Fic: birth (2/5)
Title: Birth
Part I: When duty calls...
Part II: the young ones don't listen...
Part III: and that makes strange friends...
Part IV: who turn on each other... **warning**
Part V (plus corollary): until nothing remains. **warning**
Overall word count: ~ 4400
whos/*warnings*: background rambling about the phoenix cloth. Explicit non consensual relations in parts IV and V.
Disclaimer: I didn't do it! (Only this time I wish I had...) Mommy, i didn't do it! It was Kurumada! Toei and Shueisha should know since they paid him for it....
The boy would walk into the pyre, he had been born to take his place and he would become the phoenix reborn. That was his destiny and his duty, the one thing he was meant to do in his life, like the jumping fish.
When he reached their house, the boy had already cleaned the fish, which was cooking over the fire. He finally looked up to his elder and master.
- “I have made up my mind, old one, and it will not be changed”
- “It isn’t something you can decide, youngling. You were born to reincarnate the phoenix in your body. You came to this world to become part of the immortal line of the fire bird”
The boy inhaled deeply and set the wooden plates on the low table. The old man would have to understand, this was his life and he would live it as he see fit.
- “And then what, father?”
The boy saw the other’s muscles tense. They weren’t meant to be human, and he wasn’t really his father any more than the remote monkey humankind descended from. They were one and the same, the phoenix made and the phoenix to come. Just not this time.
- “And then, young one, you will come into ownership of your true self. You will also become a saint of Athena because we so promised. You will roam the valley until the time comes to fight or to be consumed so that the new phoenix can be born. You are a force of nature, and you can’t pretend to live the life of a simple man any more than an eagle can try to live the life of a humble sparrow”
- “And this…Athena, who is she to demand I serve her? I am not even fully human, why should I fight for her? Have you seen her, oh phoenix? How do you know she’s not just a pretty story?”
The man was taken back to his past, for the second time today. Now to the battle, almost 200 years ago, when he had last seen Athena’s reincarnation. He had died in combat, of course, one of the specters had trapped his wings and tore out his heart as he tried to rip into his brain and his memories. But death couldn’t hold the immortal one for long, and so he had been there when the fair lady had walked over the battlefield, aided by her remaining gold saint.
She had looked at him with her blue eyes, and for the first time he hadn’t been able to read someone’s emotions. Was she sad, happy, indifferent? She had said little and he nothing at all. Like the fire that run through his veins, the image of the phoenix that had paid homage to this goddess and sworn himself and his line to his service came rushing back to him then from somewhere in his collective memory.
Soon he had headed back to his valley. The fallen saints were just human, after all, let the birds eat the flesh off their bones. He was bound to her protection, but that didn’t mean he had to care for her or her minions. And he didn’t.
- “I know she’s not a pretty story because I have seen her, and so will you, when the time comes and you feel in you the need to fly from this our home and fight for her cause”
- “But I already feel the need to fly! That is what you don’t want to understand!”
- “Oh, but I do. It’s you who can’t separate the tangle of emotions that confuse you.”
The boy’s face grew red in anger. He knew what he felt and he would not tolerate the old pretentious scarecrow say otherwise.
- “Yes, yes, I know you think you are right. I know you feel it is the purest emotion of all, that love you say you feel. Let me tell you this, and get it into your stubborn head already. That girl you mentioned, she’s just flesh and chemicals, heaps of bone and skin. She may have rosy cheeks and beautiful slender arms, for all I care she might even be the prettiest girl in the valley.”
Thinking of her, the boy felt his fury slide away. He could feel nothing but soft tenderness when thinking of her.
- “So the problem is that she has long legs that swing over the grass, rising up and down with her round hips and her delicate back, that flows down to meet her perfect buttocks? The way you can’t get her out of your mind?”
He bit a smile away at the surprised expression on the young face across the table. True as the snow, youngsters always believe they are the first ones to figure out the mysteries of life.
- “You… you understand?
For the first time in many weeks, the boy smiled at him. The bond between them might still be there, his expression seemed to say.
- “Of course I do. It is lust that you feel, young one, not love. Go, with my blessings, and let’s be done with this foolishness. Fuck her to your heart’s content, and forget her.”
And the magic was gone all over again. The kid’s eyes narrowed in fury and he left the house. The phoenix shrugged and took the abandoned plate. The food was too good to waste, and the kid could go without dinner tonight when he came back.
Go to part III
Part I: When duty calls...
Part II: the young ones don't listen...
Part III: and that makes strange friends...
Part IV: who turn on each other... **warning**
Part V (plus corollary): until nothing remains. **warning**
Overall word count: ~ 4400
whos/*warnings*: background rambling about the phoenix cloth. Explicit non consensual relations in parts IV and V.
Disclaimer: I didn't do it! (Only this time I wish I had...) Mommy, i didn't do it! It was Kurumada! Toei and Shueisha should know since they paid him for it....
The boy would walk into the pyre, he had been born to take his place and he would become the phoenix reborn. That was his destiny and his duty, the one thing he was meant to do in his life, like the jumping fish.
When he reached their house, the boy had already cleaned the fish, which was cooking over the fire. He finally looked up to his elder and master.
- “I have made up my mind, old one, and it will not be changed”
- “It isn’t something you can decide, youngling. You were born to reincarnate the phoenix in your body. You came to this world to become part of the immortal line of the fire bird”
The boy inhaled deeply and set the wooden plates on the low table. The old man would have to understand, this was his life and he would live it as he see fit.
- “And then what, father?”
The boy saw the other’s muscles tense. They weren’t meant to be human, and he wasn’t really his father any more than the remote monkey humankind descended from. They were one and the same, the phoenix made and the phoenix to come. Just not this time.
- “And then, young one, you will come into ownership of your true self. You will also become a saint of Athena because we so promised. You will roam the valley until the time comes to fight or to be consumed so that the new phoenix can be born. You are a force of nature, and you can’t pretend to live the life of a simple man any more than an eagle can try to live the life of a humble sparrow”
- “And this…Athena, who is she to demand I serve her? I am not even fully human, why should I fight for her? Have you seen her, oh phoenix? How do you know she’s not just a pretty story?”
The man was taken back to his past, for the second time today. Now to the battle, almost 200 years ago, when he had last seen Athena’s reincarnation. He had died in combat, of course, one of the specters had trapped his wings and tore out his heart as he tried to rip into his brain and his memories. But death couldn’t hold the immortal one for long, and so he had been there when the fair lady had walked over the battlefield, aided by her remaining gold saint.
She had looked at him with her blue eyes, and for the first time he hadn’t been able to read someone’s emotions. Was she sad, happy, indifferent? She had said little and he nothing at all. Like the fire that run through his veins, the image of the phoenix that had paid homage to this goddess and sworn himself and his line to his service came rushing back to him then from somewhere in his collective memory.
Soon he had headed back to his valley. The fallen saints were just human, after all, let the birds eat the flesh off their bones. He was bound to her protection, but that didn’t mean he had to care for her or her minions. And he didn’t.
- “I know she’s not a pretty story because I have seen her, and so will you, when the time comes and you feel in you the need to fly from this our home and fight for her cause”
- “But I already feel the need to fly! That is what you don’t want to understand!”
- “Oh, but I do. It’s you who can’t separate the tangle of emotions that confuse you.”
The boy’s face grew red in anger. He knew what he felt and he would not tolerate the old pretentious scarecrow say otherwise.
- “Yes, yes, I know you think you are right. I know you feel it is the purest emotion of all, that love you say you feel. Let me tell you this, and get it into your stubborn head already. That girl you mentioned, she’s just flesh and chemicals, heaps of bone and skin. She may have rosy cheeks and beautiful slender arms, for all I care she might even be the prettiest girl in the valley.”
Thinking of her, the boy felt his fury slide away. He could feel nothing but soft tenderness when thinking of her.
- “So the problem is that she has long legs that swing over the grass, rising up and down with her round hips and her delicate back, that flows down to meet her perfect buttocks? The way you can’t get her out of your mind?”
He bit a smile away at the surprised expression on the young face across the table. True as the snow, youngsters always believe they are the first ones to figure out the mysteries of life.
- “You… you understand?
For the first time in many weeks, the boy smiled at him. The bond between them might still be there, his expression seemed to say.
- “Of course I do. It is lust that you feel, young one, not love. Go, with my blessings, and let’s be done with this foolishness. Fuck her to your heart’s content, and forget her.”
And the magic was gone all over again. The kid’s eyes narrowed in fury and he left the house. The phoenix shrugged and took the abandoned plate. The food was too good to waste, and the kid could go without dinner tonight when he came back.
Go to part III