Chapter 393 - Prologue - Syrniki Dreams

"What's up, Donatien?" 

Without even turning around, he discerned the presence of the man who joined him on the high-reaching balcony of the sable tower built for the Hollow Foundation. 

As no walls repelled the unchained winds, his new, all-black cape fluttered by the constant pull of the eccentric air. 

"It's rare for just the two of us to talk, Sirius," Donatien spoke. 

The magenta-eyed man standing near the edge of the balcony, leaning against the intertwined railing, was dressed in a uniform contrasting his old, somber gray garments: spotless and as white as the clouds sailing by, black accents stretched across the perfectly-fitted uniform to match is dark cape. 

Sirius glanced back with a smile, "I'd say there's a natural reason for that: you and I are pretty different." 

He ran his fingers, covered in soft, black fabric, through his black, fluffy locks that were caught in the constant, hissing breeze. 

Donatien fixed the position of his glasses, smiling just a tad as the ambience of the sky's traffic persisted--the hum of the passing winds as clouds neared their position. 

The glasses-wearing otherworlder had changed his garments to something a little more 'flexible', as he called it, wearing an azure waistcoat over his spotless, white dress shirt while keeping his sleeves rolled up. 

"Only in our approach to things," Donatien spoke, standing beside his friend, "I have to be hands on with everything--it must be perfect; I believe that's our only way to finding a happy ending here. You, on the other hand, leave all of that busy work to others, and take a more...unorthodox approach to things." 

"You can just say I'm lazy," Sirius laughed. 

"But that's not what I mean," Donatien kept his eyes on the azure sky, "you worked harder than anyone else, I remember it well: you'd leave each morning only to return at night, covered in sweat, usually bloody, bruised, and blistered from rigorous training. You garnered a level of strength that set you apart from the rest of us." 

A moment of silence transpired between the two as the echoes of the travelling breezes swept across the smooth, refined balcony. 

"You want to return home. I believe...we're similar, in that regard. Everything we do is for that goal. Even still, we have to protect what we have in front of us," Donatien said. 

"And I can't even manage that much, can I?" He replied. 

There was a certain melancholy to his deep, purple eyes as he spoke somberly, looking up towards a colossal cloud that slowly trudged the endless blue. 

"Expecting to be able to protect everyone is a child's dream," Donatien said with his hands tucked into the pockets of his gray dress pants, "...but we all strive for it anyway. There's no faulting anybody for that, I believe. At the end of the day, some of the blame falls on the ones who fell." 

Sirius' eyes remained unmoving, though he clenched the bar just enough for it to creak from the pressure. 

"Do you believe that? You would say it was Lucas' fault for being too weak to survive against that monster he was put up against? Was Sebastian also not strong enough, so it was completely on him for dying?" Sirius spoke with a crescendoing emotion to his voice. 

"I don't know. There's a lot I don't know," Donatien looked at him, "but I think at some point, we have to stop blaming ourselves." 

As their eyes met for a moment, Sirius let out a small sigh before ruffling his dark tufts, "Man, I really don't want to think about this sort of stuff right now. Still, I can't stop worrying about Ren and Iris. It's been a couple months already--sooner or later, I'm going to have to jump into Purgatory myself." 

Seeing the man revert to his usual, lackadaisical attitude, Donatien laughed quietly, covering his lips with his hand partially. 

"Before you do any of that, isn't there a mission you're supposed to be tending to?" Donatien asked. 

Sirius' eyes widened for a bit as shock inhabited his face, "That's right! Ha-ha! I almost forgot, thanks, Donny!" 

He was already halfway over the railing as he waved to the glasses-wearing man, who looked less than pleased with the nickname given to him. 

"I'll take my thanks in the form of never calling me 'Donny' again, your welcome," Donatien sternly spoke. 

But his words fell only on air as the white-uniform wearing Outlander already sailed from the cloud-inhabiting balcony, flying through the clouds with speed that allowed him to disappear within a moment. 

Traversing the free, bright skies, he kept his hands in the pockets of his white pants, spinning around as he took in the boundless scenery secluded to himself. 

"Woo-hoo---!" 

In the freedom of the skies, he was able to yell as loud as he wanted as he traveled alongside the clouds, sometimes even through the fluffy entities. 

It's a recent hobby I've picked up. Sometimes, being in this world full of magic for so many years now, it's easy to forget about the things I dreamed of doing as a kid. 

Freely sailing through the azure skies like the birds I watched from below--it was something that seemed possible only in comic books or dreams--I wonder what lil' Sirius would think of seeing me now. 

The feeling of the refreshing, pure air constantly running against my skin like the breath of a benevolent deity, the beautiful isolation that leaves responsibilities, stress, and all that jazz down on the ground floor, and the absolute, unstoppable freedom of it all--I love it. 

Don't get me wrong, I love my comrades--they're my family. 

But...we all need a break sometimes, right? He thought. 

Sailing with his back facing southward towards the ground, he kicked one knee over the other as he took to a laid back position in the air. 

"I wonder if I can nap up here?" He asked himself. 

Even at the speed at which he propelled through the cloud-filled skies, there wasn't any sort of brutal, abrasive wind that fiddled with his experience.. A natural veil of reinforcement protected him from any of the lesser, seldom wanted effects of such an unorthodox method of travel.