Lost in Technicolor

A Selfless Act

It was like walking into a chapter from his past. Everything seemed so familiar and he found that he could remember exactly what happened in each corner on each step of every winding ivory stair case. Hundreds of words rushed though his head. The very figures of his memories were walking around him and into him on the polished marble floor like ghosts. It was overwhelming to say the least.

"You'll be fine right?" Emerson simpered as he patted him on the shoulder.

Damien took a last look at his ghosts before turning to him and smiling, "Of course, why wouldn't I?"

"Well, it's hard for me some days even though I've lived here for seventeen years," Emerson sighed, honestly as they walked down the long white hallway with blood red carpeting.

Slowly a gentle cascading trill of notes fluttered into the air, crescendoing into a loud beautiful clear melody and then gently descending back. Damien smiled, knowing that it was in his head. He missed her no matter how he tried to force it out of him. It was simply impossible not to.

Petra watched Damien closely, after Emerson had left the two of them to themselves. She wasn't afraid of him and she knew that she had provoked him. She had followed him into a brightly lit foyer with a grand piano, surrounded by many large windows. The falling snowflakes were casting delicate shadows on the floor through the tall windows as he sat down at the piano, slowly opening the cover with a soft thud. 

Then even more slowly and carefully he began to play a very familiar tune. It was that song that Lyra would constantly play day and night. It was so beautiful and equally sad. He didn't play nearly as half as good as her even though he had taught it to her, but it was still much better than any average person's playing. A gentle sob, forced her out of her deep thoughts as she realized that the playing had suddenly stopped. She looked up horrified to see Damien leaning over the piano, gently shaking. It struck her heart enough to cause her to think she was in cardiac arrest. What was she to do? She almost felt like leaving him there to sort it out himself. In all the years that she had known him, she had never once seen him cry. How was she to react?

She knew that a rage unlike any she had seen in him before would soon replace his sorrow and she didn't want to be around for that because only Dane could control his anger. She was afraid of him just watching his hot tears hit the keys of the piano beneath his hanging head.

"You know what the funny thing is," his muffled voice came out before Petra had even taken her first step to leave as he gave an irritated sort of sniffle. "I can't use my power on myself. I've lied to you all of these years. If I could use it on myself I'd tell myself to die for God's sake!"

Petra blinked a few times, momentarily in shock. What? He hadn't used his power on himself? He couldn't? She smiled, of course not. "B-But how-"

"Leave me alone please just," Damien's quivering voice came out from his low hung head, "just for an hour or two. Keep Emerson away too. I can feel the anger crawling beneath my despair . . . boiling."

That was her cue, her escape route, quick and easy, but then why wouldn't her feet move? She sighed. She wasn't an idiot and she knew why. How many times had he come to her side when she was at her very lowest of lows. When she was humiliated and on the verge of becoming as meaningless as dust. Slowly she walked up to him and placed a hand on his back. She wanted to think that it had technically been over seventeen years since Lyra had died, but the fact that Jade had been her ghost and had haunted Damien, made her realized that he had lost her every day since he had figured out who Jade was. Alastair was a cruel man.

"I don't want you here!" He shouted at her, sitting up and grabbing her throat tightly. His elbow hit the keys making a clatter of noise.

"D-Damien," she croaked, "I will always b-be here for you as long as you are there for me. I'm not leaving."