S-CRY-ed Fan Fiction ❯ La petite seconde d’éternité ❯ Prologue/Le jardin ( Chapter 1 )

Author note: I've dispensed with some aspects of canon, which will be immediately obvious to anyone who's seen the last few episodes of Scryed. I don't really feel the need to justify this, beyond the fact that this story started as a few mere pages and morphed into more & I didn't feel like dealing with some issues when I started writing it. So I don't want to get any e-mails about how I changed X, Y, or Z. I'm well aware of it, and don't need to hear about it.

 

As way of explanation, this story contains snippets of French poetry and similar things - this springs from literature I have been reading as I wrote this, as well as the fact that I've functioned on the assumption that Ryuho & Mimori would receive a “classical” education as the upper classes of many countries are wont to do. This generally includes things like French. Hence, I've written parts of this with that sort of assumed knowledge implied on the parts of Ryuho & Mimori, though of course, it's never talked about in the show or manga. All chapter titles (and the story title) are taken from Jacques Prévert's Paroles - I have translated everything I remembered to, or left notes at the bottom. If you're confused, let me know.

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Scryed, its characters, etc. etc. ad infinitum

 

The Garden

 

Pain. Unimaginable pain, everywhere, deep in his bones, his heart. Ryuho Tairen felt like he couldn't breathe as he swam up from the depths of darkness, gasping for air - it was killing him, but some instinct knew that if he didn't press forward, he would die. But the images - Jesus, the images, the people - he was floundering around and couldn't stop the march of people, the flashbacks, every single fucked-up thing that had happened in the past year. No, it was years of fuck ups, his, mostly - and this dark graveyard of memories threw it all in his face. Scheris, Cougar, various members of HOLD and HOLY - How you've worried us, Ryuho; see where hubris gets you? Kazuma stood before him, defiant even in a weakened state, laughing - could this really be? Could Kazuma have killed him? Is that what this world was, moving towards the other side? Heaven or hell? Hell, you idiot a voice chided. So much effort wasted … so much pain. For what? Honor, duty, revenge?

 

The coldness, the hardness that he covered up the past few years of his life with was slipping away, and if Ryuho had felt that he could slump down and cry, he would have - but he had no control of his limbs, and he was being borne passively through this sea of misery, powerless to stop it or even reach out for this parade of people. A small figure came into view, a woman - she lifted her head, and Ryuho melted as soon as he saw the big brown eyes that he had loved for … years. Years. In his heart of hearts, the thing he never admitted to anyone, not even really himself - this beautiful girl, the One.

 

Mimori. Always Mimori, had it ever been anyone else? So beautiful, so blindingly brilliant, so … forgiving. Idealistic, naïve? Well, yes, Ryuho mused, in a way. She smiled at him - why did she still smile? After all that's happened since she came? - and his heart lifted, the pain dissipated, and he tried to reach out for her. Mimori! he called out, wanting to beg forgiveness for everything that had happened before, every slight, every time she had lain in bed and stared at the ceiling wondering why she had ever come from her comfortable life on the Mainland to find someone so undeserving. But she was fading, looking at him, reaching out a hand and begging him to save her from the enveloping darkness - just this once, the little voice in his head commanded, do something right, do right by her - and he couldn't move. And Mimori began to cry as the darkness swallowed her, and Ryuho could do nothing, not even call for her; the pain redoubled and everything went pitch black, darker than before.

 

----

 

Scheris Adjani watched Ryuho thrashing about on the makeshift hospital bed, trying to decide if this was a good thing or a sign that he was going downhill suddenly. Cupping her chin in her palm, she watched intently from the uncomfortable plastic chair where she'd stood guard since Ryuho and Kazuma had been brought in from their battle, after nearly killing each other and totally exhausting themselves in the process - stupid! Truly idiotic! she seethed inwardly. What good is a Pyrrhic victory? Men! She had healed Ryuho with her Eternal Devote after the gigantic battle, but this - well, the diagnosis was that Ryuho would just have to work out of it himself. His body was keeping him in a state of restless sleep to aid in healing, and there was nothing Scheris or anyone else could do but watch.

 

“What do you suppose he's thinking about? I don't think I've ever seen the ice prince so … animated” - Scheris turned in surprise to look at Straight Cougar, who never had time to slow down, much less pause in a sentence. “I don't know,” she said, more than a little thoughtfully, “I have to wonder if this is a good sign or not-” “NowayisHEgoingtodiethateasily. ScherisyoushouldKNOWthatbynow”

 

Scheris arched an eyebrow and brushed her blue bangs out of her face. “Well, I hope you're right. We have a lot of work to do now that … well, now that everything's over - for the moment - and I think things would be easier if he were around for it.” Ryuho, she sighed inwardly. Why are you such an idiot sometimes? For someone who can be downright frigid, you damn well show a lot of emotion over Kazuma, and look where it's gotten you.

 

-

 

Cougar leaned up against the wall of the little room, listening to the bustle going on outside (And why is it that I'm standing still? MEofallpeople!). It had been a busy week - on top of everything else, the “final fight” over, Kazuma and Ryuho trying to kill each other in a spectacular display of over-active testosterone-fueled pride - well, even Cougar, he of Radical Good Speed, had to take a breather. He looked out the window to the rolling hills surrounding the house, far away from the City. The sun was setting and washing the landscape in colors of orange and gold, and the first stars were beginning to shine. Cougar smiled at the thought of the stars - rather, the one he knew would be laying on the other side of the hill before him as soon as the sun had set, the girl who would lay down and stretch out and star gaze for hours. No matter how many times Mimori Kiryu saw brilliant, star-filled nights, she never got tired of watching and looking for hours and hours (“Cougar,” she had once said, a little breathless from the wonder of it all, “how can you not be amazed? The sky is full of stars - it's so clear! Just look at them!”).

 

His brief reverie - ever so brief, even for Straight Cougar - was broken when Ryuho drew a huge, gasping, shuddering breath. Scheris leapt up, and Cougar leaned in to see if Ryuho (who, truth be told, would make mylifeSOmucheasierifhewouldjustdie … but …) was going to be all right, or if this was the death rattle screaming in his chest.

 

Two ruby eyes, shocked as either Scherise or Cougar had ever seen them, stared back at them.

 

----

 

Mimori settled down on the hillside, leaning back and letting the tensions of the day melt away. Running her fingers through the grass, she kept her eyes trained on the sky, willing the day to fade and for the night to come out in full force. How Cougar had gotten them to this house - a lovely house, in such a beautiful setting - on such short notice was beyond her. How the hodge-podge of ex-HOLY members and native alters had managed not to slaughter each other at this point was also completely beyond her comprehension. Of course, relations had been shifting since before the defeat of Kyoji Mujo, new bonds were forged, new allies made. Still, years of strife couldn't be covered over so quickly, no matter how full of good intentions everyone was. Well, one must do what one must in situations like these, she thought.

 

The past few weeks had been busy. More than busy - frantic, frenetic. Mimori searched her brain for more adjectives to describe all that had happened, but even with her genius, she was at a complete loss. Certainly, it had been astonishingly easy - not easy, stupid girl, she corrected herself, easierthanEXPECTED - and over in what seemed now, when there was time to think, the blink of an eye. She sat up and hugged her knees, resting her chin and gazing thoughtfully down to a little creek that ran in the crevice of two hills. And then Ryuho and Kazuma had to go and try to kill each other, trying to prove once and for all who was the strongest - like it really mattered. Kazuma had been the “winner,” although anyone who passed out cold for days after a victory wasn't entirely victorious (Kazuma, Mimori thought with a wry smile, would strenuously disagree, she was sure). And Ryuho …

 

Ryuho. She inhaled sharply, nuzzling her nose into the fabric of her jeans. It hurt to look at his battered body. Mimori could barely stand look at him; certainly, she couldn't do as loyal Scheris and sit at his bedside. The most Mimori could stand was to lean up against the door frame of the little room-cum-Ryuho's hospital ward and watch him at night, long after everyone else was sleeping and while the house was deathly still and full of dark and shadows. Oh, how she'd willed for him to just open his eyes at some point in the hours she had watched him, watched his chest rise and fall rhythmically, listening to his unintelligible murmurs!

 

If she'd been listening at that particular moment, she would have heard Ryuho's roar - the icy façade finally dropped - and the crash of a door being flung open, the pleading voices of everyone in the house asking Ryuho to stay inside, go back to bed, worry about healing his wounded body. But Mimori was deep in thought, looking up to the sky again, fingering the heavy pendent that rested on her chest, the tiniest of smiles playing at the corners of her mouth. Things had been touch and go for a day or two, but Ryuho wouldn't die - at least, she didn't think so anymore. What then? a nagging voice asked at the back of her head. Will it be any different than before? Mimori shushed it, shaking her raven locks to banish it to wherever it came from. Not that she had an answer, but there was nothing to do but look forward. The past was the past. HOLD was gone, the Mainland had backed off (Not that it will last long, she admitted), the arduous process of rebuilding would soon begin. Ryuho … well, that whole situation would sort itself out eventually, one way or another.

 

Mimori had been musing to herself for an hour when she gradually became aware that someone was watching her. Thinking it would be Cougar or Kazuma or Kanami (or even maybe Scheris - the two women had a hard time getting along, waging a quiet battle over Ryuho's affections, as if he had feelings to waste on something as silly as women - but something subtle had shifted in the relationship recently), she stood up and dusted herself off, turning with a wide smile on her face, ready to call out a greeting. Her voice hitched in her throat when she saw the ruby eyes fixed on her, and she could do nothing but stand silently on the hillside, mouth agape, hand tightly clutching the heavy crystal pendant.