This is the rewritten story of "Assassinating Love", now renamed as "Just One Chance"!

Disclaimer: I don't and never will own Kirby... :(

Chapter One

An Assassin's Job

Assassin's P.O.V.

I promised myself that I would be brave.

I promised myself that I would be strong.

I promised myself that I would do what was right.

I...I broke all of those promises.

BOOM!

I woke up with a jolt, beads of sweat running down my face. I looked out the window and saw the faintest outline of rain falling from the forever dark sky.

"It...it was just a bad dream," I sighed, wiping the sweat off. "I guess that means it's time for me to get up."

I slowly sat up, slid off of the edge of my bed, and walked to the bathroom.

---

When I was ready, I stepped out of the bathroom wearing the casual: a short, black sleeveless shirt, long black pants, black sneakers, and black gloves. My hair stayed the same: black, short, and the entire left side covering my face due to an incident. The only thing that wasn't black on me was my necklace, which I always wore.

I reached up and gently touched my necklace, the fire insignia just barely glowing. The gentle touch to the necklace turned into a squeeze.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm so sorry..."

BOOM!

A streak of lightning cut across the sky, making an enormous sound. I looked up and suddenly remembered what I was supposed to be doing. I exited my bedroom and walked quickly down the hallway.

---

After about five minutes, I came to a large door. I breathed in deeply and pushed it open, taking a few steps inside. The door automatically closed behind me, and I was left in complete darkness. For a few seconds I waited until I could hear a shuffling sound. I closed my eyes and listened to the darkness around me...

"Hello, my dear. Did you have a good rest?" came His voice.

I opened my eyes, and I saw him sitting on his throne. His eyes glowed red with hatred, and his grin spread wide on his face, which couldn't be seen because of the purple hood he used to cover himself with.

"Yes, Dark Dream," I said with absolutely no emotion on my face.

"Good," he said, his voice raspy and horrid. "Because you will be working very hard today."

I remained silent as he pointed one long, bony finger to a door. "Today you shall stay in the training room," he instructed. "For tomorrow, you will have a very crucial mission to attend to."

The training room...the last time I went in there...

I suddenly felt myself choke up and I bit my bottom lip. Dark Dream noticed me and leaned forward, his eyes staring into mine. "Now, what have we here?" he asked, grinning. "Are we having a bit of a breakdown?"

I kept quiet and tried to calm down.

"You'd better control those emotions of yours, my dear. You wouldn't want...them...to suffer, now would you?" Dark Dream told me in a taunting voice as he placed a finger under my chin to raise my head up.

I breathed in shakily and forced myself to keep my face expressionless.

"That's better," Dark Dream said, withdrawing his hand. "Now go on."

I nodded and made my way to the door, opening it and stepping inside.

---

The door closed behind me automatically and I looked around. It was just as I remembered it: a humongous, completely white room. I walked to the middle of the room and exhaled slowly, trying to not let my emotions get the best of me.

"Begin missions easy through hard," I commanded.

Suddenly, the white room turned into a castle-like setting. I heard footsteps coming down the hall and I quickly sank into the nearby shadows, my outfit allowing me to do so perfectly. I waited for a few moments, listening to the footsteps as they came closer and closer. Soon I was able to clearly see the outline of a short man in a neat, unwrinkled business suit carrying a briefcase.

I began to feel a dark feeling inside of me, and I knew at once that was the man I was meant to kill.

I watched him from the shadows, preparing myself. Finally, when he walked past me, I knew it was the time to strike. I emerged from the shadows, and quietly followed behind him until I was close enough. I focused all the energy I had in my hand, and my fist caught fire. The man noticed the unusual amount of light in the hallway and turned around.

That was all he could do before he was lifted up off of the ground and blood splattered all over the stone cold floor.

---

After I had finished all of the levels of training, I ate in the dining hall, returned to my room, and sat down on my bed, looking out the window. It was still raining and the sky remained the same: dark.

I sat on the edge of my bed, the flashbacks entering my mind...

---

"But...but I don't want to kill him! I can't! I...I won't!"

I stood on the easiest level of the training session, my heart pounding at the horrible thing I had to do as the footsteps came near.

"My dear, you must and will do what I say," Dark Dream murmured in the background.

"I won't do it! You...you can't make me!"

"Oh my, such stubborn words...but they don't mean a thing," Dark Dream chuckled. "Remember the deal, Child, remember the deal."

"No!" I cried, tears threatening to flow down my cheeks. "I...I...just...NO!"

Dark Dream continued to laugh. "Very well then, Child. Have it your way. I'll dispose of them right now."

I gasped and I could feel Dark Dream's presence slowly fading away as the footsteps got closer. I looked both left and right, the footsteps getting even louder, my heart beating faster and faster...

"Wait!" I cried into the darkest part of the hallway, where Dark Dream was. "Wait, don't go! I'll...I'll do it! Just don't...don't...hurt...them..."

I could feel his presence was entirely gone, and I felt overwhelmed with negative emotions, but the emotion that took over the most was...anger.

I balled up my hands and clenched my teeth as the footsteps came to a halt. I turned around and there was the person he wanted me to kill: a short man in a neat and unwrinkled suit carrying a briefcase. He looked frightened and he took one step backwards.

"Wh-who are you?" he asked in a shaky voice.

Automatically I responded, "Your greatest nightmare!"

I lunged forward and focused all of my energy on my hands, and they caught fire. The man screamed in pain and in fear as I wrapped my burning hands around his neck, lifted him up into the air and closed my hands around his neck completely, his blood splattering everywhere. His body fell to the floor with his head in my hand. His eyes were rolled to the back of his head, and his mouth was wide open. I threw the head to the floor, set both the head and the body on fire, and watched it burn, a grin spread wide across my face.

As soon as I had watched the body burn to ashes, I felt Dark Dream's presence again.

"I watched the whole thing, my dear," he said, amusement in his voice.

My eyes suddenly widened and my grin disappeared as I looked at the blood that remained on my hands. "Wh-what did you do to me?!" I screamed at the darkness around me, tears falling quickly and freely from my eyes.

"I did absolutely nothing, my dear," he whispered into my ear. "It was all your doing."

I looked back down at my hands, which were trembling and shaking, as well as my whole body. "No...I...I..."

"Tell me, Child, how did you feel when you watched that body burn? Be honest..."

I looked at the blood splattered everywhere and at the remains of the man's body, and I felt extreme guilt as more tears fell from my eyes and as I fell to the ground.

"I...I felt...better..."

"You're not speaking the whole truth, my dear."

My breaths went from shaky, to a whimper, to a sob, and finally to all-out bawling as Dark Dream loomed over me, stroking my hair and chuckling.

"There, there," he whispered. "You will get used to it...because you will stay in here until you can learn to control your emotions, my new assassin, Hikaru Shihibah."

---

I blended into the shadows of the closed factory, not moving an inch.

This wasn't a training mission...this was the real deal. After a week in the training room, Dark Dream decided it would be good to test my new-found skills in a real mission, so he gave me clothing that would help me blend into the darkness so I couldn't be seen.

I kept a sharp eye out for the person I was supposed to kill, my hands ready to murder. Finally, I spotted him through a window which was probably his office on the second floor, since my targeted person was the boss. I looked up and saw a large transporting hook just above a large stack of crates. I jumped up, jumping off of the crates carefully until I could reach the hook. I grabbed onto it and used as much force as I could to ride it down to the office. Once I was just below it, I let go, silently landing on the roof. I jumped down quickly and looked through the window once again to make sure I didn't have any witnesses. I didn't see anything besides a desk and a shelf of books, so I made my way to the front door and knocked it down.

The man turned around and took a step back. I made my hands catch fire, and just as I was going to lunge for his neck, a woman appeared from under the desk, holding a pen. I froze in my tracks, staring at both the woman and the man.

"Who are you?!" the man demanded.

I didn't move.

"Who are you?!" the man demanded again.

I reacted once the man took a step forward. I held up my hands, the flames forming into a bomb. I threw it and I jumped out of the office just as it exploded. I watched for a moment before making my way out of the factory.

---

Three days after my first mission, Dark Dream ordered me to his lair.

"My dear, I hear that you caused quite a bit of damage at the factory," he said.

"Yes, Dark Dream," I said. "I did as you were told."

"Hm...I don't recall saying, "make a name for yourself"."

I squinted my eyes. "Make...a name for myself?"

"Yes. I've received intelligence that you were seen by another person."

"But...how is that possible? I killed both the man you ordered me to, and a woman who happened to be there."

"You killed the man, but not the woman."

My eyes widened. "But...but I used a bomb...they should have both died..."

"Well, apparently the woman somehow survived and described you to the police as: a "Fire Demon"."

I bowed my head. "I failed you..."

I expected Dark Dream to suddenly lash out at me, but instead he spoke, "Well done."

I looked up in surprise, but then I made my face go blank. "Well...done?"

"Yes. Well done. Now people have a reason to fear. They will not rest because of that fear. They will suffer from that fear. The suffering...it pleases me."

Just as he enjoys seeing me suffer...

---

I covered my face with my hands, whimpering, but not crying. After a while I uncovered my face, changed into a pair of pajamas and curled up into a ball on my bed, preparing to have another nightmare that would wake me up for the next day...the day of the crucial mission.

End of Chapter One