13-Sep-2000
Another something floating around in my head. Sorry for the crossposting. Uh. Have fun.
This is AU, btw.
The priestess stood above the altar, calmly. "Are you sure you are worthy, Chang Wufei?"
Wufei, the eldest son of the Dragon clan, flushed angrily. Relena might the Voice of the Oracle, but she talked like she talked to a boy many years younger than her, and not to a young man that matched her, season for season. "The Oracle will judge my honor," he replied.
"Very well. Step forward to be cleansed."
He stared uneasily at the pool of liquid that lay in the silver basin before the young priestess. It was hard to remember that this was the same girl that he'd known so many years ago. She was cold and upright, bathed in a pale light. Relena looked weary. He suspected he'd seen her sway, just a little. For the first time he considered the strain the Oracle must have had on her mind.
He dipped his hands and shivered. Blood coated his skin, gleaming wetly in the light. A drop hit the pool, sending ripples through the bowl. Wufei looked up and his body froze.
Meiran hung, suspended high above the altar.
/A sacrifice. Of course./
Her golden-tinged skin was stained from her own blood. From her lips, down the side of her face, the thinnest rivulet of crimson flowed, each drop filling the basin even more. His throat constricted. Meiran.
/The Oracle needs sacrifices./ It was something taught to every child in Genesis. /A sacrifice of the pure and noble hearted. It is a great honor./
Honor. Of course. That was why Meiran had done it.
"Did she scream?" He asked, softly. The acoustics of the Temple of the Oracle echoed sound; sometimes, it would resound so loudly, the nearby villagers could hear and whisper tales of torture and slow deaths.
"No," Relena answered evenly, the barest tinge of pain touching her eyes. "Her honor would not permit her."
/Oh, God, Meiran... to die screaming inside./
"'The blood of the innocent alone will atone,'" Wufei quoted the ancient texts hollowly. "'Outside these hallowed halls, to spill the blood of an innocent is a sacrilege; here, it is a sacrifice to cleanse the impure and the unclean.'" He bowed his head. "I, Chang Wufei, of the Dragon Clan of Genesis, stand forth to be judged and to be cleansed. I ask to pass under blood sacrifice."
Meiran dangled above him, her body twisting.
/Don't think about it./ Inside of him, he was gibbering with grief and horror.
"The Oracle receives you, Chang Wufei." Relena held out her hand, and Wufei stared at her bleeding palm, and then traveling over to the other hand, which held a small, ornate dagger. "Blood meets blood."
Their palms met and pressed, the thick liquid staining their skin. Relena's face was pale and drawn.
/The strain twists them, kills them./
"Blood meets blood," he replied, as the glow of light enveloped him.
end teaser
Jay
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