Heart Bloom

Heart Bloom (번역본 링크)

It was just one of those days. She was already used to them.

Mio trudged through the twilight town, glancing around in vain attempts to stumble across on a place that seemed friendly enough to accept a stranger overnight. She wouldn’t mind too much if she could only find dry, soft ground to lie down for a few hours. She spied a stout tree just at the edge of her vision and gratefully, but slowly, walked over. Almost immediately, Mio collapsed on to the ground, leaning her head against the trunk of the tree. She was hungry, as she had gone with a scarce dinner consisting only of a small piece of bread and an apple. But she had no choice if she were to have any food at all for the next few days. She was running out of what little money she managed to earn.

Mio’s eyes closed very briefly, until they snapped open again. She had almost forgotten about the flower. Silently berating herself, she propped herself upright again and reached for her worn bag, carefully extracting a fragile-looking flower. It was such a pale rose colour that it looked almost white and was wilting at the edges. Mio briefly gazed at the flower before putting it away and picked up a small, green seed.

A moment later, she was holding on to a half-bloomed flower to her heart. The petals held only a hint of colour and began wilting all too soon. Mio felt sadness encroach on her heart, then frustration. She tossed the flower away from herself and lay back down on the ground.

“Why can’t I do it?”

* * *

“Hey, Mio. I’ve been feeling the strangest thing ever.”

Mio turned her head to look at her twin. Reagan shared many of the same features as Mio – brown hair, brown eyes, and a slight build. It was rare to see such a solemn look in his eyes, being the less serious of the two. But now, there was not a hint of laughter in the brown depths.

“I get the feeling that I’m losing something in me. I don’t feel like I’m… me anymore.”

Mio rolled over completely and regarded her brother with equal seriousness. Something was lurking beneath her brother’s eyes but she couldn’t tell what it was, making her more at unease.

“You’ve been feeling under the weather for some time now.” Mio worded her response carefully, “It’s natural. You shouldn’t worry…” She stopped speaking when Reagan shook his head slowly.

“It’s got nothing to do with that. It’s… I… I’m scared, Mio.”

She could just make out the tears threatening to spill over his eyes. Silently, she reached over and touched his hand with her own gently.

“Go to sleep, Reagan. It’ll be better in the morning, I promise.”

A long silence later, Reagan nodded hesitantly and closed his eyes. Mio gazed tenderly at him for a moment longer before closing her own.

Within three days, he was gone.

* * *

Mio had only been ten when she first learned about the Heartless. But they remained just as nightmare figures to her until she turned sixteen. Until Reagan became Heartless. Mio shook her head vigorously: Reagan was beginning to lose his Heart, he wasn’t Heartless yet. And he wouldn’t become one, not unless she could help it.

“Tell me, please tell me a way I can reverse what’s happening to Reagan.”

“If I knew, I would’ve told you, Mio, believe me.”

She stared forlornly into the eyes of her aged grandfather – eyes that looked back at her but couldn’t see her. Mio sniffled, feeling thoroughly alone. It had been a week since Reagan disappeared during the night. When Mio discovered him gone, she had turned the entire town upside-down looking for her twin. When she couldn’t find him, she had collapsed and cried, utterly devastated. It was a few days before Mio could force herself out of bed and read the note that Reagan left behind.

Its content had been simple: Reagan knew that he was slowly losing his Heart. He was afraid of hurting her when he was completely transformed into a Heartless. He was sorry.

Mio had gone directly to her grandfather with more questions than he could answer. The first question had been simple enough.

“Heartless are just like any other people, Mio. They have just simply lost their Hearts, and with that, the ability to feel, empathize, and love. They are… empty shells of what used to be human.”

Mio’s mind had reeled. The words “Reagan” and “empty” didn’t sound right in the same sentence. Once she had collected herself to continue with the questioning, she had asked her second question.

“The process? It varies with each person. The stronger the Heart, the more time it will take for the process to be complete. But no matter how strong the Heart is, I wouldn’t give more than a year.”

She restrained herself from simply jumping up and going to search for her twin right at that moment. She still had her last question to be answered.

“How can I reverse what’s happening to him?”

Not a day later, Mio was packed up and ready to leave. She would find her brother and save him one way or another, if it was the last thing she did.

* * *

The sounds of morning birds were what woke Mio, rather than the bright sunlight that peeked in from among the gaps in the leaves. She blearily opened her eyes and yawned, almost tempted to fall back asleep. Her sleep-ridden eyes travelled down to the ground, where the half-bloomed flower still lay, now almost all wilted. Mio suddenly sat up, all trace of tiredness gone. She had to practice.

Once again, she held up the green seed and waited for it to bloom. And once again, it only blossomed half-way before wilting before her eyes. She sighed and discarded the flower like she did last time. In growing despair, she put her face in her hands.

“Why won’t the flower bloom for me?”

* * *

“Why won’t the flower bloom for me?”

Emrys looked up to see Mio in near tears again. He grinned ruefully and beckoned her over, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Mio showed her attempt at blooming a flower, dry and wilted, and as colourless as granite, to Emrys. Emrys took it gently from her hands and gazed at it for a while before giving it back to Mio.

“It takes practice to perfect this art. I daresay it’s much like your talent with fire. Unless you have natural gift with this expertise, it won’t be easy to learn.” Emrys nearly flinched at the look on Mio’s face.

“You mean… I can never learn to bloom flowers?”

Emrys hastily amended his words. “That’s not what I’m saying. I’m sure you have enough talent to bloom flowers like me. Your problem lies in something else.”

Mio looked curious now, if not desperate. “What is that?”

Emrys was quiet for a long time. It was after many minutes of silence that he answered. “Your Heart.”

Mio’s eyes widened. She unconsciously put a hand over her heart and shivered, remembering Reagan’s fate only too well.

“That’s not what I meant, Mio. I’m not saying that you’re turning into a Heartless or anything. But there is something in your Heart that hinders you from blooming flowers.”

“I can’t have that.” Mio muttered to herself. She took one look at the flower in her hand and grimaced. “I don’t have the time to keep messing up like this.”

Emrys laughed, his voice echoing in the warm breeze that blew past. He put his hand on her head affectionately.

“You’ll make flowers bloom one day. I know it.”

* * *

Unlike her lacking talents at blooming flowers, Mio was a natural with fire. It hadn’t taken her longer than a week to master the basic elements of controlling fire and it was only a month before she became a regular performer at the travelling entertainment group. They had been impressed with her as much as she had been with them and offered to take her with them. Mio had taken them upon their offer gratefully, knowing that she didn’t have anywhere else to go.

‘Perhaps,’ Mio had thought hopefully, ‘if I were to become famous then Reagan will hear about me. He’d come to see me, wouldn’t he? Then we’ll figure something out so that we can go home together.’

It wasn’t too long before people began to talk of her. ‘The Dancing Flames’, they called her. Mio learned to enjoy both her new talent the company of her friends. But Reagan never came.

* * *

A crowd had gathered around her, staring in wonder and amazement as Mio gracefully danced among the flames. Her slender arm guided the red sparks around her petite figure. She spun and spun, an elegant partner for the scarlet flames that danced with her. She began to slow her spins, bringing her arms high above her head. As she stopped spinning, the fire ran up her arms and lingered in the air for a moment before bursting into fireworks of blazing light. The audience clapped and cheered as Mio bowed, some stopping by to give her coins for her performance. Mio smiled and thanked each one of them warmly. When the last of the audience approached her, she thanked him and asked in a hopeful tone:

“Have you seen a boy who bears resemblance to me and goes by the name ‘Reagan’?”

He shook his head ‘no.’ Mio looked down.

* * *

After three months of travelling with the entertainment group, Mio became more discouraged by each passing day. She had not seen nor heard of Reagan and she knew that time was running out. She loved her life with her newfound friends but could not persuade herself to stay any longer. She bid them goodbye and left the comforts of her life behind once more to look for her brother.

For the next month, Mio wandered alone, performing for money to keep herself fed. She was steadily beginning to lose hope of ever finding Reagan when she chanced upon Emrys. She first saw him performing magic tricks, just like her own. The flames danced and Mio looked on, enraptured. Her gaze became locked onto him when he began his finale – scattering the flower petals that he had just created.

Mio knew that instant, that that was the talent that she wanted. To give life to something significant. To give life to Reagan’s Heart.

She waited until the crowd dispersed, then boldly walked up to him.

“I’m Mio, a wandering magician. Please teach me how to bloom flowers.”

* * *

Mio woke up uncharacteristically tired in the morning. She stretched and leaned back against the tree that had been her shelter for the past couple of days. She would stay here for a few more days, Mio decided, before she moved on and searched for Reagan in the next town. She would keep performing and asking for any information on his whereabouts, even if her efforts went to naught. She stood up, shaking her head clear from any sleepiness and began walking.

By the time the sun was high up in the sky, a crowd had gathered again, just like the day before, watching Mio dance with the flames. She twirled and spun, clothing herself with the warmth her fire provided her. All too soon, the performance was over and Mio stopped to acknowledge her audience when her eyes locked with another pair of eyes.

That similar shade of brown. The ones that she knew so well, as it mirrored her own. Her brother’s eyes. Reagan.

Mio froze momentarily, the name coursing through her mind like a raging river. Reagan. Sooner than she could blink, the eyes were gone. Mio desperately searched the crowds for that familiar face but only strangers greeted her. As the audience came up to her, Mio asked desperately: “Have you seen a boy that looks like me? His name is Reagan. Please, have you seen him?”

No one had. Mio dashed out of the crowd and ran down the empty streets, calling out for Reagan like a lost child. Only the echoes answered her and Mio’s voice gradually became smaller, until she collapsed on to the road. For the first time since Reagan left her, Mio felt utter devastation and despair consume her.

* * *

Mio gazed out into the crowd. She had barely gotten a wink of sleep that night; she had practiced for hours and ends to perfect her flower. She couldn’t do it. Mio felt all of her courage drain away at the thought of losing Reagan again. As she searched for those familiar eyes among the crowd, she felt a glimmer of hope when she did find him. He was watching her intently. Mio smiled.

She began to dance. This time, she didn’t care whether she pleased the multitude gathered before her. She only had one person whom she wanted to make happy. The flames rose higher and higher and elegantly twirled about her in never-ending circles. When Mio had stilled her movements, the audience erupted into loud exclamations and applause. She stepped forward and in a shaking, but clear, voice addressed them.

“Thank you all for coming to watch my performance. I am grateful to every one of my audiences. I would now like to close today’s performance with something special for the person I care for the most.” Her eyes found Reagan’s easily and looked into them for a long moment before she turned her attention to the object in her shaking hands.

A small, green seed.

Mio breathed in deeply. She closed her eyes and brought the seed closer to her heart, willing the magic to work, just once, for him.

Seconds passed, followed by minutes. The audience watched with rapt attention, barely breathing in the painful suspense. Mio still stood, clutching the seed with her eyes tightly shut.

‘I can’t do it. Whatever Emrys said that I don’t have, I still don’t have it. Why… why won’t the flower bloom for me?’

Tears started to fall, one by one, from her closed eyes. She fell on to her knees and shook with silent cries. The audience looked at each other in disappointment and began to leave, one by one. Mio bowed her head over her hands and sobbed, unable to neither hear nor see anything. A warm hand touched her shoulder. Mio looked up.

Reagan didn’t say anything. He was crouched down so that he was at eye-level with Mio and maintained the touch. Mio didn’t wipe away her tears, but looked through them to the brother she hadn’t seen for nearly a year. Several moments later, she broke, and dropped her gaze. Her whisper was barely audible but Reagan caught every word.

“I can’t do it. I can’t make the flower bloom. I can’t, I just can’t…”

Reagan listened in silence and didn’t respond. Long minutes went by and the silence reigned between them freely. Then, a quiet voice spoke.

“Bloom the flowers for me, Mio.”

Reagan’s hands clasped Mio’s trembling ones and Mio once again closed her eyes. She brought the hands close to her Heart and bowed her head as if in prayer.

A flower bloomed. Pale, but profound pink petals were in full bloom in Mio’s hands. Mio smiled through her tears.

“This is from my Heart to yours.”

Written 10-04-04

2576 words

본 글은 사실상 래디클로 분류되는 것이 맞지만 2010년에 작성한 초안이고 설정 및 인물도 바뀐 곳이 많아 기타로 분류합니다. 정말 오래된 글이지만 나름 길게 쓰기도 했고 당시 만족스러울만큼 마무리 지었던 유일한 글이라 추억팔이 삼아 올려봅니다. (그런데 영어 로그를 보시는 분이 과연 있을까 의문이긴 하지만)