Micha Zae
"What would you do," she asked, her soft voice playing trough the air like light bells in the wind. "If you could stop the war...would you?"
Micha had looked down at their twined hands, his slightly blue nails sparkling in the bright lighting. Her own hand was so tiny in his, creamy and beautiful. They were sitting on a hill, up above in the clouds was her home, but here...under a large tree was their solace. No one would find them there.
It was a beautiful green meadow, and as he sat against the tree with her stretched in his lap, head resting at the crook of his elbow, the grass and small flowers trailed up their legs, blowing slightly in the breeze. It was such a beautiful day, as if they were stuck in the eye of the storm. The weather was perfect, warm and airy, the sky bright blue.
He sighed and peaked through the blue strands of hair down at her. God she was beautiful. Long, golden waves cascaded across the grass behind them, bright blue eyes stared up at him like the pools of the clearest water he'd ever seen. Her pouty, salmon pink lips were curled into a slight smile as she awaited his answer.
Micha lifted their intertwined hands and brushed his lips gently across each of her knuckles. "Why do you ask such questions?"
She laughed at him, the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard that made his chest tighten. She sat up suddenly, pulling her knees under her body with her white dress wrapped around her modestly. She leaned forward so close to him that they could have kissed, but she never sealed the deal. "Why do you refuse to answer?" she questioned. "Micha Zae Adelmar...why must you talk to everyone, but me?"
He tilted his head with a coy little smile and went to steal the kiss she was refusing to give, but she was much smarter than him and leaned back quickly, clucking her tongue and shaking her head. He sighed and dropped back against the tree trunk again, then eyed her. "Because with everyone else I can talk for hours and never really say anything. You, my dear...you listen."
She smiled softly, a light blush appearing across her fair cheeks. She leaned forward and took one of his hands in both of hers, laying it in her lap. She trailed her fingers lightly over his skin, her wavy hair tumbling over one shoulder and hiding half of her face. "What would you do," she asked again. "If you could stop the war?"
Micha simply shrugged. "Nothing."
She looked up slowly, shock fully written all over her beautiful face, and Micha could tell he'd just dug his own grave. He should have known better--this stuff she was serious about. "Nothing?" she repeated in a hiss. "You would do nothing to stop all of this pain and destruction? All of this death?"
He sighed as he ran his free hand through his hair and looked off into the distance somewhere. "This is just...how the world is, sweetheart. It's been this way for hundreds of years. What do you honestly think I can do to stop it?"
She was silent for the longest time, and he'd thought perhaps he'd won that argument, but of course he shouldn't have been so naive. "I would help. If they would let me. I would do anything I could to end this war. Anything."
He scoffed softly, his fingers trailing through the tiny flowers printed in the grass. "Guess it's a good thing you're a princess then, isn't it?"
She smacked his thigh softly, and he only raised his eyes at her long enough to give her a suggestive smile that she, of course, ignored. She leaned close to him again, her hands resting on his thighs and her lips so close to his that he could feel her breath. "We should make a promise...if one of us shall die because of this war...the other should do something about it."
He searched her clear blue eyes for the longest time, trying to find something within them that told him she was joking, but he never saw it. That wasn't a promise he was ready to make, but he knew it wasn't one she was ready to let go of either. So with a cheesy smile he reached one hand behind her head and pressed her close for a kiss.
He only opened his eyes once, when he heard her wings snap free. If he ever kissed her good enough, she'd unfold them to her full potential. Glorious golden streams of light poured around their tiny area, and with a chuckle against her lips he slowly moved and pressed her down against the soft grass.
"You look troubled."
Micha had been so deeply lost in his thoughts that the voice actually startled him. It was a voice that could cause his heart to jump, after all t his time, because it sounded so much like hers. He sighed and ran both his hands through his already messy hair, a letter clamped tightly in one.
Then, he looked over at the woman who had approached him. "Chandra," he greeted. He shouldn't have been surprised, he was still on royal land, and who else would bother to talk to her except for him. She was standing right next to him, arms crossed over the beautifully carved bridge, staring off into something unknown except to her.
Despite sounding like the woman from his past, she looked nothing like her. Taller, thinner, with darker skin and slimmer features. Chandra's hair was a thick, straight black, her eyes deeply brown. Nothing was the same. Especially not their personalities.
She looked over at him finally and without a word he held over the piece of paper he'd been clutching. She started it by reading aloud, obviously not realizing what paper she held in her hands. "You have been chosen among a brave many to find The Elder's Book..." she trailed off softly and her eyes slowly raised from the paper.
Micha simply nodded.
She twisted the parchment around in her hands as if not believing it was real, but after a moment her eyes went wide, and Micha nodded again. "Yeah, that's you're family crest. It's legit. Just got it after walking out of that building." He pointed with his thumb to the castle setting off in the distance before he leaned against the railing again.
There were a few beats of silence before she laughed. "You?" she asked in a snort. "You're going to bring peace to the land? End the war? You are our long sought hero?" She snorted out another fit of laughter before she handed the paper back to him. "This just cannot get any better. What did you do, Adelmar? Volunteer?"
She'd picked up her baskets of fruits and turned to leave, obviously to enjoy the little joke some more herself, and Micha stayed put as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well...pretty much."
When she didn't say anything, he'd honestly thought he'd lost her. But when he lifted his eyes, she was still standing there, back towards him and midnight blue wings securely folded away. He saw them ruffle once before she twisted around and faced him with an aghast look. "You did what?!"
He sighed deeply and suddenly became very interested in pressing his toes up against the railing. "I made her a promise, Chan." He could still remember it like it was yesterday, her beautiful face resting in his lap, her pouty lips forming his name, using all the will he had to ignore the blood spattered across her torso.
"I promise," he'd said softly. "That if one of us shall die because of this war...the other will do something. Anything."
"Micha," Chandra said softly, using his first name for the first time as far back as he could remember. "My sister loved you, and I know you loved her too. But she was delusional. This war...this can't be stopped. Certainly not by you."
He shook his head slightly and looked up at the sky. "Thanks for your vote of confidence," he muttered.
She dropped her basket on the floor and much like an angry mother would treat a child, she grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. "This is a suicide mission, Adelmar. What are you even good at, anyway?!"
He narrowed his eyes on her just slightly. "One that your father is sending me on," he pointed out quickly. "And nothing, to answer your question. Are you sure he didn't know about me and your sister?"
Chandra shook her head and dropped his chin, wiping her hands on her skirt before leaning down to pick her basket back up. "Four years. It's been four years. If he wanted you dead he would have done it already." She shook her head and went to leave again.
He sighed and leaned sideways against the railing, watching her go. "Sex and drinking," he called out. She stopped for a moment and looked over her shoulder at him. He smirked. "That's what I'm good at."
She just shook her head as she walked away from him.
"You've been oddly silent today," a middle-aged Fae woman spoke up, sitting at an old oak table with dinner sitting around them. It was his favorite meal, which his aunt had made him without a question at his request. He simply smiled as he looked up at her. "Unlike your usual self," she added. "All loud and troublesome."
He smirked as he took his last bite and wiped his mouth. "Ah, Auntie May, you know you love me that way."
The elder woman eyed him with a look that very clearly said she disagreed as she went back to finishing her meal. After a silence that went on for much too long, she cleared her throat and looked out the window at the setting sun. "Zae, you know I hate to kick you out--"
"'But it's time I see Mekate', I know, I know. You old ladies gotta have your gossip," he joked as he took the dishes off the table. She smacked him with a dinner towel the whole way, and he only laughed as he sputtered out complaints. She quickly moved on, however, to draping a shawl around her shoulders and gathering her things.
He placed one hand on the table top, leaning his weight against it, and watched her with a smile. "Hey, Auntie May," he called out as she opened the door. She looked back at him with a wary glace, and he only smiled. "I love you."
She stared at him for a long moment, clearly trying to see if he was up to something, before she smiled and nodded. She crossed the room again to place a kiss on one cheek, and pat the other twice. "I love you too. Stay out of trouble."
He just gave her a tight smile as she left, and after walking around his childhood home and trailing his fingers against his memories, he decided to do the same. Before walking out the door, he pulled the letter free from the back of his pants. With one last look around, he placed the folded parchment against his aunt's table.
---
Micha wished he could say he did something awesome with his last day home, but truth be told he didn't. He gathered his best, most reckless friends and hit the poorest village they had--where the alcohol was good and the girls were cheep.
Truth be told, he didn't even drink that much. And while the original plan had been to spend his last few hours in the arms of some beautiful stranger, he just couldn't bring himself to do it. So, he finally took his leave when it was late enough he could get away with slipping out.
He was still an hour off from midnight, but it was a good fly from where he was to the center of the land. He smiled as he turned his face up against the breeze, and for a moment thought he could hear her laughter ringing along like bells. Perhaps he had drank a little too much...or perhaps he was just feeling nostalgic.
He adjusted his few belongs before he spread his wings out with a mighty 'snap'. He stretched them for only a moment before he jumped, catching himself with his wings before he touched the ground again. After a few powerful pumps he found himself so high above the land that he could see everything, and then he was gone.
The long flight landed him at his destination just minutes before the agreed timing, but the cool air had calmed him down and cleared his head. When the large oak came into view he lowered himself slowly until he could safely fold his wings and drop down into the branches.
He picked the perfect one to lay across on his stomach, feet propped against the large trunk, one arm tucked under his head for support, the other hanging lazily down.
Sitting at just the right angle to be in full view of each other was a boy sitting against the tree, head back and smile on his face. Micha lifted up just enough to look around and listen for a moment, but it was eerily silent. Either they were the only one's so far or everyone else was excellent hiders.
He shrugged the thought off and laid back down comfortably like he had been. Might as well begin making friends...
"Hey~"