Disclaimer: I don't own Loveless, but many aspects mentioned are mine.
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Chap 14: "Night terror"
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Annabelle walked alone along the sidewalk. She looked ahead and was confused seeing the library from her hometown across the street. She instantly thought herself mistaken; believing that moving to Japan was all one of her "false memories". She must have dreamt of it so many times she began to believe it. She pulled up her pant leg. Her scars were where they should be, so it seemed her conclusion was correct.
The air grew thick to the point of choking the breath from her lungs as fog set in. She did not feel comfortable crossing the street any time, but in fog or darkness it was highly anxiety-provoking. Still, she needed to go to the library, and stepped off the sidewalk onto the street.
Mid-way across the second lane, she froze. It was as though heavy chains held her legs in place. "No, not now" she pulled and pulled but her legs wouldn't budge. "No" she cried fearfully.
She worriedly turned her head and stiff torso to the left. Headlights shone dimly through the mist as a car stopped at the traffic light. Heart palpitating, she pulled and pulled willing her legs to free her from this terror.
From everywhere and nowhere she heard a deep chuckle then it broke into loud hysterical laughter.
When the light changed to green, the headlights flashed again as the driver stepped on the gas pedal.
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Ritsuka grinned when Semei offered his hand. "Come Ritsuka I'll buy you ice cream", he smiled pleasantly and Ritsuka grasped his larger hand tightly.
They walked across grass to the ice cream stand. "Two scoops please" Semei said then exchanged money for a cone topped with vanilla and strawberry ice cream.
"Here you go little brother." Ritsuka accepted the frozen treat and Semei pointed to a table, "Let's go sit". A warm breeze swept Ritsuka's hair across his face just before he tasted the ice cream. He shook his head for a moment and continued followed his idol's footing.
"Thank you Semei" he called with another smile. Three feet ahead, Semei turned with a delightful spread of his lips revealing his perfect white teeth.
Forgetting to be careful, only wishing to be nearer to his beloved brother, Ritsuka rushed to him. Halfway to his brother's hand, the top pink scoop of iced cream fell to slush over grass. When he looked down, the vanilla fell as well leaving him with only a white-filled cone.
He gasped "Oh no! I'm sorry big brother…" he apologized lifting his head. As he did so, fog spread across his face. It took several blinks to see Semei's form again.
Despite the ice cream and fog, he set forth running. "Join me Ritsuka" Semei sweetly called. Continuing his pace, Ritsuka peered upward just as black hair swept upward when Semei's severed head fell from his shoulders, deep red blood spraying across his own horrified face.
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Annabelle jolted awake and screamed into her blanket as tears poured from her eyes.
Ritsuka shot up and a pillow slid off the bed while his body shook with sobs.
Sorrowful and too frightened to return to the land of dreams, each stayed awake the remaining four hours until they needed to prepare for school.
Ritsuka did not ask Soubi to come over after waking in such an abrupt fear-stricken way, it was too early in the morning and his dad would likely be readying for work with his mom down stairs preparing breakfast, it would have been too risky.
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Walking down the school hallway, it gladdened Ritsuka to see his red haired friend. He felt comforted by her presence; she had a very motherly demeanor.
Reaching his locker he breathed a long yawn. Annabelle looked over and waved once then grasped the locker to pull herself up with a text book in her other hand.
Facing him she covered her mouth to yawn then greeted "Hi Ritsuka, how are you?" "Tired, I couldn't get back to sleep after a nightmare." She shut her eyes for a few moments then held her eyelids up weakly saying "Me too, the exact same thing happened to me actually".
Surprised, he commented "Deja-vu". "Gods I hope not" she grimaced.
Annabelle turned to be side-by-side with Ritsuka. She put his arm to her back then overlapped with her arm at his back. He was grateful for the aid to stand and especially to walk as they made their way to class.
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"Soubi, I'm studying with Annabelle at her house today. Go home and work on your projects, I'm sure something is due soon that you've been neglecting. I'll talk to you later." After running a hand through black locks, his fighter complied. The two children walked in the direction of their street.
One block from home Annabelle felt a sudden wave of dizziness come over her and said "I need to sit down", and so she sat. It didn't matter when or where, if her leg called for it or if she was dizzy like this, she sat.
Her heart pounded against her chest as she breathed deep even breaths "Dizzy" she informed, it was unnecessary to look up to see he was confused.
Two boys with matching black pants and dark green shirts, who appeared close to Soubi's age, but three inches shorter than he walked up behind them. "Hello Loveless" called one with round rimmed glasses and short black hair. Hearing his other name sent a chill down Ritsuka's spine. He faced them.
"Alone I see" the other with dark brown hair commented, glancing for a moment at Annabelle. She clenched her fists. With a glare he said "Tell Agatsuma Soubi we'll be seeing you later", and they continued down the road.
"Those two seem like trouble. Do they know Soubi?" she asked "Um I guess they know us from that computer game", he lied.
Soubi isn't going to be happy about this…
Faking surprise he said "Oh I need to bring something to Soubi's for one of his projects. Sorry we can't study today, we'll make plans later". "Sounds good to me, I can't study with my head like it is right now."
He finished walking Annabelle home then texted Soubi.
Pony tail swooping, Soubi placed his paintbrush down and smiled seeing his sacrifice's name on the cellphone screen. He opened the text message: Are you busy? He typed a reply: I'm never too busy for Ritsuka. The boy shook his head and typed: I'm coming over.
: Do you need me?
: No I'll be there soon.
Ritsuka was already on his way when he received the reply: I will wait for you.
Immediately after hearing one light knock Soubi opened the door and Ritsuka walked in. "I thought you were going to study with Annabelle tonight. Did you miss me so much you needed to cancel plans?" he asked playfully.
Ritsuka sat down "Soubi two boys came up to me, they called me Loveless, and said to tell you they'll see us later". All cheer quickly dispelled from Soubi's face. "Did they hurt you?" "No" "Were you alone?" Ritsuka shook his head "Annabelle was there too".
That must be why they didn't pursue the matter further…
Soubi was thankful the team obeyed the rules. Still he was angry with himself for leaving Ritsuka to be harmed.
What if the team utilized the opportunity?...
The team showed one hour later, and Soubi was unperturbed by the fact they knew where he lived. Attacks flew back and forth until with his third show of power Soubi defeated them.
Soubi also was not worried that he recognized them from the university he currently attended, few people in the underworld of teams and spell battles spoke a word about its existence to outsiders.
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End of chap 14
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Hope you liked it, please review.