School is why we can't have nice things T^T Anyways~ I meant to write something for Aerith last week, but I had to go to school (third week already!) and now I'm in Tennessee dropping my brother off at college. Depression. Enough about my boring life, here's my submission
Aerith's POV
"You'll be fine here Aerith, I promise," Sebastian pried my fingers off his shirt and placed a cup of something warm and fragrant in my empty hands. It smelled strange and burned my hands through the thin cup it was in.
"Don't go Sebastian," Tears ran down my cheeks, silently slipping into the drink and mixing my emotions into it's blackness. He couldn't leave me here either.
"Aerith, I really don't have time, but I'll call Akira and ask her myself to come and get you if she can," He produced a crumpled napkin from his pocket and used it to dry my face. It smelled like the salty tears of someone who wasn't from the sea.
"I can walk you only as far as the terminal, then the rest is up to you." He patted my head and turned me around, drink in hand. The few possessions I had brought fit in a backpack that kept slipping off my shoulders, but I didn't mind. The things that had lasted through time were the ones that truly mattered: A obsidian pearl, a tooth from the tiger statue, and a broken scale.
"Are you sure Akira will be there?" Sebastian smiled reassuringly and nodded. With a gentle nudge, he pushed my on my way to the great unknown with a frail hope and bandaged calf.
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"This is your first time on a plane, isn't it?" A teenage girl occupied the seat next to me, her long black hair tied into a pony tail and her nails a bright green. She wore a uniform I had never seen; which was rare considering the hundreds of school groups migrated to the South Temple to say their prayers to the kami and their ancestors.
"First, yes," I murmured distractedly. There was something off about her... Something oddly familiar. Perhaps it was the way she carried herself with quiet assurance, or maybe the hungry look she gave me as I stowed my bag by my feet.
"Is your hair naturally like this?" She reached over to touch me and to my surprise I cringed away. "Sorry, nothing personal." The girl let her hand drop and resumed her unblinking scrutiny of me.
"It's fine," I whispered, fidgeting under her penetrating gaze. "It's always been this color... I think." I added quietly. She laughed and ran a hand through her own hair, a silver and gold bracelet flashing across her wrist and then disappearing beneath her cuff again.
"Really? I'd hate to have blue hair!" Her tone was light, but there was a icy layer beneath her words. "By the way, my name is Xu Lien." Xu extended her hand to me and I hesitantly took it, my feelings still smarting from the previous comment.
"Aerith."
There was a lull in our conversation in which the captain announced that we would be taking off shortly. The incessant background chatter died away as people strapped on their seat belts and placed their bags in the carriers above.
"I hope you're ready for an adventure Aerith," Xu gripped my arm tightly before letting it go. As to what she was referring to I could only guess, but I didn't have a spare moment to worry about that.
The boosters roared beneath us and I dug my fingers into the arm rests. Beside me, the Chinese girl pulled her sleeve back slightly and touched the bracelet, apparently impervious to the take off. In a matter of seconds we were looking at a receding runway and darkening lights of China.
Goodbye Yeye, I thought morosely. His gentle face and wizened eyes seared the backs of my eyelids and gave me the courage to slowly let go.
"You'll get used to the altitude, trust me." To that I made no answer. The boosters slowly settled into a resonant hum that tickled the papery soles of my shoes. Twenty minutes passed and a woman in a black coat walked past us pushing a cart with different smelling items on it ranging from tart to sickly sweet. Her gold eyes connected with mine and she smiled like one of the condiments she was walking with. Shuddering, I looked over to Xu Lien who was absorbed in fixing her perfect hair.
"Do you know how long this flight is?" The black coated woman gave me a sick feeling to my stomach. Ever since I had stepped on this plane I knew something was wrong.
"Does it matter? What if we could fly forever and go anywhere we wanted? Where would you go?" There was a sly way that Xu Lien had about avoiding my questions and answering them with another one of hers.
"I just want to get home," After all: a home-sick water dragon was a miserable water dragon.
"This is your captain, Sun Chiang speaking. We are experiencing some turbulence, so keep your seat belts on please. Thank you." The message crackled through the whole aeroplane and a wave of panic shot over me.
"What does he mean turbul--" Just then the plane pitched to the side. A child cried out and a few bags fell harmlessly into the aisle. Unfortunately I crashed into Xu who caught me by the shoulders and pushed me back into the seat with brute force.
"Sit tight," It was a command, not a request.
The plane leveled and righted itself with apologies from the captain. Somehow, through all the confusion, the black coated woman and her cart came back down the aisle. Nothing was out of place. She smiled a bone chilling smile in my direction.
Then the plane went dark.
"Xu Lien!" My voice was lost in the erupting chaos. The plane tipped dangerously to the left and I spilled out onto the floor. A young man swore viciously in font us in perfect Mandarin.
"I know your tricks," The sharp tangy smell of a fork fork thudded into the floor beside me. I didn't have to see to know who was behind the attack. The black coated woman.
"Xu Lien!" I reared back onto my bad leg. Big mistake. I fell as the coppery smell of silver plated knives whistled overhead. The man who had been cursing was cut off in mid-sentence, no doubt a knife buried in his throat.
"Aerith!" A strong hand took my elbow and dragged me backwards. The plane shop upwards and threw us back against the arms of the chair. We were going to die. Die in darkness. In pain. Again.
"God, help us!" Came the cry of many tearful voices. All this painful noise hammered down on my head.
God, I was not. Angel, was I neither. But I was more than human.
"Let me go," I sobbed. When had the tears come? When I knew that I was alone? After the darkness? When I knew I had nothing to lose?
And then the arms did let me go. They just stopped existing. Stopped restraining. Stopped holding me prisoner.
And I sang.
It was a dark song. A song that was sung the night Yeye found me by the sea.
I walked forward, using my arms as a guide.
I remember testing my feet out on the rough sand, comparing it to the silky sand only the water dragons felt.
A little boy brushed my leg; reaching out with hands that would never feel the sadness pouring from my heart.
Trying to make sense of the dark shape out in the water. Was it connected to me? Did it wait for me as well?
I reached the emergency intercom. In the glowing red light emitting from the sign I could see people's heads turning. Wanting something to believe in.
The song spoke of how I couldn't remember my parent's faces.
Then I sang of anger.
Yeye held me while I cried. It was a strange keening sound that bewitched all who heard it, but not Yeye. He saw into my shattered soul and knew what I had felt. Only the broken could not hear the song.
Slamming my fist into the button, I broadcast my voice through the spinning plane and gave it purpose. My words were meant to reach the captain and take his will. I told him through song how to straighten the plane, all the while noticing the blank, unseeing stares cast around me in the eerie glow.
This went on for hours. But finally I could sing no longer. I was reduced to a hollow shell of what I had stood for.
Within the belly of the plane I could feel the dark presence that was there the day I had left the sea. It coiled and uncoiled, trying to define a shape for itself and failing. Perhaps it knew I was looking for a new beginning. Something for me to put my trust in.
The presence and I were like the symbols of ying and yang: The darkness, present. This dragon, rising.
Heh, I hope it wasn't so obvious that I don't know anything about planes. I've ridden only one and the whole time I was trying not to think how we would die if the plane stalled. I swear, there was duct tape on the wings too ;______;
Heh heh~ I meant to tell you guys that Xu Lien is like... a nobody. So yeah, she just appeared and don't mind her. If you want to use a weird/creepster/potentially-XGenesis-girl go ahead. She is no OC of mine (too scary) and I plan on killing her or ditching her, which ever is fastest and kindest ;D
Sorry for the long post. My brother is finally gone~ Yay!
