It felt like a dream. I opened my eyes, and I was falling through the sky. It almost felt relaxing, just falling through the blue and hitting the clouds on the way down.
Did I want to die? Was this the feeling of relief of finally choosing to dive, or was it something else?
I closed them and opened them again. I was still falling.
Found you... I thought as I stared at the blue and it stared back.
It was real. This was truly not a dream. And I understood finally what it had all meant.
***
**An unknown time and place**
I opened my eyes and found myself running through the forest. It was night, my breathing was harsh, and my movements were sloppy. I could feel a sharp pain on my side. I think I had been bleeding—and for quite a while now.
Any normal human would have passed out from the lack of blood. But we kept running. We couldn't afford to stop.
I wasn't the only one there. When I looked to my right, I was holding a girl's hand. She seemed to be the age of fifteen, and I, seventeen or so. Her hair still glowed even in the darkest of nights like this one, sheen like the finest platinum despite our rugged look as we endlessly shred our clothes to ribbons from the passing boughs and uproots we ran through.
Our wounds and bruises ached with each frantic step we took; we ran through the night, away from something that had been lurking behind—unable to escape from its line of sight.
As we hopped over an enormous log, I quickly whipped around and pulled her in close behind a large adjacent tree. When my eyes met her deep blue ones, I saw my reflection for a moment. Again, those same facial features unique to me only in this memory. Tan, golden skin, a mole under my right eye, maroon-colored eyes, gray hair, medium length, and split down the middle—wisping to the sides. Both of us were a bit older in this memory than in the last. And I still did not recognize myself at all. Her, however…
I raised my index to my mouth and nodded my head to the blue-eyed girl, signaling her to keep quiet as we situated there, breathing heavily still. Quiet, yet heavy.
Through the silence, we heard large, muffled footsteps in the distance. Crunching away large pieces of wood and scraping pieces of tree bark away. I think I even heard trees being uprooted by whatever was trudging through it. It was close… and it was big.
Then the footsteps stopped and the only noise was the mild and quiet shuffling we both made without intention. It seemed that no matter how still we kept, we could not help the sounds we could not control. Like the sound of our sweat dripping from our skin to the goddamn ground.
I was a fool to think that hiding from it would be an option...
From behind us, the large tree uprooted, and a menacing sound echoed in our ears. It was as if it had pulled out the tree with a single arm as the sudden impact caused us both to fly upward along with it. The roar burst my eardrums, and I heard nothing but a flatline among the wreckage of trees.
When I landed, I was face up and my eyelids closed in and out as if in slow motion. Even from a short distance, my vision was obscured, but I could feel the vibrations of whatever was there with us now—stomping, inching closer to us. In frantic motion, I tilted my head up from where I lay and flipped myself over to attempt a rise. The blue-eyed girl was there a few feet away, staggered from the impact just now, trying to get up—her platinum white hair, dirtied from the blast and covered her face as it waterfalled onto the ground.
When I observed her closer, she was bleeding profusely from somewhere, but I couldn't tell where. I yelled her name, but I couldn't even hear my own voice. My ears were still deaf, ringing from the blast.
Then, the silhouette of a large beast was traced from the smoke it was in. It reached out and through it, its menacing claws hovered over the girl. I yelled her name again and tried to rush over to her, but when I attempted to get up, my legs gave out. I looked back and both were broken. One had even been crushed completely, bleeding out and splattering on the ground behind me with each futile, anguished movement I made.
"Fuck," I spat as blood gurgled in my mouth.
The large abnormal hand proceeded to reach over to her, and I began crawling out of desperation, inching slowly in their direction. But her eyes met mine through her dirtied platinum locks, and even though I couldn't hear a thing, I read her lips as she shouted, "Get away now!"
No. Why would I do that? I couldn't even if I wanted to… No, I need to save you… I need—
The large hand crashed down onto her, and all I saw next were splatters of blood stretched out from under it…
I couldn't move as shock caught up to me, petrifying me in place. I was horrified at what I had just witnessed. It was then and only then when sound had finally reached me.
"BELLE!!!" I cried. Rage and mixed emotions began flooding me now—a violent tempest swirling in my gut… and I could do nothing but watch.
When the beast drew out its mangled hand, Belle's lifeless body flew out from underneath, jolting from the momentum of its release. Her body flailed, landing just a few feet away from me and rolled all the way to where I was, stopping in front of me, perfectly… Her head was the last to position itself as it gently faced me, flopping there.
She was dead.
I lost all sense of myself, going through denial of the situation. Begging, pleading her to come back—speaking and caressing her as if she just hadn't.
I sobbed uncontrollably, crawling even closer to her and holding her head so near to mine as my broken and shattered legs continued to drench the forest grounds with pools of crimson. The sharp pain was nothing compared to the pain of losing her.
Those pretty, white eyelashes of hers bristled as I stroked her face and platinum-white hair—blood from my hands staining her perfectly fair, rosy skin. I watched as any remaining blue from her eyes faded away into nothingness.
Those once vibrant eyes of hers, now losing its color, becoming completely void of life, and being denied even a proper goodbye.
Within arm's reach, the beast from the smoke emerged completely. It had still been so hard to see, not only because it was night, but my trembling and tired conscience were fighting to stay awake. All I remember seeing in front of us was a large shadow of a figure with wild hair and bright yellow eyes that pierced through the night. It was humanoid, and its arms and legs were muscular but mangled, twisted at the ends by the darkness surrounding it. Black spikes shot out like armor of the night, and in the middle of its chest was a large gaping hole with a glowing violet orb that got darker towards the center, becoming only pitch black. I had no idea what this thing was… but my anger only grew as I laid my eyes upon it.
As it crept closer to us, it reached out its twisted hand again, this time, to me… With two fingers, it grabbed me from the flesh on my back and lifted me up slowly to it. My back bled and I screamed, flailed, holding on desperately to Belle as it did this. A wasted effort.
It pulled me so close to its face that I thought it was going to eat me. But when I reached it, it just held me there in front of itself, humming a sound that sent shivers down my entire broken, dripping body. As close as I was, I still could not see its face. It was almost like I was looking into a black hole with nothing but those piercing yellow eyes there, observing me. Then…
Before I knew it, it released me, flinging me effortlessly in the air as I suspended there for but a brief moment. Time seemed to have halted, as even the night and dark around us turned into a white blank space where only Belle and I were.
My eyes were wide with mystification, trickling tears, and wondering... if I had only been stronger. Could I have prevented this?
When I came back to reality, all I felt next was a large hand, like a boulder, slamming me into the ground…
CRASH!!
The impact made me bounce back up from the ground I cratered, my eyes white, bleeding from them and everywhere else from my whole body as it went into shock, and every bone within it had broken. I was like a fly, swatted to the fucking ground.
I began spewing blood from my mouth excessively. I might as well have been nothing more than a mangled and bloodied corpse by this point.
It was my turn... to die.
The shadow figure observed us both curiously, tilting its head as if it was completely devoid of perceiving what it had just done. Then, as muffled as it was, I heard a voice from it, but it didn't seem to be its own. It was, and it wasn't.
"The deed is done… The failures are dead." Its voice was deep and distorted, meshing with a voice from nearby.
A figure in black appeared from the shadows, "Well… almost at least," finishing the sentence as the beast's distorted voice faded to silence. Their voices were like one.
As the mysterious male sauntered to us, I could see what he was wearing more clearly, even with my tired, bleeding eyes. He wore a black hooded cloak with a black veil over his face. He wore a black wide—wide brim bolero hat that had dangling white crosses all around the edges, each equally distanced away from each other as they clacked with each step he took. A thin, glowing white cross was branded on his dark veil, and that was all that was immediately visible to me, even as blood-stained tears streamed over, making me see everything through a red filter in and out from the darkness each time I blinked.
He continued his slow pace over to me as the large shadow figure simply stood there waiting. I couldn't tell if he was controlling it from the mind or if it was a beast that followed his orders… From the way it talked and how this male finished its sentence, I knew they were linked somehow.
It was then, and then only, that I had finally understood who this was… Though it was way too late now.
When he made it to me, the sound of the dirt crunched as his black boot placed right next to my ear. I was gushing blood from my mouth, spitting and struggling to breathe through my crushed lungs.
He knelt next to me and gave a quiet exhale before he spoke, "You both should never have run away. This is what happens to bad children who don't listen to the Lord." He placed a heavy hand on my neck and let the weight of it crush me.
Struggling to reply, more blood tainted my eyes and mouth as I seethed at him, "Go fuck yourself—"
I spilled blood down my cheeks just trying to complete my fucking sentence. "I hope… I come back… and when I do… I'll come after you like you did… us," I said, choking under his hand. "I'll make you feel her pain."
He exhaled again as all he did was increase the pressure of his hand on my neck. I flailed as he crushed my throat and cratered the ground from its intensity. My body thrashed in silence, over and over again... until I finally stopped—leaving nothing but my messed-up corpse lying there next to Belle's, both our eyes wide open, lifeless… Through the black veil and white glowing cross that completely hid his face, he looked at me. His expression—unknown.
"Foolish little brother… This is what happens when you are too proud… There's a reason why it's my name to bear and not yours… though… I guess you lived up to your own name, at last, when you ran away. So selfish to the bitter end." He released his tight grip on my purple throat. His organically black fingernails gave no shine. "You were always a disappointment to him. How you were born one of us still baffles me… But maybe this was for the best."
The veil over his face revealed nothing but his glowing cross as he rose and he and the large shadow figure plunged into the darkness… as if they had never been there to begin with.
One would have barely noticed, but through my flailing, the last movement of my hand from my thrashing had placed it just over Belle's, whose body lay a little over the human-sized crater I was in, holding it as we left this world together.
I'll be with you soon… Princess… My last thoughts.
Both our bodies lay there under the starry night sky; its lights were endless. As if the whole galaxy—universe even—had decided to shine on this dark hour, looking down to witness both of our last moments here in this world. Just like this.
This world would not let us be free. It would not let us be. It would not even let us live.
Why does the Keeper hate me so fucking much?
***
I waited to be swallowed by the darkness.
There was peace in waiting for the void to consume you as you drift into permanent death. After the body is soulless and the life that made the body finds its exit.
Belle.
If I could find her even in the afterlife, maybe that would be enough... if the afterlife even existed.
It was then a demonic voice echoed in my head. I had never heard its voice before. But perhaps this was the gatekeeper that was to guide me away.
Life or death?
I was now in a white space… My maroon eyes blinked as I stood in the middle of it. I responded to the voice, Huh?
Life or death? Choose boy…
Who are you?
You're not exactly in a position to ask… Now choose, lest your choice is death?
I stayed silent before answering, trying to contemplate what was happening. Then, when I finally decided, I said, Life… But not mine… Hers…
The voice laughed maniacally, then took a moment. Hmm… Not sure if I can do that…
Then death it is. Leave me, whoever you are…
Pondering my choice, it said to me, Let me rephrase… I'm not sure I can do that without a cost… Unlike your life, which I can grant right now, reviving another was not what I came here for.
I don't care. I can die. Just save her if that's the cost.
It laughed again, but more of a soft chuckle this time, I don't think you're understanding, boy…
Then be straight with me. I'm dying... or rather, I am dead. I suppose I have all the time in the world to ramble with you, but I'd prefer not to spend my death with whatever you are...
My… You are exactly as he says…
I don't know who he is, nor do I care. So tell me... What would be the cost to save her life?
It chuckled. Hundreds of people die every day. There is no pleasure in granting a life for one's death. Either way, you are walking out of here alive, but her? That's going to cost you extra… It paused before going on. If you want to save the girl, I want something more precious… like... your memory.
I perked for but a moment, then slowly lowered my head in understanding.
The voice chuckled once more, Not as easy a decision when you put it that way, is it?
I stared off into the blank distance. There I could finally see it—the thing talking to me…
It was black like endless scribbles and nothing but a jagged mouth on its face. It looked like something, but nothing at the same time. I wasn't even sure if any of this was real… but it spoke to me, Your memory… Trade it for the girl, and I will honor your wish. Then we can walk out of here with bothour wishes granted…
I stayed silent for a moment, then asked it a curious question. And what exactly do you get out of all of this?
It didn't laugh this time like I was half expecting… Instead, the black scribbles took shape and began to morph into something humanoid, walking towards me dreadfully slow like a saunter.
I want your form. That is all.
My form… You mean my body?
Precisely. To be frank, I am dying as well… You can save me… I can save you… And I can save your little girlfriend. If you're willing to pay up. So, what's it gonna be?
And if I refuse then we're both dead.
If you refuse, she will be too.
I took a gulp before responding. At this time, my memories flooded back to me all at once…
The first time I met Belle was when we were kids. I met her when her hometown had just been burned to the ground. She had been under a pile of rubble and was unconscious. When I freed her, we watched her burning hometown from a cliff, and she cried her little blue eyes out in agony as I held her hand tightly, resenting the ones who did this.
As she cried, I heard her utter the words over and over, Sisters… Big brother… I let her mourn the loss of her family for as long as she needed.
From that day forward, we traveled together, grew up together, and eventually found a home with each other—realistically and metaphorically speaking.
Our small cottage was out in a mountain valley where a thin stream cut through, expanding out from natural causes, forcing me to build a bridge just to make it to our front door. It was abandoned prior, but we decided to live there. I supposed it reminded us of ourselves, so we made it our home.
To this day, she was always the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Her beauty was unmatched. I don't know if it was her platinum white hair and white eyelashes that did it for me, or if it was her deep blue eyes that always captivated me. I was so shallow… but really… what I think it was, was the fact that no matter what, she always believed in me and accepted all my flaws. She loved me for who I was, not for who I used to be. Not once did she ever ask me about it either. She allowed me, when I was ready, to tell her everything. But until that time, she let me… just be. Even if in the end, I never got to tell her any of it.
I inherited that quality from her.
If it wasn't for her, I think I would have given up a lot sooner than I had thought… after running away…
To me, the choice was clear. Even if I were to lose all memory of her, at least she would be alive. She could continue living to her true potential. I didn't care what happened to me in the process.
It was either I live, and she stays dead, or she lives and my memory of her gets wiped forever… well, there was a third option… which was to remain dead together… but… a selfish part of me couldn't live without her in it nor die and let it all end here.
Both me and the Demon were silent as it let me contemplate. We both desired something out of this. But unlike it, my desire was more of a want than a need.
The ball was in my court. And by the Keeper was I truly deserving of my name.
I accept.
The Demon's jagged smile left its face. I could no longer read it, whether it was mocking me or surprised I actually agreed to its terms.
You're an interesting one… I've been told you don't get to live an easy life regardless. And yet... you still choose this same outcome—time and time again...
I had no idea what it meant by that last part. But I had made my choice.
In that case, it went on. I will take my time. I will make you forget, and her remember. But she will not be able to speak of you as she will be bound by a curse of the tongue. Not until you speak of it first, will she be able to speak of it too... Oh, but how can you? It chuckled at the irony. I will watch how you walk into your predestined fate, and when I am ready to hand back your memories, I will do so in the most underhanded method. You will barely even realize, because I want you to worm your way through it, through life. And I want to witness how you deal with the struggle... as me, and I, as you.
When it said those last words, it finally appeared before me as its black shadow of a body began taking on human-like features. Its eyes were hollow and black. Its jagged smile was malevolent as it opened its shadowy arms, welcoming me and my wish.
From its head, it began transforming. Starting with black medium hair that was messy in the back and bangs that covered the right eye, obscuring it slightly. The pupils on it were merely the color black and aside from those immediate features, this form shared similarities to my own. The same face, the same position of the nose, smile, height, body type… the only difference was the color of its hair, eyes, and skin tone. This had been the me I had come to know.
I did my best to recreate you in this form, but shadows and darkness are all I can manipulate. So be grateful, because you will not inherit any of my power—none of my magic, but you will have a chance to develop another type of power. Because you were born with none, and this form comes with none, your adaptability to something else will be heightened.
I didn't understand a single thing it was saying now. All I cared about was Belle.
It chuckled again, You will not remember anything I've just said until I decide it is time for you to have your memories back. Just know that by then, you Sins will begin to each attempt to be your Lord, and there will be a new Keeper because of it. So come find me after you've assembled all the pieces to your life. I will be there at the end of it all.
Who are you?
It smiled demonically at my question, then it clapped its hands, and, in a blink, everything was black.
You may call me, Demi.
***
Morning arrived in this thick forest as the sun peeked through the pockets. An incident had happened here, from what it seemed... to be a very long time ago.
Wild exotic flowers bloomed here, decorating the place with an assortment of colors. Small creatures adorned the place with their silent but graceful presence—fairies... at least, from what I had observed as I awoke.
My eyelids were heavy as I tried to open them. Facing upward amidst this regal garden, the first thing my eyes saw was a girl gently looking over me, caressing my head.
The light above us was shining so bright I could only see certain features from her. I noticed, as she stroked my black hair, and sat casually perched, bare legs and feet to the side on the soft grass, that she was propping my head up as I rested on her lap.
She wore a white dress that looked like light itself. And her hair shone so brightly from the pockets of light through the trees; it was a platinum white color. When my eyes met hers, I was immensely captivated by their deep blue hue as they glowed in the shadow where the rest of her face was hidden.
She was beautiful… but who was she?
As she continued to stroke my hair, I felt a drop of water hit my face. A tear… as she struggled to utter the words that she wanted to say, finding herself only saying two words, hoping I would read between the lines, "Find me…"
I looked at her more intently now, but before I could get a good look, she became one with the light and vanished completely, leaving behind a petal of flowers that fluttered all around me. My hands were outstretched, hoping I could at least see her face—touch it. But it was too late now. I was alone.
Right then, from my shadows, I began to sink. The shadows seeped out black particles that engulfed me completely. I didn't have time to struggle. In an instant, I was gone as well. Gone from this mysterious world that didn't seem real. None of it had seemed real… It only started to once I was through the shadows and the start of the life I knew had begun.
The next thing I remember from that point was waking up in this world.
***
**Present**
She stared back. The sky.
Belle. I remember everything now. The whole reason why I came to this world… Was to find you…
As I continued to fall, I turned my body to face below, looking for her.
"There," I said, catching sight of her in the distance below, laying atop the giant gold dome that still sat cast over the Kingdom—for now.
I had to get to her as soon as I could. She had been stabbed, and I couldn't let her die. Not again. And not when I had finally regained my memories.
I continued to fall, adjusting my head to lead straight down and gain speed. I rushed in, falling faster and ever so faster—flying through the clouds and whipping them away with each passing.
Almost there…
As the Kingdom crept closer in view, I blinked, and for a second...
Belle's voice echoed in my head… She was in a grass field as far as the eyes could see. Her eyes were as blue as the sky, and there was a small cottage in the distance by an even smaller river. She was wearing a strapless white sundress that flowed all the way down to her bare feet. Her platinum white hair was magnificent as it turned into crystal from the rays of the high sun, reflecting off her rosy, fair skin. The weather was perfect.
She turned around to face me with those white eyelashes and deep blues, she caught sight of me and only said three words, eight letters…
There I was, within reach of her… Time slowed, and sound stopped. As fast as I was going, every second felt like eternity just to get to her. I never prayed to the Keeper before, but right then… I only prayed that I wasn't too late.
As I attempted to grab Belle from my fall, we crashed through the already slowly shattering Celestial Dome, and it shattered even more like glass. Piece by piece, the shatters rippled throughout the entirety of it and throughout the whole Kingdom faster than it had. I caught her hand and held it tight as we extended opposite from each other, arms and legs spread out. Our bodies in prone position as we continued to free fall.
"Greed?" she said so sweetly as the wind barely obscured our senses—rushing into us.
"I'm here, Belle, I found you!" I shouted as the golden glass-like pieces fluttered all around us.
When I said those words, her eyes sparkled like I had never seen before. The phrase alone had been enough to undue the curse on her tongue.
"I remember it all… I remember everything!" I said. "Holding your hand when we first met as kids. Tripping over that stupid root when I was trying to give you water to drink. Watching you in your white sundress dance in the grass field, the small cottage we made our home by the—"
"—the tiny river that bent through the front of the cottage, forcing us to make a small bridge just to get to the front door… well… forcing you to make it while I watched… Hehe," she finished my sentence, and I just watched her as her face lit up from the excitement of telling me something so incredibly dull.
Her eyes gleamed like starlight in the day as the sunlight sparkled them against mine.
Beautiful.
Her cheeks blushed a softer pink off her rosy skin as her rising emotions shouted out from under her goosebumps. A culmination of feelings and words she could finally express.
Everything. She wanted to talk about everything all at once. She was free from her curse, and she wanted me to know with her eyes, her touch, her mouth… she was unashamed of her flustered emotions. Streams of tears flooded her eyes.
"My Greed… You found me!" she said, focused intensely on my face.
Unforgivingly beautiful.
I was silent for a moment before saying, "I am such a fool." She only stared. "You never forgot. And you were right in front of me all this time." My voice cracked by just talking to her like this.
She closed her eyes and shook her head. The tears that were flooding pressed out and floated upward into the sky. "Every time I saw you, I wanted to shout out to you. My heart leaped endless bounds each time I got the chance, but you didn't notice me until the Kingdom's Guild Meeting, and I could not even cry tears of joy…"—the wind howled—"All this time, I never once took my eyes off of you…"
Her eyes locked onto mine so intensely. She didn't waiver. She didn't blink through the salty water rushing out of her eyes.
"All this time… even branching off and creating a new Guild—becoming their Captain. I didn't do it for the power or the recognition… no. I don't care for any of it… I did it all so that… so that when you looked to the highest point of the Kingdom, or even the sky… it was me that you saw. In hopes that maybe… just maybe… it would help you remember."
She wept, "It was all I could do... Because I could not go to you or force you to see me unless you wanted to."
"Belle…" My voice—still cracking—mustered up finally to say, "I'm sorry…"
"Don't be. You couldn't have known… until… just earlier today at the Desert Kingdom, I noticed… When you stopped what you were doing, you started crying. I knew something had happened, and my will was slowly becoming mine again. But I still had to wait for you to say it first… It was so unfair!" she cried out like a child, expressing her true, unfiltered feelings.
"Belle," I said again under my breath. The sound of her name was so sweet to my ears, and I now understood why it carried so much depth with me.
As I caressed her name with my tongue, her eyes flashed, and all the rising emotion had come out in the form of three words.
She shouted at the top of her lungs, "I love you!"
My soul—my heart left me as the gateway to my emotions utterly shattered from the sound of her voice, her words, and the way she looked at me. Tears streamed uncontrollably from my eyes.
I pulled her in close and held her tightly. Our foreheads touching, spiraling down to the Valley below us, free-falling still. The water from our eyes trickled upward as they joined together just as we were.
Without thinking or knowing how, my black wings whipped out from my back once again. They stopped us mid-air and flipped us upright and suspended us in the sky, her bare feet stood daintily on my black boots. And we looked deeply into one another… deeply… so deeply like it had been eternity, and I think it very well had, since the last time we were able to look at each other just like this.
Her hair and her eyelashes were like crystal clouds, glittering off from not just the sun but the falling gold that trickled like snow. And her eyes... Her eyes were the sky.
I felt myself leaning closer to her, my body moving on its own. My lips trembling as it met hers, and we kissed. They were soft and sweet, like how I knew they would be, but this feeling was way better than anything I had imagined.
This moment was like a dream—a dream turned to reality… one that I never knew existed for someone like me… someone with a sin's name.
But instead of saying I didn't deserve it, I embraced it whole. I was truly selfish.
With her in front of me now—with her now mine—I took my time. I released my lips from hers with our foreheads still touching, and I said back to her at last,
"I love you too, Belle."