you live so close to the truth, it becomes a permanent blur in the corner of your eye, and when something nudges it into outline it is like being ambushed by a grotesque. A man standing in his saddle in the half-lit half-alive dawn banged on the shutters and called two names. He was just a hat and a cloak levitating in the grey plume of his own breath, but when he called, we came. That much is certain - we came.
-Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead…
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ONE:
"Souji-kun!"
He turned when he heard a youthful voice call his name.
Miki smiled as he caught up to him. "Hello! I haven't seen you around much lately."
"No?" He asked, absently. He blinked a few times.
"…Souji-kun?" Miki's smile faltered. "Are you all right?"
"…All right? …I… excuse me…" He said, turning away abruptly.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TWO:
He stumbled into the nearby greenhouse, one hand clutching at his stomach. The other was fisted in his hair. "…" His breath came quickly, and he felt dangerously close to hyperventilating.
The boy… Looked so familiar… But who… Who…?
//"I'm sorry, Souji-kun, but I don't think I will be able to join your seminar…"//
Seminar?
PLEASE BEGIN
"Who am I?!" He cried. He knew his name - Souji Mikage - His age - 16?! - His position?!
PLEASE BEGIN
He looked around wildly for the source of the voice. In his stumbling, he fell against a table of roses, clutching his hands.
Roses?
"I remember roses…"
The roses made a sound… In the back of his mind… Almost like…
He watched his blood drip against a petal. Red on red, but one so dark, it seemed almost black in comparison…
…Black…
Black roses?
The blood dripped onto the ring he wore.
White ring.
Black roses.
The buzzing sound was overpowering him.
DEEPER. GO DEEPER
He cried out, bloody hands fisting in his pale hair.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THREE:
A butterfly brushed past him, and he felt his bloody hand shoot out. Three desperate beats - soft wings on his palm, and then - nothing - but
He stared at his hand in shock.
DEEPER. GO DEEPER
He turned his hand over, feeling the butterfly slide to the ground.
White ring.
A Red Rose.
The Black Roses…
"The Lord of the Flies…" He whispered, looking up.
"The Lord of the Flies was diagnosed as sound." A calm voice assured him.
"Why won't it stop?!" He cried.
Gentle fingers - steel encased in deceptively soft, firm flesh - eased his bleeding hands from his hair.
"It will…" He promised, lips ghosting on pale skin.
"When?!" He sobbed.
DEEPER. GO DEEPER
"When you learn the right question."
"I don't understand!" Frustration now, as he attempted to pull his hand away.
"…That is not it."
"What?!"
The hands holding his wrists were dark and strong, but the voice was gentle. The sound was causing him to tremble in the man's grip.
"…Mikage… You're just a boy… Don't you know what it is…?"
"The… sound…?"
"The Lord of the Flies?" The voice mocked, gently.
"The…" He caught his breath, watching the blood - his blood - slide down his palm, to the dark flesh that held him.
Black Roses.
"The sound… That… Runs… Runs around…"
Lips ghosted over his, and for the first time, he saw the man's eyes…
"The End of the World." The voice finished.
Mikage screamed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOUR:
He moaned softly when light fingers danced across his face. "…Mamiya…" He whispered, shifting to bury his face in that rose-scented warmth.
He froze when he recognized the scent, not of roses, but of cinnamon, and felt hands on his back, too large, and too strong… Struggling, his eyes flew open.
Blood in front of him!
He tried to pull away but was held in place firmly.
Not blood! Waves of silk…?
As abruptly as his struggles had begun, they ceased.
"…Who… Who are you?" He whispered. His throat hurt, as though he had spent a lifetime screaming. Which, of course, he had…
The young man smiled slightly. It had been far too long since someone had failed to recognize him…
"Wait…" Mikage pressed one thin wrist to his forehead. "…I know you…"
//A young man, surrounded by adoring crowds, his teeth catching the light in an unnatural way…//
Jealousy.
Resentment.
A rose…
Red…
…And Black…
"…Student Council…" He choked out, as his thoughts eluded him once more.
// "…without ever truly being born…" //
// "…without ever truly being born…" //
// "Sempai, why did you call her?" //
// "…without…" //
// "You seem like you're having fun…" //
// "…ever…" //
// "You did that on purpose!" //
// "…my Rose Signet…" //
// "…A tear?" //
// "Smash the world's shell!" //
"To Bring The World Revolution!" He screeched, struggling again, as his muddled memories swirled like a tempest.
The Student Council President held him firmly, pinning his arms at his sides, until he stilled again. "Hey! I don't care who you are! You just can't keep doing that!" He snapped.
"…You know me?"
Touga looked at him, perplexed, as he released him. "…You're the boy who runs the Seminar."
"…Seminar?"
PLEASE BEGIN
"Yes… Soushi…?"
"Mikage. My name is… Mi-Ka-Ge…" He whispered. Looking up, he wondered, "Where are we?"
"…We are forgotten." Touga answered, simply.
"Again? …Why?"
"We failed."
"To bring the World Revolution?"
"No. Merely to crack the Earth's Shell."
"…I… Drew a sword… No… It was drawn… From me…"
"Yeah," Touga winced. "Me, too."
"…I fought… The Engaged… With my sword… and…"
"You lost." He supplied, helpfully.
"…I lost… To a girl… Who is… Not who she is… " He laughed, sharply. "She was… me…"
"Are you always this crazy, or should I be concerned?" Touga murmured close to his ear.
"Stop that!" He snapped absently, twining fingers in his hair. "…I don't know… Who I am…"
"Let me show you." Touga purred rolling over on top of him.
"Stop that!!" Mikage cried, struggling against him. "I need to think!"
"Obviously the strain becomes too much for you. You should take a break."
"…Let me go…" He whispered.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIVE:
PLEASE BEGIN
Touga lay on his side, fingers trailing lazily through Mikage's soft pink hair. It spread around him in a strange halo as he stared up at the ceiling.
"Who is Mamiya?" Touga murmured.
"…He died."
"Do you remember him?"
"…He was…"
// "Sempai…" //
// "Sempai…" //
// "Sempai, why did you call her?" //
"He was… The Rose Bride."
Touga's fingers involuntarily closed in a tight fist. Mikage hissed, sliding towards him in order to alleviate the sudden pressure on his scalp. "Himemiya Anthy is the Rose Bride." He said, coldly.
"The Rose Bride is a living corpse."
Touga wrenched his hair cruelly, leaning over him again. "What is wrong with you?! Why do you continue spouting nonsense?!"
"…I don't…"
"Know who you are. I do. You used me, and the rest of the Student Council. You used Utena. And someone used you."
"…I wasn't supposed to care…"
"About what?"
"Eternity."
"And do you?"
"It's… More than that…"
"How so?" He demanded, not releasing him.
"…I am eternal… Or… I was."
"WHAT?!"
DEEPER. GO DEEPER
Gears turned in his head… like… an elevator?… Something fluttered behind Touga's head, as he stared down at the other boy, pinned beneath him.
"…I was eternal…" Mikage whispered. "Because…"
// "Your eyes are like those people who can't help wanting…" //
"Because…"
// "What nonsense are you talking about?" //
"…Because I wasn't real." He realized finally. He laughed again, sporadically. "…eternity can't really exist, can it?"
Touga shook him roughly. "IT HAS TO!!"
"…Why…?…"
"Because…" Blue eyes slid away from magenta, and the hands left him, to plant themselves on either side of his shoulders. Sighing deeply, Touga rested his head against the other boy's chest, reveling in the sound of Mikage's heartbeat.
…And Mikage began to comprehend. "You saw him." He whispered, fingers grazing that sharp chin. It was not a question.
Touga sat up, drawing away from that gentle touch. Mikage sat up, too, trailing fingers lightly across his arm. "…he saved me…" The redhead breathed.
"He wasn't real." Mikage assured him firmly.
Snarling, Touga struck him, face contorting with rage. Mikage cried out as he slipped off the bed into the cold floor. He lay there, on his side, with one arm bent awkwardly beneath him. The other cupped his reddened, already bruised face.
"IT WAS REAL!" Touga screamed. He stood over the motionless boy, trembling with fury.
Mikage did not move, but a slight smile played across his blood-less lips. "Then show me something eternal…"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIX:
PLEASE BEGIN
Rough hands, callused by years of swordplay, pulled at his clothing. …So unlike the soft, gentle hands of long ago… Different, still, than the powerful, flawless hands that had held him earlier.
Mikage closed his eyes as Touga began.
"…It was real… It had to be real… I have been a duelist since before the duels began… When I was a child, he came to me, and he gave the ring to me! … I have been the End of the World's most constant contact… I have been the one to oversee the duels that are to bring us closer to Revolution! It is my duty! My right! My destiny!!"
Mikage cried out sharply, but Touga ignored him. He was too far-gone in his own raging storm of thoughts.
DEEPER. GO DEEPER
"She beat me… I lost… How can I lose to this girl?! How can she be a duelist?! She's never been in contact with the End of the World!! How can she defeat me?! How could he have offered her Eternity, when he had already promised it to me?!"
He groaned quietly, interrupting his own outbursts. He felt the other boy tense in response. Sharp fingernails clawed a fiery path down his back.
"…And as for you… You have outwitted me at my own game… How is it that I can lose at a game of my own devising? … You used my power, and the power of the Student Council… And I was powerless to stop you. I lost again…"
Mikage was gasping now, making soft sobbing noises, as he buried his face in the ocean of Touga's hair. It fell around them like a curtain, sealing them in a private womb of confession. Touga shifted his weight, deliberately. This time, Mikage whimpered. But he did not cry. The other boy drove forward, too quickly and too sharply, wishing he would.
"…I cannot be defeated…" He whispered kissing lightly at the smaller boy's face. "…I was created to succeed… Like the rest of this Academy… The very Ends of the World groomed me for Eternity,… It is all in my nature… I cannot… I cannot…"
"…What… about… eternity…?" Mikage asked, voice low, through gritted teeth.
"…Eternity is when I have succeeded."
"At what?"
"Everything."
"…………And if you fail?"
"I cannot fail. …It is not in my nature…"
"……She defeated you…"
"No. To win the Castle That Is Said To Hold Eternity, I do not have to win every duel…"
Lips met in a desperate prayer, and Touga held him firmly. Mikage writhed, but he did not struggle.
"…I just have to win the last one."
I UNDERSTAND
SEVEN:
"…Why…?…" Mikage whispered, rolling over, onto his stomach.
Touga paused where he stood, resting one hand casually on the foot of the bed.
"…It is destiny…"
"…I Understand…" Mikage breathed.
// "You're going to lose now." //
It could never have worked.
Dead roses cannot overrun the living.
Blood cannot flow from a corpse.
A memory cannot reveal the future, only the past…
…And a gentle, confused boy cannot take the place of a strong and capricious one…
THE PATH YOU MUST TAKE HAS BEEN PREPARED FOR YOU
…And he had known it all along….
It had been an intentional loss, though the intentions had not been his own.
Computer-man.
A Rose Signet.
Hope.
Loss.
Tragedy.
Puppet-man.
A Black Circlet.
Misdirection.
Manipulation.
…Ghosts…
He stared at the young President of the Student Council, who stood before something.
…He could have sworn the door had not been there a moment ago…
The doorknob was a Red Rose.
"…Mikage…"
"…Mikage is not real…" He whispered.
"Then what is?"
"…Something… Eternal."
The winged creature fluttered past Touga's face, tangling momentarily in blood-red strands.
It was not a butterfly.
…Only a moth.
"Go, now…" He whispered, voice hoarse, body numb. "The Path That You Must Take Has Been Prepared For You…"
Touga's fingers hesitated on the knob.
"…Do you hear that…?"
"It's the Sound That Runs…" He began.
But the President of the Student Council had stepped through the door.
When it closed firmly behind him…
The Rose was Black.
// "Rose blooming at the End of the World… To me…" //
"…You Have No Choice But To Revolutionize The World…"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EIGHT:
The phone rang.
Startled, his hand shot out automatically to lift the receiver. He pushed his glasses up on his nose, wondering how he had ever been able to see clearly without them…
"You Understand." The voice on the other end said, softly. When he did not answer, the man continued. "…The Path Before You Has NOT Been Prepared… You Graduate Now."
"…And what is to become of me?"
The voice was now directly behind him, as strong hands closed over his wrists. The phone clattered to the floor, dead, useless, forgotten… Lips teased against his cheek, but no breath stirred the soft, fine hairs falling there.
"The same thing that happens to all who come here, seeking what cannot be sought…"
"Eternity."
"…The shell can be cracked, Mikage, but not shattered,"
"That's Revolution."
"Is it?"
"…I can't ever ask the proper question, can I?" …But in that instant, Mikage knew that he had.
"…Would you like to see the End of the World?"
"No."
The man chuckled, almost coldly. "And that is why you shall."
Mikage recognized that laughter.
It was the Sound…
"The End of the World." He whispered.
The Lord of the Flies only laughed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End.
"The spirits vanished. Afraid and lonely
I wandered on in darkness.
Speak or let me die.
Die, whispered the blackness."
-Robert Hayden, 'The Ballad of Nat Turner'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Category: angst, insanity, and yaoi.
Rating: …I'd say about an R.
Pairings: …well… The story is about Mikage…
Warnings: warnings for angst, insanity, and vague references to semi-non-consensual yaoi intercourse…
Spoilers: Completely spoils the Student Council and Black Rose Saga.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rosencrantz: I remember -
Guildenstern: Yes?
Ros: I remember when there were no questions.
Guil: There were always questions. To exchange one set for another is no great matter.
Ros: Answers, yes. There were answers to everything.
Guil: You've forgotten.
Ros (flaring): I haven't forgotten - how I used to remember my own name - and yours, oh yes! There were answers everywhere you looked. There was no question about it - people knew who I was and if they didn't they asked and I told them.
Guil: You did the trouble is, each of them is… plausible, without being instinctive. All your life you live so close to the truth, it becomes a permanent blur in the corner of your eye, and when something nudges it into outline it is like being ambushed by a grotesque. A man standing in his saddle in the half-lit half-alive dawn banged on the shutters and called two names. He was just a hat and a cloak levitating in the grey plume of his own breath, but when he called, we came. That much is certain - we came.
-Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead…
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ONE:
"Souji-kun!"
He turned when he heard a youthful voice call his name.
Miki smiled as he caught up to him. "Hello! I haven't seen you around much lately."
"No?" He asked, absently. He blinked a few times.
"…Souji-kun?" Miki's smile faltered. "Are you all right?"
"…All right? …I… excuse me…" He said, turning away abruptly.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TWO:
He stumbled into the nearby greenhouse, one hand clutching at his stomach. The other was fisted in his hair. "…" His breath came quickly, and he felt dangerously close to hyperventilating.
The boy… Looked so familiar… But who… Who…?
//"I'm sorry, Souji-kun, but I don't think I will be able to join your seminar…"//
Seminar?
PLEASE BEGIN
"Who am I?!" He cried. He knew his name - Souji Mikage - His age - 16?! - His position?!
PLEASE BEGIN
He looked around wildly for the source of the voice. In his stumbling, he fell against a table of roses, clutching his hands.
Roses?
"I remember roses…"
The roses made a sound… In the back of his mind… Almost like…
He watched his blood drip against a petal. Red on red, but one so dark, it seemed almost black in comparison…
…Black…
Black roses?
The blood dripped onto the ring he wore.
White ring.
Black roses.
The buzzing sound was overpowering him.
DEEPER. GO DEEPER
He cried out, bloody hands fisting in his pale hair.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THREE:
A butterfly brushed past him, and he felt his bloody hand shoot out. Three desperate beats - soft wings on his palm, and then - nothing - but
He stared at his hand in shock.
DEEPER. GO DEEPER
He turned his hand over, feeling the butterfly slide to the ground.
White ring.
A Red Rose.
The Black Roses…
"The Lord of the Flies…" He whispered, looking up.
"The Lord of the Flies was diagnosed as sound." A calm voice assured him.
"Why won't it stop?!" He cried.
Gentle fingers - steel encased in deceptively soft, firm flesh - eased his bleeding hands from his hair.
"It will…" He promised, lips ghosting on pale skin.
"When?!" He sobbed.
DEEPER. GO DEEPER
"When you learn the right question."
"I don't understand!" Frustration now, as he attempted to pull his hand away.
"…That is not it."
"What?!"
The hands holding his wrists were dark and strong, but the voice was gentle. The sound was causing him to tremble in the man's grip.
"…Mikage… You're just a boy… Don't you know what it is…?"
"The… sound…?"
"The Lord of the Flies?" The voice mocked, gently.
"The…" He caught his breath, watching the blood - his blood - slide down his palm, to the dark flesh that held him.
Black Roses.
"The sound… That… Runs… Runs around…"
Lips ghosted over his, and for the first time, he saw the man's eyes…
"The End of the World." The voice finished.
Mikage screamed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOUR:
He moaned softly when light fingers danced across his face. "…Mamiya…" He whispered, shifting to bury his face in that rose-scented warmth.
He froze when he recognized the scent, not of roses, but of cinnamon, and felt hands on his back, too large, and too strong… Struggling, his eyes flew open.
Blood in front of him!
He tried to pull away but was held in place firmly.
Not blood! Waves of silk…?
As abruptly as his struggles had begun, they ceased.
"…Who… Who are you?" He whispered. His throat hurt, as though he had spent a lifetime screaming. Which, of course, he had…
The young man smiled slightly. It had been far too long since someone had failed to recognize him…
"Wait…" Mikage pressed one thin wrist to his forehead. "…I know you…"
//A young man, surrounded by adoring crowds, his teeth catching the light in an unnatural way…//
Jealousy.
Resentment.
A rose…
Red…
…And Black…
"…Student Council…" He choked out, as his thoughts eluded him once more.
// "…without ever truly being born…" //
// "…without ever truly being born…" //
// "Sempai, why did you call her?" //
// "…without…" //
// "You seem like you're having fun…" //
// "…ever…" //
// "You did that on purpose!" //
// "…my Rose Signet…" //
// "…A tear?" //
// "Smash the world's shell!" //
"To Bring The World Revolution!" He screeched, struggling again, as his muddled memories swirled like a tempest.
The Student Council President held him firmly, pinning his arms at his sides, until he stilled again. "Hey! I don't care who you are! You just can't keep doing that!" He snapped.
"…You know me?"
Touga looked at him, perplexed, as he released him. "…You're the boy who runs the Seminar."
"…Seminar?"
PLEASE BEGIN
"Yes… Soushi…?"
"Mikage. My name is… Mi-Ka-Ge…" He whispered. Looking up, he wondered, "Where are we?"
"…We are forgotten." Touga answered, simply.
"Again? …Why?"
"We failed."
"To bring the World Revolution?"
"No. Merely to crack the Earth's Shell."
"…I… Drew a sword… No… It was drawn… From me…"
"Yeah," Touga winced. "Me, too."
"…I fought… The Engaged… With my sword… and…"
"You lost." He supplied, helpfully.
"…I lost… To a girl… Who is… Not who she is… " He laughed, sharply. "She was… me…"
"Are you always this crazy, or should I be concerned?" Touga murmured close to his ear.
"Stop that!" He snapped absently, twining fingers in his hair. "…I don't know… Who I am…"
"Let me show you." Touga purred rolling over on top of him.
"Stop that!!" Mikage cried, struggling against him. "I need to think!"
"Obviously the strain becomes too much for you. You should take a break."
"…Let me go…" He whispered.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIVE:
PLEASE BEGIN
Touga lay on his side, fingers trailing lazily through Mikage's soft pink hair. It spread around him in a strange halo as he stared up at the ceiling.
"Who is Mamiya?" Touga murmured.
"…He died."
"Do you remember him?"
"…He was…"
// "Sempai…" //
// "Sempai…" //
// "Sempai, why did you call her?" //
"He was… The Rose Bride."
Touga's fingers involuntarily closed in a tight fist. Mikage hissed, sliding towards him in order to alleviate the sudden pressure on his scalp. "Himemiya Anthy is the Rose Bride." He said, coldly.
"The Rose Bride is a living corpse."
Touga wrenched his hair cruelly, leaning over him again. "What is wrong with you?! Why do you continue spouting nonsense?!"
"…I don't…"
"Know who you are. I do. You used me, and the rest of the Student Council. You used Utena. And someone used you."
"…I wasn't supposed to care…"
"About what?"
"Eternity."
"And do you?"
"It's… More than that…"
"How so?" He demanded, not releasing him.
"…I am eternal… Or… I was."
"WHAT?!"
DEEPER. GO DEEPER
Gears turned in his head… like… an elevator?… Something fluttered behind Touga's head, as he stared down at the other boy, pinned beneath him.
"…I was eternal…" Mikage whispered. "Because…"
// "Your eyes are like those people who can't help wanting…" //
"Because…"
// "What nonsense are you talking about?" //
"…Because I wasn't real." He realized finally. He laughed again, sporadically. "…eternity can't really exist, can it?"
Touga shook him roughly. "IT HAS TO!!"
"…Why…?…"
"Because…" Blue eyes slid away from magenta, and the hands left him, to plant themselves on either side of his shoulders. Sighing deeply, Touga rested his head against the other boy's chest, reveling in the sound of Mikage's heartbeat.
…And Mikage began to comprehend. "You saw him." He whispered, fingers grazing that sharp chin. It was not a question.
Touga sat up, drawing away from that gentle touch. Mikage sat up, too, trailing fingers lightly across his arm. "…he saved me…" The redhead breathed.
"He wasn't real." Mikage assured him firmly.
Snarling, Touga struck him, face contorting with rage. Mikage cried out as he slipped off the bed into the cold floor. He lay there, on his side, with one arm bent awkwardly beneath him. The other cupped his reddened, already bruised face.
"IT WAS REAL!" Touga screamed. He stood over the motionless boy, trembling with fury.
Mikage did not move, but a slight smile played across his blood-less lips. "Then show me something eternal…"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIX:
PLEASE BEGIN
Rough hands, callused by years of swordplay, pulled at his clothing. …So unlike the soft, gentle hands of long ago… Different, still, than the powerful, flawless hands that had held him earlier.
Mikage closed his eyes as Touga began.
"…It was real… It had to be real… I have been a duelist since before the duels began… When I was a child, he came to me, and he gave the ring to me! … I have been the End of the World's most constant contact… I have been the one to oversee the duels that are to bring us closer to Revolution! It is my duty! My right! My destiny!!"
Mikage cried out sharply, but Touga ignored him. He was too far-gone in his own raging storm of thoughts.
DEEPER. GO DEEPER
"She beat me… I lost… How can I lose to this girl?! How can she be a duelist?! She's never been in contact with the End of the World!! How can she defeat me?! How could he have offered her Eternity, when he had already promised it to me?!"
He groaned quietly, interrupting his own outbursts. He felt the other boy tense in response. Sharp fingernails clawed a fiery path down his back.
"…And as for you… You have outwitted me at my own game… How is it that I can lose at a game of my own devising? … You used my power, and the power of the Student Council… And I was powerless to stop you. I lost again…"
Mikage was gasping now, making soft sobbing noises, as he buried his face in the ocean of Touga's hair. It fell around them like a curtain, sealing them in a private womb of confession. Touga shifted his weight, deliberately. This time, Mikage whimpered. But he did not cry. The other boy drove forward, too quickly and too sharply, wishing he would.
"…I cannot be defeated…" He whispered kissing lightly at the smaller boy's face. "…I was created to succeed… Like the rest of this Academy… The very Ends of the World groomed me for Eternity,… It is all in my nature… I cannot… I cannot…"
"…What… about… eternity…?" Mikage asked, voice low, through gritted teeth.
"…Eternity is when I have succeeded."
"At what?"
"Everything."
"…………And if you fail?"
"I cannot fail. …It is not in my nature…"
"……She defeated you…"
"No. To win the Castle That Is Said To Hold Eternity, I do not have to win every duel…"
Lips met in a desperate prayer, and Touga held him firmly. Mikage writhed, but he did not struggle.
"…I just have to win the last one."
I UNDERSTAND
SEVEN:
"…Why…?…" Mikage whispered, rolling over, onto his stomach.
Touga paused where he stood, resting one hand casually on the foot of the bed.
"…It is destiny…"
"…I Understand…" Mikage breathed.
// "You're going to lose now." //
It could never have worked.
Dead roses cannot overrun the living.
Blood cannot flow from a corpse.
A memory cannot reveal the future, only the past…
…And a gentle, confused boy cannot take the place of a strong and capricious one…
THE PATH YOU MUST TAKE HAS BEEN PREPARED FOR YOU
…And he had known it all along….
It had been an intentional loss, though the intentions had not been his own.
Computer-man.
A Rose Signet.
Hope.
Loss.
Tragedy.
Puppet-man.
A Black Circlet.
Misdirection.
Manipulation.
…Ghosts…
He stared at the young President of the Student Council, who stood before something.
…He could have sworn the door had not been there a moment ago…
The doorknob was a Red Rose.
"…Mikage…"
"…Mikage is not real…" He whispered.
"Then what is?"
"…Something… Eternal."
The winged creature fluttered past Touga's face, tangling momentarily in blood-red strands.
It was not a butterfly.
…Only a moth.
"Go, now…" He whispered, voice hoarse, body numb. "The Path That You Must Take Has Been Prepared For You…"
Touga's fingers hesitated on the knob.
"…Do you hear that…?"
"It's the Sound That Runs…" He began.
But the President of the Student Council had stepped through the door.
When it closed firmly behind him…
The Rose was Black.
// "Rose blooming at the End of the World… To me…" //
"…You Have No Choice But To Revolutionize The World…"
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EIGHT:
The phone rang.
Startled, his hand shot out automatically to lift the receiver. He pushed his glasses up on his nose, wondering how he had ever been able to see clearly without them…
"You Understand." The voice on the other end said, softly. When he did not answer, the man continued. "…The Path Before You Has NOT Been Prepared… You Graduate Now."
"…And what is to become of me?"
The voice was now directly behind him, as strong hands closed over his wrists. The phone clattered to the floor, dead, useless, forgotten… Lips teased against his cheek, but no breath stirred the soft, fine hairs falling there.
"The same thing that happens to all who come here, seeking what cannot be sought…"
"Eternity."
"…The shell can be cracked, Mikage, but not shattered,"
"That's Revolution."
"Is it?"
"…I can't ever ask the proper question, can I?" …But in that instant, Mikage knew that he had.
"…Would you like to see the End of the World?"
"No."
The man chuckled, almost coldly. "And that is why you shall."
Mikage recognized that laughter.
It was the Sound…
"The End of the World." He whispered.
The Lord of the Flies only laughed.
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End.
"The spirits vanished. Afraid and lonely
I wandered on in darkness.
Speak or let me die.
Die, whispered the blackness."
-Robert Hayden, 'The Ballad of Nat Turner'
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