I seat up as I look out to see the moon still on the black sky. Why the heck I am awake at this hour? Talking about hour, what time is it? I look over to the clock…you've got to be kidding me. I slap my face thinking what the hell am I doing awake at three in the morning. "Tch," I gasp in as I hold my chest; it's burning. I get up and brush the dress. Yeah accidentally I slept with it on. I stretch and yawn. How the hell did I wake up anyways? Ugh, I rubbed my chest, what the hell is this burning sensation?
"Oh~ Anika~" my eyes widen as I turn to the balcony door. Did it just say… "Hehe, over here~ Anika." What? I go straight through the balcony door and jump off it landing straight on maze that are Cheryl-sama's beloved flowers. I look around, where is that voice coming from? "Here~ here~!" it calls as I follow it's sound down a lane of the maze. I turn the corner of the bush as I grip on the edge to not slip under the speed I was going. I go on in those slippers and white dress which are uncomfortable to run in. I stop to catch my breath and see the way splitting. Glancing at both, I'm at a loss.
"Anika~" I turn to my left just in time to see a faint silhouette going ahead.
"Wait!" I call going left and following the shadow. I didn't even have time before I reached what I think is the center of the maze for there is a fountain with running water. I stop panting to find a girl's figure sitting down on the fountain's edge.
"About time," she says with a cold voice and with a grin on her face. Her face like an angel's, her hair amber and it's eyes "Thought you had forgotten your old self."
"Who are you?" I demand. I reach out for my magnum but remember I left it back in my room. Shit! "How do you know that name?"
"My dear Anika," she said standing up from her sit. "How wouldn't I when we come from the same place?"
"Salem," I call unconsciously.
"Bingo, we've got a winner~" she chuckles. "Yes, it may seem we have something in common, you and I. Nonetheless I'm here to offer an invitation."
"Invitation?" I say not getting her.
"The festival will begin soon," she says going about the fountain. "The Ouroboros will come back from the dead and will attempt the same ritual upon this filth of a world as they did two hundred years ago."
"Ouroboros?" I ask confused. Have I heard that before?
"I'm here as it's ring master, to invite you to join us," she says bowing down and coming back up. "As a witch and fellow illegal contractor you are no different than us. An outcast with a past life that is better of forgotten." She grins giving me chills up my spine, "A past we might like to leave behind yet follows us as our own shadow would. Like yours for example," she says her slim finger pointing at me. "A child who couldn't protect the things she loved because you were infatuated with a boy who used you. Not in a way that'll be consider whorish but used you nonetheless."
I charge at her with my fist enhanced with the power of my soul- with the third strongest color, blue- and go after her. But she dodges it and punctures my elbow and somehow my ankle before grabbing my fist and throwing me back to my place as I land almost safely, scrapping my knees and legs on the process. The things was somehow my right arm below the elbow was in a sizzling pain. I held it with the other as I stood up only to feel the same pain on my left ankle. I kneel onto my right leg looking at her as she grins and giggles.
"Please, sweetheart," she says kneeling in and holding my chin up. "You wouldn't have attacked if you knew exactly what you've been up against. If only you could see things more clearly." I take the hint and as fast as I can while she looks into my eyes my pupils turn white as I see her color. Black. Second strongest yet still stronger than mine. I grit my teeth as her sharp nail peaks my cheek and goes down, "I want to know something however." She finds the hem of my white dress' cleavage; just over my right breast. She starts jesting around the soft fabric as I'm unable to counterattack. "That you," she says still playing with the hem as I grit my teeth at her, her eyes never leaving mine. "Anika Genevieve De la Rosa, who took the liberty of letting go of your original tribal roots and joined the dirt bags that cooperate with Pandora." With a swift jest of her wrist, that sharp nail rips the hem and a little further of my dress. Not caring of my arm and if it kept hurting anymore I grabbed the ripped part and hold it in place from revealing my breast but most importantly that. "Why would you be part of the Cross Serpents?"
"I'm not part of them nor do I cooperate with Pandora. And there's no way in hell that I'll join your Ouroboros show," I say breathing heavily, my body feeling rather up in temperature.
"Ah!" she says grabbing my chin again this time harshly. "But working for them is the same as being their little pet dog!" I suddenly see her eyes get a shade darker. "Your just a little player then. A piece." She snaps her fingers with her free hand as I see the shadow of what looked like an anaconda slither behind her. Eyes red as fresh blood would be. "And a lame piece at that. Peons are something I don't need or want in Ouroboros." I see the anaconda's purplish and black body and it's mouth open wide as the fangs show glimmering with saliva and poison. "I bid you adieu Anika. Both to you and to that other worthless 'Elena' you created along the way." Without a weapon or method to attack, I'm defenseless. I'll die in her hands, but I can't. I don't want to die here.
The sudden screech of pain makes me snap my eyes towards the snake as it falls behind and disintegrates into particles. The girl stepped back with a cut on left shoulder. "You're the Hatter…" she hisses in anger. "Well~" my eyes widen at the sudden familiar voice, "Who's this uninvited guest we have here?"
"Break?" I call out baffled by his sudden appearance.
"Hello~ Elena-san," he says thumping my back with his cane. Well apparently not since he just was placing the sword back into the cane-scabbard. "Don't push me you moron," I call as I balance myself from falling from my right leg. "I'm hurt!"
"Well," she grins as I turn back on her, "Is he your new knight in shining armor? I regret coming here to recruit you. Nevertheless you are useless to me." Without my full body I can't fight back properly.
"I'll have to object to that," Break calls getting the sword back out. "She is legally property of the Rainsworth Household."
"Who the fuck are you calling property?" I yell at him.
"Watch your language," he says smiling at me. "But knowing the invitee knows about me I know she won't attack, now will you Miss?"
"Tch," she says smirking and getting on the fountains edge. "I'll deal with you right here and now. No need for assistance," She snaps her fingers as the anaconda appears coiling behind her.
"She's seriously going after you too?" I call confused. I thought I was her only target!
"Stop, Mirana," I snap my head to the left as I follow the sound of the little girl's voice. At reaching the pinpoint I see a little girl with short wavy blonde hair and a cute frilly pink dress as she approaches the girl; Mirana. "He's not your desired target. If you kill him, you would be only tainting the purity of your soul. A hunter of impure ones."
"What an act," Break says more serious; way more than usual. "Are you mocking me?"
"Don't look at me," Mirana frowns. "It wasn't my idea."
"It was mine," my eyes widened as I looked the way Mirana glanced at as the silhouette of a man came out. The resemblance, that was what shocked me. The same black hair, the same blue eyes; one small difference his right eye red with a depict of a snake eating it's own tail and the dark diamond shape inside the circle. But nonetheless it was the same; it hasn't changed even after two hundred years.
"…Aira…?" I whisper my confusion.
"It's melancholic to see you," he said coldly. "I'd imaging that you had died in the Abyss not long after I threw you in."
"You bastard!" I yell standing back up ignoring the pain of both my limbs as they screamed to me to stop. But I didn't care, he's here. He's alive. I want him dead. I would ahve killed him if it hadn't been that before I could even get close Break blocked my way with his arm. I fight back and used his full body. "Let go of me! Aira! You son of bitch, you're suppose to be dead!"
"Who said so?" he says his voice ringing in my head. Deeper than I remember yet as charming which sickens me to the bone. "I survived the same way you did, by not aging after I turned twenty-one, two hundred years ago."
"You betrayed me!" I yell tears filling up but of the rage building up and pouring over inside me. "You should be dead! I'll kill you myself!"
"Try as much as you want~" Mirana purrs slithering her hands and arms all around him which only boils me even more. "But you'll get nowhere. Even you know that without needing to use those Eclipse Eyes of yours. He's as much as a white class can get. What could a blue class like you do?" She tilts her head on the hole between his neck and head and as she does I can see the same image. A tattoo of a snake eating it's own tail, a diamond inside it. The anaconda starts coiling around them. They're leaving!"Let go of me Break!" I yell again punching and kicking.
"You can't. You'll just get killed," he says calmly but doesn't reach me. Nothing can. Not with Aira still alive. Not with my aunt's murdered and the murderer of my heart still at large. "Bye bye," Mirana said as they faded away. "Anika." And just like that they left. My rage was over the top and all that was there to take it was Break.
"Why did you stop me!" I yell unconscious of myself. "I was going to kill the son of bitch and kill that bitch along with him."
"If it weren't for me you wouldn't have lasted the Chain's attack," he said calmly taking my outbreak with ease.
"No, what I would've had done was slit her throat and burn him just like they burned my aunt!" I yell still. "If you would've just let me go-!"
"If I had let you go you would've died in vain!" he yelled at me catching me off guard and making me flinch. "Is that what you wanted?" he asked calmer.
"I-" I drop to my knees as the sizzling pain on my ankle and arm was even more than burning by now. It came as pounding strokes of pain. "I just want him dead," my voice quivers as my anger subsides slowly.
"Let's take you inside," he said touching my shoulder which made me flinch. "Are you scared?"
I shake my head, "I'm not scared of him or her."
"Then what's making you shake so much," even if he didn't ask it as a question I notice he was right. I hadn't seen how violently I was shaking until he pointed it out. That's when I feel his arms as he picks me up bridal style. Unconsciously I hold the ripped part of my dress close. "A tattoo?" his voice asks as perkily as always. "I thought the only one you had was that of your illegal contract."
I didn't answer for a few minutes until I felt my voice return to me, "It's the Cross Serpent symbol. From a cult who had the information I needed. Took me five years to gain their trust. This was the final step into their archives." Talking about something else made me calm down.
"You did that for information?" he asked confused.
"I want to help those outcasts like myself," I say shiver but of the cold outside. I feel his grip get stronger holding me closer from the cold air. Cold. I remember the glare he gave Mirana when he asked her about mocking him, "Who was…that little girl?"
"An illusion," he said. "That boy must have the Chain by the name of Eris."
"An illusionist, huh?" I ask understanding. "You know that girl then?" He didn't answer.
It stayed quiet after that and even if I hate the silence I didn't reproach. We get to my room as he sits me on my bed. I sit there thinking things over. How my anger took control of me without me realizing it. Of how I let my anger out on Break. And how easy it was for him to calm me down. To calm that beast- that shadow self of mine- hungering for revenge which not even I can sooth.
"I've got one last question for you," he says soft and serious. "Who's Anika Genevieve De la Rosa."
"That was my old name," I say lowly. "My mother's surname, De la Rosa, and my aunt's surname Genevieve. My real name's Anika."
"That's from your time in Salem," he says understanding. "I hope you understand that I will have to report this to Duchess Rainsworth."
What? "No!" I call standing up, regaining the feeling in my leg and arm at this time. "You can't tell her or Shelly-sama or Sharon. Nobody can know about the Cross Serpent or those Ouroboros. Please, Break, I can't bare losing her respect or anyone of theirs!"
"Why? Because you trust them?" he asked.
"No," I say serious. "I said to myself I'd never trust again. It's respect, that's all it is. I can't bare lose that from them."
"Then what you want is for it and what happened tonight to be our little secret," he says.
"If you do I will," I say.
"Are you blackmailing me?" he asks. "If I am not wrong I'm the one with the upper hand here."
"If you tell on me then I'll ask Cheryl-sama about that little girl you refused to answer me about," that shut him up and slapped that stupid grin off his face.
"You are blackmailing me, huh," he says not long before he smiles again. "You're really full of yourself aren't you?" he says stabbing his cane onto my chest pushing me back to lay on my bed. "Such a little girl trying to go against me."
"If you don't want me to know that badly," I say getting myself together. "Then don't say a word. If you won't neither will I."
He stayed there pushing me to the bed, his cane with his weight on me. He then grinned and let his cane slide off me. "You're the most insufferable brat I've met."
"Even," I say thinking I'm getting somewhere, "More than that Vincent Nightray?" He smirks-wait- and bows before me, did I actually win him?"You have my word," he says coming back up. "You say nothing neither will I. Now I'm sure you won't want to rest in that kind of clothes all ripped. How about I change them for you since your injured?" I flush, "No! Hell no! I'm better now so get out!"
"Oh please," he says as I push him out, "There's no need to be modest~"
"Shut the fuck up!" I call getting him finally out and shutting the door in his face. "Good night then~" he says as I hear his footsteps go on. He's so obnoxious. I take my time to change to a proper nightgown and slide back to bed. But I'm unable to sleep until I notice the damping of the pillow under my head, drenched in my silent tears. Why am I crying? Because I know he's alive? Or because I know I should have killed him when I had the chance to.
"Break?" Sharon asks as she gets to his room the door wide open. "Why awake at such hour?" he asks taking his coat off.
"I heard the ruckus outside," she said normally. "I'm pretty sure Grandmother and Mother heard it too."
He chuckles, "What ruckus, Milady?" She looked at him confused yet not showing it. "Would you like me to accompany back to your room."
"There'll be no need for that," she says leaving. He takes his boots off as he lays down on his bed rethinking what happened that night. He's amused at how a girl much younger than him would con him like that. More so when she acted so outraged minutes before. "Those tattoos," he mumbled closing his eyes as he smiled thinking about the situation. "A snake eating it's tail and a snake on a cross. What kind of trouble are in you in, Elena?"