FicWad

PART ONE

The Watching Spot wasn't particularly exciting to look upon- but then again, it wasn't supposed to be. It was a bit ironic, naming a place the "Watching Spot," when all a person could stare at were the long stalks of delicate, soft purple-blue grass, and an endless horizon reaching out to meet a white-blue sky so pale as to prevent clouds from being detected. If there were clouds, they would be so close in color to the way the sky itself looked that a person's eyes would simply miss them. Where the sky met the horizon, it melted into a warm gold-green shade, as opposed to the cold and icy white-blue of the upper atmosphere. The sun, too, was blinding silver, casting somewhat harsh light down onto the violet grass.

No, the "Watching Spot" wasn't named for the sights that could be seen on a regular basis. It was named for the enormous tree in the center of that very same field of blue-violet grass. A tree with a trunk of silver and leaves of crystal, seeming to have been pulled out of the very earth, as opposed to having simply grown out of the ground. In the bright, perfect light of the silver sun, the crystalline leaves of the tree danced and shone, refracting the light and sending it bouncing back in a rainbow of brilliant colors. And in the branches of the tree, the cooing of doves issued forth- but not ORDINARY doves. Oh, no. The feathers of these doves were as crystalline as the leaves of the tree, faceted and gorgeous, refracting light and mirroring images in an almost magical way.

A strand of black hair drifted across the unconscious young man's face, his face crinkling as the hair tickled his nose, eyes fluttering open. For a moment, he wasn't sure what the cold spots on his face were, then it registered distantly that they were raindrops. Shadow groaned, sitting up, rubbing his temples, eyes passing over the oddly colored landscape. "Woah fuck... I really hit it hard this time..." He plucked one of the strands of the purple-blue grass, twirling it between thumb and forefinger, eyes narrowing slightly, as if expecting it to all disappear at any second. He tossed the blade of grass aside, and stumbled to his feet, rubbing his arms, a small shiver going through him as he glanced up at the bright sky. "What the hell? Why is it raining if it's fucking sunny out?" he muttered, diving under the tree, sending a flock of the doves flying. He ducked, then watched them in amazement when he realized what they looked like. "Jesus... fucking... Christ... I don't think we're in Kansas any damn more, Toto..." he mumbled distractedly, almost collapsing into the grass.

With no warning at all, a slight figure dropped out of the silver branches of the large tree, having been concealed by the leaves, despite their crystaline appearance, until diving out as he had. The boy- for the figure was a young male- landed just to Shadow's right, allowing the jarring shock of falling to be absorbed into the ground before rising slowly, shaking his head lightly to toss pale periwinkle blue locks from dark violet eyes.

"You know, I rather dislike rain," he murmured conversationally, allowing himself to scowl just slightly for the briefest of moments, before his features were blanketed by a serene expression that replaced all other emotion. "It shouldn't be raining, you know," he continued, still in that same conversational tone of voice. "I think I blame you for the weather. But I'll let you off this time."

Shadow jumped as the young man landed beside him, looking down at the other. "Blame me for the goddamned weather? The fuck is this place? I was just going along minding my own damn business, and then boom, here I am. If anyone deserved some fucking blame, I'd guess it was you," Shadow snapped, glaring slightly in the boy's direction. "At least tell me if I'm imagining all this shit, would you? I'm pretty damn sure I wasn't doing anything today... but hell, what do I know..." He tugged on his fishnet sleeve, scowling out at the light shower of rain.

"You ask a lot of questions," Nero observed calmly, despite Shadow's snappishness. He spoke in the same noncommittal tone of voice as before- a tone that could rapidly wear on one's nerves. "I'd ask which one you wanted answered first... But really. I shouldn't have to bother. It's rather foolish of you to think that this is all just something your most likely meager imagination had conjured up, but... No, I'm afraid this place is quite real."

As Nero continued to speak, his tone of voice slowly changed from coolly conversational to slightly cheerful and amused. "...And the weather? I suppose I won't even try..."

"Gee, thanks. A lot of fucking help you were." Shadow turned away from Nero, thumbs stuck in his pockets as he walked around the trunk of the tree, looking out at the landscape around the area. "Shit, this isn't anywhere near Aroura Mall... I don't even think it's fucking Earth anymore..." he muttered to himself, slumping down against the trunk, knees pulled up to his chest, arms crossed over his knees, and a somehow rather fitting sorrowful look on his face, something quite near a pout, but not exactly.

After several moments, Shadow's eyes narrowed, and he looked over his shoulder, towards the direction Nero was in. He climbed to his feet, and stalked towards the boy, hands clasping behind his back as he glared down at Nero. "How do you know so much about this place?"

Nero merely watched as Shadow stalked a short distance away, only seeming to react in even the slightest at the mention of the word "Earth." Similarly, only when Shadow had called back at him did Nero bother to move over to where Shadow was slumped, more gliding than walking as he moved- and not stopping until he was within about two feet of Shadow.

"Because I live here," came his soft, serene reply- as if such a fact were obvious. "And I take it you're yet another one of these Earth-humans that keep dropping in?"

Shadow turned towards Nero, slight confusion registering on his face. "Yeah, I hope to hell I'm a fucking 'Earth-human.' I was only born and raised in Colorado... If you're not an 'Earth-human' than what the fuck kind of human are you? I mean, hell..." He laughed. "A 'Moon-human' or some shit like that? I need to cut back... Jesus... now I'm hallucinating when I'm not even fucking high," he muttered, kicking at the grass. He turned back to Nero. "Well, Moon-kid, I'm going to find some civilization, thank you very fucking much, so just sit your little ass back in that tree and wait for another 'Earth-human' to come along, hmm?" He turned away, pushing a branch out of his way, unintentionally showering himself with rain in the process. "Aw, shit..." he hissed, shaking some of the water from his sleeves, glaring at the tree branch.

Usually, Nero would have delicately cut into any tirade he was presented with; matters such as the fact that interrupting others was often considered rude seldom seemed to bother Nero. However, he merely listened, half in shock, as Shadow pretty much babbled on about different varieties of "human." Frankly, Nero didn't have any idea what the young man was talking about... But things such as whether or not he understood a matter seldom seemed to bother Nero, either.

"You're rather talkative, considering how angry you sound..." Nero commented, not really losing a beat. His tone of voice was light, but as he continued, it rapidly shifted to a firm, more no-nonsense sort of voice. "But you see, I was fairly certain I'd already said that nothing you see here is a hallucination. This is all reality... Truly. You must be very attached to this 'Earth' I keep hearing about. After all, usually I can persuade other Earth-humans to release their stranglehold on that reality fairly easily... For if they're stuck here, they will be safer knowing they're stuck here. But you? You seem even more stuck. This could be a problem...

"It's practically my job to help you, but if you'd prefer to 'search for civilization' on your own... Feel free. Still... You might like to know that I'm the only human in this plane of existence. You'd have to go elsewhere for civilization."

Shadow stopped dead in his tracks, "Help me? Help me? And just for the record, I'm not fucking attached to Earth in any way. Never done a damn thing for me. And as far as I'm concerned, neither have you." He was quiet for a moment, then turned back towards Nero, a sort of lost and confused expression taking hold in his eyes, as if the reality of the situation was finally taking hold. "And what the hell do you mean 'only human in this plane of existence'? Please do explain... as at the moment my mind is fairly overloaded with the blue grass and fucking crystal birds." He pointed at the tree, and as if on cue, a single dove fluttered into the air, chirping, sunlight refracting off its feathers and casting a rainbow across Shadow's face.

"Actually," Nero began, tone of voice mild, informative, "the crystalline doves can't be 'fucking crystal birds.' For one thing, they don't reproduce. Period. For another... They're all female. All of them." -He paused just slightly- "...Although I suppose you could care less right about now. I'm sure you're unattached to Earth, if that's what you say... I have no reason to doubt your word... But you could really tone down the hostility a little... I'm only trying to help, as much as you seem not to desire any aid of mine. Anyway..."

Nero trailed off for a moment, considering how to comply and explain what, exactly, the "Watching Spot" was- hopefully in terms Shadow would understand. He'd been trying to appease the man, assuring him that Nero believed in the truth of the other's words, although Nero's outright observation of Shadow's hostility had been a bit strange, for him. Usually, he made all such observations solely in his mind, and reacted accordingly. Only seldom did he voice them aloud.

"The place where we two are is the 'Watching Spot.' You might inquire into the reason for the name... But I assure you, that is unimportant. The Watching Spot, to put things simply, is a place between the planes. All things live, exist on different planes of reality. From this place... You can access those other planes. As far as I know, there are only six planes, with the Capital of them all located in the plane of light. However... As of late, humans from a place they call 'Earth' have been appearing here... So perhaps there are yet more planes with access to this place...

"Anyway, I mean to say that the Watching Spot is merely a go-between. People don't stay here, they merely pass through, which is why I'm the only person here. I'm the Watcher."

Shadow listened to the explanation, blinking in confusion through the whole thing, before sighing heavily and looking at the surrounding area. "Okay, I'm still confused. You mean you don't ever go anywhere else?" He glanced at Nero, "Like... ever? Damn, that's got to be a fucking boring lifestyle." He shoved one in his pocket, running the other through his hair, dislodging the hair-tie slightly. "Well, whatever. How the hell does one get from this plane to these other planes you're talking about?"

"I take them," Nero said shortly, although not necessarily unkindly. He hadn't been insulted in the slightest by Shadow's dubbing of his lifestyle as "boring"- and he rather doubted Shadow would continue to consider it boring- or at least not consider it so for the same reason- now that he knew Nero did get around with some frequency. "It means things really aren't quite as boring as you'd think- especially not as of late, what with the strangely high influx of 'Earth' humans I've been seeing..."

"Hmph, yeah... Sure," Shadow said, somewhat sulkily, arms crossed over his chest as he looked back up at the birds, some small flicker of interest showing in his face. "So where would you suggest I go... uh..." his gaze dropped back down towards Nero. "What's your name? I mean, I can't just go around calling you 'pain in the ass' or 'kid' after all..." The noise of the rain suddenly disappeared, leaving the grass glistening, and the birds fluttered out from the tree momentarily, only to land again in the branches.

"I'm not a kid," Nero said, not missing a beat at all- however, he uttered the words that usually damned those dubbed children as proving a speaker's point in an utterly serene tone of voice- not sounding at all childlike. "My name?" Nero then repeated questioningly, as if the idea of introducing himself never would have occurred to him lest someone else suggest the introduction. "Nero. You may call me Nero." That said, Nero only furthered the impression that introductions were foreign to him by not bothering to ask Shadow's name in return.

Shadow mumbled the name, as if testing the sound of it, reaching over to his other side, scratching his shoulder. "I'm Shadow. Well, that's what everybody's called me since I was a kid. But fuck it. Now, as I was saying before... Where would you suggest I go now, Nero? You're the native here, after all..." His eyes once again grazed the landscape, as if still unable to accept the idea of blue grass.

Nero blinked again, once, swiftly. "You make a fast recovery." Nero paused once more, mentally comparing Shadow and his reactions to those of the other Earth humans who had only recently arrived at the Watching Spot. "...And you don't react like everyone else. Wonder why." -another odd pause- "No one else asks where they should go as their first real question. They all ask first how to get home.

"I tell them they can't. I don't know how anyone's been getting here, I don't know how to return them to where they have come from. I only know how natives live in this world. So answer me this... Do you Trust me?"

Shadow shrugged. "Well, if I'm fucking stuck here, which I guessed I am, what's the point in wanting to go home? I mean, I don't even have a 'home' in the true sense of the word... So I don't really care... I imagine my reaction'd be a little different from other people's too... not many people have put as much shit into their system in their whole lives as I have in the last few years..." He went quiet, looking evenly at Nero, eyes searching the boy's. "And in answer to your question, I don't really trust most people. But, hell... I guess I trust you. Yeah. Why not." Shadow grinned, hands stuffed deep in his pockets, eyes cast upwards at the clear sky.

Shadow's little rant of sorts was met by a particularly gleeful little smile; apparently the matter of "Trust" was something particularly important to Nero, and the fact that someone as irritable as Shadow had agreed to "Trust" Nero with such ease had the boy particularly pleased.

"Wonderful," Nero murmured, a strange sort of light shining in his eyes as he did. "And I take it you're not going to even try to go 'home,' hmm? Which, you know, would leave you with a bit of a dilemma. As easy as it is to maintain life here... You just can't stay here, at the Watching Spot. And once you leave... First you'd have to decide where to go, and then there are still the simple little matters of food, and shelter, and establishing some sort of monetary income... So even if you're not trying to get back... You're still not out of the woods, not yet, even if you will have a bit less on your plate than all the people striving to 'get home' have."

Shadow blinked at Nero, and raised an eyebrow. "Fuck... A 'monetary income'? Do you mean a job? .... Shit, is there nowhere in the whole damn universe where nobody has to work their asses off? Jeez... Well, sure, I can probably find a job... But you were talking about finding somewhere to go... How the hell am I supposed to fucking know where to go when I've never even heard about this fucked up 'alternate universe' shit? I mean, I don't even really get the whole 'planes' thing even."

Nero took a moment to respond, due to the fact that he was continually schooling his expression back into its usual serene semblance, despite wanting so very much to laugh. "I really think you're worrying too much over something that shouldn't be such a big deal," Nero told Shadow at last, shaking his head back and forth slightly. "Finding a... Job, here, would be easy. It's more a matter of deciding where you want to look, because of the fact that there are six separate planes of existence to decide between. Fire... Water... Earth... Air... Light... and Darkness. I can take you wherever, and I could probably even help you find a job... But I do have to continue filling my capacity as the Watcher. So... Care to leave, or do you really intend on staying at the Watching Spot any longer?"

Nero's little explanation, for the most part, was recited in reasonable tones. However, the last little question asked of Shadow was said teasingly, as if to indicate that staying any longer would be truly silly.

"Little cuss..." Shadow muttered under his breath, shooting a less-than-friendly glance in Nero's direction. "Fine, fine... What's with the element dealie you got going on around here? Jesus, this is a mind-fuck..." He let out a heavy sigh, and set his hands on his hips. "Fine, how about this 'darkness' place or whatever? Sounds like it'd be most fitting for someone like me... How exactly do we get from place to place around here anyway?"

Nero glanced up at Shadow again, pausing for longer than could easily be dubbed "reasonable." He said nothing about the slight insult uttered by Shadow, and yet the slight pause indicated that he had heard.

"I take you, of course," Nero murmured offhandishly, as if the answer were obvious. "So, if you truly Trust me, we could be going. That is, if you're sure that the plane of darkness is where you'd like to go. Are you sure? Are you ready? And most importantly... Do you Trust me?"

"Holy shit, kid..." Shadow rubbed his temples. "My head's starting to hurt, seriously... Would you cut it the hell out? I don't know anything about this place; who you are, where the fuck this is, what this 'plane of darkness' is... Can we just go? I mean, it's not like I'll be stuck there after all? Wait..." He went quiet, and then shot a worried look towards Nero. "I won't be stuck there, will I? I can go to these other places, right?"

"Of course you can," Nero said, once again perfectly sweet and serene, unaffected in the least by Shadow's sudden panic. "But it sounds like you want to get going. So... Let's. We can go... But you didn't answer my question. It sounds like you are ready, and now you should be sure... But do you Trust me? You do Trust me... Correct?"

"Yeah. I trust you... Why wouldn't I? You haven't tried to hurt me or anything, after all..." He shrugged, and looked Nero in the eyes, grinning slightly. "And you don't seem like you're going to. So are we going to go or what?"

"But of course," Nero murmured, in a soft, subdued tone of voice. Stepping away from Shadow before turning back to face the young man, Nero held a hand up in front of him, vertically, palm facing outwards. To himself, he began rapidly murmuring incomprehensible words under his breath, before swiftly executing a sequence of strange hand movements. As he did, the air surrounding Nero and Shadow- and only surrounding Nero and Shadow- began to dim slowly, until they were surrounded by a sort of half-twilight amidst the brightness of the Watching Spot. With the dimness at the light level of dusk, Nero completed the sequence of movements, and a strange design briefly flared up between Nero and Shadow, bright and starkly white against the dark, before disappearing again as soon as it had appeared. Seconds after the design had faded, the darkness winked out as well- like the reverse of a candle being blown out- and the area around Nero and Shadow was once again bright, save for a chunk of shadow roughly eight feet tall, four feet wide, and hardly an inch thick. The shadow of an archway was rather translucent; through it, Nero could still see Shadow- although were he to thrust his hand through, it would never reach far enough to touch the other young man. In fact... A hand thrust through the Gate would disappear straight away.

"Like I said... We're ready to go. After you."

"Er... Am I supposed to go through that thing?" Shadow said hesitantly, reaching a hand towards the portal. He sighed, and took a deep breath, stepping forward, eyes clenched shut, hand thrust before him.

Nero merely shook his head, as if in mild displeasure with Shadow's foolishness in not merely Trusting Nero and walking straight through without hesitation. Nero had first told Shadow he would have to Trust him, hadn't he? Still, as soon as Shadow was through, Nero followed. A minute later, the slice of shadow that was the gate vanished, and the two were on their way.