I must say, this one was a lot better than my last one...I put our ocs in it and Tei...sob...my oc dies...so anyways, if you don't know what scapegoat means...LOOK. IT. UP. So anyways...enjoy! Some parts I got from songs. I think you know what I mean. ; )
Heavy Wooden Box *REWRITTEN*
Farewell to the bright future.
They put me in a casket right in front of my eyes. Hello to the dark future. The box was dragged, burnt, and is becoming smoke. Dear me over there, no more pain?
Dear me over here, no more smiles?
I watched sadly as my body began to burn to ashes right in front of my lifeless eyes, in front of my family's eyes. But, at least I get to be with my best friend again.
XxxxxXxxxxx
December 25, 12:00 pm
"She's missing?" I asked.
Aiko nodded.
"Yeah, I hadn't seen Anika since yesterday. I already reported to the police though." Aiko said.
Somehow I had a feeling something was wrong.
"When was the last time you saw her?" I asked.
Aiko put her hand to her chin. She was thinking hard.
"I think the last time I saw her, she said she was going out to see somebody...I think her name was Kei? No, Rei? No, that wasn't it either...oh yeah! Tei! Though I never heard a girl named Tei in my life...have you Len?" She asked.
I nodded.
"Thanks Aiko. And Merry Christmas!" I said and ran to the old orphanage where I found Tei.
Oh, and just letting you know, I'm Len Kagamine, 14 years old. I have a best friend named Anika Nobara that I knew since I was 8 years old. A few days ago, I accepted a dare to go into an orphanage that was rumored that scientists used that place to do experiments on kids. Creepy, right? Well I found Tei there.
She was an android that I activated. Now she kept calling me her master. The only people who knew about her were Anika and I.
I walked through an old, creepy building. I went to the back hallway, and slowly opened the door. There, there was a girl with long white hair. Her eyes were closed, and she looked like she was sleeping while standing. There was a sticky-note on her chest, and read, 'DO NOT ACTIVATE.'
Confused, I poked her. She had dust all over her. I actually felt kind've bad for her, seeing that she'd just be in this horrible place, sleeping forever. Looking around more, I saw bloodstains all over, and a bloody butcher knife at her feet. What happened here?
Surely someone who looked as sweet as her couldn't do this? Sighing, I decided not to take any chances and started to walk out of the room when I heard a voice.
"Please activate me! It's cold and dark in here…and I'm lonely! I just want to have a friend! I promise I won't do anything bad~!" The voice said, and I guessed it was the girl.
I had no idea how she did that, but even her voice sounded sweet and innocent. I walked back into the room, and scanned her until I found a button on the back of her neck which was also blood stained, and said, 'ACTIVATE/SHUT DOWN' I pressed the button, and the girl started up. Her arm warmer started to glow, and many buttons appeared. Her clothes started to glow as well, and her eyes fluttered open. They were blood red which creeped me out, but so were Haku's, so why worry about it?
Suddenly, she started speaking with that innocent voice.
"Tei Sukone activated. State: Stable. Voice: Stable. Blood: Stable. Heart: Stable. Movement: Stable. Master: Kagamine Len." She said, and then blinked.
She looked at me with a menacing bloodthirsty look, and I flinched, but then her expression turned into a happy, curious one.
"LEN-KYUN~!" She yelled happily and glomped me.
I looked up and pat her gently on the head, still a bit confused on what just happened.
"Um…who are you?" I asked.
She immediately got off of me.
"Tei Sukone, age 19, android Q!" She said happily.
"Ok…um…Tei…so, you're an android? But you seem so real…" I said.
Tei nodded happily.
"Well, we better work on cleaning you off. How long have you been sitting here?" I asked her.
She put a finger to her chin cutely.
"Um…I don't know…I just remember my old Master looking at me with a horrified expression, someone sneaking up behind me, pressing the button on my neck, and everything went black. It only seemed like a few days before I saw you walk into the room, but I guess it was a lot longer than that due to the state of this old room, now." She said.
Who would be so cruel to shut their creation down and just leave it here? Tei must've read my thoughts, because she glomped me again.
"LEN-KYUN~! You're so kind~!" She exclaimed happily.
Later on, I told Anika about it and we've been visiting Tei every day ever since, keeping her our secret.
I got to the orphanage and went straight to the room where Tei usually is. When I opened the door, I saw something that I shouldn't have.
Anika, laying there in a dried pool of blood. Her eyes were wide with a mix of shock and fear, stunned in death. Her mouth was opened a little where there was a little bit of blood and there was a large, deep gash on her chest. Some of her blood was still fresh. Devastated, I screamed.
I ran to her and shook her, causing some blood to go on me.
"Anika stop acting! This isn't funny! Please, tell me this is just one of your pranks! Say something!" I cried.
I already knew she was gone. Suddenly I heard someone giggle psychotically,
"Oh, Master! I'm glad you saw the surprise!" I looked to the direction of the voice to see Tei.
No, it couldn't be!
"Yes Master, I killed her. It was her punishment for taking you away from me." She admitted, her glowing red eyes had sharingans in them.
"And you'll be blamed for all of this. You know why? It's because nobody except you and this girl knows about Tei Sukone." She said and laughed psychotically.
My instincts kicking in, I ran. I knew Tei was definitely malfunctioning. I heard her voice that sounded more robotic than usual singing behind me,
"Uninstall, Uninstall.
You don't need anyone other than me, right?
So for the others, I will just,
Uninstall.
With these hands of mine, I will remove them all. There is nothing to hesitate about! Uninstall!"
That was right, instead of her saying "I'm going to kill you" like everyone does when they are angry, she says "I'm going to uninstall you" or, just "Die".
I ran out of the woods and right into a police officer. She looked at me questioningly. I remembered I was covered in some of Anika's blood.
"Have you seen this girl?" The police officer asked me, holding a picture of Anika.
Hope rose inside of me. Maybe Tei would still be there. I nodded my head and led the police officer to the orphanage. When we got to the room, there was no trace of Tei anywhere. All that was left was Anika's body.
My eyes widened and I looked at the police officer, who was glaring at me,
"I-It wasn't me! I didn't do it!" I said and started to explain everything to her.
Judging by the look on her face, she didn't believe me. Especially when I said she was an android. Next thing I knew, she handcuffed me and took me into custody.
Meiko had to bail me out, and let me tell you, she wasn't too happy about it. It was silent on the drive home.
"I didn't do it..." I mumbled.
Rin looked at me.
"What?" She asked.
"I didn't do it. I didn't murder her!" I said louder.
Now everyone in the car looked at me.
"Idiot. Of course we know you didn't do it! Whoever was the real culprit, I'll beat them into a pulp." Meiko said. That made me feel relieved.
"So anyways, to lighten the mood, we're going Christmas shopping!" Rin exclaimed.
That's right, today was Christmas. Yet Rin likes to shop for her presents on Christmas day.
We got to the mall and shopped. Of course, Kaito, Gakupo, and I had to carry all the bags. I would've forgotten the incident before if it weren't for some people mumbling how I, a VOCALOID, killed an innocent person. Meiko heard them whispering and gave them death glares.
"Hey, if all of you want to see tomorrow, then shut up!" She said in a loud voice.
They all shut up immediately. We all sweat dropped. When shopping was over, we went straight home.
"Geeze, some people are so irritating!" Rin said as I walked over to the couch.
The bags made my arms sore. I turned on the T.V. It happened to be on the news channel.
'A 13 year old girl named Anika Nobara was murdered on Christmas Eve. Nobody knows who the culprit is but police suspects it to be a VOCALOID named L-" I turned off the TV before they said my name.
Everyone had heard the news report and looked at me sympathetically. The shadows of my bangs covered my eyes.
"Len..." Miku said as she walked over to me.
I stood up.
"I'm going to bed now." I mumbled and quickly rushed into my room where I locked myself in.
There, I grabbed a pillow and buried my face in it.
It hurt me as if I was sucked into the ground that day. I cried alone. I didn't do it - I'm innocent. I thought I'd have another day like always.
XxxxxXxxxxx
December 26, 1:30 pm
"Len! Come on out! You've been in there all day!" Rin called from outside of my room.
I didn't respond. I just lay there on my banana shaped bed under my yellow blankets. I had been like this ever since I cried myself to sleep last night. I heard Rin sigh.
"Fine, if you need us, we'll be at the movies. But, please, come out and eat at least something!" She said.
I heard her footsteps fade away. I didn't get out of bed until I heard the car driving off with a few screeches from the tires and the horn honking. Yup, Meiko's driving. Suddenly my phone rang. I didn't know who it was.
"Hello?" I asked.
My eyes widened when I heard the same robotic voice.
"Master! Aren't you going to come see me now that you have so much more free time? Come on! Tei-chan's very lonely without you, master!" She said with a playful voice.
I gritted my teeth.
"Tei, doesn't Anika's death affect you one bit?" I said to her.
She giggled psychotically.
"Of course not, Master!" She said.
That made me even angrier.
"WHY? BECAUSE YOU'RE USING ME AS A SCAPEGOAT?" I yelled.
Tei playfully sniffled,
"Master's scary when he's angry!" She teased.
The shadows of my bangs covered my eyes again.
"I'll never forgive you Tei...not after what you did to Anika!" I said.
Tei stopped giggling. I could hear her crying on the other end.
"What's so special about that stupid girl?" She asked me.
"Gee, well I don't know. Oh I know! She doesn't kill people and put the blame on their best friends!" I said in a loud voice.
Tei's crying turned into a psychotic laughter,
"Oh Master, you must understand! I only killed her because she was the only obstacle between our love!" Tei said.
Anger boiled inside of me.
"YOU THINK KILLING MY BEST FRIEND IS GOING TO MAKE ME LOVE YOU?" I screamed at her.
Once again, Tei stopped laughing.
"Y-You don't love me?" Tei asked in a shaky voice.
I calmed down a bit,
"Well...I...I liked you before when you were still kind. But now I'm not so sure." I admitted.
"..."
"Tei?"
"...Sayonara, Master." She said in a sad voice.
My eyes widened.
"Tei! What are you going to do? Tei? Tei!" I yelled.
No use, she already hung up. I stared at the phone for a while. My mind was telling me to get to that orphanage, fast.
XxxxxXxxxxx
December 26, 1:35 pm
I ran as fast as I could to the orphanage. I burst through the front doors and ran to the room with the metal door. Fortunately, I went there so many times, I knew which direction. I finally got to the metallic door. On the other side, I heard Tei laughing psychotically but at the same time crying.
I burst through the doors to see Tei sitting there, surrounded by artificial blood, cradling a...detached arm...her arm. It looked like it was ripped right off her body and there were wires sticking out of it. I felt my dinner from last night go up my throat. Luckily, it didn't come out. Tei looked at me.
"Oh, Master! You finally came and visited me!" Tei said smiling as if her arm wasn't torn off.
"TEI! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?" I asked her.
She just smiled a small pained smile.
"I have a favor to ask you." She said as she flicked her wrist and a butcher knife came out.
She handed it to me.
"Uninstall me." She said.
It sounded more like a command than a request. I just stared dumbfounded at her,
"Wh-What? Why?" I asked.
"Because I don't want to live any longer now that Master doesn't love me anymore! Besides, I don't want anyone else to uninstall me other than Master." She said.
I looked at her with disbelief in my eyes.
"Tei, there is no way I'm going to kill you!" I said.
Tei slowly stood up.
"Sorry, Master, I'm afraid you have no choice." She whispered.
She grabbed my hand that had the knife in it, and before I could do anything, she thrusted it into her. It seemed like slow motion when I saw her body fall to the ground. Blood gushed everywhere and on me. I watched, wide eyed as she fell to the ground with a thud and the glow in her red eyes start to fade.
"Sayo...nara...M..aster...oh, and, before...I go...I just wanted to say...it...wasn't my...fault...it was my...creator's fault...I'm...like...th..is..." She managed to say.
The glow in her eyes faded away completely, and they were also glazed over. I collapsed to the ground, dazed at what happened. Suddenly I heard sirens. Great, just great! What perfect timing to just investigate the scene of the crime right now!
Note the sarcasm in my voice. I didn't want to go through that incident again. They'll surely believe I was the murderer now that I was covered in blood and had a knife with my fingerprints on them.
I desperately searched for a place to escape and eventually found an old, rusty, open window that I could easily fit through. I went through the window and ran faster than I ever ran in my entire life. My heart sank when I heard somebody shout.
"You there, stop!" They spotted me, I ran faster, hoping they wouldn't recognize who I was.
I was lucky they didn't have any dogs with them. I ran deeper into the woods with two police officers not far behind. I made a sharp turn and ducked behind a bush.
The police stopped and looked around. My heart was beating so hard I was afraid they might hear it. My heart sank further when I heard them say a little conversation,
"That kid, he was Len Kagamine wasn't he?" Police officer A said.
They recognized me.
"I think he was. He was also covered in blood, you think he murdered somebody?" Police officer B said.
"It's a possibility. I mean, he is a suspect of a murder case." He answered.
Suddenly, a voice was heard through their radio. I couldn't make out what it said,
"Understood. We have to go back; it seems there was another dead body found in there." Police officer A said.
I didn't come out until I couldn't hear them talking or their footsteps anymore. I ran back to the house, good, they aren't home yet. I went into my room again and locked myself in. I changed into my yellow pajamas and hid my bloodstained clothing. I sat in a corner and buried my head in my knees.
XxxxxXxxxxx
December 26, 6:00 pm
"I woke up and looked at the clock; at least 4 hours went by. I sighed and got up from the corner and stretched my stiff muscles. I heard a knocking at the door.
"Len, can you come out? There is a police officer that wants to speak to you." It was Rin's voice.
Looks like they came after all. I gave them no response.
"Len, please! Come out just this once. I'm pretty sure that he'll help you!" Rin said.
Lies. I knew that tone in her voice. I roughly translated it as 'I heard everything from them and I want to hear the story'.
"Len Kagamine, please come out, we need to talk about a certain incident." the police officer said.
Shut up.
"Please Len just come out." Miku's voice.
"This officer says you murdered somebody. Please tell us that it's a lie!" Meiko's voice.
"Shut up." I said in my head.
"Len Kagamine, if you don't come out here, I'll kick the door-"
"SHUT UP!" I yelled, interrupting the police. "I WON'T EVER THINK ABOUT MURDERING SOMEBODY SO...WHY? WHY ARE YOU ACCUSIMG ME! JUST BECAUSE I WAS THERE, JUST BECAUSE MY FINGERPRINTS WERE ON THAT KNIFE...THAT DOESN'T MEAN I KILLED TEI!" I yelled through the door.
The other side was silent. Tears streamed down my face.
"I'm innocent. Why couldn't anybody see that?" I added.
It was silent for a while until I heard Miku sigh.
"Um, officer? Could you maybe come tomorrow? I think Len needs a little more time to himself." She said with her sparkly look that the police officer couldn't resist.
"Alright." He said and left.
I watched the patrol car drive away. The rest of the VOCALOIDS' footsteps faded away. Tears were still streaming down my face and for the 3rd time, I cried myself to sleep.
XxxxxXxxxxx
December 26, 11:00 pm
I woke up again this time; I heard voices from the other room. I pressed my eardrum against the wall as I listened to the conversation.
"What should we do? The officer said that his fingerprints were on that knife, and so did Len." I recognized the voice to be Gakupo's.
"He also said some other police officers saw him run out of that building covered in blood." Luka said.
"We have no choice but to turn him over to the police tomorrow." Meiko said with a sad tone in her voice.
My eyes widened.
"What? No we can't do that! He's my brother!" Rin's voice.
"What other choice do we have?" Miku asked.
No answer.
"We should all go to sleep; it's going to be a long day tomorrow." Kaito suggested.
Even though I couldn't see everyone, I knew they all nodded their heads sadly. My heart shattered. That was it. My only hope was now going to turn me in to the police tomorrow. I couldn't take it anymore.
I dug around for a piece of paper and began to write. After that, I waited until everyone was asleep and snuck out through the window.
XxxxxXxxxxx
December 27, 12:15 pm
Rin's P.O.V
That night when I fell asleep, I expected to dream of chocolate covered oranges to be honest; instead, I had a nightmare.
I was standing on the roof of a building that seemed to be floating in the middle of nowhere. Right in front of me, I saw Len. He had his back turned to me. He didn't have any shoes on. I already knew something was wrong.
Blood dripped down from his head, quickly turning his white shirt into a red color and staining the ground.
"L-Len?" I asked.
Len turned around. His eyes looked hollow and lifeless. He smiled.
"Oh, Rin-chan! Did you find my shoes there? Did you find my letter there?" He asked me.
I looked at him with a confused and frighten expression.
"Wh-What do you mean?" I asked.
He just smiled.
"Rin-chan! Let's play a game! You're it, so try and catch me!" He said.
It only made me more confused.
"Catch me! Rin-chan!" He playfully said.
I stood where I was as he ran away from me. One sentence sent violent chills down my spine,
"Catch me Rin-chan...I'm falling." That made me chase after him.
"Len, wait!" I yelled.
Suddenly, the building crumbled under my feet. The next thing I knew, I was in midair, falling backwards. The empty world I was in suddenly turned into a bright city. There was a sign on the building I seemed to be falling down from.
"C-Crypton?" I asked as I fell down, that was the place where we did recording sessions.
What I saw at the very last moment was the concrete, the sky, and the clouds. I heard a splatting noise, then nothing. I then heard Len's voice.
"Ne, Rin-chan, I hate sad endings, don't you?" I said nothing.
I was stunned at what just happened. I didn't feel any pain! But I guess that's what you expect from a dream.
"Sayonara, Rin-chan." Len said.
The last noise I heard were sirens before I woke up screaming. I kept on screaming and spazzing in my bed until I felt something splash against me...it smelled like...sake? I stopped screaming and opened my eyes. Everyone was crowding around me.
"See? I told you it would make her stop." Meiko said.
I should have known Meiko was the one who splashed sake on me. This time, I didn't care. I looked around.
"Len, where's Len?" I almost yelled.
Everyone looked at each other. I didn't give them a chance to answer as I sprung out of bed and ran to Len's room. The door was still locked, but I didn't care, I kicked it down. Just as I thought, he was nowhere in sight. All there was an open window.
That made me even more scared. I ran out of the room and quickly put on my shoes.
"Rin, just what the hell is going on?" Meiko said.
I didn't answer her as I ran out the door and made a beeline to the Crypton building. Once I got there, I saw police cars there and ambulances. They carried a body that was covered with a bloodstained blanket in a stretcher and loaded it into the hospital car. I ran to a random police officer. She looked at me with a weird expression since I was still in my PJs.
But that didn't matter right now.
"Who got killed?" I asked a police officer.
"I'm sorry miss, but that information's c-"
"WHO GOT KILLED?" I accidentally yelled, tears streaming down my face.
The police looked at me with another weird expression.
"VOCALOID 02, Len Kagamine." She answered.
I stared wide eyed. Then fell to my knees crying my eyes out. I then suddenly remembered something from my dream.
'Did you find my shoes there? Did you find my letter there?' I stopped crying and stood up.
"Miss? Are you okay?" The police officer asked.
I didn't answer and I ran inside the building despite her telling me I wasn't allowed to. He was my brother for Pete's sake! I went inside the elevator and selected the highest floor. Then I ran the rest of the way up.
I slammed the door to the roof opened to see nothing there but a pair of white sneakers on the edge. I also saw a pair of headphones. I ran to them and saw a piece of yellow paper underneath the sneakers so that it wouldn't blow away. I took the piece of paper and read it.
'I'm not bad. It's THOSE people who are bad. I wish that all those members of the organization that created Tei would just die. I haven't really been thinking about mankind's feelings that much, have I? Yes, you. And, from here on out, please don't be too disturbed by what happened. You have no idea how painful it was. Please, all of you, engrave my death, and continue living. You have no idea how much I cried. Also, from here on out, I bet you won't even think about what happened. How could you? Did you not see how I died? What about mankind's dignity, huh? You probably can't feel any emotions at all anyways. To live in this society, you NEED to be properly prepared. But I don't have that kind of preparation. How can you ever forgive me, Rin, Miku, everyone...I wasn't evil, the evil is THOSE people. It's because of THOSE people's adversities that I died. The adults didn't help me at all, so I died. What do you think about that? I died because of the police, but in the end, it was mankind's entire fault. Why didn't they help me? I guess it's because it was too troublesome to do so. Please, all of you, engrave my death, and keep living. And, from here on out, please don't be too disturbed by what happened.
-Len
P.S Happy birthday...Rin.'
I stared at the letter. My hands shook and I cried. He said all that and then he says happy birthday to me? I cried harder and harder and let out an anguished scream.
XxxxxXxxxxx
January 12, 2012
Narrarator's P.O.V
Len watched silently as the VOCALOIDS rehearsed for their next concert. It had been weeks since he had died and they had his and Anika's funeral. Now Rin was singing a song dedicated to him called "Heavy Wooden Box". It was short, but sad. He missed those days.
"They're really giving it all they got for this concert." Anika said as she sat next to him.
Len looked at her.
"I'm sorry it had to be this way. If I hadn't gone, you would-" Anika started until Len stopped her.
"Forget about the past. You can never change it. Besides, it was my fault. I shouldn't have accepted the dare." Len said.
Anika stared sympathetically at him,
"Len...well then this makes it both our fault." She said as Miku began to sing "World Is Mine".
Len laughed. They both watched as the VOCALOIDS sang.
"I'm relieved...they didn't let my death get in the way of what we all loved to do the most." Len said.
Anika nodded.
"It's because they all understand that no matter where they are, you'll always be with them. That's why they dedicated this concert to you." She replied.
Len looked sad as Rin began singing "Meltdown".
"I guess you're right." He said.
Rehearsal ended and Anika stood up and extended her hand,
"Shall we go?" She asked.
Len nodded and took her hand and they both disappeared.
Before Rin left, she felt a gust of wind. She looked over to the empty audience. She had a sad look on her face,
"Len..." She mumbled.
"Rin! Come on! They have leek flavored lollipops!" Miku yelled, excited.
Rin looked at her with a smile on her face,
"Coming!" She said as she ran to Miku.
Before she left the stage, she took one final glance at the empty audience and walked off,
"Ne, Len-kun, I hate sad endings too."