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djtenkuWord Count: 928
Summary: ...
Bells.
Rowan heard the soft ringing and swam up from unconsciousness slowly. It was dark, or at least the sun just left. His vision focused, and he found himself look at celestial objects that glittered and dotted the otherwise dark sky. He sat up, glancing about, and from what he could tell in the dim light, it was a valley. He heard the soft ringing, and turned.
A pair of green eyes were looking at him with curiousity, and perhaps mischieviousness. They belonged to a young woman; the bells chimed again as a jeweled hand pushed a strand of her long, dark and curled hair, revealing a white lotus flower behind her ear. She wore a green choli with white embroidering her skirt and sleeves, while her middriff was bare. Rowan did note that she had a nice figure, but pushed that thought aside very quickly. “Well?” the woman asked, putting a hand to her hip. “Are you awake?”
Rowan blinked at the question and knitted his brows in confusion as he heard the voice. “Roya? Is…” His voice failed as she nodded enthusiastically and smiled. Rowan quickly turned away as he felt his face grow warm, and didn’t bother to look at her as she sat down beside him. This can’t be… Is this a dream? Am I dead?
“It’s whatever you want it to be, Rowan,” Roya said, reading the expression on his face. “Surprised?”
“A little bit,” he replied hesistantly, turning back to her. “You’re very beautiful.”
Roya laughed, a sound that was pleasant and strangely melodic. “Well, thank you.” She noticed that Rowan’s brows were still knit together, and there was a forlorn look in his eyes. He turned away again. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m…sorry for what I did,” he said.
“It was probably for the best,” Roya said, distance in her voice. She looked up at the night sky. “I mean, as far as I know, I never really existed; I wandered around for almost twenty years.” Roya smiled bitterly. “My family were nomads – never really stayed in one spot. We were also poor, so we had many hardships. One day, in the countryside, we were ambushed by some rebel group. They killed my entire family, just like that, and kidnapped me as well as the girls. Even though I was four at the time, I wanted death.
“Our captors took us all over the world, and we had to obey their every whim. If we didn’t, the punishment was harsh; at one point, I didn’t eat for a week. Eventually, the other girls died, and I was left…” Roya looked back down and brought her legs to her chest, briefly looking at Rowan. He was still somber, but she also saw a mix of hidden anger.
“But,” she continued, “one night I managed to escape when we were in Russia for the week.” She paused, and considered her words very carefully. “I basically castrated one of the men with a rusted knife. He eventually bled out, I heard. I was free for a little while… but then I realized that I had nothing. Fate would have it that I would meet a blind man named Hattori Taka, and he would take me in as his daughter. I thought my life would be much better; I finally had clothes, good food, a soft bed, and a roof over my head.”
“Too good to be true?” Rowan asked, though it was more of a statement.
Roya nodded. “It turns out he was an assassin. And, if I was going to be with him, I had to become one too. I loathed him for it at first, but I had no choice. I never liked to kill, Rowan. It’s a horrible feeling to kill another human being.”
“Is that why…you didn’t?” He saw a tiny nod, and relief washed over him.
“I was always told to do so, and each time, my soul withered away, and eventually I stopped existing. I was just a shell. I had no life, no meaning.”
A stray thought entered Rowan’s mind and before he knew it, he said it. “What did you say to me, when you saw me?” He stared at her intensely for the answer.
“‘Save me’,” Roya said softly, gazing at Rowan. His stare softened, and he turned away, stunned. Roya wrapped her arms loosely around his neck and hugged him. “Thank you, Rowan,” she whispered. “Now, I can start over again. How about you?”
Rowan didn’t think about it once. It would be great, he thought, but there was still answers he needed to seek the real truth about himself. That could take a long time. It would do him no good if he were dead. He sighed. “I can’t; not right now
anyway.”
“I see.” Both looked up and saw fireflies, lighting the valley with a slight yellow glow. “Then, I’ll come back, just for you then.”
Rowan couldn’t hide his smile. It was the first time he had in a while, and the first time he had no worries. This truly was a dream then. “Until then,” he began, “ can we stay like this?”
Roya smiled as well, bringing herself closer. “Of course, Rowan.”
They remained that way for what it seemed like forever – Rowan didn’t care for the time at all – until the dark sky gave way to the brilliant colors of the morning. Rowan raised his hand up to shield the sunlight, and eventually moved his hand over his eyes, and blinked as everything started to fade into white.
