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Brilliant blue.
A boy as pale as moonlight was bathed in countless shades of brilliant and vibrant blue. Everything from his hair to the room in which he resided was cloaked in the same deep shades of ornate midnight.
The boy, Makoto Yuki, sat with his head bowed and eyes shut, almost as if he were focused on something just out of the perception of those around him. His posture was so relaxed, he might as well have been considered a statue. A long lace cobalt floral veil over his face, pooling beneath his feet, almost making him appear as if he were a ghost, at one with the room.
Since long before his memories began, the boy bathed in blue resided in here, hardly ever let out. However, Makoto did not voice any complaints about his situation, despite the mind-numbing boredom of sitting in the same room day in and day out. In fact, he hardly spoke at all, only when necessary or for the occasional ceremony he was made to oversee.
You see, Makoto was quite the specimen. The blue-saturated young man was very special, serving a very important purpose both to his people and the nation in which he resided. From birth, he was chosen to be the next vessel of Nyx. At first, he hadn’t a clue what that was even supposed to mean, allowing his caretakers to poke and prod him around as they wished. He didn’t much care for pain, but at the end of the day, as long as he was provided food and clothes, he hadn’t much to complain about. He’d always been agreeable like that.
It wouldn’t be until much later, when he was around 5 years of age, around the same time he was locked in his blue room more permanently, that the full scope of what being Nyx’s vessel meant for him and his future.
Makoto was to be a human sacrifice to seal the goddess of death away for another few decades. It was a ritual that Makoto’s people had carried out for centuries by that point. Society had long since done away with desperately begging for forgiveness or more time to live each time Nyx descended to the human realm. Instead, every few decades, when a child was born bathed in the deep blue of the goddess’s eternal night, they were sacrificed to her upon reaching adulthood, to stave off her inevitable apocalypse just a little longer. It had worked wonders thus far, but there was no telling how long the goddess of the night would accept singular human sacrifices instead of bathing the entire world in despair and melancholy.
“It’s an honour to be chosen for this noble venture,” his mother had said when he approached with tears in his eyes and clutching an oversized black cat plushie to his chest, “Please don’t cry, my boy.”
Makoto sniffled into her chest for a good couple of hours until his tears eventually ran dry and his eyes were weighed down and puffy. His gaze held only questions, most of which could only be answered in the coming years, but still, the sacrifice’s parent did her best to comfort her charge.
“I promise you that you’ll be okay,” her voice soothed, stroking through her equally cursed and divine boy, “You’re very special. Never forget that.”
It wasn’t long after that Makoto’s mother would fall terribly ill, soon succumbing to the terrible illness she was plagued with. With no one else left to humanize the latest of Nyx’s sacrifices, Makoto found himself locked in the royal blue room, his only freedom coming from the handful of religious holidays and festivals held in his country annually.
As the boy grew, so did his apathy toward both others and his situation. He spoke to his numerous attendants as little as possible, oftentimes only with a nod or huff. The boy didn’t engage in hobbies or even try to fight against his fate, just sat in his room day in and day out, waiting for his time to come.
When morning finally broke on that fateful day, Makoto didn’t even notice much of a difference from his daily routine. Three attendants entered his room with heads bowed. But the first deviation from the usual routine came when the middle of the group of attendants didn’t offer him a measly meal. Instead, all three attendants were holding a change of clothes, deep midnight lace, like Makoto’s hair, eyes, and signature veil. Of course, with years of ceremonies under his belt, the young sacrifice was quite used to being dressed in fancy clothing, but there was something extra extravagant about the clothes today: silk and lace, and a train of deep blue roses. Had his situation been any different, Makoto might’ve thought he was being forced into marriage, but when an attendant gently flipped his veil over his head, slipping a golden crown of thorns atop the boy’s head, he finally realized what was going on and why today was so special.
Today, March 5th, was Makoto Yuki’s 18th birthday; the day he was set to be killed by his own people to seal away the goddess of death for another few years.
“Are you ready, master?” one of his attendants asked after refastening the veil over the boy’s face.
Makoto, ever the mute, only nodded, gathering as much of his veil and deep blue garments as he could fit in his fist and standing, his hair dropping in front of one of his eyes as it often did.
Two of the attendants scurry behind the boy the moment he’s on his feet, gathering the lacy blue train and moving flawlessly behind the sacrifice. The third attendant runs ahead, opening the door for the boy and bowing as he passes.
Makoto’s hand tightens around the equal parts scratchy and smooth fabric in his hand as he’s escorted from the only room he’s known toward the all too familiar grand terrace that had played host to numerous balls, festivals, and ceremonies. He wasn’t scared, per se, as he’d known this was coming for several years, but still, having the actual day of reckoning upon him was rather odd.
“Lift your head,” an attendant whispers as they cross the threshold into the much too ornate room, “Stand proud, she is watching…”
Makoto huffs in response, attempting to lift his chin as high as he can, but when faced with imminent death, it is a little hard to seem eager and excited for what was to come. The boy didn’t want to take in his surroundings, but there wasn’t much choice when his eyes were locked on a boy around his age at the end of the aisle. The moonlight filtering in through the windows of the grand ballroom did wonders for the sleek, ebony-haired figure, and Makoto found himself adjusting his grip on his veil, just to look a little better for the man before him. In some other circumstance, some other time, perhaps this is what it would've been like to marry another. The boy smiles to himself at the thought. Provided he had the time to live, maybe he would’ve wanted to marry someone who looked like this mysterious stranger.
In only a few more steps, the three attendants leave their master’s side, leaving Makoto at the mercy of whatever this man or entity wanted from him. The boy holds his breath as he turns to the crowd, as he’d done numerous times before, facing his audience with palpable anxiety. Each and every person in the room falls to their knees and bows.
“Utter stupidity…” the voice beside him finally speaks, “Raising you merely to be a lamb to the slaughter, how egregious.”
Makoto does his best to stifle the giggle that escapes from his mouth, but it is clearly audible enough to draw the attention of the mysterious man before him.
“Makoto Yuki…” the black-haired boy speaks as he too bows before the sacrifice, “Is this what you want? Do you wish to join my master’s body and restrain her from ending this shallow, selfish world?”
Blue eyes widen, and Makoto very nearly loses his cool, calming demeanour that had entranced the people of his nation so much. Oddly enough, though, he feels the need to speak, even though it wasn’t something he did very often anymore.
“What choice have I got?” he whispers, a tinge of edge making it into his voice, “It’s what my people have told me I must do, so it is the purpose I must fulfill.”
Nyx’s attendant slightly scowls, as if the answer is not the one he was looking for.
“That was not my question, young human,” the black-haired boy replies, raising from his bow and reaching for the thorny crown atop Makoto’s head, “I asked not for what the people told you your purpose was, I asked if this is what you want.”
“I’m not sure there is much difference anymore,” the sacrifice responds solemnly, “It’s been the only thing I’ve had in my mind for most of my life now, so it feels like my only purpose.”
The dark goddess’s attendant sets the crown to the side and falls to his knees, kissing Makoto’s hands, an act the touch-starved blue-haired boy isn’t sure was in the ritual he’d only been briefed on a handful of times, but is grateful for nonetheless.
“I can change that, you know,” he whispers against the skin, “None of these people know what being sacrificed to my master truly looks like… I could very easily stage a realistic sacrifice and card you away to my master’s realm and show you true reverence.”
There’s a certain twinkle in the black-haired boy’s eyes that tells Makoto that the other boy also had taken some sort of liking to the sacrifice. It was all much too much to think about so quickly. He’d been raised for this one purpose; his every dream was cast aside for the purpose of serving his people. At one point, perhaps his pride for his country would’ve been enough to deter his thoughts, but unfortunately for the fate of his nation, that was no longer sufficient to convince him not to give in to his selfish desires. Especially when this other boy was offering him something Makoto had only ever daydreamed about.
“What do you say?” The black-haired boy’s breath ghosts against Makoto’s skin, causing the boy to shiver and lean closer, “Will you allow me the chance to show you true wonders?”
Makoto can only nod, his blunt nails digging into the attendant’s skin as he clings to his only hope for life. He can only hope his captive audience hasn’t caught on to the scheme unfolding before them.
“That’s what I was hoping you’d say,” Nyx’s attendant whispers, snaking his arms around Makoto’s waist, “You don’t need to do anything, sweet sacrifice, all you have to do is sink into the feeling, accept it into your heart and do not fear it.”
The blue-haired boy is just about to ask what the attendant means when he feels it, an overwhelming heaviness in his eyes, a fatigue that sinks into his bones like nothing ever had before. Makoto’s heart races a little as he realizes just how weak he is in the arms of someone he’d just barely met.
Clearly, he stiffens up enough for the other to notice, as the arm around his waist tightens, pulling him closer to his body, until Makoto’s face is pressed against the other boy’s neck.
“Shhhh, dear,” the attendant whispers as he lifts the other boy’s veil atop his head and cups his cheek, “Don’t fight it, I promise it will all be okay…. Just trust me.”
As much uncertainty is in his head, Makoto’s head is clouded by finally getting touched and just how gently Nyx’s attendant is holding him. So, as much as his instincts are screaming at him to be suspicious, Makoto allows his muscles to go lax, falling further into the other boy’s strong arms.
“Very good,” the stranger’s voice falls deeper, “That’s it, keep giving yourself over to me and it’ll all be okay soon, I promise.”
Makoto’s eyes are much too heavy to keep open, so he allows them to fall shut, his last sight being the other boy’s encouraging smile. His body feels much lighter, but the definite presence of the attendant’s arms around him keeps the blue-haired grounded enough not to panic in the face of the unknown.
“It’ll all be over soon,” death’s executioner encourages, rubbing Makoto’s cheek with the pad of his thumb, “I’ll see you on the other side, just give in to the sleepiness and I’ll show you around my realm when we get there.”
“Mmmmm…” Makoto hums, a faint smile crossing the boy’s face for the first time since he was very young.
Cerulean butterflies dance in the corner of the boy’s vision as his body goes entirely lax in the other man’s arms. Faintly, Makoto registers one of the other boy’s arms moving to support his waist a little easier, but he doesn’t pay it much mind. He’s warm, he feels safe, and for the first time in his life, the boy who was supposed to be nothing more than a sacrifice to a bored god feels like he is in control of his life.
It is with that determination in mind that Makoto gives in to the heaviness in his very soul, falling into an endless slumber.