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31_days2006-02-28 06:39 pm
noble-scarlet.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2006-02-28 06:39 pm
[Feb. 28th: return my heart when I am dead] [Encantadia/Etheria] A Lonely Voice
Title: A Lonely Voice
Day/Theme: Feb. 28th; return my heart when I am dead
Series: Encantadia/Etheria
Character/Pairing: Ybarro x Alena
Rating: PG
When morning dawns over Encantadia, she rises from the bed and takes a place by the eastern window, where the morning sunlight slowly creeps in.
The movement wakes her sister, who hastens to her side, holding her arm to steady her.
"Are you sure you can manage, Alena? You should rest," Danaya tells her.
Alena shakes her head. "I'm fine. Help me get closer to the window, Danaya."
Once, she could walk to the window by herself, with no trouble at all. Once she could run, she could fight. But Alena's body was weak now-- her skin was almost blue in its pallor. She barely had the strength to stand, but she did so, every morning of the past year.
From the window she could see Sapiro's courts, the colorful marketplace, and the wall that defended the kingdom. Beyond that was the forest; further still was Etheria, the impenetrable kingdom.
Alena took a breath.
"I'm not sure you should keep at this, Alena," Danaya said softly. "Every day of the past year you've tried, but nothing ever happens..."
Alena smiled weakly. "I have to keep trying. If I don't, I would have lost him then, don't you see?" She cast her eyes to the rising sun and cast a silent plea to Emre.
Then she began to sing.
Despite her physical weakness, her voice remained as pure and as clear as it had always been. For the past year, Sapiro woke up to her siren song: a song of love, of loss, and of longing.
Alena sang her heart out, only in the hopes that her only love would hear her.
An entire year had passed since the First War; an entire year that Alena and her sisters were bound to this accursed time, with no way of getting home after their failure to capture the Golden Hourglass, their failure to save Cassandra, to save Encantadia. Amihan was devastated at the loss of her daughter's daughter, Pirena was infuriated from their defeat, Danaya was only further angered, but Alena... she was heartbroken. She had seen, out at war, how Ybarro had killed many of his fellow Sapiryan, following his blind love for the Etherian called Odessa.
When the War was lost, the Sang'gres retreated to Sapiro, the only kingdom that Etheria was unable to trample. The Etherians returned to their kingdom, taking Ybarro with them.
The Sang'gres were forced into hiding, not wanting to endanger the citizens further. Without the Gem of Hope, they had no power to defend themselves with. But every morning, Alena went to the window, and directed her voice to Etheria, believing with all he heart that if Ybarro heard her song, his memory would return, and his love for her with it.
But as each day passed and Ybarro never came, Alena grew weak in body as well as spirit. She lost her strength and her will to live, little by little each day. Before her sisters' very eyes Alena seemed to age years and years, and they could do nothing to stop it. All the happiness drained from her.
Danaya listened with some sadness to her sister's song. Alena's voice carried over Sapiro, over the forests-- whispered by the wind to the trees and by the trees to the whole of Encantadia. And she hoped, fervently, that this day, it might penetrate Etheria's walls.
Ito ang awit na babago sa puso mo
Dinggin mo ang tinig ko
Tunay bang ako'y nilisan mo?
Nilimot ang pag-ibig kong
Naghihintay pa rin sa 'yo
Naghihintay sa pagbabalik mo
Pakinggan mo, panalangin ko
Kilalanin ng puso mo ang awit ko
And in Etheria, the man they called Alexus was dreaming a most pleasant dream.
He closed his eyes tighter from the sun shining into his eyes, wanting to hold to the dream, to the echo of a beautiful voice, singing of lost love. Half-awake, he held on selfishly--
-- and saw the face of the diwata called Alena.
And somehow didn't seem to mind that his hands fisted in her hair as he kissed her, that he held her close desperately.
Then something snapped and he opened his eyes to see Odessa's smile.
And he wondered why he was vaguely dissatisfied with that.
~~
The King of Sapiro, Meno, received word that the Sapiryan marketplace, usually a colorful, bustling place of activity, was as empty and quiet as a graveyard that day.
"There is no one, my King," reported the guard. "The people did not open their shops, and very few came out of their houses."
"But why?" Meno wondered.
"Perhaps it is because of the diwata's song."
"Alena's song?" Meno repeated. "Why? Alena's beautiful voice has always inspired and mesmerized our people. What could be the matter?"
"My Lord, it would be best if you heard it yourself."
Meno walked out to the palace courtyard, where a song could be clearly heard. As he listened to the haunting melody, Meno could feel his heart breaking.
And then he understood. Hidden in the beautiful song was a most sorrowful truth: Alena was dying, and all who heard the song was grieving for her.
~~
"Alena, please, save your strength," cautioned Amihan softly.
"It's no use, Amihan," said Pirena. "Just let her be."
"Pirena!" exclaimed Danaya. "How could you say such a thing? Alena is-- she's--"
"She's happy when she sings," said Pirena. "Who are we to deprive her of her only pleasure?"
"But--"
Pirena's stern look had Danaya quieting down. All three Sang'gres watched their sister by the window, still singing of her broken heart.
Then, Alena's grip on the sill weakened, and she swayed dangerously-- Pirena was the first at her side, holding her arm to steady her.
"I'm all right, Pirena," Alena said softly.
"You should rest now," Pirena told her, leading her back to the bed.
Alena had no strength to argue as Danaya and Amihan tucked her in.
"Can I still sing?" Alena asked.
Amihan kissed her on the forehead and brushed away her hair-- and the lone tear that fell across her cheek. "Of course... of course you can sing."
So Alena continued to sing, her sisters not having the heart to stop her. This time the sight was heartwrenching. Alena sang with obvious effort-- her clear voice quivered at times. Danaya was weeping openly now, unashamed to hide her sorrow. The butterflies had come, and they were going to take Alena away.
That in itself was not as heartbreaking as the knowledge that Alena would not fight them at all.
~~
The wind whispered Alena's song to the trees, who whispered it to the flowers, who sang it to the butterflies, who went from flower to flower, until they sang it to a white blossom, and whispered the plea into Alexus' heart.
"I'm going out," he said shortly to Odessa, and left in such a hurry that she could not stop him.
There was a restlessness in him, a strange craving, a wanting, a needing of something-- someone. He decided he'd walk it off in the forest where he most felt at home. He didn't know anything about his past, but he imagined that he had grown up in the forest, one with it as well as in it.
And as he walked the trees whispered amongst themselves and called the wind, who brought him the echo of the song in his dream.
Maghihintay, maghihintay
Buhay ko'y sa 'yo lamang inaalay
Ikaw lamang, noon, ngayon
Lumipas man ang mahabang panahon
Ikaw lamang ang aking dasal
Ikaw lamang ang nag-iisang minahal
Sa bawat umaga, sa bawat paggising
Umaasang magbabalik sa akin
Narito, kunin mo'ng puso ko
Dinggin ang tinig ko
Dinggin mo'ng tinig ko
Dinggin ang pagsamo...
He followed the voice to the kingdom of Sapiro, and slipped unnoticed inside the kingdom of his enemies. He followed the voice to a small house with a high tower, and opened the unlocked door.
The Sang'gres gaped as he came into view.
"Ybrahim!" Amihan exclaimed. He drew his sword.
"Pashnea!" yelled Pirena, unable to take it anymore. She gripped her own sword and pointed it at him. "How dare you!"
"Who is the songstress?" he demanded. "Why is she invading my dreams? Why is she invading my heart?
"Fool!" Danaya cried. "Alena has always been in your heart, and you were too blind to see it!"
And all throughout the shouts and the cursing, Alena's song could be heard, clearer than daylight.
"Where is she?" he demanded. "Where?"
"You don't deserve to see her," Danaya said. "You don't deserve her, you never did."
"WHERE IS SHE?" he roared. The Sang'gres kept their silence. He followed the voice up a flight of high, rounded stairs. When he reached the top, he stopped at the doorway to stare.
A lone figure was lying on the bed in the center of the room, surrounded by a thousand fluttering, glittering butterflies. Her hair was brown, her skin was pale, and her eyes were those that belonged to a sea-goddess--
"Ybarro," Alena whispered. "I knew you would come."
And at the mention of that name-- Ybarro-- all his memories, all his feelings, returned, so that he stared, horrified, at his wife-- his beautiful wife, his only love, his one true light-- Alena-- Alena, she was dying and it couldn't be it couldn't be it couldn't be--
He rushed to her side, gripped her hands so tight that his knuckles turned white. "Alena-- Alena-- what have I done?"
She smiled at him, and it broke his heart. "I knew you would come... I knew, that if I believed in it enough, that if I believed in you... and you came, Ybarro... you came."
"I came," he repeated. "I'm here. Please don't die."
And from his chest there was a slowly emanating glow of soft green. And he could hear all the words that Alena sang, all of her pleas for his return, all of her hopes and all of her love, begin to pour out of him, back into her body.
The heart she had been singing out was returning to her.
Ybarro began to cry.
"Alena... don't leave me..."
Her eyes were slowly starting to close. "Ybarro... I love you. E corre diu."
He clenched a fist and started waving the butterflies away. "No! Go away! You're not taking her! None of you are taking her away!"
Alena's grip on his hands was weakening.
"Alena... hold on to me. Hold on. You're not going anywhere... not anywhere without me. I love you. Please stay. Stay here. Hold on."
Pirena, Amihan and Danaya had long since followed and were watching the scene with overflowing sadness. They were all crying helplessly, unable to move.
"I love you, Ybarro..."
And those words of love were the Sang'gre Alena's final words, spoken on her last breath.
This is death--
Without warning, without a sound--
It takes without ceremony, and takes only that which it owns
And not even love could save her.
~fin.
Day/Theme: Feb. 28th; return my heart when I am dead
Series: Encantadia/Etheria
Character/Pairing: Ybarro x Alena
Rating: PG
When morning dawns over Encantadia, she rises from the bed and takes a place by the eastern window, where the morning sunlight slowly creeps in.
The movement wakes her sister, who hastens to her side, holding her arm to steady her.
"Are you sure you can manage, Alena? You should rest," Danaya tells her.
Alena shakes her head. "I'm fine. Help me get closer to the window, Danaya."
Once, she could walk to the window by herself, with no trouble at all. Once she could run, she could fight. But Alena's body was weak now-- her skin was almost blue in its pallor. She barely had the strength to stand, but she did so, every morning of the past year.
From the window she could see Sapiro's courts, the colorful marketplace, and the wall that defended the kingdom. Beyond that was the forest; further still was Etheria, the impenetrable kingdom.
Alena took a breath.
"I'm not sure you should keep at this, Alena," Danaya said softly. "Every day of the past year you've tried, but nothing ever happens..."
Alena smiled weakly. "I have to keep trying. If I don't, I would have lost him then, don't you see?" She cast her eyes to the rising sun and cast a silent plea to Emre.
Then she began to sing.
Despite her physical weakness, her voice remained as pure and as clear as it had always been. For the past year, Sapiro woke up to her siren song: a song of love, of loss, and of longing.
Alena sang her heart out, only in the hopes that her only love would hear her.
An entire year had passed since the First War; an entire year that Alena and her sisters were bound to this accursed time, with no way of getting home after their failure to capture the Golden Hourglass, their failure to save Cassandra, to save Encantadia. Amihan was devastated at the loss of her daughter's daughter, Pirena was infuriated from their defeat, Danaya was only further angered, but Alena... she was heartbroken. She had seen, out at war, how Ybarro had killed many of his fellow Sapiryan, following his blind love for the Etherian called Odessa.
When the War was lost, the Sang'gres retreated to Sapiro, the only kingdom that Etheria was unable to trample. The Etherians returned to their kingdom, taking Ybarro with them.
The Sang'gres were forced into hiding, not wanting to endanger the citizens further. Without the Gem of Hope, they had no power to defend themselves with. But every morning, Alena went to the window, and directed her voice to Etheria, believing with all he heart that if Ybarro heard her song, his memory would return, and his love for her with it.
But as each day passed and Ybarro never came, Alena grew weak in body as well as spirit. She lost her strength and her will to live, little by little each day. Before her sisters' very eyes Alena seemed to age years and years, and they could do nothing to stop it. All the happiness drained from her.
Danaya listened with some sadness to her sister's song. Alena's voice carried over Sapiro, over the forests-- whispered by the wind to the trees and by the trees to the whole of Encantadia. And she hoped, fervently, that this day, it might penetrate Etheria's walls.
Ito ang awit na babago sa puso mo
Dinggin mo ang tinig ko
Tunay bang ako'y nilisan mo?
Nilimot ang pag-ibig kong
Naghihintay pa rin sa 'yo
Naghihintay sa pagbabalik mo
Pakinggan mo, panalangin ko
Kilalanin ng puso mo ang awit ko
And in Etheria, the man they called Alexus was dreaming a most pleasant dream.
He closed his eyes tighter from the sun shining into his eyes, wanting to hold to the dream, to the echo of a beautiful voice, singing of lost love. Half-awake, he held on selfishly--
-- and saw the face of the diwata called Alena.
And somehow didn't seem to mind that his hands fisted in her hair as he kissed her, that he held her close desperately.
Then something snapped and he opened his eyes to see Odessa's smile.
And he wondered why he was vaguely dissatisfied with that.
~~
The King of Sapiro, Meno, received word that the Sapiryan marketplace, usually a colorful, bustling place of activity, was as empty and quiet as a graveyard that day.
"There is no one, my King," reported the guard. "The people did not open their shops, and very few came out of their houses."
"But why?" Meno wondered.
"Perhaps it is because of the diwata's song."
"Alena's song?" Meno repeated. "Why? Alena's beautiful voice has always inspired and mesmerized our people. What could be the matter?"
"My Lord, it would be best if you heard it yourself."
Meno walked out to the palace courtyard, where a song could be clearly heard. As he listened to the haunting melody, Meno could feel his heart breaking.
And then he understood. Hidden in the beautiful song was a most sorrowful truth: Alena was dying, and all who heard the song was grieving for her.
~~
"Alena, please, save your strength," cautioned Amihan softly.
"It's no use, Amihan," said Pirena. "Just let her be."
"Pirena!" exclaimed Danaya. "How could you say such a thing? Alena is-- she's--"
"She's happy when she sings," said Pirena. "Who are we to deprive her of her only pleasure?"
"But--"
Pirena's stern look had Danaya quieting down. All three Sang'gres watched their sister by the window, still singing of her broken heart.
Then, Alena's grip on the sill weakened, and she swayed dangerously-- Pirena was the first at her side, holding her arm to steady her.
"I'm all right, Pirena," Alena said softly.
"You should rest now," Pirena told her, leading her back to the bed.
Alena had no strength to argue as Danaya and Amihan tucked her in.
"Can I still sing?" Alena asked.
Amihan kissed her on the forehead and brushed away her hair-- and the lone tear that fell across her cheek. "Of course... of course you can sing."
So Alena continued to sing, her sisters not having the heart to stop her. This time the sight was heartwrenching. Alena sang with obvious effort-- her clear voice quivered at times. Danaya was weeping openly now, unashamed to hide her sorrow. The butterflies had come, and they were going to take Alena away.
That in itself was not as heartbreaking as the knowledge that Alena would not fight them at all.
~~
The wind whispered Alena's song to the trees, who whispered it to the flowers, who sang it to the butterflies, who went from flower to flower, until they sang it to a white blossom, and whispered the plea into Alexus' heart.
"I'm going out," he said shortly to Odessa, and left in such a hurry that she could not stop him.
There was a restlessness in him, a strange craving, a wanting, a needing of something-- someone. He decided he'd walk it off in the forest where he most felt at home. He didn't know anything about his past, but he imagined that he had grown up in the forest, one with it as well as in it.
And as he walked the trees whispered amongst themselves and called the wind, who brought him the echo of the song in his dream.
Maghihintay, maghihintay
Buhay ko'y sa 'yo lamang inaalay
Ikaw lamang, noon, ngayon
Lumipas man ang mahabang panahon
Ikaw lamang ang aking dasal
Ikaw lamang ang nag-iisang minahal
Sa bawat umaga, sa bawat paggising
Umaasang magbabalik sa akin
Narito, kunin mo'ng puso ko
Dinggin ang tinig ko
Dinggin mo'ng tinig ko
Dinggin ang pagsamo...
He followed the voice to the kingdom of Sapiro, and slipped unnoticed inside the kingdom of his enemies. He followed the voice to a small house with a high tower, and opened the unlocked door.
The Sang'gres gaped as he came into view.
"Ybrahim!" Amihan exclaimed. He drew his sword.
"Pashnea!" yelled Pirena, unable to take it anymore. She gripped her own sword and pointed it at him. "How dare you!"
"Who is the songstress?" he demanded. "Why is she invading my dreams? Why is she invading my heart?
"Fool!" Danaya cried. "Alena has always been in your heart, and you were too blind to see it!"
And all throughout the shouts and the cursing, Alena's song could be heard, clearer than daylight.
"Where is she?" he demanded. "Where?"
"You don't deserve to see her," Danaya said. "You don't deserve her, you never did."
"WHERE IS SHE?" he roared. The Sang'gres kept their silence. He followed the voice up a flight of high, rounded stairs. When he reached the top, he stopped at the doorway to stare.
A lone figure was lying on the bed in the center of the room, surrounded by a thousand fluttering, glittering butterflies. Her hair was brown, her skin was pale, and her eyes were those that belonged to a sea-goddess--
"Ybarro," Alena whispered. "I knew you would come."
And at the mention of that name-- Ybarro-- all his memories, all his feelings, returned, so that he stared, horrified, at his wife-- his beautiful wife, his only love, his one true light-- Alena-- Alena, she was dying and it couldn't be it couldn't be it couldn't be--
He rushed to her side, gripped her hands so tight that his knuckles turned white. "Alena-- Alena-- what have I done?"
She smiled at him, and it broke his heart. "I knew you would come... I knew, that if I believed in it enough, that if I believed in you... and you came, Ybarro... you came."
"I came," he repeated. "I'm here. Please don't die."
And from his chest there was a slowly emanating glow of soft green. And he could hear all the words that Alena sang, all of her pleas for his return, all of her hopes and all of her love, begin to pour out of him, back into her body.
The heart she had been singing out was returning to her.
Ybarro began to cry.
"Alena... don't leave me..."
Her eyes were slowly starting to close. "Ybarro... I love you. E corre diu."
He clenched a fist and started waving the butterflies away. "No! Go away! You're not taking her! None of you are taking her away!"
Alena's grip on his hands was weakening.
"Alena... hold on to me. Hold on. You're not going anywhere... not anywhere without me. I love you. Please stay. Stay here. Hold on."
Pirena, Amihan and Danaya had long since followed and were watching the scene with overflowing sadness. They were all crying helplessly, unable to move.
"I love you, Ybarro..."
And those words of love were the Sang'gre Alena's final words, spoken on her last breath.
This is death--
Without warning, without a sound--
It takes without ceremony, and takes only that which it owns
And not even love could save her.
~fin.