Stage 01

[  f i r s t  S T A G E  ]

WITNESS

"Hey, you." A voice, strong and full of youth. It was faint, as if coming from really far away.  But it was familiar. That much, she was sure of. There was nothing, though. She couldn't see anything, and it was dark. The voice was there, but whoever it belonged to, she couldn't see. Well, there was no point in troubling herself over it now. So she did the most sensible thing a girl could do.

She ignored it.

Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to make it go away, of course. The voice just got louder. "Jouelle." It came again, this voice in her name. This time clearer. "Jouelle." Or was it just closer? "Hey." She felt a warmth in her ear, and she frowned. "Wake up."

Startled, the young woman quickly pulled herself up from the ground and sat up, wide awake. It took a few moments for her to recollect herself and adjust the pace of her breathing. Then, mildly upset, she turned her attention up to her side and frowned accusingly at the boy bent on one knee beside her. With a slightly childish puff, she spoke. "I told you to stop doing that already, Dimitri." She hated it when he breathed directly in her ear. It gave her chills, and he knew that.

"What are you doing up here?" the young man inquired, seamlessly ignoring the accusation as he continued to watch the girl with those bored, green eyes. Eyes that told her, "It's your own fault for falling asleep so much, anyway." Jouelle returned the dull stare evenly, not answering his question nor giving in to the clearer-than-day provocation in his eyes, and instead turning her eyes back upwards and to the sky. It was a bit cloudy that morning, but the sun was bright. The wind was blowing strongly up here, on the roof, and it was calming. It was so calming, in fact, that she had fallen asleep practically the moment she lay down. It was... pleasant.

"You missed class, you know."

That was when the girl remembered, she had skipped out on their first class that day. She had come in late, and since she didn't like their instructor that morning, she decided to skip it all together. But she didn't need to explain herself. Not to this guy. "What are you doing on the roof?" she asked him, leaning her head against the wall. "Students are forbidden from this area."

"You're a student too," he deadpanned, almost before the girl even finished speaking.

Jouelle looked at him, but his expression hadn't changed. Strangely enough, however, she found herself smiling.  "Yeah," she mused softly, turning her gentle gaze from him to the sky. "I guess you're right." And she closed her eyes, letting her shoulders slack as she made herself comfortable against the cement behind her. She inhaled slowly, welcoming the cool breeze into her lungs, and embracing it. Her breathing became steady.

This place... was always just so calming. She was a bit tired from all the work she had been doing the night before, so she could probably rest here for a while. Since Dimitri was here, it probably meant that classes weren't going to start until later. I guess it would be okay to stay here... She slowly felt the sun filter from even beneath her lids... just a little bit longer...

"Stop falling asleep." The stern voice wouldn't have been enough to wake a girl like Jouelle up when she was already in that state, but unfortunately for her, the boy knew this only too well. So without warning, Dimitri had snatched her thin-framed glasses from before her eyes, swift and smoothly in one flowing movement. The sound of his heels clacking on the cement resounded as he stood from her side, his tall frame casting a shadow on the startled girl.

Jouelle frowned at him, though in her case a pout was perhaps more suited. "I'm not asleep," she protested, the lethargy in her tone unconvincing of her words. The young man paid this no heed, and seemed to ignore the girl completely. Like a child, she extended her arm to him, her fingers spread open expectantly. "Dimitri, give them back."

He stared her down with those inexpressive eyes while nonchalantly placing the stolen glasses over  those sly, emerald orbs. The wind blew his unruly, chestnut hair from his face. He turned away. "I don't want to."

"Seriously, you--" The girl cut herself off there, and she just smiled. "Fine. Let's get to class."

Dimitri smiled as well, then he turned back to her, and took her extended hand in his. Easily, she let the boy pull her up, and even as she got back on both feet he righted her up still. As she steadied her footing, Jouelle daintily patted her skirt to dust it off, and she turned to Dimitri.

"Will you give me back my glasses n--?"

"--No." He had answered before she even finished. Again.

"Eh?" This made the girl stop for a while, a little startled at his startling speed, and then she frowned in protest. "But I can hardly see without them!"

"I'll take care of it," the boy remarked seamlessly, a mysterious smile marking both his eyes and his lips.

"But--!" Jouelle was about to protest, until she saw that familiar expression on her companion's face. It was then that she realized that there was no arguing with him. She took an inward sigh, defeated, and allowed the boy to drag her along."...that again, huh? Fine. Suit yourself."

He peered down at her, amused at her reluctance, before turning his eyes away. "I've never let you down, have I?"

He was right, but she didn't bother telling him that. Any more and he'd get full of himself, she thought, but inside she knew that wasn't true. It might have applied to most guys, but not to Dimitri. She knew him that well. They'd practically grown up together, after all.

As the young man lead the girl back towards the stairs, pulling the door open as was accustomed of him and ushering her inside, he stopped midway before completely following her in. Quietly, he turned around, his usually gentle eyes cold and alert. His gaze swept across the empty rooftop, past the wire-fence and he just watched. Dimitri stood there, his eyes unusually dangerous... as if threatening the very heavens that... he knew. It was almost as if he were angry, and that was rarely ever the case.

"Dimitri, what are you doing?" Jouelle's voice seemed to have pulled him out of his reverie, and he turned to her, his expression blank. The girl frowned at him for the nth time that morning. "We're gonna be late, I can't walk by myself like this."

The young man closed his eyes a moment, and with one last glance at the open sky, he turned and closed the door behind him. "Right," he told the girl with that familiar, beaming smile of his all set for her as he met her eyes. Though she was useless without her glasses, he knew she could at least see some of him when he was this close, because she smiled back. Walking ahead of her and gently tugging at her little hand in his, Dimitri didn't again once turn back. "Let's go."

--

Not far a way, a figure of unseen identity, stood away from sight with a hand clasped above his heart. The erratic rise and fall of his silhouetted shoulders made it clear that, whoever this was, there was panic in his presence."T-that was creepy." It was the voice of a boy--no,--a young man. A rowdy one, at that.  And a  pure one. "Do you think he actually saw us?"

"No." Another voice, deeper this time--and much older. Wiser, more experienced, and calmer. "That is unlikely."

The smaller, slender silhouette turned to the taller, leaner one behind him. One can only imagine the protest in his unseen features from the tone of his poorly controlled voice. "But... but..."  Throwing his arms in the air,  the boy made clear his little panic. "But it seemed as if he was glaring right at me!" ...and inexperience.

And so, for the time being, the child was ignored. Watchful eyes in the dark watched the two figures on the roof disappear behind the closing door, and a faint gleam of a fang on a benevolent smirk flashed in the dark. "So this is the girl." The pleasure in those words could only be clear to one who knows how to hear it behind such a cold, monotonous voice. "It was all true, after all. They've found her."

The younger one, obviously confused, turned back up to the older figure after having calmed down. "Hm? What are you talking about?" No answer. "Hey, tell me what you meant!" Still nothing. "Hey, Mon--!"

"Quiet." The command was enough to cease the tantrum before it even started. The sound of footsteps echoed in the lightless enclosure, and the slight rustle of garments sounded as the taller figure turned around. "We leave now."

The boy stood there, in the dark, watching with inhumane eyes that allowed him to perceive that which the normal man would not. He recognized that tone, and he respected it. He was young, that was true, but he was learned enough to know how to respond to such a tone. There was no going against this man when he was in this... mode. It wasn't a bad thing, though. It was precisely why he had been directly assigned by that person.

At this, a grin appeared on the boy's hidden features--the slightest trace of a gleam in this place void of all light otherwise. He turned, just one more glance, in the direction of the school building to carefully peer at the two figures descending the stairs through the open window. He didn't know much at the moment, but he was certainly excited about what was without a doubt to come. Removing his eyes from the target, he turned to the sound of the fading footsteps behind him. They were chosen for this task, huh? Why that person chose him was of no question, but...

Why I'm here, he pondered, promptly following after his senior, is still a mystery, though.

And as the school bells rang, the light fell upon the ground they had stood upon. Both figures, in that instant, had gone without a trace.

Stage 00

[  n u l l  S T A G E  ]

THE PRELUDE

"You know too much."

The cold, heartless words echoed across the massive palace halls. There was no attachment in its tone, there was no emotion. There was no trace whatsoever that would say it was human, however, at the same time it could be none other than just that. Only humans were capable of delivering such empty words so cruelly. Only humans were capable of making such cruel words sound so empty. And only humans, in the end, were capable of living by such blatant contradictions so freely.

But then again, one can't exactly call them human either.

Standing over the disgraceful form of a weeping child, not a spec of pity in those colorless eyes as he stared the broken girl in front of him down, was nothing more than a young man. Dressed with the garments of a dignified class and with eyes distinct of a man of unmistakable command, his name was true and unspoken. With no hesitation in his fluid movements, he reached into a compartment of his coat and from it drew a formidable machine that could be none other than a gun. With the sound of metal clicking into place, he snapped the weapon in the weeping girl's direction, who at that moment remained oblivious to her delicate situation.

"You know what happens now, don't you?" came yet again that ruthless, unfeeling voice. "Raise your head."

The halls were dark. There was no light in the endless corridors of this castle made of pure, untainted glass. No light but for the single crimson ray that connected the gun that carried death with the forehead of that broken little girl. As she was ordered, she raised her head and met the eyes of the man before her. Those colorless, uncaring eyes met by the pain and regret weighted by the sins committed by those chocolate brown orbs. Though she no longer wept, tears streaked down her cheeks. But she spoke not a word as she looked up at the man, just waiting for what she was aware was to come

"You, who have time and time again stepped beyond the boundaries of man, seeking knowledge forbidden to you and your kind, staining not your hands alone with the blood of the living..." The sound of the metal lever resonated across the glimmering glass walls, and the whole enclosure was bathed in a dark crimson glow. "You are stripped of your name and removed of your rights. The Council has sentenced you to death. And I, Galenos Ruille Maximilian, have been charged with your execution."

It was then that the girl finally closed her eyes, a sensation of melancholic peace washing over her features. A ghost of a smile pulled at the corners of her lips, and she nodded. It was true. She had committed all those crimes, and she admitted to her sins. There was no forgiving all the things she had done. And when it came down to it, there was truly only one way to end this. With that, she opened her eyes, and gazed back up at her executioner. Her desire plain in her tired eyes and with no more need for words.

I want it to end.

"I understand," she said then, her voice soft and weak as she spoke. His finger wrapped around the trigger, the man aimed for the center of the girl's head, staring her down still with no hesitation in his soul. He saw the sadness, the loneliness in the girl's eyes. But there was nothing he could do about it now. There was nothing he could do but this. To end it once and for all. With just one, clean shot... he could end it all.

As if she could feel the cold touch of death brushing her shoulders, beckoning for her arrival, the girl nodded silently. She closed her eyes again, forcing a smile on her features as she just laid there, kneeling helplessly on the ground. Tears flowed anew down her already stained cheeks, and she turned up almost happily to the young man before her. "Bye bye, Gaile."

Gunshot, its sound and presence, consumed the glass halls of this lightless castle. The crimson glow faded into the dark, and the soft thump of a fallen soul went with it. There was no longer the sound of the little girl's weeping, nor her breath, nor her heartbeat in these halls. There was no more but the untamed presence of the man with the gun, with the life of that child, broken in his hand.

There was no more but the vermilion stain that pooled upon the once pure, untainted glass floors of this holy palace as the executioner swiftly turned on his heel and descended these empty halls, fading away as the glass --as everything--shattered in his wake, to disappear and never again return to this desolate sanctuary that had once been a place they could have all called home.