Short Fiction Moments II

[may-unleashed.livejournal.com]

 
I bring another short fiction. I tried to keep it drabble-lenght, but it proved impossible.  

I suffer the curse of loving too many words. And for this fic, I found myself caught listening to a song in loops.

Thus, this turned out something of a song-fic. Focus in the bitter-sweet three exorcists Lavi, Allen and Kanda. 

Key Word: "calling;"

...

 

Calling;

The keys are smooth and cool, like marble or river stones, or young grass leaves.

The piano room is empty but for his presence and the weak light that filters through the windows' cracks.

The Order has achieved complete mastery of the Ark now, and thus the Ark does not need a live melody to work anymore, and this room holds no significant importance anymore.

But for some reason, the melody keeps calling at him, keeps pulling at his memory and this time….this time he surrenders.

Grudgingly –reluctantly - and almost sadly, he surrenders. His fingers press on, and the keys sing music, but he speaks no words. The lyrics are illusions, like everything else in his life.

 

Love is close by

In truth is now here

Even as cold hands

Brush over your face

The peace and quiet come

After a long journey

Alone, in mourning

I cried if only a little

 

His hand halts, because the voice of a woman haunts his ears and his senses, and the memory of a nonexistent fragrance drowns the room. And he regrets ever learning to play the piano.

He regrets the poor attempt to remember what he has learned to forget. Willing murderers should know better than to regret.

 

Gloria

Not everything holds importance

The brilliant light of the afternoon

Echo of the song of happiness

Like the light over the hill of skylarks

Lets go together

Lets walk this hill road

The fragrance of the grass surrounds us

As we thread on

 

One last slide of the fingertips over the keyboard, one last indulgence of the gratifying pain. A last chance to feel sorrow, to feel sorry and feel lost.

There is no time anymore, the war grants no quarter, the fight spares none of his many lives. There is no time to be gentle or be happy, someone else will have to achieve that.

He plays for the last time, and he plays with one hand, while the other tightens around the hilt of his sword. Willing sacrifices should know better than to regret.

 

Gloria

What can be gentle?

Certainly it can exist

Sound of the song of happiness

Such fragility will swiftly come

For love and hopes

For tears and sacrifices

A radiant day and night

Begin as we thread on

 

Outside the room, against the wall among the thickening shadows, Lavi stands watch.

He is silent and unobserved, like any good Bookman should be. But he is choking on some foreign emotion and fighting the urge to hug himself against the sudden raw pain of those wordless notes. His green eye keeps track of the movements made by the other exorcist in the piano room.

He watches carefully how the hand dancing over the piano keys slows down, and then retreats in a quick jerky motion, as if burned, as if in denial.

Lavi knows then, that the other man will never set foot in that room again. His human side -the one that refuses to give into what a Bookman should be- that side of Lavi mourns the price paid for a shred of hope.

In that moment, Lavi also realizes he is not undetected anymore. Other pair of eyes has caught sight of him.

The red-haired exorcist lifts his head, blinks and brings into focus the shadowed figure of one Allen Walker, who stands only a few feet away.

The younger exorcist is a reflection of Lavi’s own pose, quietly leaning on an adjacent wall, with his eyes and ears and senses focused mainly in the person inside the dark piano room.

Allen and Lavi’s eyes meet directly, and it oddly feels like both of them are chasing after the same ghost. Green and blue hold for a couple of heartbeats, but then they both return to their silent watch of Kanda, who is alone, soft and distant in front of that old piano.

Even in the shades brought by the approaching night, Kanda’s eyes are clear shards of coldness. Dark eyes that seem to be chasing after death, because Kanda is not one to forgive himself through simple atonement.

Lavi wishes he knew how to fix the secrets that taste like poison, and Allen wishes he knew how to ease a phantom pain always denied. But they can only stand back, wait, blink.

And as they blink, a subtle scent of lotus fills the air, and Lavi and Allen wish they could understand why.

.......


Notes: The song is called "Gloria", by the japanese group Kalafina. The lyrics are in Japanese, of course. I was presumptuous enough to try and interpret the meaning. 

Please look for it and listen, if you would be so kind. In my mind, it is the saddest lullaby I have ever heard. 
 

Comments

[orchid-falls.livejournal.com]

You write really beautifully. This and the last drabble/ficlet are gorgeous and really heartfelt. I hope you're going to share some more.

[may-unleashed.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for the nice comment.

I guess I do feel very strongly towards Kanda (as silly as that sounds) And I love watching him through the eyes of others. Allen and Lavi especially.

I have more drabbles, although all of them seem to share the quiet and blue atmosphere. *figures*

[mittens-220.livejournal.com]

I thought you were talking about Allen playing the piano until the last few paragraphs...

Like the atmosphere in this one as usual. Sad, but not to the point of depressing.

[may-unleashed.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I meant for it to sound like Allen playing the piano at the beginning.

In my hyperactive mind, that is why Allen is there. He is also drawn to that room. And Lavi is drawn to following Kanda around. And both of them are kinda watching from afar. Maybe that counts for something of an OT3...

Kanda is like that: there is something sad about him, but he does not let it reach the point of despair.

[midgar-skyline.livejournal.com]

*splutters* GAH! Gloria! a;sdhfaklgsha *BAWL* I downloaded that I'd say... 2-3 months ago (courtesy of being in the same package as the Lacrimosa [YES I did get that for the Kuroshitsuji ending XD]) single I snagged) and have been listening to it on repeat ever since. Along with Aria, those two are my favourite Kalafina songs.

I adore Gloria. I want to learn how to play it on the piano - I have no idea how, considering there are no good transcriptions into notation for it yet and I suck at playing by ear - but for the time being I've just finished learning The Musician's Lullaby and am halfway through Chopin's Raindrop Prelude.

I think this was the effect your were going for when you wrote it, but I wasn't expecting Kanda to be the Musician. ;) You got me. I didn't figure that one out completely in time.

[may-unleashed.livejournal.com]

It's great how you and me end up doing the same things.

I downloaded the Lacrimosa set like 2 months ago too. Because they were the songs to Kuroshitsuji, and because Kalafina makes me curious. Their songs for Tsubasa and .HackSign have a very unique quality. Female gregorian chants XD but they really have beautiful melodies.

I love Gloria to bits, maybe it's my favorite of the group. I know it by heart. The piano composition is very captivating. If I could play the piano....

Yes, I started this drabble knowing that Allen is the piano-player figure of D.Grayman. I knew most people would think of him, but by the moment you read "...voice of a woman...fragance....hating to learn to play the piano": in that moment I think the musician morphes into Kanda.

I am grasping at pure fabrications here, but I suppose Kanda would consciously try and forget his past, and for some reason thinking about a forgotten mother figure it's very sad for me. Especially if the lyrics to the song in Kanda's head are in that woman's voice.

And of course Kanda has have to learn something from Tiedoll's artistic streak. He just doesn't advertize it? XD

These drabbles are the manifestation of my urge to have the hiatus over, damn it. I cannot wait for June 4th and finally another chapter on Kanda's story.

*looooong reply LOL*