Footsteps echo throughout the empty halls. The stillness of the air seemed to suck even the sound of his footfalls into the nothingness. Flickering lights left on illuminate the pathway just enough to see by. Water dripped somewhere, creating a hollow pinking noise that was impossible to ignore. The walls almost seemed to shift and creak, the looming emptiness of the warehouse was unavoidable. The barrenness of the whole thing sat on his back, an unnecessary pressure. He ignored the overhanging dampness and pressed forward through the murky hall. The darkness seeped out from dark corners and crevices. On this moonless night even the silhouettes were gone. The usual friendly smattering of stars above were obscured utterly by dense clouds. It would be a cold moonless night. The sky was dark and low, the air so chilled it hurt to breathe. He could only imagine what how the boy felt in a large, cold steel cage.
He could tell the boy’s mind was still a surging perplexity as he approached his cage. His eyes … to say they were duo colored was to say the sky was simply colorful at sunset, accurate by not giving true description to their uniqueness. At first glance he could certainly see the beauty they behold, but once he gazed into them … he saw everything differently. The yellow color was just the beginning as the addition of purple seemed to intertwine in the center. The colors mingled together cascading an array of different shades throughout his gaze. One look into them and you’re lost – doomed for all eternity because no other eyes would ever compare. Dazai admired everything about this boy, from the way the breeze blew in his hair to the tone to his voice. He had watched him for a while. He was a rare creature, a new addition to his personal trove.
Dazai stood before the boy and put his hand on the bars. There was something disturbing about the cage he was in. It had been engineered with absolute precision. The corners were sharp and straight with evenly spaced bars. Someone designed this cell, they sat in a clean office under the glow of the natural sun rays and used their God given talents to create something so soulless as to constitute additional punishment. After all his preparations he felt like he’d earned his treat already. He’d been watching the White Tiger for months, he knew his routines, his habits, and all of the above.
Then Dazai gave the boy a small smile that seemed so genuinely sweet with just the right touch ofgentleness. His soft lips stretched into a smile but didn’t quite reach his dark eyes. They were lit with emptiness, and the forced expression of the contrary on his mouth was almost saddening.
“ It’s alright, you’re safe. I apologize for … this. ” he gestured to the cage, “ You’ve caused a lot of trouble for my men, I’m afraid we had no choice but to contain you. Tell me, do you remember anything before you fell unconscious, hmmm ? ”
( caused a lot of trouble? no choice but to contain him? )
his memories are scattered and shrouded in the same kind of shadows that seem to lurk around the IMPOSING structure of the bars surrounding him, thin and wispy smoke that filters easily through his fingers the more desperately he tries to grab and make sense of it. it doesn’t make sense, and he glances away in confusion before he can see that beguiling smile, swiveling his head around with arms clasped about his waist in a false pretense of SECURITY. their surroundings are barren and cold, the same kind of chill that permeated the cell he had spent many a night caged within, a bitterly familiar companion that nips at his fingertips and pinches his bruised and aching feet. if not for the unknown man standing before him, he would almost allow himself to fall into the sudden panic of believing he had somehow been eschewed back to the captivity of the orphanage, the headmaster having regretted his sudden decision in allowing him freedom.
( though what a CHEAP freedom it was all the same, the freedom to starve and die under the stars and inhaling the city’s pollution instead of being punished in chains; but then again, he was grateful for the salty sea taste in his mouth and he doesn’t quite think that if he is to die, that he would mind terribly if it were under the glow of the night sky. )
death however though, is strangely not an option he would eagerly take, some stubborn and twisted desire still lining his empty stomach with the screeching demand to live and SURVIVE. pale brows furrow as his eyes return to the oddly soft-spoken man dressed so sharply before him, the peek of crisp bandages just underneath his sleeves and collar, and . . . the startling bleakness of his gaze.
( it is like looking into a leering chasm; he wonders if he stares long enough, he’ll see himself broken at the bottom. )
“ . . . I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” he ventures anxiously after a moment, feet shifting nervously in place. “I-I remember running away from the tiger, I didn’t mean to cause any trouble ! ”
( oh no, oh no, what if that’s what this stranger means? by his mad dash through the streets, he had somehow led the monstrous beast into unsuspecting civilians who had been gravely injured? )
pallid features take on an ASHEN hue as he stares wide-eyed at the taller male, breath hitching with unmistakable traces of a deeply held fear. “I-I’m so sorry, did it hurt anyone? Is that why I’m here, are you trying to hide me from it?”
@n0-l0nger-sane