aspiring fae psychologist

(there is few people willing to listen, even fewer than before. his grove is gone. his students have gone, his carefully accumulated knowledge had been burned to dust or shredded by the creatures of the black tide)

he knows his time is limited, why not take a breather and ponder? it felt almost right, or supernatural in a way, he simply must head over. something pulled him, something compelled him.

(he knew his time was limited. did he know her time was limited as well?)

he stepped into the bathhouse, under the little curtain of a waterfall, there were people, naturally. however,,

today seemed tenser almost. there was chatter of course, lively chatter. but there was also hushed voices, whispers, and fearful glances. the public were aware of the future that could lie ahead. they were worried. how true was the prophesied “era nova”?

he wondered if that woman was watching. what did she think? could she think of anything beyond her cold calculating and measured plan? was she planning to soothe the nerves of the people? he doubted she had much of her humanity left. that cold, cold, woman.

forget it. if she believes herself to be so almighty and indestructible, let her burn.

he planned to head up to the chryso heir’s private bath. turning around, he prepared to ascend the elevator.

until he heard the scream.

guttered screams of the people. gasps in horror, a collective fear spreading. their hands outstretched and pointing up,

and he saw her fall.

and he ran towards her.

he had hope, that woman would never let herself be defeated so easily. falling from a height? how utterly embarrassing. although he for once, acted without thinking and rushed over, he was absolutely sure that at any moment, there would be golden threads wrapping around her body and carrying her to safety.

until he heard the sickening squelch of her body hitting the floor)

anaxa roughly awoke to the sound of that blasted alarm clock.

he shifted up slowly, hands rushing to his eyes in an attempt to shield out the horrid bright rays of sunlight, fingers then moving up to comb his hair.

5:00am.

that dream again.

it’d once been a nightmare, he remembers waking up as a kid, crying tears for some mysterious woman he couldn’t even remember the face of. anaxa would have ran into his sister’s arms, clinging to her as he would blubber on about the same nightmare, recurring at least once a week. she’d soothingly comfort him each time, rubbing his back, and speaking in a reassuring tone that it was truly, only a dream.

now, he no longer feels all of the vivid sadness. (there was no one to wipe away his tears anyway.) the years had numbed his heart and he no longer sobbed for such a trivial thing. there existed only a persistent feeling of dread, he knew what was coming, and he knew that he was powerless to stop the cycle of falling.

(why does it matter so much? what could this possibly have to do with him? ancient clothing, ancient architecture, and an unfamiliar woman whose face had been blurred out each time, he never remembered when he woke up.)

a notification shook him from his musings, anaxa looked down on his phone,

aglaea: did you prep for the meeting?

a sigh of annoyance escaped from his lips. unbeknownst to him, a small wry smile replaced it just a moment later.

anaxagoras: good morning to you too

aglaea: did you prep for the meeting?

anaxagoras: perhaps.

algaea: i will take that answer as a yes. you are responsible for the consequences if not.

anaxagoras: a mere monthly meeting is of such importance to you?

algaea: everything is crucial, attention to detail is a must. you would understand if you were president of the student council.

anaxagoras: i’ll have you know i am content with my position

algaea: under me?

algaea: like always?

anaxagoras: well if you must think in such a crude way

algaea: i'm simply stating facts, which you love so much

anaxagoras: facts? information that has been scientifically true? i’m not sure how that correlates, you haven’t been the winner in every competition dear aglaea.

algaea: results show the ball lies primarily in my court.

anaxagoras: perhaps you should pull up some evidence to support your claim, otherwise it will be baseless.

algaea: oh you know, the election? which i won. i’d like to commemorate your bravery, i’m not sure who you bribed for all those votes but it was certainly a fascinating spectacle.

anaxagoras: i held little care for the election, student council is nothing but a small stepping stone to reach my true goal. in terms of honor or prestige, i believe there's hardly a difference whether i am president or vice president, both roles seem fundamentally the same.

algaea: did i get under your skin already? oh anaxa

anaxagoras: firstly, anaxagoras. second, you could never.

algaea: is that so?

read 5:12am

she never missed a chance to nag, annoy, or infuriate anaxa. even at 5 in the morning. it was truly a waste to spend such precious time typing out sentences upon sentences to refute whatever seeped out of her mouth.

forget such foolish and insignificant disputes. he has more important tasks than some student council meeting or bantering with aglaea, for goodness sake.

under her? how preposterous.

maybe if he had been a more pious person then whatever divine being in charge of all would have taken more pity on him. the stars were most certainly not aligned for him. they rarely were but today he basically expected the sun to set east from how utterly insane the day had been.

firstly, the bus ran early for some god forsaken reason, anaxa had been very thorough in timing his arrival so he’d always be not a second too early or late, not a second longer spent under the scorching hot sun or freezing air. so naturally he missed it when it decided to act out of schedule.

yes, he had no car. things were just not plausible in his budget alright? he was saving up but according to his calculations, with his current part time job at the library and the hours of tutoring, he was quite close to affording one soon, including insurance and all of that.

his foster family did the minimum and he would not grovel for assistance that they could hardly afford either.

he’d had to ask phainon for a ride, for as much as he cared for hyacine, he most certainly would not trust a recently turned 16 year old girl with a steering wheel. the car itself was pleasant and a lovely break from the disgusting bus. if phainon ever learned to closed his mouth for a singular second than anaxa would have been thrilled to ride with him.

first the conversation started with small talk, but dismissiveness did not work on phainon, who could likely easily chat with a clothes hanger. from typical school discussions, to video games (that anaxa did not play nor remotely cared for), to swimming (where did this come from?), to mydei (of course), and to tens upon hundred of other topics in the span of 20 minutes.

once arriving at the school, he’d been ambushed by that woman, who once again went on and on about the meeting later. then first period, he’d been assigned a group project including a presentation. he wouldn’t have cared but with his terrific luck, anaxa had the wondrous privilege of working with the biggest slackers in his class. he wasn’t quite sure how their miniscule brains had carried them to ap psych but now he gets the darling opportunity to spend all of his time covering their assignment. (perhaps if he had not challenged the teacher before and most definitely defeated her in a debate on human behaviors then she could have been more forgiving and reassign groups.)

then he spilled his wasabi vinegar drink while rereading his essay for ap english and comp. a true pity since he’d only taken a few sips and overall, it was a nusiene to rewrite the last page thirty minutes before it was due.

calculus exam, surprise environmental science quiz, his forgotten lunch at home, the day had been a nightmare so far.

and..

“scheduling conflict with over half of the members. i’ve decided to just postpone the meeting to tomorrow.” aglaea said, in her awfully sickly sweet voice, he could tell she was reveling in his annoyance.

anaxa had to wait for the other bus that ran at 4:55pm, almost two more hours of being in this blasted building. what was he supposed to do now? the library was contaminated with basketball fools since the gym was under repair, the caf was closed and smelled putrid either way, courtyard was closed, most teachers had booked it out of school as soon as their classes ended..

“really huh? i don’t recall you ever postponing a meeting before.” anaxa curtly said.

(he’d literally spent all of his lunch writing notes and planning the relevent topics to discuss at the meeting, calculations, percentages, and contacting cerydra for finances. what a complete and utter waste of time.)

that horrid woman tilted her head slightly and giving an almost gentle, beautiful smile (anaxa knew her under all that polite facade. that woman was a bitch. he was not going to fall for her tricks.) “oh well, if you must know, castorice had work, tribios had an family emergency, mydeimos and phainon have practice, terravox has been away for the past week, cyrene for the past month, hysliens and cerydra had some prior plans, and cifera is god knows where.”

“hm.” was all he said, but dear aglaea continued.

“first time for everything, my dear anaxa. it would have been just us and hyacine, not a very productive meeting if there weren't most of the members there to offer their opinions, right?”

(he did not think about dear. perhaps they called each other that from time to time but it was purely sarcastic. they could not have been further from being each other's dearest.)

well you know what? the student council room was available, and no one but aglaea would be there. a perfect way to get his revenge for the mild inconvenience he’d suffered. normally anaxa would avoid it like the plague but today seemed a wonderful time to figure out ways to get under her skin.

“i see.” he said, unpacking his bag and roughly setting down a very heavy textbook, silently smirking as she grimaced from the loud noise it made in the sparsely decorated room,

after a moment's hesitation, she asked, “planning on staying?”

“of course. there’s no where else to go, you wouldn’t mind at all, would you?”

“..how would i? you’re allowed as much as i am.”

“merely confirming.” he said, clicking his pen obsessively.

he couldn’t help a small smirk from gracing his lips as he watched her frown ever so slightly. how gorgeous she looked annoyed for once. perhaps he ought to come and visit her more often in the future.

(holding her still and cold body in his arms, he felt so, so completely defeated.

he thought he'd already lost everything, his family, his home, his grove, his students, but now her? something he believed eternal and everlasting, her?

why her, why? why had death continuously take and take? her humanity and their once love he could get by without. as long as he knew she was physically intact, safe in okhema, away from the tide, he could bear anything, he’d be fine with their distance.

but she was gone now.

how cruel everything was.

he sat there for what appeared as an eternity, only moved by the trembling hands of hyacinthia.

he watched as they moved her away from him, preparing to be examined and placed in a tomb. just another corpse now. he watched as the last evidence of her humanity vanished.