And here's Kara. I'm back from my vacation, and didn't write a word of this chapter during it. I've been getting in the habit of just typing it all in one go, which isn't the best idea. It's better to write it first so I can change it as I type it up and make corrections as needed. However, it's quicker not to. My vacation was fun, though. I absolutely stuffed myself with chocolate last night and felt horrible afterwards. I walked it off shopping, though, which is something I rarely actually do. Shopping isn't really my thing, but I did find this really cute grey dress and some more manga!
Yuki: What'd you do on your vacation?
SnowyNeko: Just sort of toured the city and stayed in some nice hotels.
Sebastian: Sounds like an enjoyable trip.
SnowyNeko: It was! Although kind of short. I thought I wouldn't be back until late tonight.
Sebastian: Did you visit any nice restaurants?
SnowyNeko: A ton, but your cooking is better.
Lelouch: There she goes with the flattery again.
SnowyNeko: Food is always better prepared by a pretty boy. XD
Yuki: I'm not very good at cooking.
SNowyNeko: You can get better.
Lelouch: She doesn't own any of the animes or the characters from them.
"So this is the computer repair room. We have to have someone here at all times, because we can't have anything breaking down. How we live here is very routine, so it wouldn't be good if something went awry." Alice opens the door to the room, revealing mechanisms like I've never seen before.
"Since when has society become so advanced?" I marvel. The technology is way above anything I've ever encountered. The gnats from before amazed me, but here there are surfaces with changing colors, showing people and pictures. There are also gutted boxes, with their innards of wires and metal lying beside them. In the middle of the mess is a younger lad, with darker skin and squinted eyes. He almost looks like a child version of Lau, without any of the fancy garb.
"This is Lee," Alice introduces us. "I know he looks young, but he's amazingly skilled with computers and has the sharpest tongue out of any of us. Please don't take anything he says seriously."
"Because what you say is so important," the boy scoffs. "Nice to meet all your acquaintances, if that's how you say it." His eyes land on Lelouch and light up like the sun. "Oh, I've wanted to meet you! I've wanted to try to build my own knightmare! I bet you know how to put one together! You have to show me before you leave!"
A nightmare? How do you build a nightmare? And why would Lelouch know how to build one? I guess he is pretty odd, though. All of these people are fairly weird.
"I don't know how to build one, only how to maneuver it," Lelouch tells him.
"What about Ms. Victoria, then?" Lee asks. "You've studied all about them, haven't you? You should know them inside and out!"
Tori stiffens. "How do you know about that?"
"Lee, they haven't had everything explained to them properly, yet," Alice scolds him. "I'm sorry for his behavior Tori, Lelouch. I understand you must be confused, but please let it rest for now." Her voice is obviously British, as is her name. She's making no effort to hide it. I wonder if she might be part of a mafia group. It probably isn't the Italian group we dealt with earlier, so which one? I'd say it's likely, but her demeanor doesn't even whisper of danger. So far she's been nothing but sweet.
"And now to the main control room, which is where we were watching you guys from. The gnats are hooked up to the screens, so Dillon should still be watching us. He took over when you arrived."
We're lead down the hall and into another room, smaller than the first. There are even more moving surfaces in here, all showing us. I glance up at Sebastian in wonder, then turn back to the moving pictures. I wave at the me on the wall and it waves right back, almost like a mirror, except the angle is all wrong. Sitting before the magical surfaces is an older man, red hair fading into grey.
"I'm so glad to meet 'chya!" He hops up from his seat and shakes my hand, then Sebastian's, and so on. His voice is heavy with an Irish accent, which all but eradicates my theory of it being the mafia. They usually tend to come all from one place, and so far none of these people seem to have the same nationality.
"Are you the voice that's been leading us?" Vierra asks as he enthusiastically shakes her hand.
"Naw, I'm only the replacement! The poor girl needed a break!" So it had been a girl who brought us here. "She'll be in the cafeteria right 'bout now if you wanna see 'er. She's been all so eager to see y'all."
I shift uneasily under the steady gaze of Dillon. Since he began talking about the girl, he hasn't taken his eyes off of me. Then his attention focuses in on Vierra.
"You look wonderful, little lady!" he compliments her, kissing her hand. Yuki reacts with hostility, grabbing her hand away for her.
"I would appreciate it if a stranger didn't touch her."
Dillon only laughs. "No need to be protective, my boy! I was simply admiring the handiwork."
"Dillon." Alice's tone has a warning in it.
"I know, dearie. You mustn't keep 'er waiting, then. Hurry along and go to 'er, now."
As Alice leads us once again down the hallway, I ask Sebastian about the changing colors and pictures.
"It's human technology," he assures me. "But it's not of our time quite yet." I'm about to ask more questions when Alice starts speaking.
"I'll apologize on his behalf, but our head refuses to see you face to face. Please understand. He's very biased and ritualistic. He has never taken kindly to demons of any sort."
I stop walking, and all of the sudden Sebastian is in front of Alice. He doesn't loom over her or glare or hurt her, instead just standing there with a curious expression.
"Excuse me, miss, but what is it you said just now?"
"It is going to be in all of our best interests if they know your species, Sebastian," Alice informs him calmly. "Try and kill me if you like. You'll find you can't."
"I-Is that a threat?" I demand, stepping forward. The others look between the three of us, confused. Sebastian smirks.
"No, Mistress, it isn't. I thought something was off about this place. I also don't think it'll do any harm to inform the others that I am in fact a demon, and one of high rank."
"I believe it." All eyes turn to Tori. "The way he climbed that tree before is statistically an impossibly possibility. A human couldn't do something like that."
Lelouch agrees with her. "I thought the same thing, so it would make more sense if he were inhuman. It isn't the strangest thing I've encountered."
"Same with us," Yuki adds. I relax a little, although not completely. It's relieving that they accept it like they do, but how did Alice know in the first place? The girl who was the voice mentioned it earlier, too.
"But as I said, he was against you coming in the first place," Alice continues. "The others might see him at one point or another, but I'm afraid he'll avoid you and Kara to the best of his ability. Now, here's the cafeteria."
She pushes open the first double doors I've seen so far to reveal a clean interior. The dirt floor runs into polished wood that looks nearly slick to walk on, but she steps onto it without any trouble. There're only two tables, and both are fairly small. Two fireplaces on either side of the room lights it, with a single candle resting in the middle of the both of the tables. Only one of them is lit. My eyes widen when I see a black shape asleep on top of one of the chairs.
"Sebastian! Doesn't that look like Kitty?"
"Looks more like a goat to me," Vierra comments.
At the sound of our voices, the goat raises its head. When it meets my eyes, it hops down from the chair and trots over. I scratch its back and it baas. Its fur is silky black, with a bit of white on the hooves. It looks exactly how I imagine Kitty would look as a grown goat. Then, a girl walks in holding a small plate of food. We both freeze when we see each other, the plate dropping from her hands and shattering.
"You're here!" She flings herself at me, throwing her arms around my neck and squeezing the breath out of me. I can't move, frozen to the spot. I can't even move to look at the girl with her arms around me.
"Mary?" I choke. It's impossible. I watched her die, bleeding from her wrist. But her hair, her height, her eyes, they're all the same as mine. How can it be anyone else?
"I've missed you, Kara," she exclaims, hiccupping. The wetness of tears hitting my shoulders jolts me out of my shock and I return the deathlike embrace. Tears of my own start to flow.
"You're dead!" I cry. "How can you be alive?"
"I'm not!" She pulls back, a giggle at her lips. "I'm still dead. As are Alice, Dillon, Lee and the rest."
"I don't understand."
"Then it's about time we explain, isn't it." She looks to Alice for the okay. The blond nods. "There are two separate beings that make up a person. One is the body and the other is the soul. Each being takes a form of its own, but they usually match up. When someone dies on earth, it's only the body that dies. The soul is taken and transported into another universe. A consciousness doesn't just disappear when a body deteriorates. It simply looses control over the body and eventually disconnects. My body is still back where it ended, where you buried it. So is yours. For you, though, Sebastian was able to transfer your soul into his body to prevent it from leaving."
I take this in. "Okay, so where are we? The other universe where people go when they die?"
"No, that's where it starts to get complicated." She sighs. "See, we're the only ones here, the only humans. This is where less intelligent animals are sent after they die. You won't find animals like apes or dolphins here because they're probably wherever humans are supposed to go. The levels of intelligence seem to separate us into different dimensions. The problem is, there are a few people who end up in the wrong place. That's what happened to those of us who live here."
"Um, I think I get it…sort of. So, this body is my soul incarnate?"
"It's the same with Tori, Lelouch, and Yuki. Sebastian was easy, though. Demons have evolved to be able to travel from one universe to another without leaving their bodies or souls behind; all we had to do was summon him. I doubt he realized that's all we did through all the confusion."
"What about me, then?" Vierra inquires. "You explained just how the other three are here, but what about me? You never said I was a soul."
Mary says nothing for a second, then motions to the tables. "We should all sit down. Alice, if you'd be so kind as to prepare something for the guests to eat?"
"Alright, but you have to clean up your own mess. We already broke a pitcher yesterday, and now a plate today. Jackal is going to make us create a whole new set at this rate." She exits through the door Mary entered through.
"Oh, and Vierra." Mary seems to remember something. "The bathroom is out that door and the first door on the left."
"Why're you telling me this?"
"You'll see."
Does this make sense? I've been planning this since the beginning and I understand that it might be confusing. I'm trying my best to explain this, though. Mary did die (she committed suicide in the first chapter of the first book I posted on here), but her spirit survived and accidentally ended up here in animal heaven on her way to the human heaven. The idea of heaven in this case is a universe, not religious. Both good and bad humans go there, but some are taken by demons on their way. Again, demons are not a religious reference and instead just a creature from a different universe. I'm not sure if this makes any sense to you guys or not, but it does to me. I'll do my best to explain more thoroughly in the next chapter.
Till then, Kisses from SnowyNeko! :3 MEOW!