Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Her Promise, My Sorrow ❯ Flashback ( Chapter 3 )

The voice of a young boy cried out through the halls of a lonely estate, while only servants were present to cringe at the pain filled voice. Another cry rang out, as none other than his own father beat the boy. His frail body shook with soft sobs as his father left his room 'What did I do wrong?' the boy thought to himself. 'Why did he hit me?' The boy whimpered as he stood, his silver hair brushing his shoulders. He felt as if he had been wrapped with an iron blanket covered with thorns. He stumbled to his bed and plopped down like a stone, which hurt him even though the bed was extremely soft. Young Pegasus had no idea why his own father had beaten him, but it might have been better that way.

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Achilles Crawford was not exactly right in the head, that was no secret, but he was also a brilliant man. He was worth billions. He had a wife, which he was dangerously in love with. He was obsessed with making sure he loved him, and only him. He had only become rich in order to fulfill her every whim. He hated it when she talked to anyone else but him and he hardly let her do anything with anyone outside of the estate. He had his home built far from civilization for this particular reason. His wife, Andromeda, soon saw the restrictions that her husband had put on her life, but there was nothing she could do. Her husband watched her life with such scrutiny that she would never be able to leave. When Andromeda became pregnant, she was overjoyed. She had always loved children. But she was a frail woman, and her doctors said that she might not survive the birth of her child. Her husband begged her to get an abortion; afraid he might either lose his wife to death or to a child. But she ignored everyone, for she was already in love with her unborn son.

Andromeda gave birth to her son, and survived to only be weakened by the ordeal. She couldn't help but smile widely as her son cooed in that oh so adorable baby language. Even Achilles, who had been quite jealous, could not help but smile. The boy looked like his mother. He had the same eyes and hair, and the same gentle features, if not a bit sharper. It seemed that Andromeda spent more time with her husband now that her son had been born. She wanted her son to have both a mother and a father, as she had been lacking in the father department. But as the days went on, Andromeda's weak condition worsened. She was slowly dying. Achilles wanted to hate his son, but he couldn't. Achilles could barely look at his son anymore. Pegasus looked too much like his mother. So he sent his son away to another estate, to be raised by nursemaids and governesses, and visiting infrequently.

Andromeda begged her husband to bring her son back, but Achilles turned a blind eye to the love that his wife had for their son and insisted that he himself was all she needed. It came to the point where she became so weak; she could no longer communicate with the outside world. This brings us to the home of a 9-year-old boy who was about to receive a disturbing visit from his father.

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A man in his thirties sat in a room with his back to the door and a snifter in his hand. His breath reeked of scotch. The door to the room opened as a boy with silver hair stepped through. It was the first visit he'd had from his father in 2 years, not that he cared. His father was a near stranger to him. Someone whom he had to show proper etiquette towards, that's all.

"Konnichiwa, otou-san. How are you this lovely afternoon?" His eyes shifted. Pegasus now realized that something about his father was amiss now that he saw how the room had been darkened and his father had failed to respond with the usual polite response and question. He didn't say anything, however. Achilles stood up from the chair and turned to face his wife's doppelganger. Pegasus looked at him with curiosity. "You little brat!" Achilles words were slurred as a result from the amount of alcohol he'd had. "It's because of you she's dying!" Achilles punched Pegasus in the ribs, sending the frail boy to the wall. "O-Otou-san," sputtered the dreamy eyed boy through his teeth. "You should have never been born!" Achilles kicked the boy and shouted insults at him for some time when finally Pegasus spoke up once more. "Please stop!" Tears streamed down his face while he put up his arms in front of him, hoping to at least delay his fathers assault. Achilles froze, because for a moment, he saw not his son, but he saw the visage of his wife. His eyes widened in horror as he backed away. His mouth opened and closed as if he were trying to say something, but he just looked like a great big fish instead. This brings us to our present time.

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Pegasus cried himself to sleep. It was bad enough that he was lonely, but now he had blue spots all over his body to match his mood. It was late afternoon when Pegasus woke up. He needed to go. This house, his room, everything was a reminder of how he could never live his dreams. His doubts, however, were the very chains that bound him to his prison; not that he knew that. He had to remember that he should drift through the world as if it were a dream. Lessons learned and a person met were just more numbers to be memorized and words to be remembered. If you don't care about anything, nothing will hurt. But eventually, he had to wake up, and he craved something tangible, something in this hell of his he could have hope for.

He liked to paint and to draw and to play music. Through these acts he could create his own little worlds of happiness and loneliness, love and hate. He could make people who cared about him, who loved him. But in the end, they weren't real. He was still alone.

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He passed by servants through the halls uninterrupted as he went through the front door of the house in which he stayed. No one cared enough about him to even bother to ask where he was going. The grounds of the estate his father had given were beautiful, but Pegasus hated them. The flowers, the trees, the lagoon-like areas were all too perfect. They were all too convenient. They were all too fake. Things that were fake were like dreams, and all dreams faded away. That's why he liked Megumi.

Megumi was the one girl he knew that was what she seemed. She had that sweet and gentle personality all other bratty, rich girls only pretended to have. She was real, and she listened, but she didn't understand and she didn't try to. But she was pinprick of light in the dark sea of his life. She was something he could use to keep from drowning, but for how long?

He exited the gate, and he pushed pass the tall grass in his way. There was a hearty breeze blowing against him. He trudged on for what seemed an eternity, as it always did, but he finally reached his destination. It was a hill where the grass wasn't tall and often had flowers growing up it's sloped sides. And perched on the top was a lovely peach tree, currently in bloom with its creamy blossoms. It looked oddly out of place, but it wasn't manmade, it wasn't fake. That hill with its odd, real beauty would be there for many years to come.

He considered the hill his own little dream world where he wasn't himself. He was just another boy stopping to rest under the tree's branches. He closed his eyes as another strong breezed blew past him, carrying the smell of sun-baked grass and sleepy flowers. He climbed up on the hill on all fours, feeling the dirt and grass between his fingers.

Much to his surprise, someone had broken into his bubble of perfection.

A little girl lay under his tree, napping comfortably. She couldn't have been older than 5. She looked like a cherub with full, round cheeks and red-pink lips, her chubby white hands under her short, shining hair. She looked so peaceful in his little bubble that he had no heart to wake her, but she woke up anyway. The little girl sat up and looked at him confusedly with bleary eyes.

The little girl saw a slim boy in a white shirt with silver hair shining like water in the sun and she thought he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"Are you an angel?" asked the little girl innocently. Pegasus looked at her, slightly perturbed. "N-no." He kneeled down so his eyes were closer to eye level with her. Then he asked quietly, "Are you?" The little girl giggled then replied, "Of course I'm not. That's a silly question." Pegasus looked at the girl with and annoyance. "Well, you asked the question first." The little girl said simply, "Because angels are beautiful," she pointed at him," and you're beautiful. But" she pointed at herself; "I'm not beautiful. That's why it's a silly question." Pegasus looked at her with surprise. 'She thinks... I'm beautiful?' His cheeks burned as he blushed.

The girl frowned. "Are you a martial artist?" Pegasus snapped out of his slight daze. "W-what? Oh, um, no. Why?" The girl pointed at his face. "Because your face has a bruise." Pegasus' hand quickly moved up to his cheek and there he felt the bruise forming from when his father had hit him. He felt the magic of the moment slip away and the pain of reality returned. He couldn't help but let one tear escape. 'Heart into ice. Ice does not feel. Ice can't feel pain.' The girl leaned forward on her knees and touched the hand that held the boy's cheek. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry." Pegasus looked into the girl's eyes and nearly gasped. Her eyes were a lovely, pure blue, like the sky. She looked truly concerned for him, a complete stranger. Ah, the innocence of a child. To him, she was loveliest creature in the world.

"You're hurting inside. Why?" He was even more surprised now. The girl's tone of voice seemed to change. Instead of the innocence, there was now a soft want to understand.

Did she really care?

"I'm lonely." The girl smiled and hugged the boy, much to his wonder. "Me too." Pegasus frowned. Why would such a wonderful child be lonely? "Don't you have a family?" The girl looked up into his golden-orange eyes and answered with a retort that sounded as if it would more likely come from someone older. "I could ask you the same thing."

Could she really understand?

" I have been raised by those who don't care." She gave him a sad smile. "Me too. The people who raised me aren't my real parents, so they don't care about me all that much." Pegasus' eyes widened. "You mean you're a foundling?" The girl gave him a sort of bland expression. "Oh, is that what it's called. " She paused for a moment as if she were dwelling on the thought. "They treat me funny because I'm different. It makes me feel lonely." The little girls attitude quickly changed. She smiled brightly. "We can be each other's friend! That is, if you think it's a good idea." The little girl became suddenly shy. She was so sweet, so understanding. She was lonely too.

Would she leave him?

"If we're going to be friends, I think it would be wise if we knew each other's names." The little girl smiled brightly. She backed away from Pegasus and curtsied. "I'm Kei. Who're you?" "My name is Pegasus." "It's very nice to meet you."

Kei leaned forward and took Pegasus' face between her hands. She placed a gentle kiss on Pegasus' bruised cheek. He looked at her in wide-eyed confusion, blushing just a bit. No one had ever kissed him before. No one had ever kissed him before.

"I've heard that a kiss can make anything feel better." Pegasus' eyes became misty. He happened to recall his nursemaid once telling him that.

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A seven-year-old Pegasus looked around the corner of the hall. He was spying on 2 people kissing. It was one of the maids and the cook's husband. They had their arms wrapped around each other and were breathing hard. Keoko's husband had his hand up the maid's shirt.

'What are they doing?' Pegasus leaned out past the corner a little farther to see what exactly they were doing. Unfortunately, he happened to lean out a little too far, and he fell with, first a squeak, then a loud thump. The two lovers immediately stopped what they were doing and looked with panic. Someone had seen them.

The maid, Suzu, and the cook's husband immediately pulled away from each other and quickly tried to fix their appearance. Suzu approached Pegasus. "What were you doing?" Pegasus quickly stood up with eyes full of apprehension. Had he done something wrong? "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry." His voice faltered. "I was just curious." Suzu's eyes softened. "Look," she said as she bent down. "Don't tell anyone what you saw here today, alright?" "Okay." Suzu was about to stand to go. Pegasus spoke up. "Um, could you answer a question of mine?" Suzu looked back at Pegasus. "Sure." "Well, why do people kiss?" Suzu seemed to think for a bit, then she answered. "Well, when you get older, you kiss because it feels good to your body. But sometimes, a kiss can be something more." Pegasus' eyes widened with wonder. "More?" he asked with innocent curiosity. "More." She paused a moment, and smiled. " A kiss can make places that hurt feel better. A kiss can make your loneliness go away." "Oh, thank you for telling me." "You're welcome."

As Suzu turned the corner, Pegasus touched his fingers to his lips in a gesture of longing. "A kiss...can make... your loneliness go away."

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He looked gently at the girl, then pulled her close. He held that tiny, fine hand in his own, and held that soft face with the other. Pegasus stooped down and kissed Kei tenderly. He felt the silkiness of her cheek, the softness of her lips. Innocence and loneliness in it's purest form. Their lip's parted. It wasn't longer than 5 seconds. " You're right, that kiss made my heart feel better."

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Never again did the two lonely children kiss. They did, however, find solace in their friendship. Megumi cared for Kei as well, just not to the degree that Pegasus did.

As he dreamt of that moment, Pegasus found himself happy, lost in a memory of perfection.

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