Seth turned back down the hallway and began to walk as soon as he heard Marcia change topics. He stepped quietly and his thoughts flew freely like they usually did. He looked down at what he was wearing and twisted his tongue. 'I can wash my own clothes-' he started to think before he saw what looked like a bathroom. Seth passed it and found a bit of clothing in the guest bedroom he'd stayed at. After he'd snatched something that looked like his usual wear, he went back to the bathroom. Seth stepped in and closed the door behind him, taking a breath. He surveyed the entire room, making note of where everything was before closing his eyes. Seth didn't want to have to even try to face whatever black markings scarred his structure. It wasn't long before he'd become used to the surroundings and gotten the water to pour down on him, only stinging a bit over his injury.

Once Marcia was alone she leaned against one of the empty counters and watched the food cook.

Ariel flew down to the lake and looked around. 'Michi?' She called. Krystal lifted her head and pointed to the crystal forest with her tail. Ariel glanced at her then zoomed towards the forest. Ignoring the force acting against her when she reached it, and pushed foreword. 'Where are you?' She halted and looked behind her. A maze of trees would make almost impossible to get right back out or without going in circles if she went any deeper. 'How troublesome...' She muttered. Michael was in one of those trees sleeping soundly. Ariel groaned and hovered around.

Seth considered himself successful when he finally opened his eyes after showering and changing blindly. When he'd finished folding his old clothes and towels, he compacted them tightly to make them a smaller hold in his hands. Just as he went to twist the door handle open in front of him, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of motion. Seth didn't dare look up. He could see the familiar colors and shapes of himself in a mirror even without looking, and he also saw the dark additions that marked their way around. After a second of silence, he twisted the handle and walked into the hallway. He carefully folded the damp towels inside his dust-dry clothing and set them in some obsessively neat square on the corner of his bed. Seth made the mental note to wash them after breakfast. Then, he turned and walked back into the kitchen where Marcia was.

Marcia smiled when she saw Seth return and got out the stuff for making biscuits. "Have you ever made homemade biscuits before?" She asked him curiously.

After finding him she sighed and hovered beside him and stared until his eyes opened and glanced at her. They were dull. 'Michi...' She shakes her head. 'Marcia's making breakfast and wants you there with the rest of us.' She said. Michael glanced away. "Not interested." Ariel blinked and hovered in front of him. 'Why not...? You've never turned down breakfast before.' "I just wanna be left alone for awhile." He replied quickly. Ariel nods and heads back to the house.

Seth peered at the biscuit-making materials with a sideways glance. "Hm.. I'm not sure," he admitted. He knew he'd done all sorts of baking and crafts with his family as a child, but somehow it seemed so distant. Seth knew he'd done something along the lines of making cupcakes for a birthday once, but he couldn't recall much about what else or for whom it was.

"Well, first you have to take 3 cups of that baking mix and mix it with 1 cup of milk until it's like dough in the large bowl in front of you." She instructed as she flipped the bacon strips again.

Seth watched closely at Marcia's instruction, but after a few words Seth's mind wasn't seeing a Marcia anymore.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"..Until it's like dough," a soft woman's voice said as she pointed to a dish in front of a small, white-blonde haired boy. The boy took his baking utensil and looked at the bowl he'd been given to hold on the ground due to its size. For a moment he just stared at it, eager but not sure why. As he looked back up he was somewhat blinded by the light of the outdoors. A tall, light-blonde haired figure was smiling down at him with a pair of matching grey eyes that matched his. "Go on, it won't bite you." The kind voice was reassuring, so the little kid mixed the two, humming some sweet child's tune the entire time. Sometime through, the woman's voice chimed in and the two sung a song in harmony until the girl cut off with a lighthearted laughter. Her words were still sweet and the boy stopped his mixing just as he stopped his own song. "Okay, Seth- that's enough- let me do the rest.."
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The scene slowly faded out just as Seth realized that he'd done 'enough' to the dough. He looked back up at Marcia for further direction, but he was mostly preoccupied with wondering what the hell had just happened to him. His expression was a mix between anticipation and longing for what would never happen again.

[[ awh~ such a sweet flashback! ;~; -- i started watching Togainu No Chi again- i'm on episode 12 now. almost cried when Keisuke died >< he was Akira's bestie T^T]]

Marcia had turned off the eggs and bacon and looked at Seth. "Now, put some flour on your hands and take a good bit of the dough and place it on the wax paper until the dough is gone. Space them out. The flour keeps the dough from sticking to your like glue." She smirked a little.

[[ ^o^;; -- zomg for reals~? i always thought Keisuke got in the way .w.; i hated everyone at the end, though (except Rin <3). Akira wasted Keisuke's death and ruined everything >:f.. Shiki ruined his rep by trashing his brother and being an arrogant [~bleep~]. he's lucky he's [~bleep~]ing cute though or else Akira would have never liked him. *ragequit* ;~:'' ]]

Seth did as he was told, giving into his old memories of baking with his mom. He made the dough equal in sizes just by the feel of it in his palm as he placed them in rows on the wax paper. He couldn't help but though, though, how each event morphed into a happy memory that lasted just long enough to give him a taste of what used to be. Every one vanished, leaving a little more pain each time.

[[ hey, I found Seth ;D..? xox I listen to a lot of "top emo OST of all time" tracks and stumbled across a look-alike. .w.; ]]

[[ finished! same for me. i only felt bad 'cause he was his bestie... shiki was only cute in the beginning ('cause i'm weird like that xD) keisuke was an annoying- clingy- rawr! akira and i have some things in common so i can't be mad at him... and rin is just awesome! ^~^ ]]

Marcia watched him with a softened expression. The last she wanted to do was cause him pain... Last night's memory of hearing Michael sing and play the guitar with such feeling made her quite envious but she did her best to push past it. When Ariel came inside she looked up at the ghost-girl. "Where's Michael?" Ariel shakes her head. 'He wanted to be left alone, so I came back empty-handed.' She replied quietly. Marcia stared blankly for a moment before setting the oven. "I see..."

[[ Edward is Seth's look-a-like? Hehe. Who'd a guessed it? ^//^ ]]

[[ >w< 'tis a good anime to watch.. *ponders watching it again* ]]

Seth looked up from his absent-minded baking when he heard Ariel and Marcia start to talk. He stole a glance at the oven, seeing as his handcraft work was as complete as it got as far as baking abilities went without some sort of heat. Seth bit his lip and thought back to what he'd been trying to ignore. He hated trying to think straight- Seth had long since decided that his mind wasn't cut out for that kind of thought and it wanted to be free. "Where is he?" he asked, re-stating Marcia's question.

[[ totes-ally~ xwx Seth's hair is more bleached but if it's sopping wet.. >o<; ]]

[[ i will not be watching it again for a loong time, gotz too many over anime's a gotta finish XD ]]

Ariel blinked and looked a Seth. 'Crystal Forest. He seems to have a lot on his mind...' She answered quietly.

[[ makes since ^^ ]]

Seth watched Ariel intently for a moment, almost as if waiting to hear an extra note. Hearing nothing, Seth sighed and turned to the sink, rinsing his hands briefly before quickly swiping the water off and batting the rest against his clothes. "I'll be back," he said as he turned and walked out of the hut. It wasn't until he was outside that Seth realized what he'd actually done. He turned his attention forwards, feeling a little bad about cleaning up and then getting messy again- 'I don't have to get wet..' he thought.

After a while of walking, Seth came to the edge of the body of water he'd known from his first time there the previous day. He followed the edge until the water and land were almost mixed together. Seth skirted around the especially soppy areas and climbed up one of the trees. He shifted from tree to tree, silently sneaking to the top each time so he could look everywhere at once. It wasn't much longer afterwards that Seth's tree-hopping had lead him to the person he was looking for. He settled for a nearby tree a few yards away and landed soundlessly on a branch a few feet above the one he found Michael on, watching him like had the tendency to do.

[[ last post~ ]]

[[ nini yume-chan~ ^-^ ]]

Ariel was going to protest, but by that time Seth was already gone. Marcia stuck the biscuits in the oven and huffed as she looked at the eggs and bacon. "Troublesome children... He wants to a lover's hero, but can't even be a hero for himself... If he falls, let him. Maybe it'll do him some good." Marcia muttered crankily. Ariel over heard and glared at her. 'Don't you dare dis him just because you can't have him.' Marcia stared at her. "What're you talking about? I don't care who he loves." 'Liar. You're green with envy and it's getting in the way of your friendship.' Ariel said. "Be quiet.. you don't know anything!" Marcia yelled. Ariel shakes her head. 'I know a lot more than you.' She says with a light smirk.

---

Krystal lifted her head and watched Seth go. She was looking drained herself. Michael sat with his back against the trunk, one leg dangling and the other propped up on the branch with him. His eyes closed but he wasn't sleeping. Hell- it didn't even look like he was breathing, he was, just too shallow. Everything around him was black.

Seth stood with his feet apart and arms crossed, watching Michael like a hawk. He didn't see a sign of life which concerned him greatly. After an additional minute of nothingness, Seth couldn't tell if his mind was playing tricks on him or not. He knelt down and swung his feet out over the branch. He shifted like he usually would, exhaling in irritation and not caring if he made noise or not. The soft rustle of sounds actually reassured him that he wasn't simply deaf. Seth almost mirrored Michael's position in the end, except Seth was leaning forwards from the tree with his hand under his chin for support as he looked upon his friend with a tilted glance.

[ ohayo yume-chan! ^~^ ]

The faint rustling sound caused Michael to slowly open his normally bright and meaningful eyes, but the color was faded and they were dull. Pained. He shifted a little to position himself in away he wouldn't fall off the branch. "Every love I've ever had, dead. I killed them. Didn't matter what kind of love it was. Love, is love." He muttered under his breath, placed a hand over his face. "Or the universe has a cruel since of humor and none of those people ever actually existed. Like living a bad dream.. Why should I risk something real?" He was talking to himself in a low murmur, moving his hand from his head to his heart.

[[ ohayo~ ^^' how are you? ]]

Seth was startled to see the lack of radiance in his friend's eyes. He blinked once and shook his head. "Michael- what are you- did something happen?" he asked, realizing mid-sentence that Michael was drowning himself in his bad memories. Seth wanted to reach out and pull his friend away from them, but he had no idea how to give the gift of freedom. Sure, Seth had gotten plenty enough loved ones killed in a short-enough period of time, but he didn't let it get to him. He had a reason to keep moving on past his old mistakes and literally a reason to keep living; Seth had Michael. 'Why is this a disconnect?' he wondered. He was confused and tried desperately not to think about the possible bad things. 'He's not that kind of a person...is he?..'

[[ obsessing over nekos XD *clears throat* i'm a little hyper-happy, don't know why ^w^ you~? ]]

Michael's eyes went wide when he heard his friend's voice and he grit his teeth. "There's a lot of things you don't know about me.. I wanted to keep it that way..." He replied quietly. "Before I met Ariel, I had a lot people I really cared about- that thought they knew me and my struggle with darkness. When I tried to protect them, they were killed... I couldn't do anything to save them." His hair covers his eyes. "Have you ever loved someone so much it hurts- because fear keeps in the way of saying anything?"

[[ rofl, >w< hyper-happy is good~ i'm alright ;o ]]

Seth sat up from his position. He crossed his arms and a look of pained rage appeared in his eyes. He was irritated at Michael's reactions. Seth turned away bitterly, suddenly wondering if he'd gotten himself caught up in yet another huge mistake. He His expression faded away into a cold emptiness. Seth felt like he had been putting his best efforts together to try and keep Michael safe despite the difficulties, but was now disillusioned to the fact that Michael might not have needed someone else's help. He was also burdened by the idea that Michael was caught up elsewhere. "Yes, Michael, I have," he stated with distaste.

[[ Re-wrote Seth's rage. xwx Sorry for the slow reply. ]]

[[ good, good ^~^ -- it's okay. wah~ he's not supposed feel that way ;~; ]]

Michael shakes his head, slowly returning to his normal self. "I'm not asking you to forgive me for this but if I had a confession to make, would you listen?" He asked quietly, moving his returning gaze to the friend he did not want to lose.

[[ Hahah, it was twice as bad, trust me, it needed the re-write. (Exactly why i deleted the whole post with an irreparable F5 ;D..) ]]

Seth sighed deeply and laid back where he was sitting. He closed his eyes and nodded once in answer to Michael's question. Seth tilted his head a little as if listening for something in Michael's direction and a single-sided smile tugged the corner of his mouth. "What confession would you ever need to make?" he playfully wondered aloud, opening his eyes and directing them upwards. He clasped his hands across his chest and fixed his gaze on the treetops as if trying to read something.

[[ oh dear... ._.' ]]

Michael's cheeks heated when Seth nodded and sat in the limb to fully face him. "Ever since I first met you I knew there was something there, I couldn't explain it then but now I think I understand it-" 'I can't keep running away...' "Whether you believe me or not, I've liked you since the beginning... Really.. liked you." 'I don't care if you reject me, I have to tell you...' "You're the one I wanna spend the rest of my life with."

[[ mhm, it was one of those letters that you simply don't send. ^^ it taught me a lesson about patience, as strange as that is. ]]

Seth looked over his shoulder opposite from Michael after hearing the most promising words of his life. He remained silent for a moment or two in that pose. Then, sat up and faced Michael the same way he himself had been confronted. He held his hands up like he was going to surrender and comment on Michael's confession, but he stopped himself before any words appeared. Seth stood up on his branch and nimbly stepped over to where his friend was sitting. Seth turned so he could literally be at eye level and watched the midnight-blue of Michael's eyes. "Will you promise to never lose that beauty in your eyes, even if I die?" he asked as he leaned closer and lightly touched the side of Michael's face, still managing to keep his admiring expression for just a tad longer.

[[ o.o' ]]

He watched Seth with curiosity and wanting to know what he was thinking as he remained silent then he saw Seth raise his hands and blinked. The radiance returned to his eyes as he watched his friend, his cheeks turning red and his heart skipped a beat when he was suddenly so close. "You have my word." He replied honestly.

Seth couldn't keep his serious expression any longer and he was relieved to hear Michael agree to his promise. "That person- that I loved so much where it hurt because I couldn't say anything- it was you, but.." Seth started to say softly before pausing. He smiled gently and a rose color appeared as an undertone on either side of his face. "..It doesn't hurt anymore." Before he even realized what happened, Seth had leaned in and kissed Michael. His memories fuzzed and all he could think of was how he knew that he was happy.

[[ Marcia is going to flip a table. v.v ]]