NEVER FEAR, PEARL'S HERE! I'm back with the next installment of The Indigo Illusionist, otherwise known as Mizuki stomps around being a b*tchy princess.

Thanks bunches to lillyannp for her constant support and recent review! Fpr the rest of you who read this and say nothing, you hurt me. A lot. I need reviews, I'm begging you!

Enjoy this crap!

I rush into the music room, breathless and more than late. My newly cropped hair drips with the cold rain from outside, my ugly sunburst yellow dress stained with rainwater. The usual mischievous gleam in my technicolor eyes is replaced by clouds that match the view from outside.

"Kagami-san?" Tamaki questions from the couch, already garbed in a billowy green half robe that shows a little bit too much skin.

"Nuh-uh," I gasp, shaking water out of my silver hair. "Just me. I cut my hair."

"Oh, Mizu-chan!" Honey-senpai squeals. "Is Kaga-chan coming today?"

"No, she went back to Karuizawa. I don't think she's coming back," I snap.

"Well, why not?" Tamaki questions, leaning over the back of the couch resting his head on his hand and giving me a winning smile.

"She's just not, okay?" I practically shout at him. "Mind your own business, nosy idiot. Now, are you shoving me in another costume or can I go?"

"You agreed to serve us," Kyoya says, in a very matter-of-fact manner. He gestures with his pencil to a box at his feet. "It's in there."

"Thanks a bunch," I say sarcastically, marching around Tamaki, who is all but weeping in a corner, and snatch the plastic wrapped package from out of the bottom of the box. I shut myself in the changing room and dress quickly, shedding my uniform on the floor and dumping my bag in a pile, kicking the whole mess off to the side. Before I leave, I take a moment to observe myself in the mirror. With the crew cut and the depressed look in my eye, I really do look a lot like Kagami. I almost punch my reflection in the face.

"Stupid Kagami," I mutter to myself, tracing my finger along the line of my reflection's jaw and ragged bangs, the arch of her eyebrow, around her one cinnamon eye, down her nose and across her lips. "Maybe I'm the one who died," I ponder, tapping a nail against the mirror's smooth surface, just over her left breast. "Do you have a heart in there, stupid Kagami? Well, you don't need it any more, do you?"

I stagger back from the mirror, struck with an overwhelming sense of loss. Kagami, no, the girl in the mirror, she doesn't exist any more. What right do I have to pretend to be Kagami? What kind of person am I, to not go to my sister's, my own twin's funeral? Or my little brother's? Why am I acting like this?

Oh, that's right. She left me alone.

But why does it matter any more? Kagami's dead now anyway, nothing I can do about that.

I find myself against the wall, palms holding me up, head tilted downward, staring at the crystal dropping from my technicolor eyes. My nails dig into the building's hard stone and plaster walls, trying hard to make a mark, to prove my pain, but, of course, nails are no match for stone.

Why should I be the one hurting? What have I done wrong? Is this some kind of divine punishment for refusing to go to Oboro's funeral, for wishing my elder sister dead, for running away and ignoring my siblings? Why do I have to hurt? Why not someone else?

Of course, I think to myself as I turn around and lean my back against the wall. I don't need Takumi to perform. I don't need his kind heart and his silly morales. I can hurt, or I can be the cause. Be infamous. Make a difference in someone's life, good or bad.

What's so great about being the good guy?

X-***-X

"Hi, there," I greet Kyoya's semicircle of guests. "Does anyone ant to see a magic trick?"

"No, I think we've all seen enough of your lame excuses for tricks. They get boring after a while, you know, Mizuki." a lady says, passing me an empty cup rattling on a saucer and waving me off with her fingers. "Go on."

"Leiko Rin," I greet, remembering her name. "If you're going to be a jerk, make your own tea."

"No, thanks," she laughs coldly. "You're being rude, and that has consequences. But considering your loss, I can let it slide. People can be so weak."

"My loss," I mimic her under my breath. I slam the teacup hard on the table, watching with disinterest as the china chips, and grab the girl's elbow. I march her angrily form the room, out into the hall, and around the corner.

"How do you know?" I demand, looming over the significantly shorter girl. "Who told you about Oboro and Kagami?"

"Well, you, just now," she laughs yet again. I ready my fist to punch that smirk right off her lips, but stop myself short when she holds up her wrist. The leather charm bracelet is strapped to it, two new charms dangling from it, one a silver square with an inlaid pale emerald and the other a beautifully carved chocolate amber stone. Leiko's smirk grows, stretching wickedly across her sculpted face.

"But you're missing something, Mizuki, something you could have avoided if you weren't so brash and quick to act."

"Oh?" I cross my arms and look down my nose at her, unable to keep the lilt of fear from my voice. "And what's that?"

"You're the only one left, Mizuki. Your last brother, Takumi, I think his name was, killed himself." She makes a finger gun with her pointer finger, shoves the tip into the cavern of her mouth, and twitches her thumb down with a smile. "Swallowed a bullet the hard way, two nights after he found you missing. He'd been checking the news for reports of you and saw the plane crash reel. That, plus thinking you'd never come back? Imagine, all three of your siblings dead within two days. The grief was too much, so he ate lead. Sad thing is, I bet his body is still stinking up his bedroom."

Takumi... Takumi, killed himself? Because he thought I'd left him forever. I can only imagine how he'd explain himself, something like, "I thought you hated me, Mizuki, and with Oboro and Kagami dead... I couldn't, Mizuki. I'm sorry."

"Hey, Leiko?" I mutter under my breath. "Remember what you said about people being weak? Well, you were right. People are weak and selfish and..." I cut myself off to keep from rambling and making a fool of myself.

"Of course I was right," she scoffs. "Hey, Mizuki."

"Yeah, what?"

"Death always wins, Mizuki. She always gets her price. I hope you keep that in mind. You deserve happiness too, and you can get back at death. For a price, of course, but revenge is so sweet," she smirks at me, cocking her head. After a beat, I watch her unlatch the amber stone from her charm bracelet and dangle it tauntingly in front of me. "So, do you want to put on a show, Illusionist, or just watch?"

Without hesitation, I snatch the pendant from out of her hand and wrap it safely in my palm.

Aw, Takumi's death really got to Mizuki. I think, the Illusionist is broken. Crippled with grief and clouded with distant, cruel desire to get back, our pretty little girl with extreme anger issues makes a deal with the Soul Queen. (For any of you who read my first OC fic Ouran Infiltrated, you know Leiko Rin. For any of you who haven't, just remember that death always gets her price.)

Stay tuned!