shattered glass {Navya & Kirito}

You were made to make it hurt,
Disappear into the dirt,
Carry me to heaven's arms,
Light the way and let me go.

A soft song springs forth from the back of crickets chirping in the lime light of the rising moon. Soil splashes beneath slow steps, a muddy mess given life from the fresh fallen rain. Overhead, a lonesome owl, white against a background of black, glides in silent patterns above the watered earth. A scene showered in the lavishes of life's running fountain, serene in the embrace of pure natural existence. But within this world brimming with beauty, a figure moves onward with his face sinking into the shadows of another reality. Lost in a land real, yet invisible to all other eyes but his own. 

Bound tightly to the interior of a long grey coat, the quiet Victor walks with eyes wide like a fox. Through the lenses of his own perspective, his steps are not singularly trudging through the mounds of mud. To his left, the breeze of night billows through ethereal layers of red hair. To his right, the light of the moon transforms the blonde of a boy's head into a soft shining halo. Two phantom faces for the rest of the world, but two breathing bodies for Kirito Miristioma. 

"The stars peering our from behind the clouds, they're like the ones we saw that night. Aren't they?"

The face of Kiena Ward still full with the hues of life looks towards Kirito with as much clarity as they had that night within the empty quarters of the non-existent District Twelve tributes. Her current living presence is so unquestionable that even her breaths curl out in mist opposing the cold. Kirito's throat is tight with conflict of logic and emotion. His heart is iron and heavy but beats at speeds stained with fear and disbelief. There are no words free for forming a sentence when her fingers, warm and real, tenderly touch the curve of his arm. 

"Kirito?"

There's no denial. The girl beside him is here, alive.

His emotions turn to turmoil while his mind melts into submission.

"They are, too bad we don't have the liquor too."

His voice is soft and sewn into existence by strands of pain. Yet still somehow, it brings a small smile across her lips. It's a sight Kirito could stare at for centuries but voice of Nat Krigel calls too much of its own attention. His features are still youthful, still untouched by the waging of a childrens' war. His hair is even wet from its trapping of the rain. 

"Maybe we could find somewhere for another swim."

His offer brings the smell of chlorine crisply to Kirito's nose, along with the cold touch of the Training Center Pool's water. It's a story from so long ago, but it hangs in his head so clearly within this moment. Maybe it was all just a dream. Maybe they were all here. Maybe the Quell never...

crack!

Lightning leaps from sky and the world erupts. A figure who's face has fallen into shadow appears down the road, a knife flipping through his fingers. The buzzing of banging machinery rises from the stalks of wheat shifting into slats of metal. The gentle rain surges into a rushing river of torrential downpour. The lightning cracks again revealing his face upon the throw of his knife. 

Wyatt.

The knife drives deep into Kirito's eyes sending sparks of searing pain pulsing through his skeleton. Screams of agony rip apart his throat as staggering steps send him sliding down the side of the street and towards the wavering steel slats. Everything is spinning, contorting, distorting. Just as Kirito's body meets the walls of the factory they flick back into stalks of grain accepting his falling figure into the mud of their roots. 

The delusion fades but the world still keeps turning, churning like his suddenly unsettled stomach. Kirito's hand cups his false eye still pulsing with fading pain as his stomach sprouts forth the remnants of his dinner. His body shudders and shakes but it's not from the cold covering of himself mud, but from a fear his mind has only ever felt within the confines of an arena. 

Kirito's sodden steps don't lead him far from the scene of his most recent incident. His house, his kids, Oasis, they are just across the street, yet his hand finds itself knocking against the door of another family. At home Kirito needs to seem strong, safe. But here, with her, he could afford to fall apart. The door opens,

"Navya..."

Dear Agony,
Just let go of me,
Suffer slowly,
Is this the way its got to be?

Lyrics : Dear Agony by Breaking Benjamin