Ah, the lovely scent of winter morning. What a beautiful day today is, even if I can only see it from behind this cursed room's window. It makes me remember those days when I was still beside him; when I could talk to him every time I want, when I could hug him from behind no matter what time it was.
Silvery white snow covered all the way to the school building. From tree branches, ground, everywhere—even on top of my dear friend's head, on which I laughed amusedly for. Before he started to explode calmly (I didn't know how he managed to do it; he just stay still on his place with his fists clenched, muttering something veeery slowly, and then, when he opened his eyes, Karu Barsburg's trademark death glare already there), I brushed the falling snow on top of his head and he became calmer instead. Without any intention of exploding, of course.
"'Thank you very much', I suppose?" I said jokingly, knowing he had said it silently via his gaze toward me. He shrugged his shoulder, and then continued to walk beside me as if nothing ever happened. "You have my gratitude, then."
I love to see his smile. I love it when he smiled at me—only at me, myself, and I alone—and held my hand tight while walking to the school from the dormitory together. I love it when he chuckled next to me with his cheeks blushing faintly.
That's why I love to stay beside him so much.
And those were my main reasons too for taking away his sight from him.
Why should I let him see the current condition of mine (rotten inside-out, yearning for blood, getting crazier and crazier until no one could stop me anymore) if I didn't want to make him sad? Why should I let him, the one who knew me better than myself, see the worst of me when he had known it before?
I don't want to hurt him further.
But the other 'me', who's yearning for revenge and bloodbath…
…someone, please don't let me meet him again!
Oo—O—oO
Darkness Within
Oo—O—oO
Genre: Crime – Mystery
Rate: T
Warning: death charas, lots of shonen ai hints, grammar mistake(s). AU. Different POV for every chapter, everyone. And beware—some of them are unreliable one. #spoiler
Disclaimer: 07-Ghost still belongs to Yukino Ichihara and Yuki Amemiya, sadly. TvT)/
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Chapter 1
~It was in the Mirror~
Oo—O—oO
"Do you know the most interesting part from 'Snow White' story?"
The dark-haired teen who sat next to me stared at me blankly. He still had his spoon in front of his mouth, and he looked really cute that way. Ah, I wanted to hug him~! But he wouldn't be happy for that—I'd only get a punch as a reward. And I didn't want him to hit me like that! I didn't want to make my dear Karu mad!
"What. You're 15 now and you still asked me about that thing?" he said bluntly. But it didn't matter; I know it's just a way for him to hide his curiosity. "And don't say that you're asking me about that thing just because you're bored, you loafer." After he said that, he took a spoon full of rice and ate it silently without looking at me again. I grinned at him while stirring my morning tea. "Well, yeah. Kinda. But not that bored, so don't hit me with that fork of yours, Karu. It hurts."
He put his fork back to its former place again before looking at me with his dark, yet beautiful amethyst eyes. "Okay, then. I think I have no other choice but to amuse you with my opinion." I nodded happily and drank my tea. It was sweet and delicious. While Karu had his own breakfast style (consisted of rice, a fried egg, some vegetables, and a cup of black coffee—weird combination, I know), I have my own menu too. Simpler than his; just consisted of some bread with chocolate jam. I didn't drink coffee, so I made tea instead. That's the profit from woke up earlier than everyone in this dorm; you could use the kitchen and make your own breakfast.
"It's the mirror."
"Huh?"
"You know, the talking mirror?"
Ah. That one. "Yes, I do. What's the exciting part about that?"
"Well… I just feel it's amusing when something told you about things you don't know. Creepy too, it is," he said calmly with his eyes focused on me. "What about you? You must have your own reason for asking that to me."
He really knew me better than anyone else, didn't he?
"There're two things that I think as 'exciting part' from that story," I answered with my index and middle finger shown. "First one is how Snow White punished her wicked stepmother—"
"—got a feeling that it has something to do with gore narration—"
"—she made her kept dancing with a pair of heated iron shoes in front of public."
"That's it. My premonition always become true whenever you're the one I'm talking to," said him, resisting the urge to regurgitate his breakfast which he ate several seconds ago. I giggled innocently while he was drinking a glass of water. "And then, the second one: it's about the Princess' appearance."
"…huh?" He raised his left eyebrow. I smiled at him before pulled him toward the nearest window, opened it, and took a handful snow from the snowy tree branch. I put my hand, the one which had snow on it, near his palm without touching it. "See, it's similar to you."
He blinked twice. It seemed like I had to explain it to him… "Do you know the description of Snow White in the story?"
He was thinking for a while with his half-opened gloomy eyes. "Skin white as snow, hair black as night…"
I chuckled. "Then, have you ever see your reflection in the mirror?"
He looked stupefied when he realized what I was trying to say.
"Yes—that's right. The reason why I like it is because of you; she has an almost similar appearance with you."
Karu grumbled for a while, muttering something incoherent again while touching the snow on my hand. "Mine isn't black. It's dark brown. And I'm definitely not a girl."
So he's sulking. His forehead was twitching. "And it's my turn to repeat your question, then: you're 15 now and you're still sulking?"
Another twitches, but I didn't want to end this yet. Not before someone came to the dining hall. I wanted to hold his hand like this for longer time—
[-and to see it covered with blood, scratches, along with his painful face—]
-what was that? What was just…
"Landkarte?"
I looked at him again. This time, with a surprised look on my face. My legs suddenly trembled, and if he didn't support me, I was sure that I'd fall immediately. "H-hey, what's wrong? What's wrong, Landkarte?" he asked worriedly; I could see it clearly. I didn't want to make him worried. I didn't want to. So I told him my first lie for him—a first lie that would soon followed by its crueler fellows. With smile on my face, I replied, "Nothing. Nothing is wrong. I'm okay, Karu."
I didn't feel okay that time, though.
That scary thought… From where did it come?
.
That day, the day where the snow fell heavily until one needed more than a thick jacket to stay healthy, was the day where I knew something wrong had happened with me.
I often blacked out; but I was sure that I didn't faint. I could hear people talking around me, greeted me, and even teacher's voice when I was surrounded by darkness. I didn't remember when did I got it for the first time, but I did remember what happened before my 'withdrawal'.
There was a group of senior, talking about my dear comrade in a corner with hateful look on their face. I couldn't hear it properly, but I was sure that they're talking about 'poison'. 'Cyanide', 'digitalin', 'hyosicine', and 'morphine'* were words that I heard clearly. I dared myself to peek from behind the wall, and I recognized one of them as Karu's distant relative. The one with long light wavy hair and envious eyes; 'Wolfram' was his name. Suited him best, since even the foulest student in this school knew it's better not to make a mess with him once in life.
"And it seems like we have a rat eavesdropping our conversation, Wolfram."
/Oh crap. I've been caught!/ That was what I thought at the time. I was ready to run away and told Karu about this, but someone grabbed my shoulder from behind and forced me to stay still on my place. Fear covered my mind like a thick mist until I couldn't think anything to escape. By the time one of their hand came to my face, darkness had surrounded me. I felt like this body wasn't mine; I felt like I was being controlled by someone else.
Someone who wasn't me, but existed within me.
Someone who smiled—no, grinned—widely and made me shivered.
Creepy. It's scary.
Scary!
["Let me help you to protect him."]
And when I regained my 'consciousness', the first thing I could see was my roommate (not Karu—someone else)'s horrified face.
The way he looked at me reminded me of a child who've seen a boogeyman.
When I took a look around, my eyes widened in shock. Those seniors weren't threatening me anymore; they're lying on the floor, face blue from being hit by someone, and blood splattered all over the floor. I, who was standing in the center of the creepy circle of bodies, could do nothing but frozen in fear.
What had happened? Who hurt them badly until one of them almost died? Who did it?
Before I knew what had happened again, a hand pulled me toward somewhere else—a hand that belonged to my classmate whose stoic face was a match with Karu's. "Come with me; we need to take care of this soon before teacher know it," he said coldly, yet with a hint of worried in his voice. "Hyuuga, clean this mess fast. Do it your own style." If Krowell didn't mention that name, I'd probably never notice about a black-haired teen's presence who stood not too far from my former place. "No problem, Aya-tan**." The teen with glasses saluted with wide grin on his face before doing as what Krowell ordered him.
When we've arrived at the infirmary, he asked me to change my uniform. I just realized that it was a mess too; blood splattered there, but that
wasn't mine. My hands were stained with similar color too, but I didn't remember how or why they could be there while I lost my 'consciousness'. I was terrified, scared half alive of what I probably have done.
"Calm down. You have to change it soon. I'll take care of that, but hurry. We have no time before the bell starts ringing."
I didn't hear him. My mind was full of many things, but they're surrounded by thick mist. I tried to remember them, but a flash of image I didn't want to see appeared instead.
A wide, evil grin that appeared on a face similar to mine. Its eyes were full of malice, and one could tell that they're thirst of blood from a quick glance.
Do you know what's the worst part of it?
"K-Krowell…"
"Yes?"
"If you see your own reflection in a mirror talking back to you while grinning like a psycho… what does it mean?"
He dropped the alcohol bottle he was holding. From his widened amethyst eyes, I knew something terrible was happening to me.
Like, something that would hurt everyone around you, using your body, and acting like you without being known by anyone.
I didn't want Karu to see me like this. I didn't want him to see that side of me. I didn't want to!
Someone… someone—
.
.
/"Hello, Reuen family here."/
"…Mom? Is that you?"
/"Oh my! Landkarte, what happened to you? You sound like you're sick! Are you alright?"/
I smiled sourly. "I don't know. I don't know anything…"
/"Landkarte? Dear?"/
"…can I return to home now, Mom? I… I don't think I can cope up with this kind of situation… I need to go home…"
I didn't know what happened to me. I knew someone would know it better than me, but I didn't want to meet him in this condition. I couldn't.
I had to avoid him before anything bad could happen to him.
I couldn't stay here longer than now.
.
.
To be continued.
A/N:
* List of poisons I read at Agatha Christie's novels. :3
** I use Ayanami's real name here, but Hyuuga has his own nickname for our dear Krowell. So yeah.
So… Can anyone guess what happened with Landkarte, actually? Oh, and by the way, thanks for the reviews! Hope this fic won't be like the one at neighboring fandom. \(TvT)/
