Of Solitude and Sorrow
Aria watched, with a cat-like gaze, as the one she sought and the one who prevented her from taking him conversed, steadily leaning closer to one another.
She watched, in mild disgust, as their lips met; her target seemed to be taking advantage of the situation, and was thus the more forceful one, whereas his partner seemed to be merely drawn in by his beauty.
It thoroughly sickened her. He was her target, and therefore her prey. The temptress who had drawn him in would've already made a sudden exit from that plane of existence if Aria had her way. Unfortunately, the killing of humans was out of her hands. Illegal, so to speak. The Higher Ones would not appreciate it if she upset the balance in any way; the man, and the man alone, was her target. If anyone was killed, it would be him.
That, however, was not Aria's mission. Of course, the Higher Ones had not assigned this mission; never would they ask her to take care of a matter so mundane. Henceforth, she had taken the situation into her own hands, and laid the burden of his retrieval upon her own shoulders.
Ariel, the one who manipulated air, was hers.
Bertie stumbled away from Ariel, gasping for breath and shooting him a deadly glare simaultaneously. He merely smirked, apparently amused at her antics.
"Milady, if thou had asked, I would have released you," he taunted, a teasing glint in his sooty eyes.
"Yeah, right! Dammit, Ariel, you really need to keep your hands to yourself, you know that?! I just about had a heart attack thanks to your--"
"Excuse me," a soft voice interrupted her rant, and they both turned to face its source.
It was a young girl, looking about Bertie's age, with long tendrils of white hair that flowed and drifted around her in a manner similar to Ariel's. Her eyes, however, were a clear, almost translucent blue, rather than gray. All the same, she had the same "air" about her as he did (no pun intended), and even had a few butterflies flitting around her head. No, wait, those were dragonflies. A bit sharper, and less airy, than the butterflies kept in Ariel's company.
"Who're you?" Bertie and Ariel asked in unison, turning to give one another a surprised look, then facing the girl once more. A small frown marred her unnaturally beautiful features, and Bertie suddenly found herself fearing the girl would express a temper worse than Ariel's, though she had no inkling of where that idea came from.
"Onii-sama...should know my name," she stated cryptically, her stare hardening. Obviously, there was something she expected them to comprehend automatically, but neither voiced the girl's name.
"What is "onii-sama"? Or, I should say, who?" Bertie asked, a puzzled look upon her countanence. The girl sighed, clearly frustrated. Her brow compressed to form a line, and her fists clenched at her sides, but she appeared to be reigning her temper in.
"Brother. He is my older brother. Do you not remember me, Ariel?" she queried, sadness taking presedence in her tone. Her face expressed the same; where there was once cold, hardened features, was now a sort of hollowed sadness throughout: watery eyes, converging brows, trembling lower lip.
"No, have we met before?" he asked bluntly, oblivious to her sorrow. Bertie gave him a sharp jab with her elbow, but he either didn't feel it or chose to ignore it.
"I am Aria," she announced smoothly, satisfaction alighting her face as a look of pure, undiluted shock took precedence on his.
"A-Aria! Why...are you here?" His tone turned suddenly cold, and filled with hatred. Bertie could feel it from where she stood; the crackling of the air before a thunder storm, thickening as it pushes down on everything it surrounds.
This was clearly not what the girl, "Aria", was expecting. Displeasure filled her feautures once more, and the atmosphere around her changed to match Ariel's. But instead of the suffocatingly warm, thick air, she was surrounded by the cold, clear cut winds of the icy tundra, her hair whipping about her face in what seemed to be a miniature blizzard, minus the snow.
"Ariel! The Higher Ones had spoken, the day the both of us were borne unto this Earth! There is no escaping it, regardless of your permanent ties to the Theatré, and less-than-permanent ties to this girl," she snapped, then went on, in a calmer tone, to say,"Ariel, you are first, always first...would you deny things as such?"
It was a very cryptic message; Aria's intentions were clearly to avoid having Bertie understand what she was saying. But Bertie was not fooled by the masking of words, no matter whose mouth they came from.
"You love him, don't you?" she pursued confidently, though not without a slight pang of jealousy in her heart...But wait, she didn't hold feelings for Ariel! Envy was pointless in this situation.
"Always and forever. It may be preordained, but our union is inevitable. I do not know why Ariel vanished when we were not but children. It has pained me for many, many years. Did you intend to hurt me, Ariel? Did you intend to find another, better life without me?" she questioned, looking small and vulnerable and hurt. Suddenly, the other feelings in Bertie's heart were inconsequential; only this tiny, wounded girl mattered. But just as Bertie opened her mouth to voice her anger, Ariel spoke up, a pained look upon his lovely face as he did so.
"I...I didn't mean to hurt you....I just wanted freedom...To choose for myself, to discover for myself. And I did."
Aria's gaze shifted over to Bertie, acknowledging the implications of his words, and not liking them in the least. The malice in her now-clouded blue eyes was unmistakable.
"Ah, but you see, the only reason I have left this girl alive is direct orders from the Higher Ones. No upsetting the balance, you know. Something may...happen to her if she interferes in our affairs any further, though."
The threat in her words was equally unmistakable. Ariel stiffened beside Bertie, the air surrounding him growing even more noticeably malovent. "If you touch so much as a single hair on her head," he began, but stopped when Aria raised a hand in warning.
"It is not up to me," she said simply, before disappearing with the breeze.
The only sign that she'd ever been there was Ariel's tangible anger and a lone dragonfly, flitting towards Bertie in a calm, purposeful manner. Before it could reach its target, it was sliced to ribbons by a particularlly sharp air current, curtesy of Ariel. The small remaining pieces fell to the ground, splattering its colorful innards in an almost artistic manner.
~Tobi~
~So, a little fanfic I did for the books "Eyes Like Stars" and "Perchance to Dream" of the Theatre Illuminata series by Lisa Mantchev. I've never really thought to complete it, so this is just a first installment of sorts that I found while searching my documents...Wheeee...~
Subject: Of Solitude and Sorrow 
