Lullaby by C hi BA ri

I would tell you that life, without its seemingly hopeless dilemmas, is not something worth living for. I would say that it is an empty life, devoid of the all of the circumstances that make us what we are: human beings. However, I am beginning to think that I was wrong all along…

A/N: This is the side story to Mirrored Vision and vice versa. This fanfiction details the events leading to the interaction in Cephiro.

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Eagle stared endlessly out at the darkening gray sky and the precipitation that had been falling from it for the last four months.

Hearing a knock from behind his bedroom door, he turned around to face his mother, Corolla Vision, who had been running around nervously to check on her son’s status since his mysterious collapse in the dining hall. Eagle smiled and reassured her of his well-being before she had a chance to lay a hand on his forehead.

She cocked her head to the side, skeptically, watching him with a painful expression.

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders with a gentle squeeze and in a soft whisper, said, “I’m fine, I promise.”

Corolla nodded slowly and let him fall back slowly from her frail figure. She was a woman around her early forties, slender and petite, with fine auburn hair and jade eyes. She was much smaller than her son, barely brushing past his shoulders, but with a countenance that exemplified authority and commanded the attention of her audience. But in the midst of her unease, there was not much she could do to maintain order. Still, she tried her best.

“I have wonderful news, darling,” she said, regaining the lost sparks in her eyes. “You remember Sud, don’t you? The district we used to live in before your father was elected president? There was that charming little girl you used to play with—Mika. Well, I’ve invited her to stay with us for a little while.” Her face fell again, despite her obvious attempts to keep her tone even and her guise happy. “There was an accident—a break in the domes… Fortunately, the child was not there, but her mother—” She paused for a moment and gulped. Eagle noticed a tear forming at the corner of her eye.

Corolla quickly wiped it away with the tip of her finger and sniffed. “Well, you can imagine how she must feel. I thought it would be appropriate if we would take her in. After all, she no longer has any surviving relations…”

Eagle reflected on his distant memory of their former colleague. The few reminisces that he could recall were of a too-tall blonde miscreant. But who was she and how were they ever acquainted?

He stared at his mother who returned his gaze with a fixated look upon her face that could only mean that she thought him undergoing another episode.

“Eagle,” she began slowly, “I think it’s about time I hire someone to look after you.”

He shook his head. “No, mom, no… No. I’m fine. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I really don’t need to be treated like a child.”

“But—oh, Eagle,” she said, holding onto his forearms. “Please don’t be so difficult. I cannot handle not knowing what may happen to you every five seconds of the day. I need to be sure that you’ll be fine.”

“And I am, mother,” he said, earnestly. “Nothing is going to happen to me.”

“And how do I know that?” she demanded, her face bright red and eyes shining.

He became silent, his eyes squinting as he pondered on how to answer. He held his mother, showing a sign of his submission to her will and his remorse at making her as desolate and dejected as he was. “I’m sorry.”

--

A week had hardly gone by before Eagle found himself in the sitting room, waiting for the coming of his would-be bodyguard.

She did come, later than expected, after his brief conversation with Corolla and Chrystler Vision. They had informed him that the young woman would be arriving somewhere around late afternoon. Whether they had been speaking of “Mika” or his bodyguard, he did not know.

But as the sixth hour drew near, he had yet to see any sign of her.

Shortly before the grandfather clock had rung six o’ clock, a form hidden partly by shadow arrived in the doorway to the salon.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” a hasty voice rang. “My plane was delayed a half hour late this morning.”

Eagle watched as his visitor became illuminated with the soft yellow glow from the lamps. She was a girl around the age of nineteen, tall, slim, fair, with a healthy complexion. Her hair was wound into a loose knot at the nape of her neck, which was considerably long despite the many times she had twisted it. Her attire, however, was what caught his eye. It was similar to those of the guards.

She placed her suitcase on the floor and, looking up with a sheepish smile, met him. “Good evening, Mr. Vision.” Straightening up and brushing her wet bangs aside, she extended her hands towards him. “It’s a pleasure to see you.”

He smiled and readily exchanged a handshake with her. “It’s nice to meet you, too, Miss. Would you, by any chance, be my new bodyguard?”

She nodded accordingly. “Yes, I am.”

He gestured toward the couches. “Have a seat,” he said, reclining into an armchair. “My mother will be joining us shortly.”

She followed suit and settled down into one nearest the ventilator.

“Wet weather, isn’t it?” he asked, eyeing her sodden clothes.

“It is,” she replied, giving off a shudder.

Eagle grinned, pulled out a mobile phone from his side pocket, and called for a blanket and hot tea to be brought in for his guest. Subsequently, he replaced it and turned his attention back on the woman sitting across from him. “I’m sorry, but I haven’t quite learned your name yet, Miss…?”

She opened her mouth to answer but, at that moment, a maid came in with a large maroon blanket. Behind her, the butler carried a clear tray of tea towards the glass coffee table situated in the center of the room He asked the sopping young lady how many spoons of sugar she wanted in her demitasse as the maid unfolded the blanket and draped it across her shoulders.

“Two, please,” she answered, relaxing immediately in the comfort that was bestowed on her. “Thank you.”

Eagle glanced at the two servants and waved them away. “So,” he began, “tell me about yourself.”

She took a sip from her cup and set it down on the table. “Well, I’ve just recently turned twenty a month ago,” she informed him. “I worked as a waitress and a domestic servant before coming here. In addition, I have some experience in military technique as I have attended the Academy for about three years before I had to leave. I…wasn’t able to finish school due to some…circumstances that had taken place in my eleventh year and, therefore, could not get my degree or diploma.” Her cheeks flushed. “And, um—as you know, that would give the universities a reason to not accept me into their institutions.” She stared wistfully at her feet. “I was offered a scholarship in my ninth year from Ouest, but they took it back as soon as they had heard that I dropped out.”

Wanting to change the mood of their conversation, Eagle suggested she tell him about her hobbies and aspirations.

“I love to read,” she said. “Classic novels are my preference. I do often read different genres from time to time, including books on self-instruction. I also adore dancing. I don’t dance much, myself, but I like to watch others dance.” She hesitated before continuing. “I find myself…observing people and things a lot of the time. I study their characters and their interactions with each other.” She bit her lower lip. “I don’t know, but you can often tell how a person is by their nature, their speech, and their responses to different stimuli. I guess I’ve always wanted to be a psychiatrist. It’s just the expenses that are the problem.”

“Are you going to try to go back to school?” he inquired.

She laughed ruefully. “Perhaps not.”

He thought for a moment of all of the things that were confided to him. She had undergone some difficult situations, but surely she is better off now? He took a glimpse of her, drawing in all of her features.

She looked well enough, but, as he paid closer attention, he noticed the faint coloring of the barely discernable bags under her eyes. And on noticing them, he couldn’t help but stare at her oddly-colored eyes. They were mysteriously blue, like paint splattered on a wall; only, unlike paint, they looked almost transparent.

He had no idea how long his gaze had been fixated on her face, but as her expression broke into something similar to surprise, he soon realized that it had been far too long to go unnoticed.

Before he could explain himself, Corolla Vision had entered the room.

The young woman rose from her seat and was suddenly enveloped by his mother. “Mika! It’s so nice to finally see you again! How are you, my dear?”

Eagle remained in his armchair, dumbfounded. “Mika?” he breathed.

--

“You’re so grown up,” Corolla gushed, “and so pretty, too.”

Mika smiled and blushed. “Thank you, Mrs. Vision.”

“Well,” said Corolla, looking from Eagle to Mika, “I see you two have already had a chance to get to know each other.”

Eagle affirmed her assumption, but he wasn’t sure whether or not it was true. Why didn’t she—Mika—bother to convey her identity until this moment? He peeked at her.

She was engaged in a tête-à-tête with his mother. What they were talking about, he did not know. He found it hard to follow their conversation as his mind could not help but wonder about her.

In a few minutes, they were joined by Chrystler Vision, who greeted the girl with his utmost civility if not sympathy. He was about as ignorant of her state of affairs as his son was.

The evening passed by at a relatively slow rate for Eagle, as he spent the most of the period listening politely to the soft-spoken murmurs of his parents and their visitor.

It did not occur to him how exhausted he was until he began nodding to sleep.

It was well past one o’ clock when they had all decided to go to bed.

Corolla knelt beside Eagle and tenderly called him awake. “Come now, my darling. I need you to show Mika to her room.”

He obediently got up and followed her to the corridor where Mr. Vision and Ms. Tenshi—as he had learned was her surname—were waiting.

Mr. and Mrs. Vision went down a separate hallway leaving the two adults to wander down the opposite.

Eagle sleepily led the way through the dimly-lit corridors as his guest trailed along, turning her head in every direction as she analyzed the photographs of Autozam’s past presidents and their families. A short distance before the appearance of another entryway, they came across a portrait depicting a ten-year-old Eagle standing beside a proud Mr. Vision.

As they approached it, Mika turned her head upward. What thoughts were cruising through her mind as she watched the depictions were soon made known by her almost inaudible whispers. She smiled, and redirected her attention to the presently grown Eagle. “Bit of a nasty change for you, wasn’t it?” she asked.

He didn’t answer her. “What was?” he inquired.

“You used to grieve so much about moving away from Sud,” she replied, staring at him starkly. “You really don’t remember anything, don’t you?”

He frowned. “No, I guess not.”

She grinned, moving forward. “Well, I suppose it’s not very important, anyway. So you’ve been in Cephiro for a couple of months, have you? Well, what is it like?”

Eagle could not refrain from smiling as he thought of the bliss time he spent in that country. “It’s beautiful,” he said, “like…paradise. There’s really no other word to describe it. You’d have to see it for yourself.”

She walked alongside him. “How is it like a paradise?”

As he thought more about his stay, which had been almost two years now, he began to feel a strange feeling of bleakness claw from within. Thankful for the fact that they were now standing between their separate dormitories, he suggested that he aid her curiosity on another occasion.

She reluctantly consented and wished him a good night before disappearing behind the door of her bedroom.

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A/N: Well that’s all I can think of writing for now. Any suggestions made would be helpful.