What Lies Before Us By Gaisce

Summary: Harli and Meishie discuss what it means to have a destiny and what could transpire between two souls who have no predetermined fate to guide them to each other.
Setting: Right between volume four and five.
Rating: PG

Harli Laracott still couldn’t believe his luck when he discovered that someone else was living in the mad prince Seeu’s drafty old tomb. It was even more surprising, since all of Laracott lineage had some type of prophecy ability, that he couldn’t have foreseen the obvious idea of Seeu rescuing the Princes of the Choosing. Or the common sense that if he succeeded he would most likely bring her back to his “sanctuary” until she was safe.

But then, Harli’s visions were pretty worthless considering he could foresee very descriptive permutations, yet there were always two outcomes equally possible and equally unaffected by any action he took. From the greatest of battles to simple coin tosses, he could see what would very well be the future, but it wouldn’t matter if there was no way to see who would be the winner, which side would turn face up…which part of him was right. Such visions were painful when they crashed through his mind simultaneously, like being forced to look in two directions without focus. Meishie was the only one powerful enough to help him harness the constant duality of his mind, at least enough to function without being rendered completely in two. However, the damage was still too extensive to fully repair and even now Harli could never reconcile his fragmented sides. The brash yang and quiet yin were almost always in constant opposition except for the rarest of occurrences.

A rare occurrence like when both facets stopped to marvel in awe at Kaguya when she first appeared in Seeu’s stead.

It galled half of him to admit it, but Harli was smitten by the beautiful girl. The twofold vision seemed to vanish in her presence, leaving his mind strangely unburdened to examine the unpredictable world around her. Meishie had explained to Harli that the Princess of the Choosing was the only being who was truly never affected by destiny. It was why she was prophesied to be the only one to able circumvent the universe’s destruction. She was very unique, this girl, which accounted for so many people fighting to ensure she would choose what they wanted her to choose. Come to think of it, Harli wondered, he wasn’t particularly sure how Meishie’s plan to avert multiple worlds decay was supposed to pan out in her free will either.

“What news do you bring?” Meishie asked as he rose and stretched in the confines of his dark meditative place.

Harli, feeling particularly brash at the given moment, jeered, “Nothing from the usual, old man. Kaguya is still waiting in that dank place while she figures out what to do. She says she’ll come with you when she has a plan, but until then she stays with Seeu.”

The great sage smiled mysteriously. “There’s no safer place for her to be at this time.”

“Speak for yourself. Seeu may be pretty, but he’s not the most stable of people I’d want to watch over Kaguya.” Remembering the scene of Lunato Mercury pushing Kaguya away with its force made Harli tense about leaving her with him. “She doesn’t belong there. Didn’t you offer her a place to stay here? Or at least somewhere more comfortable?”

“Yes,” Meishie sighed in exasperation, looking far more immature than someone of his stature should. “She preferred to stay behind with Seeu.”

“Gah, I don’t know why! I know we’re on the same side and all, but he’s just a creepy silent bastard.”

“And Kaguya is the kind of girl who will chatter on to fill the silences or overexert herself to make sure the other isn’t ill at ease. If anything, I would worry more for the mad prince than for our princess.”

Harli turned his head, so the long dark bangs on his left side covered his face. “When you say it like that, prince and princess, it makes it sound like they’re supposed to...”

Meishie placed a hand on his young relative’s shoulder. “You have spent far too much time with me, mulling over portends and fate.”

“What do you see in Seeu? You’ve known him for hundreds of years in all your incarnations, he’s had all this time to fix things, to make amends, but he still remains alone. That’s enough time to change a little, or at least start to help it along.”

“He’s not just hurt, young one,” the sage whispered, his cat eyes dilating as he reminisced, “Seeu is a broken man. Nothing in the universe can fix him, or touch him, or make him a part of these events.” Meishie sighed. “So it would make sense that if anyone could save him, it would be the one person who exists outside of these world’s influences.”

“Kaguya,” Harli stated to the open air. Now he knew there was absolutely no chance in the nine worlds that his flirtation would mean anything more than that. “Did you foresee her mending him?”

“I cannot foresee anything pertaining to Seeu. Nor have I truly been able to see anything since that fire at the end of the Great War. He was supposed to die and yet Kagami saved him, leaving him bereft of any direction.”

“He still acts like he’s dead.”

At that, the great sage laughed, a full and hearty laugh. “That may be true. Those without a destiny often have nothing to live for.”

“So what makes Kaguya so different?” Harli wondered.

“Because she lives for others. She truly is the best choice, far above those more powerful, more intelligent or more dedicated to the cause.” Meishie saw all those others who had had their chance to save the world: Emperor Kura, Idou, Lagunahaan’s heir Bambivirie, and even himself, none had the same demeanor to wholly grasp the compassionate nature to save the world. Even Kagami, the closest like her, was not without his hidden secrets and reasons. “She is, because none of us are kind enough as to give a blanket to one like Seeu, so cut off from the world and the big dilemma we fixate on. She’s the only one who would see even the lost as someone worth knowing and admiring.”

“So, you really think she can do something about him? From what I’ve seen, simple kindness is something of a rarity for him, but it doesn’t seem to be enough if he won’t even let someone touch him. Or if he konks out whenever anything gets too close to home.”

“The strongest defenses fall under gentle attention,” Meishie murmured philosophically.

“Pfft. That’s probably why you were more of a sage and less of a warrior, geezer.”

“I’ll have you know, you young whelp, that I could hold my own with the greatest of warriors.”

“Except you botch it up even more now. What was with that business with the levitating castle anyway?”

“I didn’t foresee the height calibrations!”

Harli smirked, “Don’t tell me you were distracted by the young princess.”

“As I said, one never foresees things involving the Princess of the Annai.”

“You were showing off,” Harli jabbed at his mentor with a finger. “And got distracted.”

“And you were shamelessly flirting with her before I got there, I wouldn’t be the one to pass judgment,” he huffed.

The younger boy sighed. “The person who will decide the fate of the world makes the two of us act like a bunch of giggling apprentices is stuck with the only man in the nine worlds who isn’t charmed by her. This destiny thing isn’t fair.”

Meishie nodded as his accomplice wandered off to complete his other tasks, reflecting to himself. “No, maybe destiny isn’t fair. It’s not fair that the worlds are falling on themselves, no matter what we try to stop it. Maybe it’s not fair that Seeu and Kaguya are the only two denied their fate, or that they are the only two who are free to change it. Ah well, even if it’s not fair. There’s always a purpose.”

The sage turned his head to where the castle would be drifting, empty save for two very different souls. “Always a purpose.”