That night while my angel slept I sensed that stupid wrench of a sea-witch Anastasia was bribing Jareth to come to her house. He had wanted a Fallen Wish, and now that she had it for him she wanted him there for a specific reason: She’d found out how to learn more about my past…and the reasons I may have taken Melissa. She sent the lizard terd to Jareth’s castle to tell him to come to her grotto ASAP. “The Fallen Wish is payment for my services I presume,” Jareth said. He knew her plans….and so did I. She was going to go into the Realm of Dreams and find me…or possibly my ultimate forbear. I would be the one she would see though…and I’d make sure she’d stay away from my angel and me! As I prepared to go to the realm of dreams I saw something around her neck in the image I had in my head. I saw a ruby locket around that wrench’s neck. The locket I ride myself of years ago…when I began my life in darkness. “I also presume you did not come across that locket by accident.” Jareth said. “Fae jewelry is fairly rare in the human world. I’m surprised that you came across such a prizable piece.” I had thrust it into the sea when I ride myself of it….she must of found it. And though I did not like the locket…I didn’t want her having it. It was going to cause problems if she had it. But how did she get it. “I went to Kaname and Zero and it was among the documents they gave me.” Kaname and Zero…Melissa’s brothers?
DAMN IT! Those two helped her find it. I guess I knew how Melissa first heard of my ultimate forbear now. That or she knew about him some other way. “Flotsam identified it as fae made, so we knew that you could tell us more about it. It has ‘Learn to be Lonely” inscribed on the back of it and a picture of what we assume is Erik’s family inside.” I was on the edge of my piano seat ready to have a ******** hard attack! That cursed locket. Now she was going to seek answers. If that’s what the childish brat wanted…I’d give her that! I’d give her answers! “Ah. And you wish to seek answers to your questions in a place where anything is possible.” Jareth said. Of course that’s what she wanted you moron. He walked over to one of the two marble slabs of the far right shore of the brat’s grotto. She’d been ready all along. I’d meet her in the realm of dreams then. I laughed like a man gone insane, and then stopped, not wanting to wake Melissa. I went to the bedroom, and laid down. I then fell asleep, and went to the world of dreams. When I opened my eyes I was in silence. A snow-covered graveyard. This setting would frighten most in the world of light. Wimps. I was on top of a mausoleum. I saw Anastasia looking around at the tombstones. Ha! She thought she’d find her phantom…my forbear. I’d let her see him. Fool her to think it was him. I used magic to change my eye color. Now I looked just like him. The only difference in our appearances was that our eyes were not the same color. Now to pull her towards me. Make her think she had found my ultimate forebear. In the silent graveyard, and in the quite snow. I began to sing.Wandering child, so lost, so helpless.
Yearning for my guidance.
She knew the voice only as my ultimate forebear though our voices had a distinct difference she didn’t notice. She sang back. She had a little skill with singing….very little. She’d never be as good as my angel though. She’d only be good as a chorus girl while my angel would be the lead singer.
Angel or master,
Friend or phantom,
Who is it there staring?
She really thought I was her angel…her phantom of the opera. My ultimate forebear. HAHAHA! She was pathetic! She was falling into my trap perfectly. I watched as she looked around for the voice. Heh! She was so pathetic. She would pay for her stupidity very soon. Melissa was not naive. Ana was at least a year older or a year younger if not the same age as Melissa. Melissa could have naive moments…but not like Ana did. Ana had them every other minute apparently. Now she will have to pay for that nerviness. “Have you forgotten your angel?” I asked her in song.
Angel! Oh speak
What endless longings
Echo in this whisper?
Ugh. This brat was way off key. She was off by a pitch or two. Melissa could get this easily. Ana you are and always will be a disgrace to the world of music!
Too long you’ve wandered in winter,
Far from my fathering gaze
She was going to pay for both her nerviness, and her bad voice. No one ruins my music and gets away with it! NOT IN MY BOOK! “Wildly my mind beats against you.” She sang in her off key tone. She was scared. I could sense it. I could feed off of that fear.
You resist
Yet the soul obeys/Yet your soul obeys
Angel of Music I denied you/Angel of Music you denied me
Turning from true beauty.
Angel of Music, my protector/Angel of Music, do not shun me
Come to me strange angel/Come to your strange angel.
She was resisting, yet she couldn’t help but obey. She was no Angel of Music. Melissa was far better. More pretty. More beautiful as pretty was practically an insult to Melissa radiant beauty. Anastasia could never match up to her. Our song ended. Thank god! I didn’t know how much more of her hideous voice I could take. “I am your Angel of Music. Come to me Angel of Music.” She seemed to forget her friend at this point. She was thinking what did she care what I was doing to Melissa. That she thought she’d found her own angel and nothing could tear her away from me. So stupid she was. She failed to see that it was Lelouch! “No, Anastasia wait!” Jareth shouted. “Wait!” Ana and I looked up to see Jareth approaching out of the distance. “Jareth, there you are,” Ana said. “Where were you?! I thought you’d abandoned me.” In his response, he ran up to her and hugged her close. His gloved hang gently brushed her cheek. “I thought I had almost lost you.” He stared into her pathetic eyes. I couldn’t allow this. She needed to pay for trying to interfere with my love, and for her nerviness and horrible voice that sounded like a cat begging for mercy! And I needed that locket away from her. It was going to cause problems if I didn’t. “Get away from her!” I shouted at Jareth. Anastasia pushed Jareth away and drew her sword, which she must of brought with her from the real world. I jumped down from the roof of the mausoleum above her and Jareth.
Her sword was simple in it’s construction. It was a silver rapier with a slandered French grip, but I knew that even the simple kind of weapons could work in marvelous ways. Anyone knew that (accept for Ana apparently…such a naive stupid girl) “Jareth, run!” She told him urgently. I drew my sword in response and began advancing towards her. If a fight is what she wanted then FINE! Even if I had to kill her to get the locket back I would! She blocked every thrust I threw at her, and she backed away. She was looking for an opening to get to me. Ha! Not happening. I backed her into the low stone wall, but she aimed for my head. Damn it! I’d given her an opening. I ducked and tried to cut her from below. I couldn’t let her find another opening. She jumped off the wall and landed rather hideously on the snowy ground. She had no grace. I followed, with much more grace then she’d ever have in her life, and then we engaged in attacking again. She backed up as far as she could, not noticing a root from a tree, and fell over. I aimed for her ugly little head but I hit the tree branch missing her and giving her a chance to recover. She stood up and swiped at me. This was rather foolish and I easily batted it away, but then she trapped my sword under hers and thrust them both into the metalwork of a nearby grave. She got to look at my sword before I shoved her aside and lunged at her again. My sword was also a sliver rapier with a French grip, but at the hilt of the sword was shaped like a human skull. It had been my ultimate forbear’s. And it would be the sword I’d kill her with.
I circled her, parrying her blows, and then ducked behind a grave. She went around the other side. She was waiting for me to reappear. She let out a scream as she blocked my downward thrust that would have killed her if she hadn’t heard me coming from behind her. She just wouldn’t give up. She had no reason to live damn it. I advanced, and even though her thrust were parried away she could tell I was weakening. I was tiered. I hadn’t fought in combat in so long I was rusty. I spun in a circle, my dark cape swirling around me, sword poised at her neck height. She ducked and then yelped in pain as I sliced her left arm. She circled around behind me, aiming to get away, but I would not give up even if I was tiered. I pushed her back with sideways swipes, which she easily parried but she couldn’t help feeling that I was holding back on her. HA! No way! She thrust hard into my sword, forcing them to the ground but she fell down as she did so. Ha! Bad move, I kicked her sword out of her hand and pinned her beneath me, raising my sword to stab at her chest and end her miserable life. But she wasn’t afraid for some reason. “NO, ERIK!” Jareth yelled. We’d been so engaged in our fight we’d forgot he was there. I turned to face him. “Stay out of this, Jareth.” I practically barked. Then, I leaned closer to Ana, and whispered, “I don’t think I recall you ever having any boyfriends, Ana. When you voiced your affections to me (more like horrible and pathetic), you swore that you would love me and no other.” She stared deeply into my blue eyes and said, “And I will always love you like no other. You were my first love and I could never forget you. Other men may pass through my life, but you will always have a special place in my heart. I would kiss you if you would get off me.” She pointed to her chest. Ugh. I didn’t want a kiss from this wrench. She was not worthy of me.! She couldn’t sing, she had no life, and on top of that she interfered with my love and I. She still thought I was my ultimate forebear.
I stood and sheathed my sword. I think Jareth knew it was really Lelouch and not my ultimate forebear though. “That’s just it,” I said still pretending to be my forbear. “If I kiss you now, how will I know that Jareth won’t try to kiss you again?” She got up and walked over to me, grabbing her sword as she spoke. “I swear on my word as your student that Jareth is already engaged to another.” I looked into her eyes, where honesty stared back at me, and nodded. She was so easy to fool. Then my eyes went to her breast pocket. “Give it back to me.” I demanded remembering objective. I held my hand out expectantly. She reached into the pocket and, she handed it to me. “Thank you,” I said. “this is the last thing I own that was from my mother. She had it commissioned for me when I was still a child, and most fae children don’t receive anything from their fae heritage until at least 13 years of age. I thought that she genuinely loved me, for once.” I said. “But oh, how cruel fate can be. My father died the same year (this was lie… I don’t know what happened to him) it was finished and she left me soon after. She had never loved me she said. (another lie she never told me she didn’t…it was just obvious), that she had only stayed with me for my father’s sake (lie). Her darkest desires, she told me, were what gave me life and that I should never see her again lest she succumb in full of those same desires.” (all lies). Ana embraced me as if I were going to shatter. I was discussed I didn’t want her filthy hands touching me. But I had to act as I was my ultimate forbear. I forced myself to embrace her back and she pulled me into a kiss to rival the one that Jareth had given her. Now I was more discussed. WERENCH I HAD MELISSA! GET YOUR FILTY LIPS AND ARMS OFF OF ME! I had to relax myself…make her still think I was my ultimate forbear. I heard the sound of Jareth returning her and I to the real world presently. Good! Now I could get away from this whore. “No! I don’t want to leave!” She turned to me, as I slowly faded away. “You are lucky that I love you,” I lied (I love Melissa b***h…back off I AM TAKEN!) “My great great grandson will not hold back.” She didn’t seem to hear me say “great great grandson” though. “Wait! Who is your ___?” She called out, but then I faded away, and she was awake again.
When I arrived back at the lair Melissa was still asleep. When I first entered though I thought she was awake…because she was talking to someone or something. Come to realize she was just talking in her sleep. I was saddened when I walked in the room though. She was talking about Mat in her sleep. That stupid a** blue haired twit. What did she see in him. He was just like all the other demon’s in the world of light. Cruel son of a b***h’s. I wouldn’t permit her to be with him. Mostly because she belonged to me. And secondly I would not let my precious angel get hurt because of him. “Mat…” She said. I clutched a fist. He would not have her. He couldn’t have her. She belonged to me! I laied next to her all morning as she slept. Thinking of ways to ride myself of that blue haired donkey for good. I couldn’t allow him to interfere with mine and Melissa’s love. If she started having stronger feelings for him then this would lead to her getting hurt again. Her leaving me and being infatuated-carried of by foolish love-and then as soon as that twit had her all buttered up and feeling special…what would he do? RIPE HER HEART OUT! Cause her more pain then she was already in. I wouldn’t allow this to happen. I didn’t want my angel to leave me, and I didn’t want to see her get hurt either. She’d been hurt to many times. I didn’t want to see her crushed again. The world had been cruel enough to her. I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Melissa moan. She turned over a little and her eyes fluttered open. “Heh, your interesting to watch when you sleep. You talk.” I said, acting like nothing was bothering me. I think she saw through me though. She blushed. I guess she didn’t know she talked when she slept. She looked a little pale, and sick. “Are you feeling well?” I asked her. She smiled weakly at me. “I feel fine.” She said. She sat up in bed, but I think she moved to fast because she looked dizzy from the movement. “Just a little dizzy.” She tried to assure me. She stood up from the bed, her legs wabbling I noticed, and she tried to walk to the bathroom. I kept my eyes on her, ready to lunge forward should she collapse.
Suddenly she grabbed the dresser for support, and fell. I lunged and caught her in my arms. “Obviously not.” I said, lifting her up into my arms. “It’s just a little dizzyness. I’m fine…really.” She said. I reached for her forehead to see if she had a tempeture. “Burning up.” I said. I carried and layed her in the swan shaped bed. I pulled the velvet sheets over her. “How many finger’s am I holding up?” I asked. She closed her eyes a little as to get a better look. “Four…” She said. “Two.” I corrected her. “Just rest. I’ll get you some breakfast.” I left the room. How could she love that blue haired idiot? Or feel anything for him? She must of noticed something was bothering me. I prepared her some eggs, toast, and bacon as I thought. I had to get ride of that blue haired twit. He was ripping me and Melissa apart. He was like a posion trying to destroy our love! I wouldn’t and couldn’t allow it! “I bear no feelings for him.” Melissa said as I walked back into the room. I handed her her breakfast, and stared at her a little confussed. “Mat…” She said. “I harbor no feelings for Mat.” She picked at her plate of eggs and bacon. I sighed. “I love you.” She said staring at me. I looked at her a little surprised. How could anyone love a beast. I was a hideous beast. She had seen my face. How could she still love me? “You love me even though I’m a monster?” I asked her. “Your not a monster.” She said. “your just a lonely angel, hurt by society, and banned from heaven. Condemned to walk the cruel Earth until you find love with someone who can accept you for who you are.” I stared at her, and then my gaze fell to my hands. “I still haven’t found her.” I said. She couldn’t love me. She was afraid deep down. And she was feeling for Mat. She took hold of my chin, and lifted my head up. She was looking into my masked face. She stroked the half of my face that was unmasked. “Yes you have.” She said. “Your looking at her.” She said. I smiled, and I felt a tear escape the corner of my eye. I quickly straightened myself up, and pulled her close to me. I felt her cheeks getting warmer. Then I let go, and laid her back down in the bed. I took the fork and picked up some of the eggs up, then pushed them into her mouth. Feeding her like a baby. “Eat.” I said.
When she was done she laid down in the bed, and I pulled the covers over her. She fell asleep fast to the sound of me singing my “Music of the Night” in her ears. When she finally fell out of it completely, I got up and decided to go work on my music. As I tried to work on a lullaby for Melissa I found myself unable to focus. That blue haired monkey was on my mind again. I had to get ride of him somehow. How? He was going to keep looking until he found Melissa and could steal her away. Then he would hurt her. How could I eliminate him for good. Presently I heard Melissa jerk up in the bed. I used my magic to see what she had seen in her dream: Her killing Mat when I ordered her too…without using me Geass on her. THAT WAS IT! I could get her to kill him. She loved me so she would feel obliged to obey. I didn’t really want her to be a murder. But she was also half convinced she couldn’t trust anyone but me….so would she kill him if I asked her to? Melissa wasn’t the fighting or murder type. I played a few keys on the piano. Then I heard her jump out of the bed, jerking the bed sheets off of her from the sounds of it. I heard her running to the bathroom, and almost sounding into anything in her way where she was dizzy. Then I heard her, from what it sounded, throwing up in the toilet. I got up deciding to go check on her, and rose from my seat. I heard her flush the toilet, and then her over at the sink a the water came on. She always found water to be very soothing when something was bothering her. “Are you ok?” I asked her. She jerked her head up and looked at me. She looked like she had a migran, and I could tell she’d been covered in cold sweat. “Uh…um yeah.” She stuttered. “My nerves just got to me.” “Must have…” I said. “I could hear you over the piano.” She blushed my favorite scarlet color. “I wasn’t aiming to distract you…” She said. I was puzzled.
“No. No, you didn’t. I was just…working on a lullaby for you..” I said. “A…lullaby?” She asked. “I thought your song ‘The Music of the Night’ was my lullaby.” I chuckled at her. “Yes, it is. But part of what makes me want to compose another one is because you inspire me.” I said, and smiled at her. “Your blushing.” I pointed out. “Why?” She could feel the blush in her cheeks too. “Well…because…I don’t…understand what it is about me that inspires you.” She said, looking down at her feet, and fiddling with her hair. I approached her, and chuckled. “A mermaid princess…a girl who can sing as if an angel had descended from heaven. An angel who’s touch would heal, and sooth any man’s pains…An angel sent from heaven to suffer on earth though she is an ugly beast to all those on earth. Sweet, gentle, and pure angel who only wants love.” I said. I took my index finer and thumb, and lifted her head. Making her gaze go from her feet to my face. “This angel I speak of…is in front of me. You, my Angel of Music, who cares for me when no other would. You, my Lady of the Waters, who inspires me so much. You, my Fair Lady of the Moon, who reflects night itself. Before you, Melissa, my life was like a moonless night.” Her cheeks and entire face were now a hot scarlet color where she was embarrassed. “You are my night, and my moon.” I said. My eyes closed, and I leaned in closer to her (only making her blush more) “You are…everything…I need.” Then our lips meet one another. Her face was very warm. The blushing was the reason for that. Her lips were soft…tender….perfect. “I feel so unworthy of your lips.” She said, taking a step or two back. I stared puzzled. “Why so…if I may ask?” I said. “Ask me anything.” She said blushing. “Then why do you feel so unworthy of me?” I repeated. “Because you are a saint…a god. And I’m…just…” She trailed off. “Not, Angel. Don’t speak of yourself that way.” I said. She looked at me. “‘If I profane with my unworthy hand, this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.’” This sentence I spoke was a line from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5. “‘Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, when mannerly devotion shows in this; for saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, and palm to palm is hold palmer’s kiss.’” She said following with the dialogue I was.
I picked her up, and carried her back to our room, then sat her down on her feet. We brought the palms of our hands together, and then let them drop. I started to edge towards her, teasingly, and she backed away towards the bed behind her.” I chuckled. “‘Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too’” I asked. “‘Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.’” She said. “‘O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do! They pray; grant thou, least faith turn to despair.’” I said. Melissa fell backwards onto the bed, and wad I got on top of her as if I had pinned down a animal that I had hunted. She giggled. Oh how I loved hearing that giggle. “‘Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake.’” She said. I gave a chuckle. “‘Then move not while my prayer’s effect I take. Thus from my lips, by thine my sin is purged.” I said. I lend forward again, and gently kissed her smooth, and gentle lips. “‘Then have my lips the sin that they have took.’” She said. “‘Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.’” I said, kissing her again. “‘You kiss by the book.’” She said. We laughed. “And with this kiss,” I said no longer quoting Shakespeare. “My deadly sin is purged.” I leaned in again, and then her lips and mine molded together. This wasn’t just any kiss either. This was one of those slow, deep passionate kisses. The kind that you never want to end. We pulled each other as close as possible. (Mat would be jealous…HA! She’s mine blue haired twit) She wrapped her arms around the back of my neck, and I placed mine around her waist. It seemed to go on forever before we finally pulled out of the kiss, me still holding her in my arms, around her waist. She laid against my chest, and soon she fell asleep again. (I loved how she seemed to tire out so easily). Later while I sat next to Melissa in the bed watching her sleep trying to think of how to get Melissa to kill Mat, I noticed her suddenly jerk up in the bed. “Feeling any better?” I asked. She looked at me. “Lelouch! Y-you startled me!” She exclaimed.
“Sorry.” I chuckled. “Your covered in cold sweat. Bad dream?” “Yes.” She breathed. Her stomach growled then, and she blushed. “Maybe some lunch would be good.” I laughed sweeping her up into my arms. “Definitely!” She said. “I’m starved!” “I know. I could tell from when your stomach growled.” I laughed again. Our lunch was delicious…and peaceful. When we finished cleaning up I approached Melissa. “Melissa, I have a mission for you.” I said. I’d decided that I would have her kill Mat. She stared at me confused. I pulled my dagger out of my pocket, and she seemed to be frightened. “What…kind of mission?” She asked. I handed her the dagger. “I want you to take this dagger,” I said. “And go find your friend Mat. And when you do…your to take this dagger…and strike his heart with it!” She looked as if she would collapse from shock. “Why?!” She cried. “He’s done nothing wrong!” I tenderly kissed her lips. “He’s a threat to our relationship…our love.” I told her. “He’s a poison that aims to destroy our love!” I turned away from her. “But he doesn’t even know where I…we are!” She cried out. I could hear the fright in her voice. “He’ll keep searching.” I said. Then I left to work on my music. She sunk to her ground shaking, and stared at the dagger in her right hand. A tear escaping the corner of her eye. I wanted to go comfort her. But this was going to be done. Mat had to be taken care of.
To be continued in Chapter 44...
