[August 6] [MKR] Destiny, That Final Distance
Title: Destiny, That Final Distance
Day/Theme: August 6 - "For I Offer My Worship Only To You"
Series: Magic Knight Rayearth
Characters: Clef, Emeraude
Rating: PG
Destiny, That Final Distance
“Princess,” he murmurs, and bows, his robes brushing the floor. His voice echoes back to him from the high ceilings, full of age and history and the self-assured power of his station. He’s over seven hundred years old despite his smooth face, and his spine does not bend for anyone other than the Pillar.
She’s looking at him now, sadness in her great eyes, and he remembers the child he took to that room high in the castle, a room full of water and a golden circlet.
“Mage Clef,” she says, dulcet tones as delicate as crystal. There’s a sorrow there that makes his shoulders tighten. He has a feeling he knows what this is about and his bones ache suddenly, feeling all of their years of heavy duty.
She confirms what he has already come to suspect. She is in love with Zagato, her High Priest, and as she confesses there is no warmth in her voice, no happiness. Her love has only brought her misery. Clef closes his eyes briefly when she stops. All his life he has taught and guided the strong of Cephiro. He’s loved every life he’s touched, wished for their happiness and good fortune. It was inevitable that they came and went from his world while he lived on, a silver thread in the tapestry of his country. Inevitable but also unbearable, for his iron will forces him to go on, to bear witness to things his long memory will not let him forget.
This, he knows, is going to be one of them.
“I… have known for some time about you and Zagato,” he admits. He had thought it would pass, those anguished looks Emeraude gave his former student. But despite all her power, she is only human. He tells her as much. “No one would blame you if you wanted to wish only for your own happiness. No one would call you selfish.”
She tries to smile for him, a watery one that breaks his heart.
“Even if everyone in Cephiro could forgive me, I could never forgive… myself.”
She does something then, he feels her pull power from the air. The hem of his robes ruffle in an unnatural breeze and his knuckles turn white around the gold of his staff.
“I’m going to cast the spell that will summon the Magic Knights from another world,” Emeraude says. Her eyes turn liquid green, pleading with him. “Please, guide them.”
There’s a moment before the room fades, before he opens his mouth and shouts her name. A memory grips him, so strong in it’s clarity he knows it can only be a farewell.
They walk together to the room, her small hand in his as he leads her ever higher, farther and farther away from the life he has taken her from. She follows him docilely, standing silent and still as he opens the Crown Room with his ring. When he looks down at her, he finds no fear on her face. Already she is older than she looks.
“I can’t go any further,” he tells her gently. She blinks once and then disentangles their fingers. Her gaze sweeps to the open doorway and she steps forward without a word, drawn by the swirling waves and the heartbeat sounding in her ears.
He watches her go, brow furrowed, not with fear for her - she is the Pillar, there is no doubt - but with grief. For no matter how he cares for them, no matter how he tries to protect them, he can not spare them their destiny.
The ones he loves, in the end, must go that final distance alone.
END.
Day/Theme: August 6 - "For I Offer My Worship Only To You"
Series: Magic Knight Rayearth
Characters: Clef, Emeraude
Rating: PG
Destiny, That Final Distance
“Princess,” he murmurs, and bows, his robes brushing the floor. His voice echoes back to him from the high ceilings, full of age and history and the self-assured power of his station. He’s over seven hundred years old despite his smooth face, and his spine does not bend for anyone other than the Pillar.
She’s looking at him now, sadness in her great eyes, and he remembers the child he took to that room high in the castle, a room full of water and a golden circlet.
“Mage Clef,” she says, dulcet tones as delicate as crystal. There’s a sorrow there that makes his shoulders tighten. He has a feeling he knows what this is about and his bones ache suddenly, feeling all of their years of heavy duty.
She confirms what he has already come to suspect. She is in love with Zagato, her High Priest, and as she confesses there is no warmth in her voice, no happiness. Her love has only brought her misery. Clef closes his eyes briefly when she stops. All his life he has taught and guided the strong of Cephiro. He’s loved every life he’s touched, wished for their happiness and good fortune. It was inevitable that they came and went from his world while he lived on, a silver thread in the tapestry of his country. Inevitable but also unbearable, for his iron will forces him to go on, to bear witness to things his long memory will not let him forget.
This, he knows, is going to be one of them.
“I… have known for some time about you and Zagato,” he admits. He had thought it would pass, those anguished looks Emeraude gave his former student. But despite all her power, she is only human. He tells her as much. “No one would blame you if you wanted to wish only for your own happiness. No one would call you selfish.”
She tries to smile for him, a watery one that breaks his heart.
“Even if everyone in Cephiro could forgive me, I could never forgive… myself.”
She does something then, he feels her pull power from the air. The hem of his robes ruffle in an unnatural breeze and his knuckles turn white around the gold of his staff.
“I’m going to cast the spell that will summon the Magic Knights from another world,” Emeraude says. Her eyes turn liquid green, pleading with him. “Please, guide them.”
There’s a moment before the room fades, before he opens his mouth and shouts her name. A memory grips him, so strong in it’s clarity he knows it can only be a farewell.
They walk together to the room, her small hand in his as he leads her ever higher, farther and farther away from the life he has taken her from. She follows him docilely, standing silent and still as he opens the Crown Room with his ring. When he looks down at her, he finds no fear on her face. Already she is older than she looks.
“I can’t go any further,” he tells her gently. She blinks once and then disentangles their fingers. Her gaze sweeps to the open doorway and she steps forward without a word, drawn by the swirling waves and the heartbeat sounding in her ears.
He watches her go, brow furrowed, not with fear for her - she is the Pillar, there is no doubt - but with grief. For no matter how he cares for them, no matter how he tries to protect them, he can not spare them their destiny.
The ones he loves, in the end, must go that final distance alone.
END.