Out of the Dark
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Rima Mashiro picked up the delicate handle of her teacup with her thumb and forefinger. She sipped her tea with her eyes closed. She concentrated on the taste of the tea, even though she really didn't enjoy this flavor. Her purpose was to ignore the gaze of the purple haired boy on her right.
Nagihiko Fujisaki knew she wasn't looking at him. He wished he had her willpower. She somehow managed to not look at him this whole time. Nagi kept glancing at her, to check if she would look at him. He couldn't get why she was so angry.
Amu looked at the two of her friends, who were silent and looking at everything but each other. Amu didn't get why Rima disliked Nagi. Things had always been a little rocky between them, but they had been acting more like friends lately. This made the tension between them all the odder.
Tadase and Yaya acted like they couldn't feel the electricity in the room. Tadase just continued talking about the boring paperwork that needed to be done. "Amu," he said. "You'll be working with Yuiki-san in filing these essays. Mashiro-san will be working with Fujisaki-san."
There was a sound only described as two teacups being set down purposefully. All eyes turned to Rima and Nagi. Rima looked up at her fellow guardians and said, "I refuse." Amu cringed. Icicles could have hung from those two words. Amu glanced at Nagi. He looked upset by what Rima said. Rima didn't even look at him.
Nagi's chair scraped the floor as he pushed it back. He slammed his hands on the table and cried, "Why are you angry?! You haven't spoken to me or looked at me for three days! Tell me what I did wrong this time?" Rima finally turned and met his gaze. Rima icily replied with, "Why is it any of your business why I'm angry with you?"
"Rima, we're friends. I think Amu wants to know too."
Amu looked at Rima. Rima's gaze fell downward. She felt annoyed and sad at the same time. Rima stood up and walked off. Amu watched Rima walk away with her head down. Nagi sagged back into his chair. "I don't get why she gets angry with me," he said. Amu nodded. She didn't get it either. Rima always objected if Nagi came with them somewhere. She wondered if her friend was jealous. But why should she be?
Rima marched off down the path. She didn't know where she was going, but that didn't matter. Kusukusu flew behind, crying, "Rima! Rima! Look, funny face!" Kusukusu pulled her cheeks and stuck out her tongue. Rima ignored it. She was too angry. The reason she was angry at Nagi was that he was a best friend stealer. He always tagged along whenever Rima and Amu went somewhere. She knew that Nagi had been Amu's best friend once. That was a year ago though. I'm Amu's friend now, she thought.
She stopped. She heard something. Somebody was crying. Rima approached the trees by the side of the path. There was girl crying underneath a tree. Her head was lying on her knees and her shoulders shook. Rima knelt down. "Are you…?" she murmured. She trailed off when she saw the girl lift her head, her eyes full of tears. "I can't," she sobbed. "I can't make people's dreams come true. Everyone says it's impossible. It is. I can't make people's dreams come true!" Rima flinched. She tried to think of something comforting to say. It wasn't her forte.
Kusukusu shocked Rima by crying, "Watch out! I sense an X egg!" Rima watched as the black egg emerged from the sobbing girl's chest. Kusukusu cried, "Let's call Nagi! We need his help!"
"No we don't! I can handle this!"
Rima Character Transformed into Clown Drop. Kusukusu, from the depths of Rima, said, "How will we purify the X egg without Nagi?" Rima ignored the comment. The egg cracked and hatched. A little X character burst out. It cried out, in a grating high pitched voice, "Let me make your dreams come true!" The X character grew larger and sprinkled something that looked like glitter down on the girl. She slumped over and became unconscious.
The X character blasted a huge stream of dark energy at Rima. She jumped to the side, dodging the blast of energy by a hair. "Look out Rima!" cried Kusukusu. The warning came too late. The dark energy hit Rima full on. She screamed and fell over.
The X character laughed and flew away. Running up the path were the guardians in their character transformations. Nagi was in front, as Yamoto Maihime. "Are you sure the X egg we sensed is here?" he said. Then his gaze fell upon Rima. The guardians dashed over. Tadase looked over at the girl. She was still out, but she seemed fine. Amu, who was Amulet Heart, bent down and looked at the two halves of eggshell on the ground. "It looks like an X character hatched. I think it flew off," she said. "Tadase and I will go after it. You guys stay here and take care of Rima." She and Tadase ran in the direction the X egg flew off in.
Yaya and Nagi came out of their transformations. Nagi dropped down beside Rima and gently shook her. "Rima?" he said. "Rima are you alright?" She didn't say anything. Something was wrong. Her body seemed free of injury, but she was very still. "Is she asleep?" asked Yaya. Nagi gently opened up one of Rima's eyes. His breath caught in his throat. Rima's eyes were completely blank. No highlights or pupils. All he could see was her iris color. Yaya held something up. It was Kusukusu's egg. "I think Kusukusu is asleep too," she said. Rima's face looked troubled. She was having a nightmare.
Rima stood in the middle of a dark maze. Tunnels branched off in all directions. "Is this real?" she asked out loud. Her voice echoed emptily around the maze. She started walking off to the right. She couldn't see Kusukusu or anyone else. Where was she?
She stopped. She could see Amu. Amu smiled at her, then turned and started walking off. Rima dashed after her. "Wait!" she called. "Amu, wait!" Amu just kept walking. She kept walking through a wall! Rima stopped. It was an illusion. She was stuck once more. She shivered. "Where am I?" she called. "Is there anyone here?" No one answered. She crouched down hugged her knees. "Anyone?"
Nagi held Rima on his lap, her head supported by his arm. Yaya crouched nearby. She looked like she was on the brink of tears. "What's happening to Rima-tan, Nagi-nii?" she whimpered. Nagi looked down at Rima. He had a theory, but it could be wrong. "I think," he said. "She got attacked by the X character. It put her to sleep. I think she's having a nightmare. One that she can't wake up from." Yaya gasped.
"Th-That's horrible! Yaya hates it whenever Yaya has a bad dream. Right Pepe?"
"Yeah-dechu!"
"What is Rima-tan dreaming right now?"
Nagi shook his head. He had no idea what Rima was dreaming about. He didn't know much about her. What was also puzzling him was how to wake her up. Yaya looked at Nagi and said, "In every fairytale Yaya has read, when a beautiful young maiden falls asleep forever, the prince wakes her up with a kiss!" Nagi's cheeks burned pink as he said, "That's only in fairytales."
Meanwhile, in the nightmare, Rima was trying to find her way out. She had a feeling she was going around in circles. She kept one hand on the left wall as she walked through. She kept seeing Amu walking about like she knew the way out. But she couldn't follow Amu. She had learned that Amu was like swamp gas. It was simply an illusion to get her more lost. Maybe that's because me being her best friend is just an illusion, Rima thought.
Rima heard something. She ran toward the noise. There was someone else in the maze! She was excited. She could get out. She halted. The tunnels branched off in two different ways. Her mother stood in front of one tunnel and her father stood in front of the other. Her father said, "Rima. Come this way. I love you the most." Rima stepped toward her father's tunnel. Her mother called out, "Don't trust him, Rima! Trust me! I love you the most!" Rima went over to her mother.
"Don't trust her! She just wants to lead you away from the exit!"
"He's lying! You can't trust him!"
Rima backed away as her parents started arguing. She turned away and ran. Trust? Was this whole thing about trust? Rima kept running. She ran blindly through the winding, endless tunnels. She couldn't trust anything in the maze. She stopped at a dead end. To think this had all started by getting mad at Nagi. She heard a rumbling sound. She whipped around to see a wall going up behind her. She ran over and tried to push it, but it didn't budge. She was trapped in the dark. She curled into a ball and sobbed, "Somebody, please. I'm scared. It's so dark. I want someone I can trust. Something that isn't an illusion. Please!"
Nagi's eyes widened. He was sure he heard Rima murmur those words. "Rima," he said. "Can you hear me? Tell me if you can hear me?" Rima's eyebrows furrowed. "Nagi?" she murmured.
Rima heard the voice in her dream. Light flowed into the dark room. Rima raised her eyes. Nagi was standing in front of a large hole in the wall. He smiled at her. "Rima," he said. "You can hear me." Rima was silent. It had to be another illusion. "I can't trust you!" she cried. "You're not real!" The space between them jumped. They were farther apart than before. "Rima," said Nagi. "Why are you angry?" Rima wondered why she was angry. "I was jealous," she said, wiping away tears. "I was jealous of you. You were Amu's best friend. You had a whole history that I didn't have. You have all the good qualities I don't have. In fact, I probably don't have any."
"That's not true." Rima looked up. Nagi was still talking to her. "You say that you don't have good qualities. That's not true. You look out for your friends, you make people smile, and you're capable." Rima got to her feet. She wiped away the last of her tears. "You're lying," she mumbled. Nagi's face melted into a look of sincere warmth. "Why lie to a girl I like?" he said. Rima blushed. She knew who to trust. She ran to Nagi and threw her arms around him. Light flooded into the dark. "Wake me up," she whispered.
Nagi looked at Yaya. "How do I wake her up again?" he asked. Yaya jumped up and cried, "You must be her knight in shining armor and kiss her!" Nagi blushed. "Come on!" said Yaya. "Kiss her!" Nagi leaned in. He gently propped Rima up a bit and pressed his lips to hers. They were surprisingly soft. Yaya smiled. It was just like manga.
Rima's eyes opened slowly. Her pupils reappeared and so did the shine of light off her eyes. They no longer looked flat. Nagi leaned away. Rima scrambled up and touched her lips. She turned a bright shade of red. She turned to glare at Nagi and said, "You didn't have to kiss me."
"It was Yaya's idea, not mine." Nagi was red though. Rhythm and Tamari held up Kusukusu's egg as it hatched again. Kusukusu popped out and rubbed her eyes. "What happened?" she yawned. Rima smiled. It was a relief to see Kusukusu there.
Amu and Tadase came running down the path. They were followed by a Guardian Character. She drifted over to the unconscious girl, went back inside her egg and melted back into her chest. She stirred. Amu and Tadase were already changed back. "How have things been here?" asked Amu, as they walked back to the Royal Garden. Rima and Nagi didn't meet each other's eyes. "Are you still fighting?" asked Tadase. Rima looked at Nagi and blushed. Nagi reached out and took her hand. Tadase and Amu blinked at each other. "Did we miss something?" they asked Yaya. She just giggled behind her hand.
Later, Amu asked Rima, "How about we go to the mall tomorrow? Oh, Nagi is coming. His house will be empty tomorrow and his mother doesn't want him to be alone in the house. If you don't want him to…" Rima cut her off by saying, "I'd be happy if he came." Amu was taken by surprise. Rima smiled at her as she walked off. She turned to Nagi, who just smiled innocently and jogged to catch up to Rima.
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Thank for reading. Read and Review please.
MerAngel