» In the End

A moment ago, Seiji was dancing. A moment ago, he had forgotten his reason for coming here. He was flitting through the crowd, a shadow between shadows, gazing over his shoulder and grinning like a child. Catch me! But then something else happened. A sensation: like a storm blowing in. He has stilled. His ears come forward, slowly. There is another creature here, which Seiji didn't notice at first but which is not a horse. Is not Hope or anything else.... Wariness trembles in his limbs as he stares. That — that is a monster. Something ugly; perhaps something evil. He watches keenly as it joins the gathering and keenly still as it begins to speak. He doesn't really understand what's going on. A history beneath the words, but he doesn't know it. He came in at the tail end of all of this, and it shouldn't concern him, should it? Yet.... He contemplates flight as tension simmers between the — gods? — beings. And then it's over — Hope is gone. Seiji flinches. His ears swivel. There's movement in periphery, and his head whips around to focus on the ball of light vibrating just beside him. Oh, he thinks, a moment before it flies directly at him. Startled, Seiji leaps aside — not fast enough. It strikes his withers: light and then nothing. He shivers at the impact, but it doesn't hurt. He expects hurts. He stands tense and wide-eyed several seconds after. Breath crashes in his lungs. Then he turns, ears twitching, to examine the place where the orb struck. It's on his right side, just below the handful of scattered marks up near his withers. Ugly lines, like slash marks. Like something swiped him with a glowing claw. They cross right over where the wing marking would continue if it were ever finished. He stares at it. Something.... something trickles into his mind. Understanding? And then a huff of anger. Quickly, he blinks around at the others. The same thing seems to have happened to them, though the markings he can see are all different shapes. Uneasy, Seiji searches for a familiar face in the crowd, but everyone he recognizes seems to be engaged with someone else. He shifts his weight, cranes his neck in hopes of spying the winged boy again. His dance partner.

img by Tildae @ flickr

Seiji's hope marking sort of crosses out where the wing marking on his right side would continue.