AU AsuKira Everyone knows of the conscious world, the living world, the dreaming world, and the afterlife's world of the dead. But almost no one knows the dreamscape world. "He can't speak...But his eyes had told me so much."
Masked
Chapter 1 - Eyes; A Prolog!
"Ya! I've always wanted to come here!" a girl with pink hair all down her back cheered. She tugged on her friend's hand.
"Alright, I'm walking, I'm walking!" he laughed following her in, his blue hair gleaming in the lights from the tent.
Lacus laughed as they entered the circus tent. Bright lights and colors attacked their eyes and Athrun had to squint. Once they were used to the lights, the two teens entered the main room and took their seats.
Lacus chattered on as Athrun looked at her, a small smile on his face. After a few minutes, he began to slip from concentration and he turned to look at the stage. It wasn't the biggest, but it was bigger than normal. Lacus noticed his attention on her was lost and stared disbelievingly at him. Her eyes then showed understanding as she lowered her head and looked away.
'I know...he wouldn't be interested in listening to me...' Lacus thought sadly. 'I know...he doesn't like me...like that.' her eyes closed slightly as she thought like that.
Lacus had known for a long time, that Athrun didn't like her that much. She knew that Athrun...liked boys...
Yea, Athrun was gay. She knew it. But she hoped that maybe...he could learn to like her...maybe...
The lights dimmed and Lacus's focus was brought back. Athrun smiled lightly at her and then turned back to the stage.
The acrobats began to perform. Athrun and Lacus were watching with excitement. They spun, twirled, and jumped. Lacus's eyes were glowing and Athrun couldn't help but feel happy for her. This place was expensive, and Athrun didn't know why. But he'd earned the money from his job to bring Lacus here.
She was important to him. No, he didn't like her like that. He knew she knew that. But they'd been friends for a long time, since they were 6. Athrun knew it was worth the money to bring her here. She had recently made an album and it had been successful. Her singing voice was wonderful.
He blinked and looked at the stage intently when the actors, acrobats, and clowns left the stage suddenly. It seemed the entire crowd was confused too. The lights went out, and a single spotlight lit the center stage.
The atmosphere seemed magical, lighter even. The was no music, but it was almost...perfect. For a few moments, all was quiet. Then a member of the audience gasped and pointed upwards, gaining everyone's attentions.
Falling, as if in slow motion, was a boy...He was spinning slightly as he fell, and was almost glowing. As he neared the floor, he flipped upside down and landed on the ground, one arm holding him up.
He pushed off and landed in the exact center of the stage. Everyone paused, then began clapping. Music started, slow and calm, like spiritual music almost. The boy began to jump up and down on the balls of his feet before spinning in circles in place while bouncing.
At one point, while in the air, a ball was rolled under him and he landed on it, still spinning. The crowd gasped, hanging on every movement. The boy's short brown hair bounced slightly as he stopped spinning, landing perfectly on the ball.
He stood on one leg, leaning forward until his nose nearly touched the ground. The boy then pulled up and flipped backwards, kicking the ball up and out of sight offstage. He landed and that's when everyone noticed something...his eyes had been closed the entire time!
He opened them moments after everyone realized this, revealing dimmed purple eyes. He wore a half-mask, it covered the left half of his face. His outfit was white with blue trimmings, and fit him tightly, like a diver's suit...sort of. His arms were covered by the outfit, but his right hand was not.
Lifting that hand and spreading his fingers wide, he looked up into the light shining above him. Everyone paused in confusion. Then, a trapeze bar was lowered and the boy grabbed onto it with both hands.
Once he was lifted out of sight, the lights came back on to reveal the entire circus crew around the stage, all on trapeze stands. They all began to swings between each others bars, flipping and looping and making the crowd smile. But the boy was gone.
Suddenly, the brunette spun into view. He let go of his bar and began spinning through the air, amidst the rest of the passing cast. They didn't seem affected by his presence, and he moved like water around them. No one saw another bar for him to latch onto.
He grabbed onto two poles, sides of the stage that rose into the air, and pushed himself backwards, and spun again. He maneuvered through the others without seeing them, with his eyes closed.
He grabbed his bar again using his legs and let himself swing away, into the dark out of the lights. Everyone began paying attention to the others, who were now doing joint techniques on the trapeze, duet tricks. The brunette slipped into view again, once again falling from the sky.
He flipped a bit as he fell, then spread his arms wide, right in the center of the circle the others had made. There was a flash and he landed in an almost perfect ball on the ground. Standing, everyone saw his outfit had changed.
It was still the same under, tight fitting suit. But now a ribbon of deep blue wrapped his body and hung as if in a breeze to his left as one of the richest purple did the same and hung to his right.
Everyone clapped as the trapeze artists grabbed their respective bars, paired, and the show ended in another flash. And the boy was gone as the others were lowered to the ground for their final bow. Athrun and Lacus clapped, albeit a bit numbly.
Athrun was staring where the boy had been, remembering when their eyes had met. The boy's dead violet meeting his awed emerald. The boy's eyes had regained their glow and there had been life in them for a moment before the flash, when he had vanished without a trace.
-
"Thank you Athrun! Thank you!" Lacus cheered as she held Athrun's hands carefully. "That was the best show I've ever seen. And now...I know why it costs so much...It was amazing! Starting as a circus show, like any other, and then turning into a large and super stage production!"
She turned and stared at the now star strewn sky, her eyes alight. She sighed happily and did a twirl.
"Yes." Athrun smiled softly at her. "He was amazing." his eyes moved to stared back at the tent, whose lights were now off.
Lacus froze mid-spin. She turned to Athrun and frowned. Going up to him, she placed a hand on his shoulder, making him flinch out of his thoughts and back to the present.
"Athrun...I know you might feel...something for him...But you don't know him!" she said as if pleading. "Don't get hooked on him and then feel like you can't like anyone else...Promise me!"
Athrun merely stared at her.
"I know...he was a wonderful performer...But that doesn't mean anything! He may have been graceful and almost magical...but it doesn't prove anything about him personally! His eyes...they were so cold...when I glimpsed them...So dead...Athrun..." she looked him in the eyes.
"I understand Lacus...I promise you I won't like him for his mere abilities." Lacus let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "If I ever meet him, then I can like him...right?" he smirked and walked off. Lacus's eyes widened as she watched him walk away.
"Athrun! That's not...what I meant!" she ran after him. Athrun just laughed, took her hand, and began to lead her away. Lacus smiled softly at his joking nature, he was so nice...
On top of the tent, standing on the top of the middle pole that held up the tent, amethyst eyes gazed sadly across the city, a dead look to them once more.
And? Note. The first 3 chapters are called 'prologs.' They explain pasts, places, and duh, the beginning of the story. This story is 10 chapters long.