Fan Fiction ❯ Silver's Hyacinth ❯ Silver's Hyacinth ( Chapter 1 )

You never really had a clue did you? Never figured out why I who hate paperwork so much, spend so much time down here…

Hyacinthe's words echoed in his mind, in his ears. "I love you Kori." A sad smile, out of place on a face that was usually cheerful.

"But…" The protest tumbled from his lips, eyes wide, confusion dancing through silver depths.

A gentle finger touched his lips, "No, don't say anything. I… I know you don't love me, don't see me as anything more than a friend." The pain in purple depths made him wince. "And I know you love Kushriel," another one of those sad smiles. "But I… I just felt you should know."

Kori stood frozen in the middle of the empty office, unable to say anything as the other angel turned and made his way quietly out of the door.

Cinthe… The word was a silent protest, full of bewilderment and the strange feeling that something had changed… That a relationship struck up two centuries ago had been irrevocably altered. A ball of misery unfurled at the thought - stuck (however willingly) down in records as he was, Kori didn't have many chances to make friends - Heaven's records department was not somewhere that angels tended to willingly work. Kori was well aware that he was the exception, rather than the rule and that many of his fellow angels thought him a little strange because of this…

Hyacinthe though, Hyacinthe had been different. He smiled as he remembered how they'd first met:

"Hey do you know where to find Lirael's notes on Guardian Angelship?"

"Huh?" Kori looked up from the notes he was perusing and blinked at the stranger who was cheerfully sitting on the small stack of files he had painstakingly finished organising just 10 minutes ago. "Lirael's notes?"

Violet eyes twinkled with mischief as the stranger chuckled at the look of confusion on his face cheerfully. "I know working down here must be boring, but surely Lirael isn't that forgettable."

Kori opened his mouth to say something, but the other angel was speaking before he could say even a word, his voice rich with amusement.

"Though if you have forgotten her…"

He interrupted "I know who Lirael is thank you!" A mild note of irritation crept into his voice "And you're sitting on my files."

The other angel looked lazily down at them before looking up and giving him a slow smile "Why I do believe I am." But to Kori's disappointment and dismay he made no move to get off them.

"So I want you to get off them, some of them are getting crumpled."

To Kori's embarrassment the other angel leaned over and casually flicked him on the nose "You know you're way too serious, they're only files." And then while Kori was gaping at him he changed the subject. "So do you know where to find Lirael's notes or not?"

And that had been the start of an unlikely friendship. Unlikely since unlike Hyacinthe who was an extrovert, Kori was anything but - quiet, shy, with a tendency to spend long hours down in records… Hyacinthe was probably the only reason why he wasn't even more introverted, always managing to pop in at least once a day to as he called it 'rescue him from the boring files'. His smile slowly faded. He'd never once guessed that the guardian angel had felt anything more than friendship towards him. That the other angel was in love with him…

"Cinthe…" The word was said to an empty office, as sorrowful eyes looked towards the doorway that the other angel had long since walked out off. Lashes dropped down for the moment hiding eyes full of guilt. I'm sorry… So sorry…

***

"Cinthe!" Silver eyes snapped wide open, as the room's occupant sat bolt upright in the small and uncomfortable bed. He (for, despite appearances, he was a he) looked young, no more than nineteen, the blue-tinted lavender hair half-falling out its braid and delicate features drenched in sweat conveying a sense of vulnerability… Of innocence…

Silver eyes blinked, the panicked look fading from their depths, the lines of the cheap hotel room slowly coming into focus. "Just a dream… A dream nothing more…"

His hands clenched as they were around the sheets gave the lie to the words, the deceptively fragile fingers holding the thin cotton fabric almost hard enough to tear. Cinthe… The name slipped into his mind unbidden, bringing with it fragments of memories… Memories and guilt intertwined with chains of pain, a pain that not even all these countless years in exile had been able to erase.

I love you Kori… Hyacinthe's voice echoed in his mind, the words even after all this time managing to haunt him, guilt and pain swirling in silver orbs. Hyacinthe had loved him and had paid the final price for that love.

His eyes slid shut as remembered that night, the night that everything had changed… The night he had found his friend's broken body… There had been blood... So much blood, but by some miracle Hyacinthe had still been alive, if only barely. He had knelt by his friend frightened, but determined to heal him… Whatever the cost… It probably would have killed him and he hadn't cared, had only wanted to save his friend...

But Hyacinthe had stopped him, his left-hand wrapping round his wrist in a death grip, violet eyes narrowed in determination despite the pain as he'd told him not to bother, that he was already to far gone to save...

The other angels had found him cradling the other angel, his once pristine white clothing stained with Hyacinthe's blood.

A bitter smile crossed his lips, yes the others had found him all right… Raw, confused, his best friend dead… He had not understood much of anything, not cared about anything beyond the fact that Hyacinthe was gone, would not be coming back. But he had numbly let them lead him from the body, had trusted them when they had said that everything would be ok and Hyacinthe's murderer found.

He had been a fool… A naïve, trusting fool… Oh yes they had found a murderer - Himself. It hadn't mattered that he hadn't done it, hadn't at that tine actually been capable killing anyone - much less his own best friend. He had been accused by a high angel and his clothes - clothes that had been stained with Hyacinthe's blood had been seen as unmistakable proof of his guilt.

He smiled again, another bitter smile, no he hadn't killed Hyacinthe, hadn't been the one to tear fragile wings and break his friend's body… But Heaven was right about one thing - he was a murderer, had made sure that he did what Heaven had not and avenge his friend's death. The smile turned self-mocking - he was what he was, what Heaven had made him. The old Kori was dead, had started to die the day they had cut off his wings and burned the remains to make sure that they would never grow back… And had died the day that his healing magic (the most powerful talent he'd had) had disappeared - The day he had finally avenged Hyacinthe's death…

A soft sigh, "It was just a dream" his voice was stronger, more convincing, the words soft against the quiet of the night. He slipped out of bed and walked over to the window, his feet making barely a sound on the cheap carpet and for a moment he fancied he saw a more innocent, untainted version of himself staring back. Then as a passing owl hooted the moment was lost and all that was left was a bloodstained feather the only reminder of a life that once was.