Brelione//DruigxOC

what is happening to me?

A/N: this is where the pain begins

makkari decides that sewing one garment is enough for the day, dragging me from the room that i've taken over for sewing, pulling me to my room. and as much as i want to go back and tell her that i must work, she's right. and i love sleep. it takes no convincing for me to get under the warm covers of my bed, her sitting with a book as she waits for sleep to consume me.

i cant fight it off, i'm far too exhausted. my hands are cramping from so much sewing, eyes falling closed as sleep weighs me down, pulling me into dreams that i cannot understand.

with druig unaware of my slumber, a dream comes crawling into my mind. not the soft, bright ones of joy and love that come around more than once a night. one in which the orange light is back, the strings of power pulling at me like a puppet on strings.

my body is filled with a sense of something like fear though it is not that. it is something that many may consider far worse, the feeling of numbness. of knowing you should feel something, grief or fury. but your mind holds nothing, you simply watch.

my hand, it moves in a way that i would not. my fingers curl as light grips them, moving it along as it pleases. it's like a gold hand, taking mine as i finally feel something. powerful, mighty. everything that the humans think i am, suddenly it is part of me. guiding me along, to where our world meets theirs.

the dark wall does nothing to keep me out, separated by soft threads, pulling me to where the world burns. humans are nothing but tiny sillouhettes here, mindless as they follow something that they are unsure of, obeying it with spears in their palms and battle cries in their throats. war, i realise.

the same one that used to visit me so often. pops and screams fill my ears like painful music, no matter how far away i am it will follow. and that hand of gold that seemed so kind and comforting has morphed into a sinister presence. one that holds me down, unable to escape from its grip as the fire becomes greater, pulling my arms until they are held in front of me.

"you can do this."it says. not in the soft, comforting tone of a nurturing figure. it's one that's encouraging, encouraging me to bring hell to the world that does not deserve it. to follow along with its plan, to do what it wants. i am the puppet. and for once in my life i know what the orange light is. it is i.

it's a boring day for sprite until ikaris comes along. he's always an entertainment, whether he means to be or not. and today, he is. back from being styled, face completely red and telling the orange haired eternal to shut up before she has even begun. hands over his crotch as he sits down, making her laugh so hard she cannot breath. "shut it!"he repeats. "you disgust me."they say simply, shaking their head. "you know what disgusts me?"he asks, eyebrows raised as he prepares a speech that sprite just knows will be good.

this probably means that ajak isn't available when he must vent about his favorite subject. brelione. a devilish grin on her face as her fingers hit the stone in a rhythm to build up suspense, waiting for him to speak. she is so very sure that it's going to start off with a complaint about humans. but today, oh, today she is wrong. "that everyone else gets to be so joyous and i have to live like this."he huffs.

"oh, the horror of looking like a supermodel and being able to fly. you could have anyones hand in marriage, man, woman, english speaking or not. yet you complain?"she asks. she just doesn't get it. why can't anyone get it? it wasn't about looks or languages or anything of a sort. it was about druig. it was about everything. "it's not about how i look, sprite!"he yells. he's glad that the domo is so large and that this particular space is soundproof.

phastos' lab that must remain soundproof so that the others couldn't hear the clinking and clacking of metal all night. fingers pinching his nose bridge, he sighs. "i'm sorry, i didn't mean to yell."he says. "what's it about, then? tell me. in one word."she says. "druig."he answers. he doesn't even have to think about it, it's right at his brain. she nods, slowly with a sigh. "you're not him, that's the problem. there's nothing you can do about that."she says, nonchalantly as she twirls a golden hoop along her finger.

in endless circles, around in a round as it sings a little song. "what do i do? try harder? it's all so frustrating! and i must stay here with a smile on my face as they get to be happy and content! do you know what that's like?"he asks. that's the comment that gets her blood boiling, hoop falling to the floor. "look at me. look. at. me. i am stuck like this forever. how old do you think i could pass as? at absolute oldest? huh? fourteen, maybe. how do you think that makes me feel? how do you think i feel in this body that looks nothing like who i am? when you look at me, what do i look like?"they ask.

"a girl? a boy? a man? what am i?"they ask again. ikaris looks back, not knowing the answer to such a question. "well that i cannot tell by looking at you."he replies. licking her teeth, watery eyes, they nod. "and what do you think a human says? that i am a little twelve year old that is too young to understand. and what do humans think of you?"they ask, water in the irises reducing to nothing. he feels bad, guilty for complaining about his sad love life while sprite has nothing at all.

"and what do you think the humans think about brelione?"she asks. "they think what you want them to, with the illusions."he says. it's so hard, speaking to sprite now that he's had the realization of how simple his life is. she laughs, shaking her head. "illusions only do so much, ikaris. do you know how many times i have tried to be someone else?"she asks. tried to be brelione. tried to be ikaris, tried to be kingo.

just to get that bit of positive attention, admiration, attraction. and she could pass as ikaris and kingo, but even after years of practice she still couldn't get brelione right. "do you know why you can't get brelione right?"ikaris asks, spooking his friend as she hadn't said that out loud. he answers his own question, sighing. "it's because her magic runs deeper than just powers. you take away her spells and magic and flower making and she's still the same old brelione. she can't be replicated, it is her that is magic, body and soul. it's impossible to match, the way her personality comes into her appearance. and that is why you can never get her right, you're only trying to copy her surface."he explains.

sprite stares back, searching their mind for a remark when one finally blossoms. "sounds familiar, you know why she loves druig so much?"they ask. ikaris hums, waiting for her to continue. it feels like a suspense is building up in the eerie silence as he awaits an answer, before she finally whispers that she has no clue. "this is incredibly depressing."she huffs. it lightens the mood, just enough that ikaris chuckles. "you don't say."he replies. the eerie silence is about to return, to fall over the two like a blanket that will seal this conversation shut. but that is before all hell breaks loose within the domo.

a hand grabs me, one of flesh and not light, one that's light and calm, one that belongs to a friend not foe. i look immediately to the owner of the hand, the face belonging to my dear friend makkari. her face is full of concern and confusion, the orange light moving against my wishes as it pulls on her. it's the hand of the puppeteer that grabs her, making my throat burn in a scream that terrifies me just as it does her. and the burn is all too real, all to painful, all too red as my eyes burst open.

even makkari cannot keep me from falling forward, into my blanket as i catch my breath from the shock. she looks along my body, in search of wounds that aren't there, hand in my hair as she tries to comfort me. i learn, from the burn in my throat and the footsteps against the hall to my door that the scream was real.

and the swirls of smoke in the air tell me that the strings of orange came with it, had cut only a few millimetres into the stone before dying out. the door bursts open, letting in a number of eternals. and for a moment, i feel that sense of power again. but it's real this time, no longer in the dream world. "brelione?"a voice calls, though it is muffled and distant. what is happening to me?

hope you enjoyed the chapter!! let me know your thoughts and theories. sorry for all those i've hurt because of this chapter. xoxo-H.