POV
POV I
When I first saw them, I knew something was going to happen. They were just meant to be together. This was the kind of thought I'd had. She was too furious, too hot-headed and he was just too young; too cute for words. But she was the naive one. Yes, she'd always be. I didn't know it at the same. They were just too beautiful for words. Him and her. It felt right.
Too right.
Perfect.
(Slap.)
Breathtaking.
(You're horrible! What are you teaching the poor baby?)
Beautiful.
(Eh?!)
So, so beautiful…
I simply adored this pairing. All other pairings crumbled to dust before them. Not really…But no other pairing could really compare. I eagerly watched every episode of them and sobbed when people insulted her. Why did they? She was beautiful too; full of strength, full of courage. Full of confidence. At least that's what I thought. And he was beautiful too; full of growth, full of inner potential. He wasn't like other men. Not dominant. Just timid.
That was what I thought about him. Nothing could stop them. That's what I had thought. Until I realized with dread that there was something standing in their way.
(That) woman.
That woman stole away his attention with the smallest smiles, with the tiniest hint of high-pitched giggles. And my heart broke. Because really; no one could go against that. Even the most determined person wouldn't be able to steal his attention the way that woman did. But I still hoped. For the pairing. I could continue to hope.
She was strong. She was oblivious. She had to be. I could never wield the strength she had. I had always been a coward. Always, always. He was oblivious too. And strong. He had enough strength to fight off the Varia, Byakuran, and all other sorts of enemies. I envied him. But he was stupid. So, so stupid…
Why could he just admit her feelings for what they were? Those true sincere feelings were being treated like a rotting corpse. That jerk. He was too absorbed in (that) woman. But I would still hope. I still continued to hope. What was wrong with me? They were just characters from a manga. That was all. But they were more than that. She represented all the people in the world who were blindly giving their affections to the person who'd never bother. And he was the one who represented all the people in the world who'd never been able to see what they had right before them. I probably fell in love with them because they were so much like me.
Fools.
That's what they were. She was nonsensical and eccentric, but I liked that. And he was weak- in th beginning at least. I would never be able to have the kind of potential he had. It wasn't fair. Manga characters were always able to improve themselves a short period of time unlike most humans. For us, it would take months. Well, it depended on the person. But I still loved them. I just didn't realize how much till I took on a new identity. Even when I hadn't been particularly fond of them…They had managed to make me write it all out.
Their story flowed through my mind.
And one day at 2 AM in the morning, I was driven by a sudden urge to read some manga. It was the only way I was ever able to make myself fall asleep. Exhausting myself to the point that my eyes felt like they'd burn themselves out from staring at the screen. This was the only way. This is the way it'd always been. It was sad. Even now, as I write, the screen's burning…
But that's not the point. No, it's not. You see, it's never about me. It shouldn't be. Not here. It's about (them.) Always them. Just take a look at my new name. Are you looking? Well done. Now you know. It's about them.
Always them.
A jolt ran through me. Excitement. Wonder. These were the sort of feelings I had. I always had that feeling whenever I read. Not this time. I only felt fear. I get scared easily; and this new character scared me. A lot. I eyed his metal eye mask with distaste. I'd never really liked people with any sort of mask; whether it was a tangible mask or a fake mask put on to veil their true feelings. The new character had a hat with a partially drawn on checkered design. There was a checkered pattern on his right cheek too-
Holy cow, did this person have some kind of infatuation with checker patterns? I sneered at the slight smirk he wore before I quivered underneath my blankets. After enlarging the screen, I could see that he was wearing some kind of dark trench coat. Why was he wearing a trench coat? It probably wasn't for fashion reasons…But my attention went to the scar on his left cheek. It looked so familiar. It was probably because I had a cousin with a similar scar on his left cheek. Probably.
This was getting ridiculous. I was terrified of a mere image. It was sad, but it was true.
You have to admit. This new character was pretty intimidating. And scary, too.
A couple of weeks later, I was huddled in the corner of my bed; buried in a thin pile of blankets. I'd had nightmares at least three times a week. I was terrified to turn off the lights-how could I, when they were my only source of protection against the looming darkness? I was terrified to go use the bathroom-what if the darkness clung to me when I turned off the light?! What would I do if I refused it; if I fought it? I couldn't, I couldn't…My hands reached out and slowly traced out the shape of the dark circles under my eyes. They seemed so…Defined.
I groaned. They did not, under any circumstances, make me seem charming. No. I looked like a tired, scared little fourteen year old girl. Whenever I got scared of something, I'd stay up as late as possible and then turn off the lights, when I'd be too tired to care. When I'd supposedly be too tired to care. But the thing was, I'd still be scared.
The minute the lights were off, I'd dive for the blankets and close my eyes as fast as I could. And then I would hear terrible voices whispering and laughing; trying to make deals with me. But it was all in my head. Of course. I hadn't totally lost my senses. I was just on the verge of losing them. I yawned and looked at the screen of my computer. 12 AM, it read.
I had school and I didn't want the other kids to silently laugh at the sight of my dropping head like the way they had over the past days. It was time to sleep. A thought struck me as I moved the blankets aside so I could wrap them around me. Why did humans have to rest? Why couldn't we just have an endless supply of energy? That way, we wouldn't need sleep. And I wouldn't have to ever turn off the lights. No, that was a ridiculous thought, I realized after a moment. The feeling of having a good night's sleep was the best feeling to wake up to on days of rest.
Which I rarely had. I sat up and leaned over to where the slight switch was. After a deep breath, I was done mentally preparing myself for the onslaught that would attack me as soon as the lights went off. Long ago, I had calculated a timing so well-timed that I could dive under my blankets before thte darkness could reach my vision. The dark scared me.
One…
My fingers trembled.
Two…
My eyes narrowed.
Three.
My fingers fumbled and my eyes widened in shock. Oh, shoot. I was cloaked in darkness and I could immediately hear it. The voices cackled at me and image of every fear I'd ever harbored overwhelmed my mind. I was moving towards the safety of my blankets but something was holding me in place. If I closed my eyes, terrible images would assault me and the voices would only get louder. I'd learned this a long time ago.
But I had to try. I was scared and nothing else mattered. I needed to get rid of it-I needed to hide.
Long ago, I'd learned of a method that would at least fend off some of the voices for a while. I didn't like using it. But it was really the only choice I had now. I delved deep into my mind and brought out a familiar looking battlefield; barren and dark. The ground was made up of rough brown dirt. Gray-tinted trees spiraled out of the earth, reaching for the cloudy bloody red sky they'd never reach. I imagined myself the way I always had; grim and solemn at the prospect of battle. And then the fighting began. I was surrounded by skeletal claws and dark shadows that hissed at me. Without hesitance or uncertainty, I brandished my sword and swung it.
I heard the clink-clank of my armor as I ran and waved my sword around.
And then, the image smashed into a thousand pieces, leaving me with no defenses at all. SO I closed my eyes and felt the rough fabric of the blankets. And then for some reason unknown, I opened my eyes. I trembled and my mind felt like it was being ripped apart through a broken dam. There was no peace. Not a single remnant of common sense.
Just fear.
How could I not?
In the darkness, I was looking in to the beadiest-looking eyes I'd ever seen. They twinkled with humor, but with gruesome, sick humor. I'd seen those eyes before- in the trees during the night, in the car when I was alone in the bathroom when the lights were all off. It couldn't be possible. After a shark intake of breath, I heard something stepping into my mind with dainty steps.
A mad smile.
Giggle, giggle.
.
.
.
"Hello, my ear."
Broke.
Break. My mind-Sanity-Checkers-Triangle…A short laugh escaped my mouth. Sanity. It was all gone. Now all I could see was a tiny deformed image slowly being wrapped up in bandages as the light turned into bright orange butterflies that pecked at me.
No…
("Get away!")
A broken laugh…
Mad. That's what I was now.
I grabbed at my hair and pulled t close. I sniffed the air. Dangerous. That's what it was. It wasn't safe for me to be here. But I had to come here. I…
I paused at the sight of yellow-purple striped butterflies flying about. A giggle escaped my lips. I saw them too often; when I blinked, when I closed my eyes. They were everywhere. That was okay. They would never, ever leave me. I knew that. Now…Where did I have to go? It seemed bright. Too bright. I shied away from the light reflecting off the butterflies' wings. What did I need from the light?
Not even the light had been able to save me. Not now or ever-
("Please, please show mercy!")
A wild cackled sounded in my head, bouncing around the rims of something in my mind. Ah. Sanity. It was targeting what was left of it. Something like that. "Come on then," I crooned as I widened my eyes as prettily as I could. "Come and take it as if you were death. He's trying to steal my life, you know." A giggle escaped my lips, so high-pitched that the butterflies flew away in disturbance. Not all of them. Some of them were still there.
They were always there.
There was a beautiful crash of thunder and a chorus of a hundred butterflies screeching before they crumbled to dust. And they were gone. In their place stood a tall man, plucking some unseen lint off his jacket. Immediately, sanity gripped me as I quivered. Fear. It had returned. I knew this man. "Oh, look at you. Tsk, tsk. Shame on me. IT seems that he got to you before I did."
(He?)
"We should fix you, shouldn't we? Now, then…Come here." The minute his finger extended to touch me, a swarm of butterflies appeared in front of me. I smiled warmly at them. My friends were back. They wrapped around me; their wings tickling me as they beast themselves against my cheeks.
Wrapping around my neck.
"Hi, there."
Digging into my skin for support.
"Do you want to play?"
Choking me ever so slightly…
They landed on my cheeks, my eyelids, my lips, my nose and my ears till I could feel nothing but a dulled flurry of wings. Everything was melting into a yellowish red till it faded to black. Somewhere, I could hear a masculine 'hee-hee' ringing in my ear.
.
.
.
"You must have been mad to have gone looking for me."
(Mad?)
I'd heard that word before when I was younger. I had looked it up once. It wasn't like I didn't understand the word. I just wanted to see it. Mad. [Mad- adjective; mentally disturbed; deranged; insane.] Oh, there had been other meanings too. But none of them quite stood out the way this one did. Mad? Me? Imposs- "Are you awake now?" That voice. I knew that voice. How could I not? He had ruined me.
"Checker Face," I murmured without opening my eyes. I didn't want to open them. I didn't want to see his disgustingly arrogant expression. "But this isn't real," I assured to myself. A hearty laugh escaped from Checker Face. "Are you still saying that? It really is quite unfortunate that he got to you before I could place any barriers. I was looking forward to meeting a sane person, not a child driven mad."
Driven…Mad?
"Would you like me to tell you about the one who drove you mad?" I immediately opened my eyes and found myself staring into a metal eye mask. "Do you have beady eyes?" I asked warily. "What do you think?" Checker Face asked in a smug tone. Memories rushed through my mind like flowing water and I knew that he wasn't the one who'd made me lose my sanity that night. "You helped me earlier-when those butterflies were landing on me."
"More like I got rid of them. You were going to be choked to death and you wouldn't even have noticed. Their master sent them."
I choked on my saliva at this. Looking at Checker Face had me remember; he wasn't even real. This wasn't real. "You're just a 2-D character; you're not even real! You're from a manga-you-"
"I am well aware of my other existences. Think about parallel worlds. That'll give you your answer. I'm quite real. Have you noticed that the butterflies are no longer around? Their master has no claim over you now-lest he comes to give you another personal visit." My mind immediately racked itself for any information on parallel words. In the manga, Byakuran had known about his other forms in the parallel worlds-
(Oh.) Oh. So- (Oh.) Checker Face was like Byakuran. He knew of his other selves that existed in parallel worlds. He knew that one of his parallel selves existed in a manga. So…This Checker Face looked the same as the one in the manga, but he wasn't the Checker Face I'd begun to fear. "Because I saved you, you now owe me."
That brought me out of my reverie. "Then, you owe me too. Because you weren't able to get to me first, that other guy drove me crazy." There was a small pause before he shot me a confident look. "Then, shall we make a contract? I will give you what you want and in return, you shall give me what I want." I bit my lip. Out of the corner of my eye, I swore that I could see a butterfly flying around Checker Face's head.
I trembled and shakily mumbled, 'I thought that you got rid of them."
"Rid of- Oh, I see. I can get rid of it, but will you accept our contract?"
"Yes! Yes! Just get rid of it!" I shrieked, my voice bordering the edge of hysteria. He smirked at me and with a snap of his fingers, made the butterfly disappear in thin air. "Now, let's talk about that contract."
Type. Clatter. Type. Type. Clatter.
.
.
.
Pause.
.
.
.
Backspace button.
…Hit, hit, hit.
And then the sound of nothing but a keyboard being clacked away at.
Sinister looking shadows could be seen in every corner; as if they would break free and target anyone in their sights had the walls not been clinging to them. It was a small room. Small and empty and dark. There were no ceiling lights. There was not a single lamp to be seen. The only source of light in that dark room was radiated from the computer's bright screen.
And sitting in a chair before the computer, was a girl who seemed as still as stone. Unmoving. Her hands were the only signs of life; there was no expression in her foggy eyes. Slowly, the girl's hands typed out a few words.
The.
(Clack. Clack. Clack.)
(Pause.)
2786.
(Press. Press. Press. Press.)
Project.
(Clatter. Clatter. Clack.)
And beyond that room was a checker-faced man smirking at the girl. "That's right. It's a fitting name for you. The 2786 Project."
And the girl continued to type.
(Clatter. Clatter.)
.
.
.
.
(Pause.)
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