In Loving Memory

By

Tuesday-Rose Steves

Disclaimer: This is still my own work, I own everything. August 26th, 2002.

Copyright to the author 2003

In Loving Memory of

~Euphiria Rosemary Toyolle~

The Purest of Hearts

And The Quiet Cryer.

Aadumisa 166- Dindaeu 53

Echoes of the bullet tearing through her skin ricocheted in his mind. Feeling the light she said she didn't steal spill across his feet flashed in his sapphire eyes. Hearing the crowds laugh as Euphiria's heart bled onto the floor made furious adrenaline rush through his veins. Seeing Fiero's smile of sick satisfaction sent Tolo's soul reeling with hopelessness, helplessness, and hatred.

He didn't even say goodbye to Euphiria. He didn't try to save her. He could have saved her. But he cowered behind two mugs of ginger ale and watched as his sister was murdered. Tears glided down his pale face.

Only one mug was drank,

The other set beside her grave

In unspoken thanks.

Ginger ale had never tasted more bitter. Tolo remembered sprinting out of the coffee shop in an upsurge of emotion. He ran far away, far into the Meadows. His knees gave way and he collapsed to the lush, muffling his cries in the ale. His salty tears poured into the mug, and by the time he had silenced his painful sobs and sipped from his mug, all he tasted was his sadness.

Though her soul spilled the sun

She said she never had,

HerJudas kiss had only begun.

Years had passed. After spending those years drowning in his misery in the Meadows, Tolo blindly stumbled into the town that had killed his family.

Her ashes scattered across the roads of stone

Her body burned and her spirit torched

He knew he was now alone.

Fiero's Coffee Shop had been ravaged and destroyed, windows boarded up and glass shards sprinkled around the old building. Seeing the decaying wooden ruins brought a twisted smirk to Tolo's lips.

Before departing for the Meadows years ago, Tolo had stolen their precious solar star from the Heavens and had concealed the light in his demon soul. He nearly laughed when he remembered the screams of mortal little girls, and when he saw the town weep in the absense of their Sun.

Gazing at his surroundings in warped pleasure, he realised he actually enjoyed this darkness.

Desires for the wicked to wither,

The people are blind

To his dark presense like a serpent's silent slither.

In the distance, misty sadness divided so that a lone shadow was visible to Tolo's emotionless eyes. The figure sat quietly on the filthy curb, shifting slightly as the familiar sounds of crying echoed from all around the town.

Tolo cautiously approached the figure, his footsteps muffled by the soft rain beneath his feet. The stone road that lay across his path was empty and clouds of haze drifted towards him. As Tolo became closer to the silent shadow, the face made him fall back in utter disgust and hatred.

Salvador.

"Who comes forth?" he asked frantically, trying to sound proud and fearless. "I hear the footfalls nearby! Speak peace! Come thither!" his eyes were as vast as the oceans and as green. As Tolo stepped closer, he could see they were not an emerald colour as they used to be. They had darkened, became a murky jade- two precious smoky jewels- filled with fear.

Tolo smirked and quietly stepped closer, his body ghostly in the misty air. Salvador looked on the verge of tears. "Who's there?" he whispered. "Where are you?"

"It is I, Tolo Isaac Toyolle. Surely you remember me, dear cousin? Surely you remember betraying my family and sending the townsfolk out to kill us? Have you forgotten already? It has only been too long." Tolo hissed, movements menacing. He swept towards Salvador, eyes flashing and blood boiling.

"It has been too long. Too long without smiling, without laughing, without even breathing! My body has been breathing, but my soul has yet to inhale the cold winds. My spirit has been suffocating." He simpered. "Yet again, my soul has been lucid ever since I breathe the breeze of your Sun." he snickered at the horrified expression on his cousin's face.

"Tolo? Is it truly you?" Salvador said softly. "You survived?"

Tolo's body convulsed with sudden sobs. "Of course I survived, you fool!" he cried. "Did you not see me run out of the coffee shop when Euphiria was shot? Or were you too preoccupied with the celebration?!" he shouted furiously and grabbed Salvador's collar, shaking him violently. "I survived the sorrow, I survived the pain! I survived death, and no thanks to you, Salvador Juddoal! No thanks to you!" Tolo thrust him backwards onto the damp stone, feeling a rush of thrilling adrenaline tear through his veins as he watched Salvador struggle to get to his feet.

Tears trickled from his jade eyes and a look of overwhelming grief washed over his features. Tolo never once felt sympathy, his steeled heart had taken too much from Salvador.

"Tolo- dear cousin- Euphiria lied! She lied about everything. Your Mother died years ago from devastation from your poor departed Father. Samdi was burned at the stake for her putrid crimes. Euphiria stole the solar star from Ulantai. She lied, Tolo- you're better off without her deception." Freezing winds whipped about his black hair. "And no, I never saw you run out of Fiero's nor did I see Euphiria's homicide." He whispered, eyes growing darker by the moment. "I am blind, Tolo, and I'm glad I never saw Euphiria die."

Tolo was silent for a moment. He did not wince at this, but instead he drew back. "You cannot see me? How did you see Euphiria's white lies?" he inquired, disbelieving he was truly alone in this foul world.

Salvador smirked. "I knew she would give you a Judas kiss."

HerJudas kiss had only begun.

Tolo's eyes swelled with salt water. "She gave nothing of the sort!" he cried. "You are the Judas kissing!"

"I assure you, I do not lie," Salvador breathed, "I've heard the tales she has told." Tolo saw from the corner of his eyes Salvador grasping at something bound to his belt. His fingertips slid across an iron pocket, shaped as a long jagged knife. Tolo withdrew further.

"Am I alone, Salvador?" he whispered, reaching his trembling hand out to touch Salvador's shoulder lightly, gazing into the eyes that had torn his life.

"I am sorry, Tolo," he said regretfully, "You are quite alone." His hand clasped the iron pocket, slowly withdrawing a metallic dagger.

Tolo's hand bolted from Salvador's shoulder and dove into the iron pocket, grabbing the dagger before he could retract it completely. Salvador's blind eyes widened and the deep pupils seemed to seek for the dagger.

"What's this?" Tolo seethed, twirling the dagger gracefully between his fingers, the polished blade shining. "Was I about to be quite dead also? Then I wouldn't be alone- my dead family would surround me. Lying again, Salvador? Trickery seems to please you, cousin, but I'm afraid you have committed many sins. In the end, you won't be so delighted with yourself."

"Now Tolo," Salvador said in a quaking tone, "We don't want you doing anything foolhardy. You may regret it." he lifted his hands slightly in the air, backing away from what he thought was forward.

Tolo looked incredulous. "I appreciate your concern about my conscience and myself," he said, his voice soaked in sarcasm. "But I won't regret this."

He watched in disgust as Salvador fell to his knees before him, weeping and pleading. "Spare my life, Tolo! Spare my life! You had always been the greater over me, such a pure being! Surely one as pure as yourself would never slay another worthless being!"

"I am not pure," Tolo snarled, "My soul is that of a demon's. I have brought you this eternal darkness, and yet you call me pure? If you held death in your hands, my wicked soul would be filth to you." he said wisely. Smiling as he saw more tears flow down Salvador's smooth skin, Tolo laid the blade against Salvador's chest. He nearly laughed when Salvador released a mortified sob as he stayed perfectly still against the dagger.

"Please Tolo, do not slay me! Your being is pure, I believe that whether or not I had your life in my hands!" he cried desperately. Tolo shot him a look that could kill, but alas Salvador could not see, and he lived a moment more.

"You had my family's lives in your hands and you did not seem to think they were pure enough to exist." Tolo screamed in distress, tears now forming in his eyes.

Salvador clenched his teeth and looked to Tolo with his deep, blind eyes. "I'm sorry, Tolo! I'm sorry for everything that has happened! I'm sorry for betraying you! I'm sorry for the lives I broke!" he sobbed, "It was a terrible misfortune! It was an accident! "

"It was an accident? It was an accident?" Tolo hissed dangerously. "You murdered my family- you piece of filth! It was no accident! And neither was this!"

Tolo brought down the dagger upon Salvador's dark heart.

***

Watching your eyes cry

As they let you die,

It broke me.

Screaming silently

Did you hear me?

I broke you.

I saw the whisper leave your lips

What did you say?

I try to hear your voice

Each and every day.

Yet your song is faded,

Forever silent.

You broke me.

Tears from the sky poured upon his head, diguising his own tears. Grey clouds encircled the grave, rivers of lightning surging through the stars. He parted his lips slowly to taste the thunder in the raindrops.

I should hate you, Euphiria, for all the lies you've told. Mother has died. Samdi was burned to ashes. You stole the solar star from Ulantai. Yet why do I love you so, and grieve for you, a deceiving sun thief? I suppose because our nature, Alilory nature, is to deceive and lie. Like it is for mortal nature to kill, to taste blood. Today, Euphiria, I grew my roses in Salvador's nature.

He fell to his knees, onto the foul earth, caressing the engraved signature of his beloved sister.

Where have you gone, Euphiria?

Why have you left me?

You've left a void in my heart as vast as the sea,

Your image flickers from my mind

Your smile I can no longer find.

Where have you gone, Euphiria?

Weeping onto Euphiria's grave, Tolo now felt the horrid sadness of being alone. He almost wished Salvador had plunged the dagger into his skin, drawn the blood that mortals desire.

The loss of another loved one

Pierced his heart.

He had performed the devilry

That she had once done.

He had slain one moment in eternity

When they shall be forever apart.

Before turning away from his sister once again, he laid a soft black rose atop her empty casket that shall wither tomorrow, as Euphiria's precious soul had yesterday.