Dream § Eyes of God

[ura_no_ura]

[soundtrack; please listen| Alan - Red Cliff]

A flock of birds
Disperse the clouds
I pray that flowers
Will still bloom

Comments

[necro_fantasia]

[Somehow it had never occurred to Yukari that she might be dead.

The thought had never even entered her mind, really. She had come up with a million and a half theories about who might be responsible for her presence, the Hitomi, the sudden strange limits on the borders she could sense. Not one of them had involved her being dead or in any sort of afterlife.

Here was how it was: she had been taken by someone. Presumably a god or group of gods (since who was above her, except the gods?), and presumably for some typically godlike reason (Yukari's bet was on punishment). They had taken away her powers to stop her from escaping and messing up their little plan. She was going to mess it up anyway, and return home.

Except now this guy who she had spoken too before was apparently dreaming about his death at the hands of that other guy who she had spoken to before. It wasn't a guarantee, it didn't necessarily mean that he was dead, and that didn't necessarily mean that she was dead. But suddenly, it seemed within the realm of possibility

[ura_no_ura]

*At least half an hour passes before he finally manages to respond. His features are impassive, unreadable.*

It was a dream.

[necro_fantasia]

[Wow, that's really helpful, is what she'd like to say, but that would be a bad idea, since there's nothing forcing him to respond and frankly he looks like he's just been hit by a train. Or a screaming fistful of of lightning, as it were.]

I know it was a dream. What I want to know is - are you dead? Is everyone here dead?

[ura_no_ura]

*There's quite a delay in response.*

...Some of us are dead. Or have died, in our worlds. But we're all alive here.

*The words are measured and careful.*

[crazysnakelady]

[ Anko's knuckles are white around the Hitomi. She couldn't let go, after the initial shock and raw sensation. Now she feels dirty, voyeuristic even. She moves as if to throw it as far from her as possible, but pauses. Thinks. ]

I...

[ She hadn't meant to speak. Anko suddenly drops the Hitomi and backs away, arms crossed under her ribs, as if to hold herself together. ]

[ura_no_ura]

*It's a long, long time before he responds. Kakashi is completely composed, his features rather expressionless.*

It was just a dream.

[crazysnakelady]

[ Anko's jaw works; unconsciously, she raises her hand to her mouth and gnaws at the inside of her thumb. A dream. Just a dream.

She doesn't really want to go to sleep now. ]

What was...

[ The visions of a Konoha in ruins, an angry god (notgod), the grief of a student, all echo in her head. Anko's thumb throbs suddenly--she's drawn blood. ]

Never mind. Good night.

[ She terminates the connection. ]

[seeing_only_red]

*Itachi drops his Hitomi to the ground, the strength of the emotions--the utter pain and the feel of electricity burning against and through vulnerable cloth and tissue is so foreign and shocking, and yet somehow just as familiar as the day that Sasuke called his mythical beast down from the Heavens in his vegeance--that he doesn't know how to react to it at first. So he continues to watch the rest of the dream unfold, only for his eyes to widen at the brief flash of pale skin--and no mask--but it is gone just as quickly.

He reaches down and picks up the Hitomi once more, feeling the fluttering of the fading sensations--the last moments of thought and coherence before death--and pauses it, ready to rewind it back to that point again, so that he could finally see. But Itachi stops himself. He can't. Not this way. Seeing Kakashi's face through a confusing, sensation-overloaded dream that the man would never have wanted anyone else to see feels like such a lie that he stares down in contemplation for a moment, frozen. Then he turns off

[wind_upon_waves]

[Minato has died before--consumed by a supernatural fire of burning, evil chakra, and then devoured by the black, chilling emptiness of the Shinigami.

And now he dies by duties unfulfilled--He's too weak; he's too strong; a thousand birds sound like thunder in his ears and herald his death, gripped in the eyes of the false god. He can't save anyone now.

By crushing pain--it steals his breath, tears through his flesh, and fills him to the brim in such a way that the loss of blood (of life and consciousness) is almost a relief. But Pain transcends all realms and hismy pain will not end in death.

By empty promises and failures--My studentson. His boy-ish cries are full of denial and anger (I'm sorry, so sorry), grasping desperately at him; Come back. He can't.

He can't possibly have survived. He's so very empty. There's nothing here.

But when he hears it--"Open your eyes..."--he answers. And everything rushes back--he's never been so overjoyed

[ura_no_ura]

*He'd ignored the first two messages, but when his teacher's voice calls out to him, he can't ignore it. Won't. It takes him a while to manage to gather together enough composure, but he manages to finally respond. His face is in shadow, like the rest of him.*

Sensei.

*His breath is no longer as ragged, but he's still breathing fast through his nose, voice too quiet.*

[wind_upon_waves]

[Are you alright? Minato almost asks but doesn't, because it's a paltry, useless thing to say right now--dying is one thing, but to be alive after dying as if being denied release from torment, to experience and remember it...how could anyone be alright?

Since they first reunited, Minato thought he'd accepted that Kakashi had likely died in the real world. Naruto's arrival had confirmed it.

But he had never imagined it like--]

Kakashi. Did it-did it really happen like this? [Minato's voice is quiet, strained and pencil-thin.]

Private to Minato

[ura_no_ura]

*It felt so real that Kakashi's not sure if what he dreamed really did happen -- if he had seen Naruto finding him after he fell, or if this was just a product of imagination steeped in guilt. He remembers the bite of metal and wood, the scent of the smoke and death in the air, the eyes of a man who thought himself god staring down at him. Remembers the feeling of chakra draining, burning out.

It wasn't Raikiri that killed him.*

No. It-- *He draws in a breath. It's shaky.*

I'm not sure. *He finally says, after a moment.* Some of it definitely happened... But the way -- *Another pause* I didn't die like that.

[callmelegion]

[ He remembers this scene from the other end; how different it feels, looking through someone else's eyes, at his own handiwork.

He shudders -- though with marginal visibility -- at the remembrance of pain. The pain which unites them: but pain does not accord empathy, for Nagato has none of this to spare.

Even if you can understand someone's pain, it means nothing. It does not forge bonds. It is a catalyst, only. A device. A reality. Pain. It pushes toward the causation of peace, in Nagato's mind: it will push you toward it, as well. Not from logic, and not from bonds, but only from having so much pain that you don't know what to do with it.

Until you cannot tolerate it.

Until the world cannot tolerate it, and this will be when peace arrives. ]

I see.

This is the desired result.

[ Satisfaction. ]

[wind_and_whirl]

You.

[ The word falls from Naruto's lips like a vulgar curse. That's exactly what it is in this situation -- a vulgar curse. The man -- the monster he's addressing is a blight upon the face of any earth, an eminent threat against the people precious to him. He knows this because he's seen it, the damage he can do. He knows because he's felt it, felt Pain in more ways than he would care to remember were he capable at this moment. All he feels now is anger, white hot hatred boiling in his veins with blue blood and scarlet rage. He hasn't forgotten that face or those eyes.

He has not forgotten
Pain.And it's a wonder the Hitomi has not broken for the strength of his grip on the tiny device. The hand at his side is clenched into a tight fist. Claw-like finger nails dig into the skin of his hand and draw blood, but he doesn't feel it, doesn't flinch and waver as he stands there, the Hitomi held at an angle in his hand. He can feel the chakra coursing steadily, readily through his veins from the prior surge. It might as well have

[callmelegion]

Those markings --

[ Contemplative pause. ]

I see. You must be the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. Yes, I recognize you, even over this machinery.

I don't know what you're talking about. I've never met you before.

But it is fortuitous that you've contacted me, since you are the one I am looking for.

[ Is entirely unconcerned by the jinchuuriki's ill temperament. ]

[ura_no_ura]

*He was not going to respond to this man, especially not after a dream like this, but hearing that threat -- he is not simply going to leave this alone. He flickers on screen, features, expression, hard.*

What do you want with him?