Requiem of the Seraph Ch. 4

Chapter Four: I Wish I May

"I hate hospitals."  Carrow grumbled.  The teens were able to convince the nurses and doctors to at least allow for them to meet and sit together for breakfast…with much protest from the medical staff.  They advised the teens not to move about too much or do anything rash…but whatever advices given were thrown to the back of their heads.  They were melancholy, and they were also troubled.  Shion was the first one to break their silence after eating, describing her troubling dream.  Soon, it turned out that each one had something to share, but in the end, Carrow gave the closing line: "Big deal.  It's not like we all 'had the same dream' last night, did we?"

"Well…" Keloris, the only one other than Ryosuke who had the clearance to leave and go home, was leaning against the wall by the window while tossing an apple up and down.  "Last night, maybe we all had something different…but something's been nagging me…"

"Well then…" Shion looked over at him sadly, "As Narulay used to say…'Out with it,' before it nags you to death."

He remained silent for a few seconds as they all turned their heads to look at him.  He stopped tossing the apple and inspected it for a while.  Finally, he sighed and spoke: "Right after the bridge collapsed, and before we woke up in the hospital…"

Everyone's attention seemed to snap up slightly at him.  He didn't go on.  He didn't need to go on.  They all know what he was referring to.  Silence loomed over them yet again…although the background noises of birds and bugs coming through the window could still be heard.

Carrow, once again, starts out with something on the lines of an outburst: "Bloody hell!  She stayed there!" He nearly slammed his fist into the table, but stopped as the door opened.  Afraid that the nurse had heard him, he quickly masked over his sudden anger and withdrew his hand…

Only, it wasn't the nurse who came in.

"You're right…she stayed…"

"Ryo!" Everyone exclaimed with a mixture of delight, surprise, and even more confusion.

"What do you mean 'you're right'?  How do you know Carrow's not being an idiot again?" Delorys frowned at Ryo.  He only meant for that to be a tease against Carrow, but…

"I know what happened.  Or at least, I have a theory but I'm very sure that it's correct…because if it isn't, then…" Ryo gulped and closed his eyes.  Instead of continuing his last sentence, he turned to a tangent: "Listen…I think…I know this sounds absurd, but when had anything not been absurd, especially when…well, you get the point.  All this sounds like a fantasy story book…only thing is…the difference is…" He was at a loss for words.  How could he phrase it so that it didn't sound so cliché?

"Well?  Finish your sentence." Carrow prompted.

Ryosuke tried to reform his explanation, but couldn't find a way to do so.  He sighed and sat down.  Usually, to make things quicker, Narulay would jump in to add a few lines that helped him sort things out…and vice versa.  They were keen on helping each other in terms of explanations to makes it go through easily, but now…

He drew a deep breath in and let it out with a big sigh, his shoulders rising and falling dramatically in doing so.  He then searched around for a chair and dragged it over to the group.  Sitting down, he began: "I'll just get to the point, but don't blame me if anything sounds cliché.  Narulay decided to remain back there, yes, but with good reason."

"You mean reason other than she wanted to escape this world?" Shion whispered.

"Yes.  Look, I had a dream last night…"

"Oh lord…" Carrow grumbled, but Shion shushed him.  

"I saw…an angel.  Not like the ones we see in medieval paintings though.  She had this…dark black hair and, well…violet eyes.  Not only that, but her wings were black.  She was bleeding everywhere, and chained up too.  Not exactly the best sight at all, but across from her, I saw Narulay.  I don't know what that means, but the next scene convinces me that she…she needed to do something in this, this…fantasy or mission or whatever it is you want to call it."

"Look, Ryo, I know you're the brightest out of all of us, and that intelligence of yours puts Narulay on edge sometimes, but I think those pain meds from last night are still messing with your head." Carrow speculated.  Keloris walked over to the table and dropped his apple core to his tray.  Sitting down, he asked: "Still…if we believe that, then that means she's alive, right?"

Silence regained its place among them.  Five minutes later, the nurse came in.  Upon seeing Ryo, she arched her eyebrows.  "And just how did you get in here, young man?"

"Oops."  He looked sheepish.  "Sorry," he apologized more to his friends than to the nurse. "I kind of snuck in.  Don't know why I did that.  Hey, I found out that I can climb third story windows now.  Anyhow…just consider what I said, please…she may need a few prayers too."  He dodged around the nurse and left quickly, knowing that he had completed what he needed to.  They wouldn't forget what he had said now…because they all knew from back then that Ryo couldn't have climbed that third story window…unless he had kept some of those abilities from their little "adventure."

---

"Hmm…hmmhmm…Hmmhmm…"

She hummed and sang a random tune…random notes that came to her head…and she simply played them out on her voice as she continued down the road.

Music was like the life of her.  She wished she had more chances to sing her heart out.  

Wishes…She thought.  She stopped humming and stopped walking.  Seeing a rock nearby, she sat down and looked up into the sky.  

Five moons adorned this sky.  They were small, but they were moons nonetheless.  Each moon appeared to have a symbol shadowed in them.  Only the brightest stars blinked in the sky.  

She could hear the song in her head.  A familiar song…her song…

"The song of the flames is a bittersweet melody…
The flame is both light and dark…
The fire both burns as love and as pain…
Its heart is just never the same…"

---

Two days later, everyone was clear to go home with instructions to rest only.  Carrow, Shion, and Delorys were instructed not to return to school until next week.

Shion had stayed in bed, pondering and hoping that a miracle existed out there.  If Narulay was indeed alive in another world…that means she could return, right?  

She doesn't know what reality was anymore.  She doesn't know how to take this.  Should she be happy that Narulay is 'in a better place' now, or should she be sad that she's gone?

She turned to her clock.  8:48 pm.  It was still a long time before she can even think of sleeping.  That meant a long time left for her to ponder.

Narulay's funeral was to be held the next day.  Shion hoped that the day for the funeral would never come at all.  The funeral would represent the final closure…the final goodbye…and after the funeral, it would feel like there's no coming back.  She couldn't face it.  She just couldn't…

And a big part of her hoped the Ryo wasn't under the influence of meds when he hinted that Narulay is alive in another world…wherever that may be.

Her mind juggled back and forth…

"It's sad how many of us don't consider all the good points about a person until that person is gone for good, isn't it?  Then they spew everything out on the funeral day.  Pathetic…but that doesn't say much good about me either now, does it?"  Shion had overheard Narulay say that to Delorys once.   Two classmates had committed suicide that week and more than half of the school was mourning.  Narulay turned out to be one of the few who didn't have their heart in the mood.  Shion had been angry at her for being so thoughtless of the two deaths.  "I didn't really know them.  I know that there will be others who will be sad, but I honestly can't mourn for people I'm not very close to.  I mean, I might feel really bad for the people who had lost something…but so far, I have no need to shed a tear."  

Frustrated, Shion grabbed her covers and threw them off with a loud "whoosh!"  Her anger wasn't at Narulay anymore though.  It was at herself.  She should've seen why Narulay wouldn't mourn…because anything that girl ever cried for were for what was dear to her.  Shion went to her nearest window and rested against the side edge while staring up at the stars.  A nagging and familiar tune came into her head…like notes on a flute floating through the night.  

"It catches the feelings of those it holds dear…
And its greatest wish is to never let danger come near…"

She suddenly started sobbing.  A shooting star came into view from the side of her window frame, streaking across the little piece of sky her window showed her.

If only…if only…Shion thought bitterly as her salty tears reached to the corner of her mouth and was swept up by an involuntary action of her tongue.  Memories came into her mind…Narulay was quite protective of her friends sometimes, although she was never quite good at it.  She was quite inclined to take an offensive approach at threats and fight fire with fire.  Fire was her way of forging shields and showing love…despite her denials that she could show any type of love at all, the funniest contradiction ever, since how can one wish to protect when one does not love?  But whether or not Narulay knew how to express feelings and emotions other than irritation, confusion, merit and the occasional detached sense of bossy humor…just who had protected her?  From everything that Shion knew about Narulay, her friend was quite emotionally detached from her own family which had provided her all the physical security she needed but never the emotional support.  

I wish…that I could be there to protect her now…or at least to give her support…

---

Earlier on the same day, 3:23pm…

"Lor!  How long are you going to stay upstairs!"

"Leave my loneliness unbroken, will you?  And don't call me Lor!" Whoa, that line sounded familiar…Delorys mused as he yelled back at his cousin to go away and stopped calling him by what his friends call him at times.

"Well, quote the raven: 'nevermore' then!  You're not answering my question!"

Oh, that's right…The Raven by Poe, one of Narulay's favorite poems…Delorys recalled bitterly.  He heard his mom come around and told his cousin to leave him alone.  Thank God, for once his mom was helping him more than making things worse.  Why did it have to take for something as drastic as a car accident and a death to make her cooperate?  

"Tell this soul with sorrow laden, if within the distant Aiden,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore…"

Delorys muttered two lines of the poem to his self, and then suddenly sat up and began to burst out laughing.  Narulay was no saint, but she was certainly no devil either.  However, she was influential in both positive and negative ways.  He categorized "getting poems stuck in other people's heads" as a negative influence.  

As sudden as the laughter came, it evaporated as he flopped back down on the bed again.  He tried to allow for his mind to wander…tried to go away from his current melancholy thoughts…but each memory that surfaced only made the bitterness worse.

So he attempted to sleep.  He could almost hear Narulay's teasing: "Sleeping, at this time of the day?"  

He hoped for a dreamless sleep.  That wasn't the case.

He sat in the choir room, and it was fifteen minutes before boarding the bus.  He fumbled to try and get his tie on right.  His eyes were on the door at the far end of the room.  Any time now… he thought.

Narulay came through the door with many of the other girls, each dressed in simple long black satin dresses.  She had removed the hair tie from her ponytail and her hair cascaded over her shoulders, black threads of silk against black fabric.   

He watched as she walked up to him. She smiled as she looked up at him. "Hello, Lor. Having some trouble?"

He scowled a bit in his reply: "You know that I hate bow ties."

She only laughed. "Come on now. At least it's a clip-on. Imagine trying to tie one for real. Now that is a hard feat by yourself. Sit down." She instructed. He obeyed and automatically handed the tie to her. She bent forward, reached behind his neck to guide the ribbon around from the back, and tilted her head to her left as she tried to get a good look of where the clip was. In a matter of seconds, she had it fastened. He tugged at it a little. "You do realize that what I meant was—"

"That you hated wearing them, and not just the part of putting it on? Of course I knew. But you were taking so long putting it on. I had to help now, didn't I?"

Things around him began to melt away. But piano music started to come in, His dream self blinked and saw that he was now sitting in a chair beside a redwood piano. Narulay was now playing Liebestraum. She had told him that the song meant "The dream of Love."

It was an ironic piece for her to play.

Everything went dark around him, but the music didn't stop. It wasn't Liebestraum anymore though, but it was still a very familiar tune.

"It thrives on having the freedom to choose…
Its spirit is like the wind on the loose."

Delorys woke up to find that for such a short dream, hours had passed. He reached over for his cell phone. The display said 8:21. Groaning, he rolled out of bed and grabbed his glasses. When his world of sight became clear again, he trudged on downstairs.

"Hey! You're alive! Thought you were dead up there." His cousin remarked from the sofa.

"shut-up." He didn't appreciate it. "I don't want to hear anything about death right now."

"What? Just because your girlfriend died—"

"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" God knows how mad she gets when anyone says she's someone's girlfriend. She would throw a fit about it.

"You mean she 'wasn't?'"

"Never was, and never will be…" He didn't want to think of her completely in past tense right now...was it because a part of him hoped that she really only went to another world?  But a body was left.  Before his cousin can utter another word, he slipped outside from the back door.

Cool air rushed past him. The door squeaked as it closed shut. Sighing, he sat down on the steps and leaned back against the door. Barely a star was visible in the empty sky, save for a falling star. That's what Narulay is right now… a falling star. She fell from the bridge into another place. And I wish I was there to catch her. Why do I feel like I still owe her something? He sat there for a good twenty minutes.

"Delorys! How long are you going to sit there? I can't open the door with you leaning against it."

"Sorry mom." He scrambled back inside."

---

He sat on the roof.

But it wasn't the roof of his own house.

He was sitting on the roof of a house he should not be on. Why was he here? There was no point in coming to a house when the person living in the room beneath where he sat is no longer there.

Or perhaps, he only sat there because he hoped to hear her yell at him to come down again.

Keloris felt foolish now. Just because he's visiting the places she used to be doesn't mean she'd still be there now.

Images from the dream came back to him, and now he was very sure that the dream was important. He didn't care if people would think him delusional. He was sure that there was something back in where Narulay is that was linked to him. He wished to go and find out more about it.

"Oh, look, a shooting star… "He mumbled to himself. A painful feeling struck him as he was hit by a flashback.

"Although they are so far away, I still think that they should be categorized as an earth element. I mean, Earth is a star too."

"You're right… They don't fit in any of the other elements anyways."

"That's 'anyway,' Kel. No 's' after 'anyway.'"

"Oh…"

Narulay sighed and sang softly. Before she got to finish the lullaby, the cuckoo clock chimed twelve. "I ought to sleep. And you need to head home too. Now, off my windowsill. And don't just show up on my roof again, okay?" she smiled and nudged him.

Kel snapped out of his reverie and climbed down to the nearest tree, slid down a bit to Narulay's window, and found it unlocked. He checked the time from the clock in her room. It displayed 7:10. Her parents still weren't back yet. He wondered where they went.  But that didn't matter to him anymore.  He slid into the room, closed the window, and looked around.  The wallpaper had a childish design of balloons, something that had stayed that way since she was six, apparently, and her parents refused to spend the money to change it.  Did they regret not giving her a new environment as she grew?  Because now, she's frozen as a memory of a child…never to grow up.  

Keloris began crying.  It first started as a tear down his cheek, but then he just completely broke down.  This wasn't fair!  A voice in his mind screamed.  Why did it have to be her?

No...no, wait…

Before his mind could continue with his original rant, a binder that was leaning against the wall fell over and open.  He glanced at the pages of music in page protectors.  Funnily enough, it had flipped open to the lone page of music that Narulay had recorded down on whim one day.  It was the lullaby, and two particular lines caught his attention.

"Let it cradle your heart, let it whisper in your ear…
Let its love blossom through to chase away fears.
Let sleep come through to take you away,
And when the time comes…come awake."

The tune was originally just a short poem, but somehow, Narulay gave it a tune.

I wish I could hear her voice again…Kel ran his fingers over the plastic covering of the page protector.  Suddenly, a loud rumbling noise came through, indicating that the garage door was opening.  Her parents were back.  Kel acted on instinct and hastily snapped open the binder rings, snatched the sheet, and returned the binder to its proper place.  When the garage door began to close, he opened the window, climbed out, closed the window as quietly and quickly as possible, and scrambled onto the roof, hoping no one heard him.  

And no one did…even though he felt that the whole street could have heard his wildly beating heart.  

---

"Am I supposed to feel bad, or am I supposed to not feel anything?  She wasn't exactly a close friend, but…no, I ought to go to the funeral.  I was in the same accident, after all.  But, why should I care?  She wouldn't mind, I know she wouldn't.  But then that's just rude…and the others would be mad at me for being rude.  But wait…UGH!" Carrow angrily grabbed a cushion from a nearby couch and threw it as hard as he could onto the wooden flooring.  It gave a soft "plop" as it landed, nothing close to the desired sound he wanted to reflect the feeling of chaos going through his head right now.

"It's only 8:50.  You don't have to make a decision now." his younger sister remarked from a different couch.  

"I would rather have a decision now so I can stop using all my time thinking about making the decision!" He felt like ripping his hair out.

"Then flip a coin.  That solves everything."

"Just shut up, you're not helping."

"Suit yourself."

Carrow started pacing around the living room again.  Two minutes later, his sister broke his mumbling spell again: "You need a girlfriend."

"What?"  What in the world does this have to do with my current problem?

"You heard me, big brother.  You.  Need.  A.  Girlfriend.  You really need someone who has the patience and heart to deal with your state of mind right now."

"Well, I don't have a girl like that, ok?  So deal with it and let me figure this out." He huffed.

"Well, don't say I didn't try to help you."

He just glared at her and left for his room.  His two other siblings were running around with toy airplanes and action figures.  On his way, he had to help one of them up after the kid had tripped and fell.  

He was in no mood for babysitting.  The house was a mess, and his family is like a pack of wolves…only very disorganized.  He slammed the door behind him as he entered his room, and went for his stereo system for some music.  Someone had tripped over the cords again and he had to reconnect and re-plug-in all of them again, with frustration in his heart.  

Maybe sis is right…I need a girlfriend.  Someone new in my life…but I doubt there's such a girl out there who would like me and be able to deal with me.

Back in the living room, the younger sister sighed and looked out the window.  She saw a shooting star.  "Oh, I wish I may, I wish I might, I wish upon a star tonight…" She whispered.  "I wish Carrow meets a good girl somewhere out there soon to help him out.  His life is messed up as it is already…"

---

"Ryo, come outside!  There's a shooting star!"

Beckoned by his mother, Ryosuke walked out the front door and looked up.  "Uh, that's great, mom."  He replied back in Japanese. The star was making a slow journey across the sky.

"Why don't you stay outside for some fresh air?  Better yet, you haven't played the violin in a while.  Why not entertain your mother for a while?"

He sighed.  "Yeah, ok.  Let me go back inside and get it."

He came back out after giving the instrument a quick tuning procedure, went through a few scales to warm up, and asked: "Anything you want to hear in particular?"

"No.  Just play something nice."

So he played the first tune that came to mind.  He couldn't remember where he had heard it before, but it was a pretty short tune.  Words played in his mind as he tried to recall where he had heard it before.  

"The song of the flames is a bittersweet melody,
The flame is both light and dark.
The fire both burns as love and as pain,
Its heart is just never the same.
It catches the feelings of those it holds dear…
And its greatest wish is to never let danger come near…
It thrives on having the freedom to choose,
Its spirit is like the wind on the loose.
Let it cradle your heart; let it whisper in your ear…
Let its love blossom through to chase away fears.
Let sleep come through to take you away,
And when the time comes…come awake."

When he was done, he suddenly whispered: "Spirit Heart."

"Hmm?" His mother looked up, confused.  

"The name of this tune.  It's Spirit Heart in English.  It means 'a heart of spirits.'" He explained in Japanese. "I remember now…this song was Narulay's.  I heard her sing it before during class once when we were in the computer lab working on a video project.  I asked her what she was singing…"

"Little Dragon…" Ryo held back a wince as he heard his mother use the nickname she had called him as a child.  "Are you hurt that your friend died?"

"Well…yeah…I was the one who told her to take the bridge…and now look at what happened.  Sure, we weren't the closest of friends.  Kel and Lor were closer to her, but still…and to top that off, I promised her before that I'd play a song on the violin for her after talking about music with her.  But now I can't honor that promise anymore.  I really wish I could have played it for her before she left… She loves music."  I can't play it for her unless I go to where she is.  He thought.  He was certain about what had happened.  He just didn't know what to do next.

He thought it was only his imagination.  But when he said that, he thought he thought the shooting star glow brighter for a second as he spoke.

---

"You know, there are better ways than doing things alone."

"I'm not alone.  Who are you?  I don't know you…my memory is actually fuzzy.  Did Emerald send you?"

"No.  No one sent me, actually.  I snuck out.  Venus would be mad if she found out."

"Then why are you here."

"Umm…I was hoping you'd know who I am…but since you don't, it's pointless to ask…"

"Ask what?  Why don't you ask me anyway?"

"I wanted to know if you…know what happened to my parents."

Narulay sighed and stood up from the rock she was sitting on.  She regarded the youth carefully.  He had blond highlights in his dark hair, and he had eyes of two different colors: blue and green.  A pair of wings and a tail gave away his heritage.  "What's your name, hatchling?"

"Drayan."  The boy paused.  "Hatchling?"  he asked.  

"You're a dragon, aren't you?  A pretty young one at that."

"You…have a point." He chuckled a little.  "You remind me of my cousin.  But…I ought to head back before she gets mad at me."  He gave his wings a pump and lifted off the ground.  A door of mirrors appeared behind him.  

"Sorry I couldn't help, but maybe I'll have an answer for you the next time we meet."  Narulay looked up at the boy.  

"Thank you.  You're name's Narulay, right?  Funny, my aunt was named the same thing.  I'm sure we'll meet again." He smiled and flew through the portal.  The doors closed shut, but before it disappeared, Narulay caught a glimpse of each of her friends through the mirrors.  Something about that portal felt awfully familiar.