Haruka stalked down the side of the palace, passing one of the winged serpents who guarded the entrance. The viper hissed at him, and venom flew from its exposed fangs. Haruka cast the ebony snake a glare which radiated dark energy.
As if being tortured, the snake fell to the ground and began twitching and convulsing in a seizure. If the snake was capable of human speech it would most likely be screaming in agony. Haruka’s eyes were phosphorus as he looked down upon the pathetic creature, and without even changing his facial expression he kicked the creature down the stone stairs.
He watched emotionlessly as the serpent rolled down the jagged steps like a slinky, and fell in to a twitching heap at the bottom. Nonchalantly he strode down the stairs and cast the snake a disgusted frown, “You’re showing your pain. Big mistake.”
With one final spark of energy that pierced the night, Haruka’s phosphorus eyes dilated in to miniscule pupils, and like a rag doll…The serpent fell limp. The beast within him was sated…for the moment. He reached out and picked up the serpent with one hand.
The heavy reptile was not a struggle for Haruka to handle, but for a mortal it would weigh about as much as a fourty pound dog. Now, the pulses within Haruka’s mind and chest were beginning to die down as the darkness slackened its grip on him, satisfied that he had made a kill.
With the deceased serpent in hand, Haruka dissolved molecule by molecule in to the night. The wind of the Underworld carried him towards the River Styx, his destination. The loud barking, like a clap of thunder invaded his ears as he made his descent.
He strode forward a few steps, and stopped before a large, infinite path of darkness. The darkness which could not be navigated was ominous, and it grew more foreboding as three menacing growls streamed forth from it.
Haruka did not even flinch as a pair of jaws came out of the darkness and bore teeth longer than six inches. The gaping jaws stopped a mere inch before Haruka’s face, but the Follower merely glared at the enormous beast.
The three headed dog christened Cerberus, growled at Haruka with its three pairs of blood red eyes focused upon the boy. The dog’s paws scuffed against the dirt, leaving long trails of overturned sand where its nails scraped against the soil.
Cerberus’s ebony fur as black as the night reflected the moonbeams which gave the smooth fur an almost silver glow as it stepped in to the dim illumination. Despite the fact that Cerberus could kill Haruka with one fell swoop, Haruka stood his ground, unafraid of the gargantuan beast.
Cerberus guarded this area to make sure that the living could not pass, but the dead could not leave either. Haruka looked down at the serpent one last time before pulling his arm back and throwing the serpent in the proximity of Cerberus’s three heads.
In frenzy, the two outer heads grabbed hold of the wings and began to rip the wings right off the snake’s back. The two heads fought for the treat, ripping the scales off with their cruel teeth. The middle head snapped its jaws and bit down upon the serpent’s midsection.
Dark crimson blood splattered against the river’s banks, staining the soil dark red with the dead liquid. The serpent was quickly ripped to shreds and devoured by the bloodthirsty beast. Haruka smirked cruelly before fading in to the oblivion in case Cerberus came back for seconds.
The beast had not attacked and killed Haruka for only one reason. Haruka was both alive, but dead as well. Dead inside, filled with darkness and a hollow existence of claiming other’s lives, but his heart still thumped with life, and his soul had not yet been stolen.
Haruka miserably glided over the five rivers of Hades, and his heart ached with fury and confusion. His thoughts lingered on Nyra for the moment and the utter annoyance that she had bothered him and mention…the incident.
Haruka should not have let his thoughts overcome him, for it crushed his morale and disabled his ability to separate his molecules. All of the particles painfully collided together, and reformed Haruka’s body. “FUCRAP!” He yelled as he began to tumble out of the air. Haruka shielded his face with his arms, but devastatingly crashed upon the sandy banks.
The boy of darkness yelped and swore as his arms and hands were skinned raw by the speed of the sand against his skin. After a series of summersaults, Haruka flopped on to his stomach, and began coughing in a hunched position.
His head and throat throbbed as the rough and jagged grains of sand slit open the sensitive walls of his esophagus. Haruka’s hands embedded themselves in the sand as he raked his nails against the grains in pain, and coughed through the mouthful of sand.
“How can I be so fricking stupid!? The one lesson Sephiroth taught me was NOT to crash in to something while flying!” Haruka mentally scolded himself as a few trickles of blood splattered against the sand. The boy panted in exhaustion before crumbling against the bank like a waterlogged piece of driftwood.
The wild strands of his blue yet ebony hair became entangled with the brown, black, and tan granules of sand as he leaned back against the bank. Throat raw, and head wrought with fever Haruka weakly closed his eyes, and blocked out the endless oblivion above him.
“All you have to do is die. Just die, and all the pain, and all the sadness will go away.”
The words Nyra once spoke echoed through his head, and he began to wonder if she spoke the truth. Nyra was descended from the purest Transylvanian nobles, and in that country death was smiled upon. Nyra had been the oddest of the family, believing that to chose to die, was to be the weakest creature on the face of the earth, but that didn’t stop her from trying to convince others to die.
Haruka’s chest rose and fell as the bittersweet childhood memories rushed back towards him like the waves washing against his body.
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There was once a time where Haruka, Noeru, Nyra, and Axel were all friends. A time of innocence. A time that had faded like nature’s first green. Sephiroth had not come to power yet and Leon was the ruler of Hell…
The four children were sitting atop the roof of Noeru’s balcony and talking about what they were planning for the All Hollow’s Eve Ball. Axel was hurling his chakrams through the air from the upper area of the roof, Nyra was brushing her long ebony hair whilst leaning against the window frame, Noeru was sketching her close friend in her art pad, and looked up every so often with her small tongue sticking out in concentration.
Haruka, blue and black haired Haruka with the large jade eyes was sitting so very still he could have passed for a statue. “Axel-chan! Watch where you’re throwing those! You almost ripped my perfect hair!” Nyra shrieked in a scandalized tone.
Haruka’s head turned ever so slightly to see chibi Axel stick his tongue out at the green eyed drama queen. “Haru-kun, please try to stay still.” Noeru softly said as her pencil zipped around the paper as if it were alive. “Okay.” Haruka said and resumed his composure.
The boy was able to stay silent and immobile for about three minutes, listening to the ‘skritch scratch’ of Noeru’s pencil against the paper. That is until something collided quite painfully with the side of Haruka’s head.
The boy toppled forward and bashed his head against the windowpane of the balcony. Blinking the tears and blood out of his eyes, he stood up on the roof and roared, “Hejjihoggu!” The child stampeded up the roof and tackled a snickering Axel.
“Hey watch it!” Nyra snapped as Haruka’s elbow collided with her shoulder and Noeru stood up and waved her arms from the sidelines in distress. “Haru-kun, Axel-kun!” She squeaked as the two rolled around the roof exchanging blows with each other.
“GET OFF YOU LITTLE PUNK!” Axel roared as he head butted Haruka in the forehead. Haruka squealed as Axel’s hard cranium connected with his own, but grabbed Axel’s flaming red hair and pulled it like it was a piece of yarn.. Noeru looked over at Nyra, hoping for some help, but the fashion sovereign filed her small nails without even paying attention to the brawling boys.
As Haruka and Axel rolled around the rough roof, a small squeak from the left halted the fight. “What the hell was that?” Axel asked as he inquired one red eyebrow. Haruka and Noeru blinked over the incline of the roof to find a sad sight.
A baby dragon was lying across the roof with its right wing torn and bloody. Noeru cringed and clinged to Haruka’s arm as the sad sight infected her. The feeble cries of the mortally wounded dragon were long, drawn out and sorrowful.
Haruka edged closer, the sight filling his eyes with confusion and sadness. “Hey, what’s goin’ on?” Axel asked as he came over the incline to behold the miserable sight. Nyra followed him imprecisely, but gasped as she saw the injured baby.
Haruka kneeled down beside the dragon, who snapped its small jaws in a futile attempt to defend itself. Noeru stood behind Haruka, her amber eyes wide with sadness as she leaned over and murmured, “Is it going to be okay?”
Haruka shook his head, strands of hair brushing against his cheeks, “I don’t think so…” He replied in a monotone. Axel approached, closely followed by Nyra as the dragon let off a sharp, weak cry for its mother.
Noeru genuflected near it’s head and stroked the smooth, soft, leathery skin in an attempt to comfort the perishing baby. “The least we can do is help it.” Axel said as he gestured to the kunai and barbed wire ridden wing.
Nyra stood behind Axel and Noeru, not daring to get any closer. Haruka thought she was so shocked and disgusted by the sight that she couldn’t move. Both Axel and Haruka worked together to free the baby dragon from its confines.
It shrieked in pain as Axel gently pulled the kunai from it’s pine colored wing, and Noeru held it’s head securely in her lap, keeping her eyes closed and murmuring words of comfort to the baby as it screamed. Haruka hastily worked to pull the barbed wire from the bloody wing, so that the baby might have some relief before it died.
The shrieks of death coming on swift wings infiltrated Haruka’s ears, and he worked with more haste, and finally pulled the last strand of wire from the dragon’s shredded wing.
Haruka and Axel sat on either side of their brunette friend, and watched as the dragon looked up at them with dulling ginger eyes, as if trying to express gratitude. The four children were silent and solemn as the fledgling rested it’s head on Noeru’s lap, and slowly began to die.
Haruka was overcome with sadness and perplexity and he wondered why this defenseless baby had to die. He and Axel exchanged solemn glances as the baby’s chest rose and fell slower and slower by the minute. Axel placed a comforting hand on Noeru’s shoulder as she began to hiccup in an attempt to suppress tears and Haruka followed suit.
Within minutes, the baby which would never grow up was dead, and limp in the young demon’s lap. When the realization that the baby was dead finally sank in, the three of the demons began to cry. Noeru cried freely, allowing the tears to roll down her cheeks, but Axel and Haruka seemed to be trying to fight the urge to shed tears.
“Why does it have to be this way?” Haruka wondered as he felt twin streams of tears roll down his warm cheeks. Haruka jumped slightly as Noeru leaned her head against his shoulder and murmured, “Why did it have to die?”
Haruka, the second youngest really had no idea, and he didn’t know how to explain it to his friend. “Everything must die, and return to the darkness whence it came.” Axel told her since he was older and worldlier than his best friend. “What happens when you die Axel-kun?” She sniffled and looked up at her friend.
Nyra snorted at this, “You lay in a hole for all eternity.” Haruka had turned around with a glare and snapped, “Nyra-chan!” Noeru’s eyes widened at Nyra’s statement, but she didn’t say anything to the girl.
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Haruka in the present smirked slightly with a chuckle, “She never did speak out for herself.” He listened to the waves, but could not remember exactly what happened after that instant. He knew that Noeru’s brother came and comforted the kids, and he disposed of the baby dragon in a ceremonial manner.
The next thing that Haruka could remember was when Axel, Noeru and he were discussing death. Axel and Haruka were more accustomed to the aspect of death, but hadn’t witnessed it like Noeru had. Currently they were lounging in Noeru’s amethyst bedroom and thinking of the past events.
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Axel was lounging in her hammock which hung about a foot off the ground, while Haruka rested upon the floor, and Noeru sat on her plushy bed. “Sure makes you think doesn’t it?” Axel asked solemnly as the hammock rocked back and forth.
Haruka nodded in a serious manner and muttered, “Sure does…”
Noeru was silent for a few seconds before she ventured, “…About what?”
Axel laughed in amusement, but Haruka had less patience for his slow friend. “…About how to get you mind around the RISING
FALLS!” Noeru blinked and tilted her head, not following Haruka’s words. Haruka ran a hand through his hair in frustration before growling to the heavens, “ABOUT DEATH!”
Noeru chuckled nervously, “Oh…right.” The three sat in silence for a while until Axel sighed, “Noeru, don’t you ever think about death?” The brunette looked up with a murmur of, “Hmm?” Haruka flashed Axel a glare that clearly said ‘Shut up’, but Axel continued anyway.
“You know…About your-…I’m sorry about your mom and dad.” Axel muttered, and realized that this might be a touchy subject. Noeru’s eyes darkened at Axel’s words and it was evident that she wasn’t expecting this. She was silent for a few seconds, and Haruka shot Axel a look that read ‘Nice going Hedgehog’.
Noeru then replied, “I will see them again…I prefer to look on the brighter side of death.”
Axel and Haruka shared ludicrous gawks and Haruka asked skeptically, “There is a brighter side to death?” Noeru turned around with a small smile, “Yes…It’s just harder to see…”
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At this point, Haruka had regained enough strength to lift his weary body from the sandy banks. Slowly, but surely getting to his feet he looked up at the palace with an almost depressed expression. “Nothings like before…” He told himself before he began to stride down the bank…
That is until he made a shocking discovery…
Haruka’s weary jade eyes widened in disbelief as he stared down the bank to find two figures asleep under the moonlight. Silently, but stealthily he crept up to get a closer look at the two, and he did not like what he found one bit.
Axel was lying against the sand, in a deep, contented sleep with his flaming red hair moist with perspiration. Beside him, with her face hidden within the crook of Axel’s neck was Noeru. Soundly asleep, her eyelashes resting against her pale cheeks like butterflies. To Haruka, she appeared to be the image of a slumbering dark angel.
Her tawny tresses strewn against the sand like molten amber pools gave the impression that she was lying in a tidal pool of orange chocolate. The necklace Axel gave her was reflecting the moonbeams like a bright red mirror, and casting a glow upon their faces.
The very sight, and the very thought drove Haruka in to a fit of rage, in which he could not control the beast screaming for Axel’s dismemberment within his chest. Teeth gritted so hard that they began to throb, and nails driving so strongly in to his flesh that his palms became a bloody mess Haruka tore his gaze away from the two.
Shaking his head as if trying to tell himself that was he saw was just an illusion, Haruka’s whole body shook with emotion. He felt an abnormal sensation near the edges of his eyes, a tingling of sorts. His bloody fingers wandered up his cheeks and felt something warm and wet in his eyes. These were…
Tears.
Haruka had not shed a tear in years, and it drove him mad with fury that he was allowing himself to cry like a helpless infant, like that baby dragon. Tightly clamping his eyes shut, he began to run away from the river, not caring if he collided with anything.
He didn’t care about anything any more. He had nothing to care for. The only creature that had pushed him out of the darkness belonged to someone else. Haruka knew that this had happened between them, that they were as almost-no, as close as he and she had been those months ago.
He didn’t want to believe it, and he wouldn’t allow himself to believe it back then, but now there was irrefutable proof that he was lying to himself. The thought of his dark angel with someone he loathed drove him mad with the sin of Envy.
“Wait. When did I consider her mine?”
Haruka wondered as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Too emotionally distraught to fly, he had to use mortal means of escape. The sight of her curled up against Axel like a kitten, her shirt loosely tied in the back, and the way her hand was clutching Axel’s collar in the same way she had to him was permanently plastered to his dark mind.
Tidal waves they rip right through me
Tears from eyes worn cold and sad
Pick me up now, I need you so bad
Haruka couldn’t deny this any longer that he wanted to be the one by her side. He wanted the way she had looked at him when they were first reunited in the Entrance Hall back. He longed for the bright eyes that once belonged to him, the bright eyes that drove him insane.
Your vows of silence fall all over
The look in your eyes makes me crazy
The fact that she was with Axel drove Haruka wild with Envy, Lust, and Wrath. Three deadly sins contained in one body were too much. He wanted to kill Axel. He wanted to feel his blood beneath his fingernails, and take the final blow to one of his 8 central points. Noeru wasn’t like the other Followers, she did not have darkness flow through her and crash against her body like Haruka was experiencing now.
I feel the darkness break upon her
I'll take you over if you let me.
At that instant, Haruka knew what he wanted.
Revenge.
The boy’s jade eyes bright with tears flashed as he thought of what he could do. His eyes narrowed as he realized what he could do. What he would do.
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“Haruka? What are you doing here?”
Nyra stared at the doorway where the dark silhouette of the demon was illuminated. Nyra’s emerald eyes were curious, and surprised as she tried to figure out why Haruka might come to her so late. Her ebony hair which draped to her mid back was sleek after her shower, and the room smelled of roses.
Haruka strode toward her, looking around the room with steely eyes. It was so sickeningly familiar… The bottle green walls and circular green satin bed with nail polish cluttered over it, the dresser stocked with all types of make up imaginable.
He came up before her and propped her chin up with his hand, so he could look in to her eyes. “I needed to see you.” He told her softly as if this was a secret. Her orbs widened in amazement, but soon sparkled with knowing. Tracing her hand up his arms she smiled seductively, “Needed? This sounds urgent…”
Haruka smirked at her and pulled the brush from her hand and tossing it aside he pinned her against the dresser in the same manner he had hours earlier. “It is.” Nyra snickered and pulled his face down closer to her, “What is it that you want, Haruka?” She whispered.
Almost losing his nerve, Haruka averted his eyes wondering if he should stop this charade. However, Nyra’s cold gaze pulled him back. “You.” He answered in a lust filled voice. With that Nyra shoved him backwards so he fell against her bed.
“That’s what I thought.” She smirked as she flicked the lights off.
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I tried to scream as someone clamped their hands around my goose bump ridden arms, but I when I opened my mouth to make a sound I felt that someone clap their hand across my mouth. It was almost as if they somehow knew I was going to scream…at that exact moment.
The drapery had me blinded, but I was soon yanked forth from the fabric and collided hard with someone, forcing them to topple to the ground with me. I tightly shut my eyes as I waited for the force of the balcony floor to collide with my body.
However, I was blanketed by strong arms which prevented me from colliding with the tiles. Cautiously opening one, sole cerulean eye I gazed in to a pair of twinkling azure orbs.
Who the-…oh hell.
“We have to stop running in to each other like this?” Sora smirked at me with a chuckle.
SLAP!
Sora stared up at my, holding his red cheek with a look of horror in his eyes. My hand was raised to the side of my head as I stared down at him with watering eyes filled with loathing. “How DARE you show your face!” I shrieked at him.
Sora seemed surprised at my outburst, but for the love of Cloud he shouldn’t be!
“Coming in to your feminine state a little late Kairi?” Sora huffed as he rubbed his cheek, but did not take his calculating eyes off me. I felt so completely enraged, and so scared that he was here. My mind simply wouldn’t let the image of his cruel, heartless eyes fade.
“SHUT UP!” I screamed at him and jerked him to his feet. He gave me a stunned expression before grabbing my hand and seriously asked me, “What’s gotten in to you?”
I pulled my hand away from him roughly and hissed, “You tried to kill my best friend! You ruptured his organs and Lord knows what else! Just leave me alone! I hate you!”
Sora stood there for a moment completely taken aback, but as I tried to retreat inside he grabbed my waist.
“LET ME GO! YOU SHOULD TRY TO GET ON JACKASS! YOU’D BE PERFECT FOR THE PART!” I shrieked as I shoved him backwards with immense force.
Perhaps too much.
For Sora staggered backwards across the balcony and toppled over the side of the balcony!
