And I'm back! So, the warnings for random people who have clicked on this:
WARNING: Do not read this if you haven't read Will Of The Heart. You don't have to necesarily read the Lorien Legacies series, but you will have to read the prequel to this story for it to make sense.
Okay, for those who may have missed it: I did publish the spin-off to Will Of The Heart, Dying Light earlier on (in October, I think). It would help you understand this story if you read the spin-off beforehand. It's only a one-shot, so it shouldn't take long.
So, to make it simple to newcomers:
Step one: read Will Of The Heart.
Step two: read Dying Light.
Step three: read this.
Anyway, hi guys! For once I don't feel like an idiot for publishing another story cuz I just found out that one of my readers has fifty incomplete stories. FIFTY. That, funnily enough, made me feel a lot better. XD
Um... more warnings I guess: Psychological trauma on Ichigo's part (I will go deeper into that later on), sleep deprivation (again on Ichigo's part), background depression (on everyone's part; they've all lost loved ones) and there will be a lot more fighting (and so more violence) than in the first book, though I'm keeping the rating at T. This doesn't deserve an M, not by a long shot. I think.
So yeah, I'm just gonna throw myself in with improvisation like I usually do with my stories, so, uh... Geronimo! Let's see where this goes!
Enjoy, and allons-y!
Crack the code
3 down, 6 to go. Ain't that annoying?
I stare at the computer screen, completely bemused. This is the exact same message, repeated on... (I quickly check)... eighteen websites, all with separate chat rooms. And they all consist of geeks discussing possible government conspiracies and the odds of other life-sustaining planets.
Funny, 'cause most people will sort of off-handedly mention it at some point in their lives, but these people seem to be taking it very seriously. They're writing loads and loads of paragraphs, almost as if this is completely relevant to their careers, but I'm pretty sure none of them are scientists researching extra-terrestrial life, or they wouldn't bother with silly little chat rooms.
Nevertheless, these people really are taking each and every word to heart, turning this into a full scale debate. The grammar and punctuation is perfect, most entries taking up twenty to thirty lines. This is probably the reason why when I first found this particular comment it caught my eye. Short and to the point.
And so very, very relevant to my situation.
I'm having to read each and every other comment to see if there are any other Loric/Hollow-related conversations going on. But no, it's all 'Roswell this' and 'abductions that'. This really, really short comment is the only important thing on this page for me.
Oh, and as I said, it's on seventeen other websites.
The person who keeps reposting this is seriously desperate. I'm pretty sure that's the only logical explanation.
My eyelids are already drooping. This other comments are so long and so very boring...
My eyes snap open before my head can slam on the computer. Can't sleep, can't sleep, can't sleep. WILL. NOT. SLEEP.
Toshiro, who's busy staring out the café window (keeping watch, I guess you could say) senses the sudden movement and turns around. We've got this little table in the corner beside the glass, staring out onto the street. The weather is drizzly and this café has free WiFi, so we were like, Hell, yeah. We're totally gonna stick in here for an hour or two.
'Are you still finding that same comment?' Toshiro asks, glancing at the machine, one of the two computers the café has for guests. About an hour ago, I discovered the comment for the first time and pointed it out.
'Yeah, I've so far found it on eighteen different websites. On one of them it was only posted twenty-two hours ago. I'm considering replying.'
Toshiro stares at me. 'You have got to be kidding. We'll be found.'
He's right. The chances of Hollows monitoring each and every website I'm on are worryingly high.
'We don't know where this mystery commenter is, anyway,' I mutter. 'He could be anywhere.'
'Not necessarily,' Toshiro says, sliding the computer to face his way. 'You know how you get certain websites that only work in particular regions? We can check the website settings to see if any of them fall under those requirements.'
I hold up my hands. 'You're the genius, not me.'
'Yet you still managed to hack my account back at school by working out my password,' he says under his breath.
I smirk. Yeah, as if the way he feels about a certain someone and the fact that he used her name as a password is a big secret.
After about ten minutes he says. 'Here. This one specifies that the only people who can access the website, let alone comment on it, have to be here in America.'
'Oh, great,' I say sarcastically. 'Now we only have all of the United States to search through!'
'Or we could go ahead and assume that the commenter is Number Nine, in which case we can narrow that down to New York,' Toshiro says quietly, lowering his voice as he mentions Nine.
'That's still one in... what? Nineteen million?'
'No need to be so pessimistic,' Toshiro says. 'This could be a good lead.'
'The last time one of us decided to trust a voice on the internet, do you remember what happened? 'Cause it wasn't that long ago.'
Toshiro looks hurt, and I immediately feel sorry. I can't believe I brought that up, even though I have to keep reminding that I don't hold it against him. I open my mouth to apologise, but Toshiro interrupts whatever it is I might have said.
'I'm gonna go and get a drink. Do you want anything?'
'Double Espresso,' I mumble.
His frown deepens. 'Not another one. When was the last time you even slept, anyway? You can't stay awake forever.'
Last time I slept... crap, I can't even remember. Three nights ago? Four? Over the last week I've drunk more coffee than I have done in my entire life up until this point in time. Sleep sounds so very, very tempting. But I can't. There's no way I can face it. Not now. But when? I don't know anymore. I figure my body will finally take complete control and I'll collapse from exhaustion or something. At this rate, that could easily happen.
'… no caffeine,' Toshiro is saying. 'You seriously need to rest. I'll get you a juice box or something.'
'Thanks.'
It's not like I can ask the mystery commenter where they are, 'cause anyone could be watching this conversation. I've got to find a way to be more subtle. I decide to reply in a casual way to the post, 3 down, 6 to go. Ain't that annoying?
Ikr? The empty people are being complete bitches.
''Empty people'?' Toshiro asks as he comes back with the drinks, staring at the computer screen.
'Hollows,' I whisper. 'It's what the word means, right?'
'That's good, but I bet anyone who's aware of this war could decipher that.'
'I know. We should go pretty soon. I just want to see if a reply comes up.'
Toshiro has bought himself a chocolate milkshake and I have an apple juice carton. I accept it gracefully, my mind flashing back to a few months ago when Rukia couldn't quite jab the straw into the hole and I had to do it for her. It's funny how the most normal of memories can randomly pop up at times like this. It just reminds me of what I'm missing.
'You know, this comment sounds like something Grimmjow would say,' Toshiro says, a half-smile on his face. 'I'll kill him if it turns out it's him.'
'The person has to be in the US, remember?'
'I know,' Toshiro says with a sigh, his smile quite sad now. 'Just a joke, really.'
Now I Need Explanations.
'Great...' I hiss as the latest post comes up from the guy I needed a reply from. 'Even if it really is one of us, I can hardly do any explaining on the internet.'
'Why does each word begin with a capital?' Toshiro breathes, gazing intently at the screen.
'So? What difference does it make?' Nevertheless, I focus on the post too. 'Now I Need Explanations'? What?
Then it dawns on me.
Now I Need Explanations.
Now I Need Explanations.
N I N E.
Nine.
Toshiro and I turn to face each other at the same time, and I can see in his eyes that he's realised it as well.
I type back, try and Focus On Understanding, alRight?
Four.
Still not very discreet, but Nine should get it. This was his idea, after all.
Four.
I frown. I'm not thinking that anymore.
Four!
No. He's the one saying it.
'We should go,' I announce, pushing my chair back and grabbing my juice box. No point wasting what little money we currently have. Toshiro is just finishing his milkshake, still looking at the screen as if waiting for the reply to the comment I just posted. Well, that's not going to happen. 'We have to go. Now.'
He snaps back to attention. 'Right. Let's go.'
I don't like the feel of Manhattan, but that's probably because Zangetsu and I always kept away from big cities, so coming to New York a few days ago felt like a terrible idea. Plus, we're not exactly sightseeing. We're just staying in crappy motels and shifting location every day so that we can keep ahead of whoever might be following. If anyone is. They must be. The only logical locations we could have gone to were New York and Santa Teresa in Spain. So Rukia and Momo are probably being tailed too. Great.
Our lives suck.
We sit in a cab right now, heading towards who the hell knows. Some street Toshiro told the driver. I don't really listen anymore. My head is swimming most time, especially when I'm in motion, and it feels like it's jumping, with my eyeballs kind of rolling back a bit every so often. The bags under my eyes are now becoming very prominent, so I can't really hide it from Toshiro. He says I'm severely sleep deprived (or something. Do I care?) and I've got to lay off the coffee so I can sleep.
No sleeping. Full stop. End of story. Bye bye.
'Thinking of caffeine? You're wearing your coffee face.'
'I have a coffee face now?' I ask, managing a smile.
He smiles too. 'Yeah. Your eyes go a bit wider and you stare at nothing in particular.'
'So... it's kind of like what I'd be like if I were high?'
'You're craving being high. There's a difference. You look like you're being possessed or something,' he says jokily.
I shiver, probably quite visibly, and I bite down on my bottom lip so hard that I draw blood. Funny you should say that, Toshiro. Ironic, in fact.
The cab pulls to a stop in front of the run-down shack Toshiro apparently expects us to sleep in tonight. It's on the edge of a park, a seemingly endless amount of trees in the background, and I can see from the flickering lights nearby that it is connected to a garage. Sure, take a Garde who's developing fire powers to a petrol station. Figures.
'Promise you won't blow us up in your sleep or something?' Toshiro whispers to me as we slide out the doors and quickly pay the driver.
'I'll be asleep. Not much I can do to control it,' I answer. 'But I only spontaneously combust around two or three times a week, so we might be in luck.'
Kon finally makes an appearance. He's been spending most of his time as a mouse (he's starting to really show off his shape shifting abilities), sleeping in my jacket pocket. He crawls out and climbs onto my lap, nuzzling my hand gently. He looks up at me and I see a knowing look in those black mouse eyes.
It's as if he's saying, I know why you're scared. I know what's happening to you. Don't be afraid.
Great. I'm seeking consolation from a rodent. A rodent.
If I wasn't desperately trying to block Shiro's voice inside my head, I know he'd be laughing about that.
'You've got to be kidding me,' I say, feeling highly annoyed.
'I think we've missed the fight,' Momo murmurs, staring down into the valley beneath us. Before us lies Santa Teresa, a seemingly normal town. The buildings are all layed out like they should be, not damaged and fine. Except that collapsed chapel that looks as if it's been on fire. There's a huge cloud of smoke rising from it and a fair amount of bright yellow and red shapes all around it. They must be the police and the fire fighters.
Momo and I stand on the hill, having walked from where our taxi dropped us off, about two miles away. Momo says it's a good idea that we keep using different forms of transportation, because apparently that will confuse the Hollows. I think she's right; I'm not taking any chances.
We're travelling light; two satchels between us, including a spare change of clothes, weapons, emergency food and my Chappy bat doll. Yep. Still haven't gotten rid of that.
It's taken us days to get here. Momo insisted on arriving in an airport far away from Santa Teresa itself because the Hollows will be 'expecting us to arrive at the nearest airport to where we're headed'.
Momo doesn't like called them her people. She always just refers to them as 'Hollows', as if she doesn't consider herself to be one. She's ashamed of her race. She doesn't want to be a Hollow.
She is, however, proud of her parents, and I am too. We both owe Kenji and Naho Hinamori so much. Without them, Shirayuki and I wouldn't have found Momo and we would have probably been killed by Hollows when we first arrived on Earth.
The two of us descend the hill and arrive at Santa Teresa. For the most part, it's a bustling town of ordinary humans, though a lot of them are anxiously gossiping about the explosions at the chapel. We pass by a café and Momo grabs my arm and pulls me inside. I soon see why; there's a TV in the corner, right below the ceiling, showing the local news. The newsreader is speaking Spanish, naturally, but there are English subtitles at the bottom, and luckily Momo and I both speak English as well as Japanese.
'… are yet to discover exactly what happened at the sight. Police have stated that they suspect that the strange group of men clad in black armour that were seen at the scene of the incident may be terrorists. Six bodies have been found within the wreckage, one of confirmed to be Sister Rangiku Inoue of the Santa Teresa Convent. Her daughter, Orihime, as well as another little girl at the convent named Neliel Tu Odelchwanck, are said to be missing. The police suspect that the terrorists may have captured the two girls.'
Finally, we get a picture of the missing girls. It's obviously some compulsory photo that has to be taken of the girls at this convent they're talking about. The first picture is of a girl around my age, tall and beautiful, with long orange hair that's a few shades darker than Ichigo and wide grey eyes, smiling cheerfully at the camera. The second picture is of a much younger girl with an odd shade of green, short, curly hair and sad hazel eyes.
I stare at the first picture for a few seconds before a word escapes my lips. 'Tomoe.'
'Huh?' Momo asks.
'… My memories are all jumbled,' I admit. 'When they all came back, it wasn't really in the right order and some things I can recall better than others. But I do remember her. We met at this meeting where there were some scientists talking to our Cêpans about us coming here to Earth, back when it was just an emergency plan. I was there with all the other Garde. I can't really remember much over those last few weeks on Lorien, but I do remember her. She was one of the Garde, sitting right next to me in the meeting. I think we were all sitting in the order of our numbers, because she has to be Number Seven. I remember her on the journey here to Earth. I stopped another girl from bullying her. Her name was Tomoe.'
'Looks like she's called 'Orihime Inoue' now,' Momo says. 'Though she'll have probably changed her name when she left Santa Teresa. Do you know who the other people are?'
'I don't know who the little girl is, but I recognise that woman. That's Tomoe's Cêpan,' I say as they show a picture of the woman who supposedly died in the battle. Like Orihime, her hair is long and orange, although it's much lighter and has a blonde touch to it.
'Oh no,' Momo whispers, looking distraught. 'She died...'
'Seven must be terrified,' I say as the newsreader announces that both Rangiku and Orihime had been at the convent for quite a few years, whereas the little green haired girl hadn't been there for long at all.
'Several eye-witness accounts state that the girls were seen before the collapse of the chapel, supposedly talking to a young, unfamiliar man in a street not far from the chapel. The police are unsure as to who the male figure is but he is believed to be a suspect in the possible kidnapping.
'It is believed that the two girls may have not only been taken out of Santa Teresa, but out of the country too. They have been reported to have been seen at Santa Teresa airport, and the security cameras have confirmed two figures who match the appearances of the missing girls, as well as the mysterious man they were talking to on the street a few hours before, and yet another woman who is unknown.'
Momo and I look at each other in despair. We've got quite a good lead here but we're too late. We've come to Spain but Seven has already left.
'Airport staff have been checking their records, but as of yet they are unable to confirm any definite data.'
'If only they could work out where Seven was heading,' Momo says sadly.
'Probably for the best,' I state. 'If they were to do that then it would not only help us, but the Hollows as well.'
'You're right,' Momo sighs. 'In any case, we have to be careful. There are probably still Hollows hanging around the town.'
A/N (to make it nice and distinguishable as not Rukia's POV anymore): I will stick with rotating with Ichigo's POV (normal), Rukia's POV (bold) and Orihime's POV (underlined). I couldn't fit Orihime's POV into this chapter, but she should be in the next.
People seem to like the idea of me shipping UlquiHime in this, so that's going alongside IchiRuki and HitsuHina. ^w^
I apologise on Ichigo's part for snapping at Toshiro. They're both very stressed. But they're still best friends, so I'll try and steer clear of the angst. Heh, me steering clear of angst. That's gonna be a challenge. XD
Please remember to review. If you guys have questions about my stories ('cause I don't know, maybe you read my other stories) I have a Renchikara Myoneka account on Facebook. The link's in my profile if anyone's interested.
Bye!
