Ablackwing

"I"m a pianist. I compose music," my aunt replied.

"Whoa. Really?"

"Yeah... I"d love to play my last piece for you if we had a piano here."

"We have a piano here!" Black said enthusiastically. I had no idea why he just lied.

"You have?" My aunt asked in a somewhat laid back manner while looking at Black but she then turned to look at me after for the answer. She looked at me in a puzzled way for she knew that there was no piano in our home. She"d surely have played it till late last night and she wouldn"t have woken up so soon today.

"We have..." I replied in a half questioning tone. I didn"t believe that a whole piano will appear out of nowhere no matter how awesome Black"s abilities are. I looked at Black with a questioning gaze.

"Yeah. Did you forget?" Black was still so enthusiastic about it. His eyes glittering with expectations.

"I guess." I could only guess. I had no idea what was going on in his mind. Perhaps he was really going to create a piano? But that was a big perhaps.

"Where is it?" my aunt asked him instead of me this time.

"It"s in that room," Black said pointing towards the drawing room on the other side of the hall. He could point it directly from where he was sitting. That room was closed though. We had no idea what was inside that room.

"But the room must be a little dirty. Let me clean it up." Black said and stood up. He picked his taco and ate it while going to that room. The taco disappeared before he crossed the hall. Me and aunt Emi both looked in that direction. When he opened the door to that room, we could see that the room was almost empty. But perhaps the piano was on the other side?

"I didn"t see any piano last time I visited. When did you buy it recently?" my aunt asked. Her tone was not as strict as before.

"I... We didn"t buy any piano..." I awkwardly replied. I wanted to say something to ease her up but I seriously had no idea at that moment. I could only truthfully reply.

"Why is he lying then?"

"Um..." I thought for a while so that I could at least properly reply but I was so helpless. "I"ve no idea."

"Hmph. I"ll so beat him up if he"s messing around with me," my aunt humphed. It was somehow funny to see her like that. She can"t obviously beat the strongest angel. Maybe she can. He was very light in weight last time. I don"t think my Black will offer any resistance if my aunt wanted to beat him up. She can at the very least make him fall.

I didn"t reply. My thoughts were complicated. It"d be funny to see the strongest angel getting beaten up by a mortal but if that happened I"d be sad for him. I continued eating in silence accompanied by my aunt.

"Come in," Black shouted after about twenty minutes. We both had eaten long ago and were just talking while waiting for him. We too got up and walked towards the drawing room.

"Let"s go."

"Oh there"s really a piano in here!" my aunt exclaimed as soon as she opened the door.

"I told you," Black said. He was adjusting the pillows on the couch that was placed on the side of the piano, adjacent to the wall. That would be a perfect seat for spectators.

"How did you do that?" my aunt asked him again. I could tell she was too surprised.

"Did what?" Black innocently replied as if he had done nothing but even a fool would know that he had done something.

"There was no piano in here a few minutes ago. I saw it with my own eyes. How did you bring it here now?" my aunt questioned as he leisurely sat down on the couch without any care.

"I don"t know why you would think so. I told you we had a piano in here." I couldn"t help but chuckle inside. I knew he had done something with his supernatural "abilities" and my aunt will never know about it.

"He"s a magician," I whispered in my aunt"s ears. She glared at me as if she was saying "Shut up".

"There had to be some trick," she murmured." I can"t be hallucinating.

"So you were going to play us your new project, right?"

My aunt glared at him too because he didn"t tell her how he did what he did. But she nodded in a positive way instead of asking him anything more. She knew that Black won"t tell anything to her.

After a while, my aunt was sitting on the seat, adjusting the music sheet on the stand. We were both sitting on the couch beside each other. He whispered in my ears that he wanted me to sit on his lap but I couldn"t bear to be more embarra.s.sed in front of my aunt. I rejected and he curled his lips downwards in an attempt to show his sadness.

My aunt rehea.r.s.ed a little and pressed some keys to get familiar with them. She was going to start when Black shouted.

"Wait!"

"What now?"

"I think little Luna is awake. Let me get her."

"Okay." Black got up and ran towards my... our room.

"I heard nothing," my aunt said in displeasure.

"I heard faint sounds too." I defended Black this time though I too didn"t hear anything. My aunt just continued her warm up. He didn"t return for a while and it made me a little anxious. I was getting ready to go after him when he came back with little Luna.

"She had wet her clothes. I was changing them," Black excused himself and sat back on the couch with little Luna in his lap.

"I didn"t bring any such clothes with me..." my aunt stopped pressing the keys.

"We have a few baby wear here," Black said another lie. Making cloth with creation was too easy for him.

"Magician" I mouthed this word when my aunt looked towards me.

"You both annoy me with your little tricks. You used to be cute Eve. I can see what magic he did there," my aunt grunted in response. I hung my head in shame. It was all his fault. Couldn"t he change Luna"s clothes with the ones my aunt bought with her? Why did he use his "magic"? I pinched him, hard this time, to appease my embarra.s.sment.

My aunt didn"t say anything more and started playing the piano. When she started playing, it was like everything else became silent on its own. All I heard was the music she created. Her fingers moved slowly but marvellously. There was like some hypnotism in her graceful fingers.

The music was peaceful. It was slow for a while but I could feel she was starting to pick up the pace little by little. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed it. I didn"t move, but just enjoyed that feeling of serenity. I felt like I was in a gra.s.sland, surrounded by fall gra.s.ses and trees. Everything else felt distant. My aunt was the real magician.

I could hear the music for forever but my aunt stopped after I don"t know how long. I was going to applaud but before I could do that Black spoke up.

"This didn"t look like the new piece," Black complaint as soon as she stopped.

"This was "The Fallen Leaf" I composed a while ago. My new one is incomplete so I decided else."

"I wanna hear the new one though."

"Why are you so stubborn? You should at least appreciate it a little."

"I just am. And yeah, your music was very nice." Black was truthful but I could see why aunt was so annoyed by him.

My aunt searched her bag again for papers and picked out another music sheet.

"It"s not complete. So forgive me if it"s not good," she said while looking at me.

She started playing the new song. Her finger moments where graceful as ever but the music didn"t sound as nice as before. Just after a few minutes, I found myself a bit distracted.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see little Luna sitting in his lap rather comfortably and playing with Black"s fingers. She too was apparently not interested in the new music either. But my Black was listening with full concentration. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be pondering something. His brows would knit sometimes as if he had some problem but at other times, his expressions would ease up. He looked so... attractive at that moment. I couldn"t help but stare at him.

"Jealous of a baby again? Well, you had your chance," Black whispered in my ears all of a sudden. I didn"t even realize that I was gazing upon him for a while. My face flushed red in a moment. I was too good at getting myself embarra.s.sed all the time.

"Hold her for a while," Black said and pa.s.sed Luna to me. Luna didn"t like being separated from him. She didn"t want to let him go but she was powerless to stop him. He forced her upon me. I saw her little hands reaching out for Black but he walked away from her and I had to hold her down. Such a heartbreaker.

He walked towards the piano and started pressing down a key with one hand.

My aunt raised her brows as if asking him, "what are you doing?" But she didn"t stop playing the piano.

He calmly smiled as if saying "It is all right. Keep playing." and he continued pressing different keys.

He started with only one hand and the music that was once out of synchrony started to come on the right track. It was subtle but sure change. Both he and my aunt continued playing and it felt like he was weaving the notes. Initially, my Black was playing slowly but he started to increase his pace too. Just after a few moments, it looked like Black was leading my aunt!

The tune was almost the same as before but it had become much more pleasing to ears. It was awesome but somewhat sad too. Every tune like struck a chord in my heart.

This time, I didn"t see any gra.s.sland but I saw a man getting separated from his beloved. He started walking alone in an endless wonderland. It appeared that he was in search of a certain someone. He kept walking. Years pa.s.sed and the agony of being unable to find his beloved slowly drove him to madness.

The music changed, it felt like abrupt and erratic change but it was still smooth. This time I felt that the same man lost his mind. He was changed a little. He was on some battlefield and he kept killing and killing. There was a sea of blood and a mountain of corpses. The dress of that man was drenched in blood. There was only one thing that his eyes showed - madness.

Again the music slowed down. The man was again walking alone on the endless road. This time, along with sadness, he showed weariness. He was tired. And his battered body fell on the ground. He couldn"t continue walking. He was dying.

But then those dark clouds scattered around as a beautiful angel descended down from the sky. She sat down beside him and placed his head in her lap. The dying man smiled. He finally found peace.

The music stopped.

When I came to my senses, I found myself subconsciously crying while hearing that music. My tears wouldn"t stop coming. It was such sad music but it was exceptionally beautiful. Both the music and the story that music told. Even Luna appeared a bit sad.

My aunt was looking at Black in with astonishment as he straightened up his half-bent body. Even my aunt was surprised at the beautiful duet they played.

"Wow! You are a f.u.c.king genius." That was I guess the first time I heard my aunt say swear with that enthusiasm. But I couldn"t blame her. Even I was surprised that Black could play the piano that well.

"Thank you," Black humbly replied and smiled.

"Are you really in twenties? I"ve been learning since ten and you"re so much better than me! Leave me out. You"re like the best pianist I"ve ever met in my life!"

"I learnt for a day from mother"s friend when I was bored. It"s the third time I played the piano."

I clearly saw my aunt"s pupils dilate when she heard him. Even I was amazed. He learned only one day! One freaking day! Was that day made of like twenty-four thousand hours? I couldn"t believe it myself.

"One day... When you were bored?" my aunt repeated. She was having a hard time digesting that information.

"Yeah, I"ve learnt many that day. Like violin, guitar, flute, drums, harp, ocarina."

"All of them???"

"Yeah."

"Are you that good in them as you"re in piano?"

"I play violin even better. The rest more or less same."

"You"re really f.u.c.king unbelievable. A monster."

I agreed with my aunt this time. He really had a monstrous talent in music. He didn"t say anything but walked back to the couch. He sat down as if he wanted my aunt to continue playing the piano. I wondered if he wanted to show off? Or I guess he wanted to connect to my aunt through music?

"What would you name that piece you played?" my aunt asked. She didn"t look that interested in playing the piano but she wanted to talk to Black some more.

"It was your work. I just added a bit." And I realized that he was really saying the truth. The music was very similar to that tune my aunt had played at first.

"It"d be great if you named this music you helped me to complete."

"Then I"d name it," he paused a little and looked towards me. "In search of a maiden with an angel"s heart."

At that moment, in my heart, I knew the music he created was the story of his life...