Falling petals

What the Dreams Show.

"Why does she have to go through such things!?"
 
"A child with such knowledge will grow to hate the world. Dream' an' such will seem like nothn' to them."
 
Alyona held grieving tears in her eyes when she heard of what Sakura is experiencing. While Keir looked sadly at the thought of Sakura losing her moments of being a child just because of the responsibilities the gods placed on her.
 
"But why had they began showing such visions to her when she was of such a tender age?"
 
Adrik felt that the age was too young, he even question the acts of the gods even though he is one of the most faithful to the gods and believing the things they do always has meaning.
 
'But what meaning would it be to give such knowledge to a toddler who will be filled with fear at knowing what would happen while having no power to change it. It would traumatize a grown man if they have such visions, yet they did such a thing to a child who was just learning how to live in such a grand world.'
 
"It mayb' cause she was close to th' other side."
 
Keir looked like he was speaking his thoughts, rather than the group when he said those words.
 
"What do you mean?"
 
"Didn' ya say she experience it aft'r her close call with death? Aft'r see'n the god of death?"
 
"Oh! That's what you mean!"
 
"Hedwig?"
 
Hedwig, the previous emperor of the beastman lands was in the meeting beside his son. He was listening and understood what Keir was heading at.
 
"I get what Keir is trying to say. He's trying to say because she was so close to the sacred land of the dead, the shackles placed in a mortal soul has been lifted to be closer to those of beyond our understanding. Now her connection to the gods are stronger. So that must be why the gods choose her to go through this ordeal."
 
"That sounds the most plausible, yet I bet there are many who had near death experiences in their life, maybe not many, but enough that the gods can choose them, however why Sakura? She was just a young hatchling of a thing, yet they gave her such prophecies that could traumatize a normal adult."
 
Adrik can see the point but he still found it questionable.
 
"Because maybe this has more of a connection to Sakura than just her near death experience."
 
"What you mean by that Gabriel?"
 
"It was the scene from the battle I saw. In there I told you I have seen her sided with the corruption. Rather, she was corrupted to such a high degree that her body and mind was damaged beyond repair at that moment."
 
Both Raphael and Mihkael frowned at that, but they can't deny it because of the things Mihkael had seen the past 4 years. Those nightm-no, they aren't able to be called just  nightmares anymore.
 
'Those images that I saw through those sleepless nights were too vivid. I always took them as nightmares yet from what Sakura has said, each one may be different pathways of our future... not one of them had her live...'
 
"-el h-! Mih-! Mihkael!!!"
 
"Huh!"
 
"I kept call'n your name boy! You didn't answer!"
 
"Ah... sorry. Was just thinking about a few things."
 
"Like what? You can't be spacing out when this is about your daughter."
 
"..."
 
"Mihkael..."
 
Raphael called Mihkael and he seemed as he was urging him to say something.
 
They both spoke through their eyes and it didn't go unnoticed by the rest.
 
"What you be hidin' boy. We ain't no fools to not notice those glances between ya both. What haven't ya said."
 
"Mihkael, if this has something to add to this situation, it's best to talk to all of us, rather than keep it to yourself."
 
Mihkael glances to the side to those who are beside him in the meeting. All except Seraph, Uriel and Azrael were in the room.
 
Gabriel was beside Mihkael and told them what he had seen. And was looking at Mihkael the same way as the rest were. Probing to hear what he knows.
 
Mihkael remained silent for a while and then sighs. A look of exhaustion overcame his face and he just closes his eyes.
 
"... fine, it's best to talk about it with you all. At least now I have a understanding of why I had such nightmares."
 
"!!! So you must have-"
 
"...yeah, I've been having nightmares for the past 4 years every 4 to 5 nights a week. A dream that was so realistic, that I can feel each touch, each sensation and the pain that runs through my soul when I have those dreams. I would have never placed it as prophetic dreams because of how it was through my eyes I experienced those things, yet hearing Gabriel's own "dream." I can say I now understand the night terrors I suffered weren't just regular "nightmares." But visions of the future that Sakura was supposed to see, and not me."
 
"What did ya see? For ya to react like this boy?"
 
"... I would fight through a battlefield with everyone. All of us; the humans, elves, beastmen, dwarfs, and the demon people were fighting a large quantity of corrupted creatures. In each dream it's almost always the same, yet always has a different tone to it. In one I'm with all of you heading over there, or in another I'm the only one who reached the place I was heading to because the others in my group stayed to create a path for me... in a few of them I had to battle an old friend who was protecting the person I was looking for. Or in others I had to watch him die in her arms because either she killed him or because he ended up dying in the hands of a blacked haired man, or times were I and my old friend would cry because we failed..."
 
"Mihkael... who's this "old friend" that you speak of."
 
"....."
 
A warm hand placed in Mihkael's shoulder made him look up, only to see Raphael smile at him.
 
"Its best to tell them the whole thing without hiding anything Mihk. We need a solution to the dreams you have."
 
"Wait! You mean-!"
 
Ariel again was the first to understand, then it was Adrik who spoke up.
 
"Raphael. The "old friend" he referred to... is you?"
 
Raphael looks at the group through the communication crystals and to his few friends that are beside him, he just gives an awkward smile and then a nod.
 
"It seems that in all Mihkael's dreams, I was always fighting against you guys."
 
"Why!? Why would you betray us in the future!!"
 
Ariel grabbed Raphael's wrist and angrily pulled him to look him in the eye.
 
"Because he was protecting her by being by her side. In those dreams each time Raphael ended up dying. The person he was protecting would break down and would go on a rampage, not caring if she killed both enemies or allies to her. It seemed that Raphael was the only thing that kept her fighting for control against the corruption that was consuming her mind and soul."
 
Mihkael stood and removed the hand that was grasping Raphael's wrist. His eyes displayed the pain he felt from the memories of the dreams he had. The act of Ariel grabbing Raphael's wrist was overlapping with that of another dream he had, where Ariel grabs Raphael just like he did now.
 
***
"Stop this madness and help us get her, why are you standing beside her, allowing such things to happen!!"
He yelled and tighten his grip. Trying to get his friend to come back and help them get her back.
 
"I can't!!! If I do that then to her it would seem as if I'm abandoning her!! I can't allow myself to cause her that type of feeling, she already feels like she has no one by her side. I, who stood with her till the end, is keeping her from fully losing her soul. So I would never leave her side, even if history writes me as a traitor of this continent, of this world!! I will stay beside her."
***
"Because he was keeping Sakura from fully losing her soul, because it seemed that he was the only one by her side while we weren't. It seemed that somewhere in the future we turned our backs to Sakura, causing her mind to break, causing the corruption to gain control and to consume her soul and mind bit by bit. We tried too late to save her because we didn't notice! Yet Raphael remained by her side and spoke word of encouragement to her so she wouldn't fully lose herself. Because he stayed beside her even if he would get hated by us, by the whole continent, or by the world, she kept some of her sanity and soul. He didn't betray us, rather, it seems we betrayed Sakura."
 
Unknowns to Mihkael, through his talk tears began to slide down his eyes. His hand that was still holding Ariel's wrist was shaking.
 
"I-I couldn't see anything before that battle scenes in the dreams, so I still don't know what caused the corruption to take over her. B-but I can still interpret that I was one of the causes that lead her to l-lose against it. We were the causes of her losing herself. Yet I don't know why!!! Why did we turn our backs to her!! Why did I not remain by her side to protect her!!! Why! Why! Why!!"
 
"Mihkael!"
 
"!!!"
 
Raphael gently grabs Mihkael in a hug, he  held back tears watching his usual calm and strong friend break down like this. He would never show his weakness this blatantly yet it shows how much those dreams effected him.
 
"Sakura... was corrupted to the point it was too late for anyone of us to notice..."
 
"Mihk..."
 
"Why weren't we there for her when it first showed... only Raphael was there."
 
"Your wrong Mihk! If I had noticed, then she wouldn't have been corrupted either. I'm also to blame for not noticing."
 
"But you were the only one she trusted to have beside her! We must have done something that to her, losing her mind was better than to trust us!"
 
"Enough!"
 
Keir raised his voice and stopped anymore of their self blame.
 
But the thought of such an intelligent and willful child like Sakura being consumed by the corruption effected him too much. She was like a grandchild for Keir whenever she would visit and play with any new inventions he made.
 
"For now. The only thin' we know is somewhere n' the future Sakura would be infected with sum corrupted blood. That'll be our main worry. If were able to keep her safe agains' getting any in her body, then any other worry after we can solve bit b' bit."
 
"So the main goal now is not finding out why we didn't notice, but stop it before it even happens. You get why I mean right?"
Hedwig was the first one to speak beside his son.
 
"Someone would get close to her and in someway fed her corrupted blood, and an amount that goes unnoticed until it was too late to purify it. Meaning it would fester inside her slowly until a point hits where she feels like she is cornered and her mind breaks."
 
Adrik then continues and his hand was under his chin in thought while he spoke those words.
 
"Then the solution to this is protect her against any suspicious person and make sure only those we trust are beside her."
 
Gabriel started to think what actions that should follow to make sure she'll be fine in the future.
 
"Then her ever being corrupted would never happen, and she'll be safe!"
 
Ariel spoke those words and looks at Mihkael who was still being hugged by Raphael.
 
Mihkael looks up when he feels two hands lightly pat him in the head.
 
Looking up, he sees Gabriel and Ariel smiling in reassurance to him.
 
"We'll all work together to make sure it doesn't happen like in those visions you've seen."
 
"We'll be beside her and won't allow it to become what you have seen."
 
"Um guys."
 
They all turn to Alyona and saw her eyes filled with worry and realization.
 
"What's wrong with ya?"
 
"If those visions were meant for Sakura to see, counting in the one Gabriel saw... then doesn't that mean Sakura has been seeing her own fate through the eyes of all of you... wouldn't that mean she knows  she'll be corrupted in the future and in each one she had seen, no one was able to save her, rather... maybe her dependence on Raphael can be explained why every time she had a breakdown and looked for him was because she knew he would be the only one beside her. That must be why sometime I feels she holds us in a way that she appears close to us, but actually treats us with a distant sense compared to Raphael."
 
When they all heard that, Realization hit them all at once.
 
"Maybe that's why she calls you Papa Raphael... because you were the father who stood beside her while I was the one who stood against her..."
 
"Mihk-"
 
"She knows what the future holds, yet she doesn't cry or push us with hatred, even if she does give preferable treatment to you. She is still a child who wishes for her father and her uncles to be beside her, even if in the future, somewhere in it we turn our backs to her... each time we kept saying we'll stay beside her, that we'll always be with her, how many times had she thought "lier, you won't. You'll leave me and only Papa Raphael will be beside me... stop lying.... don't give me anymore hope." How many times did we hurt her without knowing we did!!"
 
"Mihk... stop overthinking it!"
 
"! Raph."
 
Raphael looked Mihkael in the eyes when he spoke.
 
"What's needed to be done is not wallow in self-hate but to think of creating a future where she wouldn't believe it to be a lie, where she can trust us, all of us to be beside her! That the future won't remain the same and that we all will be together to protect her. Got it!"
 
"Heh... haha! Your right. That's what we should be doing. Making her believe in us again and make sure not to lose that trust again. Thanks Raph. I appreciate having a friend like you."
 
"You better."
 
"Hey! What about us, are we here only for decoration!"
 
Ariel slings his arm around Raphael and Gabriel did the same with Mihkael.
 
"We will all be here to make sure it happens. Where her trust in us comes from deep in her heart and that we would never leave her side. Because she is our little niece right! Because even if we don't share blood, we are brothers."
 
"Yup, Just like Ariel said. We are brothers, so well protect our family together."
 
"Haha! Yeah! We'll protect our family together."
 
Watching this scene, the rest of the people in the meeting smile and are glad Mihkael didn't go down a dark mindset after all this.
 
"We will be here to help too. After all, Sakura is a precious family member to us too."
 
"Yer got that right!"
 
And so, the meeting continued on after. While Sakura was none the wiser of them understand more, even more that she ever wanted them to know.