• “The Sounds Of Ashes” By: Hikari

    A mist of rain fell upon the sad streets of “once was” New Orleans. The buildings were covered with age and moss that out grew themselves. Cars passed by silently taking most of the noise with them. A sickly gray light shown through the smog and clothes liners that hung from one side of a building to another.

    He had been searching for hours. He had been searching for eternity. But not for his usual souls that had to be lead to the golden gates of heaven, no, it wasn’t their turn today, no, he was just searching for some way to keep him self content, intrigued…he was looking for her.

    She had been missing since that morning. She had said she was “going out”. When he had asked where…she had said something that had made no since to him. “To listen to the sounds of ashes.” What did that mean?…Ashes didn’t make sound less you moved them, but she would have no reason to. And this damned city was full of ashes from fires in cans to cigarette butts, but she was no where to be found. She had simply disappeared.

    He was so bored. He had decided earlier on the fact that he needed something to do, so he went down to Earth to “entertain himself”, but to no avail. He had tried to go bowling or to even watch an inside game of “hollow football” but being himself, he had gotten bored too easily because he knew exactly who would win and why.

    He decided to go see a movie.

    He went to some old rundown theatre and sat behind some couple that made him grimace every time he saw them kiss. This was an action movie and yet they treated it like it was some lovey-dovey thing. He sneered and moved farther away from them, moving all the way to the back.

    He sighed out, his shoulders easing down a bit and all the tension in his body going away. He closed his eyes and listened to the only calm part in the movie that had some old guy playing a piano, his favorite instrument. He began to remember the first time he had ever come to a “movie” . He had brought some girl with him and it had been so awkward because him being the Don’s nephew had caused him to have 6 body guards lounging around in the theatre and no matter where he went, they were there.

    Eyelids slid away to reveal ruby orbs beneath them. He was sneering again, all those memories a bad taste to his mind. He glanced up to see that the movie had ended long ago and that he had fallen asleep. He was going to try and watch the whole movie again, but decided it would be best to get up and do something else, to find something more entertaining.
    *********************************************
    Hikari shifted her feet amongst the ashes and burnt wood of what was once the place she and her sisters had called home. She looked upon the three crosses that their friends had left for them long ago and noticed Miyako’s ribbon rapped around it. “So she has been here already?” she smiled to her mumbling words and began walking through her memories.

    Shfftt She kicked her feet in the grey see beneath her and held a blank face as she watched the ashes shift and dance between her toes. Rain had been falling for what seemed like forever and time had seemed to stop dead in its tracks just so she could remain in her moments alone. She shuffled around until she found the old stone cross standing sideways against a pew and sat down only to lean her head against it and listen to the sounds of the rain…and of the ashes. She closed her eyes, and let her memories engulf her.
    ****************************************************
    Haine was ticked now. Night was falling now and neither him nor her sisters had seen Hikari anywhere. He grimaced as his wings began to get soaked along with his hair and clothes. He murmured things like “getting lost” and “always runnin’ off” as if she would answer his silent calls…but she didn’t and he knew he’d never hear the end of it if he didn’t go and find her. Secretly, though, he was entirely happy that her sisters had asked him to go and look for her instead insisting on doing it themselves.

    …But that’s where he stood dumb-struck. Why would they, her sisters whom loved her more that anyone else and whom she always talked about, insist on him looking for her when it was he himself who had not gone with her to “listen to ashes”. He was even more stuck at the fact that the two sisters had smiled sadly and had said nothing of what they knew when he told them what Hikari was doing-where she had went. Nothing made since anymore.

    He kicked some random pebble on the ground and pulled his hood over his head as the rain began to fall harder. Breathing out into the cold night air, he watched the last fading remnants of his breath rise up to the sky and fade away from his eyes. It reminded him of the way humans died. He focused his gaze downward then, not wanting to remember how he himself had died. A failure. He had died a failure and a disgrace to his family.

    That was something in which he had wished God would have made him forget, but he didn’t and he knew that Hikari had told the same reason as to why he hadn’t over and over again…which, again, didn’t make since.

    He closed his eyes to let the memory drain into him.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    He had been watching Hikari dance around in some patch of dying flowers. He was grimacing at her and was so dumb-struck as to why she was so ….”happy”. She had just led an old man to heaven and had just come from a funeral…yet she was dancing in circles and singing her silent songs.

    ‘”Why are you so damn happy? Aren’t you sad that man died?” she hadn’t stopped twirling to answer him.

    “Aren’t you?”

    “You know that I don’t get sad about things like that…I’m too used to it.” His voice was tired and she had noticed it. She stopped twirling to stare at him with her Obsidian orbs, full of wonder and understanding. “What…?”

    “I’m sorry…”

    “For what, you didn’t do anything.”

    “Yes, I did Haine…and I’m sorry.”

    “Well then explain to me what it is that you did so I can forgive you.” He was trying not to grimace at her, but he just wasn’t in the mood for smiling.

    “I made you remember.” His eyes had widened at this statement and he just stared at her. She had made him remember? He sighed out.

    “Everything about this city and everything about those people dying reminds me of my past life Hikari. Not just you.” she looked down and mumbled another apology. “What’s that one for?” She glanced up and her next answer took him by surprise.

    “For not being able to help you forget. For being able to help you smile.” He could only stare at her and be awestruck at her body glowing under that sick, gray light and the now falling rain. He pushed his face down and hid his small smile.

    “It’s alright Hikari…it’s not your fault. I just wish God would’ve taken those memories away from me when I got here.” He glanced up to her surprised face.

    “Don’t ever wish that Haine.” His eyes kept asking why and she answered in her sing-song voice, smiling yet again. “God doesn’t take away our memories because it makes up who we are….and, it helps us sort things out when we’re lost.” He sneered at himself.

    “Maybe if I were to forget them, I could be better, more happier like you, huh?” he had let out a sad chuckle only to be surprised again at her next words.

    “Nah,…”she had chuckled lightly,” I like you just the way you are.”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    His ruby eyes opened again to see the dark streets of “once was” New Orleans. He was growing too tired of the everyday routine of having his memories come back to haunt him,…he just wanted to forget it all, but again, every time he would think like that, her words would come back into his head. “I like you just the way you are.” He let out a small smile to those words, happy that the thought of someone caring for him actually existed. No…make that two someone’s …..Hikari had told him that God loved him too.

    He glanced up to the smog clouds and falling rain to whisper a word of “thanks” to God before he got back on his journey again to finding the missing angel.
    +++++++++++++++++
    He was now making his way to the old burned down church that had been in that newspaper that had so happened to “slam” into his face. He had glanced up to God knowing that he had just been told where to find her and he was sure that God had been telling him all along, he just needed a good “slap” in the face to wake up.

    He had let out a long groan because the church was about a mile away and he had to walk/float all the way there through the pouring rain. Why God couldn’t stop the rain for just an hour or two just until he found her and got her back up to heaven, he would never know.

    Somehow, though, he wondered how an article from almost twenty five years ago could still be around …that is until he saw the fact that they would be demolishing what was ever left of it to bits. Now he was basically running, the muscles in his legs screaming and asking as to why he wouldn’t fly…but he was to focused on getting there than he was on how.

    He just hoped that he could make it in time.
    ****************************************************
    Rain had been falling down hard, hiding what tears she was shedding when Haine found her. She was sitting amongst the ashes and remains of a crumbled building. He knew from the sight of her that she had been through the whole demolishing and had watched her world fall around her.

    He had walked up to her and noticed her body trembling. She smiled, taking in his presence and looked up to him. He was in shock at how mixed her eyes looked. He gave her a tired glance and stood over her, remaining in silence to respect what she and her sisters had lost. Haine closed his eyes imagining her silent screams and protests to try and stop the men, but he knew by what just lay around them that she had failed. He stood wrong and speechless at what she said next

    She smiled to herself, knowing exactly that he thought she was crying because she failed to stop what had happened hours ago. “I didn’t try to stop them Haine.” He glanced up to the seriousness in her voice. She only chuckled.

    “Why…” he was getting ticked, but not only at the people who had done this, but to her and to the fact that she didn’t do anything to protect this place. Why?! Didn’t her and her sisters love this place more than anything else in the world?!? Didn’t she always talk about it?!? Wasn’t this her home?!?

    Calm Obsidian met raging ruby. She read the questions in his eyes and sighed out, watching her breath fade away. She felt a lump in her throat, but it didn’t stop her from speaking. “We knew Haine.” He stared at her, clenching his teeth, trying to hold back the sneer that was rising. She felt it and continued. “We’ve always known they were going to destroy it Haine…we knew the last time we came here.”

    “And you did nothing?!” His voice was a mix between a hushed whisper and a howling sneer. He just didn’t understand. And he feared not understanding more that anything else at that moment…even losing her. “I thought you all said-”

    She cut in. “ I know what we said-WE know what we said!” She glanced down. “We have always known what we said. We did love this place Haine…and we still do. Even if there is nothing left but ash and ruble…we still love it.” He clenched his fists.

    “Then why?” He glared at her, his fear beginning to rise within him. Hikari looked up to him and stared into his blood, ruby eyes looking at the questions racing through them.

    “It was time to forget Haine.”

    “But you said-”

    Her next words dead panned him. “It was time to let go.” He stared at her in disbelief. “Let go?”…..it was so easy for her-for them, to “let go”…but he,…why couldn’t he? She always preached on how memories made up people and why God let us keep them…why he let us have them…but now they were “letting go”…now he was at a complete loss for words, for understanding.

    And she saw it. She felt his fear and sadness, his not-understanding and his memories coming back to haunt him. She felt her eyes soften when he spoke those few words. “But,…..there is nothing left here. It’s all gone.” He got quiet then and just looked down, avoiding her gaze at all costs. He felt stupid now, for trying to fight her. She, who was someone who loved life and he who seemed to not give a damn. He was so confused.

    “There are the ashes.” he looked up to her, his head jolting as he did so, his ruby orbs full of question.

    “What?”

    She smiled. “They remind us of what we once had. They tell us who we once were…they tell us who we are. Are we angels not like ashes Haine? Are we not what is left of the written book that is our lives once it is burned?” Haine just stared at her, a tired look coming back to him as he began to slowly contemplate the words she had just said. Are we really ashes?

    “I know it’s hard Haine.” He knew what she meant, but asked anyway.

    “What’s hard?”

    “Forgetting…I know it’s hard getting rid of those scars that we have…but I think it’s worse to forget something…than it is to remember.” She stood up and dusted her self off, smiling like she always did. “You know why I think that?” He gave her a weary smile, knowing the answer that was engraved into his memory.

    “Why is that Hikari? Why is it worse to forget something than it is to remember?” He wasn’t ready for the answer she gave.

    “Because Haine…”her voice was distanced and her rainbow eyes glistened in the moonlight. “Forgetting someone is the same thing as losing them…and that is my greatest fear…as well as being everyone else’s…and the greatest fear that everyone has…is being alone.” She turned to look at his eyes, the small tears pouring from them, hidden, to luck, by the rain.

    So that had been what she meant. Now he understood the meaning of the words “the sounds of the ashes.” Hikari had come here to be reminded of what she one was and what she now is. She had come to not forget the things she holds dear, but to let go of the fact that she once had them. Now Amenester’s words mad since when he had said “Damn Haine, you shouldn’t cry because something is gone but smile because it was here.”…Now he understood. She was just letting go. Maybe if he watched her enough…he, too himself, could learn to let go.

    She smiled at him as he was lost in thought. “Come on Haine…”he snapped out of thought to see her outstretched hand. He looked up to her glittering orbs. “You’ll learn to let go. You don’t have to deal with those demons by yourself. Your not alone anymore.” Another weary smile and he had lightly grasped her hand while they flew back to heaven, thanking God that he had been given ears so he could finally hear the sounds of ashes.


    ***************************

    Miyako looked up to Ray, smiling as she did so. “You think he finally realized it…or do you think she still has a long way to go?” Her black bangs hid her opal eyes as she stared at her sister reading her book. Ray just smirked.

    “I believe he still has a lot to learn Miyako. As we still have a lot to teach.., I think he’s finally learned how to hear the ashes…Miyako just sighed out as Ray looked back to her book and she stared out the window.

    “Yeah Yeah,…..he just needs to learn how to listen.” Ray gave a light laugh, agreeing that they too, needed to learn how to listen.