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Jan. 18th, 2009 01:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dagas_isaPrompt: Something meant to be forgotten
Universe: Original: Axis
Genre(s): General, Fantasy
Rating: G
Word Count: 521
It figured that the path to Mier led here. Natalia could not see the edge of the forest, or the little yellow house any more. She couldn't see the person, man and Shadow both, who waited for her. Still though, Natalia knew where she stood now, and who she faced, when she felt a cool detached presence in front of her.
Leather brushed against her hands and tips of fingers grabbed her wrist.
"Hey!" She started to pull away and then stopped, completely recognizing him. "You're that Shadow who carried me those times."
"Yes." He sounded stiff, bristled. "Rodya Romata, or plain Rodion. Can you walk this time?"
Natalia grimaced. "If I must. Walk with me though."
Rodion fell into step beside her. She could hear his stride, feel the breeze of his walk, and hear the wisps of his thoughts that his human form could not keep from his fellow Shadows.
"Mier is down there. Are you here to stop me, or to help me?"
Rodion stopped. "I can't stop you. Maybe I can't even help you. The only thing I can do is rob you of your illusions."
Natalia herself, halted, and whipped around to face someone she couldn't even see. Years of habit, she supposed. "What illusions?"
"If--when--you find him, he won't be the same person you knew on the surface. More than that, he won't remember you. You cannot have what you want."
Bitter laughter filled her. "I know that. I want to see him again, but I'm here aren't I? Do you know how far I've traveled?"
"Yes, I do. You still have far to go, physically and mentally."
Natalia turned away, and walked toward the vent. She halted. "How much further?"
He still followed her, though he avoided her wake of Shadows, outside the sphere of her strange senses, he sounded like a tiptoe.
"Physically, you have the provisions and stamina that you could last the four or five days going down. The lack of light should not bother you. Mentally, you have an abyss to cross."
Natalia sighed. "Just say it, plain as you can."
"He's a Shadow. You caused it. Now he won't wake up, and you might be his chance."
She barely registered the last half. She caused it. Her fault, though she suspected that the day he disappeared. Echoes of memories, things she never saw and never paid attention to because of that, bounced through her. A tired feeling in the air, a voice in her head, testing her limbs.
"I did..."
"We hid it," Rodion spoke for all Shadows, the ones around her head moved in agreement, "you'd be happier not knowing."
"So why now?"
"We elites have a theory. We lack a leader in these times, because he refuses to forget you."
Natalia had learned enough about Shadows in the past month to know none of them would ever go so far as to ask a favor. But they sure as the underworld knew how to hint.
"Is that all? Can I go now?"
Rodion stepped back, completely outside her zone, so that all she heard from him was his voice. "I never aimed to stop you."
Universe: Original: Axis
Genre(s): General, Fantasy
Rating: G
Word Count: 521
It figured that the path to Mier led here. Natalia could not see the edge of the forest, or the little yellow house any more. She couldn't see the person, man and Shadow both, who waited for her. Still though, Natalia knew where she stood now, and who she faced, when she felt a cool detached presence in front of her.
Leather brushed against her hands and tips of fingers grabbed her wrist.
"Hey!" She started to pull away and then stopped, completely recognizing him. "You're that Shadow who carried me those times."
"Yes." He sounded stiff, bristled. "Rodya Romata, or plain Rodion. Can you walk this time?"
Natalia grimaced. "If I must. Walk with me though."
Rodion fell into step beside her. She could hear his stride, feel the breeze of his walk, and hear the wisps of his thoughts that his human form could not keep from his fellow Shadows.
"Mier is down there. Are you here to stop me, or to help me?"
Rodion stopped. "I can't stop you. Maybe I can't even help you. The only thing I can do is rob you of your illusions."
Natalia herself, halted, and whipped around to face someone she couldn't even see. Years of habit, she supposed. "What illusions?"
"If--when--you find him, he won't be the same person you knew on the surface. More than that, he won't remember you. You cannot have what you want."
Bitter laughter filled her. "I know that. I want to see him again, but I'm here aren't I? Do you know how far I've traveled?"
"Yes, I do. You still have far to go, physically and mentally."
Natalia turned away, and walked toward the vent. She halted. "How much further?"
He still followed her, though he avoided her wake of Shadows, outside the sphere of her strange senses, he sounded like a tiptoe.
"Physically, you have the provisions and stamina that you could last the four or five days going down. The lack of light should not bother you. Mentally, you have an abyss to cross."
Natalia sighed. "Just say it, plain as you can."
"He's a Shadow. You caused it. Now he won't wake up, and you might be his chance."
She barely registered the last half. She caused it. Her fault, though she suspected that the day he disappeared. Echoes of memories, things she never saw and never paid attention to because of that, bounced through her. A tired feeling in the air, a voice in her head, testing her limbs.
"I did..."
"We hid it," Rodion spoke for all Shadows, the ones around her head moved in agreement, "you'd be happier not knowing."
"So why now?"
"We elites have a theory. We lack a leader in these times, because he refuses to forget you."
Natalia had learned enough about Shadows in the past month to know none of them would ever go so far as to ask a favor. But they sure as the underworld knew how to hint.
"Is that all? Can I go now?"
Rodion stepped back, completely outside her zone, so that all she heard from him was his voice. "I never aimed to stop you."
