Such Great Heights
May. 14th, 2008 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
contract_starAuthor: ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
quirkypeanutblu
Character/Fandom: Hei/Darker than BLACK
Prompt: 02. Morpheus
Word Count: 750
Summary: Hei’s last dream.
Author Notes/Warnings: Angst, weirdness, violent imagery? Tried a different sort of style this time, dunno if it worked or not. I BLAME FOUR AM. Also, not really inspired by the song at all, but it seemed appropriate. Also, first and last time I'll probably EVER use Crying!Hei icon, whoo!
It had been five years since Hei had last had a dream. He didn’t count the nightmares that had been plaguing him every night since the arrival of the Astral Plane; those were different, somehow. Contractors were incapable of dreaming; no one really knew why, but then, no one really knew much about Contractors in general. It was just one more thing that made them inhuman.
He could remember that last dream in vivid detail; it was the only dream he could remember fully. Humans liked to talk about their dreams, and even before Heaven’s Gate had disappeared, Hei hadn’t really understood how people could so easily recall them. Or why it was even important. Dreams—in all senses of the word—were a distraction. There was no place for dreams on the battlefield.
But even now, five years later, he could still remember that last dream. The same night that Heaven’s Gate and Bai had disappeared. The last night he’d been human. Hei had fallen asleep in the jungle with Bai in his arms as she paid off her obeisance. She’d killed dozens that night, and Hei was watching the stars die when he’d fallen asleep as well.
He was twelve again and standing over the body of the first man he’d ever killed, except it wasn’t a man this time. It was Bai. Her eyes were glazed open, her face toward the sky, and Hei was crying, Stop that, you’re a Contractor, Contractors don’t cry.
But I’m not a Contractor. Not really. I act like one because if I didn’t, they’d see it, they’d see weakness, and they’d kill us, they’d kill Bai, don’t trust them.
“Actually managed it this time, Hei?” Amber, materializing behind him, the little smile on her face like always. And Hei was eighteen again, and Bai was that man again, a Contractor who had tried to surprise them, and there were dozens of him now, strewn across the forest floor, and then Hei looked up to see the star fall, leaving the sky pitch black.
“Where is Bai?”
Amber’s smile broadened and she pointed at a door. Wordlessly, Hei went through, and found himself home, but not home, not anymore. The house where he had grown up, that was all. The smell of rice cooking somewhere. He turned and there were his parents, but their faces were blurred.
“You’ve been gone so long. Where have you been?”
“Where have you been?”
“Where is your sister?”
He covered his ears. He could see their eyes now, empty like those of a Doll.
You left us, why, why did you leave us?
He turned and ran, and the house melted into the rich, green outskirts of the village. And there was Bai, down by the pond, their pond. He called for her, but she didn’t answer, because Bai wasn’t her name, after all, and he couldn’t remember her real name, why couldn’t he remember?
He reached out for her and she disappeared, the world disappeared and he was surrounded by stars, the real stars. Everything was quiet; he was floating high above it all, high above the planet. He felt like he could see everything, the whole world and all its inhabitants. Hell’s Gate in distant Japan and the busy people just starting to build the wall to keep it away, keep it out of sight. A faceless mother cooking dinner for two small children in an insignificant Chinese village. The jungles of Brazil and the dying Contractors, so many of them; but here, floating above them, the stars were real, and they stayed where they were meant to stay.
Polaris, Sirius, Vega, Arcturus, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Antares, Altair, Spica, Deneb, I know them, I know their names…
Then there, again, was Bai, far below and a child once more, eyes wide and innocent. Amber stood beside her and they were both looking up, staring straight at him and waving. They were calling to him.
He struggled, thrashed in the air and reached down. I can’t come down, I can’t, I’m sorry. And he was crying again, so pathetic, tears floating in space around him as he tried and tried and tried to reach them, arm stretched out to try and catch them, but they were drifting away, sinking, sinking, sinking…
“Brother, come back!” Her voice, sharp and so close, but then the stars winked out and Hei was alone.
When he woke up, Bai was gone, and the jungle was echoing with screams as everything went to hell.
quirkypeanutbluCharacter/Fandom: Hei/Darker than BLACK
Prompt: 02. Morpheus
Word Count: 750
Summary: Hei’s last dream.
Author Notes/Warnings: Angst, weirdness, violent imagery? Tried a different sort of style this time, dunno if it worked or not. I BLAME FOUR AM. Also, not really inspired by the song at all, but it seemed appropriate. Also, first and last time I'll probably EVER use Crying!Hei icon, whoo!
It had been five years since Hei had last had a dream. He didn’t count the nightmares that had been plaguing him every night since the arrival of the Astral Plane; those were different, somehow. Contractors were incapable of dreaming; no one really knew why, but then, no one really knew much about Contractors in general. It was just one more thing that made them inhuman.
He could remember that last dream in vivid detail; it was the only dream he could remember fully. Humans liked to talk about their dreams, and even before Heaven’s Gate had disappeared, Hei hadn’t really understood how people could so easily recall them. Or why it was even important. Dreams—in all senses of the word—were a distraction. There was no place for dreams on the battlefield.
But even now, five years later, he could still remember that last dream. The same night that Heaven’s Gate and Bai had disappeared. The last night he’d been human. Hei had fallen asleep in the jungle with Bai in his arms as she paid off her obeisance. She’d killed dozens that night, and Hei was watching the stars die when he’d fallen asleep as well.
He was twelve again and standing over the body of the first man he’d ever killed, except it wasn’t a man this time. It was Bai. Her eyes were glazed open, her face toward the sky, and Hei was crying, Stop that, you’re a Contractor, Contractors don’t cry.
But I’m not a Contractor. Not really. I act like one because if I didn’t, they’d see it, they’d see weakness, and they’d kill us, they’d kill Bai, don’t trust them.
“Actually managed it this time, Hei?” Amber, materializing behind him, the little smile on her face like always. And Hei was eighteen again, and Bai was that man again, a Contractor who had tried to surprise them, and there were dozens of him now, strewn across the forest floor, and then Hei looked up to see the star fall, leaving the sky pitch black.
“Where is Bai?”
Amber’s smile broadened and she pointed at a door. Wordlessly, Hei went through, and found himself home, but not home, not anymore. The house where he had grown up, that was all. The smell of rice cooking somewhere. He turned and there were his parents, but their faces were blurred.
“You’ve been gone so long. Where have you been?”
“Where have you been?”
“Where is your sister?”
He covered his ears. He could see their eyes now, empty like those of a Doll.
You left us, why, why did you leave us?
He turned and ran, and the house melted into the rich, green outskirts of the village. And there was Bai, down by the pond, their pond. He called for her, but she didn’t answer, because Bai wasn’t her name, after all, and he couldn’t remember her real name, why couldn’t he remember?
He reached out for her and she disappeared, the world disappeared and he was surrounded by stars, the real stars. Everything was quiet; he was floating high above it all, high above the planet. He felt like he could see everything, the whole world and all its inhabitants. Hell’s Gate in distant Japan and the busy people just starting to build the wall to keep it away, keep it out of sight. A faceless mother cooking dinner for two small children in an insignificant Chinese village. The jungles of Brazil and the dying Contractors, so many of them; but here, floating above them, the stars were real, and they stayed where they were meant to stay.
Polaris, Sirius, Vega, Arcturus, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Antares, Altair, Spica, Deneb, I know them, I know their names…
Then there, again, was Bai, far below and a child once more, eyes wide and innocent. Amber stood beside her and they were both looking up, staring straight at him and waving. They were calling to him.
He struggled, thrashed in the air and reached down. I can’t come down, I can’t, I’m sorry. And he was crying again, so pathetic, tears floating in space around him as he tried and tried and tried to reach them, arm stretched out to try and catch them, but they were drifting away, sinking, sinking, sinking…
“Brother, come back!” Her voice, sharp and so close, but then the stars winked out and Hei was alone.
When he woke up, Bai was gone, and the jungle was echoing with screams as everything went to hell.
