Helianthemum

The candles floating on Fujio’s koi pond glimmered, the only illuminant (besides Anthy) on this moonless, cloudy night. Fujio watched them flickering in their little glass spheres that had the tops cut out. Their flames were gentle and orange, small salamander tongues licking the darkness.

Fujio suddenly felt a chill, and leaned in closer into Anthy. He pulled their blanket more tightly around the both of them. The late summer night was pleasantly cool, especially after the scorching, unrelenting heat that had swept over the land over the past couple days. However, the occasional breeze that rippled through the air tipped the temperature into uncomfortable territory.

It was alright, though. Fujio had his love to keep him warm. Being an incandescent spirit of light, Anthy emanated warmth like a constantly burning hearth. His long, slender arms encircled Fujio as he sweetly sang mystical lullabies in an ancient language that Fujio did not understand. His voice was smooth and quiet, tongue forming other-wordly syllables that Fujio could never make.

Fujio looked up at him, admiring how his skin glowed. Without the sun’s energy, Anthy’s shimmering aura was subdued. The firelight cast shades of rich amber onto his features. His silvery hair swept around the both of them, silky and thick. At one point Aji had also been with them underneath the blanket, but she had wiggled out from under it and was lying at the water’s edge. She was sleeping soundly, her torso rising and falling and her curly brown fur shifting from the wind’s touch.

Everything seemed so serene, so normal, as they rested there in the grass. But it was just a veneer on the surface, a lagoon with sinister jagged rocks in its navy blue depths.

“How much longer?” Anthy asked softly. The question lingered in the air despite its weight. To an outsider, it would seem ambiguous. How much longer until what? Until they went back inside? Until sunrise? But Fujio knew immediately. It was the same subject that had been lurking in their minds for a very long time.

Fujio’s chest tightened.

“Three days,” Fujio said, staring at the pond. The peaceful image became blurry, and he removed his spectacles to wipe tears away. He was trying not to panic thinking about the fate that awaited him, but that was, frankly, an impossibility. Anthy was silent for a while, but Fujio felt him embrace him more tightly, as if he was afraid that loosening his hold would cause Fujio to vanish. He wasn’t sure what he could say, to offer some semblance of comfort.

“It’s alright, my flower. I’m-” He blinked away water droplets. “I’m only a human anyways.” Afterall, compared to a being as resplendent and eternal as Anthy, how insignificant he was and how little value he held.

“Fujio,” Anthy said in a broken voice, and Fujio regretted his words instantly. He should not have said that out loud. “You are so precious to me.” Fujio’s heart ached. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye. If only he could buy more time somehow. How quickly it had flown by. He softly touched Anthy’s cheek, his fingers soaking up heat.

“I’m sorry,” he said, looking off at Aji’s sleeping form. He was apologizing for hurting Anthy, but he still believed what he’d said. Anthy was immortal, living as long as the sun beamed down from the sky. The worth of Fujio’s own mortal life was minute. Fujio felt blessed to hold his attention, his affection. His love.

Fujio absentmindedly took a lock of Anthy’s hair from where it draped over his thigh and slowly ran his fingers through.

“Let’s enjoy what we have left. These three days,” Anthy finally said. Fujio nodded.

“Mm,” he replied. Suddenly, Anthy twisted and from the pocket of his gossamer dress he withdrew a shining golden band. He took his other arm from around Fujio’s waist and delicately picked up his rough, tanned hands in his own pale and slim ones. He slipped the bracelet onto Fujio’s wrist, where it rested as a comforting weight. Fujio caught his breath as he watched, eyes once again brimming with tears. He blushed happily, heart swelling to the point of cracking into pieces. The gold was carved with intricate wisteria blossoms dripping from the top edge. Anthy procured a matching one that was etched with sunroses and slipped it onto his own wrist. The metal glinted from his glow and the soft candlelight.

Fujio could no longer keep his tears at bay, and they trickled down his cheeks. Shakily, he took Anthy’s hand in his own and intertwined their fingers. Nothing needed to be said. He knew the promise that this meant, but… forever was a long time. Would Anthy’s soul still belong to him even after his impending preordination? Or would he be forgotten? The thought of Anthy loving somebody else, a faceless stranger in the future, was distressing. But even worse was a lonely Anthy, grieving for eternity or until the sun went dark.

Anthy kissed his tears away, easing his worries enough to let him fall asleep.

By the time the sun rose, the morning dew had extinguished all of the floating candles.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Nothing was going to cause harm to Fujio. Anthy was prepared to face any danger, pay any price, to keep Fujio’s fate from brushing him aside like how one carelessly sweeps a withered fallen leaf out of the house. Fujio was worth more than that. Throughout his 468 years, Anthy had fallen in and out of relationships time and time again, each one more fleeting and meaningless than the last. Their faces were blurs, their time together fragments of laughter or half-recalled, once-intriguing stories that he couldn’t attach to names for the life of him. Most of them were good people, but Anthy’s memory was so poor that if he saw one of them on the streets, he doubted he would recognize them. Although, he thought with a shiver, most of them had to be dead by now. Were they decaying, or perhaps completely skeletonized? How frighteningly fast a human’s life slipped through their fingers.

Fujio was not the same as the others, although it had seemed that way at first. Once they grew closer, once he opened up to him, there was no going back to his previous way of life. For Anthy’s kind, there was only one. And despite the circumstances, despite the mere five years they had spent (and would be alloted to spend) together, he knew that there would never be anybody else. Fate was an unjust and merciless mistress, but her dominion over all could not be denied.

Anthy adjusted his cloak so that it covered more of his arms. He didn’t need it for warmth, but instead to mask his luminescence from passerby. The misty early morning obscured details, but his aura would refract on the water in the air in a hard-to-miss rainbow. Normally he adored being the center of attention, but this mission was infinitely more important. The stone road felt smooth against his bare feet, worn from centuries of wagon wheels and pedestrians. His pace was quick, but just moderate enough to not garner any unwanted curiosity; he couldn’t afford to waste a second more than necessary. He had to return before Fujio awoke, and they were running out of time anyways.

Anthy, ever forgetful, made several frustrating wrong turns and had to backtrack and reorient himself. Finally, he reached the place (at least he hoped it was). He slipped between two abandoned buildings and into the shadows. His skin cast golden light like a lantern onto the vibrantly green moss-covered walls on either side of him, pushing away the darkness. Once he was certain that he was out of sight from the street, he broke into a run. He continued for what felt like eons; the only sounds echoing on the walls were his heavy breathing, his feet smacking against the wet cobblestone, and the dripping of water. His heart was racing in his chest- excited, hopeful, and terrified simultaneously. There was light up ahead, and he was filled with a burst of energy that propelled his legs faster. It grew brighter and brighter.

Anthy skidded to the halt, the ground scraping his feet. He stood on the precipice of a round courtyard that was tiled in a rainbow of chipped mosaic shards. Featured in its center was a crumbling mermaid fountain that hadn’t bore water in a very long time. Enclosing the courtyard were tall buildings that stretched so high that they cast the whole area in shadow. Their vast, flat surfaces were unbroken by windows besides a single one-by-one square with shattered glass, opposite Anthy. The buildings loomed over him, a ring of overcast sky far above.

Sat on the base of the fountain was a figure wrapped head to feet in resplendent robes, as still and eerie as their surroundings. Anthy bit his lip and hesitated a moment before closing the distance between them. He dropped to his knees before them, head bowed. His hair curled on the tiles around him.

“Please,” he appealed. “I need your help.” There was no response from the other, not even a single twitch to indicate that they’d heard Anthy at all. Anthy was trembling in his desperation. “My love is afflicted with a curse. It will take effect in less than three days.” Rare, radiant tears beaded in his eyes, and when he blinked they scattered onto the mosaic and solidified into sparkling diamonds. “I beg you, tell me what must be done, and I will do it.”

Silence persisted, and Anthy stared down at the fallen jewels. His lips were slightly parted, and he pressed them into a firm line as more diamonds clattered onto the others. He tried to rack his brain for somewhere else he could turn, anything- but this was all. The other magic-weavers had withdrawn from the world long before this one.

Then an androgynous voice as wispy and ephemeral as smoke began to drift through the courtyard.

“Helianthemum, child of the sun- you would pay any cost?” Anthy’s head lifted at the sound, but the figure remained statuesque amongst their elaborate brocade finery. Not even the red silk scarf wrapped tightly around their entire head shifted.

Anthy ran his fingers over the bracelet around his wrist.

“Without question,” he said firmly.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Anthy spent the rest of those three days with his beloved Fujio. He couldn’t bear to miss a single thing. They cooked extravagant meals together, recipes that they’d never tried. Aji, oblivious to the situation, wagged her tail as she sniffed around their feet for food. Anthy wove flowers from Fujio’s garden into chains that were too long to even be used for anything, while Fujio tenderly brushed Anthy’s hair and plaited it into complicated patterns. Aji frolicked under the shade of the trees and did her best to protect Fujio’s expansive garden from squirrels (which was a difficult undertaking, considering that Fujio’s cottage was in a clearing of squirrel-infested woods). Fujio and Anthy told each other secrets that they never had before, embarrassing stories and abandoned wishes alike.

Although they were doing seemingly mundane things, there was a sense of urgency hovering over them, heavy on their shoulders. It was cruel, experiencing this daily life together that they had shared for not nearly long enough. It was only theirs for these three days longer.

Two nights before their last sunset, Anthy was lying on Fujio’s chest and listening to his heartbeat. It fluttered so delicately, like a small butterfly. He gently kissed the tan skin there, feeling his pulse lightly against his lips. Fujio, who Anthy had assumed asleep, opened his eyes lazily to look at him.

“Hm?” he asked sleepily. Anthy laughed softly, and Fujio gave him a small smile before drifting off. He kissed him again on the same spot the next night, making certain that Fujio was really unconscious this time. On the last night, Anthy lied awake in deep thought. If only that old witch hadn’t been jealous of your garden. It was too late now. How unfair, that Fujio’s only crime had been to have beautiful flowers.

The final day dawned. They went through the same routine, with breakfast and singing and feeding the koi in Fujio’s pond. But the foreboding was palpable in the air. Anthy could see that Fujio was trying to put on a brave face, but he saw tears keep leaking from his eyes. Fujio kept stumbling, coughing, and clutching at his chest. Anthy would swoop in, gather him up in his arms, and kiss his face until he smiled, but it was all in vain. A charade.

The sun began to descend in the sky, and Anthy glared up at it for the first time in his life. Can’t you stay, mother? Just for a little longer? Do you not realize what you’re doing? His heart sank with her.

Anthy helped Fujio outside. Aji, now discerning that something was amiss, whined pitifully. They closed the door and trapped her in the house so that she didn’t have to experience what was coming. Fujio’s breathing was shallow and ragged, reminding Anthy of the rustle of walking through a pile of dessicated leaves.

Fujio looked up at Anthy, but his eyes weren’t focusing. He was so fragile in Anthy’s arms, unable to even stand on his own.

“Anthy,” he rasped, breaking into a violent hacking fit. Anthy could not wait a moment more. Determined, he began unbuttoning Fujio’s shirt. The left side of Fujio’s chest was swollen and scarlet, with greenish-brown, sickly veins webbing out from the center. They throbbed, growing thicker with each heartbeat. Anthy recoiled at the horrific sight, already so much worse than he’d imagined. He shouldn’t have waited so long, but he didn’t think it would work if he tried too early. He swiftly leaned down to kiss that same spot for the third and final time. He stared at it, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. He was overwhelmed with confusion and panic. He’d done exactly as instructed, why-

then, an agonizing pain in his chest, like someone had thrust their hand into his ribcage and was squeezing his heart in their fist. He grunted, wincing. Fujio had collapsed to the ground and was staring up at Anthy in sheer horror. Between the folds of his blue shirt, Anthy could see that his chest was now unscathed aside from a slightly reddened patch.

“Anthy,” Fujio sobbed pathetically, and it was the single most heart-wrenching thing that Anthy had heard in all of the 468 years that he’d been alive.

Anthy gave a faltering smile, then bent down and placed a hand on one of his precious Fujio’s cheeks.

“It was the only way.”

Tears poured from Fujio’s swollen eyes. He gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, shoulders heaving.

“Why?” he cried. “I’d already accepted it!”

Anthy’s limbs were becoming heavy and his joints felt stiff. He bowed his head, searing pain coursing through every fiber of his body in waves of serrated blades.

“I wasn’t going to let you die.”

Fujio staggered to his feet and began to claw at the seed now implanted on Anthy’s heart. He broke the skin, and blindingly white blood began to trickle out of the scratches. He attempted to yank the seed out by its roots, but it was too interconnected with Anthy’s body. Anthy had seen him pull out hundreds of weeds over their years together, but this was one that he could not. Fujio tried to kiss the spot like Anthy had, to no avail. Anthy embraced him tenderly, and Fujio buried his face into his shoulder with a wail.

Anthy could feel his feet beginning to anchor into the earth.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Fujio could feel Anthy’s flesh becoming solid, could see his ever-present glow ebbing away from his skin. His panic consumed his soul like a fire. This wasn’t meant to happen. This couldn’t be happening. He was the one who had been cursed, not Anthy. How could Anthy do this? Give up his immortality for somebody like him?

“Please, please no,” he whimpered. Anthy kissed him sweetly. His skin was becoming rough and morphing into a silver-taupe color. His legs melted together, and roots stretched out from his feet and pushed through the dirt. Anthy’s hair fused and joined the the rest of the long shingles of bark now covering his body. In a sickly, unnatural movement, his arms snapped up and transformed into twisting branches that thrust up towards the sky. More branches rapidly burst from Anthy’s neck and head with a crack that rang out, and Fujio screamed. Aji started barking wildly from within the cottage. Anthy still had a smile on his face, and his aquamarine eyes glimmered in the shadows of the dying sunlight.

He lowered his eyelids and his face became frozen in place, rigid and wooden. The twigs budded and then unfurled into large, star-shaped maple leaves in a canopy above. Fujio banged his fists on the trunk of the tree until his hands were torn up and bleeding. He yelled Anthy’s name for so long that his voice completely left him and he was just mouthing it, and he cried so hard that he fell onto his hands and knees and dry heaved.

Fujio stayed there all night, weeping like a child. He clung to Anthy until the rays of the morning sun shone through the trees. Fujio heard a rustling of leaves, and with a futile hope that Anthy would be sitting in a branch unharmed, he glanced up. As the sunbeams caressed the tree’s foliage, small golden blooms popped open among the leaves. The light reflected against something brightly on one of the branches, and Fujio squinted up at it. His stomach lurched when he saw the golden band there, constricting the branch tightly and causing it to bulge on either side. One of the flowers floated down, and Fujio caught it in his hands. He held it close to his chest. A helianthemum.