Bottom Mafu Oneshots (Hiatus)

Hidden Forest - Soraru/Mafumafu (4)

im still living and breathing

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His vision was obscured. All he could make out were all shades of crimson and a blinding strip of light that beckoned him to step forward. His subconscious told him no, but the rest of his body had a mind of its own, and followed the beacon of light as if his life depended on it, like a moth to a flame.

Ear-piercing noises of glass and rocks shattering on the stone surface was all that filled his head. As he continued to wobble on his feet, walking forward, his body temperature began to drop steadily. Everything began to feel cold, despite the many fallen scorching-hot rocks that his tiny feet would step onto. His eyes were hollow, unlike the stormy sky that continued to rain down on his lone, pathetic self.

As each rock grazed on his tattered clothes, brilliant red liquid seeped out from the open cuts on his skin. How daunting, the way the bruises decorated the formerly fair surface that was his skin. Every piece that landed on his body hurt, but not as much as the darkness that crept in his soul and his judgement.

Despair, abandonment, betrayal, hurt. His negative emotions clouded his heart. From where or what reason could that have happened, he bore no interest to search for an answer. Tears endlessly flowed down his cheeks, causing the cuts on his face to sting when the salty drops of liquid had touched them.

The pain from the bruises were incomparable to the emotion that was eating up his heart. Though he shed tears, what grew in his heart was anger, instead of sorrow.

Then it got colder, colder. His vision became blurry, and splotches of red and black began to engulf his sight. Until then, when he had taken a last glimpse of his bloodied clothes did his entire world fell into darkness.

The memory lingered in his head.

Soraru opened his eyes, watching as the younger boy remained unmoving in front of the large statue. The white circle the albino sat on began to shrink in size, chimes ringing as it got smaller and smaller. Mafu's body stopped swaying, his consciousness brought into a different realm while the raven-haired boy could only stand by his side, watching and waiting for the younger.

A butterfly would escape from the openings of the jars around them as each second passed. One fluttered away from its rabble and landed on Soraru's shoulder while many others continued to swarm around the silent albino, who kept his eyes closed as he continued to meditate.

It had been a while since Soraru had last done a meditation in an elder's temple.

It wasn't too intimidating to meet them, and Soraru had long forgotten the purpose of visiting them other than having to offer his light in order for him to progress to the next realm. His young days were long left in the dust, but he could remember most of them very clearly.

Someone once told him a tale. Each realm would symbolize a certain stage in life, while the elders that govern their own realms would resemble the landscape and elements that their domain possesses. Isle's elder resembled a scrawny, old man, despite the said elder's realm symbolizing that of birth. The current land they walk upon, Daylight Prairie, is regulated by a rather behemoth-like giant, though despite his size, Soraru had heard once from someone that he was who had given life to the many butterflies scattered around his realm.

A sigh left his lips. The next realm they'll be advancing towards won't seem as welcoming as Prairie or Isle, nor its elder, but Soraru had long known that it won't be as worse as the next realms they'll be visiting after.

A small movement broke him from his daydreaming, followed by shuffling noises before a blurred white moved towards him. He gazed at the albino, and the latter merely looked back up at him. Soraru nearly forgot when Mafu had clumsily lost his mask, and it caught him off guard when the younger boy looked up at him with large, expectant eyes.