Dream ♠ o12 「dated to the 8th」

[defector]

Warnings: Spoilers for Eureka Seven manga, non-graphic blood.
Dream Effects: [Optional] Burning pain, with occasional stabs of pain and a very, very painful one at the end of the dream. Hope, love, and bittersweet acceptance at the end of the dream, with lots of determination throughout. Also a moment of feeling lost and another of complete despair during the first two flashbacks.
Filter: From Anemone.

Heat shoots by him, burning his hands, his back--wherever it can reach. He grits his teeth as he flinches, but continues walking. It hurts, but pain he can deal with.

"Being unable to fight in times of battle, you failed at being a soldier, Dominic," Colonel Dewey says, turning around and walking away. But Dominic, gun still in his hand, doesn't pay him any attention. Instead, he stares at the sky--visible through the hole left in the ceiling--and wonders what it is that he fights for. Because that conviction he saw, the power behind Holland's belief--Dominic's realized that he himself doesn't have it.

But now he does. He knows what he believes in, what he'd die fighting for. A "wave," he might not have found; however, he also wants to have faith in the world that Renton can create with Eureka.

Coralians fly by him now, a few piercing through parts of his body. Nowhere vital, fortunately, but it's enough to make him cough up blood. Even so, he keeps on moving forward. After all, in a time like now, what point is there in going back?

Anemone's pinned him to the floor, her hand around his throat, though not tightly enough to be strangling him. With a blank expression on her face, she speaks, almost like a child asking a simple question.

"Why don't you just die, Dominic?" Each word stabs into his heart, but he can't find any of his own to defend himself with. All he can do is stare back at her, eyes wide. "Every time I see you, I feel like vomiting."

No matter how much it may hurt, there's no choice but to go on. After all, if he let every little thing bother him, then he'd never get anywhere. He can't afford to cry forever, not when there's so many things to do. And in the end, what doesn't kill him only makes him stronger.

His legs give out for a moment, as he falls onto his knees. He pauses for a few seconds, trying to catch his breath. His wounds still hurt, but he gets back up, nevertheless.

A skeleton dressed in a uniform (the colonel, he thinks) on a straw horse--it's like something out of a strange fairy tale. Except it's real, in a fake kind of way, and far from a story. Dominic stares at the flower in his hand, any doubts he might've had fading away.

"It's true..." he begins. "... and you, colonel, are wrong, because Anemone isn't an imposter at all, she..."

And he thinks of the girl he loves, whom he named after the flower he holds. She's someone who still doesn't know how much there is in the world, someone who never had a reason to smile--but Dominic's seen her smile before. She was young then--they were both young--and yet he can still remember it clearly.

"Anemone is, in her own way, a flower, in and out of itself."

Ultimately, Dominic's always known what he fights for. It's such a basic thing, but he lost sight of it. He fights to protect the people important to him: the world, Anemone. And he'll fight as hard as he has to create a future for her.

He glances behind him, where Renton stands not too far away, looking in the opposite direction of Dominic. Dominic smiles faintly, before turning around. In the distance, another Coralian appears. In that moment, he knows that he'll die--and that he has no regrets. He fought with everything he had, and now it's up to everyone else. He's done what he could.

(I've got no gods to which to pray, so there's none but you in whom to trust)

He can see a certain girl, smiling freely. The image lasts for a moment before disappearing, but it's one he won't forget. He'll hold onto it for eternity, if it means that it can happen one day.

The Coralian stabs through his chest, the pain overtaking his mind as he screams--

(All I would ask would be for a world in which she might smile)

--and he'll die believing.

---

[Dominic wakes up quickly, because, well, getting stabbed isn't exactly pleasant. It only takes him a few moments to realize what the date is, and when he does, he smiles lightly before muttering:]

Officially a year now, huh...?

Comments

[insorrow.livejournal.com]

[Well.

[What was that? A dream? A memory, maybe? Whatever it was, it was far too private for someone like him to have seen: he was sure of that, and yet he couldn't make himself turn the Dreamberry off, or over. Having started watching, he couldn't make himself stop. Had to see this one through... but now he has Ken really doesn't know what there is to say about it, so he settles for this:]

Hey. Are you all right?

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

Huh? Ah, yeah... I'm fine.

[And he's telling the truth.]

[insorrow.livejournal.com]

You're sure?

[Yes. Of course he's sure. He's telling the truth and Ken knows it. He doesn't know what he was expecting to hear, but that level of complete sincerity in Dominic's voice catches him off-guard. He blinks.]

You've... really been here for a year?

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

[Nod]

Yeah. I've a hard time believing it myself, to be honest.

[insorrow.livejournal.com]

I... kinda almost feel like there should be something for that. Like... a badge or something. Every other anniversary gets something, right?

[Okay, that was probably a stupid thing to say.]

And I'd have a hard time believing it too, yaknow. It's a long time to spend somewhere like this.

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't really say that I haven't gotten used to it by now. And there are people who've been here even longer...

[insorrow.livejournal.com]

Even so, a full year feels different. It'd be like a weird kind of birthday or something...

Oh, thanks for the help when I showed up, by the way!

FFFF NO ONE SAW THAT.

[ghost-profe.livejournal.com]

...Dominic...[Lab is...solemn. This kind of thing deserves respect.]

Of course not <3

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

... It's all right.

[He's accepted it by now.]

[carpo-vita.livejournal.com]

[...

He couldn't hold back a gasp at the end. Pain was nothing that he wasn't used to, but that last one--

Still, while his body took a few moments to recover from the sensations, his head was clear. They were really rather similar, weren't they? ...In fact, Dominic was a bit reminiscent of his own attitude towards life, when he was younger. He was just luckier to have been surrounded with normalcy, peace, and people for a good enough chunk of his life- Dominic didn't have such luxury.

Also starting to get the vibe that the Anemone who's here now is different from the one that Dominic's used to. Is your girlfriend a tsundere. :|a But that's just details.

So... Dominic 'too', huh?

But they were both believers, weren't they? Whether that was stupid or not. Regardless of their unique circumstances. No matter how they turned out, or how everything else turned out.

What mattered was that they did what they can with no regrets - and with their roles accomplished, it's up to those who are left to carry on the torch, for all the ones that they care about.

So it was with a light smile that he greets the other boy.]

Good morning, Dominic. Have you been in Somarium for a year, now?

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

[Shhh, that's a spoiler]

Ah... yeah. It's hard to believe it's been that long already...

[carpo-vita.livejournal.com]

[Hey I never said anything c:]

How has this year been, as a whole? Your world is really nothing like mine, and Somarium reminds me of modern day Earth.

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

It's... had its good and bad.

[Meeting people, having them leave, all the events that occurred here, Vincent. However...

He smiles.]

But in the end, I'm glad I came here.

[carpo-vita.livejournal.com]

That's more or less how life usually goes, isn't it? [He chuckles faintly too.]

Anemone-san is here too, so you would feel more at ease with that. ...Hm, me too. We don't control the length of our stay here, but I'd like to remain for as long as I can, too. It may be a somewhat selfish way of thinking, but I don't want to leave anyone, even if I still have close friends at home.

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

Yeah...

[Not that he really has any idea what he's agreeing to. He's not sure if Anemone being here makes him more at ease, considering her current personality and the situation with Vincent. And it's not like he has close friends at home. D:]

[ragnalol.livejournal.com]

You're really cute.

[And by that, he means, gee whiz, kid. You're one tough cookie.]

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

[Of course. Determinator here. C:]

What? Where did that come from?

[ragnalol.livejournal.com]

Make that face again! Hoooooold it...

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

[What are you up to. :|]

[boat-lights.livejournal.com]

[Yo.]

Isn't this a tragedy for the ages.

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

[And here he was hoping Vincent would miss this.

To that, Dominic's silent, because, well, his death was one thing he definitely didn't want Vincent to ever know about.]

[boat-lights.livejournal.com]

[And miss an opportunity to troll? Surely you jest. He chuckles.]

Silent, aren't you. I suppose there isn't much one can say to that, is there.

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

[He can hope, can't he?]

... I suppose there isn't.

[Mentally reminding self to be polite. Or at least as close as he can get to it around Vincent.]

[boat-lights.livejournal.com]

[No matter. He will always take offense in the most passive way possible. Watch him.]

Did it hurt?

[unfearful.livejournal.com]

[Damn.]

... Yes.