Nadia's POV
Haven city at it's finest... hardly were there any lights on. Plenty of shadows and few of its people. Waking up inside an already used body bag was not a sight I would have welcomed, my left temple area dully throbbed the place that arrogant bastard had shot my host.
Who will need some time to recuperate,
Shaking my head violently it felt like a... migraine? Yes, that was the word she would use to describe me at times. Over the horizon of this dump of a city, the sun would soon begin to ascend. I've little time to wander.
The memories I have seen, helped me realize this area was.. the slums? Fitting. I needed to reach the market area, as that was where this apartment thing was. A familiar clicking of armor had my body freeze and hair bristle as soon as they came into my sight.
Waiting in the shadows they lazily searched then moved on. How I would love to toy with them, I couldn't believe the human body was such a fragile thing. If not for me my host would be dead... three times over! It made me sick, a tiny bullet wound could be the cause of such a thing.
With the task at hand, I would have to hurry. Twilight set over the city, the faint light casting most shadows away. There were three other areas that needed passing... pass... pass. A red flag went up in my head, security passes, were what someone used to get to the surrounding areas. I've no passes!
Growling at my current predicament, I couldn't believe my luck- wait slums. Slums, a mans face flashed through my mind. Ixora's kin... there was a hideout. Somewhere here.
Almost by memory... not my own but guided by Ixora's, I followed some invisible map in my head- while hiding from any unwanted attention, soon enough I came to a dead end. There was nothing here! Looking around, there was a strange symbol- I got closer to get a better look. The wall shook a little then moved over to the side making me jump back ready for an attack of some sorts- it only revealed an empty stair well... found it.
It was silent inside, cautiously I peeked inside. It was dimly lit, nothing but a few bunks and and table in the middle covered with papers. Something was off, or something was missing.
Dismissing those thoughts, I had to find some security passes, yellow and red ones. Where would those be, I stopped moving as a soft snoring came from my left. There were a few bunk beds along the wall, a couple were occupied. I just had to sneak into the supply closet, get the passes and leave.
The makeshift door was a tattered blue curtain. Inside was boxes and crates, each filled with clothes and gear, few had weapon mods or ammo clips. Where would security passes be? On the most top shelf, a small bin rested. That had to be it-
Creak creak
Someone was awake, my right ear twitched there was no foot steps. Perhaps someone just turned over. Attention back to the bin, I had to scale the shelves... my host was so... short. One crate had fallen over, I had to stop- no one woke up. Hurry, grabbing the bin I had lost my balance. My luck has turned, a bunch of small devices fell to the ground the bin on top of my head. A loud crunch echoed as my horns punctured the metal box, this time there were foot steps.
Scrambling to get the box off, I grabbed all of the nearest flat square devices I could before a gun was loaded up and someone breathed out sharply. Well as Ixora would say... I'm in the shit deep.
Torn's POV
It couldn't be, there was a clutter of a mess in the supply closet but in the middle of it all. Someone had the metal bin that held the few security passes we could get. The dirty but familiar prison garbs were noticeable... the dark red hair was like a beacon. Could it be?
Swallowing hard,
"What do you think your doing? Stealing from the underground?" it was more statement then question. Whoever it was just sat there, then giggled.
Suppressing a shiver, whoever this was just picked the wrong place to steal from.
"You had just anssswered yourssself," a chilling high pitched voice finally spoke her S's stretched out a little. Any previous thoughts or conclusions I had had were all extinguished. Of course it wouldn't have been her, this one's hair was more darker than hers. A small amount of anger grew, I should have known better she's gone and not coming back... but.
"You, your fresh outta prison right?" catching the girl off guard at the topic change, she seemed to be mulling it over.
"Maybe," was the blunt reply, their shoulder's shrugging. The clothes pooled around her, along with a few security passes scattered on the floor.
"Have you seen or heard of..." should I even bother? The girl was silent listening and waiting for me to finish.
"Have I ssseen or heard of?" the girl copied my tone, quietly giggling to herself. Grimacing this definitely was not Ixora.
"A girl about your height with bright red hair and green eyes? Goes by Ixora?" I knew her answer, either she didn't know her or had...
She grew tense, the silence dragging on. Rolling my eyes she was probably just buying time.
"Yesss, I know of her," it had caught me off guard, she knows her?!
"Where is she? Is she alive!?" I now had the gun on her, she knew where she was and I was not gonna lose this chance. She had tensed as soon as the barrel came into contact with her shoulder.
"Gone," was her forced answer, gone? Gone where?
"That's not enough-
"Errol got trigger happy," the gun clattered to the floor. Her words numbing me.
She giggled again, she fucking giggled! The next thing I knew she had jumped on top of me, this crazy bitch! Punching her off and away, the bin flew into the wall. A vicious snarl came out from where she had fallen. It hadn't sounded human-
I had locked eyes with her... and felt petrified. She was a pale grey color, her eyes were blacked out. The most scariest things that stood out were her hands, they were black and elongated like knives. Her hair was a dark maroon that rose higher than Ixora's was. Black curved horns and small fangs, it was like looking at a demon.
There was some yells, then all hell broke loose. It seemed irritated at the commotion, but quickly pushed past me and made a beeline to the stair well. A couple of gasps and cries of surprise were heard as it made its way out. I stood in shock, is... is that what they did to people in the prisons?
How much farther had they taken things since-
"Sir what the hell was that?!" one of the rookies called out, everyone rushed over to the small room.
If I could think of anything, it had to be this one thought.
"Why didn't anyone stop it?" I hollered in anger, making everyone come out of their stupor and some hung their heads, one of the boys... the hot head glared back at me.
"Well sir, why didn't you do anything to stop that thing?" I sure as hell didn't like his kid and his attitude.
"Your ass, out" I barked at him, his glare hadn't faltered as he left. If Ixora were here she woulda ripped that kid three new ones.
'Errol got trigger happy,' that things voice echoed, my hands clenched till my knuckles grew white. Errol that, that bastard was gonna pay!
I began picking up all the fallen items, something was wrong- there were six security passes here... last inventory check came up with eleven. So, she needed passes the clothes were left untouched. Why would she need passes?
Ixora's POV
"You let them all die!" a small voice yelled at me a loud stamping noises echoed, a little sniffle escaped what I had been staring at in disbelief.
"You left them all alone!" again the stamping of a tiny foot echoed, I backed away unsure of this hallucination.
"You forgot about them too!" the shadows cleared up, and the small form advanced towards me.
"You forgot! YOU FORGOT!" It yelled and stomped, I had no idea what it was talking about.
"They're all dead and you-" it stepped up- two menacing green eyes glared at me, the scarlet rolls of ringlets bounced around with its movements. It wore a small sundress that was dirty and torn up, scratches were on her head and her tiny fists shook in outrage.
It- It was me?
"I-I don't know what your-
"You forgot, you forgot! How could you!" my younger image yelled in a tantrum. A river of tears and a string of sobs came out of the tiny me. She pulled at her hair, then ran up to me,
I quickly avoided it, it was terrifying- she had tripped up and fell over flat on her face. She got up and soon changed course and ran at me again sobbing even harder. I desperately wanted to wake up, I kept running from her- my stumbling min form, I just kept running after her final attempt. A faint purple light in the distance and the sobbing grew into a full blown wail. That was where it came from?
I doubled over, out of breath. The crystals hummed and sparked at my arrival, my heart rate was erratic. I felt so tired, I stumbled over to where the small crevice was- where the patch of moss was... it was surprisingly plush.
The image of the little girl began haunting me- I didn't even know what the hell she was talking about!
Forgot? Forgot what?! It grew cold in here, or was it just me? I looked around, my eyes catching the mirror. I felt a strange sensation, like I was being watched. I searched the surrounding darkness, the little girl wasn't out there, and nothing but my imagination had brought her here. Or at least that's what I told myself.
'I didn't forget about Torn... he forgot about me... and I haven't forgotten about-
"Jak!" I shot up remembering the last moments that I saw him! I was- my hands flew up to my face expecting to meet a big hole somewhere or a bloody mess- I found neither. I patted my body down, still nothing.
"I... died?" I remembered the fast fading agonizing pain before I 'fell asleep' I remembered Jak's face. It was pained and torn between crying and yelling...
'ICK-SOAR-AHHH,' I jumped, my mind recalled a tenor voiced male yelling my broken up name... Icksoarah? Ixora!
It was.. I teared up a little- it was Jak saying- yelling my name. It echoed once more, his voice frantic and cracked from misuse. I hope he's okay... I gotta-
There was a faint hissing sound, I looked around and found nothing... that was weird, I blinked owlishly as my mind blanked. The purple lit room spun, until it was sideways.
"What...?" my eyelids drooped until I couldn't open them. I fell back onto the moss patch.
Nadia's POV
All that trouble for this? Although Ixora's kin would be very distraught, I had technically told the truth. When ever they meet I'm sure it'll be interesting.
The apartment turned out to be a dwelling area, it was rather small compared to mine. It was, very... blue. The walls a light blue and the sitting objects a darker blue, the other things were a dark wood of some sorts... shiny too, it wasn't natural. If this place was suppose to have been untouched... were was all the dust?
There was the, living room? Leading to an open area, a kitchen. There was a rectangular area, the hall- there were three doors. Cracking the one open at my right, I covered my eyes. So much blue, it was a darker blue than the living room had been. My host was obsessed with blue it seems, there was some yellow and gold shiny things here and there. There was a poster of the baron with some daggers imbedded on it, the bed was a pastel blue while the pillows were silver or a gold color. There was another door off to the side, a closet.
Blue, I bet it has blue I grinned- my fangs protruding slightly. There was... blue, purple, black, red, and some green clothing pieces in there. A little surprising- the fact there was other colors than blue. One certain item just beckoned for my attention, it was a long blue suit with black pieces on it. Moving it over there was a shelf full of bins behind the clothes... ammo, daggers, some small blue devices and... a gun, it's one I haven't seen so far. It was a rustic red, and welded in a patchwork pattern. It was slightly bigger than my clawed hand. Some writing was messily engraved on it.
**Big Red?**
she... named the gun?
Sniffing, I disliked guns cowards hide behind them. Backing up into the room, I checked the hall again, and skipping the middle door and going to the next door.
It was a regular room, white walls empty bed with white sheets. The closet was empty and so was a small dresser... maybe a room for guests? It was rather boring, going back into the hallway the only room left was the middle one.
Low and behold a bathroom, surprisingly it was white too, the only blue it had was the shower curtain.
Looking over to the left I jumped against the wall... the mirror. No... not my mirror, just a mirror. I frowned at it, at myself- one of my horns was longer than the other. Opening and closing my mouth- my fangs gleamed, and the lighting in here made me look like a chalk white color, it was so bright.
A quick swipe to the surface and it cracked, that was better. I despised mirrors. A few weak sparks of eco flew out, singeing the walls and floor slightly. I suppose my time is up, one last look into the mirror and my body slumped, if anything were to have been damaged it would have to be my host's problem now.
xXxXxXxXxXxXx
Blinking to the sudden change in lighting, the hum of the eco crystals welcomed me home. My host's presence was still here. How I knew? She was snoring and muttering things in her sleep.
"It's mine!" she called out, I always wondered what it was that was hers in those dreams and who she always bit in them.
Poking her in the face- somewhat minding my claws- she only swatted my hand away while making a mean face. Trying again,
"Told you to leave my... alone..." it was amusing at first but it was getting old very fast, I have very thin patience.
"Bitch stole my..." she never says what the hell it is! Lifting my foot I swiftly kicked her in the stomach. She bolted up and glared, looking around frantically.
"Bitch, can' hide from me... why my stomach hurt?!" I guess she thought she was still dreaming or something. She had a very lost look on her face,
"Hey... I died..." okay, she seemed to be okay with that. Was she okay?
**Yesss?**
she nodded at me then fell back,
"Did you see the little mini-me running around?" she asked with a serious face, if it hadn't been me. I probably would have laughed, but I only grew curious.
**Mini?**
is that what she dreamed about? She looked at me, all the sleep now gone from her eyes.
"There was a snake here," she was still mumbling like she was sleepy. Snake? I looked around, nothing was here. I grow tired of her nonsense.
Grabbing her by the arm I drug her over to the crystals, this trick was one I didn't mean to find out about- I threw her at them and she disappeared yelling profanity's at me while going back to the outside world. Touching a crystal, it shocked me the sparks climbing up and down the spire like mineral. The feeling was pleasant but a spark had strayed off to the right.
There, my eyes had narrowed dangerously. The mirror... it stood, in one piece. The reflective surface shined back at me in a taunting greeting. I didn't move nor let my breath go.
The mirror, had fixed itself.