Utena, Revolutionary Girl Fan Fiction ❯ Red Thread ❯ The Darkest Hour ( Chapter 2 )

Red Thread

Chapter 2: The Darkest Hour

And I saw a strong Angel

Proclaiming with a loud voice,

Who is worthy to open the Book,

And release the seals thereof?

- Revelation 5:2

The sky above was broiling. Gray and dark gray, souping together in a witches brew, with the spice of lightning for flavor and a sprinkle of rain for emphasize.

The storm had more power than the rain it promised. From the hillside, Akio Ohtori could feel that. Storms like this weren't meant for the triviality of rain. They where storms brewed from storybooks, great dragon-clouds and towering ogres that fought to knock the shining knight from his steed. A storm whose purpose was to hid the light rather than give the countryside a gentle shower.

The acting chairman of prestigious Ohtori Academy turned from his thoughts back to the overgrown, ancient stone steps that where dug deep into the hillside. Green sprouted between the cracked and worn stones that had been set ages before by a master craftsman.

Now, however, they had lost much of their grandeur.

The hill wasn't very large, but compared to the countryside around it, it seemed mountainous. Even though ancient trees shaded the broad stone path, Akio could see the distant rectangle of Ohtori Academy. He had to admit it looked different on the outside, like some Picasso painting turned into a gigantic multi-layer birthday cake by a deranged architect. And at the center of it, hanging in the sky like a Christmas ornament, was the shimmering shadow of the Castle of Eternity.

To the untrained eye, it was a heat wave, it was a group of interestingly shaped clouds, or it was a trick of the light, maybe even a bit of swamp gas. To Akio, it was Heaven, Hell, and everything inbetween.

The top of the hill was shrouded with mist, sticky, damp, and warm. It made his loose shirt stick to his dark chest, and his hair cling doggedly to his neck and cheeks. The mist seemed to billow from the sky and the hillcrest. The clouds overhead where so close now that it seemed as if he could put a clammy arm up and touch them, so dark and overflowing, like the belly of some gluttonous beast.

"Ooji-sama?"

Akio's dark sensual eyes where torn back to the hillcrest from thoughts of storybook nightmares. A familiar shape stood shrouded in the mist, just as damp as he was, the fresh iris' wound in her unbound hair wilting with the heavy moisture.

The figure turned her head and yelled something into the mist. He couldn't hear the reply, but he knew it was there.

The tiny girl descended the steps to him and grabbed his hand, the droplets in her hair making it shine like polished silver, offset by the gentle white and purple of the iris. Her huge, green eyes where purposeful. She was the kind of child that didn't know the difference between a king and a beggar, for, to a witch such as they where, such things never mattered.

The shadowed hilltop, open to the sky and encircled by oak, was occupied by the Crone, her dozens of trinkets and bracelets tinkling softly as she moved to set a place for one guest on her latticework table.

He'd come here dozens of times before, dragged by the sense of firm reality it offered in comparison to Ohtori. And, of course, what the witches themselves had to offer. They where a no-nonsense sort of people.

Akio was used to have complete and utter control of the situation, but all the control here was languished to wrinkled hands that brewed war and boiled love.

"Ooji-sama came to visit us!" Cried the silver hair child happily, detaching herself from one patriarch for another.

"Pour the tea, child." Said the Crone harshly. "Welcome Akio. You are a bit early, it seems to me. Are your schemes already beginning to fail so quickly the you need to seek us early?"

The dark-skinned man twitched.

"Sit down, don't just stand there, and let your tea cool before you drink it, I left the pot on a little too long." She turned her back on him, motioning to the table.

He did not move.

"Ooji-sama?" The child's questing voice rose from the other side of the garden set. She was peering at him with the wisdom of a child.

The Crone waddled over, shooing the silver-haired girl and her teapot away.

"Rikku, leave us. We have much to discuss." With that she turned back to the spread before her, and settled down in a chair. She looked up to see Akio sitting across from her, long fingers swirling a spoon through his tea.

"I except you came for a reading? Want to know the future, do you? Or maybe the whereabouts of a new Princess to drag into that messed-up little world of yours." She watched him with the killing gaze of a hawk. "Well, speak up, man! I know you're not a deaf mute!"

Akio took his time to finish drinking his tea. "I came for a reading." He wasn't admitting anything. Akio Ohtori never `admitted'.

The Crone sighed.

"It's just the little magics anymore, isn't it? Just things you can't do for yourself. " She reached for his empty teacup as the tall man leaned back nonchalantly. Swirl the dregs. Dump the cup upside down. Read the future. "When Dios was still around he never-"

"Dios is dead. He was a fool who knew nothing of the power he had." Repelled Akio flatly.

Thus ended that conversation. The Crone read in silence, her client distracted by the countryside, mist hanging over it like a drape.

***

Every Fairytale has an ending...

Every true hope a satisfaction or disappointment...

Every dream a climax...

***

"Dear me, this is not a happy cup."

It's amazing how worse the weather can get when you've been sitting still glaring at it for five minutes.

The Crone was staring at the brown tea dregs with a strange look on her face.

"What is it?" Asked the presiding Chairman.

"I'm not quite sure."

"I thought you where good at this." Akio leaned forward.

"Do you want to try deciphering the future, boy?" She glowered at him. Her piercing eyes hidden in the wrinkled folds of her face turned back to the dregs. "These patterns are confusing, as if they're trying to shift and change even while I read them. " She peered down. "If I'm reading this right…" She stopped, her eyes widening suddenly. Without warning, the Crone picked up the closest object (the cream pitcher) and smashed it down over the dregs and the saucer they where on. Tealeaves and milk splattered all over the table with bits of China.

Akio stared at her in surprise.

The Crone stood abruptly.

"Leave. Now. And do not return here. If you do, you will neither find me nor my grandchild." The old woman straightened her dress as if trying to be normal again. When she raised her face, she had the look of one who had just seen a malevolent ghost and would exorcise it at any cost. When their eyes locked, Akio felt as if his head would split open right then.

"I said now, Akio Ohtori."

His legs stood of their own conviction, rebelling against the more stubborn part of his brain that was determined to discover what she had seen.

Before he knew what he was doing, Akio was already walking away.

***

He was afraid of nothing. He was the Prince. He was the God of this world. He wasn't afraid of some crazy old women who mixed herbal medicine and read tealeaves. And he certainly wasn't leaving because she had told him too. She was crazy anyway; he probably shouldn't have hung around any longer.

He had absolutely convinced himself when he neared the path back down the hill of this.

There was a wall running the top of the hill. It was a huge old wall from when a fortress had stood there instead of an oak forest. And Rikku was sitting on one damp end reading quietly.

The small girl did not notice Akio draw closer, far too engrossed in the huge book spread in her lap. This gave him some time to examine her. She was young, but the signs of what she would become where there. Most of her irises where pretty soggy now, and her damp hair was sticking to her bare shoulders stubbornly.

He couldn't resist. He came up behind her and ran his fingertips over the wet freckled skin of her back, where the white cotton of her dress had sogged away.

She shivered and jolted. Akio couldn't help but grin (among other things). She turned around.

"Ooji-sama! You scared me! Are you leaving already? You usually stay and play with me for awhile." It amazed him how growing up with a witch had left Rikku so sheltered.

"Our... meeting was interrupted." He hadn't removed his hand from her back, and was now mischievously playing with the platinum locks. "I was wondering, would you like to come down to Ohtori with me? I would love to show you the grounds." He smilled. "They look beautiful from the tower in the rain."

Rikku blushed, looking uncomfortable.

"B-but, Ooji-sama... Granny-"

"I'm sure she can spare you for a little while." His hand moved from her back down her arm, where it gently persuaded her off the wall. "Besides, I think she will be busy for quite some time."

This seemed to reassure her.

"Alright, but we can't be gone too long."

Akio smilled.

***

When it rained, it poured.

Nanami Kiryuu stood under the arch gateway of the Academy, quite soaked through and not liking it one bit. She was the entire campus away from where she and her older brother, Touga, lived, with no umbrella and only the rain for company. The spirited blonde was not about to walk back out into the storm, but also knew full well that if she tried to wait it out, Miss Kiryuu would not be on the winning team.

"Dammit!" She yelled in desperation, and threw her books to the ground, where they scattered.

"Excuse me, miss?"

Nanami stood up quite straight; She hadn't expected anyone to be there when she went into full brat mode. Great.

A shadow fell over her: someone's umbrella. A boy was standing next to her, two or three years older than herself. He wore the academy uniform, but had severalbags slung over his back.

"You seem to be in a bit of trouble." He smilled sheepishly at her. "Caught out in the rain. Can I walk you to wherever you're going? At least you'll be a little drier."

Nanami stared at him gaped-mouthed.

"Oh, excuse me!" he apologized. "I didn't introduce myself first." He backed away to bow deeply, his bowl-cut black bangs dancing into green eyes. "My name is Akari Verite. I just enrolled for the new year, and got lost while looking for my dorm room..." He stood again, far taller than she was. "Perhaps we could help one another...?" He suggested with the sheep-ness crawling back into his voice sneakily-like.

Nanami continued to stare.

"Did I... Did I say something wrong?" Asked the boy worriedly.

Thank god! Cried Nanami mentally. "Not at all, I'm Nanami Kiryuu, only the richest girl on campus, and it's a pleasure to meet you, Verite-kun…"

"Please... call me Akari... I never liked formalities..."

"...Akari-kun... I'm sure we can help each other." She grinned her `perfect little angel' grin.

All formality. All elegance. All business. All Kiryuu.

"Where is the dorm house you where looking for?" Questioned Nanami. She wanted home. She wanted out of the rain. She wanted it over with so she could curl up with hot Cocoa. At the moment, she wanted to be anywhere dry.

Akari dug a piece of crumpled paper from his pocket that had been folded over dozens of times. Nanami snatched it from his hands.

"East Hall?" Her voice quavered.

Nooooooooooo! That's all the way across the campus again!

***

East Hall had lain dormant for three years, no one occupying it's dusty interior but mice. When Akari wedged open the door and Nanami strode in behind him, there was no one there to great them but layers of dusty and dim light.

"Eeyuck, you're going to be living here?" complained the blonde as if where he'd been dormed was any reflection on his character.

"Hopefully the rooms are somewhat cleaner."

Upstairs the pair trode, till they indeed found his room. Nanami was getting a funny feeling in her gut... something halfway between Déjà vu, and that feeling you get when you had a word right on the tip of your tongue you just couldn't remember. It was bothering her immensely, put she couldn't put a finger on it to know what it was (as if actually putting her finger on it would've done more than tell her where it was.)

The room itself had actually been aired out and dusted (presumably by the staff) but was still in a state of total disorder. Rain pounded against the walls and windows, and a fierce wind had ripped up. Akari dropped his bags on the floor, and used the sleeve of his uniform to wipe off a window. What had once been a downpour beyond had become a terrible storm.

"I don't think it would be wise to walk you home in this, Nanami-san. You are so slight it might blow you away."

Nanami shot him a look he could not see. She wasn't sure if that had been a compliment.

"I think it might be best if you stay here tonight."

"PERVERT!" Yelled Nanami, and Akari turned around only just in time to dodge a flying sleeping bag. When he realized what he had just said, the boy turned bright red.

"N-no! Nanami-san! That's not what I meant! It's d-dangerous out there!"

The blonde hefted another bag, glaring at him.

"You might get hurt or lost or sick-!"

"What if I call my brother? He can come pick me up, you-"

"The building is too far from the main road Nanami-san..." He was trying to be logical.

Nanami glared at him, but logic out won, and she was too used to her brother's habits to go into the full out `Hentai!' rampage most girls would after such a proposal. Unfortunately-her eyes traveled to the window-she was stuck in East Hall with a new student in the middle of a storm and getting mad at him (no matter how much he was at fault for dragging her here first) wasn't going to get them anywhere.

"I get the bed."

"I-I wasn't going to suggest otherwise-"

"This place gotta kitchen?"

"I think so."

Nanami dropped the bag, and grabbed her mystified, confused roommate for the night. She dragged him down the hallway towards the stairs.

"C'mon, we're getting something to eat first."

The pair descended into the mawing darkness.

Yay! Finished. All done. Chapter three will be started shortly and then stored away for a year like this one was… ; Sorry about that... Nanami- logic is fun to write Thanks goes out to everybody who reviewed, because that's what keep me going. If you want to know more about when I update and which stories I'm working on, go to my blog at www.goldensoldier.blogspot.com Aloha from Colorado! And pleeeeeeeease review!