Author's Note: Alright so I did a bit of editing on this, no major change. Just the way one part was written I fixed up because it really bothered me. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 7
It's a raging fire,
That controls her,
And these four walls,
That destroy her.
The lightening that boomed outside the forsaken mansion only made the atmosphere inside more threatening. The wind howled and cried as if knowing the end to this messy reunion. It caused a shiver to run down Scarlett's spine.
"I'm done reading for the evening."
Breathe….breathe….breathe, but how could she as she stared dumbstruck at her sister. Was this some kind of joke?
Alexis closed the door behind her and turned. Her heart jumped as her eyes widened for a split second as she met eye to eye with her sister for the first time in five long years. Then slowly letting her eyes narrow down into a glare, she remembered that this girl before her was the one who had ruined her life, "Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in..." the twin's voice sharp and cold. It sounded as if she was disgusted by the mere appearance of her not so identical twin, though the surprise of the dramatic change in appearance did phase her.
Scarlett on the other hand felt like her mind was blown away. What was Alexis-ALEXIS, doing looking like that? Her once hazel green eyes were hidden behind dark brown contacts. Her long silky hair was now held back in a messy bun, strands loose everywhere. But what shocked Scarlett the most was that her flawless skin wasn't so flawless due to the blemishes that covered her face. It almost looked like…herself, at least her thirteen year old self, "What in…the world happened to you?" she managed to ask with a shaky voice. She had a terrible feeling she knew what was behind this guise.
"You ran away," she hissed, making a hateful face before closing her eyes momentarily and then glanced away, "At first I didn't care, thought you were just an idiot. I thought you'd be back by the end of the week…"
"Alexis, you don't-" their father began as he paced anxiously toward them in attempt to end a fight that he knew was bound to start but was cut off.
"No Father I do. She should know what she'd done to us," She snapped rudely, shutting her father up with a single remark and glanced back at her sister, "Mother went crazy when she realized you ran away," she smirked a little, "And passed out for an entire week, you know because her heart is so weak."
"I hate you Scarlett," she spat. The words were so heavy, they smacked Scarlett right across her face. They held the full emotions of her sister, "I felt dirty when father told me I had to pretend to be you."
No. No. No. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't. Alexis's words paralyzed her, glued her to the spot before the being that had the assumption that that was how she looked like. Alexis as her? She could only imagine what she'd done to their mother. Alexis didn't know what an act of kindness was, more or less of the love between mother and daughter.
"But I realized something, dearly. Beloved. Sister," it was like listening to someone force unwanted words out of their mouth, "As I lived as you, I didn't blame you for running away," she paused and snickered a small dry snicker that added to her maleficent feel, " Reading to mother everyday, listen to her whine about how much you've changed, doing all the shitty things you love to do. It made me want to run away."
"Tch…" Scarlett gritted her teeth, finally coming back to her senses at the last of her sister's words, "At least when I lived here I did productive things, unlike you, wasting my time painting my nails and looking at celebrity magazines!" she fumed, she was a raging fire on the inside, "And do you really think I'd still look as crappy as that at eighteen? Don't fucking mess with me! And don't kid yourself honey, you can wish all you want that I could stay eternally 'ugly' but it won't change the fact that I've still managed to pull my act together!"
She just smirked apparently satisfied that she could still manage to push Scarlett's buttons. Unlike Scarlett, she knew how to control her emotions and she enjoyed using this triumph card to add more chaos to Scarlett's world , "Oh by the way…" she trailed as she approached her sister and yanked off the necklace that her mother had once given her, "Father promised Revonika this."
"Hey NO! Give it back!" Scarlett snapped throwing herself at Alexis who'd tossed the necklace to Revonika. Well that settled it; Alexis had officially changed-for the worst. Angrily, Scarlett turned to face the beauty woman, ignoring Alexis as she bitched, "I will cut off that hand if you do not give me that necklace back." She threatened with a dangerous glare which caused Revonika to swallow nervously and take a step back. She was either all talk or was still pretty shaken by the fact that she had already lost one hand in the past week.
"Both of you stop it!" their father commanded, having had enough of the bickering and watching each other trying to get into each others skin, "Alexis, if you've finished reading to your mother hurry up and leave. Scarlett that necklace does not belong to you anymore. I'll get you a better one if you like necklaces so much."
What was this sudden bribery? For what? To stop fighting or hoping to be on good terms? "No! I want that one! It was never yours to give! It was mother's!"
"SCARLETT. STOP IT THIS INSTANT."
Scarlett gave him a cold glare and bared her gritted teeth, "I hate you…" she hissed before storming away and slamming the door behind her. Things had gone far worse than what she had hoped for. 'Guess I haven't matured as much as I thought I had…' she thought to herself, the scene fresh on her mind. The again she had never gotten this mad since she had left this place. So technically, controlling her little anger issue had gone better than she could've expected
'Had to pretend to be you…' 'Ugh god knows what she did to mother!' Scarlett screamed on the inside as she sprinted toward her mother's room.
They managed to make her regret the day she chose to leave them behind. Sure she was glad that they had become miserable but having to deal with the consequences was not a pleasant matter.
It didn't take her an extra minute or two to find her way around the place she'd once called home. The halls were still the same, slightly refurnished. Probably because everyone was so set on getting her back, that changing up some furniture seemed trivial.
The heels of her boots sounded like a horse's gallop as she found herself running toward the room, Alexis had undoubtingly returned from.
A frail woman laid in the bed where her mother and herself spent countless hours reading and talking to each other. The lady's face narrow and paled; her body was nothing more than a skeleton hidden beneath the golden sheets. What was once a beautiful woman was nothing more than a patient on a death bed.
Scarlett's heart wanted to rip itself out of her chest, "M-mother?" she choked on the word while making her way to the silent woman's bed side.
At first she thought that her mother was sleeping but as she approached she realized her mother was wide awake. Her eyes were glued to the ceiling above and was blankly staring off to space.
Again, "Mother?"
The pale woman blinked a couple of times and weakly turned her head toward Scarlett. She squinted her eyes trying to focus on Scarlett's 'unfamiliar' face before they suddenly got bigger, surprised to see her daughter, "A-alexis?"
Scarlett's heart fell, plummeted down to the pit of her stomach. Alexis? No! She was Scarlett! How could her mother not notice the difference?
"No mother it's Sc-"
"Alexis! Oh Alexis!" her mother cried, tears suddenly brimming over as she struggled to sit up, "Alexis!" her bony hands cupped Scarlett's face. Her brown eyes looked scared, a bit crazed too. It wasn't fear of her own daughter, it was the loss of a daughter that had slowly driven her to her madness.
The way her voice shook made Scarlett feel as if it was going to shrivel away to dust. From the tone it was very obvious that she hadn't 'seen' Alexis in a long time.
Biting her lower lip, she tried hard to keep her voice from quivering, "Yes…mother?"
"Alexis!" she sobbed, "You've finally forgiven me?"
Before Scarlett had a chance to reply her mother continued, "I'm terrible sorry, so sorry! Please forgive me! Please! I've lost everyone, Alexis! Scarlett has become so cold since the time we wouldn't let her go to school! She still hasn't forgiven me!"
"Mother, I'm sure Scarlett's forgiven you."
The frail mother only shook her head in despair, "No, no, no she hasn't. She's become so distant, so cruel. She barely even speaks to me. Only reads what I ask her to, with such a hateful tone. I've forgotten the sound of her laughter! It hurts me more to see her like that than not see her at all!"
She wanted to wrap her arms around her mother, and wipe away the tears that rolled down her pale face. She wanted to beg forgiveness for running away, and cry along side her. She wanted to talk to her about all her adventures and the people she'd met. She wanted to tell her about Gon and Killua, Wing, her master, Kurapika, Leorio—and even Hisoka! But seeing her mother now, she knew it wasn't going to happen…
"Scarlett loves you very much mother. Remember when we were younger? She would never stop annoying me about how much I should care about you, about how much she looked up too you…" Scarlett trailed off for a moment, becoming lost in fantasizes of strangling Alexis for treating their mother in such a cruel way while impersonating her, but things were switched now. Scarlett had Alexis's face now, "You're like her idol or something. She's just having some…really bad issues with father…guess that's why she's all bitter-not that I care about any of this stuff…"
She got to her feet and headed for the door before her mother could notice that her eyes weren't the hazel green like her father's, "If you want I'll go talk to her for you. Don't cry too much, Scarlett doesn't deserve those tears, especially if she betrayed you the way she did…"
The ceiling didn't give her any comfort, but it was the only thing she could look at as she laid flat on her back. The bed was softer than she remembered. If it weren't for the hell she had just experienced she'd probably have dozed off the moment she'd made contact with the mattress. A week of traveling and a lack of food tended to tire anyone one out. That and it would help if the music on her ipod wasn't blasted.
Ah the power of music. It can either feed the emotion or put it out. She wasn't always into the screamo bands, but listening someone else screaming a few meaningful lines when she couldn't calmed her down a bit.
You screaming back at me,
You think that I'm okay,
Just to you, I lied, to make a difference,
I'm hiding myself just tonight,
Those razors hurt,
I can't feel fine,
Love here tonight,
Bye bye to this,
I can't feel fine,
Everything was all wrong. Well more wrong than how she'd imagined everything. Her mother…thought that she was Alexis. The image of her mother being a mere skeleton ripped Scarlett apart from the inside. She couldn't even bring herself to argue and tell her that she was Scarlett.
It'd been a while since she felt truly alone. This time being home, she had no one to turn to for comfort. The only person she had was sick and crying in bed. She turned over to her side and pulled her knees close to her chest as if doing that would give her a small sense of comfort. She longed for her friends.
Then she felt it.
"Hey, how long do you plan to stay hidden?" she sighed in frustration and yanked out the headphones from her ears, obviously not in the mood for being stalked. It surprised her though, how in the world did he manage to follow her all the way to York Shin and get here the same day as she did?
"Oh you noticed?" an all to familiar voice replied from the balcony doors, followed by a small suppressed chuckle.
A shiver ran down her spine. He was starting to come off more as a creep rather than an admirable fighter. Annoyed by the fact that he could chuckle while she was busy being miserable and alone she snapped, "Is there something you want? I see you've made stalking me a habit."
He only smiled and leaned against the arm of the couch beside him, "Is it wrong to want to meet your family?" he suppressed a laugh as he guessed how her reaction would be. Nonchalantly he watched her carefully as her eyes slightly widened at his statement.
"Go away Hisoka. I'm not in the mood for your games."
A small whine escaped him, "Aw but I want to play with my toy…"
Next thing he knew, a pillow was thrown at him. He could've easily evaded it but instead he decided to play along. How cute of her to think that doing such an act would make him want to leave. Then again the act itself was truly charming. He caught the pillow before it fell to the floor and glanced back at Scarlett to find her hidden beneath the sheets. He blinked raising a brow at such unusual behavior. One would think when they had someone like him in a room; they'd stay on their guard.
"Well you're a pedophile."
"Oh how offensive."
"Well now you know how it feels to be called a toy."
"But toys are fun."
"Well go look for another toy, I don't belong to you."
"Fine then, I'll go see Gon," he teased knowing that he would definitely get an amusing reaction out of her. Just as he suspected, he watched as she jolted up from her bed and gave him a sharp glare.
"Don't you dare go near him."
"Why not? Is he your toy?"
Scarlett's cheeks flushed red at the embarrassing remark, "What? Of course not! You perv!" she threw another pillow but this time he simply caught it and placed it beneath his arm as he snickered. 'She didn't even use nen is her guard really down?'
"I never said anything about being perverted," he covered his mouth amused, "looks like you're the one who's got a dirty mind towards Gon."
This time it was an alarm clock that whirled his way, which he also caught instead of dodging and causing a ruckus that could bring unwanted attention and an end to their lovely time together. 'eheehe…so when she's mad she throws things? No it's like she acts like a little girl, it's just her way of throwing a tantrum I suppose…'
"Hey I'm not the one who gets a freakin' boner every time I see him! Gon is my friend, get it through your head. If you ever do anything to him I will make sure you'll regret the day you ever met me."
"Oh a threat? And how do you suppose you're going t make me regret what I've done?"
"Sec-ret."
"You have it all wrong. It's from the excitement of the thought that he will become so ripe one day," he frowned turning his back on her and taking a seat on the edge of her bed, "Makes me jealous that he means that much to you."
"Then I guess that makes you a weirdo, baka," she wacked him with the remaining pillow on the bed, "Don't talk to me about Gon being some sort of fruit to you!" then she paused and sighed in annoyance, "It's hard to believe that you're even human sometimes…"
He felt his lips curve upward into a small smile at her childish actions. It was cute. She was cute. Especially when she was mad. "How is it you can hit someone like me with a pillow and still feel completely safe?"
He blinked as the annoyance that gleamed in her eyes turned into something else. It was like her eyes were telling him that he should already know the answer to the question he had just asked.
"Well I obviously can't fight at the moment, which would make it very boring for you and the fact that you've failed to kill me twice, and saved me and my friends from the deathly grasp of Revonika makes it difficult for me to find you sneaking into my room again frightening," she paused, "Although the fact that you've been constantly stalking me should…"
She had a hard time believing he was human? What about herself? He stared at her dumbfound by what she'd just said. Did she really not fear him? Well apparently she didn't. He opened his mouth out to reply with something smart when he felt his phone vibrate. Pausing the conversation he pulled out his phone and glanced down at the caller id and smiled, "Hello~"
"I'm here."
"Alright I'll be right over."
He pressed end call and got to his feet when he noticed Scarlett staring at him with questioning eyes.
"You're leaving?"
"Don't want me to go?"
She rolled her eyes and threw her last pillow at him, which this time he decided to dodge, "You wish."
He laughed giving her a small wave before heading toward the balcony doors, "Sayonara."
"Wait, answer me one thing Hisoka," she called out after him, "Why were you here?"
He stuck his hands in his pockets and made sure she couldn't see his face, "I have some business to take care of…but I had a little free time, so I decided to drop by for a visit since you seemed so lonely," he glanced over his shoulder and gave her a small smirk, "Good night princess," before disappearing into the darkness of the night.
Author's Note: Hope you guys enjoyed! Don't forget to review!
