Not So Happy Ending

Chapter 14: Tia: My Mission! Part 2!

~T~

"Where are you going?" asked Mrs. Berry when I was stepping out the door that morning.

"Um..." I can't tell her where I'm going! She would never let me go then! "I'm going out to play."

"With whom?" Uh-oh, Mrs. Berry was suspicious.

I had to think fast. "I dunno." She looked at me funny. "I'm gonna go and make new friends." Yeah, that works.

"Oh..." She looked like she wasn't sure if she was going to believe me. "Well, alright, I guess. Be home by lunch time, dear."

I nodded, "Okay."

~T~

I made sure no one was looking when I crossed the street. I didn't wanna get in trouble.

I need help on this mission, but all the boys were too scared to help me! I don't even know where to start! So first, I went to Ulquiorra's house to see if he could help me somehow. When I knocked on the door, a guy opened the door. He looked a bit like Ulquiorra.

"Why hello there," he said with a smile. "You must be my boy's girlfriend." He laughed when I just stared up at him. "I'm kidding. I'm Ulquiorra's dad by the way." He held out his hand and I shook it.

"It's nice to meet you, Cifer-san," I said politely. "Is Ulqui here? I need to talk to him." Ulquiorra's dad nodded before going to get him.

When Ulquiorra came out, he smiled, "Good morning, Tia-chan! What're you doing here?"

"I need some help..."

~T~

While I was there, Ulquiorra told me what his Dracula looked like. I couldn't do this alone, so he told me there were some girls that lived down the street. According to him, they were pretty noisy and stayed inside a lot, so I thought since there weren't that many girls in this neighborhood, I would become friends with them, and they could maybe help me out.

As I walked down the street, I looked up ahead at the scary mansion at the end of the neighborhood. It was definitely bigger and more scary looking then the rest of the houses. When I got to the house that Ulquiorra had pointed out to me, I walked up the path to the house and ringed the doorbell.

Inside, there was a bunch of yelling and noise before a girl with really long sleeves showed up. "Oh," she said when she saw me.

"Hello," I said to her. Two other girls appeared behind her. One had brown hair and the other had dark blue hair.

"Hey, you're not a boy," said the one with blue hair.

"I was gonna say that!" yelled the one with brown hair. Those two started fighting. The one with the long sleeves rolled her eyes and held out her hand.

"Ignore them; they're really loud and annoying." She smiled as we shook hands. "I'm Sun-Sun. These are my sisters; Apache," the one with the blue hair waved before continuing to argue with the other girl. "-and Mila-Rose."

I nodded, "I'm Tia. I moved in across the street a few days ago. Listen, I need your help for an important mission."

"A mission?" Apache stopped fighting and stood next to Sun-Sun. "I'll help!"

"Great!" I smiled, "I was hoping you guys could help because the boys were too scared!" They all nodded and laughed.

"Girl power!" yelled Mila-Rose. "Alright, so what's our mission?"

"Okay, so you see that mansion...?"

~T~

After I told the girls what the mission was, we all started planning. Since they lived only one house (the guest house) away from the mansion, they saw when the people who worked there left and got back. We made an awesome plan. At ten o'clock (Sun-Sun's really good at telling time), we were gonna sneak into the back, cuz that was when the guards usually went out to buy food and stuff like that. We got a whole hour to get Dracula before having to get out of there.

"Ready?" I whispered to my team. We hid in the bushes and watched a bunch of people leave. When they were gone, the girls and me jumped into action! We ran into the backyard (the house was huge! We were tired when we got back there) then caught our breath before sneaking toward the back door.

"Remember the plan?" whispered Sun-Sun. We all nodded. "Mila-chan, stay out here and guard the door."

"Roger that!" Mila-Rose gave a thumbs up as she jumped into the bush by the door.

"See ya on the other side, Mila!" grinned Apache. She wished her sister luck before leading the way through the doggie door.

Sun-Sun and I wished her luck too before we crawled after Apache. When we got inside, we were in the kitchen. The food there looked really yummy, but it was no time to eat! Once we found our way out of the kitchen, we gasped.

The house was HUGE! The hallway looked like it went on forever, plus it was dark! Up ahead, there was a really, really, really big room that had a big fancy staircase and lots of other doors that went to no one knows where.

"I've been here before, so we'll team up," Sun-Sun told me. She looked at Apache. "You stay here and look around, we'll go upstairs!" We all nodded. "We'll come back down when it's time and find you. If anything happens, just hide!"

"Got it!" Apache didn't even get to run off before we heard footsteps. We all hid behind the stairs. A really ugly lady that looked like a guy walked across the room.

"Ugh, why won't they let me go out shopping with them! So unfair! My beauty is not to be hidden!" We all shivered. Her/his/it's ugliness was just that ugly.

"Be careful about him," whispered Sun-Sun when 'he' was in another room. "He's really ugly and dangerous. Whatever you do, don't even get NEAR him, got it?" Apache nodded. She quietly ran down another hallway and disappeared into a room.

We waited for a tiny bit to make sure the ugly man-lady didn't come back. When we didn't hear anything, we can up the staircase, being careful because the only light was from the sun outside, and the big house was still dark. "Okay, you go over there. Be really careful 'cause that's where Barragan's playroom is. He's unfriendly and kinda mean."

"Okay, good luck, Sun-Sun."

"You can call me Sunny." She smiled before rushing off.

~T~

Everywhere I looked, the place was dark and kinda scary. I kept thinking I heard a ghost or somethin' like that, but nothing ever showed up! I quietly ran into another room. It was a bathroom. I'm pretty sure Dracula wouldn't be in there.

"Where could it be?" I asked myself quietly. I left the room and checked the next room, and the room after that. This was annoying; the house was huge with a gajillion rooms. I'll never find Dracula! 'No, I have to find him!' I thought to myself. 'I promised Ulquiorra that I would.'

Even though I was starting to get a bit tired, I went into the next room. It was a bedroom. There was a toy chest at the foot of the bed. I smiled, 'Dracula has to be in there!' I'm sure I had found it! I ran over to the chest and tried to open it.

"Shoot!" I frowned. It was locked! Who locks a toy chest? Where could the key be? I looked around. There was a closet, two nightstands, and a dresser with a desk next to it. I looked through the nightstands first. Nope. The only things there were pencils, crayons, paper, a cup, and a small book. The other one had a small treasure box that had rings and necklaces in them. They weren't pretty rings and necklaces, they were the kinds that boys wear.

Next, I went to the closet. When I opened the door and walked in, I saw two things. The closet was big and scary. There were clothes everywhere and they looked kinda scary there in the dark. Lucky for me, I found the light switch. Good thing I did, 'cause then I would've never seen the secret compartment in the back! I marched through the big closet; clothes were everywhere on the floor, so I woulda tripped if I wasn't careful. When I got to the back, I found out that there were two compartments! One was a drawer in the wall that was easy to pull out.

"EW!" I slammed it shut, accidentally making a loud noise that I hope no one heard, when I saw there was underwear in that drawer. I listened carefully to make sure no one heard me. After a while, I continued searching 'cause I didn't hear any footsteps or alarms. "Gross," I mumbled to myself before wading through the clothes to the other side. I carefully pulled opened the other compartment.

Inside, there was a box. It was locked. "Darn!" I said, making sure to be quieter this time. I picked it up and shook it. A rattling sound. It sounded way too big to be a key, so I put it back and closed the drawer before leaving the closet and shutting off it's light.

The dresser was pretty big. I had to climb onto one of those spin-y chairs that was next to the desk. I know it's dangerous to do that, but this is an important mission! Once I carefully got myself onto the desk, I stood up. Nope, nothin' on top of the desk or the dresser. Dressers usually got clothes in 'em, and I didn't wanna touch anymore underwear, so I didn't look in it. I did check the drawers on the desk though. Nothin' in there either. There was just paperworks and other grown up-y stuff that I bet belonged to one of the guard guys.

Where could Dracula be? I don't know where to look now. This room was the only room that I was sure a toy would be in! All the other rooms were empty or belonged to one of the guards!

I couldn't give up!

~S~

I heard someone yell "EW!". It didn't sound like Barragan, but it sure sounded like Tia! I stopped looking in the room I was in. I already looked through a ton of rooms and there were nothing in any of them that gave a clue to where Dracula was! Ulquiorra-kun dropped it somewhere here, but I have no idea where it could be. Barragan definitely must've moved it by now.

Since I finished looking through all of the rooms, I quickly ran out towards the stairs. Tia sounded like she was in the room at the end of the other hall. I'll make sure no one will go that way. I almost screamed when I peeked down the stairs. It was that scary man-lady! Charlotte! I gulped; this wasn't good. I carefully sneaked to the wall and crawled under the window. If he saw me, he might torture me! I couldn't let that happen! Quietly, I kept scooting until I was in away from the light coming in from the window.

He was heading up the stairs! Oh no, I don't know what to do! I looked around really fast, trying to think. If he came up here, he'll definitely find one of us! Right before he put his foot on the top step, there was a crash in one of the rooms down stairs.

"Who's there?" he yelled. "I will not have an intruder intrude during Master Barragan's nap time!" He jumped the stairs three at a time! "I'll find you!" He yelled as he (or she...or both) disappeared into a room on the left. I breathed with relief. Thank goodness! I looked down just in time to see Apache running across the foyer, giving me a thumbs up as she disappeared into another room.

I smiled real big. Apache was good at distracting people.

~A~

After the ugly lady-thing went into the room where I knocked over a vase, I bolted outta that hallway and into the other one. All of those rooms were neat and tidy. There were no signs of Dracula. Looking through the rest of the rooms, there was nothing in there either. I crept into another room and looked at the clock. Sun-Sun told me that when the big hand was on the twelve again, we had to get out. Right now, it was on the seven.

I went out of the room again and looked up. Sun-Sun was hiding behind a plant. She looked behind her before going into the hallway. After a little while, she came back and pointed at the stairs. I ran up them quietly while she ran down.

"Apache, Tia thinks she found Dracula!" she whispered when we met in the middle. "It's locked in a chest. Have you seen any keys around?" I thought real hard.

"Umm...yeah! I saw it in the room...with..." We looked down and heard the lady thing cleaning up the vase that I knocked over with a sling shot in my pocket. "Oh, no! The ugly lady's in that room!" I whispered.

Sun-Sun stood there with a frown. I knew that face; she was trying to think hard. After a while, she had that look that said "Ah-ha!" She told me to find a way to distract him, but no more breaking things or he'll (it's a he?) get mad and start looking EVERYWHERE. I nodded and scurried off. Sun-Sun ran back up and hid behind the plan just as the man-lady-thing appeared again.

"Stupid intruder!" he growled before going back into the room.

I waited to make sure he would stay there before I ran into the kitchen and crawled out the doggie door. Outside, Mila-Rose was peeking out of the bush. "Mila-Rose!" She jumped.

"Apache! What're you doing here?" she asked when I stood up. "Did you find Dracula?"

"No, but Tia thinks she did! We need a distraction!" I stopped to let her think about what I said. "We need you to get the scary man-lady out here and to stay out here for as long as possible, okay?" Mila-Rose looked a bit nervous, but she nodded.

"Okay, but I'll have to run after that, or he'll see me! I'll meet you at home, okay?" I nodded.

"Good luck!"

~T~

I waited with Sunny behind the plant. We both held our breath when we heard a scream outside. Was it Apache? Or was it Mila-Rose? Were they okay?

"I'll get you!" yelled Charlotte as he ran out into the kitchen. We heard the door slam when he ran outside. Apache ran back in and into the room the purple haired freak was just in. She came back out a few minutes later with a key in her hand. Sun-Sun ran down the stairs and got it from her before running back up. Apache gave us a thumbs up before running to hide.

"Here's the key! You go and find Dracula, I'll stand guard out here! Barragan's playroom is right there and he's napping right now, so you shouldn't have a problem!" whispered Sunny as she handed me the key. I nodded before bolting down the hallway and into the bedroom.

As quick as I could, I ran to the chest and shoved the key in the hole. It worked! I opened it and started rummaging around, finding toys of all kinds, but no Dracula! I kept looking. I checked under the bed, under the pillow, and went through the chest some more. I looked and looked and looked, but there was no sign of it! Suddenly, I heard footsteps down the hall. I shut the chest and ran to hide under the desk.

"What's with all this noise?" grumbled a white haired kid to himself. He yawned. It was Barragan! I thought Sunny was watching out for him! What do I do?

~S~

Uh-oh. Tia was only in the room for a few minutes when I heard footsteps. I peeked into the room and saw Barragan wasn't there! He had left through another door! I walked into the room. Oh no! I hope Tia was okay...

While it was a bad thing that Barragan had left, I searched the room, looking in every toy chest and around the small cushy throne that he had in the middle of the room. Behind the throne, I found it! I found Dracula!

I looked at the clock; it was up high on the wall, so I had to back up to see it. The big hand was on the eleven. We need to get outta here! I hurriedly ran out of there, holding Dracula tightly. I had to be extra careful! Charlotte was already back inside! It was a close call, but I slid down the banister behind Charlotte's back. I ran into the room with the front door and hid behind a bench just as I heard the guards come back. They unlocked the door and opened it. As they came in, I silently slipped through without anyone seeing me and ran down the path until I was on the sidewalk. Now if only I could figure out how to get the others out...

"Sun-Sun!" Mila-Rose ran up to me. "Did you get it?" she asked all excitedly. I showed her Dracula. She cheered and jumped up and down. "Yay! Tia's friend will be so happy!"

I nodded, "But Apache and Tia are still in there..." We looked up at the mansion, waiting for them to come out.

~A~

Getting out after that was a piece of cake. I knew Tia would find Dracula, so I hid in the kitchen. When Charlotte came back in, I waited for only a little bit before crawling out the doggie door and running around to the front.

"Sun-Sun? How'd you...? Never mind! You got Dracula! Where was he?" I asked. She told me it was in the room that none of us went in. "Oh, but...where's Tia?" She pointed up at the mansion. "Uh-oh..."

~T~

"You!" I almost screamed, but I didn't. "What are you doing in my room?" asked Barragan when he saw me under the desk.

I gulped, "I...I-uh..." I couldn't tell him the real reason! "..." I didn't say anything.

He narrowed his eyes. "You know that breaking in can get you in jail, right?" he asked with his arms crossed. "As the king, I say that you broke in!"

Shoot. "I didn't break anything," I said truthfully. He looked at me funny again. "Really." Good thing he woke up after Apache broke that vase.

"Well, I guess since you're here..." He grinned evilly, "Would you like to play with me?" Why did he sound so evil? I got a feeling that I wasn't gonna like this very much.

No. Outside of my head, I told him, "I guess." since it would seem suspicious if I just left like that. How bad can playing with him for a little bit be?

"Alright, you be the damsel in distress and I'll save you!" He pulled out a sword from his toy chest and went into the closet. I heard him open the secret compartment and when he came back out, he was holding a crown. "Here." So that's what was in the box. It was sparkly and looked like it would belong to a princess.

It was a pretty crown and all, but I didn't like the game. "Why can't you be the guy in distress, and I save you?" I asked with a frown. That's why I didn't like a lot of those old movies that Mrs. Berry watched. The girls could never do anything except sit there and yell for help! I mean, girl power! Me and my team were able to get in here and we're all girls!

"Because girls are weak!" he declared. I don't like this guy one bit. "In all of those old movies, the princess, which is always a girl, always needs help!"

"Those are old movies though! Girls are stronger now," I said, crossing my arms as I glared at him. Who did he think he was? "Who do you think you are, anyways? You can't just say girls are weak!"

"Who do I think I am? I'm King Barragan Luisenbard! My dad's rich!" He yelled. Woah, his dad's rich. That would explain the big fancy mansion he lives in. He kept talking, "I bet you can't even beat me in a fight."

"Can too." Now this was sorta another lie. I wasn't sure if I could win, but he looked kinda weak. Plus, I once had this dream where I was all grown up, wearing weird clothes that forgot to cover my tummy, but covered half my face instead. I had this sword thing, and when I swung it, this laser beam thing shot out of it! I had called it a 'cero.'

"Bring it on!" he shouted with a grin. He tossed me another sword. "Whoever knocks the other one down first, wins!"

I nodded. "You're going to lose," I said, but I wasn't totally sure. I've never used a sword before.

"YAA!" He jumped at me and swung his sword really hard. I jumped out of the way and swung mine up to hit his out of the way. As fast as I could, I poked the sword at his stomach, but it didn't knock him over. He got mad at that. We fought on and on, toy swords swinging and each of us getting hit here and there, but no one ever fell down. I almost knocked him over twice, but he almost got me three times! I was worried that I was gonna lose!

"No!" Barragan knocked my sword out of my hand! He had been pushing me back the whole time and know I was in the corner of the room! If I didn't think fast, then I would lose!

"Ha! Who's right now? You're weak just like every other girl," he said. "Any last words?" I bet he got that from a movie.

Darn it, this was no time to be thinking about movies! He was lifting his sword over his head, ready to end this. What do I do? I couldn't lose! If I lose, then he might tell on me or worse; make me play the princess! I hated wearing frilly dresses!

"NO!" I yelled as I used my arms to cover my head. His sword came down, but I didn't fall yet!

"Just lose already!" he yelled at me angrily. I glared at him. No way was I gonna lose to him. I felt something in my arms. It wasn't like an itch or a cut, but it felt like it was coming from inside me. I felt like I could win this fight.

"N-no!" He was pushing down now and if I didn't do something fast I would lose! I kicked him. It only got him to back up a tiny bit, but that was the chance I needed! Quickly, I feld my hands out in front of me. "Cero!"

With a yelp, Barragan fell when that little ball of glowing light hit him. It didn't hurt him too bad by the looks of it, but he looked angry. I caught my breath before saying anything. I knew he was stronger then me now, but at least he didn't know about cero. At least I hope he didn't. "I won...now will you say that not all girls are weak?" I huffed as I wiped my forehead. He looked up at me, looking a teensy bit surprised, but mostly mad. I didn't wait for him to say anything. I ran out of there as fast as I could, avoiding all the guards, which was hard because they had all come back and now they were everywhere! So instead of leaving through the doggie door, I jumped out an open window on the first floor.

I felt sad as I walked down towards my new friends' house. I failed. I couldn't get Ulquiorra-kun's Dracula back, even though I promised him I would.

"Tia!" They all ran up to me looking happy. "You're alive!"

"Yeah...but I couldn't get Dracula back," I said glumly. Sun-Sun smiled and brought something out from behind her back. I smiled, "You did it!" I was so happy I almost gave her a hug.

"No, we did it Tia-chan," she said with a smile. "Let's go. We can give this to Ulqui-kun later. Now, let's celebrate with lunch!"

We all cheered. "YEAH!"

I smiled as I held Dracula. I kept my promise, and right now, that was all that mattered. What a happy ending.

END CHAPTER

I feel like this chapter's pretty long...Huh, looks like it is…I'll try and shorten it a next time (insert sheepish grin here). I haven't updated in a crap ton of months, but I'm determined now since it's summer, I'm bored, and...yeah!

Next time will be the Tug-of-War thing, which will reveal more of the plot. (Lol, there's a plot? Yeah, I'm surprised too XD)

Please review and tell me what you think!

~Amaterasu Ai