[hider=A snippet about Celestine]
[center][h1]The Greatest Trick[/h1][/center]

"You know, I still remember how your voice trembled with emotion when you first told me the tale, father." The figure besides the hospital bed started his tirade, his deft hands rubbing the hand of the one laying tenderly. Moonlight seeped intermitently throught the window curtains, who swung back and forth allowing a gentle breeze to come in. It made those who were in the room forget for a brief second the smell of death and infirmity.

[i]Beep[/i]. The various monitoring devices answered instead of the man broke the silence. He seemed sleeping. Of a dream he could not wake. Of a dream he would not [i]ever[/i] wake. No matter how much the son caressed the father. No matter how warm it still felt to the skin. It was just borrowed time.

"That you, in a casino, performed a trick many one would envy. You snatched the heart of Angeline Watkins, the glorious Angel of the Stage, and made her consider other things in life that were not...ballet." The young man leaned in, his face centimeters away from his own progenitor. Still dressed in scrubs and a coat. "And then you outperformed yourself, and the both of you...made me." He said, his voice a bit shaky at times.

"Those were fun times. I always liked the both of you. Especially mother. Oh, how much I boasted I wanted to be a ballet star like she was, and dance her graceful dances." The man known as Celestine Lightbringer leaned back, memories flooding in to his mind. "And how, each time she would tell me that I would be doing the boy's dances instead. I still remember it clearly."

"Like I always do." He added after a few seconds. "Like when, given my body, my own classmates caught me imitating mother, and all hell broke loose. The incident. Thanks to my gift...I remember it all. The fear. The hopelessness. The pain. The... [i]hatred.[/i]" 

He moved once again forward. "But we pulled through, somehow. I changed my ballet shoes for the scalpel, in an attempt to decipher why me, what kind of conditions had led to me becoming like this. I wish you could open your eyes and see me now, Father. I am a fully fledged doctor." He paused. "One that could not save you, but still a doctor. It's still sad, but I think that something could have been done. Even thought everything tells me that we cannot. You see, no matter how much of a healing power or immaterial skill people has...the spark that animated this body of yours was long gone by the time they could do anything."

He paused. "Was it worth trying to embezzle with your card tricks the wrong people, just to buy mother's a gift worth of a princess? You ...sometimes could be really foolish, father." The young man added. "She knows... I've asked her to come. But she doesn't want to see what you've become. She wants to remember you whole, bumbling and happy." Celestine sighed, as he stood up.

"Such a pity. Once again, the great Lucius Lightbringer will perform his..." The young man paused, as he swallowed, hesitating. Emotions welled up on his eyes. But his pulse and will once again became firm. "his..greatest trick. Tonight, only before the eyes of his only son...Lucius will disappear. Forever..." He ended, as the machine's signal drowned everything out.

[i]Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.[/i]

And silence reigned for a second.

The nurses and doctors rushed back in. He eyed them. Apathetic stares mostly, only a couple of them showing genuine sympathy. "Thank you for letting me do this in person." Celestine said in a muted voice. "Now...give me...a moment." He added, tears struggling to get out as he exited the room, and sent a curt message to his other still living parent.

[code]IT IS DONE[/code]

Rage whirled inside him, as sadness was drowned out. The world full of blessings, but also full of darkness. If that thug didn't have superpowers, his father might as well have lived. If the society had not been so elitist, his own case of bullying might have seen justice.
But such was the way of the world.

[i]You said me once, father, that the greatest trick of the Devil was letting the world believe it doesn't exist. Well then father... I shall do the opposite. I will make people believe that the Devil himself will come to exact his toll on this rotten world. So that they might fear what they now abuse wantomly.[/i]

He dried his tears with a napkin, as a second phone number rang. He answered immediately.

"Lightbringer here, Mister M."


[/hider]