[Halloween Fics] - FIVE
[FIVE]
The Piper sat cross-legged in midair high above the surface of the calm sea. The base of the sitar was rested upon one of his long legs while the neck was cradled between his throat and shoulder. The Piper’s eyes were closed and his lips parted ever so slightly. Long fingers caressed the sitar’s strings, eliciting a low, sinuous melody.
The music echoed back upon itself countless times, despite the fact that the Piper was playing his tune in a wide open space, where there was nothing to cause the echo. The salty wind gathered the entangled notes and carried them over Destiny Island, scattering them like so many seeds. A smile curved the Piper’s lips as he continued to strum the sitar. All that was required of him now was to wait. They would come to him.
Tidus was supposed to have been in bed asleep hours ago. Instead, he had tiptoed out of his room and crept down the hallway and ducked out the door furtively, like a thief stealing out instead of in. The reason for this nocturnal outing was simple - training.
“Playing,” his mother called it. Tidus grimaced every time she said it. Playing was for kids. Playing was what you did on the beach when you were seven years old and you still thought stuff like sandcastles and seashells were important. Playing was taking a stick and fighting dragons that only appeared in your head. No, at fifteen years old, Tidus had lost whatever it was in him that had once driven him to play. He’d lost that innocence. Tidus snuck out in the dead of night and took up his sword (his mother was still unaware that he had an actual weapon) and prepared.
Admittedly, he did have fun as he practiced sometimes. A little bit. But that didn’t mean that he practiced for fun. Tidus remembered too well the nightmare of waking up in the dark, surrounded by hundreds of glowing yellow eyes. There was just enough light to make out the swarming mass of them, all slithering and creeping like a living mass of black. Tidus remembered screaming. He never wanted to scream again.
Wakka and Selphie had woken in the same dark place. The three of them had found each other, then someone who had helped them and sent them on a long, difficult quest. But that was another story and had happened a long time ago. But Tidus hadn’t ever forgotten and had no intention of being caught by surprise ever again.
As he practiced with the sword (it was dubbed “Brotherhood” for some reason he had never asked about), Tidus heard a peculiar sound - laughter. It was late at night, much later than most of the Destiny Island kids were out. Tidus hid Brotherhood behind an old crate and went to see where the noise was coming from.
When Tidus was out in the street, nobody was there. It was utterly deserted. Puzzled, he stood wondering until he heard the laughing again, coming from a little further away. This time he also thought he heard music… strange music, something that would be played by something with strings, but Tidus didn’t know what instrument. The tune itself was lilting, fading just below Tidus’ range of hearing, then resurging again. It almost felt like it was tugging at him.
“What the hell?” He began to follow it, intrigued. Maybe someone was planning a late-night game of ball or something…
The sounds of the laughter and the music seemed like they came from just a few feet in front of Tidus, no matter how fast he ran after it. He would have gotten annoyed if he hasn’t been so curious. At last, he burst out onto the beach, convinced that now he could catch whoever he’d been following.
The sight that met Tidus’ eyes made him stop in his tracks. Frolicking on the beach and in the shallows were a dozen strange creatures. They were long and lean and pink and silver under the light of the full moon. They danced and twisted about around each other to the sound of the music. The music… Tidus looked up and found that the source of the eerie song was a figure in a black cloak sitting in the air above the water, playing. The figure wore a hood so that Tidus couldn’t tell whether it was a man or woman or even someone he recognized or nobody at all. All he knew was that the music was all around him…
“Dance with us…” A few of the sinuous, moonlit creatures crossed the sand over to Tidus. They moved around him in a winding circle, beckoning with their hands, smiling with their faceless features. Their bodies contorted in ways that Tidus would normally have found unnatural and disturbing, but under the light of the moon and to the sound of the music… it seemed almost beautiful.
“But…” Tidus still had wits enough to protest, but not strongly. The dancers pressed in around him, their swaying bodies coming in contact with his, almost sensual in motion. Cool hands ran over his body and before Tidus knew it, pulled him forward into their dance.
Tidus danced with his eyes closed, a smile on his face as he moved his body. His arms twined around the dancers, just as theirs twined around his, brushing over and across his face and hair. They breathed cool air onto him, making shivers dance over his skin. His lips parted, smiling as they made him a part of their intricate, erotic dance. All of them moved as one, laughing breathlessly to the sky, to the Piper who played and watched.
The longer they danced, the less Tidus began to notice of the world around him. The dancers were leading him, pulling him, beckoning with their tempting bodies, asking him to come and play. Tidus didn’t resist, didn’t protest, merely moved his feet to theirs, wrongly assuming that he was the one leading the dance.
He didn’t even notice as his partners began to vanish. One by one, they melted away until Tidus was left dancing all alone to the music. The music had never changed, never wavered through the entire ordeal under the moon. Now, as Tidus danced alone, the music changed. It became slower, more solemn. Tidus slowed his pace accordingly, bowing and twirling invisible partners with a smile on his face. He opened his eyes at last and discovered that he was dancing in water up to his waist. Strange that he hadn’t noticed before, or that it didn’t seem to bother him now. His eyes told him that in fact, the water should be far over his head, but it wasn’t. Utterly unalarmed, he turned his eyes up to the Piper, a euphoric smile on his face.
The Piper finally ceased in his playing. The instrument dissolved in his hands and became water, which dripped down into the sea below. He unfolded his legs and stepped with the most delicate grace onto the surface of the water, creating the barest hint of a ripple. He walked over to Tidus, who continued to sway even though the music was gone.
“It’s almost a pity, you know…” The Piper placed his hands around Tidus’ throat and began to slowly push him back into the water. “You would have made such a good Dancer.”
Tidus looked up at the man in black as his head was slowly forced under the surface of the water and held there. The Piper was kneeling on the surface, his hands submerging just enough to hold Tidus under. From the far reaches of his mind, Tidus felt something protest, but his body didn’t move. Bubbles trailed from his mouth like a string of clear pearls. He was going to die here. He was going to drown.
At least I can’t scream…
The Piper stood, looking down at the body in the water. It was already beginning to sink down to the depths - there would soon be no trace of it left at all. Life would leave him behind and leave his body to wash up on the beach like a bottle wrenched of the message that had given it meaning.
The Piper had pressed his lips to the boys just before he had forced his head under. The boy had tasted of sea wind and something sweeter and yet more dangerous, like a poisoned candy. Even now, he could taste it, running his tongue over his lips like he’d just eaten something delicious. It was a pity that he was going to die... The boy would have made such a good dancer…
But wait. The Piper reached down and seized the body out of the water. All he needed was the body, really… That’s all a Nobody was.
“Don’t worry,” the Piper murmured as he pressed his own lips to the boys again, although they were now blue and cold, just barely alive. “It’ll be fun I promise… You’ll never have to stop dancing.”
~
Crossposted. Comments are very much appreciated!