Hidden Meanings

Kishan [Madimo]

Trigger warning: mentions/implied cutting

[the mid-ending didn't make much sense but hey, protective Kishan ]

Cold, labored breaths fell harshly from the man's lips, but his eyes remained shut.

Phantoms pain wounded itself around his wrist, and all Maddox Faithlin could see, burned into the back of his eyelids, was the droplets that fell from his wrist, his cut wrist.

Everything felt like it was crashing down all at once, that his lungs were crushing his heart, that his bones were trapping his muscles. He felt stuck, he felt trapped.

"Maddox."

In an instant, the man's eyes flicked open.

Rather than the darkness of the bedroom, where the smoke alarm blinked with green eyes from above him, clouds of pure white and innocent pink dotted the lines of the horizon, the only darkness within its' lines being the small form waiting for him.

"Maddox."

The voice came from the direction of the dark figure, and he squinted, trying to make out the individual details.

With slow, uneven steps, Maddox strode closer to it, realizing that, rather in his normal clothes he was much more comfortable in, in terms of his confidence in wearing it, he was dressed in a tight-fitting baby-blue T-shirt and camouflaged shorts.

As he neared, he realized it was a reflection. Maddox, in the mirror (or whatever it was- something akin to a mirror) was dressed the same, same hairstyle and eyes, walking towards him.

"Hello?"

The reflection mouthed 'hello' in response, confirming that it really was a reflection.

Maddox inspected the image. "It doesn't even look like a mirror..." He muttered out loud, reaching out, fingers splayed...

When the reflection moved away from his reach.

"Aw, I thought I could play a bit longer..." He complained, wrapping his arms around his own body. "I'm terribly ticklish."

"I- what?"

"Wow, Maddox," he puffed out his cheeks, an upset rage to his eyes- although, it was tame and had a playful tinge to it. "Didn't figure it out? I thought Shikimo pegged you for the intelligent type..."

"He was a bit overdramatic since he loved spicing things up, and could even be considered a mom. Over-protective to the point where he'd fuss at you about grabbing a piece of paper. A piece of paper, Maddy! Just because he thought we'd get a paper cut."

"Come on, I know you can do it," the man tapped the side of his head.

"He looks just like you too- unbelievable, right Except for that little scar on your lip..." 

Looking closer, there were little details that set Maddox apart from him. Rather than a scar on his lip, there was one placed near his temple, which was almost covered by the shaggy locks of his hair. He was barely shorter than Maddox- probably less than a fingernail's length shorter than him. 

"Kishan... that was his name. Kishan and Maddox. They're such nice names." 

"You're... Kishan," the name fell flat from his lips. 

"Ding-ding-ding!" He beamed. "Finallyyyyyy~ that took ages."

"I... I'm-" Maddox was trying to get the words out when Kishan cut him off, waggling a finger at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Maddox Faithlin, aren't you?"

"Um... yeah?" 

"Glad to hear it," Kishan clapped his hands together, a beaming smile taking hold of his lips, yet the other could sense a world's worth of pain behind that strange smile- a smile had the greatest power to hide something, not only in this world, but everywhere. 

With that, he turned his back on him, gesturing with one hand to come and follow, walking away.

As Kishan became to fade, Maddox started to run to catch up with him. As he came closer, Kishan came back into view. 

"Careful. Even a memory can disappear," the shorter male reminded him as Maddox fell into step beside him. 

"A... memory...?" Maddox wondered, but catch his breath as the ground beneath their feet disappeared, only to be replaced by panels of three people- mostly two people, sometimes even one, but the consistency of the people was the same- Shikimo, Kishan, and Maddox. 

"That's all I am nowadays, am I wrong? I mean... people do die twice. One is when-"

"- they take their final breath," Maddox whispered. 

"- and the second is when-"

"Someone says their name for the last time." 

Feeling eyes on him, Maddox glanced up from where his gaze flickered from a panel of memories to another one, meeting Kishan's eyes. "Whadd'ya know. We really are alike." 

"I suppose," the older Faithlin brother smiled dimly. 

"That being said..." Kishan crouched, outstretched a limb, and wisps of white expanded from his slender fingers, moving towards a memory and pulling it towards the two. 

"Kishan... what... happened to you?"

"I died," the answer was simple as he flickered through the memory as you would flick through taps on a smartphone. 

"I died too. But why did you just disappear?"

"My existence was erased. I thought about Valvara, who she would hurt from the loss, and she saw my 'death'..." Kishan mused, the playfulness gone from his voice as he rested his eyes on the memory, where it showed Shikimo, held back by arms trapped around her torso.

It would usually be pretty- flashes of dark blue and a murkish green flew around her, her hair like a halo framing her face, with hues of orange and pink coming from the direction she was facing. But the orange color lit up her face, and shone brightly on her eyes, highlighting the tears that had gathered. 

"When I saw her face... I felt all the pain in the world. I never imagined how much she would hurt, and when all the pain that I saw on her face was propelled towards me..." Kishan shook his head solemnly.  "My land was dark, all those years. The forest was dead, all the butterflies had broken wings. The water was filled with poison."

Maddox opened his mouth to reply, then closed it, listening to Kishan with apt attention.

"Then... she found you."

Yanking another memory from the pile, while pushing the crying Shikimo one back into the ground, he stared at it. 

Maddox recognized it.

It was Shikimo, her hands cupped to reveal a delicate blue butterfly in her hands. Maddox was at her shoulder, arms placed over her own, a distant smile on his face as he watched the girl's own expression light up with happiness.

"Keep in mind, Maddox... you hurt her in any way possible, I will come back, and I will break you," Kishan said, steel in his voice, sharp as a knife. "And when I mean break, I mean break you." 

At those words, Maddox sweat-dropped, taking a step back from the male, who had a murderous aura flickering around him. 

"She's a girl who laughed, smiled, and cried. She was brave, strong, and broken all at once. Promise me you won't ever leave her."

Maddox smiled thinly.

"I couldn't even think about doing that. If I can't be with her when she's basked in light, I'll sit right beside her in the dark."