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The silence was almost unbearable. Not even one little sound seemed to reach Teito's ears when he tried to listen to the world around him. He had his eyes closed, his body still feeling exhausted from something he wasn't sure about. The only thing he knew was that it felt difficult to even open his eyes and he had to raise a hand to shield them from light.It wasn't particulary sunny, to be honest, there was mist around him; clouding his sight here and there. As soon as the fog started to dissipate he squinted at his surroundings. A weird feeling of familiarity started to rise inside his chest and he placed a hand over the spot where he could feel his heart beating beneath the skin.In front of him was the entrance of a church. Marble white crenellations towering over him and the court yard which was mostly traversed by water channels. Teito started worrying his lip when he set into motion, walking closer to the first gate which led into the inner circle of the church. Why was he so sure that it was a church anyway?He couldn't remember he had been to this place before.Although anxiety formed in the back of his head he kept walking, looking around every so often whenever he passed some people leaving the place into the opposite direction.
Stay away, Teito.
The brunette blinked a few times and looked around, searching for the warm voice warning him of coming closer to the building. He didn't know to whom that voice belonged to but he felt an oddly familiar sensation in his chest. Strange. It felt heavy, like someone would have placed a rock on it or something.Teito couldn't see the owner of the voice so all he could do was frowning and resume walking because even if there was this warning voice; there was something else in this church. Definitely. Something he needed to know. Something which he had forgotten for so long. Something important.
Teito, leave this place. You shouldn't stay here.
The voice rang through his mind once again when Teito entered the building, his emerald eyes observing the fountain in the middle of the court yard for a while. This time the person sounded even more alerted and insisting."Who are you?" Whoever it was, it didn't seem like he was willing to answer Teito's question. Maybe someone from the academy was just playing a prank on him again, it wouldn't really surprise him any way.Wait a minute... the military academy. Right. Thats where he usually spend his time, that's where he was last time before closing his eyes. So why was he at a church now? This didn't make sense to the young army student. Maybe this was just a dream? But on the other side, then... why did this feel so real and even more like if he knew this place?Teito huffed under his breath, walked along another water path and entered the building. He wasn't sure where exactly he was going as he was just following his instinct. His feet carrying him on all by themselves and Teito was afraid he wouldn't even be able to stop in his tracks even if he would have wanted to.
Teito! Please, listen to me! You can't go on, please leave at once.
The voice sounded desperate and the brunette turned around abruptly as he had the feeling as if someone tried to reach out for him. There was no one behind him but in fact a picture flickered behind his eyes. A picture of a blonde young boy with a scar on his cheek, smiling at him brightly.Wha- Who was that boy? Did he know him?In the same second that he had remembered that face it already started to blur and run through his grasp. Stained like a worn out photograph that he wasn't able to clearly make out anymore. However, that smile looked so warm and nice. If he'd be the owner of this voice then why did he sound so panicked? Why did he want him to leave this place; which was strangely drawing him in deeper and deeper.
"It hurts.."
Another voice mixed into the first one - it sounded completely different to the blonde boy's one. Tormented and suffering. Somewhere in the back of his head Teito could still hear the voice of that boy calling out for him. He couldn't care less anymore, there was something else which he needed to know. It felt so important to him; important to remember.
"I can't breathe..."
Teito walked faster when the voice became more clear to him. It was deeper and probably belonged to a man. The voice feeling familiar to him too but on a different level and the urge to find this person got stronger. With every step he took it seemed like it emerged to more voices, all different ones. He could also make out a female voice in it aside from all the others. The only thing they had all in common was the pain they seemed to be in.By the time when he moved around the next corner of the corridor he was running now, his heart throbbing in his chest, pumping the blood and adrenaline through his body. He could smell the scent of flowers and hear the rushing of the wind through trees and soon he came to a halt in a garden. A garden with thousands of flowers in different colours. Probably Teito would have enjoyed the sight a bit more if there wasn't something calling out for him. Pulling onto him like someone was pulling on a tight rope."Where are you? I want to help you!" Teito wasn't sure why he said that or to who he was calling out even. He felt like he just had to do something about it. Another breeze blew through the trees, through his hair and when he turned around to leave the place he stopped in mid-motion.Not far away from him he could see people on the ground. Teito surely knew there had been no one when he entered the garden before. They were obviously in pain, some of them clutching to their chest, keeled over or on the ground and close to pass out. Suddenly the voices became even louder inside Teito's head.
"It hurts so much..."
"What's happening?" "This is too much!" "Where is Mikage? Why did he leave me?" Teito stumbled through them, every face feeling more familiar to him than the other. Even more when he reached the a young boy with brunette hair and emerald green eyes, crying as if there was nothing left but tears inside of him. His head felt dizzy as everything was spinning around him, the voices starting to blend into another.His heart clenched even though it didn't feel particulary painful, he just felt like screaming. Just to do something drown out the voices around him because even covering his ears didn't seem to help at all. "Please stop this..." "I can't take this anymore..." "It hurts, it hurts!" "Why did she have to die?"It was that last voice, that made Teito open his eyes, noticing for the first time that he had sunk to the ground by now. However he wasn't able to clearly see who that person was. His vision blurred from all the overwhelming feelings. The only thing he remembered from it was amethyst purple eyes, carrying an expression of sadness and solitude. Teito woke up in his bed in the military dormitory; it was probably early in the morning because it was still dark but the first rays of light already fell through the windows. With a quiet sigh he rubbed one of his eyes, trying to cast away the sleepiness out of them. At least it didn't seem like one of the other cadets woke up, so Teito most likely hasn't spoken in his sleep. Thank goodness. He wasn't one of the most popular students anyway. He didn't need any more attention than he already had.However Teito's mind still circled around the dream. By the time he woke up everything seemed to dissipate into the blur already and it was hard to grasp any of what he had actually seen in it. Yet he remembered this heavy weight on his heart. The strange sensation of sadness spreading through his body.Keep yourself together, he told himself quietly and swung his legs out of the bed. Today was the day of his practical exam and he needed to concentrate on the task in front of him.He trained his skills at this academy since years and he wouldn't have come so far if he would get unfocused by any little stupid dream he had. That was what he told himself as soon as he got up, showered and got dressed in his cadet uniform. By the time he returned to the dorm room a few of the other students were awake, too. Most of them nervous and anxious about today.For a good reason to say the least. It was said that not even half of the cadets made it through the exam of the army, let alone being assigned to someone to gain some experience in field work. Well, there was at least some hope that he could make it through the exam.The campus and the buildings felt far more crowded than any other day, partly from the students but also from so many more officers who used to keep an eye on the graduating soldiers. Of course in hope to find one or another to recruit. The exams started in the early morning with the cadets being separated into groups of four.To be honest the practical test was the one crucial thing to being recruited for the army anyway. You could be as good as you wanted in the theoretical exam but if you failed this one you could also just pack your stuff up and leave. Most of the students weren't even allowed to revise the exam anyway. Teito knew he probably only had one chance and he had to use it well.The test was nothing more than a fight against one of Barsburg's war prisoners. Some of them were quite strong; able to use some zaiphon even and of course a challenge for cadets being about to graduate. They had been on missions every so often and fighting was nothing new to them, but an opponent like this?It was not a test of their abilities, the army definitely tried to sort out the most valuable soldiers among them and they didn't care if the rest might even die. Something that had bothered Teito for a long time by now, but what could he do about it? As an orphan and almost being sold into slavery, there was nothing much he could do than survive in this world.A world where people did not seem to care for another anymore.The brunette bit his bottom lip while a weird churning and heavy feeling spread inside his stomach, even though he could not quite describe it or where it was coming from. For now he had to stay focused on the task in front of him."You're the next." The instructor said when she turned around to Teito's group. The innocent smile she wore was terrifying. Like of course there was no reason to be scared of this test. They would come out of it unharmed. Eventually. Maybe. In the best possible scenario. Teito wasn't as stupid to believe in that, but apparently these words seemed to lift the spirits for his comrades at least.Everything about this was about being focused on your emeny, observing them and try to predict what they were going to do. With green eyes he stared at the man in front of them. The prisoner they had brought in was bulky; even from a look he was able to tell how strong that guy had to be. However, every person had to carry some kind of weakpoint. It was just necessary to find out where it was located actually.Although the brunette wasn't so heartless to let his comrades run into their desaster and tried to help them out, mostly he just kept out looking for a hole in the strong attacks whey were facing. He tried his best to avoid another blow before charging forward and sending a zaiphon into the prisoners direction, barely missing his head when the attack hit the wall behind them. Gritting his teeth Teito stand back for a moment. He felt the gazes of quite a few people on him; probably mostly the instructors which were trying to judge their fighting skills. In fact he didn't know who in particular watched this whole exam. All he could do was trying to focus on the mission here. Unaware of these purple eyes almost glued to him and his movements. It wasn't unusual for the Chief of Staff to come around when it was about time for the cadets to graduate but today was a different day, where he was quietly observing the skills of the boy, named Teito Klein. However, the reason for this time didn't go unnoticed with the Chairman, who was standing next to Ayanami; his attention sometimes wandering between the fight and the man next to him. "You're sure about the boy?" They had stayed in silence for most of the time until Miroku started to speak. There was a tone of uncertainty in those words, as if he was hoping for the silver haired man to maybe change his mind but the amethyst eyes narrowing was enough of an answer to know this was already settled. "Yes. He is the last one. We don't need anyone else after him." Ayanami's answer was as quiet as stern. There was no possibility of objection in them. Well, from this point on there was only one way to go; forward. Keep pushing forward. Even though Miroku wasn't sure if approving of this whole project might have been a good idea in the end. He knew why Teito was so essential for the Chief and his plans; he knew about the past but this young man was also important for their army. Miroku had seen how the brunette had evolved from a mere orphan in slavery to a valuable soldier. "What about the others?" He asked eventually, returning his attention back to fight going on in the arena. Which was more a fight between Teito and the prisoners, than the whole group because apparently his comrades preferred to stay on the sidelines. Such cowards. "They are being observed as we speak. We will make sure to bring them in, in time." If that should sound reassuring the Chairman would have declined that, but he knew better than to do so. He wasn't fully informed on the reasons of Ayanami starting this thing for another time, but he knew enough at least to consider the silver haired not having any other option to make everything right. Their conversation was interrupted by the murmuring going through the hall when the prisoner the group was fighting finally got thrown to the ground. He was probably not dead and Teito didn't seem to consider killing him, but that was just a minor thing. "Make sure he'll be assigned to my unit then. I'll take care of the rest." Ayanami said when turning around to leave the hall; followed by the rest of his subordinates. The dark haired swordsman caught up to him, an amused smirk spreading on his features. "Oh so you're actually considering a new Begleiter, Aya-tan~?" His question, though, stayed unanswered. Not that Hyuuga had supposed to get an answer on that at all. Of course, this was not about having a new Begleiter. This was about something absolutely different and even if the Chairman was starting to doubt in the success of this, Ayanami wouldn't back down now. This was the last and only chance to save them... to save him. There was no option of stopping now. Even if it was the last thing he was going to do.