Chapter 10: Isolation and Artificial Smiles
"Sunrise?" Daiki stares into the woman's pink eyes, glaring at her, "What a strange name… What's your real name?"
"Real name?" She chuckles once more and stops, leaving a blank look on her face, "I don't have one."
"Well… I don't think I have one." She laughs loudly and calms herself down.
"…?" Natsu tilts his head to the side slightly.
"Anyways!" Lucy shouts, pointing her baton at the girl, "Where is it?!"
"Hm? Where's what?" Keeping up the innocent act, she smiles kindly at the girl.
"The device you are using for the PROJECT!" Lucy demands to hear an answer.
Looking surprised, she process what Lucy is trying to tell her. Figuring it out, she snaps her fingers and whips out a gem from her pocket. It reflects the exact color of Sunrise's hair, which was a pale purple, while emitting a slight glow of pink light. The shape is in a rectangular appearance.
"You mean this?" She proudly shows the four her gleaming gem, "I'm sorry to break it to you but I need this." She sticks her tongue out and rubs the back of her neck.
Giggling, she bites into the gem, "Even if you take this away from me, it cannot be broken."
Eyes glinting, Lucy pulls out Loke's key with her free hand and prepares to summon him. Summoning Loke, a ray of light is produced and the Lion-like man appears. He understands the situation and quickly stands into a fighting stance.
"Hm…? I'm pretty sure that Me and the others shut down the celestial world temporarily." Sunrise looks at Loke in question. She rests her chin between her index finger and thumb. Loke growls at the purple haired woman and curses her in his head.
"Anyways, I have already planted the necessary things here." Sunrise uses her index finger to point at a large purple magical on the ground behind her. It holds a timer, slowing ticking down. It currently reads, ' 3Y . 0M. 24D . 12H.'
"As you can guess, it is a timer slowly ticking down to the ends beginning" She proudly sticks her nose in the air.
Lucy casts music notes from the ground, trying to attack the girl. However, she reads through all her movements and twirls around Lucy's attacks gracefully. Before the blonde can cast another handful of music notes, Daiki grasps onto Lucy's wrist and pulls her back slightly.
"Lucy, stop," Daiki whispers into her ear, "we have to first observe her moves and then attack."
Lucy nods her head and immediately stops her magic.
Sunrise makes a small whistle and laughs, "You two are close, despite not knowing anything about each other."
Daiki glares at the purple haired woman, "As if you know anything."
She lets out another eruption of laughter, "Actually, I do know you're pasts. Our boss gave us loads of information about you guys."
Daiki flinches and grits his teeth, "You know about my past?"
"Right down to the smallest detail…" An innocent smile is plastered on her face as she speaks.
Daiki's eyes widen drastically.
"Little Miss over there," Sunrise turns her head to look at Lucy, "Do you want to know about this mans past?"
"Daiki's past?" Lucy tilts her head in confusion.
"If you even dare…" Daiki's voice erupts a cold and dark growl.
"I'll be a nice woman and share your past with everyone!" Sunrise beams happily.
Before Daiki is able to stop Sunrise, she places her index finger onto her lips. She whispers a few words quietly, creating a large white magic circle above everyone present. The same magic circle suddenly is reflected into the eyes of Lucy, Natsu, Daiki and Happy.
'…?', Lucy opens her eyes to see the area around her was just white. She turns around to find that Natsu and Happy are also here.
"Natsu! Happy!" Lucy floats her way towards the two and shakes the two. She notices her other partner isn't present and begins to worry.
Their eyes begin to flutter as they slowly open.
"Lucy?" Natsu groans groggily, rubbing the back of his head, "Where are we?"
"I don't know…" Lucy rests her chin on her fist, "We have to find Daiki and find out what is happening here."
As they begin to walk towards nowhere in particular, a large screen appears in front of them. It begins to make large buzzing sounds, displaying a blur of black and white. Lucy and Natsu look at each other uncomfortably and shift closer towards each other.
"What's this?" Happy flies next to Lucy, gazing at the large screen.
The screen creates a small popping sound, and turns into an image of a small figure standing in the darkness. Upon closer inspection, Lucy distinguishes the figure and gasps.
"…This small boy…" Lucy mutters to her two companions, "He looks like Daiki."
He looks exactly like the intellectual man, just smaller. His eyes are as cold as sharp ice as he holds no expression but utter boredom. Lucy stares at the screen as the boy's shadow, which is white, expands even larger and larger as he turns to face his back towards the screen.
"Is this what that girl was talking about? Daiki's past?" Lucy questions the screen displaying a moving image of Daiki walking.
As white silhouettes begin to grow from the side of the screen, whispers and mutters become louder. The small Daiki raises his arms up to his head, covering his ears from the sound.
The figure comes to a halt, removing his hands from his ears and a black magic circle forms underneath his feet. A wave of black colored wind erupts from the body of Daiki's, destroying the silhouettes next to him.
A blurry collection of words appear on the screen, causing Lucy and the others to widen their eyes from shock.
'Isolation and artificial smiles'
~Flashback: Daiki = Age 7~
Walking down the hallway filled with countless of servants, Daiki strides towards his room. His face is filled with utter boredom and disgust.
"Daiki-sama was your tutor session fine today?"
"Daiki-sama do want anything?"
"Daiki-sama are your lessons going well?"
He ignores the entire servant's giggles with fake smiles plastered on each of their faces, advancing towards his room. He grits his teeth at the display of the fraud affection, gripping the side of his shirt.
He slides the door to his room open and grumpily walks in. He slams the door shut and sits himself down on the floor. Daiki lets out a sigh of annoyance and crawls towards the collection of books on the floor. He opens a random book up and skims through it, eyes quickly reading through the fine print.
'How boring. I already know all of these things.' Daiki thinks to himself, throwing his 'useless book to the side of his room.
'There isn't even any point of me having tutors; all they do is talk about things I already know.' He walks towards the door at the back and turns the knob, revealing an enormous library filled with books and articles.
Slowly climbing up the ladder, Daiki reaches for a book on the top shelf grabs it. He loses his balance, causing him to fall off of the ladder. However this was no problem; Daiki lands on the floor safety on two feet.
'I guess all those books and tutorials about fighting and balancing will come to use.' Daiki walks with the book in his hand and proceeds to stride towards the back of the library. He turns a secret panel on his way there, unveiling a hidden laboratory filled with even more works and equipment.
Every single book about magic written at that moment probably had its own place in his hidden library. Of course, one would think that his servants would probably find out about it. However, his advance intellectual brain isn't just for show. Daiki figured out, a long time ago, how to use magic and create a different space and dimension separate from the real world. They are known as 'Pocket Universes.'
The young Daiki whips his Lab Coat onto his back and places his rectangular glasses on his face.
'I hate this world…' Daiki's thoughts trail, 'They make me spend my entire life in this stupid mansion without going outside, not even telling me the reason why.'
He continues to manipulate different types of matter through his magic, 'I'll make the most powerful magic and use it to escape from here…'
~Flashback: Daiki= Age 12~
"Daiki-sama…" A powerful voice speaks up from behind the screen, only displaying his shadow, "There is something you must read."
'Probably another useless offer for me…' Daiki silently insults his present in his mind.
"Take this," A servant walks towards Daiki, handing him an envelope sealed tightly with a curse mark, "Only you are able to open this letter; it will only react to your magic."
Daiki ignites the tip of his finger with a spark of electricity, zapping the envelope to open. He roughly rips open the seal of the letter, impatient for the 'exciting' results. Reading through the letter, he scoffs loudly,
Dear Receiver,
As you are reading this, you are in fact the person destined for this event.
You are most likely confused and don't understand the purpose for this letter but hear me out.
Do not panic, as this is simply the truth.
You are currently the fourth generation receiving a letter like this, meaning you are the final generation.
I shall now explain the whole meaning of this letter-
Daiki rolls his eyes and stuffs the piece of paper back into the envelope. He sighs and jams his letter into his pocket.
"What are boring letter…" Daiki exhales, walking away from the shadowed figure.
"Daiki-sama! You are the chosen one…" The powerful voice whispers quietly, only loud enough for no one apart from Daiki to hear. However, the ignorant blue-haired man ignores the voice and continues to walk to his lab.
As he walks down the hallway, he thinks about the letter he received, 'most letters that invite me to do something never start like that…'
His thoughts start to trail once more as he enters his hidden lab, ' maybe I'll skim through it later.'
He throws the letter onto his messy desk, littered with paper that has writing all over it. He runs his hand through his hair and sits down onto his couch.
'How the hell am I supposed to escape from this dumb place? The barrier keeping me in is pretty tight.' Daiki taps his chin with his blue pen and bites the end of it.
'With my skill right now, I have a 12.48 percent chance of successfully escaping this place.' Daiki sips on his steaming chocolate milk and moans.
'I guess I can continue to practice my magic…' Daiki lays his cup onto the desk and envelops his arm in electricity after shouting a few chant words.
~Flashback: Daiki= Age 17~
Daiki throws himself onto his bed, full of frustration. Today he got in trouble for being too honest and insulting those who made mistakes around him. He also managed to point out errors with every person who approached him. Over the past years, due to isolation and annoyance, Daiki has grown up to be an ignorant, emotionless machine. However, it's not like that affected him in anyway; he just did what simply benefited him.
Daiki sits in his spiny chair, twirling around in it. After becoming dizzy, Daiki notices at the corner of his eye an envelope, in fact it's the one from 5 years ago. He picks it up, using his thumb and ring finger.
'Isn't this that letter some guy gave me a long time ago?' Daiki questions the existence of the paper.
He opens it and unfolds the creased paper.
I shall now explain the whole meaning of this letter.
When you hit the age of 19, there will be a large bomb created.
This bomb is large enough to destroy the whole of humanity.
You are destined to stop this; you're the fourth and final generation.
I will write more information about locations about this but please, help this world.
You will also have a partner. He or She will help you and you will work together as one.
When you find her, do not let her leave your sights.
Tell no one or they shall die a sad death.
From,
Third generation: HAGIWARA family
Daiki's eyes widen; there are too many questions he has on his mind. First, end of the world? That has to some kind of sick joke. Second, fourth generation? Third, this guy comes from the Hagiwara family?!
Not able to comprehend it in one go, Daiki inhales and exhales, trying to understand what this letter is trying to say.
He has too many questions therefore, he will go and find the guy that gave him the letter.
Daiki leaves the room, running towards the room where he originally obtained this letter. He bursts into the room without even knocking or making his presence known. He finds the figure, sitting behind the screen as usual.
"HEY!" Daiki shouts, pointing at the silhouette, "IS THIS SOME KIND OF SICK JOKE?"
"WHAT THE HECK IS THIS LETTER SAYING? END OF THE WORLD?!" Daiki growls loudly, losing his usual calm and collected composure.
He throws the letter onto the floor and glares at the figure behind the screen.
"I wouldn't know. I was told by the Third generation master to not read about this letter." He speaks calmly, with a slight sore throat.
"Third generation? I don't get it." Daiki growls.
"That is the first time I have ever heard you say that about something you're not able to comprehend." He shuffles around in his knelt position.
"…" Daiki scratches the back of his neck, "Just give me the answer already."
"Alright. I won't be able to give you any information about your letter there though," The figure coughs, "Be prepared for this information. This is good timing anyways; we always wanted to tell you about this."
"That letter there is from Daisuke Hagiwara," The figure says in a serious tone, causing Daiki's eyes to double in size, "Also known as your father."
Daiki stops breathing; too shocked from the news.
"Before he laid to rest, he told me to hand this letter to you. He died as soon as you were born, along with his wife."
Daiki bites the bottom of his lip, "How did they die?"
The figure stays silent, not answering question. Of course, since Daiki doesn't let anything pass him, he becomes irritated from the unanswered question and slams his hand against the screen.
"TELL ME!" Daiki demands. He never knew his parents, therefore he always thought they probably abandoned him or disappeared as soon as he was born. Needing to know the only people who most likely loved him, Daiki generates Electricity around his arm.
"…We killed him…" The figure says, obviously slightly terrified by the growling Daiki.
"…" Daiki eyes darken, becoming even colder than they were before.
"We had to kill them; they posed a threat against the chosen one, which is you. The generations have to survive without any interruptions-"
"You killed my one and only family?"
Before the man could even continue his sentence, jet-black wind explodes around Daiki's body. His eyes are not visible due to his eyes creating a large shadow over them.
Not being able to retaliate against Daiki, the wind pierces through the mans neck, causing blood to rush out immediately. The dead body falls limply onto the floor with a large bang.
"I knew it… When those people told me that my parents died as heroes, they were lying…" Daiki mutters to the dead corpse.
'So all those smiles…' Daiki begins to walk towards the envelope on the floor. A girl servant walks into the room, wanting to discover the source of the loud noise. She lets out a large, ear-piercing scream, warning the others.
'All that kindness…' The blue-haired man's body turns towards the lady, as she is paralyzed with fear. He walks up close to her, wind still flowing rapidly around his body.
'They really were lies weren't they?' The lady, who is now dead, falls to the floor on the side.
'Even though I knew that already…' The wind begins to pick up speed, eventually turning into a tornado of jet-black colored wind. Since the tornado is so strong, people slowly get sucked in and cut in half.
'Why does it still hurt?' Daiki buries his face with his hands, crying into his blood stained palms.
As Daiki walks, screams of terror can be heard, screaming "YOU MONSTER CHILD!" and, "YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A CURSE!"
'It's probably because I am just a humanized version of a gigantic lie…'
~Flashback OVER~
Lucy looks in shock; she never expected his past to be like… this. She turns her head, looking at Natsu and Happy. She clearly knows that those two are also in a large state of shock.
Looking at his feet in shame, Daiki gazes sadly at the floor. He forces an artificial smile, flashing it at Lucy, Natsu and Happy.
A small and forced giggle can be heard. The three whip their heads around to find Daiki standing behind them.
He looks at the floor in shame, gazing sadly at his two hands. He looks at Lucy in the eye and flashes her a very forced artificial smile.
"So I guess you found out about my past…" Daiki whispers, clearly showing some rare emotions of sadness.
"So… What do you think about The Truth now?" He pulls a grin on his face.
"Some guy who was isolated his entire life and is super ignorant. I'm just a lie, a murderer at that…" Daiki places his right hand onto his face, covering his right eye, which is full of tears.
Lucy takes a step forward, advancing towards Daiki with a shadow over her eyes.
She doesn't know what to say or respond. Lucy keeps on walking towards the blue-haired man.
She does the first thing that was on her mind,
And that was to pull him into a hug as tightly as possible.
End of chapter 10
So, Daiki's dark past gets revealed and gets displayed to his group. What will Lucy say next chapter? STAY IN TUNE!
Hopefully this chapter made sense...
Hello! It's been a week or two right? Yeah… Sorry… School started and it's been really stressful already. Since I have my exams in about 6 months time, I have to study really hard. However, DO NOT WORRY! WRITING MY FANFICITON IS A WAY FOR ME TO RELAX AND HAVE FUN! THEREFORE I CAN STILL WRITE AS MUCH AS I CAN!
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