Opening Note(s): Chapter eleven is now chapter twelve. The explanation is on opening notes on chapters ten and eleven. Thank you. :D
—
Rules
of Abduction
Written by: Snow Sparkle
Chapter XII – Hoary
Hoax
—
Rule
12: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Who knows,
maybe there'd be some kind of stupid plot twist that he is actually
your brother.
—
—
He had let her down.
He had let his crew down.
Mikan was dumbstruck that after ten minutes, while riding a carriage, the jungle-like scenery came into a clearing of a very busy and commercialized kingdom.
She gaped in both confusion and fascination. Her face was almost plastered against the window. She looked back at him and noticed his scowling at her. The message was clear to her and she immediately sat back properly. They weren't here for sightseeing.
But the man named Smith was nice enough. In fact, he had offered them drinks and cakes. To Mikan, it was him, Natsume, who wasn't being nice. Just because he refused to accept the offer. Even she wasn't permitted to grab one. Her hand was still stingy thanks to his swat.
Maybe she was naïve or one of the people who believed that everyone has good in them that she was quite relaxing herself. After meeting GPU's superiors, she decided that they were fairly good people. They were crude but somewhat nice. She hoped Persona would be like GPU's superiors.
But he knew better. He on the other hand was edgy and grumpy, even impatient. It was like he was waiting for Smithy to do something... wrong.
As they neared the palace gates, his trepidation was rising, a question came to him.
Will we see him as Persona... or as King Ryuu of Amberlane?
He just hoped Persona would go as Persona, the masked seedy guy. Not King Ryuukan, the one that everyone paid respect to.
He mentally shrugged. Either way, he would commit treason.
He faced Smith and instantly cursed himself when he felt somnolent and saw Mikan already down on the floor unconscious.
He refused the drinks given to them, thinking it might contain poison or sleeping substances. However it didn't occur to him that the man across of them, didn't need one as he had the alice of sleep.
Or was it the alice of dream or déjà vu?
He wasn't so sure.
Because the next instant he felt conscious, he saw himself standing a few feet away with the rest of the boys back at the ship. They were all sitting cross-legged at the floor.
He felt the scene oddly familiar and tentatively walk to them. Sure enough, they didn't notice his presence as if he was a ghost.
Confused and with a slowly growing trepidation in fear that he might be dead, he felt himself up and half-expected to see himself transparent. Yet he didn't. Much to his relief.
Feels real enough. He decided. Although he wasn't a good judge for himself. To make good measure, he tried to tap Ruka on his shoulder.
The keyword here was: Tried.
So it was either he was the ghost or them.
Deciding not to dwell too much on agitation, he sat behind the Concrete Natsume, peeking and somewhat eavesdropping to the conversation.
"Seems like your RA lacked training. What were you doing the whole day?"
Phantom Natsume immediately recalled it was about three days ago, the Kabuto Sumo night. Quietly he listened at their conversation, somewhat reminiscing. He laughed at some parts of it and his gaze turned to his best friend and grinned at him.
Then at everyone.
Then at the manner of how hard and hysterical all of them laughed.
Watching them, a feeling of contentment and happiness came to him as he subconsciously contemplated his unique friendship with each of them.
Ruka for a friend that complemented him, his opposite, his pacifier, his best friend.
Tsubasa for a friend to snag on, be mischievous with.
Koko for a friend to give him sometimes voice of reason and oftentimes just the voice of utter playful dumbness.
Phantom Natsume smiled grimly and watched Tsubasa grab a handful of chips and convened the girls to join them.
The boys merely chuckled knowingly that it was an ulterior move to do 'the moves' on Misaki.
Sumire ambled to them first, taking a seat between the Concrete Natsume and Koko. Sumire was a tough one to define his friendship with. She was a friend whom he had shared fewer moments with but she was a sensible and quite a brazen talker when someone needed her to be. They didn't talk a lot but her presence and sensation she provided to the crew was something essential to all of them.
Misaki was up next, drying her hands with a towel, an indication she had just washed the dishes. She sat beside Tsubasa upon the request and teasing of the majority. Misaki was like a mother to him and maybe to the whole crew except for Tsubasa who wanted to play 'Daddy'. As the oldest girl in the crew, she did most of the chores and emotional support.
Hotaru came shortly, as per usual with her lips pressed into a thin line. She didn't sit down with them but instead, took off a tiny capsule, pressed a button and a recliner came into place. Natsume didn't want to admit this but Hotaru was his guardian. A sister of his who was, in her own quite hostile ways protected not only him but all of them.
And Mikan, who was avoiding Concrete Natsume's trained eyes on her, slowly made her way beside Misaki and Koko. Koko greeted her by tickling her side and Mikan responded with a good-natured slap.
As for Mikan, she was a tricky one.
She was a quite special friend.
He didn't know when he started treating her specially but perhaps the boys had seen it long before he had.
At first, she irritated him and her presence was a bother. Nothing special. Everyone had at least thrice received his seemingly callous way of treatment— The disagreeable and insensitive approach in everything as if it was some sort of an initiation rite. Then, it followed that he got accustomed to her— in a short span of time that it almost broke Ruka's record. In fact, he grew so accustomed and used to being beside her that whenever she was out of his sight, he felt something was terribly amiss and restless.
When they first got into their first real argument at Tsubaki and felt an overwhelming urge to talk to her and bugged by his scruples, he realized he had a special eye for her, be it romantically or not, it didn't matter.
Maybe because she was like Ruka. He reasoned, being his opposite and his counterpart.
There had been times when he called her ugly. Of course he knew she wasn't. In fact, reluctantly, he admitted that she was cute in more than ways than the face value.
Too cute that at times he couldn't help but to yank her cheek to see how stretchable it could go. Too cute that he couldn't feel anger whenever she did something dippy as she pouted for an apology. Too cute that she was too oblivious that she was divulging her supposed-to-be secret fantasies. Too cute that he teased her incessantly just to see her blush. Heck, she was too cute that he found himself absolutely undeserving when she confessed she loved him.
Too cute that maybe in some alternate universe, in a different time and place, in a completely different circumstance, without all of the tons of problems weighing down on him, he had considered the idea of dating her.
Maybe even loving her.
He blinked, dumbfounded. Consider WHAT?
He shook his head and half-hoped he could materialize himself to grab on to some booze as well just to drown some uncalled-for ideas and perhaps blame the beer for his hazy thoughts.
He turned his attention back at them, noticing they were playing cards.
They were happy. And thoughts about Persona and the crap Youichi was talking about 'saving the world' were forgotten completely.
But he, the observer, being the bipolar one, couldn't help but to be engulfed by melancholy as soon as the feeling of happiness evaporated.
He knew it wasn't going to last...
Three days from this happy memory, they'd be facing Persona.
Heck, he could be dead by now.
Wasn't it said that at death, your whole life flashes back at you?
Was this he was seeing a life flash?
"You're not dead. Yet." A voice seared his ears, booming.
The image soon swirled and rippled and seemed to be sucked by a blackhole as the overwhelming blistering wind wiped everything but him. Leaving him standing all-alone on a cold, dark place.
Natsume didn't show panic, recognizing the voice straight away. He knew he liked him squirming uncomfortably and he wouldn't let him have that pleasure. "I knew you were behind all of this." he said in the air.
"I didn't know you're a sentimental child, Natsume." The voice was all over yet the source seemingly switches from one place to another, making it harder for Natsume to trace him.
"Leave them alone." he warned emptily.
"Of course. As long as your crew stays on the ship. Too bad your pet parrot, Koi, upon Hotaru's instruction, is to report to them if you need reinforcement. And you certainly need one." The voice tutted. "You're underestimating me Natsume, to think you came alone. Although, fair enough, you brought the princess with you."
He felt his heart skip in anxiousness. Yet he managed to gather his wits to avoid emotions push him to make poor judgments. "Where is she?"
"I'm jealous. Why, you never spoke of me with concern." Natsume could feel the smirk on his tone. "Relax. She's safe. You know I won't do any harm to her."
"So you got the girl," Natsume played coolly. "What do you still want with me? I'm recalling we agreed on a payment not a payback."
The temperature turned from cold to freezing and an unseen force blew his gut, making him cough out some blood. "Don't take me for a fool!" the cool, playful voice changed as wind gushed to his face as the voice spoke. It was like he was in front of a human-sized mouth. "I knew you were working for that Hiijiri brat!"
"Where are you? Better yet, where am I?" His vision swirled and a stinking smell infiltrated his nose. It smelt of rotten corpse and dried blood. He was on his feet and got a feeling where he was, with both of his hands on separate chains but his vision was still blurry. When it cleared, he looked forward to see a masked person waiting patiently with the dungeon as his background.
It was Persona. The king of Amberlane who was known by many as King Ryuu.
"What do you want?" he grunted, his head throbbing in pain. "And why am I in chains?"
"I like it kinky." Persona's monotonous voice quipped and appeared to have calmed down, deliberately misreading the inquiry.
Natsume chuckled in spite of his ordeal.
Persona gaited around his cell, his leather boots resonated through the chamber and looking around like he was on an art exhibit. His steps were confident and sure-footed, like always. "Isn't this place nostalgic?"
It was a rhetorical question and Natsume gritted his teeth at Persona, almost growling.
Persona wasn't intimidated. He walked up to him, a rod at hand and prod Natsume. He used the rod to lift up his sleeve to reveal a number scorched on his upper right arm. It was pretty much the same number the Amberian émigré that came to 'assassinate' him.
"Such a shame..." Persona remarked mockingly and swung the rod off Natsume when Natsume jerked his arm. "The mark here is always to remind you of your sin."
A surge of once-repressed anger shot up and with his hands cuffed, he used his feet to reach Persona. It was pretty pathetic but Natsume was ready to throw some of his ego away just to spite him. "Damn you!"
"Thank you for reminding me I have to tie your feet as well." Persona responded, eerily calm. He was convinced that Natsume was virtually not detrimental now that his alice was repressed by the cuffs.
"What do you want?!" he repeated his unanswered question.
Persona ignored him once again and stared at him, reminding Natsume that he was in no position to demand. He was the one who would control the flow of the conversation. "Tell me Natsume, are you planning to steal this kingdom from me?" His lips quirked upward upon seeing Natsume's shocked expression on his face. It was like he had just blown their plans. Assuming straightaway, he laughed cruelly roughly sounding like a cackle. "And who do you think you are? Just because your mother— our mother, was the former ruler, you think you can rule? My, my, you're very ambitious, thinking you're lower than a princekin as your father's a mere slave. Do you remember? It was our own mother who sent you to dungeon and put death to your father. Meaning she didn't want you anywhere her throne after the incident."
Natsume shook his head, knowing it wasn't completely true. He knew his mother. The former queen and ruler had shown her love and care for him in her simple albeit covert ways. She had loved both him and his father.
Tsubaki told him his father and mother were sweethearts before she was crowned queen. Because she possessed fire alice, her parents forced her to marry someone of royal blood. His father was a commoner. A commoner, but never a slave. Until the newly crowned queen sneaked him inside the palace grounds to get him a rather debasing job of taking care of the stable just to make their lover's tryst easier. Soon she got pregnant and the baby's red eyes were dead giveaways. Of course she couldn't let the public knew she had an affair. So she made Tsubaki take the baby away and announce it was stillbirth.
She loved them both. Though in the end, she chose him to live over his father when the news about him exploded.
Albeit his father had concurred this complex decision with his mother, he couldn't help but feel that she was his father's death. And so he was as well. It was like mother and son conspired together to kill father. That was why he hated her so. If he was dead, he wouldn't have to go through all this.
Natsume continued to shake his head, then appearing like he had lost his saneness, he chuckled dully, his voice hollow when he spoke. "Do you really think this kingdom is worth my crap? Besides, the fire-wielder rule was dissolved long ago by yourself." He managed a leer and pulling himself up to meet up with Persona's dark eyes. "I'm not interested in politics... at least not me."
Persona strung out. Barely detectable but highly valued by Natsume. "You mean... Hotaru?"
"How come you forgot your little sister? After you die, she's next in line. It's not like you could self-proliferate."
Persona raided his hand in anger and twisted his fingers as if grasping something concrete in the air parallel to Natsume's neck. He was using his alice on him and Natsume felt his energy slowly deteriorating. Natsume wasn't sure what Persona's alice was but Hotaru warned him it could cause instant death. And at that time Natsume's priority was not to identify it but to stop it.
Natsume uselessly clawed his neck, struggling for air. He wanted to stretch out his hand to stop Persona but it simply couldn't reach him. When Persona was satisfied he retracted his hand and Natsume gasped all the air he could get. He looked up at Persona with bewilderment and a taint of fright. His alice was overpowering and domineering. He felt dehydrated and exhausted. It was like his cells were atrophied.
Persona smirked with satisfaction. "Not yet. I need you still to bend my sweet little princess to my wishes. You know how villains work." He winked.
He coughed, his throat sore. "What are your plans? World domination?" he sneered. He might have done his sneer with justice if he was sounding hoarse because he was being manly.
Persona laughed. "World domination? I may seem like a villain but I'm not into that archaic purpose. I'm not naïve. I simply do this for the thrills. Doing things secretly brings excitement." He paused. He wanted to have some proof to support his statement. "Have you watched the news about the dead bodies found in Wintergall?" Natsume merely stared and Persona felt liberated to continue and go spill the beans. "I use those bodies to smuggle gold. Human bodies are not suspicious and get me a new way to eliminate the kingdom's cancer of the society."
"Smuggle?" he said in incredulity, his throat still feeling parched.
"Shall I allow you a demonstration?"
Natsume merely gaped in disbelief and Persona clicked his fingers. A man clothed in prisoner's outfit, energy drained, was dragged to his cell and a man with his whole head covered to prevent recognition. The masked man carried a tub of hot melted gold.
Instantly, Natsume rounded his eyes for seeing what was going to happen. He screamed his protest and watched the man forced his mouth open, a funnel at his orifices, and the executioner poured in the liquefied gold as the man screamed and futilely gurgled. Natsume could literally see smokes out of the poor man's ears and nose and swore he had seen the man peed on his pants.
It was the most shocking and disturbing thing he had seen and it took about ten seconds for the man to officially drop dead. The dead man's skin scorched.
"Genius am I not?" Persona remarked casually like they were only talking about the weather.
"You're crazy." he remarked, a small break on his voice.
"Geniuses are often misunderstood. I thank you though, for informing me about how my sister, Hotaru is doing. In fact I am so grateful that I'm telling you a secret in exchange." Natsume swallowed. The secrets Persona was exposing was very disturbing that he didn't wasn't sure he still wanted to know his exposition. "You know the thing about the decapitating? The killing of the princes?" Natsume perked up. Now that was something he did want to identify with. "Your memory of it was just a hoax. I made someone with memory alice mess up with your mind. Your anger, guilt, revenge and everything are uncalled for."
Natsume scoffed inwardly. Gathering all of him back again. He knew the reason Persona told him that. He wanted to make him feel all his and their hard work was for naught. But Persona was wrong. Even if it was a memory, the events that took place after the hoax was real enough. His imprisonment, his mother reluctantly betraying his willing father to save him, his father dying, his working for an inscrutable group, his abduction of Mikan. And it all made his resolve for destroying Persona more stanch.
He laughed. A chuckle filled with dark humor that could rival Persona, escaped Natsume's throat. "I knew it."
Persona's eyes slightly narrowed. "You do?"
"I've never told anyone about this because I want to confirm it first... But do you remember the mind-reader kid GPU sent to spy on you a few years ago?"
Persona raised his brow. "That Yome?" he reckoned and leered. "Nice try Natsume-kun but that plot twist seems to have a plot hole." Natsume had to chuckle, confident enough to go with his humor. "I knew he was sent to spy by GPU the first day he went to me. But I let him because I could use his skills. Unfortunately for GPU though, as that Hiijiri seemed to have shrunk his brain as well, forgot the basic that someone who has a low alice rank can't penetrate through mine."
"He had his alice amplified you moron. Of course he could read your mind. As much as I wanted to agree that Hiijiri's narrow-minded, at least the other lesser superiors aren't." He paused and savored the prolonged pause, seconds before he would shove down to Persona's throat his trump card. "I know that you're dying."
Natsume saw Persona for the very first time froze momentarily in shock and he mentally exclaimed Bingo!
"Dying?" Persona managed to echo incredulously like the idea was unheard of and totally ridiculous.
"Don't play dumb. Your alice type is like mine. As we consume our alice, we consume our life-force. That's why you need Mikan. You need to feed on it to prolong your life. You mock Hiijiri for being so gullible to bite your bait to become younger yet you're doing the same thing. And the smuggling? It's just some poorly made plot to sidetrack us from your real purpose." He blatantly sneered. "Really, if that's all what you really want, stop all of these. We could help each other, work together and live peacefully. Let's be a family. After all, we're brothers."
Persona studied him intently. "You don't mean that do you?"
Natsume smirked. "I was hoping some sentimental crap would work."
"Almost." Persona decided to play along with him. "It's just that tear, the essential element, is missing."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"No need to." Persona dismissed tightly. "I've always liked you for your noiselessness. But now you talk too much. Haven't I told you before, Natsume-kun?" Persona paused like waiting for Natsume to tell the saying.
When Natsume kept silent, he said, "Even a fish wouldn't get into trouble if it kept its mouth shut."
—
—
Ending Note(s): Well I never said anything about evil brother. Only about evil twin brother.
