Notes: I hate homework. ;; I love this year, really, but HATE the homework I have to do. I'd rather be playing games and the like.

But I kept my promise: update on Friday night.

Oh, and sorry if it gets weird and/or hard to understand…you can ask me what's going on if you don't know. If I don't know too, I probably need to rewrite it.

Comments, reviews, criticisms appreciated, but flames make me sad. ):

Icy

PS: No, the titles aren't random. I'll explain them near the end.


Summary: "I can hear you." She's always dreamed of being something more, but when offered the chance to take part in adventure it's more than she can handle. The once-normal college student will be faced with choices she will find difficult to make, though will be able to find clues to her past along the way, leading her to the answers of who she was - and why the others know so much more than she does about herself. But when she is finally faced with the choice between the light and the dark (not good and evil, but the things themselves), how will she be able to choose? Or...is there a way to walk the path between, the path of the twilight? ChaseOC, rated for language.


DATE: 10-12-07


CHAPTER THREE: Seven


No matter how much I want

That figure rising up inside of reality

I can't go back

The vanished memory that I can't remember is driving me mad again

"Unforgettable"—that vanished word revives itself

"Who are you...?"

While trembling, I hold out my hands slightly

I'm scared of the light but I can't sneak out

Inside of a mist, I gaze at you

I can see your look

Even now

Your smiling figure that I can't remember... like it's unforgettable

Like broken glass, you're screaming now

While always inside of me

"Hold me..."


"Chase Young!"

So he does has a name. I shook my head, eyes sliding out of focus again as colors inverted once then reverted and stopped, allowing me to see his face clearly, the only part of him I'd never seen in my dreams.

His armor was just as I remembered, though seemed to have more color in real life than it did in my mind. He turned to me, golden eyes glaring into mine. I quickly looked away, feeling the sting of blood rush to my cheeks as my phobia took over.

"I—I—what's going on?" I stammered, wanting so desperately for everything to just be normal again. I was unwilling to accept that this could drag me into some kind of world I'd never known, a world like I'd always imagined as my own but knew reality would always strike down. I was suddenly caught in the middle of one of my fantasies, one where I was just a normal girl that is taken away from her boring life and thrown into a place where things would actually be interesting.

"Who is this?" the man—Chase Young—asked, eyes scanning me with slight disinterest.

"Some girl from the college," the redhead said, shrugging and jabbing his thumb back in the direction of the campus and sorority houses.

The raven-haired man made no reply to this, but the others quickly made up for any lack of words between them.

"You will not get the Diadem, Chase. You gotten to many Wu before but cannot defeat us this time," the short boy said, a tone of confidence edging his voice.

I still had no idea what they were talking about.

"Enough with the talking; the Diadem awaits!" Floating beside the redhead boy was a purple, ghost-like creature that made my eyes widen in surprise rather than fear. I wasn't scared, but more…disbelieving?

"It's the meds," I muttered to myself, clapping a hand to my forehead.

"Why do you say that?" the Southern boy asked.

I shrugged. "I've been having problems with my vision already today. I think my meds are reacting weird with the Aleeve I took last night and I'm hallucinating. Sorry I can't help you." I began to walk away again, but again I was pulled back by some unseen force that tugged at my heart then snapped as quickly as it had formed. It was then my turn to snap. "Just leave me alone, will you?" I shouted, clutching the sides of my head as my glasses slid down the bridge of my nose. "This isn't funny anymore!"

"What're you talking about?" the Asian girl said, giving me a rather strange look.

"You're all messing with my head; as if I wasn't paranoid enough! I'll bet you were set up by Finn from that frat house! Who's paying you?" I demanded, though suddenly lost all confidence in my words as soon as they slipped out. I slapped a hand over my mouth, cheeks flaming. This time, when I turned, I wasn't stopped, running as fast as I could back to the sorority, where I found the door unlocked but Iara and Erika both still gone. I sighed and settled back onto the couch, wishing I had never left the house in the first place.

"Hey, are you feeling any better?" Looking over the edge of the couch I saw Lyris removing her shoes and slipping on a pair of her "house shoes," as she called them, a habit she retained from her time in Japan. I smiled. My Asian lab partner always made me feel better, in ways I never could think about alone, like talking about cute Japanese guys in her class (she still had yearbooks from her high school years there) or shopping in the districts that I wanted to go to so bad, my body shivering from yearning after she finished describing the country.

"I think I'm a little better. Iara and Erika gave me some water but kinda disappeared."

"Yeah, they actually had to go to class. They told me to tell you sorry. After that earthquake Iara thought that it would be hard to get to the building so they left early." She suddenly paused, lips pressed tightly together. "You really don't look too good. You should stay here."

"Maybe it's a concussion," I laughed, joking. "From when I wake up every morning."

But Lyris didn't laugh. "You know, it could actually be a concussion. Didn't you say you had problems with your vision just a little while ago?" I nodded in response, not really wanting to talk all of a sudden. "You might want to go to the doctor's. It might be serious."

"I'm fine," I said firmly, not wanting to go there again. Last time I had gone I'd received two shots, three prescriptions, and a bill for procedures I'd never even heard of before (and with my being a paramedic that was bad). I had wanted to avoid that place as much as possible after that, vowing to go there only in emergencies, and even then I'd take my chances with the larger hospital a few miles away. "Really."

Lyris looked at me with sad, concerned eyes. She was overly concerned about her friends to some, but it did come in handy. The premed student was really in touch with our emotions and health, and if she said we were sick, we were sick, no questions asked. In this case…I didn't think it was that serious. It's the Aleeve, I repeated in my mind. Just the meds and the Aleeve.

"At least stay here a night," she said, pleading slightly. I sighed, flopping back on the couch to signify my submission. She smiled again. "Good. I'll make sure that Jin sets an extra place at the table." She disappeared upstairs, footsteps causing the old wooden floors to squeak softly above me. I stood up and walked over to the front door, slipping on a pair of slippers Iara had said I could use if I was there when it was cold. The stone and wood floors in the house were the parts that were hardest to heat, and were frigid in the late fall and winter.

In the kitchen I heated some water, finding the tea bags immediately, and, though I preferred the kind I bought, used some of Lyris' tea from the Asian market down the road instead. If had known I was going to stay then I would have brought my own. You'll have to go get your things to stay here, anyway, I said to myself. I'd bring some over then.

A loud crash came from right outside the door, shaking the whole house. The hot water in the mug I had found leapt out of its confinements, freely splashing onto my arm, scorching the skin on contact. I gave a cry of pain, rushing over to the sink, my mind only on the pain and my need for cold water, totally disregarding the noise that had caused it.

Taking an icepack from the freezer and wrapping it in a towel I placed it gently on my arm, heading toward the door to investigate yet another unusual noise.

Please don't let it be—

When I opened the door, I groaned. Through the outer glass door I could see that it was the kids from before—and the guy from my dreams. I leaned against the doorframe, head hitting the wood and making my head throb. The world seems to love to see me in pain, doesn't it?

"I'm telling you, it's in there!" That purple ghost-thing was pointing toward the house—and right at me. I quickly slammed the door, locking it and standing with my back to it, breathing heavily. There was no way I was letting them in the house—and especially since I didn't live in it! Iara and the others will be so pissed when they get back, I thought, frantically trying to think of a plausible excuse, one that would actually sound real.

A blow suddenly came from the other side of the door, shattering the glass and throwing me to the ground. Two more and the whole wooden entrance was demolished, destroyed and strewn about the room in thousands of splinters. I pushed myself up on my good arm, twisting around on my stomach to see who had done it—and found myself staring into the eyes of a large robot. My voice caught in my throat as I tried to get up, slipping on the slick wooden floor and finally escaping into the kitchen. There, I saw the door that led down to the basement, where the girls held their parties and meetings most—soundproofed and very safe. I figured that they wouldn't even know to look behind the racks on the wall lined with spices and such. Left over from times of houses with secret passageways the girls of the sorority discovered their house to have one and used it to their advantage—and now it was to be mine.

I pulled gently on the small handle, knowing that force would cause the door to lock. Dashing down the carpeted stairs I fumbled around feeling for a light switch on the wall, praying for light so I could see where I was going. I found one, turning it on and sighing in relief. I leaned against the wall and slid down it, sitting with my legs stretched out in front of me. Above I could hear the strangers tromping around, looking for that…diadem, or whatever. If they wanted it, they could have it.

From another room I heard some music, like I'd heard once before, but from one of the other girl's room, one who played the sitar. My curiosity got the better of me, and, figuring I had nothing to lose (since I didn't want to go back upstairs) I opened the door.

It was a beautifully-decorated room, red silk drapery hanging from the walls and ceilings, candles burning all around, though some had long since extinguished themselves, incense filling the air…

What kind of sorority is this? I asked myself silently, wondering suddenly if this was what they meant in their motto by, "By diversity we unite, and with unity we transcend"? Like, transcend in the "higher plane" meaning? I wasn't too sure of anything that was going on, and really wondered what had gone on to make everything start to change like this. A thought of a scandalous, secret society passed through my mind, briefly, before I waved it away. Lyris wouldn't do that. Nor would Jin. Or Erika. Or any of them.

But what really caught my attention was the bust of a beautiful woman seated on a pedestal centered on the far side of the room. As I approached her I noticed some odd similarities between her and me—silver hair, bright green eyes, enigmatic smile that said "I'll tell you when you can prove to me you're worth it"…

This frightened her more than she had ever been. Is this…is this…why…they wanted me to join so badly, turning down so many other girls who were from Australia and Finland away? Because…I look like her? Seated atop her head was a circle of sorts, a pendant of what looked like a gear to me (though I knew it probably wasn't; it was most likely a symbol of an ancient religion) hanging on her forehead from the gold band, my fingers tracing the edges of it, the symbol moving slightly in response to my touch. On the sides of her head, behind her ears, were two wing-like objects protruding from the circlet, looking like the object I had seen in the pictures from those kids but were of a slightly different shape and make. I ran my fingers over them too, memorizing every touch with my fingertips.

From above me came another crash. I winced, hoping that hadn't been the glass coffee table in the den. What really scared me was when I heard the creak of the door behind the racks, indicating that someone had found it.

Shit. I forgot to close the door! My mind screamed, ordering me to find somewhere to hide. But no matter where I looked there was nothing. Nothing…except the pile of pillows and blankets stacked in the corner. I dove under them, hoping that no one would find me, realizing when I heard the squeaking door to the room I was in that the tiara was in my hands—when had I taken it? Thoughts were racing through my head—I was scared, but why? I didn't have anything to be afraid of.

Oh, yes. The robots.

They were what scared me. At least, the fact that I now knew that they had the power to actually destroy things, and I was certainly not willing to give up being a college student so soon, no matter how tempting it may have sounded.

"I know you're in here," I heard. It was him. Chase, had they said? Yes…Chase Young.

Wait, how does he know I'm here? I realized I was holding my breath, though had no desire to let it go, my heart pounding in my chest when I knew that I had no idea what he could do to me—after all, in my dreams he had those scary shadow-creatures, and those scared me even though they were only a dream. I didn't want to think what they would be like in real life.

"You have five seconds to come out. I'm not playing with you this time. Five…"

This time?!

"Four…"

What's that supposed to mean?

"Three…"

Does he…?

"Two…"

No…

"One…"

"What're you playing at?" I yelled, throwing the pile of pillows and blankets off me. I clutched the crown in my right hand, patterns etched into the gold plating making marks in my skin from the pressure. "You've done enough damage to me in my dreams! What do you want from me?" I was nearly shouting now, voice raising every word as my anger built, overriding my paranoia and fear. "Every time I ask you something you won't answer me! I'm giving you the chance now to tell me everything, or there'll be hell to pay!"

Where did that come from? My mind asked in a sarcastic manner, silence suddenly filling the air between us. I suddenly realized how stupid my words had sounded, cheeks once again flushing, but this time in embarrassment. "I…" I began. But then they were there: the shadow-creatures—cats! They were cats! I hadn't seen them in my dreams clearly—but they were here, now, in reality, with me! And they were scary. I had vowed to never run from them if I ever met them but they were truly terrifying, yellow eyes akin to Chase's glowing in the dimly lit room, my fear-filled eyes reflecting in theirs. Again I tried to speak but my voice caught, choking me as my mouth struggle to form words against the will of my tongue.

"I've found you. You know, you gave me a lot of trouble. It could have been much easier. No, it should have been easier." He was suddenly smirking—flashing back to the dreams I remembered that: I didn't want that to happen. I didn't want anything to happen. I wanted to be back in my dorm—back with Kensie, back with my normal life. Suddenly, I had no desire to dream again, wishing I had never stepped outside that morning to visit my friends, wishing I had my life back again. I was caught against the wall, surrounded by the cats, all glaring at me hungrily, waiting for their orders.

Am I going to die? I suddenly thought, images flashing before my sight, all too fast for me to comprehend clearly. A tear slipped from my eye, causing Chase's eyes to narrow. My own eyes suddenly flew down to the item I still held, remembering what the others had said earlier about it. Maybe…it was the same. Maybe it could help me. Maybe…it would help me live. I lifted the circlet to my head, time suddenly slowing, Chase's expression changing from that of ultimate victory to a look of surprise. He hadn't noticed it—as I slipped it on I smiled, hoping some good would come out of my fantastical whim.

Instead, everything disappeared in a flash of white, the room vanishing as I was thrown into a world not my own—not even the world in my dreams was like this.

"Where…am I?" I whispered, my low voice echoing through the limitless room. I looked around, wondering if this was Chase's doing, but the voice I heard was not his.

"You are…between worlds."

My eyebrow was raised again in skepticism. "Between worlds?" I repeated.

"Yes…you are…the Timedancer…the Link…"

I didn't say anything.

"The Light to the Dark…"

Still, I was silent.

Serenity. Awaken.

And everything was suddenly inverted—black.


So I'll get going in a few days for the next one…and I have fall break next week. :D YAY. I'll have time to write then.