The Three Demons: Descent
By: Kioko the pirate
Chapter 1: Overlooked
It was a rare sort of day in the Pelekai household. All was laid back and quiet, each family member tended to his or her own little activities. The home was a picturesque example of the peace and tranquility that defined island life. However, there was one member of the family that hadn't yet gotten the message to relax. While Stitch, Lilo, Nani, and the triplets sat comfortably watching television, their view became repeatedly obstructed by Angel's head or backside as she frantically darted around the room. With a can of furniture polish in one paw and a dust cloth gripped in the other, she went to war with every speck of dust in the house. From the floor to the ceiling, no surface was safe from her obsessive scrubbing.
Slowly, the family's attention was stolen from the television and drawn to the pink experiment as she crawled about the ceiling, wiping away unseen filth. Their eyes followed her as she climbed down and went to work cleaning the bookshelf. The six of them glanced at each other; silently deciding who it was that would talk her down from her cleaning spree. It had come to be a regular chore over the preceding weeks. Angel had started to become anxious and constantly sought something to occupy her mind. The reason was far from a mystery to her family, in fact, they were surprised at how well she had been handling herself.
"I hate seeing her like this," said Lilo as she watched Angel dust each book, cover by cover, "It's almost heart breaking."
Nani gave a nod. "I know what you mean, but at least she's been getting the house really clean."
Lilo gave her sister a dirty look while Stitch folded his arms over his chest and sighed. "I still don't understand why she's been getting worked up like this. I mean for the past few nights we'd be laying in bed and she'd just start firing off questions like: 'What do you think he's doing?', 'Do you think everything is ok?', 'When do you think he'll be back?'. It's like she's obsessed."
"Well what do you expect, Dad," said Ashley as she looked up at her father, "She's as close to Uncle Kioko as you are to Aunt Lilo. How would you feel if Aunt Lilo left for close to two years? You'd start to go a little crazy too."
"I would not go crazy because it's a completely different situation between me and your aunt." Stitch defended.
"How is it at all different?" asked Lilo with one, disbelieving brow raised.
"It's different because… because it's… I don't know why it's different," the family let out simultaneous disenchanted sigh as their heads fell, "It's just different, that much I know."
"I got to admit, I've been feeling a little anxious lately too. What do think could be keeping him from coming back?" said Kina as he rested his chin on his knees.
"I bet he's just out kicking ass somewhere." grinned Oki as he threw a couple punches.
"Hey, watch your language," scolded Stitch, "Just because you three are 'full grown' doesn't mean you can talk like that." Stitch looked back at Angel, who had begun to dust another book. "But you know what? The next time I see him I'm going to kick his ass for making your mother crazy like this."
"Yeah well, can some one stop her please; she's starting to dust letter by letter." Nani said sympathetically.
"I'll get her," Kina volunteered as he got to his feet and walked over to Angel, "Come on, Mom, why don't you take a break for awhile?"
Angel breathed a frustrated sigh as she tossed a book to the side. "I'd love to, but I can't when this place is so filthy! It doesn't help that I'm the only one that does anything around here."
"Mom, the house is fine," Kina took his mother by the arm and tried to lift her to her feet, but she refused to budge, "you just need to relax. You're overworking yourself for no reason."
Angel yanked her arm away from her son and continued to clean the books. "I'm overworking myself because no one helps me around here."
"We help you! Heck, we're trying to help you right now. You need to calm down, making the house spotless isn't going to make Uncle Kioko come back any faster."
Angel froze and stared soullessly into the volumes of books that sat before her. A split second later she sprung to life. She threw the book to the side, got to her feet, and stormed off into the hallway. Kina was left standing there, his ears draped over his shoulders in shame.
"Way to go, Loser!" Oki called out harshly.
"Shut up, I didn't mean to say that, it just slipped out."
"Now's not the time, you two." said Stitch as he hopped off the couch and headed out into the hallway, the rest of the family followed close behind.
They all made it into the hallway in time to see Angel hang a sharp right at the top of the stairs. The gang quickly pursued her up the stairs, but by the time they reached the top all they could see was the bathroom door slamming shut.
"Well I hope no one needs into that bathroom any time soon." joked Nani.
Without another word, everyone walked down the hall and took up positions around the bathroom door. "Come on, Honey," Stitch yelled, "don't do this."
"I'm sorry I said what I said. It was an accident." added Kina as he stepped forward.
"You don't need to be so worried," Stitch continued while placing his paw on the door, "you know Kioko will come back. You just have to be patient."
"We've been patient for almost two damn years," Angel screamed, her voice cutting through the wooden door like it was nothing, "He promised he'd be back after one, so I've been more than patient enough!"
"Mom, Uncle Kioko's a space pirate, he's eccentric, maybe he just got caught up in something and is running a little late." Ashley suggested with a cheerful tone.
"I bet he's just on some kick a… butt, a kick butt adventure!" Oki said hesitantly after catching a warning glance from Stitch.
"Angel, think about it, do you honestly think he wouldn't come back to see you? I find that hard to believe considering how close you two were," Stitch cringed at the thought, "Pirates like treasure and it's obvious that you… were one of his most cherished treasures."
Stitch nearly gagged on his own words; they made it sound like Angel and Kioko had been having an affair. He hadn't thought it possible, but his feelings of contention toward Kioko had only grown stronger since he had left. Even in his absence the pirate managed to step upon his pride, crushing his image down before the eyes of his Ohana. With no enemies attacking and no chances of heroism arising, Stitch was left defeated by the mere speculations of what Kioko might be doing. While he ordinarily wouldn't be opposed to Kioko's extended absence, he did find himself hoping for his quick return. That way, Angel's mind could finally be put at ease.
Just then, Stitch realized that no sound had come from the other side of the bathroom door for some time. He tapped his knuckles lightly against the door and then held his ear close. "Angel, buchi-boo, are you ok?"
On the other side of the door, Angel sat in the tub with her legs drawn up against her body and her arms wrapped around her knees. Just like Stitch, she had lost herself in her thoughts; her family's calls may as well have been a thousand miles away. But while Stitch's thoughts circled around cursing Kioko's existence, Angel's thoughts were of a far different nature. She was like a child pining for the warmth of her father. Her eyes burned as if the air around her was on fire, but no tears arose to douse the flames. Instead, she tried to smother them by closing her eyes tight and burying her face into her legs. Retreating into the depths of her mind, she conjured forth an image that would appease her famished heart.
'I thought I could handle this,' she thought, allowing her unspoken words to echo in her mind, 'I thought I was strong enough to stand on my own. It was only going to be a year, that's it, not a day longer than a year. It was going to be easy, I would just push these feelings behind me and press forward. I wouldn't look back and before I knew it the year would be over, it'd all be over. But 6-2-7 and that damn bounty hunter had to go and screw it up! They forced me to look back and they tore open this scar.' Angel tightened her arms around her knees and gritted her teeth.
'I thought I could manage it, rebury it deep inside until you returned. But a year has passed and you haven't come back. I don't know how much longer I can hold on, I can feel it growing, pulsating inside of me like a tumor on my soul. You never told me exactly what would happen if I lost control and so now I live with constant fear. Fear not for myself, but for my ohana. I feel like I'm holding a gun to their heads and have no control of the trigger,' An image of Kioko manifested in her head, slowly working from the feet up, 'I try to remember your encouraging words, your empathetic embraces, anything to try and lower the gun, but they seem to be slipping away. I need you to come home, Kioko, before my memories fade too much. I can still remember the feeling of your touch, your smell, the sound of your voice,'
The full image of the pirate finally came into view; it was like she was looking at a photo. However, there was one glaring problem, he had no face. What took its place she could only describe as a spot of black ink, smudged across the picture.
'But I can't remember your face. No matter how many photos I look at, it only vanishes the moment I look away,' Angel focused her mind in on that dark splotch, 'why, why is this happening?'
Suddenly, from out of the ink, a glowing purple eye with a golden iris opened up. At its center was a sharp, cat-like pupil that seemed to cut into her soul and bind her eyes and mouth shut, rendering her incapable of screaming. In the same instant she could feel two icy cold arms come from behind and wrap themselves tight around her neck. They started to choke her while a whispery voice began to speak into her ear. The voice was weak and distant, but she could've sworn that she felt its sinister breath against her cheek. It spoke slowly and in a tongue that she had never heard before, all while she remained transfixed on the demonic eye staring straight into her heart. A primal fear welled up inside of her, spreading to each corner of her body like a virus. She felt like she was staring into the jaws of a mighty predator, waiting to tear her apart. The pressure continued to build, becoming more and more maddening with each passing second, until all of a sudden the eye vanished. Just as quickly as it had appeared the eye disappeared back into the blackness, the arms released their grasp, and the voice fell silent.
All at once, the fear that had grown inside of her was released in one, loud bloodcurdling scream that took every one waiting outside by surprise. "Angel!" Stitch cried before kicking in the bathroom door and rushing inside. The rest of the family looked on anxiously as Stitch carried Angel out.
"What happened in there?" asked Nani as she looked down at the trembling ball of pink fur in Stitch's arms.
"I'm not sure," Stitch replied, "I didn't see anything out of the ordinary in there, but what ever it was she saw made her faint.
"Is Mom ok?" questioned Kina as he and his siblings crowded around their mother.
"She'll be fine, I'm just going to go put her to bed for awhile."
Stitch held his mate closer, in an attempt to stop her trembling, and then carried her down the hall to their room. As Lilo watched them head off, something Kioko had told her replayed itself in her head.
"I need to get as far away as possible, and I don't want any reason to come back." She could hear his words just as clearly as if he were speaking them right into her ear. It remained a mystery as to what it was that allowed him to say something so heartless after being such a beloved member of her family. All she knew was that if he could see the impact of his absence, he certainly wouldn't have said those cold words.
As the remaining members of the family watched the two experiments leave, Jumba stepped out from his and Pleakley's bedroom and stared confusedly at their backs. "What is this? Why is everyone just standing around?" he asked as he walked up and tried to look beyond them at what ever was keeping their attention.
"It's Mom," said Oki, "she had another… episode."
"It was a bad one too." Ashley continued as she slowly rubbed her arm.
Jumba gave a nod. "I could tell from all the screaming and slamming of doors. Is amazing the effect that Kioko's tardiness is having on 6-2-4. Not to be sounding unsympathetic to her plight, but is a phenomenon that peaks evil genius curiosity. Would be making fascinating study."
The large alien gave an excited chuckle at the thought, but was halted when Lilo turned around and stuck a scolding finger in his face. "Don't even think about it," she warned, "you are not going to study her like some lab rat in a sick science experiment."
"But she is experiment, my experiment, I can study her whenever I--,"
"I don't want to hear it, Jumba! You're not going to 'study' her and that's final! Do you understand me?"
Jumba held his hands behind his back and averted his eyes in shame. "Yes, Jumba understands."
"Wow, she's becoming more like Great Aunt Nani everyday isn't she?" Kina asked quietly to his siblings.
"Heaven help us all." sighed Oki while Ashley shook her head solemnly.
"What was that?" Nani said as she looked down on the three of them with a suspicious eye.
"Oh nothing, nothing at all." Kina said as he and his siblings all gave big, toothy grins that were more incriminating then innocent.
"All Angel needs right now is to see Kioko again. Even just hearing his voice may help." Lilo said with a glance down the hall toward Stitch and Angel's room.
"Yes, but it has been nearly two years now and we have not heard even tiniest peep from him. There is no way to be telling how long it may be before he sends message." Jumba said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Are you sure he hasn't sent anything? Maybe he sent a message but it got buried under all those junk messages you get about cures for baldness."
Every eye immediately fell upon the scientist while lips curled up in smirks. Jumba kept his focus on the girl, trying to hide in plain site from his own little secret. "Jumba does not know what messages you speak of," the scientist laughed nervously, "but I am being positive that no message has come in from Kioko. Such an important message would not slip by my keen eyes."
Lilo's head and shoulders slumped forward and the smirks around her disappeared. She felt trapped. On one side she had Angel, a beloved member of her ohana, who was suffering from the worst case of separation anxiety she had ever seen. Then on the other side she had Kioko, the cure to that anxiety, who had seemingly forgotten about his promise to return. The solution to their growing problem was obvious and yet she couldn't lay a finger on it. It was a feeling that drove her heart into a frantic storm and yet she remained still on the outside. Getting worked up wouldn't solve anything.
Jumba raised a large, chubby hand and placed it gently on her shoulder. " He'll come back, trust Jumba. You managed to 'Ohana-nize' him enough that he can't stay away forever. As matter of fact, something is telling me we will be hearing from him in soon enough time. And when I do get message from him, I will let everyone know immediately."
Jumba withdrew his hand while Nani walked up next to her sister and placed her hand in the middle of Lilo's back. "You just have to give him a little more time. After all, how many times was he actually on time for anything?" Nani joked in an attempt to put a lighthearted spin on the situation.
Lilo rewarded her older sister's effort with a small laugh, but never looked her in the face. "Come on guys," Nani said to the triplets as she waved her hand toward the stairs, "Lets go finish what your mom started."
"To further ease your worries, Jumba will go check the computers connection to intergalactic net. Just to make sure everything is in working order." Jumba said before turning back toward his room.
Lilo was left standing alone in the hallway after the kids had disappeared down the stairs. She placed her hand against her forehead, fell back into the wall, and looked up toward the ceiling and the sky beyond. She tried to smother the storm in her heart by clenching her eyes closed. When that failed she tried to overwhelm it by screaming in her head. That plan failed as well. What finally broke her focus was the sound of Stitch and Angel's bedroom door creaking open and then quietly clicking shut. Lilo lowered her hand and looked down the hall to see Stitch walking toward her with the same slumped shoulders and head that she had worn just moments earlier.
"How is she?" Lilo asked when Stitch fell back against the wall next to her.
"Her shaking has stopped, she's just sleeping now." Stitch said with a mix of anger and relief to his voice.
"That's good, she could use a nap."
A brief silence fell between the two old friends as each pondered the situation they found themselves in. One would think that someone had just died the way they stood motionless against the wall with their heads hung low.
"Do you think what Ashley said is true?" Stitch said finally.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you really think that Angel looks at Kioko the same way that I look at you?"
"You mean as a friend or like a sibling who's taller and has less fur?" Lilo asked with a smile, but when Stitch just continued to stare into the wall her smile disappeared. "I think she does. I mean we became close when we rescued one another all those years ago, so I suppose it wouldn't be a stretch for her to become close to the guy that saved her."
"I don't know," Stitch looked up at Lilo with his arms folded, "I think even if I had been the one to save her from Hamsterveil, she still would have grown attached to him. I don't know what it is, but it's like they have something in common, some little secret that we don't know about. What ever it is, I can't help but feel that it's connected with the episodes Angel has been having."
"What kind of secret would cause her to practically lose her mind?"
Stitch shrugged and looked back down at the bedroom door. "I have no idea. I just wish there was something that I could do for her. I don't want my Angel to stress herself out like this. Hey, you think if we got some wine into her she'd tell us their secret?" said Stitch with a sudden burst of enthusiasm.
"Congratulations, Stitch," said Lilo with a slightly dumbfounded expression, "you just made the leap from concerned spouse to creepy prier. I didn't know you had it in you."
"Oh come on, it'd work! You know how bubbly and talkative she gets when she's had a few."
"No! My god, Jumba is definitely your creator. Between him wanting to experiment on her and you wanting to get her plastered… I'm beginning to feel even more sorry for her."
"Ok then, how about you use your alchemy to read her mind!" Stitch suggested as he wiggled his fingers in front of his face.
"Alchemy can't do that, you crazy, blue fuzz ball!"
"But I must know the secret!" Stitch yelled as he pulled on his ears in frustration.
Before Stitch knew what happened, Lilo knelt down and slapped him on the nose. "Ow, what was that for?" he asked as he blinked away the tears in his eyes.
"You're going to wake Angel if you keep yelling like that."
"You could have just told me to be quiet, you didn't need to hit me." Stitch's lower lip quivered as he held his nose.
"You're fine, don't be a baby. Just calm down."
Stitch let go of his nose and sighed. "I can't calm down. I'm too worried about Angel."
Lilo put a hand on Stitch's shoulder and pulled him closer. Her hand moved from his shoulder and onto his back, where it started to move in slow, wide circles. "I know you're worried, we all are, but trying to force answers out of her isn't going to help. We don't even know if there are any secrets for her to tell. It may just be that she really, really misses Kioko."
"Kioko, blech," Stitch grumbled as he leaned his head against Lilo's shoulder, "buchi-boo stealing… probably has his own Angel shrine… jerks off to it every night."
"Stitch, that's not nice… and gross too. He's not trying to steal her away from you and before you say anything, she doesn't love him more than you either. They're just really close friends like you and me," Lilo said as she hugged the blue experiment, "I'm sure they have their own secrets, but they're nothing to get worked up about. I mean me and you have secrets that we've never told anyone about, right?"
"Yeah." Stitch smiled.
"So lets let them keep theirs. If there were anything we really needed to know, Angel would tell us." Lilo said with a confident smile.
` At the same moment down the hall, in Stitch and Angel's bedroom, the pink experiment tossed around in bed for a moment. Her teeth clenched and her paws pulled at the covers as if trying to fight back some terrible nightmare. After a moment her writhing settled and she seemed to drift back into peaceful slumber. She rolled over on her side and gave an exhausted sigh, laced with a black mist.
That's the end of chapter 1 of my newest "Three demons" series. Sorry it's taken me so long to get started again, things have been taking up a good portion of my time. I'll try to get the next one up quicker. Please review.