Act I: Deceit
Act I Scene i
With dark hair, a tender smile, and three pairs of white wings, an angel lifts Yuzu and strokes her quivering lips, soothing, "Hush, now. I've seen too many little girls cry." His power is overwhelming, forcing everyone in the vicinity to the ground.
Prostrate, beaten and petrified, Karin watches her sister's eyes flutter closed, seemingly comforted as she falls under the angel's spell, entranced by his soft words. But Karin is not fooled, not taken in — the angel's not an angel at all, only a demon wearing counterfeit wings.
Desperate fear gives Karin just enough power to rise on her knees, just a taste to tease, further proving she's weak and worthless — strong enough to know what's truly happening but too weak to affect the outcome — just like always. Despair flooding her face, Karin tries to form a warning or a plea, but her mouth will not obey because a weight against her windpipe, against everything, strangles her.
No matter how hard she tries, how frantic her need to fight back, Karin can do nothing to defend her sister. Can't even say a word.
But Yuzu manages what Karin cannot; suddenly, her honey eyes open wide and terrified, and she screams her sister's name, begging Karin to run or to stay — plea unclear. And before the deafening shriek fades away, Yuzu begins to dissolve, body and soul, under the lying angel's touch. She seems to glow, lit up from within, comprised of so many colored beads like fireflies. Then, she becomes insubstantial, flicking and transparent, losing dimension. Too soon, she dissipates, just vanishes like nothing. And when she disappears, Yuzu leaves her dainty dress and Mary Jane's behind.
Eleven years to perfect, a single second to consume. One dress and one pair of shoes wasted.
Gone.
Karin watches in silent horror as Yuzu's clothes slip to pavement, unable to do more than cry: bodily surrender she hates. But it doesn't matter now. Karin needn't be strong when the source and purpose of her strength has disappeared. Now, she has lost her twin, so tears fall without shame; Karin breaks her promise not to cry.
Yuzu deserves her tears, deserves anguish and sickness, because Karin broke another, larger promise, a goal as central as breathing: a blood oath to protect her sister.
Karin keels over facedown, the borrowed power to rise abandoning her swiftly. And before she falls unconscious, she prays the demon with wings kills her next.
IDN Bleach
Dedicated to Felia with love and anguish. (The two genres she thought this story should embody.)
~Mare