Chapter 793 - 793 A Dazzling Time, Part 1

793 A Dazzling Time, Part It was way easier the millionth and one time through. I was an artisan in my craft, the Michelangelo of hair, weaving every fine, silky thread to perfection… and Adalia was my Mona Lisa.

Leonardo, who? That name’s taboo to me.

“Just a little more.”

Or so I think, at least. I was going off of gut feeling mostly, just adjusting and readjusting ’till it looked close enough to good enough.

I’m sure a Youtube tutorial would have proved a bit of help in the process, probably would… alas, if only that one single bar on my phone would actually agree with that idea, maybe I wouldn’t have gotten a pixelated, stuttery mess when I did try that one time.

Sorry MsGlamour_Girlie, you did your best to show me every step, all 144p of it – but I have failed you.

“A few more minutes…” I said, peeking away from one last failed attempt at Glamour-Sensei’s guidance. “Fireworks should be starting pretty soon.”

And only now when it was much too late did I start to wish I’d have done a little more to make things memorable. Take a detour for some snacks, have a bouquet of roses, some streamers, some lights, a diamond ring if I could manage it – y’know the little things.

Christmas was ending, but it still feels like something was missing. What, though?

.....

“It is… almost finished…”

When she spoke, I felt my fingers tense. The last time that happened, I had to start back from square one, braid one, and as much as I was keen on being bear-hugged again – sometimes you just gotta rid away of your carnal desires for the sake of your art… and sanity too, I guess.

But she stayed in place, as life-like yet motionless as a renaissance sculpture, and I worried no more.

“Yep, almost done,” I said. “Just gotta tie this part and…”

“Tonight…” She clarified, speaking over me. “Almost… finished…Christ...mas…”

“Ah,” mind reader too now, was she? “Yeah, that’s right. A few more hours of this, that’s all that’s left.”

“And…tomor…row…” She tilted her head to the skies. “Every…thing… will be back… to normal again… tomorrow…”

How does one speak so dully but mean so profoundly all the same? It’s scary how much I’m able to feel her words.

“Wishing for more?”

“Yes…” She answered at once. “I do not… want this… to end…”

“Who says it’s ending? I’m with you forever, Adalia.”

“I… know… I know… you are… but… not always…” She breathed long and light. “...you cannot be… with me… always…”

I didn’t try to refute her in any way – it’d just be a lie, an insult… and not just to her either.

“Forever… but not… always…” She murmured on, her words escaping her lips in faint silvery wisps. “...but tonight… you are…”

“Forever but not always,” I repeated back, feeling a puddle of guilt inside simmer and boil. “That’s just how it is with me, huh? I’m far too selfish to give both to you, any of you… and I absolutely have no clue why any of you even put up with it, put up with me.”

“Will you… mope now…?” She asked, turning a glance back slightly. “I do not… want you to… mope…”

“No moping, no,” I assured. “Just wondering, is all.”

“Why… do you wonder…? You already… know…”

“Love,” I muttered, a sigh leaving my smile. “That simple, huh?”

“I can only… have you… tonight…” Adalia turned a little more, the hazy swirl of her gaze showing just a little more “But… your love… is always and… forever…”

Then suddenly – radiance.

A flitter and flicker of bright orange flushing her pale skin with the glow of life. From the broken windows irradiated fractures of glimmering rays, and up above, soaring high above the city lights, a trailing stream of luminesce following, there was a shrill whistle – and the vast empty sky erupted in a flash of gold. Then shot up a streak of blue, a spark of red trailing in a pair. Both exploded, a reverberating pop that lit up the white night.

“Ah, damn,” I muttered low, just as another explosion sprinkled into the open sky like a sea of stars. “Was hoping I’d be done here before it started.”

More followed – more colors, some were small, while others were big, and a few lingered a little longer to slowly plummet back to the earth in a trail of fading white embers. All at play to bask the city beneath in a chaotic harmony of light and sound.

Yet here, in here, it was quiet – too quiet.

“Adalia?” I leaned over to try and get a better look at her. “You alright?”

Turns out, she was more than alright – the serene, still, whirling gray of her eyes reflecting and ablaze by the fanfare of the night. She was completely immersed but in a way that was quite hard to tell. Not the faintest twitch in her blank expression, as if all the bombastic booms and the sizzling streaks had failed to live up to expectations. But of course, that was hardly the case here.

“Nothing to say?”

She blinked, a brief rousing moment of awareness regained, and she slowly dropped her head in a slight slant.

“Sister… always said… fireworks… were annoying…” then another blink, and I lost her again, with absolutely no hope of recovery. “She was… wrong…”

With that being said, I got back to work, meticulously braiding the last few locks remaining. It was a long few minutes of the noisiest silence I’ve ever heard. Long shadows flickered in and out at every second, and sometimes I could barely even see my own fingers out in front of me.

Then, hardly even believing my own eyes, or the sensation at the tip of my fingers, I took the ribbon in hand – white gems aligned glimmering starkly amidst the bright cinders of color – and releasing the longest breath, I fitted it right in the middle.

“Done,” I proclaimed, feeling the weight of the world ooze away from my shoulders, and at once I leaned an inch back. It wasn’t perfect, a little uneven, and I suppose I could have done better shaping out each braid – but it was done, and so was I. “What do you think?”

Scooching over on her left, I snapped a picture of her side profile as she was still busy staring off into the flashing horizon, too absorbed in the view to even notice – her face in a vibrant blue hue with the vapidest look of disinterest glazed in her eyes.

I then flipped my phone over toward her for her consideration, and much like with everything else, as she cocked her head in assessment, the deadened look she had distorted her expression into the distinct shape of a zero out of ten.

And when it came time for her honest thoughts, she had only one thing to say…

“I… look like… Amanda…”

My phone sagged a little in my grip.

“Um… is that a bad thing?”

“No…” She lightly ran a few of her fingers across her newly-fashioned look, brushing the side of the ribbon with one of her claws. “I like… how Amanda looks…”

“And I like how you look,” I said, taking the sight of her figure, her everything, shining in an almost ethereal glow of ever-changing colors. “And you look absolutely beautiful.”

Adalia slowly nodded in stride, promptly turning back to watch the fireworks continue to soar. I followed along, scooting a little closer, and together, we were just there – enjoying the moment, enjoying each other.

For as long as we still could…

“You’re okay?” I asked.

“Fine…”

“Not too blinding – loud?”

“No…”

“Not overwhelming you?”

“Not… yet…”

“Well, if it starts to,” I told her. “Feel free to look away, alright? I’ll also cover your ears for you if you want to.”

No answer. In the painted, rippling canvas of the night sky her focus was completely tethered – as was mine. More had come to litter the cityscape now, some spewing from the earth like a fountain of flame, clustered streams blasted across the skies in a bridge of shifting hues, and every explosion was now brighter, bigger… almost never-ending. It was like an orchestra of sight, a performance played by the heavens above.

Then in the midst of it all, I was snapped back to the present, blinking dazed, and feeling a buzz in the palm of my right hand.

I received a text, and as my eyes slowly adjusted to the words… I felt the urge of a smile tempting my lips.

<<I do not mean to intrude, Master. Alas, Sera insisted that I should, she will stop, so I… just wish say… you… Merry Christmas. Please feel compelled reply – you shouldn’t. Do allow me disturb your moment more than already have. desire for know… am thinking of you. Always. That is all. Goodnight,>>

I don’t know if Ash’s message was doused with a layer of impromptu timing, but immediately right after I received her text, I had another message buzzing on through. This time, my eyes nearly bulged their sockets getting it.

Irene had sent this one.