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, hitting the clouds on the way down.
Did I want to die? Was this the feeling of relief of finally choosing to dive? No... this was deja vu.
And as the sky began to take shape into those infamous blues and white eyelashes, I remembered something… Finally.
***
**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.
I wasn't the only one there, however… When I looked to my right, I was holding a girl's hand. She seemed to be the age of fifteen, and even in this dark night, her hair still glowed a platinum white color. She had also been doing her best to keep up with me as our tattered clothes caught on tree branches, ripping to shreds endlessly. Our wounds and bruises ached with each frantic step we took; we ran through the night, away from something that had been lurking behind us—unable to escape from its line of sight.
As we hopped over an enormous log, I quickly whipped to her 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, hair a gray color, medium length, and split down the middle—wisping to the sides. I looked about the age of seventeen. Both of us were a bit older in this memory than in the last one. But I still did not recognize myself at all. Her, however…
I raised my index finger 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.
Tired, sweaty, and anxious, we stayed back against the tree that we hid behind, hoping that whatever was making its way here would not find us. I was a fool to think that would even be a possibility. Because…
From behind us, the large tree uprooted, and a menacing sound echoed in our ears. The sudden impact caused us both to fly upward, along with the debris that shot out from it. The roar from it burst my eardrums, and all I heard afterward was the sound of a flatline among the wreckage of trees.
When I landed, I was face up. 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—stepping, inching closer to us. In frantic motion, I tilted my head up from where I lay and flipped myself over from where we just were. 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 rolling all the way to where I was, stopping right in front of me, perfectly… Her head was the last to position itself as it gently faced me, flopping there. Those once vibrant blue eyes of hers, now completely void of life… Belle had died.
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 hadn't just…
I sobbed uncontrollably, crawling to her and holding her head close 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—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 from all over it 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. I screamed and 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 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.
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 began spewing blood from my mouth excessively. When I landed back to the ground, I might as well have been nothing more than a mangled and bloodied corpse.
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. It wasn't from the beast…
"The deed is done… The failures are dead," the beast seemed to say. 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 cloak with a black veil over his face. A thin, glowing white cross was branded on it. 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 weakly 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.
At that moment, and that moment only, 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 sighed before he spoke, "You both should never have run away. This is what happens to bad children who don't listen to the Lord."
Struggling to reply, more blood tainting my eyes and mouth as I seethed at him, "Go fuck yourself—"
I said his name at the end, but my hearing cut out from the sound of it. It was like the mere uttering the name was forbidden.
"I hope… I come back… and when I do… I'll come after you like you did… us," I said, choking under his heavy hand.
He sighed again, and with one swift motion, he reached out and choked me. I flailed there as his heavy hand crushed my throat, cratering the ground even more than it was. Soundless, my body thrashed again and again, until finally I 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 and not yours… though… I guess you lived up to your own name in a way… 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… Maybe this was for the best."
The veil over his face with the glowing cross revealed nothing as 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 just 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 me and Belle's last moments here in this world. Just like this. A beautiful tragedy.
***
Waiting to be swallowed by the darkness, a demonic voice echoed in my head as I was about to pass into the next life… I had never heard its voice before.
Life or death?
I was now in a white space… My maroon eyes widened 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 before responding to me, 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.
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 already dying. I don't have time for games. What would be the cost to save her life?
My… You are exactly as he says you are… 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… Your memory.
I perked slightly but 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 once more, Your memory… Trade it for the girl, and I will honor your wish. Then we can walk out of here with both our 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?
I took a gulp before responding. At this time, all the 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 and resented the ones who did this.
As she cried, I heard her utter the words over and over, Mommy… Big brother… and in that moment, 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 fell in love with each other. We even had a small cottage home out in a mountain valley where a small stream cut through, expanding out from natural causes, forcing me to build a bridge just to make it to our front door.
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 now, not for who I was in the past. 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. 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 from them…
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… so I gambled.
I accept.
The unknown being'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. It will be full of struggle, hardships, and death… so I want to be there to witness it… as your body.
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 it took 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 truly knew…
My name is Demi, and I am a Dark magic demon. This is my human form… You will live through me in this form, and I will live through your body and your memories. Consider it a gift… and one last thing… it went on, The girl will remember you, but she will not be able to speak of you or your memories—not to you or anyone she knows, until you speak of them first… but that won't be possible because you will never have your memories back so long as I am alive… This is our contract, human… I hope you will continue to entertain me through your mess of a life.
As the figure before me smiled demonically, it clapped its hands, and, in a blink, everything was black.
***
Morning came to this forest as the sun peeked through the remaining trees of the incident that happened here. It had seemed to be a very long time after that incident. The forest in the daytime was majestic. The greens from it could not be any more saturated. Wild exotic flowers bloomed there, decorating the place with different colors. Small glowing creatures fluttered in the air all over, adorning the air with their silent but graceful presence. They were fairies, and there were many of them, all different colors throughout.
The place was a sight to behold, too magnificent to be from any world. This was a completely different place entirely… this place—
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 that I had been lying on her lap as she stroked my black hair, and she sat casually perched, bare legs and feet to the side on the soft grass, propping my head up. 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 black 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. It was a tear… 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**
I opened my eyes finally as I continued to fall through the sky. The reflection of it against my black pupils was beautiful. I marveled from the height I fell from, starting to remember why I loved looking at the sky so much… They reminded me of her eyes.
Belle. I remember everything now. A memory that I had showed me what I was missing. 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. Like a meteor, I rushed in, falling faster and faster—flying through the clouds and whipping them away with each passing.
Almost there…
As the Kingdom crept closer in view, another memory flooded my brain. This one to complete the ones I just had… A simple memory. My eyes closed.
Belle's voice echoed in my head… She was in a grass field as far as the eyes could see. The sky was blue like her eyes, and there was a small cottage in the distance by a small river. She was wearing a strapless white sundress that flowed all the way down to her bare feet. Her platinum white hair was magnificent in the high sun above that reflected off her rosy, fair skin. The weather was perfect.
As 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 at this time… I only prayed that I wasn't too late.
As I attempted to grab Belle from my fall, we crashed through the Celestial Dome, and it shattered like glass. Piece by piece, the shatters rippled throughout the entire dome and throughout the whole Kingdom. 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. The wind obscured our senses barely. Blowing in our faces from our fall.
"I'm here, Belle, I'm really here!" I shouted as the golden glass-like pieces fluttered all around us.
"I remember it all… I remember everything! 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 into our home by the small—"
"—the small 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, beautifully. 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 at my face.
"Yes but… it was as if you found me instead. You never forgot, did you?" I said back to her, my voice cracking from just talking to her like this.
She closed her eyes and shook her head. The tears that were flooding her eyes pressed out and floated upward into the sky.
"Every time I saw you, I wanted to shout out to you. My heart jumped for joy every time I was given the chance. The first time I followed you here to the Valley, and then again at the Kingdom's Guild Meeting. Alice's Room… I could not even cry tears of joy… and… 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."
"Belle…" My voice cracked—I couldn't believe she never lost hope all this time. "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 she had came out in the form of three words.
She shouted at the top of her lungs, "I love you!"
My heart literally skipped as she said those words. I could no longer contain myself. Tears streamed from my eyes uncontrollably. Right then, 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, my black wings whipped out from my back once again. Holding her tightly, the wings stopped us mid-air and flipped us upright there in the sky, her bare feet stood daintily on my black boots. And we looked deeply into each other's eyes… deeply… so deeply like it had been eternity, and it very well felt like it, since the last time we were able to look at each other like this.
Her eyes were so beautiful. The sky was her eyes as they wisped with the blink of her crystal-colored eyelashes. Her hair was the same crystal as it glittered from the sun and golden shatters falling like snow all around us.
I felt myself leaning closer to her, my body moving on its own. My lips 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. There, above everything, the shatters of the barrier glittered far and wide, like golden snow around us and all over the Valley Kingdom.
This moment was like a dream—a dream turned to reality… one that I never knew existed for someone like me… and I never wanted it to end.
With her in front of me now… with her now mine… taking my time, I released my lips from hers with our foreheads still touching, and I said back to her softly,
"I love you too, Belle."