Title: The Truth of Disbelievers
Rating: R (To be on the safe side... -.-; )
Plot Summary: Melfina, 16 year old high school student is seemingly average girl. After the death of her mother, she is awarded over to her 26-year- old sister, Hilda. Now she lives there along with Hilda's husband, Ron and Ron's younger brother, Harry who just happens to be a mere year older then Mel herself. Things go along fine, aside from the fact that Melfina has developed a crush on Harry and her best friend, Iris, has gained a borderline obsession with the Oujia Board. Soon her world is turned upside down, when her normally dreamless sleep is turned in visions of her own pain and blood...
Disclaimer! : I, in no way shape or form own any characters etc in relation to Outlaw Star. Donations are currently being accepted and the plot is my very own, sad as it may-be, it is still mine. No touchie!
Spider webs of steel hold me in this place of inky blackness, this complete and utter darkness that threatens to swallow me whole. Wincing as I feel my flesh give way, ribbons of blood stream down the length of my naked body, and pinpricks of cold cause goose bumps to cover my pale skin like a fine sheet of ice, making it frozen to the very touch. Tighter and tighter the bonds around me grow, till I feel as though my sturdy bones are to be cut clean through. Gasping and taking a long shuddering breath in absolute pain I throw my head back sharply. Long ebony locks fall as the lightest caress on my now mutilated back, almost as if they are the powerful nine-tails whip; planning to remove every inch of bloody flesh from my stripped body. Black spots dance dizzily along the random places in my vision, like twisted snowflakes in a winters' blizzard. Slowly they grow till there is nothing except them, dancing and twirling; spinning and whirling so that there is nothing but them. The tension snaps, my control ripping clear through as a loud, long scream of pain crawls in escape from my soul and takes wing from my lips. To my own ears it sounds purely foreign and fully animalistic, a wildcat forever caught in the jaws of a metal trap, but soon it too is swallowed and taken in by the darkness that holds me prisoner. I am again left alone with nothing more then salty tears of grief that have joined the blood in streams, all the while burning my cuts with their bitter kiss...
"Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased, Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow Raze out the written trouble of the brain And with some sweet oblivious antidote Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff Which weighs upon the heart?" -Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 3-
Chapter One- Haunting Dreams and Fake First Kisses
"Mel! Come on Mel! Wake up or you're going to be late for school, again" A heavy sigh was heard from the figure down the stairs as they moved back to the other room in the spacious apartment that her and two other currently lived in. Returning to the cut-away kitchen, the older woman frowned as she was about to make her way up the stairs, grumbling and muttering under her breath. Her keen sense of hearing caught the sound of a thump and a loudly shouted curse that wasn't commonly used by the younger girl. She shrugged nonchalantly as she returned to the kitchen to finish up on breakfast; what fun would life be if every day was the same? Thump. Good bye warm bed, hello cold floor. This was not the start of a good day. Wriggling slightly on the hard wooden floor of her bedroom, the slim girl curled up in a ball with hopes of regaining the heat that was quickly being taken away from her. Sighing angrily and then growling, her small hands reached down and hurriedly began to try and untangle her long legs from the covers that had her hopelessly trapped. Growling even louder, she almost began to rip at the fabric binds that steadily refused her idea of escape. She was almost at her breaking point when a familiar pair of pale, nearly translucent hands interfered and quickly triumphed where she had very much failed. Feeling the heat of a heavy blush appear on her elegant cheekbones, she ducked her gaze to the covered floor and traced the fingertip of her right forefinger over the embroidered pattern that decorated the top of her bed sheets. Finally feeling the flush recede and her face cool down, she dared to look up and lock eyes with the handsome man with light blue hair that was currently standing above her with an entertained look on his face. Light violet eyes danced with mischief and the corners of his lips twitched as if threatening to turn up at the corners into a full smile. Swallowing heavily she gave him a shaky smile and an appreciative nod.
"Good morning Harry..." Trailing off, she bit down sharply on her lower lip, and then gave a small yelp of surprise when she realized that there was pain. Wincing as the blood swelled and caused her lip to turn a bright cherry red in color, she removed one hand from the cotton bed sheet to feel if she had split her lip. It was playfully swatted aside by a slightly larger hand that took its place and brushed gently against the abused flesh. Running the pad of his thumb in a feather-like caress, Harry cupped the soft curve of her chin with the palm of his hand and in a long drawn out movement, he tilted Melfina's warm chocolate brown gaze to lock with his. Mesmerized and trapped by this gaze, it went unnoticed as the caressing pad made a gently trail from the corner of her lips, upward on the curve of her jawbone and finally coming to rest on the lower slope of her delicate cheekbone. Brushing back and forth, soft as a butterfly's kiss, Melfina could feel every nerve in her entire body tense and go on edge. She parted her lips slightly and darted her small pink tongue out of her mouth to wet her lips, a gasp being drawn as she caught the motion of his eyes following her quick movement.
"Melfina, I..." Nothing else in the entire world seemed to matter other then here and now in that very room. The fact that her crush of one and a half years was kneeling before her and caressing her face and gazing at her in a absolutely loving manner; as if she was the most important object in whole world to him. A spark of unmistakable lust and want had flashed in his eyes as he watched her tongue moisten her lips; that the sixteen-year-old was sure of. Never allowing her gaze to drift away from the boy in front of her for a single second, she waited in abide anticipation as he began to lean down, closing his eyes, till his breath lightly danced across her suddenly dry lips. Drawing closer and closer, she felt her breath get caught in her throat as he drew nearer to her; it was finally happening, what she had been dreaming about for the past year, her reason for being. A dream come true, her prince charming was going to be her first kiss, the one she was going to remember and treasure for the rest of her life. Feeling his breath draw heavier upon her lips, she shut her eyes and waited for the internal explosions and fireworks. But fate would have it another way for the young girl, the inky darkness that was trapped between her lids caused flashbacks of last night memory to rise to the surface from underneath the deep sands of her subconscious mind. Memories of blood and pain and loneliness assaulted her mind and soul and played like a silent slideshow inside her. She watched as her own lips parted in a muted scream. She watched as her own gaze widened and prayed to the heavens for relief from everything. Unable to face it anymore, she tried in vain to pull away and hide inside herself, to run away only to awake and be bound by the very threads she had sought to escape from. Oh God, the pain was something that she would never forget, though she prayed for it with every wish she had ever made on a shooting star for something that now seemed so foolish. A passing grade on a test, more money to spend for allowance, the hope to finally fit in and...for Harry to be her first kiss. God she would give up all of that just to make the pain vanish and never return. Suddenly, the pain receded as quickly as it came. Startled by the sudden relief, the panic rose again as a tall, intimidating presence came into view. The mists of smoky darkness parted from around the figure, as though his aura was of the pure power of light itself. Gazing at him in wonder, soft doe brown eyes took in the sight of the man in front of her, growing even larger as enormous black wings seemingly grew out of the very skin of his tan narrow back till they nearly filled all the space that was between them. Feathers danced gracefully toward her and brushed up against her torn flesh, but instead of the pain of stinging needles, sweet numbness and peace ran swiftly through the veins and upon her skin. Standing still with shock, she slowly took him in, all of him, from the back of his heels to the tiptop of the flames that sat atop his head and all that lay between. The muscles of his back seemed to draw the skin taunt over it and long not fully healed scars were placed randomly along the plains of skin that was almost the same color of frozen amber, painted on him. Trailing downward, taking his form as a whole, his muscular chest came down to toned, almost feminine waist. She was unable to see any lower due to the pair of what look like black cotton pants that clung gently to his frame and hung low on his hip bones. Rips and tears slashed through the top of the fabric and through them she was able to cuts across the top of his skin and raw flesh showing through the breaks, blood that had flowed out now seeped into the pants and formed small halos of redness. Returning her gaze back to the heels of his feet, the bottoms of the pants were slashed and dirtied as if from long term use. Continuing to watch, she gasped in amazement as the savior before her slowly turned to face her head on. Never once tearing her gaze away from him, blue and silver ice seemed to burn into her with a frozen flame. His eyes were the darkest shade of blue that she had ever seen, like the depths of the oceans. Feeling the restriction of invisible bounds being freed, she reached out one hand to him, to try and touch his face, cup his cheek. Her vision began to blur around the edges and the outline of his figure faded into a puddle of fire red, ocean blue and tan leather brown. Desperately, she began to grasp at thin wisps of clear air in the attempt to reach him, but all seemed to fail. Gasping she fought harder to try and reach him. Dropping her hand limply to rest at her side, she resigned herself to the inevitable when something rough in texture but warm by touch brushed against her cheek, a warmth coming around the sharp curve of her jawbone. She quickly darted her gaze upwards to lock with his as his fingertips made one fast pass across the plain of her cheek. She reached up to capture his hand in her own. Chocolate brown eyes widen in horror as her lifeline began to disappear right before her very eyes. Blinking once quickly, all she found left of him was a faint border in the empty darkness where he had stood before her. Moaning as if in physical pain, the once bound figure lunged forward as if possessed and grasped the air. Slumping down, slim sliced around tightly in-circled smooth, toned bloody legs while tucking her chin between the valley of her drawn up knees. Fear grew, developed and multiplied like a disease inside, over-powering and consuming her insides. She closed her eyes and squeezed the lids tightly together as if trying to hide within herself and retreat. Alone, completely and utterly alone, the only warmth she found was from the rapidly cooling blood as it ran rivers across the surface of her fore-arms and legs, and thickly coated the palms of her hands. Unaware and oblivious, Melfina reached to place both hands to cover her eyes to block out the horrors of the world that played like a movie across the back of her eyelids. Sighing softly to herself, her fingertips dropped to rest clenched together and rested in front of her beating heart through the barrier of her chest. Tilting her chin as confusion danced across her chocolate brown depths as cold drops fell like rain on the top of her kneecaps. Rising from her huddled position on the floor, she slid across the distance to knee cautiously in front of the newly appeared pool of silver wisps of water. Gazing down, rosy red lips parted and eyes widen.
"Ah....", It seemed that the air in her lungs was caught at the reflection before her. Four ruby red stripes ran vertically down her face. Starting mid-way on her forehead, trailing over the top of her eyelids and continuing down till they stopped just below her cheekbone. They stood out boldly in contrast against the paleness of her skin, in some parts the thick streak stood out like Native American war paint and in others it ran so thin as though it was the Virgin Mary's tears. Frantically, slim hands rushed to try and wipe away all evidence only to apply more till it seemed that the surface of her face was fully painted with ribbons of rubies. Tighter and tighter, the cord of Melfina's sanity was pulled. Twisting and ripping, yanking and tugging as though caught in a never- ending game of tug-a-war. With neither side willing to give, the cord finally gave and broke in two. A scream echoed shamelessly through the miasma of smoky darkness and rung loudly through the ears of those poor souls that shuttered and quaked in sorrow as it seemed to them the very emblem of pain in its purest form. As quickly as it began, the unconscious howl was silenced and the inky darkness slunk back to where it had come from...
"Ahhh!" A soft scream escaped the lips of the once calm sleeper as she suddenly sat up in bed, her back as straight as a rod, one hand pressed tightly over her rapidly beating heart in a all but vain attempt to slow is quick pace. Inhaling deeply, Melfina turned her gaze from the familiarity of the pattern of her bed sheet to the window across the room. Seeing that the sun had yet to rise from behind the city skyscrapers and touch the night, she pushed back her covers and rose out of bed.
"Akk-"Pushing open her bedroom door, arms full of a clean school uniform and underwear, bare feet padded down the hard wood hallway, wincing and letting out a little gasp under her breath at how cold the floor had become over night. Continuing down to the bathroom, she was careful to tiptoe quietly as she past the doors of both Harry's and Ron and Hilda's room. Flicking on the over head bathroom light, the harshness of it caused her to use her one free hand to try and shield it from stinging her sensitive eyes. Closing the door quietly behind her and creeping over to the shower, she neatly set her clean clothes on a nearby stool before reaching into the shower and twisting the knobs to get the water flowing. Quickly tugging her over-sized baggy light blue skirt and dropped it on the floor, and hooking her thumbs on the thin straps over her panties and slid them to the join the shirt.
Climbing into the shower and firmly tugging the shower curtain closed behind her, Melfina stepped underneath the soothing hot water the rained down from the showerhead above onto her hair and cascading across her shoulders and down her back. Shampooing her hair, and washing the rest of her body before stepping out and toweling, before getting dressed. Braiding her hair down her back and re-hanging the towel back on the rack to dry, Melfina left the bathroom and headed downstairs to enter the living room with adjoining kitchen. From the sliding glass patio window, she could see the sun coming up from behind the towering city. Entering the small, but well decorated kitchen and grabbing the ingredients for breakfast and placing a pan atop the stove for the eggs. Humming softly to herself, Melfina usually was able to cook breakfast with ease , but today she found herself unable to smile as flashes of last night continued to haunt her. Zoning out as her body mindlessly continued making breakfast, chocolate brown eyes became glazed over and stared out aimlessly, boring a hole into the wall placed in front of her. In her mind's eye, the burning red halo in circling around the rising sun brought forth images of a dark night time angel, heaven's castaway brought to her. Before she could stop it, full blown body blue prints laid themselves out in her mind, in a few moments every plain, muscles and angle had been memorized in her mind, stored for later use in fantasies that would haunt her late in the night.
"Mel? Mel?" Hilda entered the room slowly dragging her feet across the tiled kitchen floor, using one closed fist to clear the sleep from her eyes. The other rested on the nearby door frame in hopes of helping her to regain some sort of stability, she still being more then half asleep. Shifting over to her sister worried by the robotic movements being performed in front of the boiling stove. Reaching over, Hilda placed a hand on Melfina's shoulder and was shocked with the young woman jumped as though something had bitten her.
"Hey hey... What's the matter Melfina? Did something happen? Are you ok?"
"No no, nothings wrong. I'm just fine." Answering quickly in hopes of not being questioned any further, her attention returned to preparing food for breakfast. Seeing that she no longer with to talk about the subject any longer, Hilda turned around and started on her way down the hallway toward the bathroom.
"I'm going to take a shower, give a yell when you've finished breakfast of if you need something." Everything was dead silent, only the soft fading footsteps broke through the graveyard. Nothing else was spoken until the noise of retreating footsteps halted and a door closed. Sighing heavily under her breath, Melfina leaned forward and placed both hands on the counter top rim in front of her before laying her forehead in the space between her palms, absorbing the chill of the tile and the relief it gave to her over heated skin and flush appearance. Closing her eyes to block out the nearby blinding sunrise, she soon found the darkness lurking, waiting for her, hunting... Gasping, she felt her heart stop before beginning it's rhythm up once again. Finishing with breakfast, Melfina quickly grabbed a bagel and her cup of hot lemon tea in a portable plastic cup, decorated with the pattern of extremely well crafted roses with interwoven steams and thorns. Sipping the hot tea and heading down the sidewalk toward her school, Galactic Leyline Private Academy. Due to her excellent scores on mid-terms last year, not only was she able to graduate junior high a year earlier, but was given a full paid scholarship to one of the Prestigious schools in the surrounding area. Calmly strolling along and taking her time to gaze into the windows of nearby shops, not really paying attention in which direction she was heading. Taking the last sip from her cup, a quick glance at the cheap worn down watch buckled around her tiny wrist, told her that she was very close to become late for school. To make matters worse for her which further examination of her surroundings, she discovered that she was completely lost in an unknown part of town, unfortunately a not well known part of town. Wandering further along the street in search of something remotely familiar in hopes of being led in the right direction. As she continued on, nothing seemed to fall into place and soon every building and alleyway seemed to look the same and blend together causing her to began to wonder if she was actually going anywhere at all. Sighing heavily through her parted lips, teeth dug firmly into the sore flesh of her already abused lower lip in belief that it would stem the urge to cry at the seemingly absolute hopelessness of her situation. Whimpering as if in pain, the slim figure slumped down on to the cold wet cement with a hard thump, but no acknowledgment was given for the landing. Drawing her knees up to her chest and tightening the band of arms wrapped firmly around her legs, she closed her eyes in some vain hope she could will this problem away. Holding back choked sobs, her shoulders shook with the effort until her entire body quivered. The huddled form took no notice of the figure that came to stand directly in front of her on the sidewalk, only when she was unable to feel the warmth of sun light upon her exposed skin did she finally tilt her gaze upward. Find that all she was able to make out was an outline and silhouette of a man or more like a boy she thought to herself as her eyes strained with the effort to try and make out the features of his face.
"Melfina? Are you ok?" Recognizing a familiar voice, the girl slowly began to uncurl from her protect ball of a shield and noticed that the figure before had crouch down to sit on his heels as he took in her appearance. Without the sun blinding her, she was quickly able to learn who her savior was.
"Jim, Jim Hawking?" A smile danced across his lips seeing that he was remembered by her, his dark blue eyes sparkling.
"Yeah, that's me. What are you doing way out here?" A frown began to form on his face and a concerned aura took over him as he saw the dried salt tracks left on her pale cheeks. Standing back up, he leaned forward to offer her a hand to help her up, clasping her hand firmly when she took it.
"I-... I wasn't paying attention and got lost..." A fake smile was quickly pasted on her lips as she formed a fist and gently rapped it against the topside of her head. The frown continued to grow on the young man's face at each word that came out of Melfina's lips. To him, she wasn't the type that usually was forgetful or a daydreamer.
"Melfina, since we already missed the start of school why don't we stop at a friend of mine's place before heading onward toward school. I'll walk back to school and we can enter at lunch?" Waiting for an answer, he was relieved when she nodded in reply.
"Great, it's just this way. Follow me." Quickly leaning forward, she took a hold of his hand and clasped it tightly in both of her own. A heavy flush rose on Jim cheeks and he turned his head around to face her and was about to ask why she had grabbed his hand. But when he locked eyes with her and in her chocolate brown depths he say nothing but pure innocence and childlike fear of being lost. Suddenly a wave of shame came over him at the idea that he had even thought, she had pretend to get lost in hopes of drawing attention to herself like most of the to other girls at the academy. Spoiled brats most of them had been born with silver spoons in their mouths and got more money out of their parents then he got in a year of hard work, he thought bitterly.
"We're almost there..." He continued to lead her toward a even more banged up part of town where broken windows, pealing paint and graffiti were a regular sighting, her grip on his hand tightened even more. Brown eyes darted around nervously from place to place as if she was waiting for something to jump out at her. Upon reaching a decently roughed up red door with a title roughly painted in white paint on the upper top.
"Starwind and Hawking Enterprises?" Only allowing one hand to release Jim's, Melfina ran the fingertips of her loose hand over the surface of the door, pale fingers tracking the letters as if to remember them for a later date. Leaning forward, the blond reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys, unlocking the door and pushing it open. Allowing her to enter first and returning his attention to the door to re-lock, he nearly dropped his keys that the sound of female gasp. Upon turning around he was greeted with the sight of Gene, dressed in a loose pair of black draw-string cotton pants, dropping a towel and jumping a few feet off the ground. Quickly moving his gaze to Melfina, he was shocked not only to see her drop to her knees, both hands covering her mouth, but her normal soft brown eyes had turned dark in fear and disbelief. Her face became rapidly pale and she could feel the blood drain from her face, a dizzying feeling came over her. One hand dropped from being pressed against her lips to resting palm down on the hardwood floor, supporting her weight as her whole body seemed as though it was about to give out on her. In the background, she could here the sounds of shouting between two different people. On the verge of submitting to the darkness, her eyes opened one last time only to see ice blue eyes as though straight from her dream before she gave into the urge and feel limp to the floor...
A/N: This is the first chaptered fic I am attempting in quite a long time. Most of the time I stick to One Shots, but this idea refused to go away and leave me alone, so finally I gave into the urging of my muses and decided to write it, little did I know that would be the easiest part of this story's rough childhood. Only Goddess knows how many ideas bounced in my mind and now many routes this plot could have taken. I'm still confused on how to enter some characters in, but I guess I'll just listen to the reviews and take it from there... Please r&r! They make my world go round! I would also like to once again thank my beta, JazzyCheetah, you know that you make my world go round as well! Lol!