I had expected the cold water to stain my skin and fill my nose and lungs.
I had expected my vision to be blurred by the sea when I opened them.
I did not expect the sudden flash of searing pain that caused me to release Yu's hand- then take it back soon after. What it was, I couldn't tell you.
It traveled through me like electricity, shocking every crevice and corner of my body.
But I bore the pain as it opened my senses like a scabbed wound.

I did not expect the sound of the waves to still be in my ears, roaring in my ears, and salt burning my nostrils like acid. I heard Yuu take a gasping breath as his fingers twitched in mine.
One breath, heartbeats pounding in my ears.

Two. He coughed, voice rough and raw. It pained me to hear it with such high definition.

Three.

Our eyes flew open.

He was surprised to see me, and I was surprised for other reasons. The ring gem was glistening- no. It was glowing. Very faintly, at that. But I wasn't focused on that. Expanded at his sides and curling upwards as if to shield himself, were two transparent large red wings that were located just below the middle of his back. They were glowing far more vividly than my bracelet. As his wide eyes blinked away tears, his brows furrowed slightly.
"You only have two wings." He murmured more to himself. It was so quiet I shouldn't have been able to hear it over the roaring wind and crashing waves.
I seemed to hear everything. See everything down to the tiny tear that fell from his chin, mixing in with the salt water below. I could smell everything. The smell of the cherry blossom in the school's garden that lingered on Yu's skin, the scent of spray paint and grease that I knew belonged to Min- a rough-around-the-edges scent that suited her and her personality perfectly.
"You have wings." He looked puzzled, lips tightening at the words I spoke as if it were another language. "Did you know about this?" I asked, gesturing to myself as we remained suspended in the air, his black hair nearly skirting across the waves. I didn't know what 'this' was exactly.
"Yes..?" He said slowly. "But I don't believe now would be the time to talk about it. Can you maybe bring us up?"
"Min'll see." I pointed out. He sighed, a slow and steady sound.

"Yes she will. But I'm pretty sure she thinks we're dead, so..."

Oh.

I pulled myself up, our bodies lifting on their own as if reading our thoughts, feet facing towards the ocean with Yuu in front of me, gripping my hand tightly. I winced, the pain rushing back as if I were experiencing it all over again. My heart began to strain with it, breath catching. Almost as if my body couldn't take much more of the invisible suffering.
I could see red on either sides of the corner of my vision.. He got a strange look in his eyes, as if he were thinking hard about something. His eyes narrowed, lashes casting shadows over his rosy cheeks.

I seldom asked him about it, knowing fully well of the answer I would get.

'Later'.

It was always his answer.

An excuse to not explain something he doesn't have a complete understanding of.

My feet landed gently amongst the grass next to Yuu, our grips releasing. I all but collapsed to the floor with him. Min was gaping at us, but she soon took both of us into a fierce bear hug.
"I'm going to tear you two into pieces." She hissed, voice hoarse. I almost missed her words. The senses that were so sharp I nearly burst were gone.

And with it- the pain.

I could breathe again.

"You're not mad?" I asked quietly. She shook her head, black whisps of hair tickling my neck.
"I expected it."
"Can't tell 'Suya." Yuu said simply. There was a long silence of Min making a noise in the back of her throat.
"Oh, trust me, I'm going to try and forget this entire day as a whole. Especially the whole 'Mika being an Anemoi' thing. It irks me." She chuckled, voice still tense through her relaxed laugh. I felt awkward, but my friend's light laughter helped relieve a portion of it.

I wanted to leave.

The entire time I was stuck in Min's embrace, I wanted to leave. Her pain was unbearable. My anger that was now but a small embed could still erupt to flames.

I didn't want her to be around for the moment it did.

Not even Yuu could be near me when I allowed myself to crumble. I was afraid of myself, of what I would do once I allowed the part of myself that was known to the bracelet that greeted me like an old friend.

Would I scream? Filled with fury, would I seclude myself from others and scream until I couldn't speak anymore? Would I retire to my retire to my room and stare blankly at the empty part of my room that was deprived of personality?

Would I feel nothing at all? Would I walk back to my room with the two of them, laughing and talking as if nothing had occurred? Go back to my room and do my homework? Pretend that I felt no pain when my hand met Yuu's or the resentment towards Min that lingered like a ghost haunts a mortal?

I couldn't even answer that.

In another world I might have called myself pathetic for such a tiny detail.

Instead, I said nothing.

Chose to accept whatever is sent my way.

Whatever emotion.

Whatever pain.

But I hadn't anticipated crying. Before I could even escape any viewing eyes, I broke down sobbing, drenching Min's neck in tears. She pulled away upon Yuu's request, him replacing her, his warm arms encircling me. I burrowed my face in his shoulder, shaking and heaving with everything I struggled to keep a secret. Every pent up suffering of mine I didn't want to have weighing upon my shoulders. It felt as if I carried the world on my shoulders.
"I shouldn't be crying." I sniffed, trying to wipe away my tears. He just hugged me closer to him.
"It's a normal thing to do, Mika. You deserve every human reaction. Even this, as cruel as it may seem." He murmured to my neck, lips ghosting across my skin as he rested his chin on my shoulder.
"It is cruel... So sinister." I choked through my sobs. I thought it to be a childish reaction after the fact. Something that not even myself should be able to do.
But I was stuck in that agony, crying until I had no tears to spill. Until my voice scratched at every word I spoke.

Even though, at that time, no one could quite tell me why Yuu stayed with me that entire time, Why he didn't tell me to stop and take me back to the dorms to wallow in myself.

But he stayed. Through every choking and shaking sob.

He stayed.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Yuu asked for the hundredth time today, sitting on my floor as I sat on my knees, pinning a photo to my growing gallery.
"Fit as a fiddle. Enough so that I will mention the fact that you have some explaining to do." I sighed, hand falling from my wall as I turned to face the face that grew resentful, but it didn't last long. He caved in as quick as a falling tree.

"Is it the wing thing?" He dejectedly asked. I nodded, leaning forward.
"And what Min was yelling at you about."
"That... Is a conversation for later. Don't wanna bum you out." He excused himself from explaining that heated conversation, much to my disappointment.

"For some reason, History class has been neglecting to mention something about the Anemoi. Maybe historians are starting to call it a myth or something, hell if I know. But they said, long ago, that the people from the sky, when Gravity is shifted for them, they are given a set of wings, kind of like angels. A soldier's diary notated what I believed to be his own opinion.
"'The number of wings on their backs can symbolize their power. Most of them have one set of wings, and the strongest of those types have a wing span of six feet. There are a handful of soldiers with two sets of wings that have wiped out entire squadrons of our men as if it were a simple task. I have only seen one with three sets of wings.
I fear what they are capable of.'"
He quoted it off of memory, an amazing feat in my book. I felt uneasy with the words despite that. It settled in the out of my stomach, making me feel nauseous.

They were afraid of us. Afraid of what I was. Of what I could do. Of something I didn't know of myself, but knew before. That was something I was sure on.
Yuu noticed that I was panicking before I did. His voice was anxious to calm my agitated mood.
"Of course, that was only their opinion back then. I don't really think you're anything dangerous. I mean, you work at a record shop." He said quickly, meeting my gaze. Any negative feelings seemed to deflate from within me.
"But, how come you ended up with a set of my wings?" I asked curiously.
"As if I know. It seemed to have something to do with physical contact and the situation." He theorized.

"Wanna do it tomorrow?" I asked. He coughed, choking on nothing. I was startled by the abrupt sound. He composed himself a few minutes later.
"Please phrase your propositions the same way you usually talk. But yeah, we can try it tomorrow." He said, coughing once more. I was still confused, agreeing with him regardless.

He stayed around for a few more hours, making sure I was alright. Then I kicked him out of my room so he could do his own work before dinner.

Sitting in my bed with nothing to do, I stared at my right hand, fingers splayed out above my face. The chain connecting bracelet to gem to ring fell closer to my face from the motion.

I knew it was silly to think such a thought.

But I did anyway.

This gem. What if it was my soul? The one thing that cannot be changed about me. You can erase my memory- who I was before.

But what if this Crimson gem, forever bound to the back of my hand, knew who I was before?

Even if I didn't, the source of my answers might literally be on the back of my hand.

It was a curious thought to busy me from everything else.

Especially the knowledge that my best friend and savior was hiding something from me.

I wouldn't press upon him to get the answer of what it was exactly.

He had enough as is with keeping my lack of humanity a secret behind a façade of albinism.

Think upon it. This Titan, so strong and giant, fought Zeus. The God of the heavens, sitting upon his throne and living it up. For ten years, they fought, Titans and gods.
Atlas lost.
His punishment was something meant to last his eternal life. A punishment fit for someone who defied the king of the sky.

He wasn't a good guy.
According to Zeus, that is.

No one deserves to have the weight of the world weighing upon their shoulders.

"Mythology of the Greeks"
by Palemestis, Ambrosia
Page 87.