Moeru Tengoku

by KukriRyuTsukino

II --- Dōmei no Kibō, Okite no Reimei

Earth - Canterlot High School -- 3rd POV

Tomas Raines sighed softly, his golden amber eyes scanning around, his tawny copper-bronze skin like caramelized chocolate. He rolled his shoulders as he made his way into the school, spotting many students almost immediately. Rarely, he tended to feel itching or strong tingling in the prosthetic arm, which was odd as other than the part to attach it, there were no nerves in the arm, hence there shouldn’t have been any sort of sensation, yet… there often was. He could feel with the prosthetic arm just as if it were his true arm, though the doctors couldn’t explain how. They assumed it was Phantom Limb Syndrome.

He had the sense that Michiru-onēsan and Haruka-onēsan might have had an idea, but at the moment, they were out of the country in England for one of Haruka’s races, this one a road course race in northern England. Only reason he hadn’t joined them was because unlike the older duo, he still needed school. The fifteen-year-old grimaced, shivering in the air conditioning before he felt his body acclimate. He preferred from around early spring until mid-fall, for his favorite time of year, which never ceased to amuse his adoptive older sisters.

Just as Michiru-onēsan had surmised upon meeting him several years before after he’d saved their lives, he did possess a passion and moreso, a strong, keen memory for music. Unfortunately, much to Michiru’s embarrassment, he could never read music no matter how much he tried, and he had tried very often.

He was talented with the steel guitar, bass guitar, electric and acoustic guitar, as well as the violin, much to Michiru-onēsan’s delight. It wasn’t too unusual for them to play together, as he did appreciate classical music, though he tried to keep from falling asleep during it as it tended to give him rather…. Strange dreams.

He let his gaze slide around before blinking at a young woman with creamy yellow skin and warm pink hair that fell over her hair and back in gentle curling waves. She wore a white blouse and pale salmon skirt that fell to just above her knees while she had a v-neck sweatshirt that kept her upper body warm, though the sleeves stopped just above her elbows. He noticed her deep aquamarine eyes met his almost the same moment he observed her.

He tried not to smirk at the adorable blush that crossed her face almost immediately as she looked both shy and embarrassed. “H-hello,” he said shyly. Admittedly, when he wasn’t doing music or playing music, he was remarkably shy himself, even withdrawn.

He saw her blink before perking up as if she noticed he was shy. “I’m… Fluttershy. Are you new here?” she said softly. The energy that seemed to cling to her was quite…. relaxing. It was calming.

He nodded shyly. He was struck by a memory, then. He knew that prosthetics, normally, were slow and tedious to respond.

Fluttershy FPOV

It's nice to know I'm not the only one that's shy about starting at Canterlot, although that glove is…. funny looking. He seems to be lost in thought… hmmm? The glove is twitching almost like it's muscle memory. Does he play guitar? Or something with a softer sound, perhaps?

“Um…. if you don’t mind me asking…. Do you play any instrument?” I murmur shyly. I notice he pauses, though for a moment I think that he didn’t hear me.

“I play several instruments, though none at the same time. I play the violin like my adoptive older sister, as well as the acoustic and electric guitar as well as the steel guitar and bass guitar. I even play the flute, though it’s a very… specific flute that I don’t have on me at the moment,” he replied shyly.

His shyness almost makes me giggle as it reminds me of myself. I notice several students passing by. “Have you been shown around?” I ask softly. I notice Rarity in that moment noticing us before a slow playful smile crosses her face.

I noticed out of the corner of my eye that he shook his head before he snorted, drawing my attention before he tilted his head, spotting Sunset Shimmer just as I did.

“Has anyone told her her hair looks like bacon?” he murmured, making me blink a few times before giggling.

I didn’t miss Rarity glancing over her shoulder at Sunset before covering her mouth before a low giggle escaped her as she apparently overheard him.

“What’s your name?” I said softly.

“Tomas Raines,” he said softly.

Tomas FPOV

I cocked his head, trying to keep from snickering at ‘Bacon Girl’, though I did like the fact that both of these girls seemed to find it funny. Though I noticed they did giggle and chuckle softly as the girl passed. Was she popular, or feared? Or potentially both?

Hmmm. Looking at her stride, she seems confident, self-assured, and borderline arrogant. Not always a good combination. I felt a light, hesitant tug on my natural hand rather than the prosthetic, noticing as they both took my hands, I felt a slight tingling rush through the prosthetic. I wonder if the gemstone ‘heart’ within the prosthetic is… unique.

I never told my adoptive older sisters precisely what the ‘odd dreams’ I had when I sometimes dozed off to their practicing or music was, only that they were ‘unfamiliar and strange’. What I didn’t say, however, was that I remember every detail of them and one person I remember looked very similar to that ‘Bacon Girl’. I’m probably going to say that loud enough to let her hear it at some point just to see her reaction.

I sighed softly, letting my gaze scan around, noticing several students, though one in particular, a light raspberry skinned girl with puffy pink hair and blue eyes, caught my eye for a moment as she grinned. However, I did notice that Fluttershy tugged me slightly closer to her as if she didn’t like that particular student at the moment.

“A bit protective, Fluttershy, are we?” I heard the violet-indigo haired girl with pale alabaster skin say in a soft, teasing tone.

“A little, maybe,” Fluttershy replied softly, a bit of crimson darkening her cheeks.

My gaze drifted around, spotting various other students, including a trio with intriguing ruby necklaces, though I sensed an odd familiarity with them, as if I knew them from somewhere despite the certainty that I’ve never seen them nor met them before.

I also noticed, that around that particular trio, my prosthetic arm tingled even more strongly, though it was like a muted tingling around these two, as well as that pink girl. “Is the gemstone heart aware? I do know there’s much more than most would let on. Hell, even Michiru-onēsan has a few tricks she doesn’t always let on, such as her hydrokinesis gifts. “Sometimes the sea’s depths hold secrets” my ass… everyone has secrets, and I think she can sense things before they happen, perhaps from the ocean?” I thought. He had noticed as of recently, the days in which the sun was out much more were more… preferable… for him…. as if something within him craved the Sun’s strength.

“No… it isn’t that it ‘craves’ the Sun’s strength… that doesn’t feel quite right… but it does seem to be tied to the Sun’s strength… but one thing I’m very certain of is that even what I’m sensing now… is barely the surface. It’s like looking into a gemstone but seeing only one facet of it… if I have to put my instinctual feelings into words,” I thought.

I absently paid attention to their little tour, focusing on their words so to distract myself from my thoughts. “Something felt both off about those three, yet at the same time, I had the feeling I know them. It's stupid to think, but for some reason, I keep thinking the past reaches into the present,” I muse thoughtfully.

I exhaled softly as the duo, Rarity, as she’d introduced herself, and Fluttershy, went onto their classes, whilst he waited at the office for his schedule and books. He was mildly surprised as a young woman perhaps ten years older than his adoptive older sisters charged in, looking a bit panicked, her light phthalo bluish gray skin glistening slightly. Her moderate opal eyes flicked to him as he focused, feeling the prosthetic detach before dropping with a dull metallic clunk to the floor before her eyes widened, seeing the arm lying on the floor before she gasped.

“T-tia?” she said with a nervous stutter, her moderate sapphire blue hair streaked with pale light grayish persian blue swaying in the air. He noticed the door to the office opening before he scooped up the arm, revealing the unusual narrow metallic cap just below his elbow as well as what was beneath it.

Haruka-ōnesan had contacted her godfather, someone by the name of Anthony Stark, who'd called in a favor. He hadn't really paid attention to what followed, as it had been weeks after the loss of his arm, though he'd been mildly surprised when the philanthropist himself had delivered both the prosthetic with the gemstone heart along with the inactive cap.

He did, however, recall their shock when the inactive reactor within the cap, once attached and linked to the nerves in his arm, which should have only connected to the edges of the cap, flared to life, glowing brightly before the glow settled to a muted glow.

He exhaled as wiry tendrils twice as thick as human hairs extended before attaching to the prosthetic and pulling it up and into place.

“Sorry… Fuku kōchō,” I apologized sheepishly.

He saw her blink as if she didn't understand him at first before she blinked. “You speak Japanese?” she said with a hint of surprise.

“Kinda hard not to learn when your older sisters tend to use it at home,” I said shyly.

The vice-principal smirked before she shrugged. “I dabble in other languages, sometimes, though I'm not an expert,” she admitted wryly.

I hummed thoughtfully. “I only know English and Japanese… though if it came to insults… I could probably insult someone in about four or five other languages,” I murmured.

The vice-principal giggled, obviously amused. “So, your sisters enrolled you?” she said curiously.

“From what his papers say, yes, Luna. A ‘Haruka Tenōh’ signed him in, with a ‘Michiru Kaiō’ as witness,” a slightly older woman spoke, her hair swaying in the air, pastel shades of soft pink, sea green, light purple, and soft, pale goldenrod flickering through it.

“That’s them," I confirmed. I was a bit surprised when she handed me a warm, deep bronze toned backpack; it felt a bit heavy.

“Schedule’s in the outer right pocket on the side. Don’t hesitate to call Luna or I for help, if necessary,” the woman said with a small motherly smile.

“She’s far more enjoyable to be around than my mother…. before she lost her ever-lovin’ mind and ran off that bridge that night… maybe it’s a good thing that I lost that arm… nerves and flexibility were never the same after that night,” I muse thoughtfully.

Flashback - Ten Years Ago, 3rd POV

A five year old Tomas looked up at his distressed mother from the chair within the waiting room, his keen hearing picking up the words virulent leukemia and has metastasized to the brain, unfortunately though he didn’t quite understand what that meant. He gasped as his mother, her platinum blond hair and almond shaped gray eyes a sharp contrast to his deep, auburn-crimson hair and dark aquamarine-teal eyes. Her pale hand grabbed his before she all but dragged him out of the room. He stumbled out alongside her, quiet as he tried to piece together what was wrong. “Leukemia is a sickness of the blood, kitten,” a low growl whispered in his mind. He frowned before he shivered at the chill night air as he lacked a jacket.

He yelped in surprise as his mother shoved him in the SUV that they’d driven to see his father, a Japanese businessman. He hastily buckled himself in as he shivered from the chill before the heat kicked in, making him sigh as he looked up at his mother; he didn’t even think twice of the fact she’d shoved him in the front seat rather than the back seat as usual, too innocent to realize something was wrong.

“Mama, what’s wrong?” he said softly, innocently.

“Nothing. Only that my lover is dying, not like you care,” she scoffed scornfully as she hit the gas, reversing in a sharp motion that made the child grip the edges of the seat before she accelerated out of the parking lot and onto the street. He was nervous, though he did notice something odd... a trickle of blood coming from his mother's nose.

He remembered quick twists and turns in the vehicle, though the biggest memory was hearing a grinding crunch as the vehicle lurched sharply to the left, making him very thankful he’d buckled in as the seat belt locked in, holding him close to the seat before he realized that he could see the ground…. then the sky… then water…. and rocks before a sudden, sharp impact and darkness overwhelmed him.

Deep in the depths of his mind….

“Do you truly wish to survive? There will be a cost. Our link will be cut off unless you gain a strong energy boost,” the entity growled, appearing as a lion of prismatic, swirling flames.

The child before the entity was bloody and heavily injured, cradling his right arm which was twitching spasmodically, obviously injured badly with possible nerve damage. The child looked up defiantly. “You said it yourself, Latoius, that the others, including your sister, Selene… would be rather embarrassed if your own Chosen failed to awaken your Gifts and mature in them. So…. YES… I want to survive, even if it means our link will be cut. Though if, as you claim, it would eject the Purity Crystal… which would weaken me… I suspect that anyone that finds it will assume that it belongs to my ‘mother’ or myself… in which case it will remain close. I do have those Aura Manipulation lessons you’ve given me, after all,” the child retorted, his tone determined and strong despite his injuries.

“Very well, Kitten… you have strength that will show itself in time, even without our communication bond. No doubt you will be the one… not only to catch my eye, but THEIR EYES as well,” Latoius chuckled, a deep rumbling purr escaping the embodiment of the Solar Fires as his form shrank into an elliptical multi-faceted golden red gemstone roughly two thirds the size of a golf ball before it shone brilliantly and vanished.

In the waking world….

Tomas’ eyes snapped open, unaware that a sign of his link to Latoius being severed as well as the Solar Embodiment’s power rushing through his body and healing the worst of his injuries was that his formerly dark aquamarine-teal irises were a deep golden amber now…. not that anyone knew the truth…. save for him.

Within six months, he had been shuttled off to his mother’s brother and wife, neither of whom really bothered to watch out for him, though he did get monthly checks for not only the injuries he’d sustained, but from his mother’s life insurance. His cousins, one Taichi Yagami and Hikari Yagami, set up a bank account that got the money. His aunt and uncle got the checks for his injuries each month, but the life insurance, more substantial by far, went into the bank account for him to use later.

Sadly, when he was injured and lost his arm, as he’d kept the Solardius Athánatos Ílios over his heart, it was assumed that it was his, which it was. Fortunately, Anthony Stark had found that it would channel an obscene amount of energy, and so used it as the ‘heart’ of his prosthetic arm. They had needed to use an inactive nano-tech arc reactor as an arm cap. Though due to his suppressed Aura, it did activate as it tapped into it, letting it have a warm golden amber glow rather than its usual bluish white.

FLASHBACK END

Tomas FPOV

My gaze flickered over the room, noticing that the blonde farmer girl Rarity had mentioned… Applejack or AJ to her friends, I think her name was.. was in the same room. It appeared to be Home Economics, from what I could guess. “This will be interesting,” I muse thoughtfully with a small, shy smirk that could be construed as both playful and shy.

Author's Note:

Tomas' first day at Canterlot High. What will follow him? What does this Leonine Solar Embodiment have to do with his past. Who is Selene? Only time will tell!!