Title: Brother's Reply Author: Amberlin E-mail: merolan@hotmail.com Rating: G ["Brother's Song," my earlier poem from the viewpoint of Sapphire, is possibly the most popular thing I have ever written, judging by the amount of e-mail I got on it. I appreciated everyone who took the time to write in. Most of you, oddly enough, then requested a poem about Diamond. Since I regard Dimando-sama as quite possibly the most gorgeous, wonderful, awesome and generally keen anime character ever to be underappreciated by otaku, I did my best. Here is the divine shiro no oji, and if it isn't up to standards, blame Aneiron Jander. Or, if you did like it, you could e-mail me at merolan@hotmail.com, or you might even visit my webpage at http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Field/1878. This is dedicated to my beloved sister, Claire-imoutochan, Nemesis no ao no ojo and Saffir no miko. That is all. Move along.] BROTHER'S REPLY by Amberlin I. You look like you're sleeping. You lie there peacefully shadow-blue eyes closed forever in a rictus of slumber never to open and bathe me in your unconditional love Your brow is pale, smooth unmarred; no longer the inverted crescent brands you as one of my subjects minions servants as my brother. Twilight academia sculptor of crystals the only one who could possibly understand the risk of travelling the Time Corridor and of destroying the past in order to create the new future for the triumph of the Black Moon and for fields of flowers. Only you, Sapphire, could ever cheer me; only you, dearest brother, were ever truly my friend. Emerald's idiocy the stubborn arrogance of Rubius vanity and frippery for the Sisters Ayakashi - all was banished when you came to me when you turned to me called me oniisan and gave me your strength by the light in your eyes. And now you are gone fled from the world without flowers gone ahead of me into the Dark. How will I function without you, without my brother my conscience - How will I function when half of my shadowed soul is gone? Serenity will ease the pain of losing you Serenity can always cure my soul's ache I can lose myself in the oasis of her eyes - And it is not the same, dearest brother, because her eyes have no shadows; her blue eyes are not yours. II. I cannot burn your body, Sapphire; the laws of our people demand that you are buried. I will not give your body to the soil, dearest brother; I will not have the remains of the one whom I loved the one who loved me given to the cold dark relentlessly bitter acidic ground of this hell-world we call home. If we had succeeded, dear brother, if now I were Prince of Earth, you would lie under mounds of roses under fields of flowers; your grave would bloom everlastingly with lilies with bougainvillea with blossoms of jasmine and honeysuckle - anything that I thought might make you smile. I cannot give you flowers. I failed you. Even after your death I am failing. Forgive me, dear brother. Forgive me my sins forgive me my faults forgive me; you had always done so before. Even when I had hurt you when I had flung you into a pillar when I never had time for you when I spoke sharply harshly unthinkingly cruel You always forgave me blue eyes wide gifting me with the one title which means more to me than a brace of thrones "oniisan" which I shall never hear again nor deserve to. III. Everything is falling to pieces now. Is it just me, or were we once winning? Our ships, the armada the cotillion of many-rayed warships, coated over Earth like sap over insects like crystal over the Neo-Queen There was no withstanding us; our ships our forces our magic The power of the Dark Crystal irresistable inexorable the dark call of the dark crystal insistent and fierce; I hear it still, the song of the shadow, it calls to me it sings to me it seeps into the emptiness left by your loss. That song was the battle hymn that led our brilliant forces; the power of the dark crystal humming along infantry's lines pulsating through the mighty hearts of ships' engines - Sapphire, you were my tactician; you knew better than most that Earth could not long withstand the might of Nemesis the power of the Black Moon the power of the White Prince and of the Wiseman's Dark Crystal. We struck first in North America, razing to the ground the great white palace of the defiant natives; Nemesis soon claimed all the Western Hemisphere as its own. Africa was next to fall, the Dark Continent to the Dark Moon; there in the wilds of the Congo and in the deserts of the Sudan Our soldiers and scouts found by my order reams streams rivers of flowers, gathered for the Blue Prince of Nemesis: for you were the gardens of Africa raided, and for your smile at receiving them I would have destroyed the world or saved it. Europe fell, fell to Rubius' infantry; not for nothing is he called Kurenaino, man of the dark twisted bitter heart. There was a cry in Europe, swiftly strangled, quickly cut off, and most of Earth was mine. China fell so easily to outside forces after so much internal strife; the many-rayed warships awakened in them no feeling of camaraderie against the common foe, and Esmeraude's forces presented to me Asia, on a crystal platter. And then, dear Sapphire, beloved brother frozen in slumber, as the god-empress is frozen in slumber (only you will never wake) you were the one, you were the one who counselled me to hold fast to what I had; Earth, you argued, was nearly all mine and I need not try for the Crystal City Tokyo of the Gemstones, Tokyo of Serenity, Tokyo, the city of the god-empress of the moon. Dear brother, you never understood the driving force of ambition that dwells in me that devoured Rubius that dragged Esmeraude into the Abyss and never extended its claws into your tender mathematician's heart. It wasn't enough that it should be there and it should be free; it, as the god-empress who ruled it, had to be mine. And for my ambition, brother, light of my life solace of my childhood my disciple beloved only friend, for me you died. IV. I will never give up, Sapphire; as I kneel here by your bier to pay my respects as sovereign to loyal subject (I know full well that you would never betray me) as elder to younger brother as last remnant of the Black Moon Family to you who should have outlasted me, I reflect that a world will be your grave-price. Shall I give up now, when success is so close? There is no one to whom I can give Earth, Sapphire. Rubius, Esmeraude, the sisters Ayakashi; Garnet, Amethyst, Onyx, Serpentine... The tally goes on and on, brother, and your name, the most precious, strikes me to the heart. The Earth will fall, only friend, beloved brother, and the Wiseman will pay for your death and your pain - (come back to me, brother, for you I would destroy the world or save it) - to your memory I will dedicate Earth. And not a field of flowers will be yours, little brother otootochan Nemesis no ao no oji Not a field of flowers. But a world of them. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com