by Hannah Kerela » 09/22/2010 10:21 PM
Finally, they both sat back, satiated in body if not in spirit. Amy looked at Takuma for a brief moment, taking in the sight of him, then moved closer to him, leaning against his shoulder. Takuma's arms wrapped themselves around her, holding her back against his chest, his lips gently pressing against the back of her head for a long moment before he rested his chin against her head. They were silent for a long time.
Then Takuma spoke, breaching the subject both had alluded to but neither had addressed: "How much do you remember of that night?"
Amy was suddenly even more grateful for Takuma's arms around her, because those arms were all that kept her from panicking at the mere thought of that horrific night.
Nephritos had finally made a move to show where his loyalties lie: he had approached Hydro in the night, had whispered the secrets that the hydrokuhna had needed to betray them all. Hydro hadn't hesitated to use them: he'd called upon arcane powers, dark powers. Raidne had been the one to discover him, and had been the first victim, with a terrible blow that had gone through her left lung and out her back. That was one of the real tragedies; Raidne had been close to overcoming her fears, but she had regressed back to the timid, terrified girl that she had been when she'd first come. Hydro hadn't forgiven himself. When Raidne had screamed, though, Amy had come running - how could she not, when Raidne was such a friend to her? - and had taken a hit directly to the back of her skull. It hadn't punctured the skull or the brain, but it had send her brain forward into the front of her skull, resulting in contusions and a concussion on her frontal lobes. Hydro had also attacked Yin and Emily, had given them both broken bones.
It had taken Gabriel, Takuma, and Cecilia together to stop him, the girls combining their powers and Takuma's self-energy to contain him until the drunken high of power had drained off of him. Nephritos had escaped into the shadows. The doctor had warned Takuma when he arrived that Amy might have suffered irreversible damage to the frontal lobes, that her personality or speech or emotions might never be the same - never be normal - again. She had been lucky: she had woken up with nothing worse than a headache and the bruises and cuts from where Hydro had thrown her into the fence.
Takuma hadn't been lucky; that sense of self that he'd given up to help Gabi and Cecilia had stolen his joie de vie, his ability to laugh and find pleasure in life. Cecilia had said that he could recover himself if he found the source of the powers that Nephritos had given Hydro; he'd gone, unable to bear the pressing despair that filled him where he'd once felt joy. He'd left Michael with Yin and Amy, and had kissed Amy goodbye in the dead of the night. Gabi had explained later: Takuma had given up his joy of life to stop Hydro, but his ability to love had not been affected by that - they were two different energy streams, she said. So Takuma would depend on Amy, Michael, and Yin to keep him connected to life, to joy, to the world at large.
It was a duty that Amy still took seriously, and took willingly: she loved Takuma, and loved him even more for what he'd done for them all. She knew that Yin and Michael felt the same. He deserved the whole of what she could give, and she would give him no less.
So she told him the truth of how much she remembered: "Too much."
His grip on her tightened, lips pressed back against her head, entire body strained to try and protect her from her own memories. His voice was low, his breath warm against the back of her head as he spoke, "Let's talk about something else, then?"
Amy nodded. "Alright." She could agree to that.
[A-4, T-3 (Takuma didn't really have much even in the way of dialogue, so I'm not giving him credit here)]
So see the leaves fall to the ground,
And see them lying all around,
But still I can't see you.
And there's a wind that plays in the air
Flying around, how it does not care,
But still I can't see you.
And the seasons pass away,
And I still sit here lonely each and every day,
Wondering what's gone wrong
'Cause I don't remember seasons lasting oh so long,
Oh so long...