'What is this?'
I looked around at my surroundings. I was in a large forest comprised of scraggly trees with no leaves, no grass, and a deep purple sky. It didn't make any sense. The last thing I remembered was being in my room.
I sighed and kicked at the ground, then watched as the dust I kicked up vanished into the stuffy air, "Well this is inconvenient…"
It could be a dream- or a nightmare- but if it was, I figured I would wake up soon enough. Lilica was good at hypnotizing people, so she may have hypnotized me. But it didn't feel right. I wandered around the area, dragging my feet. I felt terribly drained, as if I had been running a marathon, and could barely hold myself up. I sighed again, then leaned against a nearby stump and allowed myself to slip into what I believed to be a deep sleep.
"We've got one," Miyok grinned at his success at he approached his boss with pride, "The other one may not be quite as easy to snatch, but we do have one of them. More specifically, we got the older one."
He bowed slightly, his tiny frame floating several feet away from his boss' chair as Jion shifted the unconscious Nina higher up on his shoulder.
Seemingly unsatisfied, the man stood, his entire body now enshrouded in shadows, "Why did you not bring the both of them?"
"Well, sir," Miyok stammered, now afraid of the man before him, "We encountered a slight issue. When we snuck into the house, we found it riddled with traps, and encountered some minor setbacks. There were spirit detectives there, sir, and…
"WHAT?!" The man's voice boomed in the large marble room, echoing throughout the castle, "What did you do to attract the spirit detectives?! I should have you destroyed!"
A glowing white flame enveloped his body as he simmered angrily. He took a step forward, and Miyok retreated to his companion.
"Sir, we didn't attract them," Jion muttered softly, "We weren't aware of their presence until we saw them, and even then, we hadn't known they would be there. It could have been a coincidence, since we didn't make ourselves known until we went to take the sisters from the house."
The two demons watched at the flame slowly started to dissipate, "At least they're more of a nuisance than a problem… Make sure Nina is secured in a room. Chain her to something in one of the rooms; preferably in the left wing. Keep her comfortable, and don't forget to bring her food and drink. Do not speak with her, and make sure she had access to fresh clothes and the bathing area. I will be paying her a visit soon, so make sure she is dressed appropriately and fed properly."
"Why such gracious treatment, sir?" Miyok questioned, his curiosity showing in his voice, "She is a prisoner, is she not?"
"That is for me to worry about," came the irritated response, "Do as I say. Do not leave the castle again until I bring word to you."
The two bowed and said in unison, "As you wish, sir," then they turned and left the large room.
'BRING BACK MY SISTER, GOD DAMMIT!'
The letters were written, quite large, on the white board in the living room. Hiei was holding the hysterical Lilica down as she thrashed against his grip, her face nearly red with rage, and her eyes closed and flooded with tears. Her cries were silent and uncontrollable.
"Calm down, Lilica," Kurama placed a hand on her shoulder, "We'll find your sister and bring her back to you. Don't worry, everything will be fine."
She opened her eyes and stared at Kurama furiously, but calmed herself soon after. As she slowly settled down and stopped thrashing in painfully angry silence, Hiei released her arms then crossed his own, "So what's the plan?"
"Well we obviously need to pay a visit to the Spirit World," Yusuke muttered under his breath, "and have a sit-down with Koenma. I'm sure his pacifier exploded over the situation." He chuckled at his own joke, and then shouted, "OW!" as Kuwabara punched him in the back of the head.
"Stop it, you two," Kurama snapped in a harsh tone, "This isn't the time for joking or playing around. We need to find Nina as soon as possible."
Lilica, her face now stained with dry tears, erased her accusations from her board and wrote, 'I'm coming with you. I know you said you wanted us on your side; well I want to be on your side. If we can't find my sister, or if we find her and she is dead, I swear to you I will be your worst enemy.'
It felt as though it had been forever since I woke up earlier in the strange forest, so I finally opened my eyes, and looked at my watch. It still read the same time, but now it had a cracked screen. The stupid thing wasn't very durable anyway, but what had caused it to break? I shook my head and gasped, now aware of my surroundings. I wasn't in my room or the creepy forest. Now I was sitting up on a massive bed with white sheets with a heavy chain around my ankle.
Was this a dream? I hoped so since my clothes had also been changed. Rather than the light blue jeans and red t-shirt I had favoured on Friday night, I was wearing a long silver gown that brushed my ankles, my shoes and socks were gone, and there was also a small red pendant around my neck; the only different source of colour in the room.
I placed my fingers on the pendant and gazed around the room. It seemed everything was either silver or white, with the very rare pitch black item cut in half by even more white or silver. Even the door was silver.
Wait… The door… I walked towards the door, and when the chain wouldn't let me go further, I stretched as far as possible to reach the knob.
'Just a little further…'
After a moment, I lost my balance and crashed onto the floor, utterly defeated. Of course I wouldn't be able to reach the damned door knob. As long as I was chained, they wouldn't even need to lock it.
But who were 'they'?
Immediately, I thought of the monsters. I couldn't completely discredit the idea that two monsters abducted me from my home, but it still seemed absurd. I couldn't be dreaming either, since the feeling of the chain around my ankle felt too real, as did the fall to the floor. But if two monsters took me, why was I put in such a lavish room?
I began exploring the room, testing where I could go with the length of chain I was allowed. I made it to the white wardrobe to the left of the bed -which was packed with nothing but white, silver, or silver-black and white-black gowns similar to the one I was wearing-, the locked window just a few feet from the wardrobe –which was locked from the outside-, a door that led to a small bathroom- in which I could reach the bath, toilet, and sink but not the small window in the corner-, a white desk with writing materials, books and a small chair, and finally a gorgeous silver dresser with a massive mirror resting on top of it. The top of the dresser had neatly organized make-ups (which were all silver, white, or black shades), combs, brushes, and smaller hand-held mirrors. Inside the drawers were undergarments in the same colours as the gowns in the wardrobe. At least they were normal cotton underwear, rather than perverted laced thongs or lingerie.
I flinched as the door opened. The tiny monster flew in, his miniscule hands carrying a massive tray (well massive to him, anyway) with food and a glass of water. He gently set it down on the desk.
"Where am I?" I questioned, "Why am I here?"
The monster silently organized the meal on the desk, which was comprised of an apple and a nicely cut club-style sandwich, then picked up the too-big tray and began to fly out of the room.
"Why won't you answer me?"
He slammed the door shut behind him.
I sank to my knees and placed my hands on my face. This couldn't be happening; not to me… Not for real… It had to be a dream.
No matter how much I told myself that though, I still began to cry, and I curled up in a ball next to the desk, slowly nibbling away gratefully at the food and drinking the water.
Lilica was grateful for her extensive behind-the-scenes training for all those years, because without it, she would have fallen behind long ago, and would have needed to be carried. Instead, she kept up with the group effortlessly as they ran through a large office building. She didn't understand why they were in an office building or how they got there, but she didn't care. She was running directly behind Yusuke, who was in the lead, and he seemed to know where he was going.
They stopped in front of a large pair of double-doors and… a woman with blue hair?
The two women stared at each other quizzically.
"Yusuke, who is this?" The blue-haired woman pointed at Lilica, who swatted her finger away angrily.
"Botan, this is Lilica," Yusuke separated the two before they could jump at each other, "Lilica, this is Botan. She's the Grimm Reaper, so to speak."
Lilica glared at Botan, then sighed and held out her hand. It didn't do well to make un-necessary enemies, especially if this woman could help her find her sister.
Botan shook Lilica's outstretched hand and turned to Yusuke, "I take it things didn't go so well?"
Yusuke shook his head and pushed past her to the large set of doors. It was only then that Lilica completely took in her surroundings.
The entire building was filled with multi-coloured monsters in suits, fumbling around with papers and coffee cups as they rushed around a maze of desks and cubicles. They yelled across the area at each other with information or requests, and sometimes tripped over each other.
When Yusuke pushed the doors open, it went from hectic and barely organized to virtually empty and well put-together. She saw a large desk and chair in the middle of the room, and on the walls were several monitors. One of them was showing her class schedule, and next to it was a view of her class going about a normal day.
She flushed angrily as her English teacher collected homework. It seemed to be Friday's feed, since today was Saturday, and she and Kurama were in their usual seats.
She turned her eyes to the large chair, which oddly enough had a large blue monster with yellow hair and a horn in the middle of his head standing next to it. She flinched and hid behind Kurama, who seemed to chuckle under his breath, "He's friendly, don't worry," he whispered as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Despite this, she remained behind him.
When the chair turned around, Lilica couldn't believe her eyes. These guys were taking orders from a TODDLER! Her sister's life was probably hanging in the balance, and they were consulting a toddler for advice?! She clenched her fists, aggravated that she couldn't protest out loud, and simmered silently behind Kurama.
'I guess Yusuke wasn't kidding when he said this guy's pacifier would explode,' Lilica thought angrily as she stared at the large blue pacifier that was stuck in the kid's mouth. He was wearing a too-big blue hat and blue and pink clothes, and his skin was a bit pale. It seemed as though he'd been worrying over something; about what, though, she was unsure.
"You've really done it this time, Yusuke!" the toddler growled, "You weren't supposed to let one of them get taken!"
"Don't get yer diapers in a bunch, Koenma, I'm workin' on it!" Yusuke waved his hand in front of his face and grinned, "I got it under control… Mostly…"
"If you had everything under control, neither one of them would be here, in my office, staring me down as if I'd taken her milk this morning! OGRE! Bring me some milk!" Koenma huffed.
Lilica was dumbfounded. He had gone from frustrated about the predicament to demanding milk in a moment's notice. She watched as the blue monster set a glass of milk on the desk, which was promptly ignored and forgotten about.
"I know why you're here Yusuke, but I'm afraid I can't help you," Koenma sighed as he stood from his chair and walked over to the monitor that had been showing Lilica's class from Friday, "All I know is that Nina is in the Spirit World, but soon after she got here she went off the radar; along with the two demons that took her. I tried to keep an eye on them, but I've had no success."
He clicked a button on a remote, and the screen changed to show Nina's abduction. Lilica turned her head away, not wanting to see what had happened to her sister, but everyone else had their eyes virtually glued to the screen.
Nina put up some struggle, trying her best to evade the demons, but after much thrashing and running around the room, she was eventually knocked out and taken away on the larger demon's shoulder. The video followed them all the way into the Spirit World, into what seemed to be a massive forest, then started to fade away.
"I don't understand why she didn't yell for help, or why we didn't hear objects breaking in the room," Kuwabara muttered as he scratched his head, "It doesn't seem right."
'Nina's very proud,' Lilica wrote on his hand, 'She doesn't like asking for help if she thinks she doesn't have to.'
"She probably thought she could get away if that's the case," Kurama responded as he read Kuwabara's hand.
Koenma turned toward the group, "You will need to find her as soon as possible. We don't know why they took her, where she is, or anything else. You also have to make sure you don't fail at keeping the younger one safe. We've got one of the two left so far, and I want her to stay out of their hands. Got it?"
"No offense, sir, but Lilica is perfectly capable of handling herself," Kurama stated simply, "She's surprisingly skilled. Hiei said he's seen her practicing every day this week with just about everything you could think of using to defend yourself."
"It doesn't matter," Koenma sighed, "You still need to keep a close eye on her."
Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara nodded, and Hiei crossed his arms. Then, they made their way out of the large room. As they walked, Lilica noticed the group form a small, not-so-obvious circle around her. They pushed through the bustling office spaces and strange demons in suits once more, and suddenly, Lilica found herself standing in her backyard next to her target post. Hiei was leaning against it with his arms still crossed, his eyes closed and a frustrated look on his face.
"Some good that did us," Hiei grumble sarcastically, "We could have gotten that information just by looking around Nina's room. None of that told us anything!"
Lilica flinched. She didn't think Hiei could lose his cool so easily, and she thought he must have been hiding his frustration this entire time. He had remained quiet in the toddler's office, though it seemed he was close to saying something on multiple occasions. It seemed strange to her that he kept himself quiet.
She shrugged off the thought and made her way inside, noting that the group followed closely behind her, and made her way into the living room to her white board. Then she wrote, 'We did learn something different, Hiei. They were in a forest, right?'
"It still told us nothing," Hiei grumbled in response, "There are plenty of forests in the Spirit World, and all but a few are quite large. We've got no real starting point."
'So then what's next?' Lilica wrote under her former comment.
"We need to track her down as fast as possible," Kurama stated simply, "We don't know if they aim to hurt her or not."
"We need to find out who's behind all this as well," Hiei grumbled, "It's obvious those two demons were of a lower class. They had to have been working for someone."
"Lilica," Yusuke sat down as he spoke, "Your sister had that dream yesterday. Is that kind of thing normal?"
Lilica thought for a moment, then erased her board and wrote, 'She's had strange dreams since I could remember. Some were very vague, and some were obvious. Momma told her she had premonitions, but we always laughed at the idea of it. It seemed silly.'
"What made your mother think that they were premonitions?" Kurama edged forward on the couch as he watched Lilica carefully.
She erased her previous statement and wrote, 'Well momma was weird anyway. Daddy always said she could do strange things, like pick things up with her mind and fold the clothes as they came out of the drier when she was in a different room. She said a lot of funny things too, so we assumed that she was crazy and would make things up to make us smile.'
"So the ability to use your Spirit Energy with ease runs in the family," Kurama muttered, "It sounds similar to Kuwabara and his sister."
Once again, Lilica erased her white board and wrote, 'I guess so. It wasn't until the house caught on fire that I took momma seriously. After momma and daddy died, I started to train myself so I could be strong enough to protect my sister. She doesn't like violent stuff, so I figured I would be the strong one.'
She shrugged and set her black marker down in favour of a different colour, then erased her statement and wrote, 'We used to pay more attention to her dreams after that, but it didn't stay that way. After a while they were few and far between. The dream she had yesterday was the first one she'd had in about a year, and at the time, we didn't want to do anything about it until we thought we could confirm a few of the details. So she told you about it yesterday to see your reactions. She thought nothing of it after that, but when Kuwabara and Yusuke started acting suspicious, I had a feeling it was real.'
Hiei glared at Yusuke and Kuwabara, who laughed nervously.
"Well," Kurama sighed, "Maybe we can glean some information from some of her past 'premonitions'. Were there any that seemed similar?"
Lilica rolled it over for a moment as she erased the board. She tapped her marker, then nodded and wrote, 'For a year and a half after the fire, Nina kept waking in the middle of the night and screaming about someone she called the 'Half Man.' That was when I started learning how to hypnotize people, so I could get her to sleep without dreaming when she dreamt about him. He scared her almost to death. After that year, though, she stopped dreaming about him.'
"The 'Half Man'?" the group asked all at once.
She erased the board and grabbed the black marker again. She drew a man with long hair, an almost perfectly angled face, and a suit and cape, then drew a line straight down the middle of him. She coloured half of his hair, the opposite side of his face, the opposite side of his neck and so on until she reached his feet, then coloured the eye on the white side of the face black and wrote 'Half Man' underneath his feet.
After a few minutes of silence, she erased the image and wrote, 'He also had pointy teeth and ears, and really sharp fingernails that grew pointed. I just drew what could be seen when he was just standing and not doing anything. He was all black and white; and everything was either black on white or white on black. He was really creepy, from what I saw in her mind during hypnosis, and she was terrified of him. Sometimes she would wake up with scratches on her arms that came from her rubbing the skin raw in her sleep, and found out she believed the Half Man attacked her.'
"Is he a demon?" Kuwabara questioned with a slight tremor in his voice.
"Seems likely," said Hiei, "I've never seen him before, though, nor have I heard of him. It could be a good start though. If we can find this so-called 'Half Man,' we may be able to find Nina. Chances are he doesn't go by that name. It's probably a name a little kid came up with because she was afraid."
"We should get on this as soon as possible," said Kurama, "I'm afraid you may not be able to do most of the investigating though, Lilica. We need to keep you out of danger."
Lilica huffed angrily, and Yusuke interrupted before she started writing and said, "He's right, Lilica. We may have to have you continue about your normal schedule while we search for Nina. We would have to take turns keeping an eye on you though. Obviously we can't have all of us gone looking for information."
"The two that took Nina didn't seem that strong," said Kuwabara, "But we don't wanna take them lightly. And as far as school goes, we'd need someone as smart as Lilica to hold up in classes…"
"In that case it would either be me or Kurama staying here with the kid," Hiei grumbled, "And babysitting isn't really my thing."
Kurama nodded, "I'll do it, especially since we have the same classes anyway."
Lilica had been steaming in the corner the whole time, her marker clenched in white-knuckled fists in front of her white board. She sloppily wrote, 'STOP TALKING ABOUT ME LIKE I'M NOT HERE!' and threw the marker at Yusuke. He dodged it, and, upon noticing the board, laughed nervously.
She quickly erased her statement, grabbed another marker, and wrote, 'I'm still here, obviously, and I'm not a child. I can fight for myself, and I don't need a 'babysitter,' as you say,' she glared at Hiei, 'You may need all four of you to find my sister, so if it would help find her faster, I think all four of you should go. I can handle myself.'
"We know you can fight," Kuwabara stated, "And we know you train hard, but we can't leave you here by yourself."
She erased her former statement and wrote, 'Why not? My sister and I lived alone for YEARS before any of you showed up. I'm pretty sure I can manage by myself.'
"We know that," said Yusuke, now slightly annoyed, "but Koenma specifically said we needed to keep a close eye on you."
'Then take me with you,' Lilica wrote under her previous statement, 'Either you leave me here alone or take me with you. Leaving someone with me will only make things difficult.'
"If we split up, someone would still have to watch you… Just to be safe," Kurama thought aloud, "We have a lot of places to search."
"How about we draw names?" Yusuke chimed, "It's fair, and the one who's name gets drawn can take Lilica with them while they search!"
The majority agreed, though Hiei was reluctant, and soon 8 small pieces of paper were dropped into a hat and mixed. There were two for each one of the guys, just to make it fair. Lilica closed her eyes and stuck her hand in the hat, then pulled it out and read it. With a slight grin, she wrote on the board, 'Hiei.'
"I refuse," Hiei growled, "I'm not some babysitter in a child's little game. There's no way I'm going to drag a kid around the spirit world to hunt for her sister."
"Fair's fair, Hiei," Kurama sighed, "Sorry to say it, but it seems Lilica is your new best friend for the hunt. You may not have agreed to the conditions, but the majority ruled you out."
Hiei snarled and began to head for the back door, and Lilica grabbed his wrist. He turned sharply, fist at the ready to free his wrist, before he realized who had grabbed him. After a few moments of hesitation, Lilica tugged lightly on his arm and smiled. Just behind her, barely visible on the white board, said, 'Please, Hiei? I won't be a bother I promise.'
He relaxed and lowered his fist, then muttered, "Fine," under his breath. Lilica's smile grew wider, "But you had better not slow me down." She nodded in response.
"All right then," said Yusuke, "I think we've wasted enough time here. Let's move out!"
It wasn't too long after I finally got myself to stop crying that I managed to sit at the desk and start doodling on the silvery paper that was stowed inside it. I drew tiny little monsters getting choked out by a chibi version of my sister, as well as some flowers and our house. I was working on a realistic picture of our family before the fire when I heard the door open. I couldn't help but turn around, then I screamed, frozen in place.
There, in the doorway, stood the Half Man; whose face had tormented my dreams for well over a year after the fire; whose claw-like fingernails scratched at my skin, begging for me to pay him full attention; whose voice made me cry as soon as I heard it. I continued to scream.
"SILENCE!" the Half Man shouted. My scream became a soft whimper as tears started welling up behind my eyes.
"Now," said the Half Man, much more calm now, and speaking in his usual, chilly voice, "I'm sure you're wondering why I've brought you here, and I'm sure you miss your sister terribly. Am I correct?"
I nodded, slowly trying my best to slide further away on the chair until my back hit the desk. I opened my mouth, but rather than the words I planned to form, I let out a soft cry for help. The Half Man grinned.
"I can see you still fear me," he said in a sly tone, "And you wouldn't believe how… 'Happy'… that makes me feel."
He took a step closer, and I stood from the chair, sidestepping the desk, and took a step back.
"My dear Nina," I shuddered at my name, "Backing yourself into a corner won't keep you away from me, I can guarantee you that. You're in MY castle this time, not your own imagination. Now I can step closer as I wish, without having to worry about your mind keeping me away with walls and barriers." He took a few more steps, and before I realized it, I was trapped against the wall with his face mere inches away from mine.
"Now, now Nina," he cooed as he placed his hands on the wall beside my shoulders, "I'm not going to hurt you. All you have to do is cooperate with me." His scent filled my nose, and without realizing it, I breathed it in heavily. It was a rich aroma that pleased my senses and made me feel as if I was planting flowers in the back yard; not being tormented by a maniac that haunted my dreams. He noticed as I caught myself, then laughed.
"It seems you lack control over your spiritual energy," he grinned, "else my scent would not calm you so much." He inched closer, placed a soft kiss on my brow, then stepped away, "I need your cooperation Nina, and you WILL give me what I need."
He turned, then walked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. I fell to my knees, disgusted at myself for letting myself get trapped by him, then I shivered as I remembered the cold touch of his disgusting lips on my forehead.
'I just want to go back home,' I thought to myself as I slowly climbed into the bed and covered myself with the massive split-coloured blanket, 'I want to go home, hold my sister, and talk with my friends.'
I cried myself to sleep with some small flicker of hope that I was either dreaming, or that I would be saved by someone. But my dreams had other plans…
I was in the forest again, and standing where I was had the same dismal feeling as before. The sky was overcast with more clouds than what I had seen the last time, but it seemed as though it was trying to clear up.
BOOM!
A massive clap of thunder rang in my ears, pounding at my ear drums as if they were part of the drum line in school. I fell to my knees with my hands over my ears, my vision slightly blurred from the sound, and took a deep breath.
BOOM!
The following was much louder, and almost had me wanting to lay on my stomach with my head in the dirt. I opened my legs just enough to hide my head in between them, and waited for another heart-stopping boom.
But there wasn't one. Instead, there was rain, and lots of it. The downpour was instant, and even after I found refuge under an oddly-shaped rock, I still got soaked to the bone. I curled up as close to the rock as I possibly could, and hugged myself for warmth.
Lilica still wasn't sure how they had gotten into the Spirit World, and had a feeling she would never know, but she followed Hiei diligently and trusted his sense of direction. They had already searched one forest, and had just started on another when the rain began to fall.
"Great," muttered Hiei, "Do you sicken easily?"
Lilica shook her head, but traced on his arm with her finger, 'But I think we should slow down. It's hard for me to see when it's raining this hard.'
"All right," Hiei muttered reluctantly, "Hold onto me, then. I don't need to have you get lost while we wander around this forest. This place gives me a bad feeling."
She did as he said, and grabbed the back of his robe. Once she had a tight grip, he started walking once again. The slowness annoyed him, but it gave him a better opportunity to observe his surroundings. Even though the rain made it a bit more difficult, he could still see a pretty good distance before it got blurry.
For Hiei, the forest felt different from the others in the Spirit World. It felt- and looked- as if it had died long ago and had killed its inhabitants with it. The forest floor was coated with dust and, even as it rained, the dust remained dry and continued to kick up in small clouds. The trees surrounding them were all drained of life and were twisted into odd configurations that seemed to point every which way, confusing the average traveler. Before the storm hit, the sky had been a deep purple colour and had few clouds, but now that the storm was overhead, the sky was almost black, and when he looked up, all he could see were the tiny grey droplets of rain heading for him.
They had been walking for over an hour when Hiei felt something close by. He stopped mid-step, causing Lilica to bump into him, and concentrated on the feeling, "I can sense Nina. She's not too far away, but she's weak. We have to hurry."
He had Lilica jump on his back and began to speed towards the feeling, cutting his way through the seemingly endless downpour and landscape of evil trees.
He found Nina under an odd rock, sitting curled up in a ball with her head between her knees and shaking uncontrollably. But for some reason, it didn't seem real. It looked and felt like Nina, but it was far weaker than normal, and didn't look complete. He felt as Lilica shifted excitedly, but he didn't let her off.
"Be still," he whispered harshly, "I don't think it's really her."
He took a few steps closer, "Is that you, Nina?"
She looked up and smiled, "Thank god you found me! I've had the worst day! I was here earlier, then I was with the Half Man, and somehow I got here again… Wait… Are you real?" She stood, a tired but confused look on her face. She looked as though she'd been crying for a good portion of the time, and she appeared haggard from a combination of wandering and the storm. She was also in a strange dress that was torn and soaked, and her shoes were missing. As she went to take a step towards them, she stumbled, then vanished.
"What the hell?" Hiei set Lilica down, who immediately fell to her knees with a dumbfounded look on her face, "Her energy just completely vanished. She disappeared..."