Title: Petals
Author: JR
Archive: yes
Category: pwp
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summary: Henry goes on an adventure.
Feedback: yes, off list

The ground was warm and dry. The sunlight shone uncomfortably bright against his closed eyes. He threw a hand over his eyes, but it did not help. Muttering a curse, he sat up, shading his eyes as he opened them.

"What's with all the trees? Where am I?"

There was no one there to answer, just nature. Strange, he did not remember a part of Hollywood that looked like this. Still, he had not been everywhere. He looked around. Where was Chandler? Why wasn't he here too? McNeil started walking.

"Chan? Chan, where are you?" Still no one answered.

Off to his left two trees stood together like a gateway. They were not noticeable or unique in any way, but McNeil was drawn to them. Walking through, he discovered that the two trees were a doorway to more trees; trees that made a perfect circle. The circle was ringed on the inside with shrubbery of a healthy dark green color. Henry wrinkled his nose at what he saw on the ground. The circle was covered in flowers of various blues yet they existed in different degrees of decay. Some had brown stems, some were dead, others had green stems but their petals were wilted. Petals littered the ground in careless patterns. He watched a petal fall. Watched it dip and sway, dancing its way down, down to the brown ground. Then it stopped. There was not any wind to move it, to induce the watcher to believe the illusion that it lived. Because it was dead, was it not? Wilted and crinkled and heavy, too heavy to flutter in the wind, if there ever was any, or perch on its stem.

The petal place, the place of petals, where blue falls and must meet brown, where nothing is around.

"Damn, what a stench!" The lithe black man cursed the nasty odor, looking for something, some animal that could be rotting. He found nothing suitable for an explanation. "Chandler!"

Nothing answered him, not even the wind or the animals. Was he the only one? Can't be the only freakin' one, can I? The almost sacred silence of the place irritated McNeil. Another petal fell.

"Forget this. I'm gonna find my way outta here." He left the strange circle to walk and walk, only to find trees and more trees. "Must be lost in some kinda damn forest." He walked and rested, walked and rested, but nothing changed, only trees and trees and trees and trees. "Chandler!" And trees and trees and trees, there was no end to them.

At last he came to a stopping place in the form of a hilltop. The sky overhead was blue as the petals were blue. Yet all he saw were more hills covered with trees. The only thing to do was walk down the hill so that's what he did. Perhaps his friend was at the bottom of the hill. He was disappointed only to discover a creek. His throat ached with thirst, but he could not drink. The water was dirty, polluted with who knew what. And god dammit, it was full of those petals. Even here, even the ones on top, were dead. But he did not see any flowers nearby. How did they all get in there? The water barely moved, neither did the petals, really. Perhaps the petals originate from the source of the creek. But where is that?

"You'll never find it, you know."

McNeil turned sharply. A woman was watching him. He wondered briefly how long she had been there. She did not move towards him; but stood perfectly still. She possessed dark skin and even darker hair whose long ends curved this way and that. Her drab gray dress was flat just like her drab gray eyes.

"Who are you? Where'd you come from?"

"I came from here." She cocked her head to one side. "You seem lost."

McNeil was put off by her manner, even her voice had a bland neutral quality, but underlying it was a sort of sinister amusement that made him uneasy. "Do you know how the petals got in there?"

"No. I don't care about them. They're dead anyway. You know that, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know that." McNeil was getting angry with her. "Why don't you tell me where the creek starts and I'll find out myself."

"That won't do you any good."

"Why?"

"Cause they aren't there."

"I thought you said you didn't know."

"I don't. But this is the wrong place for a dragon slayer."

"What? Dragon slayer?"

"Dragon slayers don't come here."

"Where the hell is 'here' anyway?"

"The petal place, the place of petals."

Not once had she moved during the entire conversation and as much as McNeil needed answers, deep down he wanted her to disappear as quickly and as silently as she had appeared.

"What makes you think I'm a dragon slayer?"

"You wouldn't treat this place with such disrespect if you belonged here."

"How have I been disrespectful?"

"The petals."

McNeil waited, but she did not say anything else. He grew more confused and angry at her cryptic answers. "That's what the fuck I'm trying to find out about!" He stepped towards her, but it was as if he had never moved.

"Don't go looking, Henry."

"How did you know my name?"

"The dragon always knows the dragon slayer."

McNeil started to speak, but she was gone, gone as if she had never been there before. How could she disappear right before my eyes? He looked around, at the water, at the petals, at the sky, at the trees; none of it was different that when he had first arrived. Not even the air had moved. "Chandler!" Where the hell is he?

McNeil looked at the water again and turned his steps east along its path. He would get to where it began, he declared silently, the strange woman forgotten. The creek curved and turned and still he walked.

Don't go looking, Henry.

The petals filled the water as abundantly as ever. And as he walked his thirst grew.

Don't go looking, Henry.

A growing conclusion spread throughout his mind and as nothing changed, he stopped.

The petal place, the place of petals.

He broke into a run and he did not stop until he was back where he had first begun. On and on, faster and faster, through trees and trees, did he run. He hoped he could find it again. He had to. "Chandler!"

There it was. McNeil leaned heavily against a tree to catch his breath. It was still here. He remembered the woman and dread rose up in him. Carefully, softly, he walked into the circle again. What he saw caused his breath to catch in his throat and he froze. There was Chandler among the dying, rotting flowers, naked except for where the petals covered him. An ugly brown stem grew up through his chest and on top a huge blue flower was slowly weeping, its petals falling to the ground one by one. McNeil swallowed in his painfully dry throat and tears formed in his eyes. In horror, he made himself walk over until he was beside his love and he sat down next to him, crushing the flowers and the petals in his way. His lips trembled as his tears ran down his face, some falling onto his friend. Chandler was pale, so very pale; his lips were blue, blue just like the petals. He lifted a hand up in his own and kissed its petal softness. One petal covered each eye and in spite of his better judgment Henry took them off. He cried harder when he saw only two empty blue sockets staring back at him. What happened to his eyes? Where are his eyes? Shaking, he leaned over and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

He screamed, but it was only a whisper of emptiness; he had been hollowed out, killed. "Chan." He sobbed, barely able to get the word out. His voice was gone; his throat burned. Henry wept and unbeknownst to him his tears were blue.

The petal place, the place of petals, where blue falls and must meet brown, where nothing is around.

***

It was dark now. McNeil lay awake staring at nothing, his face streaked with tears. When he finally realized he was in bed, his muscles relaxed. Only then did he become aware of how tightly he was holding his lover. Chandler, dear god, Chandler, you're still alive. The smaller man's breathing was almost silent, but he could feel his heartbeat, sense the slight movement of Chandler's back against his chest. McNeil let out a long sigh and spooned his body snugly against the sleeper's own, matching Smythe's breathing breath for breath. He should have been reassured, but the terrible image would not leave him alone.

The End