Hi! Welcome to Now Full, Now Dark, my new story. I had this idea on the bus on the way home from school yesterday and I realized how much I needed this to happen. Please enjoy :)
I do not own any of the characters or the world that this story is set in.
xx thefinalpaige19 xx
WARNING: This story gets a little dark around chapter 7. I kept it in teen because it's nothing that you wouldn't see in a YA book or TV show, but sensitive readers might want to choose another fic.
Ichigo walked along the beach, her long, autumn jacket billowing out behind her in the breeze. She wore her thick, red hair in her trademark pigtails and a smile was on her face. There was nothing more satisfying than a walk on the beach after a peaceful day. No aliens, no chimeras, no nothing. If she had many more days like this, she'd get lazy!
Of course, the aliens couldn't allow that.
She was half-expecting it when Pai showed up out of nowhere in front of her. She supposed it was too big an ask for the aliens to give her just one stress-free day…
Ichigo sighed and put a hand to her pendant, ready to get this over with. However, this time she didn't feel the usual exhilaration she usually felt when she changed. She just felt empty - human. What had happened? Why couldn't she transform?
"It isn't going to work like that this time, I'm afraid." Pai said, and drew Ichigo's eyes to the Chimera Anima next to him. It didn't look incredibly impressive, it seemed to be some kind of lobster combined with a cat. It might even have been cute, had its eyes not been so soulless. Ichigo knew better than to judge based on appearance, though, and as she was stuck in human form, this creature could be as weak as it liked and Ichigo would still not be able to beat it. She did the only thing she could do.
She ran.
Unfortunately, running through sand always looks a lot easier in television commercials than is is in real life. The creature chasing her had obviously been built for fast motion on the beach, so it caught up to her in no time. The impact of the Chimera Anima had her sprawling into the sand.
That's going to leave a bruise, she thought. Provided that I'm still alive enough later for one to form.
Ichigo wasn't going to go down without a fight. Quickly, she spun over and leapt to her feet. She aimed a kick at the small creature. However, it was too quick for her slow, human reflexes. It dodged, and she lost her balance. She sprawled across the sand. That was the last thing she saw.
No! Be more careful!
…
You think this is hard for us. To even imagine…
…
The fate of all of us is counting on her.
Ichigo woke strapped to an operating table. Not those old, disgusting ones you see in horror movies. Just the clean ones like at the hospital. The only part of her body she could move was her neck, but a wave of pain crashed into her when she attempted to do so. She wasn't dead, then. Always a plus.
It was then that she saw Pai, looking down at her over a clipboard. "Well done. You survived." He said, looking less than thrilled at the idea.
Ichigo mustered up all the anger and hate she could and directed it at him. "What have you done?" She said, or tried to say. Her voice felt weird, more high-pitched than normal. Pai seemed to understand her.
"I performed an experiment." He responded in a flat voice.
"The subject being?" She inquired, dreading the answer.
"You."
"And what did this experiment consist of?" Ichigo demanded.
"Let's see here." Pai flipped through the stacks of paper in his clipboard. "Ah yes, I decreased your acanthuridae in relation to the balaenoptera acutorostrata of the dasyatis centroura. I kept the apodemus of your sylvaticus the same, but I sharpened the arini in the-"
"In English?" She managed. What on Earth - or whatever planet the aliens were from - had he done to her?
Pai sighed. "Honestly, your silly human minds-" He caught himself mid-sentence and stopped talking. That was weird.
"What have you done?" Ichigo tried to lift her head to look him in the eye.
"What we've done." He repeated. "Ichigo Momomiya, you are no longer a member of the human race." He paused. "You are an alien."
Time seemed to stop, everything slowing around her. Not that there was much moving already anyway. Just Pai, his eyes narrowing, gauging her reaction.
And, of all the responses Ichigo could have given him, she chose the most insane one. She began to laugh.
There was almost pity in Pai's eyes as she laughed so hard her sides hurt. "You're kidding right? I'm an alien. So what - I can fly now? Next thing you'll be telling me I'm half-cat! Oh wait, I already am!" Her giggles grew at her joke, threatening to swallow her up.
"Actually, no you're not. DNA can only be re-shaped so many times before it breaks. The part of you that was Mew Ichigo has been reduced to a size small enough to be inconsequential. You are now only Ichigo Momomiya."
This new piece of information only increased her laughter, turning her hysterical. Her mind refused to wrap itself around it. "So yesterday I was a cat, but today I'm an alien - dear me, my life sure is interesting."
It didn't take long for her giggles to dissolve into tears. Pai just sat there watching, occasionally noting things down on his clipboard. Ichigo couldn't care less about what he was doing, her mind too focuses on her own woes. Would her friends, the Mews, still accept her? Would she even see them again? What about Aoyama-kun?
"Now that you have calmed down a bit, would you like to see what changes you can look forward to?" Pai said after a while.
"Not particularly." Ichigo said, sniffling. She didn't care about anything at all. Besides, it's not like she would have a choice, strapped to the table.
As expected, Pai ignored her. "Your mass has decreased by about 50%, allowing for easier flight. Your eyes can see more, and your skin is more sensitive. This will be overwhelming for a few days, but you will become used to it. You can teleport, though this is a skill that will take years to perfect. Your immune system-"
"I want to go home." Ichigo interrupted him, not caring that she sounded like a petulant child.
"I'm afraid that that is impossible. As I was saying…" Pai brushed her off and continued reciting his list of things that made her a freak, no longer human.
What had he said about teleporting? She couldn't remember, but if she was going to be cursed with… this, then she might as well get something out of it. She concentrated on where she wanted to go. Maybe it would come naturally to her, like being a Mew did… being a Mew….
Pai noticed something wrong and looked up in time to see Ichigo teleport. She saw the panicked look on his face, and then saw nothing at all.
"Shit." Pai cursed, slamming his fist down on where Ichigo Momomiya had been moments ago. How could she have been so stupid? Teleporting, after having been an alien for mere hours.
He supposed, if anyone could survive this, it would be Ichigo. The girl had been the strongest of the Mews, and able to withstand attack after attack. There was no precedent for something like this. He had no idea what she could or couldn't do. The thought was terrifying.
"Pai?" Taruto walked into the room. "I thought you were talking to the old hag. Where is she?"
"I was." He growled. "She teleported away."
The shock on Taruto's face was clear. "But- That's not possible!"
"Well clearly it is possible, because it just happened!" Pai yelled at Taruto, then immediately felt bad. It wasn't Taruto's fault that Ichigo Momomiya was gone, it was Pai's. "Send Kisshu out to search for her. We must find her." He looked directly into Taruto's eyes. "The fate of this world, and all worlds, may very well depend on it."
Ichigo stared at her new self in her bedroom mirror. Even though she wasn't Mew Ichigo - and would never be again - strawberry pink hair framed her face and rested on her eyes. Her eyes - those were pink as well. That must have been a part of her DNA, not those given to her by being a Mew. Her skin was tear-streaked, but a whole lot paler than it used to be. It highlighted her eyes - now a lot brighter and more noticeable than before. New ears poked out from underneath her hair. They curved gently, then came to a point. She hated them.
She hadn't tried to fly yet. That would be too much - a reminder of the horrible fact. The fact that she wasn't human. She continued to repeat this to herself - you're not human you're not human you're not human - but it didn't get any easier to believe.
Her parents were probably worried sick. By some miracle she had managed to teleport herself to her room, when she had locked the door to keep away her parents. How was she going to hide her neon eyes - not to mention her bright pink hair!
She couldn't explain this to anyone. No-one would understand. Her parents and school friends didn't believe in aliens. The Mews fought aliens on a daily basis. And Aoyama-kun…
Not worth thinking about. Ichigo did the only thing she could do. She slipped on a hoodie to mask her hair - sunglasses for her eyes - and slipped out the window into the cold, dark street.
That was really fun to write! Let me know what you think by leaving a review. (And don't worry, Kisshu will be in the next chapter, promise)