The Gift From Another World

The Wish Of One Thousand Tears

Hello again, everybody. Long time no see ! ^^ (At least for those of you who've been reading this story in its old version.) I promised you I'd soon have the refined version of 'Gift' out ! So here it is, a day before what would normally be Dimitra Wispendar's birthday. Unfortunately, the dA link to the manga version I had promised won't be out for a while... Semester tests at school, and since I'm no money-haver a.k.a. rule-screwer like Seto Kaiba from YGOTAS (xD), I couldn't put off studying so simply. Please do forgive me ! I'll try to have them out as soon as possible !

"...My name is Dimitra Wispendar... or at least this is what I used to be called... What you'll read is my life... can't say it's an interesting one..."

Brown strands of hair slipped from behind my ear, hiding my light brown eyes... This is what my life was always like... Hiding... always hiding...

"For twelve years, I've been living in a world... of malice and despair, where there is no such thing as a 'good thing'... Innocence has dried away, even from the little children... Imagination died with it... Love has given its place to callousness... kindness has abandoned this world..."

The traffic lights turned green for another day again. My weak legs struggled to get me to the other side of the road. Everything is difficult but through the years, I got used to it... I got used to my weakness, I got used to the sorrow, I got used to the pain...

People passed the road next to me and someone brushed his shoulder on me and I fell down. Usual things, to be honest. When you've been born sick and frail, losing your balance easily and passing out is something you must live with... But what had always felt like a sting, there, in my chest, was that there was no one to pull you up. No one to tell you 'excuse me' or smile to you in a friendly way. No one... no friendship, no love, no nothing.

"Long ago... I wanted to know what a flower is like... I first heard that word by a person dear to me... Then I found it in books, images of it... Glorious beings that are supposed to smell beautifully... but through an old book, you can only smell paper and the most important thing about flowers, is missing... Colors... I'd heard they're wonderful, covered in this peculiar thing called a 'color'... Only recently, I saw many of them... They were truly breathtaking... Miraculous in those colors, colors like bright yellow or vivid red... The only vivid and bright red thing I'd seen in my whole life was the traffic light when it commands you to 'stop'. Everyday, someone always told me that, to stop, stop to live..."

I managed to get up, not caring about anything at all. The stopped cars roared with their loud corns at how slow I was, again this day, one of the days of my twelve years on this cold, cruel earth.

"I spent most years of my insignificant life trying to do this... stop living... But I can't die, not until I get there... and I know, I know, that after I finish writing this, this time for me will finally come..."

Another day at school, the same cold and expressionless faces, the same empty eyes, the same cruel and busy people. No smile to welcome you, no one to greet you with a hug. She keeps saying that all those people should end up hanged up from the ceiling, but I don't get it. No one has ever cared about me... no one has whipped away the tears... no one has anything to do with me... so why should I bother with them...? I have these thoughts for her lately too...

"She... she was... and still is, the most important person in my life... If it hadn't been her, I wouldn't be who I am right now... even though what I am now is still nothing. All my life, I hadn't done anything worth to be said... She, on the other hand, led what you could at least call a life... The one who stood up from the rest was her... "

P.E. once again. Volleyball again. How new did that sound ! Every day we did the same thing ! Doesn't it seem great ? I... was fed up with it. Again, I went to sit on the bleachers, to watch my classmates play. I never did anything during P.E., because of my sickness, my frailty. They didn't allow me to. Not that anybody would care, they just wouldn't like to bother with me in the morning.

"If I were to find myself in that gym classroom, I'd start looking at the seats. See that girl there ? The one in the oversized black cardigan and red loose slackers ? The pale and skinny one sitting with her chin on her palms that looks as if she'll pass out any time ? Yes, the loser with the brown eyes and brown hair ? That's me. That's how I'd find me there... But if I were to find her, I'd turn to look at that girl with those vicious hazel eyes, that look that says it all for her - I will kill ya so don't piss me off. See her there ? The one in torn bluejeans, khaki shoes and a black torn t-shirt with the red anarchy symbol ? The one with long brown hair, falling in curls, whose eyes have rays of green inside ? That was her. Nicole Westmore... my best friend... my dearest friend... and at the time, my only friend."

I looked at her blankly. I've been thinking lately... Why are we friends ? We're so unlike... but I know the answer already. She's the only one who has ever accepted me.

"Westmore, you weirdo ! You think you can beat us when it's only you, yourself and thin air ? Get serious, freak !" I turned to see a girl of Nicole's age wanting to... get her butt kicked. I noticed her empty eyes, the pupiless eyes of this empty vessel without a soul. How could she call someone a freak...? My question would never mean anything though ; they are the whole world. We, are only two girls... I looked at Nicole...

"Grrr... Take THAT !" shouted Nicole. She threw the volleyball on the girl's face so strongly, I could clearly see the red rivulet of blood pouring from her nose. "That was for calling me a freak ! Come, Dimitra !"

"But P.E. class isn't over..." I uttered while standing up but Nicole shot me a glare and I followed her.

I knew that at that moment, outside the school gates, our ways would part as always. She would go cause trouble, while I... while I would have to go back there and wait for her...

"The two of us grew up in an orphanage... from an age and after, actually... it was Hell on Earth... but we had nowhere else to go..."

I stood and waited for the bus to come and take me. I looked up at the grey, cloudy sky. Rain was pouring down like it always did... I had to close my eyes a little to avoid the falling raindrops... those tears of a mourning sky... With a reflection of nothing in my eyes, I tried to find the sun... Rain... only rain... Sun... why have you forsaken us...? Why aren't you real...? Why do you live only in those abandoned fairytales...? If you came now, perhaps you would be too late, but maybe you were never there...

A sound of metal clatters and the roar of an engine let me know that the bus had come to take me home... Home ? I couldn't believe that I had just called that cold orphanage that locked me up between its four miserable walls, my home...

I went and sat on the wide seat at the end. I brought my knees to my chest and curled up next to the filthy window, humming myself to sleep but I couldn't. I observed that familiar place. No one was there, only me and the sullen bus driver that never looked at me in the eyes... No one ever did...

"Then, no one had ever looked at me in the eyes... Or rather, barely anyone even looked at me... only Nicole... But she too never dared to look at my eyes... What was she afraid of ? Whenever I looked in our broken mirror to see my eyes, try as I may, I saw nothing, nothing frightening. The same eyes full of nothingness as everyone else's. Or maybe, this nothingness was what scared her...?"

I slowly got off the bus and looked up. Before me stood a big, old building, its stone walls smudged with dirt and eaten by moisture... The words McCaulley Orphanage were carved deep on the dirty marble arch atop the foreboding oak door.

"That world... I call it 'Grey World'... my Grey World... or else, my place of torture... People tortured my soul relentlessly every day, even though they knew it was more fragile than glass..."

When I stepped into the orphanage, I looked at the green carpet beneath me... The schoolbag I dragged along with me, my feet, my clothes, my hair... they all dripped of waterdrops that soaked the carpet and created puddles on the grey marble floor... I turned to look to my right, my gaze drifting on the portrait of the current owner's mother, strict and unwelcoming like her successor, and then to my left, beyond a wooden arch. There, in the big room, full of long tables, the younger children of the orphanage were doing additional homework. Sindy Caddison, the young assistant, whose eyes I liked because they were so black, you took no notice they were empty, was going from table to table to give the pupils new work to do... to keep them useful... to create the new heartless denizens of this world... exactly like Mrs. Mariah wants them to be.

Without wanting to, I heard the conversation of a girl and boy that shook that useless thing all humans keep in their chests, called heart.

"Mom died 'cause someone kill her."

"'Tupid Mike ! Yo' mom was 'tupid, that why died !"

I stood there still, gazing at them aimlessly... when the girl suddenly lifted her glare and so did the little boy.

"Mrs. Mariah ! F'eaky ga'l is staring at us...!"

"You !" shouted Mrs. Mariah McCaulley, the director of this place, a middle-aged woman with black hair tied to a strict bun and her round body stuffed in a Victorian dark green dress. She stomped in front of me and glared. "Go away before you spoil them and make them like you !"

She needn't tell me twice. Anyway, I wouldn't like to stick around and watch as she tuned those children, so as for them to be the robots of the new generation. I started going up the long staircase, clutching loosely on my bag... Climbing up was so difficult... I could barely move my legs. By the time I had reached the long empty hallway of the upper floor, full of shut wooden doors, I was breathless. I stopped in front of a certain door, the washed-off numbers '64' and the signs of the existence of nails being the only thing on it. As I was about to open it, I heard Mrs. Mariah's voice complain, "That freak ! She and her friend ! I can't stop wondering why I keep them here !"

"Why don't you throw them out then ?" asked Sindy with her sweet, toneless voice.

"I can't, it's my job to look after those wretched children, no matter how repulsive they are."

I let a fake little smile play on my lips and opened up.

As soon as I got in and closed the door, I let my light-blue schoolbag slip from my fingers. A face made of light pink was the only thing it had. I made it myself. I knew hot to sew for a long time. It was like complaining for not opening it to study but who cares ? As if anyone would mind if I went to school without knowing anything.

I stood still, wondering what I should do. Without paying any more thought to it, I put on my short white nightdress mechanically and wrapped my oversized black cardigan around me tightly. There was fur inside it, worn and dirty. However, it could do nothing against the cold, that chilling shiver running through my body and freezing me... I sat on my plain bed next to the open window, my knees to my chest and my arms wrapped around them, gazing outside at the sky... The clouds began getting darker... Night fell every second that passed by... Along with it, my stomach growled and my head ached even more...

The outside world was no less different than the one inside... The same darkness, the same shadows, the same cold... Even the same broken and dilapidated objects... I watched a group of people carrying briefcases head somewhere I didn't know. And probably they didn't either. They were just aware that it was the place they should be going and simply obeyed. It was a fact... a sad fact that used to make me wonder... until I was six... that was when it all became clear... that I simply had to do as this place commanded me... and not live at all.

"Hey, I'm back !" I heard Nicole's voice from behind and the loud slam of the door. She never just closed the door - she smacked it first. "You won't believe what the old hag was mumbling about down there. Something about two spoiled brats making her life Hell or something ! I wonder who she means !" After putting on her own pejamas, a black t-shirt and khaki slackers but never getting off her fingerless ochre gloves and khaki manly beret, she came and stood beside my bed.

"Tell me... you didn't eat anything again today ?"

"..."

Seeing I was saying nothing, she left out a sigh of what she called 'exasperation' and sat next to me cross-legged. "You know you can't keep doing this forever. Not sleeping and not eating anything at all will get you to nothing."

But that's exactly what I want...

We stood in total silence. Nicole just moved to put her elbows on the window frame and stare outside.

"Boring... Every day is the same as the previous." she muttered behind clinched teeth. "And you're not saying a thing." Like she said, I did nothing else but stare blankly at the window parapet. She gave me a strong pat on my back that made everything fade in and out for an instant. "I know ! Wanna come with me to give the cops a beating tomorrow ? It will be fun!"

Fun... A word I didn't know...

I didn't say a thing. I couldn't believe how that person could be my best friend. We were so different... and lately, she'd been so distant... She couldn't even understand me... and I couldn't understand her either. Being so lively in this Hell we were living in ? She couldn't even look at me straight in the eyes... like everyone else...

"Serves you right ! Little Miss Nothingness !"

"She's not like us ! Kill her !"

"Go away, freak ! They should kill people like you !"

"What's the matter with you useless brat ? Why were you even born ?"

That last voice echoed in my mind, the loud voice of a man whose words made me feel like sinking into the depths of darkness...

Something burned at the corners of my eyes...

"Dimi ? What's... What's wrong ?"

"I..." I turned my sight next to me, to Nicole. Her hand was on my shoulder, bringing a shudder down my spine. I brought a fake smile to my lips. "Nothing, I'm fine."

Nicole stared at me with furrowed eyebrows. Her jaw was clenched tight but she said nothing, only returned to looking at the nightsky. Did she perhaps see those little tears forming ?

"The years I spent with her were like these of a little sparrow, learning to fly... She tried to turn me back to who I used to be... But as it were, she would never see the little angel laughing or smile, at least not a smile made of true emotions... All because their voices carried on... and the sorrow along with them."

"Hm ?"

I glanced at her and saw her frowning and looking up much more carefully. "What's that ?" she asked. I let my gaze wander to where she was staring at but saw nothing out of the ordinary. She grew frustrated by my response. "That ! Over there !" she insisted, pointing vehemently at something in the sky. "Look !"

To be honest... I fell nothing for whatever Nicole could have found... whatever it was, it had nothing to do with me and was probably not really important. However, the impatient glare she shot at me was enough to make me huff silently and get myself off my place and closer to the window. I sat motionless while she was leaning forth outside, in a desperate attempt to see the invisible something that got her attention.

Suddenly, I saw it too ! A small flash of light behind the clouds !

"Nicole... What is it...?"

My friend leaned forth... her eyes widened and her lips parted.

"But. That was only until that night. Because that night, that night that was no different than the previous ones, held something extraordinary, kept secret until the very end...! Because that night would change our lives..."

"I can't believe it ! It's... It's a star !"

"...forever !"

At the same time, in a different world...

The same star the girls view with first-felt awe is being watched by a group of people in Izumo, Japan...

The star... it's bright light fell though the slid-open paper doors, in the traditional Japanese room, illuminating everything in its path... However, its white gleam felt sinister as it surpassed anything else and cast ominous shadows everywhere... Shadows that everyone could see but few could sense...

"Rahu..." whispered a short old man with a halfly-bald head to himself. The white falling wonder was reflected on his stern black eyes.

"Did you feel it too, Yohmei ?" asked an elderly woman sitting on the floor by his side. He glanced at her blind but wise eyes and nodded. She sighed. "Then our fears were true."

"What are you talking about, Mrs. Kino ?" asked an extremely short boy standing on the edge of the porch with a nervous smile, before he gazed back at the brilliant star. A laid-back boy in black slackers and a white t-shirt, orange headphones on his brown hair, stood beside him with a smile.

"Whoah...! Rahu ! It sure brings back memories ! Right, Morty ?" he asked and smiled at the short one.

"Uh-huh !"

"WOW, DUDE ! KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS ?" cried an over-enthusiastic boy with spiky blue hair, throwing his fist up in the air. A depreciatory "Hmph !" came from the far back and the blue-head turned to see another boy with a purple tongari haircut leaning against the wall. "Whudja say, Len ? Didn't hear ya !"

"It means you're an idiot."

"WHAT WAS THAT ?" yelled the other one and took out an intricate-patterned snowboard. "You tryin' to pick a fight, dude ?"

"Don't dude me !" shouted Len with a tense accent and took out his Chinese weapon, a kwan dao. "I'll take you on anywhere, anytime !"

"That brings back memories too, right Yoh ?" asked Morty and the laid-back boy, Yoh, laughed.

"It sure does !"

"STOP !" screamed a ridiculously tall man with a weird Elvis-like outift and even weirder hairdo. "I WON'T LET ANYONE HARM THE HOUSE OF THE NOBLE ASAKURAS !" He picked both fighting boys up from their necks, lifting them up so that they looked like angry kittens ! The sight was hilarious !

"Aw, c'mon, Rio !" said a smiling Yoh with eyes closed upwards. "That's just their way of showing affection !"

"WHAT ?"

"Now, now, chill out you guys !" said an afro-haired black-skinned teen. His eyes were covered by green shades, hiding the blindness behind them... "This is no reason for you to fight like that !"

"SHUT UP, BANANA COMEDIAN !"

"Oh my God...!" grieved the other one, crying in a dark corner of the room with spotlights on him. The blonde man with the sickly physique but brooding icy blue eyes on the wheel-chair next to him, who was polishing a pierced skull at that moment, smiled and turned to the other two.

"Joco is right, you two." he said, smiling faintly. "You shouldn't fight on such an important moment."

The two boys stopped abruptly and glared at each other with sparks coming out of their glares first but then turned serious.

"Rahu, the Star of Destiny." mused Len, a frown over his golden eyes.

"The star that signals the beginning..." added the other one with a daydreamy smile... but... both's eyes went white with rage.

"WILL YOU LET US DOWN NOW ?"

"Don't shout at me !" growled Rio and took out his own weapon, a wooden sword. A boy with green hair and dim green eyes smiled with eyes shut upwards at this whole spectacle, despite the sweatdrop running down his forehead. However, his face turned thoughtful and he looked at the two elders who were left speechless.

"Mrs. Kino, you said something about 'fears coming true' earlier..."

"Lyserg's right, Granny ! You did say that !" added Yoh and stood between his grandparents.

The woman ignored them completely but her husband spoke for her. "There's something..." He paused and darted the tatami beneath their feet. "...we're afraid of."

Now all fighting in the room stopped and all eyes were fixed on the elder. Only Morty's voice echoed as he said anxiously, "Wh-What is it...?"

Tension... Its shadows spread along with the pale starlight...

"Oh stop it !" blurted the bluehaired boy all of a sudden and pouted. "This is no time for serious philosophical chit-chats ! It is the restart of the Shaman Tournament ! It calls for a fest!"

"It calls for a pest !" popped up a dressed as a fly Joco only to... end up with a black eye and a kwan dao piercing his nose.

"We waited for this for so long since that creep screwed it up last year !" he continued as if nothing had happened and clenched his fist forward, clinching his teeth angrily. He may not admit it, but the tense, heavy atmosphere had affected him too... "We all had our dreams for this case but he burnt them all up ! But now that that's over and the Tournament's back, we can finally enjoy it ! We deserve it, right ?" he asked intensely and took an insecure glance around at his fellows : they were all, especially Lyserg, very sullen suddenly. "After everything we did last year..."

Silence followed his words. Words that brought up the past, a past filled with dreaded memories of a year full of pain...

Everyone remembered the incidents of last year very well... How could they forget after all ? They were indelible, carved on their memory for good. Fire everywhere the eye could see... and the fate of humanity on their shoulders...

An imposing voice echoed in their minds... Yoh's frown twitched and hardened at the terrible sound...

"I am the savior. I am justice. Those who don't obey shall all be burned !"

"You're all so serious about this..." remarked Morty, breaking the silence, out of breath and wide-eyed with anxious, inexplicable fear. He started approaching them with uneasy steps. "I mean, heh, he's defeated ! There's no reason to be so gloomy !"

Everyone smiled with new courage and Yoh was about to laugh. "You're right-"

"This is exactly what we're afraid of."

"What...?" they did altogether and their eyes became white saucers of pure shock.

Before anyone could even utter something, a loud bang echoed through the huge estate. They whirled to the paper door and saw three girls barge in. The one in the middle was a dark-blonde girl with vivid amber eyes and a plain black dress, the one on her right was a pink-eyed girl in a rose kimono who held a strange heart-shaped object in her hands and the one on her left, who had long blue hair, was apparently crying.

"TREEEEEEYYYYYY !" she cried out and dashed into the arms of her older brother, the one who had blue hair as well.

"Wh-What's wrong, Pilika ?" he asked her, hugging her in confusion.

"Anna..." said Yoh in awe at the sight of the blonde girl. She ignored him completely and stepped forth with determination.

"Tamra predicted something with her kokkuri board. Something very ugly."

Everyone's perplexed but wary looks darted the third girl, Tamra, whose skin became as pink as her short hair. "I-I-I was just showing Pilika how to use it... and..."

"And it turned bad !" finished the mentioned girl, still crying in her brother's arms. Trey patted her back, not knowing what else to do. No one in the room knew what to do in general, as they were left with looking at the elders and Anna carefully, while not understanding a thing.

"Why are you like this ?" stammered Morty, the heavy atmosphere showing in his shaky tone. "This is the Tournament we're talking about ! We should be-"

"Idiot." Anna interrupted, shoting him a glare. "You forget what, besides the Tournament, comes with the star."

"Erm... Ketu ?" guessed Yoh but Anna's deathshot scowl was enough to make him shut up.

Yohmei's dark eyes drifted from one person to another until they stopped on Tamra, his disciple, who lowered her head in shame. So Tamra sensed it too... "Tamra." he said and she yelped. "What did you see ?"

The girl's hair on the nape of her neck rose up with the chill that ran down her spine. Nevertheless, she avoided looking at him and said with a strained voice.

"I saw Hao... revived."

"WHAT ?"

That loud scream that shred through the night was followed by more immediately.

"What did you say ?" exclaimed a shocked Trey and Len beside him added, "Absurd ! Hao's not supposed to return for the next five hundred years !"

"There's no way he'd be alive ! Master Yoh cut him in two ! Faust, you saw it too !" yelled Rio and looked to the invalid blonde man, whose serious eyes were locked on a spot in front of him as he added, "No one could ever survive an injury like that."

"Yeah ! And there was this huge explosion right after !" shouted Joco, in such a way that he seemed more like trying to convince himself.

"Anna-san, say something !" cried a panicked Morty and Yoh, his eyes white from astonishment and fear, said in a trembling voice, "You must be joking... Anna...!"

The girl stared at them with narrowed eyes, patiently waiting for them to stop... But as they wouldn't, she inhaled a sharp, deep breath...

"IDIOTS ! ALL OF YOU !"

Yoh sweatdropped like mad. "But, Anna..."

"Before you go on telling me it's impossible, try remembering things correctly." she said coldly, quickly. Their lips stayed aghast as they had nothing to say, except for Joco who asked warily, "Y-You're not going to tell us that our memory of Hao being cut in half is fake, right ?"

Anna was about to start shouting when a curt sound of surprise came from someone...

They all turned to Lyserg, whose green eyes were dilated and his lips trembling and parted. "I got it..." he said slowly, staring at the floor with that dreadful look. "Hao's pact with Taizan Fukun, the King of Hell... It never stated anything about the time of revival. Just 'the next Tournament'."

Suddenly, comprehending what he meant, all eyes turned to Anna and the two elderly people, who were as anxious as them. Morty's shaking voice only continued piecing the lost pieces of this large, discouraging puzzle.

"Hao was never revived exactly every five hundred years. He can get out of there whenever he wants to prepare for the Tournament... and the next Tournament is now."

"...It'll all work out..." Yoh's voice came through the smothering silence. He sounded like smiling... but when they looked at him, they only saw the attempt of a smile. "Let's do the same thing as before ! I'll take that huge form again and-"

"That was out of luck, Yoh." Len said in a drowned, furious voice. "And you cannot beat him with the same trick twice ! You saw what happened to Anna's ten-eighty beads rosary..."

The boy's flicker of a smile disappeared, to be replaced by a clenched jaw...

Loss of hope... That's the feeling that conquered their hearts, leaving them breathless, with the kind of sensation one has when he is robbed of all his dreams, all his hopes... They thought they had helped this world, that they had helped in saving it from the flames of that man... but they were mistaken... and now there was nothing they could do against him...

"There was more to Tamra's prediction though."

Now they jolted altogether and blinked at Anna. Her cold voice was for once able to light a smile up on their faces.

"That's great ! Way to go, Tammy-chan !" did Rio with a wink and the girl blushed beet red but Len urged her, "What did you see ?"

"I..." she stammered and looked to her Master. Both he and Anna nodded at her with encouragement and she spoke up, frowning with determination. "I used my board and my sketchbook to make out the words and I got a message." She took a painting sketchbook from behind her kokkuri board and held it out in front of her. Her eyes moving from the suffocating burden and her whole body trembling, she took a deep breath and read aloud...

"In another world, different from ours..."

"...two girls live."

Flashes of bright light reflected on my empty eyes... Bright... I'd never seen something like that before... A large sphere of pale starlight, slowly shreding the sky and grey clouds in half...

"A star..." Nicole repeated, whispering in an emotion she'd called 'awe'. "It's really a star... It's so beautiful..."

I did not know how Nicole knew what it was or how it was called. The only 'stars' I'd previously seen were drawn in forgotten picture books and they looked nothing like what I was witnessing. Whatever it was though, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever laid eyes on... It was enough to let a warm feeling fill the broken object in my chest, my heart...

"Nicole..."

"Mm ?" she did absently.

"Let's make a wish..."

"GAH- What ?" she shouted and whirled to me. "Hello ? Earth to Dimi, over ! It's only a star, get over it !"

Only a star...? I've never seen anything more wonderful than this...! I turned to look at her. Her eyes had lost the lively essence of the moment and were under furrowed eyebrows. "You're not serious are you ?" she whispered.

"A...A wish is what you do when you see a... shooting star... right ?" I asked her with an uneasy expression of my own, recalling old, painful memories, locked away for a long long time. "It's the first time I see one so... why don't we do one ? Please..." My voice broke at the last word.

Nicole stared at me, surprised, then back to the miracle of night we were witnessing. "It truly is beautiful..." she said finally. "But I wonder, are we the only ones seeing it ? I don't see anyone looking up at it from here !"

"Of course." I said tonelessly, my gaze drifting into nothingness. "They use their eyes for common things without meaning. They're nothing but empty vessels, empty hearts, empty souls."

"Look who's talking..." she said unintentionally. I didn't react at all. Only closed my eyes slowly.

But why does it feel... like a ringing headache...?

When I opened them again, I came face to face with the brilliant star, gradually falling... as if Heaven wanted us to take a good look at it, sate ourselves with this wonder... How could such beauty appear in this soulless world ? Such a wondrous sight... among the filth of our world ? The orphanage walls vanished, giving their place to a field full of paper flowers and stars and a clear sky... where my eyes wouldn't be empty and I would be able to smile... a true, genuine happy smile... What if a world like that really existed ?

"Then I'd like to be living in it..." I whispered softly, captivated by my own mind...

A hand patted my back softly, snapping me out of my fantasies. Nicole smirked at me. "Hey, alright, I'll do you the favor so let's wish something."

I blinked twice. "What will it be ?"

She gasped and glared at me with comical anger. "WHAT ? I dunno ! You're the one who wants to make a wish !"

"Well..." That blissful heaven filled my mind again... and this again was worth it. "...I'm weary of this place, Nicole."

"Explain your point please ?"

"That it would be great if the wish could get us to another world... a happy one... What do you say ?"

Her face remained still like stone; with her eyebrows raised up to her hairline and lips shut tight. "I say that you're taking this too seriously." she said sternly and rolled her eyes. "Wishes don't do that. Wishes don't do anything. They're just a farce created by some kind of... of stupid asshole who wanted to pass his time !"

"Like your..."

"Yes, like him !" she burst angrily to make me stop. I withdrew my eyes from her and back to the star... still there.

"One of them, deprived of emotions, the other, shielded by a mask."

None of us talked for some quiet time... Only the sounds of the night filled the silence...

"And even if wishes did come true..." Nicole said suddenly, still serious. "I wouldn't want to leave. I've lived in this place my whole life and now what : I suddenly go away ? Tch !" she did firmly but turned towards me with a smile. "Let's do this for... let's say... fun !" I simply looked at her and then lowered my gaze. Silly stuff... she's smiling again... and it looks so true... I wish I could smile like that too... a true smile...

"Okay, that's fine with me." I said and smiled, fakely. She flashed me one last grin before turning towards the shooting star and closing her peculiar eyes. When I looked at it though, my fake smile faded into naught... I closed my eyes and brought my twined hands to my lips, like in the prayers I've seen Nicole doing. Rays of light stroked my face, like a gentle touch wipping my tears away... like I longed for it for so long...

Please... Whatever you are... Take me away... Only this...

"They're the saviors, the ones to stop evil once and for all."

When I opened my eyes, Nicole had already opened hers and was waiting for me to finish. We stayed like that for seconds to come, just looking at each other. Suddenly, she tossed her arms in the air.

"I think I'll go sleep." she yawned. "Man ! Wishing upon stars is so exhausting !" She stretched once more and curled under her itchy beige blanket, causing her black schoolbag with the two studded pockets and red skull patch fall down on the dusty floor with a loud thud.

A voice, Mrs. Mariah's voice, echoed from downstairs. "Fucking brats ! Go to bed now !" I half-closed my eyes sadly and noticed Nicole raising her middle finger towards the door, muttering, "I am in my bed... shitface."

I let out a small sigh and turned then slowly towards the star. It was still falling... falling... and falling... I curled up, with my knees to my chest and my arms hugging them. Strange... the only one ever hugging me was my own self, these dainty arms of mine... Tears welled from my empty eyes... again... again... and again... Maybe the star up there was like my tears ? Or maybe it was like me ? Maybe it didn't like Heaven and it wanted to go somewhere else or die...

"However, their task will be a difficult path on which they'll be apart."

My cheeks stinged from the remnant stains of tears. I wiped them away with the loose cold sleeve of my black cardigan... but when I withdrew my hand and opened my eyes, I came face to face with something I didn't expect : the whole room, slowly drowning into bright light... going even brighter... and brighter...! I glanced around me slowly. The details started turning fuzzy, fading in and out into the pale shine. Is this because of the star ? I turned to see Nicole... but something else caught my attention.

My right sleeve, cut up. "When did this happen...?" I wondered softly but my breath caught when more cuts came, everywhere on my clothes. My lips parted but I was unable to say anything.

"Nicole. Nicole...!" I whispered, shaking her shoulders to wake her up.

"Mm.. DIMITRA, WHAT HAPPENED IN HERE ?" As she sprang out of her bed, her clothes started getting cut too. She widened her eyes in shock and terror. "WHAT'S THIS ?" She ran to the door but it was nowhere to be found, not in such bright light. "What have you done ?" She turned to me, about to catch my arm to protect me when suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew, taking us both away from each other.

"DIMITRAAAAA !"

She made more attempts to catch my hand but the wind kept blowing us away from each other. Was the star doing all this ? I looked around for it, my eyes widened for the first time in my life. I could see objects swirling everywhere in the air and bright light but I couldn't find the star ! I couldn't move. My whole body trembled by something's force. My head hurt. Everything faded in and out into black... I knew I was about to faint... Nicole tried desperately to catch my hand... her lips moved to tell me something...

Is this what dying feels like...?

Her fingers barely grazed my own fingertips but the wind was too strong.

A flash of light then and everything disappeared.

All my senses had vanished.

White everywhere.

No sounds.

No Nicole trying to reach my hand.

Nothing at all.

My eyes closed slowly and even the endless white disappeared from sight...

Goodnight, Nicole...

"...Our two destined saviors, a gift from another world."

As soon as she finished, Tamra took a look at the people around her. No one reacted. Everyone bore serious expressions, comprehending the nature of the situation.

"It's a prophecy then." Kino shred the silence with her voice. "The Prophecy of Rahu."

Yohmei next to her clinched his teeth and his hand tightened around the hilt of his walking stick.

So many things, happening so quickly...

He was trembling...

Damn you, Hao !

Okay, so this was the first chappie ! Some of you have read this before but this has some differences, right ? Oh well. Can't wait to see your comments both on the story's comeback ! And the pictures... when they're ready. ^^"

-EleganXD