Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Hiroshima's Pain ( Chapter 28 )

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Sacrifice

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 27: Hiroshima's Pain

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Hiroshima sat up in a hurry, bolt straight in bed. He called out Keiji's name in a shout and his glassy eyes were widened. The pain shot through his body as if he'd been stabbed and the angel felt it as his eyebrows twitched. His chest was bandaged up and his shirt had been removed. Grunting, he looked over to see the green-haired boy looking at him.

"You're alive," Keiji said in a sigh of relief. He had begun to wonder if Hiroshima would even wake up from his spell. Since he could not be healed with magic, he had to rely on what little medical skills the group had to stop the bleeding. This forced them to go back to the outskirts of town and rest a little before they decided to head back to the forest.

"What do you care, kid?" Hiroshima asked, narrowing his eyes at the boy, who sighed and looked to the ground. "What?" The angel looked fully at him in question.

"Even on your death bed, you're still a jerk," Keiji commented.

"Does it look like I asked you to save me?" The wingless angel snapped. He had been half-way expecting them to simply leave him there to suffer. This was not his moment of pride and he was very upset with himself for rushing in so blindly and getting his wings cut off like that. It was a moment in fate where he knew it would happen that way but wished that it hadn't. He was a disgrace as far as being the strongest on the team was concerned.

"What did you want us to do? Leave you there to die?" The boy was offended that the angel thought so callously of them that he'd have to ask for their help.

"What difference does it make? I'm a jerk," Hiroshima turned his face away from him, frowning deeply. It was almost as if he was hurt by the boy's remark.

"Why did you save me?" Keiji hadn't known why the angel threw his life away for him like that and he wanted answers to the questions that had been plaguing his mind with uncertainty. He wanted to know if Hiroshima had a reason or if he'd pull a fatalist speech as he had been doing.

"I didn't…obviously…" The angel's voice was low and not as brash as it was before. It was almost like he'd submitted to Keiji for that moment in time. The child would have thought that if he didn't think Hiroshima had too much pride to submit to a human like him.

"I thought you didn't care about me."

"We're a team."

"What's the Pentagram on your back about?" Keiji spoke of his curse. This was an important subject and he hoped that Hiroshima wouldn't blow it off, but he had a feeling that he wouldn't get an answer easily.

"Why are we playing twenty questions?" Hiroshima asked, as Keiji predicted. He knew that the angel would find some way of averting the subject. "I don't feel like being interrogated. I just did something kind for you and all you do is act ungrateful."

Keiji narrowed his eyes at the comment. How dare Hiroshima turn it around like that! He did no such thing and the only reason he was turning it around now was to get the argument in his favor. However, he couldn't feel but have a little guilt for what had happened. It was his fault that it happened. He stole the legend's sword and left him with no weapon to defend himself when Elf attacked him.

A moment of silence passed between the two as green eyes stared at the back of Hiroshima's head and studied the way his dark green, near black hair shined like an oil spill in the sunlight.

"Where are we anyway?" Hiroshima broke the silence.

"Back in the City of Plants."

"Where are the others?"

"In the other room," the boy answered as he saw the angel wince in pain. He knew that even though Hiroshima looked strong his body couldn't betray the fact that it was hurting. "You should rest."

"I'm fine," the stubborn man was willing the pain inside of himself to subside. He then tried to lift himself from the bed but felt a smaller hand grab his wrist. Turning swiftly to look he saw Keiji, who was grabbing his wrist, the child commanded him to stay down. Glassy blue eyes shone with a hidden sorrow that only Keiji seemed to be able to read. The lighting of the room played on them just right to produce an opening through the shroud of his hard ass façade. He softly murmured the man's name before another moment of silence passed between them. Trying to find the words to say, Keiji scrambled his mind to try and will a sentence to be drawn up but none could be made. He knew that he should say something- anything, but no words could make their way through his mouth. The angel's gaze captivated him and he seemed to be caught in the web of Hiroshima's sorrow. The only thing he would say was the truth.

"I don't know what to say," Keiji told the other male.

"Then don't say anything." Although his voice sounded the same as it always had, Keiji knew that Hiroshima was suffering.

"I feel like I should."

"Don't act like you care now," Hiroshima tried to put some distance between them. Keiji was getting too close and the angel didn't want anyone close to him now. No one deserved to be close to a monster after all. He'd just kill them too, right?

"It was foolish of me to take the Crimson. I could have gotten killed. I got you hurt…I cut off your wings…" The drummer stated as his gaze hit the floor in evident shame. He knew his decision was wrong and it was about time that he admitted that what he did was foolish on many levels.

"They'll grow back," the angel said simply, as if it was a dismissible subject.

"That isn't the fact of the matter," Keiji made a fist in anger. Hiroshima looked at his hands. They were so badly cut and abused from battle he was surprised that he could even make a fist with them. He knew that Keiji had to be in pain but was simply ignoring his own for the angel's. Silently, he thought highly of him for doing so and found it endearing of him so he decided to thank him in a way that that could only be understood as a kind gesture by him. He noticed all of the blood-stained and dirty bandages and commanded him to let him see his hands.

"What?" Keiji questioned, confused by his command.

Hiroshima held one of his elegant yet masculine hands out to him. "Well…" He said impatiently.

"What are you going to do?" The drummer asked aloud.

"Not this again…" The angel made a disgruntled face at the boy's questioning. "Look, just trust me." That sentence along was enough to get the boy to lay his hands in Hiroshima's. The legend then took his free hand and held it slightly above the boy's hands. Suddenly, Keiji's hands began to tingle and felt as if someone had dumped cold ice over them. They glistened with tiny black sparkles, emitted by some sort of magic.

He closed one eye at the feeling and uttered the word 'cold' in a small voice.

"Now," Hiroshima finally told him as he removed the bandages to reveal completely healed hands. There weren't even scars from the deeper wounds. They looked even better than they ever had. There was no trace of scarring what so ever. The boy looked at his hands in disbelief as the angel told him they were as good as new.

"You…Healed me?" Keiji was surprised that Hiroshima did something like this. It seemed so…unlike him to act so kindly to him, especially after what happened.

The legend then lie back on the bed and closed his eyes. He spoke to him in a fatigued voice. "Don't be too mad, kid. This is all new to me as well." There was that voice again, soft and emotional. Did the angel feel like his façade could be let down around Keiji? He never acted like this in the public eye.

"Why can't you heal your wings? Does the curse forbid it?" The green-haired boy asked. He had wondered why Hiroshima couldn't simply heal his wings as he had his injured limbs.

"Once an angel's wings are cut off, they have to grow them back naturally because they themselves have magical properties. The curse has nothing to do with it," he opened his eyes and looked to the boy.

"Then why is the seal mark on your wings?"

"It just means that I can hide my wings and appear human if I wanted. Not that it matters. You can only see my wings if you believe in angels," Hiroshima informed.

"You came from hell, didn't you?"

"Depends on your interpretation."

"Your curse is a pentagram," Keiji had always believed that the pentagram was the mark of Lucifer and related to the number '666', after all, the symbol was that of someone who was Satanic or came from the underworld. The pentagram was not a symbol of good at all.

"It's clichéd to be a satanic symbol but not all pentagrams are Satanic," Hiroshima loosely smirked at the boy. What a fool he was to believe such propaganda. Looks like he'd have to enlighten him on what the true meaning of the Pentangle was.

"What do you mean?" The boy looked at him with interest. How can that symbol be good? He had always known it to be a bad symbol.

"The pentagram is a very old symbol, dating back to 3000 B.C. The corners of the star can mean many things. In Sumerian hieroglyphs the points would symbolize orientations- forward, backward, right, left and above. In Babylonian context they represent plants-Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Venus. If you practice magic, the points indicate the four elements of matter and are viewed as a sign of good." He continued to explain. "A reversed pentagram with two points projecting upward is a symbol of evil and is known to attract dark forces. It overturns the proper order of good and demonstrates the power of matter over spirit and the goat of lust is in the middle. Its horns assault the heavens. In a normal pentagram the top most point directs you to heaven. A Satanic pentagram is also known to be surrounded by two circles. The sign of the goat in the middle is called the Sigil of Baphomet. Pythagoreans called this Tartaros, which means hell, referring to the place where fallen angels are fettered."

"So, how are they connected to good forces, other than ancient cultures and magic users?" Keiji asked, interested in this topic.

"Well, the pentagram also goes by the name of pentalpha or pentagle. It comes from the Greek word pentagrammon which means five lines. They have magical association with spell casters, more importantly those who practice neopagan faiths. Christians also used the pentagram to represent the five wounds of Jesus."

"Jesus?" Keiji didn't know much about American religion but he knew that Jesus was a symbol of good in their faith. He never would have imagined the pentagram resembling anything of the sort. He had known it for the opposite. "I thought it was a sign of Lucifer?"

"It is. It's also associated with Venus, the Morning Star and the Roman term Lucifer. Lucifer is interpreted as the bringer of light and knowledge. If you view the stars from Earth successive inferior conjunctions of Lucifer's plot are a nearly perfect pentagram around the zodiac ever eight years."

The boy was surprised with the angel's knowledge on the subject. He now knew how it was easy to get the meanings of reversed and non-reverse pentagrams confused. "So that's where it comes from….So…Which kind of pentagram do you have?" He dared to ask the angel.

"A reverse pentagram," Hiroshima leveled him with a firm gaze.

"Reverse…"

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"Are you okay, Ko?" Azmy asked as the girl opened her eyes and looked at the Wind Cavern.

"Yeah…Just a little sore," the white-haired girl replied.

"Thank goodness," the shy girl sighed in relief. She was happy that Ko wasn't in serious condition after being knocked around by Elf Kaizer's fight. She was glad that her injured didn't appear to be as bad as they looked.

"Where's Keiji and Hiroshima?" The white-haired girl asked. After all they were hurt far worse then she was and she was worried about their safety over her own. She wanted to know if Hiroshima was alright and if Keiji was seriously hurt from fighting both Elf Kaizer and Lumina. He was a lot stronger then she had ever thought he could be.

"They are in the next room," Undine told her.

"Are they alright?" She asked.

"Last time I checked, Hiroshima was still unconscious. His curse doesn't allow me to heal him, so Azmy and I patched him up the best we could."

"Mmm," Azmy nodded with a small smile. She felt proud of herself for being able to help, especially after what she had done to cause him pain. The shy girl felt like it was the least she could do to help him.

"I wonder what's going to happen now…I mean, he can't fly," Chichiri said lowly, putting space in between the sentences as if he wasn't sure if he should have said them. He knew that Azmy felt guilty about praying to Hiroshima for his help.

"He'll be able to soon. We angels grow our wings back after all," Tsurugi smiled gently at the two of them. He tried to shine a ray of hope into their lives. He wanted to give them some sort of hope, no matter how small.

"How long does it take?" Undine asked.

"Anywhere from three days to three weeks, depending on the extent of the injury. Hiro-kun's injuries are extensive, so it will take him a while to recover," Tsurugi replied.

Azmy looked gloomy almost as if she were about to cry. "It's my fault…I'm so sorry…"

"What do you mean, Azmy? You didn't do anything," Chichiri asked.

"I prayed…" The slate-haired girl tiled her head down as a few pieces of her choppy, shoulder length hair fell in front of her gaze. Azmy was ashamed of herself.

"So it was you who prayed?" Tsurugi looked to her with a mix of emotions even though on the outside it only seemed calm. He knew that someone had summoned an angel's help but he didn't know that it was her.

"Yes…" Azmy's head lowered.

"Uh…What? I don't understand," the blonde looked confused. What did she mean by 'prayed'? What exactly happened and how was it her fault?

"When you pray, you call upon an angel's service. Whichever angel is nearby is whichever angel that will answer your call. Since Hiro-kun was the angel nearest you, it was his duty," Tsurugi explained. Hopefully it would clear up any questions that they had.

"I wished it wasn't…I just wanted Keiji-kun to be okay…"

"You didn't know, Azmy-chan," Fife's happy voice tried to soothe her worry but it didn't seem to put a dent on her emotions any. It was clear that she was tormented by this matter.

"But looks what I did…" She looked at him with large, pale eyes that reflected all of her torment and pain. "I got his wings chopped off…I should apologize."

"You did nothing wrong, Azmy," Musashi chided but the sorrowful girl didn't listen to him, she simply excused herself and walked out of the room. "She's taking this harshly, isn't she?" The Wind Cavern felt sorry for the girl as he looked at the door she'd just exited through.

"I can't blame her. I'd feel bad too. I hope Hiroshima doesn't take it too harshly. I know he must be in a lot of pain," Ko knew that Hiroshima was a hot head and she didn't want him to blame Azmy for his pain. It would only make things worse.

"I wonder if he'll want us to move on quickly," Fife asked. There was no telling what Hiroshima would do when he woke up, he was so unpredictable. He hoped for a rest but he didn't think that it would be what the legend wanted for some reason.

To Be Continued…