[ooc 3rd memory]
[ooc note: This memory is from the final pages of the +Anima manga and has a major spoiler, although I tried to be as vague as possible so hopefully nobody will notice. <.< >.> Also it has children thinking somewhat dark thoughts. Viewer Discretion Is Advised.]
---
The sky was filled with crows.
Dozens of them, maybe even more. They flew in front of and over his head, calling to him. He could feel the breeze caused by their wings ruffle his hair as they fluttered around him. He was staring up at the sky, wearing something heavy--a cloak?-- on his back but he could feel that underneath he was dressed in extremely light clothing. There were cold hard stones underneath his bare feet.
Then he took a deep breath and in that moment realized there was something missing. Inside of him--he could feel it. A sensation he'd never felt before in all of his time in Edensphere. Wrongness, emptiness, loss. There were thick bandages around his arms, he realized. Wrapped around--his shoulders! Oh they hurt! So much! His chest burned. He couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. He was cold, aching and so very lonely.
The crows filled the sky.
The longer he gazed at them, the less everything seemed to hurt. The more he looked, the greater the awareness of the emptiness inside of him grew. They had taken something from him--and he wanted it back. Wanted it so bad...
So bad that the pain in his shoulders melted away, along with the tight bandages that had covered his shoulders. The pain became a tingling, a kind of familiar burning that grew from the small of his shoulder blades and outwards until...
He had grown wings. But they weren't his normal wings, his forearms were still bare. He didn't know how he knew that. They felt wrong, they still felt like emptiness, they sat in his soul and did nothing to keep him warm and safe, not in the way his real wings did. The longer he had these fake wings the more terrified he became.
The murder of crows was beginning to move away, flapping up from the stone platform he was standing on and into the bright blue sky (a beautiful blue sky, not at all like the kind in the sphere but the blue of home). Apple felt his body begin to move. His fake wings began to flutter. He was going to follow those crows high in the sky. The wings on his back flapped, his bare feet drifted up...
Shouting. Above the cawing of the crows and the flutter of dozens of wings, he could hear someone calling.
"Cooro!"
"Go away!"
"Dang it! Out of the way!"
"Cooro! Don't go!! You owe us that much!"
Suddenly there was a hand pulling on his arm! Pulling him back to the ground. Apple turned and saw...
The boy with the blue hair and pretty eyes. The one he'd turned into once, a very long time ago. The one that had been his fish friend, the boy from his past. He was pulling at him now, desperate. There was a girl there, with strange, giant floppy ears half hidden with a pretty hat...and Senri. Amurui. Standing there reaching for him. The girl was crying.
"Hold it right there! Hey!! Don't just leave us!" The boy pulling on Apple looked horrified. "What about you, Cooro?! Try telling us what you want for once!"
What did that mean?
"I didn't mean it when I said Goodbye! Cooro I'm sorry!" The girl with the strange ears wailed. "I want you to stay with us, Cooro!"
Senri said nothing. He just stood there holding his arms out.
'Senri...'
No he couldn't leave! He didn't know why but he couldn't leave them.
'I left you. I'm so sorry.'
Apple felt tears began to drip down his face. He felt himself close his eyes, turn around and throw himself into the other boy's arms. As he did he felt the strange wings on his back disappear and the empty feeling leave him, the pain in his shoulders and arms being replaced with a very familiar and welcomed sensation.
His old wings...
He felt a rush of warmth as the boy wrapped his arms around his back, pulling him closer. He could hear the girl laughing and Senri breathing.
He was complete.
The memory faded on the sound of relieved shouting.
[From Volume 10, Chapter 56: Hill of Fluttering Wings and I really mean it spoilers in the link here]
---
The sky was filled with crows.
Dozens of them, maybe even more. They flew in front of and over his head, calling to him. He could feel the breeze caused by their wings ruffle his hair as they fluttered around him. He was staring up at the sky, wearing something heavy--a cloak?-- on his back but he could feel that underneath he was dressed in extremely light clothing. There were cold hard stones underneath his bare feet.
Then he took a deep breath and in that moment realized there was something missing. Inside of him--he could feel it. A sensation he'd never felt before in all of his time in Edensphere. Wrongness, emptiness, loss. There were thick bandages around his arms, he realized. Wrapped around--his shoulders! Oh they hurt! So much! His chest burned. He couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. He was cold, aching and so very lonely.
The crows filled the sky.
The longer he gazed at them, the less everything seemed to hurt. The more he looked, the greater the awareness of the emptiness inside of him grew. They had taken something from him--and he wanted it back. Wanted it so bad...
So bad that the pain in his shoulders melted away, along with the tight bandages that had covered his shoulders. The pain became a tingling, a kind of familiar burning that grew from the small of his shoulder blades and outwards until...
He had grown wings. But they weren't his normal wings, his forearms were still bare. He didn't know how he knew that. They felt wrong, they still felt like emptiness, they sat in his soul and did nothing to keep him warm and safe, not in the way his real wings did. The longer he had these fake wings the more terrified he became.
The murder of crows was beginning to move away, flapping up from the stone platform he was standing on and into the bright blue sky (a beautiful blue sky, not at all like the kind in the sphere but the blue of home). Apple felt his body begin to move. His fake wings began to flutter. He was going to follow those crows high in the sky. The wings on his back flapped, his bare feet drifted up...
Shouting. Above the cawing of the crows and the flutter of dozens of wings, he could hear someone calling.
"Cooro!"
"Go away!"
"Dang it! Out of the way!"
"Cooro! Don't go!! You owe us that much!"
Suddenly there was a hand pulling on his arm! Pulling him back to the ground. Apple turned and saw...
The boy with the blue hair and pretty eyes. The one he'd turned into once, a very long time ago. The one that had been his fish friend, the boy from his past. He was pulling at him now, desperate. There was a girl there, with strange, giant floppy ears half hidden with a pretty hat...and Senri. Amurui. Standing there reaching for him. The girl was crying.
"Hold it right there! Hey!! Don't just leave us!" The boy pulling on Apple looked horrified. "What about you, Cooro?! Try telling us what you want for once!"
What did that mean?
"I didn't mean it when I said Goodbye! Cooro I'm sorry!" The girl with the strange ears wailed. "I want you to stay with us, Cooro!"
Senri said nothing. He just stood there holding his arms out.
'Senri...'
No he couldn't leave! He didn't know why but he couldn't leave them.
'I left you. I'm so sorry.'
Apple felt tears began to drip down his face. He felt himself close his eyes, turn around and throw himself into the other boy's arms. As he did he felt the strange wings on his back disappear and the empty feeling leave him, the pain in his shoulders and arms being replaced with a very familiar and welcomed sensation.
His old wings...
He felt a rush of warmth as the boy wrapped his arms around his back, pulling him closer. He could hear the girl laughing and Senri breathing.
He was complete.
The memory faded on the sound of relieved shouting.
[From Volume 10, Chapter 56: Hill of Fluttering Wings and I really mean it spoilers in the link here]