Prelude: Peony's Tune

The young figure clad in a soft pink uniform stood silently near an empty table. I came earlier than the promised time, he thought to himself. It was a plan to work on their group assignment. The location was an outdoor cafe near their school area. There were quite many people but it was not noisy. As I expected none of my lazy groupmates had arrived, he sighed lightly then chose the most comfortable spot to sit on. A table of four under the big tree.

No. They are the ones who are late. The clock on his phone lock screen confirmed that.

The boy with light ash blonde hair looked up as he put his bag on the clean ground nearby the chair where he sat down. The verdant leaves swayed softly and albeit the thickness, sunlight still managed to penetrate among the gaps. The light flickered around and hit his eyes despite his long bangs which covered both of his purple eyes. A little dazzled, his gaze moved towards the indoor cafe area where more people seemed to enjoy.

The chattery noises slowly getting quieter and the soft tune looping from the speakers nearby could be heard clearer. Had it not been for his good mood, he would have spammed chat with the other three idiots to come quickly right by now.

Soon, the song changed into an intro of a very familiar song that was popular eight years ago.

It brings back memories…

His mind opened an old recollection. One that he could never possibly forget.

•••

He was abandoned as soon as he was born. His parents did that even before the baby could open up his eyes. It was because as soon as he started crying, everyone who heard the cry experienced pain. The humans bled their ears, the Voids felt painful pangs inside their heads. If one was smart enough, they would have noticed what it was.

While all the humans around were incapacitated, the Void doctors and nurses were busy with both taking care of the newborn baby and the baby's "victims". The father who watched his wife fainted, and he himself who felt excruciating pain as the baby cried, glared and started yelling. Especially so after the nurses confirmed the baby's eyes.

The beautifully glimmering purple jewel eyes could not ease the ominous feelings from the scleras colour. Black. Having both scleras black coloured was a sign that the person harbours a Core that will affect everyone around that person, all the time.

It was total chaos. The baby would not stop crying. Their heads keep panging painfully. His father yelled, making the situation worse, claiming that he did not want such a monstrosity. They were afraid of the boy, especially looking at how it was undoubtedly a strong and destructive Core.

The hospital took care of both the mother and the baby, as well as preventive measures for the baby's Core, until they were discharged. It clearly was too much of a risk to raise such a harmful baby and they were adamant to refuse the baby. The hospital was willing to be an intermediary to find foster parents for the baby, but they remembered there was a deaf uncle in their family. Thus left the responsibility to take care of the baby to the deaf man.

The lone deaf man was absolutely overjoyed to have a tiny family member and took very good care of the innocent baby. Even his name, Johannes, was something given by his uncle. Aside from the fact that his parents were the ones who gave birth to him, there was no ties between them. People often felt pity towards the boy and thought that his life was miserable but the boy in question never felt that way. Rather, he felt grateful that they disowned him before he could even remember anything.

Johannes had always been happy living with his uncle. His voice had never hurted his uncle. He was free to speak all he wanted. He caused zero problems while living with his uncle. He even learned sign language from his uncle, which would be useful for him going forwards. And because speaking was fine, he tried singing.

At first, it was just out of curiosity. But slowly, singing became something that Johannes enjoyed. He took interest in music. The things he could never say, he could express it through music. He could even deliver emotions that couldn't be described with words through music. It was both an escape and a joy. He was determined to become a musician, and his uncle did everything he could to support Johannes.

Although that would stay as a mere wish.

Johannes' uncle died when he was seven. He didn't quite grasp what it meant to be dead, he was too young to understand. Especially since his uncle had always been healthy. His neighbours were oddly visiting him, some of them were crying, some kind hearted aunties hugged the boy as they told him that they were sorry. The boy did not understand what they felt sorry for. They kept on telling the boy to be strong. Once again, it was hard to comprehend.

Several hours later when they buried his uncle's unmoving body, the explanation he kept hearing slowly started to lift up his confusion. Mixed between denial and grief, Johannes tried to yell and told them that burying a living person was wrong but he couldn't because of his voice. What could be heard from the boy was simply muffled noises mixed up with crying noises. Seeing that, the neighbourhood people's broken hearted expressions and crying only got worse. They understood well why the pitiful boy was left behind, and why he couldn't cry.

One of the kind aunties told him that it was okay to cry out loud. But he knew from experience that he would get scolded if he did, so he did not.

"No one will scold you, dear…"

Lie.

"Your uncle is already leaving in peace…"

Lie too.

Johannes kept struggling while two aunties held him strongly, apparently having a hard time holding back the seven years old little boy. He wanted to stop the uncles from throwing soil down the hole where his uncle's coffin was laid. As time passed by, Johannes finally understood that his uncle really left him. Since there was no response from down there.

It felt unreal. The kind hearted aunties still knelt beside the boy, now no longer holding him back as the boy no longer struggled. They only hugged and patted him gently. Johannes finally shed tears, and the people who watched him became torn even more. They felt sad and pitiful as the child who had been living forced to be mute, wasn't even able to cry out loud.

It was too suffocating. What was it that was suffocating, though? Was it the fact that he was now all alone? Or was it the fact that holding back his cry made his chest stuffed? Johannes quickly dashed and left the cemetery. People seemed concerned and followed him but eventually lost sight as the boy aimlessly ran deeper into the wood while crying silently.

By the time he noticed, he reached a forest-like garden. A tall fence could be seen from a distance. His tears had dried up but the suffocating was still intact. He looked around to make sure there was nobody and stood up nearby the river bank with a noisy stream. It was loud enough that maybe, maybe… his crying noise wouldn't reach anyone. And so he let out a cry.

Then he started singing, hoping that he could make the uncomfortable burden go away along with his singing. He started silently and slowly getting louder. Yet, no matter how loud, how sincere he sang, there was still a tinge of pain left.

"You have a beautiful voice…!!"

Johann jolted and turned his head to the voice. A boy around his age was standing behind him, clapping in awe. White hair and purple eyes. He was startled for many reasons. The praise itself and the way he stood just fine after hearing his voice.

It was known that Johannes' voice had different effects. Speaking voice would lull everyone to sleep, screaming voice would cause pain or damage, and singing voice would calm one's mind. Although it would be a story from several years later.

The white haired boy quickly ran towards Johannes, grabbed his hand and smiled brightly, "My house is near! We have a piano at home, let's sing!"

Johannes wasn't able to resist because he was taken aback by this sudden event.

Soon, they arrived at a grandiose mansion surrounded by tall fences he saw from a distance earlier. It was really nearby. It was a forest-like garden owned by someone. The boy quickly opened what seemed to be a small back gate.

"Come on!"

He frantically ran as he tried to follow the purple eyed boy who seemed to have running speed faster than himself. Partially because his hand was held as well. Johannes looked around as he was brought inside. Such a well kept garden with many flowers. The doors were huge and the interiors were like what you would see in a castle from a movie. Since he couldn't tell the boy to stop, he tried to resist by force but the boy didn't budge at all. Judging from the speed and strength, Johannes noticed that he was what people called Void.

The boy finally let go of Johannes' hand once they arrived in front of another huge door.

"We arrived!" As though he noticed how out of breath Johannes was, he asked, "Mm…? Are you human? Half?"

Why ask now, really…???

"Hehe sorry," he said while quickly pushing the huge door in front of them. The interior of the room could be seen clearly. The room was decorated with soft red carpets, the ceiling has several chandeliers hanging, the wall was of sombre reddish brown color, with ornaments of sorts. Organized neatly were some instruments such as harp, violin, cello, and some more. In the middle of the room, located on the left side, was a grand piano. Johannes stared at them in awe.

The boy grinned as he looked at Johannes and quickly pulled him again, forcing him to sit in front of the piano and then he himself climbed to sit beside Johannes.

"I'm still learning, I only can play this song." His tiny short fingers moved nimbly playing a familiar tune, "You know the song?"

Johannes nodded. A nursery song he often heard in the play group. The boy's smile got brighter and urged Johannes to sing. He was hesitating for a moment but the boy already played the piano so when the vocals must go in, he started singing.

Johannes sang to his heart's content. It was a strange experience, to be singing out loud nearby someone, to have a piano tune played only for his singing voice. It was strange, but strangely enough it was wondrous. There were some notes gone off both from the piano and from himself, even so it was like a joyful concert.

The moment the song ended, he looked at Johannes and clapped, "Beautiful singing!"

The boy's cheerful smile made Johannes a little shy. He spoke in a soft voice to weaken the effect of his voice, "...Thank you."

"What's your name? You can call me Cordi!"

"...Johann."

"Johann!!!" he laughed softly as he learned the name.

Johannes momentarily forgot his grief as he was taken by surprise and experienced the joy of singing. When it became quieter once again, he remembered he was grieving. He still felt pain but he also felt happy about this moment.

Uncle, I hope you're not upset because I'm feeling happy when you're gone…

Perhaps because of the sound of the piano, a tall man entered the room. He has beautiful long red hair and his eyes were also red. "Father!" Cordi shouted in joy as he ran towards the man. Johannes felt like he saw the figure somewhere before, but couldn't pinpoint who and where.

The two of them had a short conversation and soon Johannes was brought to the living room. The man was questioning his own son. He wondered who Johannes was, how they met, and why he was here. When Cordi's answer started to become monotonous I don't know, the man turned to Johannes and asked. The boy answered in sign language by habit but the man seemed to understand, so he explained everything. From how his uncle died this morning to how he ran away and accidentally met Cordi. Naturally, he ended up explaining about his Core too.

After the explanation, the man was looking at the boy with eyes full of compassion. There was no glimpse of pity, like how everyone else looked at him. Cordi, who had been listening to his father's part of the conversation, cried despite not understanding sign language and then hugged Johannes. They barely knew each other, so he genuinely didn't understand why Cordi cried. The boy also did not explain but a tone of grief can be heard from the boy's voice.

"Shall we go back to your dear uncle's grave? You are yet to give him your prayers and farewell, correct?"

Johannes belatedly realized and firmly nodded.

Johannes' head blanked out as the man held both of them on each of his arms as he walked to the cemetery. It was the only grand cemetery in this town. He knew where to head as there were still many people and fresh flowers could be smelt. He let the boys down and handed them a red rose. The aunties and uncles who noticed looked startled.

The boy thought they would run to him worried but he was totally wrong. They quickly kneeled where they stood, faces facing ground as they said the same greeting.

"Get up and raise your head. I am but a mourner like all of you." Said Cordi's father with a voice full of dignity while smiling gently. Everyone stood back and slowly left the grave and stood a little farther.

Johannes seemed confused but he quickly followed the man and Cordi to his uncle's grave which was already filled with many white flowers. The man stood in front of the grave, closed his eyes while holding the rose close to his chest. The two children followed suit. The man sent his prayer, loud enough for the children to hear. Cordi's father finished his prayer and placed the red rose close to the gravestone, followed by the children, leaving three blazing red roses amongst piles of white lilies. Once again, Johannes cried, this time with a sound albeit almost inaudible, and a warm hand of a man slowly caressing his head.

Everyone else who was watching from a few meters away looked at the three figures as they walked away from the grave. The children stood still as the man talked to the aunties and uncles. They showed ever changing expressions, from anxiety to fear and eventually joy mixed with sadness. It was a conversation that children couldn't fully grasp.

Soon after the people bowed down and left them, the man knelt down before Johannes as he softly caressed the boy's head. "I have told your kind neighbors that I will be taking care of you from now on..."

Johannes only blinked several times.

"Johann will live with us!?"

It was Cordi who broke the short silence, eyes glimmered with joy.

"Why, yes… Only if the boy agrees. Are you willing, dear child?"

He only replied with a hesitant nod.

•••

Johannes really ended up spending the night in the huge mansion. The butler was so kind, he prepared lots of delicious food, a warm bath, and comfortable clothes. He slept together with Cordi but failed to sleep even a wink. What happened today was so surreal that the boy barely managed to process it all. It felt like a dream but he knew this was reality.

Is it really okay… Like this…

The boy was too young to understand that grief and joy could coexist but he would learn about it slowly.

The next day, he started to learn about many things. One of them was the fact that Cordi's father was none other than the king of all Voids. That explained the castle house and everyone's attitudes toward the man. And such a great man was saying that he would adopt Johannes into his family. Although it took quite a long time, later on, they really became family.

•••

The familiar song has long ended.

A thud sound brought Johannes back to reality. He glared at the long white haired boy who just arrived, albeit hidden under his long bangs. Cordierite only grinned as he put his bag on the table and took out some books.

"I said sorry! Don't glare like that!"

Johannes let out a heavy sigh.

"No! There was a problem-!"

Johannes remains unfazed.

"Huh!? Why won't you trust me?? Plus Mayu and Yumi are also late! I arrived earlier…!"

Just like this, now Cordierite could understand Johannes without even a gesture needed. They have become that much closer as a family.

•••

My uncle might have left me, and he could never be replaced. But he no longer had to suffer, he also gave me a chance to meet a new family in return.

Thank you uncle. I hope you are peaceful wherever you are.