Sugar, Sugar

There is a nursery, with pale pink walls and a lit yellow lamp in the corner. A beautiful woman holds a brown-haired infant in her arms, and she sways gently, to and fro, cooing cotton-soft words to him. A simple, pretty melody emanates from a small wooden music box on the nightstand.

O that night in your embrace

The woman walks over to the crib, smooth as silk, and gently places the baby on top of the tiny mattress, tucking him in carefully. He stares at her still, reaching out his small arms to be picked up again. She smiles and looks at him softly, lovingly stroking the side of his face.

When you stole away the keys my heart held onto so tight

He touches the thick bracelet on her wrist, perhaps trying to take it off. The shine on it is mesmerizing and he instinctively looks to her to see if she will take it off and let him play with it. She smiles again, her eyes sparkling quietly. She slowly slides off her bracelet and puts it on his tiny wrist. It surprises him when it begins shrinking and closing around him, and for a moment he opens his baby mouth to cry. But when the bracelet stops he eyes it curiously. It is much to big for him, of course, but he is content to nibble on its edges as his mother kisses him good night and leaves the room.

Pleasure, Pleasure

There the infant is, alone in the room, with nothing but the soothing sounds of the music box and his mother's bracelet to keep him company. He eventually closes his tired brown eyes, still sucking gently on his bracelet, and drifts into a happy darkness.

But a fleeting melody

The sound of glass shattering wakes him up. Through the crack under his door he can see an orange light from the hallway, much brighter and fiercer than normal. He smells something vile. Smoke, though he does not know what it is. Suddenly the door erupts into a tall flame. Screams are heard, along with more glass breaking and door pounding. The infant cries, afraid of the red flames enveloping the walls. Smoke fills the room, making sight difficult.

It wraps itself around me

Suddenly the door breaks open. A tall man rushes in and scoops the baby into his arms. The infant recognizes these arms, this smell of wood and stage plaster and glue – it is his father. He stops crying. The man rushes out with the baby, running past the long hallways and down the burning stairs and stories. The infant does not know what is happening, only that he is safe in his father's hold. Tired, he closes his eyes again and slips back into darkness.

And now through the air I fly

When he wakes he is in a bed again. But this one is different. The mattress is hard, the sheets are ice. The ceiling is a different color. Unfamiliar adult voices surround him, all whispering quietly with hushed worry. Orphan, they mutter. No family. All alone. He looks but his father is nowhere.

.x.x.x.

Three days later, Thalassa Gramarye watches the news, but doesn't.

Phrases like Apartment building fire and No sign of infant don't shock her anymore. She has already accepted her loss. With a dead heart she returns to her poem and adds the final lines.

Like a bullet of love, Fire

Take my life away

All away

Author's Notes:

I realize this may clash with a few plot details, such as Apollo's father dying during a stage accident, and the fact that Klavier was the one who wrote the Guitar's Serenade lyrics, not Lamiroir. 8)

Reviews are greatly appreciated!