"Did we meet before?"
"!!?"
Ash asking that question stapped serenity's heart like a knife, but her expression calmed down quickly as she have expected such outcome ever since she talked with the owner ,'she said ten reincarnations ,and loosing memories is the primary rule for it, although i expected this but it still hurts.'
Serenity's expression darkened as she looked at him with desperate eyes asking hoping he could answer her heart.
Her lips parted muttering the few words that holds her sorrow,
"So you actually don't remember?"
"Huh!?...No!...do we actually knew each other ...?" Ash answered so readily making her heart ach
He watched that sorrow dominating her face and felt a strange ach in his own heart making him freez in place, dropping the mask in his hand,
-fall-
-thud-
Serenity saw the mask on the ground so she went ahead and grabbed it ; after cleaning the dust she removed the illusion she previouslyplaced on it then placed it on the wodden table.
She tuened her head at him but seeing his clueless expression, she had roughly guessed his situation. After she adjusted the chair she called for him.
"Sit down first. I know you have so much to ask..."
"..."
Ash had a lot on his mind: 'Who is she?...What was their relationship before?...And how exactly did they meet? Most of all, what was she for me?...'
A lot of unsolved riddles were piling on his head. He sat heavily on the chair , but a brief moment of quite was instantly shatered as a blinding ,agonizing headach struck his mind. The sherr force of the pain made him utterly restless, his fingers digging into his temples as he leaned on the seat hand unable to hide the suffering lines on his face,
"Ugh...tch…"
"!?!"
She looked over and realised instantly that something was deeply wrong with him. Withought a word ,shd rushed to his side and gently placed both of her hands over his ears. A strange ,smoothing magic accompanied with a cold sensation rushed from her palms calming the heat on his body, and almost instantly , the roaring tension in his mind began to quite down, calming his ragged breath.
"It's okay...iam here now.!" The tone of her voice was like a breath of fresh air calming the storm in his mind
Ash, who was closing his eyes, started to open them gradually as his pain started to ease down. 'Her red eyes are now back to normal…lifeless white eyes looking at me, but it felt like it wasn't...I wonder what she is seeing with those eyes?' He was lost in his thoughts looking at the woman in front of him, but what she said next changed everything for him.
"It's alright now...just throw all your pain onto the ocean and set yourself free"
The words that were ment to sooth ttiggered a devadtating reaction the moment they echoed through his mind; a wave of even worse, unimaginable pain violently crashed through his entire body
"Wha-..ugh."
Suddenly his chest tightened into a sufocatting vice ,and his head began to spin in a sickening whirlpool of agony.
Every inch of his upper body hurt so intensly that it felt as if his very life was about to be torn away from him.
He looked up at her through his blurring vision ,his chest heaving as he fought for oxygen.
"W-who....are you...?" He asked ,the words barely a breathless ,broken whisper.
Before she could answer ,his strength vanished completely. His eyes rolled back, and he snapped cold, falling and unconscious onto the ground.
Ash remained unconscious for what felt like an eternity before his heavy eyelids slowly began to flutter open.
His vision was thick with a blurry, foggy haze, causing his fading dreams to tangle heavily with reality ,
In his surreal ,drifting state ,he saw a woman with long, icy silver hair drapped ovr her left shoulder. She was surrounded by a halo of softly glowing butterflies, seated gracefully on a high balcony. Her form was draped in a breathtaking, open- back mermaid gown, and she .eaned casually against a massive , intricately engraved dragon statu that wad fixed firmly to the corner of the stone ledge.
All around her ,a quite winter night stretched into infinity. She was staring out at a vast ,endless sea of clouds, looking so ethereal that it felt as if winter itself had only come into existence because she was there to begain with,
He couldn't make out her face through the fog ,but he was utterly mesmerized by the sherr beauty of the scene and the cold , refreshing sensation that washed over his aching body.
Unable to hold his vision, his heavy eyelids slipped closed once more. But when he forced them open a second time , the mystical winter landscape was gone. All he could see was serenity dressed in black, sitting quietly on the wide window of the room, her gaze fixed outside on the deep, empty view of the sky .
The stark contrast between the dream and the quite room left his mind utterly confused, unable to tell where his memory ended and reality began.
Ash rubbed his timples feeling lost ,trying to make sense out of his dreams ,'Was it just my imagination?... What was that just now?'
He looked up and saw a wide ceiling over his head the oonein the restaurant, 'so we're still here!'
He staggered to get up from the floor while his head was still pounding.
"Ugh...What just happened?" He said
"Are you awake?"Serenity's cold voice was like a waking call for him to be carefull ,that he wasn't alone in this room.
"How long have I been out for?" Ash said while rubbing his head, he started looking around him with confused eyes as if he trying to avoid looking on those lifeless eyes of hers ,'it feels lkke i will be scolded for some reson!?'
Serenity turned her head outside and said ,"An hour."
"How can you be so sure?" He asked , and instinctively turned to meet her eyes , but his eyes widened the moment he saw her back into her black dress and long black hair staring his way like a judge waiting for a trial to begain and he felt nothing but the suspect.
Serenity released a heavy sigh and brushe dhis question off like she usually does,
"I have a strong sense of time; don't worry about it.... More importantly, how do you feel now?"
Ash got up from the ground; he leaned on the chair beside him to help him stand.
"Much better, even though my head is still pounding..... What have you done exactly?"
She tilted her head, asking, "What do you mean?"
"Your hands, they..."
He fixed his intense gaze at her hands, thinking about what he just experienced:
'When she touched my head previously, it felt clear and calm, unlike the usual chaos...it made me feel alive!'
After staying silent for a while, Serenity finally decided to explain things to him.
"I just used my magic to create a barrier in order to isolate your magical powers away from your soul , which prevented them from colliding with each other preventing the harm, and that was supposed to calm you down. It should have at least."
"..." Ash was stunned for a moment; he had never heard of such abilities. "Is it even possible?"
Serenity said her words bluntly as if it were common sense.
"Just because you haven't seen anyone doing it doesn't mean I can't."
'The confidence in her words...she is not joking!' He thought to himself and finally lowereed his guard around her
"How does it work?" Ash asked
Serenity patted the empty space on the wide window beside her,
"Come closer, and I will show you…"
Although he didn't understand what she wanted, he walked towards her anyway .'what worst could possibly happen?...if she wanted to kill me she had a whole hour but still did nothing, means she's not an enemy at least.'
"So what should I do?" he asked
She extended her left hand open towards him, saying,
"Hold my hand."
He was stunned ,"Seriously?!"
He was stunned by her request, but recalling what happened before, he thought, 'Back then she touched my head, so maybe it requires close contact ...?!!'
He reached out and closed his fingers around her hand . The moment his skin brushed against hers, her body responded oinstantly,
Softly flickering magical circles errupted across her skin, spreading like glowing ink all over her hand. From within those shimmering, antient ruins , a dusty sky-blue butterfly materialized , gently flapping it's wings as it floated just above the back of her hands.
The intricate ruins remained contained , appearing only on their joined hands , illuminating the space between them with a soft, ethereal light.
But the truest magic happened within him .almost the exact second those butterflies appeared , the blinding headach that had been tearing through his mind vanished completely. The agonizing pressure evaporated into nothingness ,leaving behind a sudden ,shoking wave of absolute relief.
'Those butterflies...' He felt a deep connection along with a familiar ache the more he looked at those butterflies, but she cut his train of thoughts, asking him,
"How do you usually get by in such a situation?"
He snapped back to reality and looked at his hand, saying, "just...bear with the pain…till it's finally over..."
"That's sad actually," Serenity said.
He tilted his head slightly upward and closed his eyes,
"Not as much as you think; it's not usually this painful."
Serenity couldn't understand his words this time and asked ,
"What's the difference then?"
"Words…"he said
Serenity instinctively turned his way asking ,"what words? What kind?!"
"Throw them into the ocean..." he said those words with a heavy tone then turned his gaze at her saying with clear pain in his voice ,"those words triggered the backlash"
'Just simple words yet the effect is this blinding, this is not good! ',Serenity frowned at the thought of this and couldn't help but wants to know more, "So?...what are we getting onto here?"
Ash seemed to have a lot on his mind as well, but he explained himself in hopes he might get an answer for his questions ,from the woman who seems to hold all the answers.
He explained ,"I seem to have heard those words somewhere, but when I tried to remember, the situation just spirald out of control, and I was out, as you just witnessed."
"This usually works, though." Serenity said.
"Usually?!" The word caught his attention; he was waiting for her to continue, but only silence was awaiting him.
"..."
Serenity was in deep thoughts, staring at Ash, hands supporting her chin as she leaned forward. He felt as if she was looking through him, not at him, especially when her expression looked so emotionless after her eyes turned white. He was in a daze till she finally spoke.
"I want to ask you about something; if you don't want to answer, iam okay with that as well."
Ash's grib tightened on her hands as he had a feeling she's going to skin him alive but he was also curiousabout what she's anout to say so he decided to play along
"Is it my turn now?" He asked
Serenity looked him in the eyes with suffocating silence that lasted for a while before she finally broke it,
"Actually, I just want to confirm something from you."
"...just ask if I can answer; I naturally won't hide anything." Ash said, he wasn't planning on hiding anything from her anyway ,'as long as you ask why wouldn't i respond? '
Ash had an oddly familiar bad feeling about what was coming next, and she certainly didn't disappoint him.
"You said it...let me ask you...have you ever used forbidden magic?"
"Careful there, lady...this is no joking matter." He spoke in a hard tongue; his expression darckened and turned hostile as he fiercely glared at her.
In his mind he thought ,'If someone said something like this to me, normally that person would die on the spot, but with her...why is it so different, I wonder?'
After thinking it through, Serenity realized the situation and the question may have been the problem, so she changed her words ,'Let's try another time.'
"Let me rephrase my question then…have you used any kind of magic with a special side effect...losing part of your memories, for example?, or just telling me something like that exist would be fine as well....." She asked
Ash looked at her in confusion. "Where did that come from?"
"Because from what I know, you should be dead." Those words cut him as sharp as a knife straight aimed for his heart he couldn't process what she was saying
"!??"
Hearing the word "dead" sent a chill down his spine. He never expected to hear such shocking words coming out of her mouth, although unbelievable, it helped him confirm something important.
'We did meet after all, and this meeting brought a disaster'
He swallowed his breath and asked her ,"What do you mean dead?!..."
"..."
Being met with her silence, he knew she wouldn't talk any further, but the silence itself was an answer, so he resolved to answer her previous question.
"Although I can't share details with you, I can tell you this...I indeed have an ability with a chance of something like that to happen, but I have never actually used it before because the risk isn't worth it, but...after today I am starting to think otherwise."
He kept his gaze fixed on her eyes waiting for her reaction, thinking intensely, 'my memories feels so clear it doesn't seem to lack any hidden events, but then again What exactly happened between us?...And how come I remember everything but only her?...Only memories related to her are missing from my head?...So many questions, with no answers, making go insane.'
A sudden cold on his cheek snapped him back; he turned to his cheek.
'Why is it suddenly cold?'
Serenity placed her hand over his left cheek, gently brushing his hair away.
"It's alright...you don't actually need to remember; just consider it an unimportant memory from long ago and let it go."
Ash turned his head to face her. "You're the one saying that, knowing full well that it's easier said than done..."
"I can't seem to object to that."
His words seemed to have hit a nerve after thinking carefully, 'I am actually someone who's waiting to collect corpses by the end of the day ... maybe I am the type to hold a grudge!..... Who am I to stop him at this rate?'
Ash's confusion built up to the point where his mind couldn't collect the pieces together anymore. In disparation he grabbed her by the shoulders wanting to get answers not be met with her usual silence,
"What exactly happened in the past?...and why the hell did you say I am dead?"
"Let's just say it was an unfortunate encounter…"
Serenity retreated her hand slowly from his face, but he grabbed it and tightly held onto her other hand, his face filled with desperate anger and unsolved frustration,
"That's more than enough of a reason to make me insist even more... What exactly did I forget?"
Serenity gritted on her teeth and replied,
" I don't want you to remember…"
"Why?!" Ash asked
"Because it's painful," Serenity said.
"Pain?!...wha—"
Ash realized her eyes seemed full of anger and sorrow the kind that makes the heart ach. The smell of blood suddenly pentrated the air he breath ,only then did he realize she bit her lips till her ceimson blood started gushing out.
Upon seeing her like that, he was instantly filled with guilt and overwhelming helplessness that made his face loose all warmth, 'Maybe those forgotten events left me with no memories, but it's not the same for her. I assume it has left a deep wound on her...if I keep pressing any further, I might end up hurting her...and strangely enough, I can't seem to bear to.'
He quickly let go of her hand and pulled her into his arms, wrapping her in a tight embrace ,gently strocking her head, as he gently begged for her forgiveness.
"I am sorry...I shouldn't have pressed the matter any further...it was my fault okay…"
Serenity didn't hesitate , she hugged him back instantly , holding his cloth tightly,burrying herself in his embrace and melting into the confronting safety and ptofound warmth of his cheast,
"Don't worry about it; if I were you, I would've done the same."
After a long quite moment, he gently let go of her. He stepped back and knelt on one knee on the cold ground right in front of her, looking up into her eyes. His expression was dead serious as he told her,
"I won't ask you about it anymore...I promise, this won'trepeat ever again.."
Looking down on his dramatic posture, she couldn't help but pout, teasingly complaining,
"Don't treat me like a little kid. I am seriously not..."
Next second you see her face dead serious as she tilted his chin upward to look straight into his eyes saying ,"although you said you won't ask me, but I know you're going to investigate me when you're back, and I won't allow it."
A soft chuckle broke his serious facade. He got up from the cold floor , brushing his knees, and sat back down on the window right beside her, the heavy tension completely evaporated between them replaced with a challenging amusement between the two,
"You don't actually expect me to sit down and do nothing when discovering that something terrible enough to make you think I died happened to me and I just happened to forget about it, do you?" He said
Serenity tilted her head slightly upward, saying in a helpless tone,
"That's why I said I won't allow it... let alone the fact that investigating me is like walking on fire. You do know who I am, after all, but that's not the issue in here. This investigation will open a hell of dangerous enemies. With the complications going on right now I am not sure if we can walk out of that mess alive, even if i helped....in your case maybe playing dead to survive. "
"Huh?!?" The more she talked, the more determined he became. "Then what?...You realize you actually made me even more curious saying all that...You don't think you can stop me, do you?"
She released a deep sigh showing how much frustrated she actually is ,
"Sigh...I know, and I wasn't even trying since I know how stubborn you can actually be; if you want to know something, you won't stop till you actually know, i was just sounding my thoughts"
He smiled mischievously, nodding in agreement as he said,
"You do know me well."
"More than you imagine." She said
Ash crossed his arms ,turned his head at her asking,
"So what's your plan for me?"
"Easy, let's make a deal..." she said
"What kind of deal?" He asked in frustration he knew by now that the woman in front of him was anything but normal ,'i just hope It's going to be some kind of reasonable demand otherwise i don't know what to do.'
Serenity expressed her fears if he investigated right to his face,
"You see, searching my information won't lead anywhere. If it was easy, maybe my parents would have known me better than this, but I can't risk it with you...if you actually happen to find something, you might trigger a disaster without knowing it. And then forget about your family ,not even your whole world could pass through this disaster"
After thinking about her words carefully, he realized the events of the past she was holding onto may be worse than he imagined .'if even i cannot do anything then who can?...what is she guarding so secretly?!'
To avoid unnecessary troubles, he decided to accept her deal.
"What's the deal?"
"Easy...I assume after today we will meet a lot, so here is my deal...Every time we meet, I will tell you about our past for only one minute. After exactly 60 seconds, I won't say an extra word. How does that sound?" She asked
"Will go with your idea ,thank you ."
From what he saw from Serenity till this moment, he reached a certain point of understanding about her personality,
'I am not exactly confident in investigating her tail; she must have been very careful not to leave any lead behind. Her unusual magic, eyes, and even her physique will make it even harder for me. I am actually in favor.' he thought feeling so optimistic about the whole situation
"So what is the information for today..." he asked
"Information, huh..."she had a mischievous smile curling her lips as she asjed," do you like these butterflies?"
From her palm a crystalized butterfly flapped her wings flying the moment she opened it ,
"You like it?!"
Ash raised his hand asking in confusion,
"Does the time start from now?"
"Answer this question, and I will start counting." She said
He looked at the butterfly on her shoulder; after thinking carefully, he delivered his opinion clearly.
"Well then...If it's about those butterflies, I would say they are unusually attractive but useful with special abilities. But you seemed to have used two diffrent kinds if iam not wrong!"
A faint smile appeared on her face upon hearing his words, and she said,
"Sure enough ... you never change ... same question, same opinion."
Ash asked in confusion, "Wait, you asked me the same question before?"
Serenity leaned on the wall behind her, releasing more butterflies around them, and smugly said,
"You see those attractive butterflies as you describe them...they were gifted to me by you."
"What?!"