-Izzy -
"Izzy" Sokiko-sama called to me
Kirimi- err… Richard…helped me to sit up in the hospital bed, and then he helped me readjust the oxygen mask I was being made to wear.
"Thank you" I muttered hoarsely to him.
I feel so… disgusting….
Like I've been beaten senseless by raging cavemen, turned inside out and thrown into a blender going at full speed.
But… I still feel a hell of a lot better than I did a few hours ago.
"How do you feel?" Sokiko-asked me. "Are you alright?" she followed up.
I nodded my head weakly, and Richard squeezed my hand gently.
She stayed quiet for a moment.
"Err… did you. See things?" she asked quietly.
I felt a shudder go through me. Goose bumps raked across my skin
Those…. Things…
There used to be a group of people… they were called Alice's…
The first ones- the original ones- were very powerful people.
They had power…. The power.
Though they never knew what it was, they used it often.
But they could never control it properly. They let the power take over their minds, and they all eventually became insane.
After they died, they refused to stay dead, and were all reincarnated. Multiple times.
And though they always had a new body, with a different set of memories, the original Alice's were so powerful that they would remain the same person. The original Alice, deep in the subconscious of its new life.
Since the original Alice's soul was so powerful, it would try to take over its new soul, trying to kill the new subconscious.
When it does that it's called an 'Alice Attack'
With each generation that passes, they aren't able to do it as often, and there were several factors to contribute to that as well, such as age, mental and physical strength, and other things I can't recall at this moment, but though the attacks are few and far in between…. They become more severe and violent.
But…
Oh god…
The nightmares that came along with the attacks….
They're the same ones I saw every birthday….
A woman in red, slashing at everyone and everything in sight…. Her beautiful sword dripping in blood that looked like glittering rubies in the fire light…
The first Alice… the Alice of Spade…
"Yes… I saw things…" I mumbled in my coarse voice to Sokiko-sama.
My voice sounds so… ugly…
"Izzy?" a soft voice asked.
"Rei-chan?" I asked.
The pastel green curtain was pulled aside to reveal Rei, though her face was paler than usual and her eyes seemed troubled.
Her well shaped figure was masqueraded by a large, chunky, unflattering, and completely soaked kimono.
Wow…
"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" I barely managed to ask, my throat protesting against me, and the oxygen mask muffling the sound. But seriously…. What a sight for sore eyes…. Literally…. My eyes still felt grainy and watery… and what a sight!
Her brow furrowed after I spoke, and it took me a while to understand why.
Well… I sure am a sight too, now aren't I?
The oxygen mask was large and clunky on my face, and my hair had been hacked off to above my shoulders. Again.
My face was still pale, and my cheeks were still sunken
There were several IV's and tubes, and whatchamacallits sticking out of my arms, and such…
"What…. Happened?" she asked, breathless.
Sokiko cleared her throat.
"Rei, don't you think it would be… best if you changed out of those soaked clothes?" she said, a bit testily.
Translation: change your clothes, NOW. You're making a mess!
Rei looks down at her soaked kimono, then back at me.
"Izzy…?" she asked timidly, as if asking for my permission to go get changed.
I wanted to laugh, but I hurt too much all over to do anything.
"Go get changed, Rei-chan. I'm not going anywhere." I say, but it's difficult to do so.
She eyes me wearily for a moment before she turned around with a tired sigh and leaves with Sokiko to go get changed.
"Must've been a hell of a storm out there, ne, Izzy?" Richard said quietly, running his thumb over the knuckles of my hand.
With a slight struggle I manage to intertwine our fingers. With his help.
"I hate this" I mutter to myself.
I hate it. Hate. Hate. Hate.
I hate feeling so weak.
I hate being so dependent on others.
I hate being pitied.
I hate not being able to do anything about it.
Hate, hate, hate.
"It'll be alright Izzy" Richard said comfortingly.
I've known his for only a few hours and already I feel this… kinship with him…. a close bond…
But after all, he is my spirit animal… so there's a reason to why I feel this bond.
"Do you need anything?" he asks.
I mutter no, and then peer into his eyes.
Reflections of my own.
His dark, inky black hair catches my attention for a moment, and I think to myself…
If his eyes were brown… he could pass for that wretched girl Elli's… twin.
I try to tighten my grip in his fingers, but my attempt was feeble.
Richard sensed my panic, and squeezed my hand lightly
"Don't worry, Izzy." He said reassuringly.
He smiled at me- my smile. The one I had… the one meant for other people, not myself.
'But there's plenty to worry about'
I just barely got Richard… and now I feel as if I'm losing him to Elli already!
"Don't go" I manage to get out in a harsh whisper.
His eyes- my eyes- looked into mine and with the utmost sincerity he said to me in a clear voice
"I will never leave your side, your highness" he smiled down at me, and then looked up, past the green curtains.
There was a soft click-click of heels on the floor of the hospital.
Voices approached us.
Sokiko opened the curtain, followed by a newly changed Rei-chan.
She had changed out of that horrid kimono, into a soft yellow nightgown, with pale silver trimmings.
Her long white-blonde hair was pulled into two long low ponytails (I hate the word pigtails for them…)
"So are you going to tell me what happened, now?" she asked, obviously tired, and fighting for words.
"She had an Alice Attack" Sokiko said plainly. Way to go for the dramatics Okaa-san…
Rei-chan's face went blank for a moment.
"… What?"
-Rei-
"An… Alice Attack?" she suffered from an Alice Attack? Already?
My gaze went from Izzy's frail form laid across the hospital bed, to the man sitting at her side.
He was taller than her… maybe by a few inches…
His hair was pitch black, and his bangs fell in front of his face, like they did on Izzy.
His face was pale, and looked pained, as if he was suffering alongside Izzy.
And those eyes…
They were a perfect emerald green color, with lighter flecks nearer to the center.
Like chu-chi's.
Like Izzy's.
They practically were Izzy's eyes... I mean… not even her sister had eyes this similar to hers…
But this man's eyes…
They somehow almost seemed… flipped.
Like you would see in a mirror.
A mirror?
I looked down again to see that Izzy had fallen asleep.
I looked back to the man.
His facial structure was similar to Izzy's, but male.
He seemed lean, not too wiry or buff.
He was staring intently at Izzy.
I looked at him for a second before coming to the thought that if his hair was red, he could probably be Izzy's twin.
"Yes, she had one a few hours ago" Sokiko said, answering my question.
"Err… Richard" she said, looking a bit uncomfortably at the mean sitting next to Izzy.
"Yes, Sokiko-sama?" he asked
Oh god… his voice.
It wasn't low, or high- it was somewhere in the middle; and it was smooth, and flowing… like a singers.
Like Izzy's.
"I need to go check on another patient of mine, will you be okay taking care of Izzy for a few minutes?" Sokiko said, turning away from us, and all ready to leave.
"Of course, Sokiko-sama" he said. Sokiko nodded, and left the room.
There wasn't any noise in the room, except the whooshing of the oxygen machine, and the beeping of the heart monitor.
The man… Richard, I think it was, looked up at me, and another thought squirmed its way into my head.
If he had brown eyes, he could be Elli's twin.
He looked more like her than even Lelouch did…
But Richard looked so much like both Izzy and Elli that it was to the point of being frightening.
His emerald green eyes bore into mine, and I felt as though he could look through me, deep into my subconscious, and into my thoughts.
Our eyes were locked for a solid minute in complete silence before he spoke- still not breaking eye contact.
"You're stressed" he started.
I sighed.
"Yes. And angry"
Richard said:
"I thought as much. Who are you mad at? Me?" he said with a slightly smug smirk at the end.
The kind of smirk that Izzy gave me when she would tease me.
"Kind of…" I admitted quietly.
He chuckled softly, his laugh warm, and inviting. Then his eyes wandered over to Izzy's pale, sleeping face.
"Come. Sit down" he said, gesturing to a chair next to me.
I sat down, a bit edgy at him.
"I guess it's understandable… "He muttered, running his thumb over Izzy's knuckles.
"Yeah…" I muttered, playing with my hair.
"I mean, I'm supposed to be the one to protect her, and while I'm gone, some complete stranger come around out of nowhere and saves her from impending doom!" I said an edge of bitterness in my voice.
I immediately felt a twinge of guilt biting at me
"I didn't mean to phrase it like that…" I said quietly.
I shouldn't be mad at him.
I should be grateful to this man for saving Izzy…
I drop my eyes to Izzy's pale face. Her skin looked clammy, and a bit grey… her hair was a ratty mess, and had been hacked off haphazardly…
The man smiled at my responses.
"You're not the only one who's supposed to protect her, Rei-chan"
Rei-chan… he had a certain infliction in his voice… the same kind that Izzy used when she called me by that name…
After a moment or two, I finally ask
"… Who are you?"
And then Richard laughed a bit.
"You know me as Kirimi"
… Kirimi…?
That hideous beast that resembles a deformed rabbit, lit on black fire for so long it was melting?
"Kirimi?"
He smiled.
"My real name has always been Richard, but when I met Izzy years, and years ago she bestowed the name 'Kirimi' on me, and since then I've allowed her to call me that"
I stayed quiet for a moment, digesting the information for a bit.
"But… you're human!"
He rubbed his thumb over Izzy's knuckles again; a habit I just remembered that Izzy did when she was bored, or worried.
My eyes wandered to the mirror on the wall.
I looked absolutely exhausted, but….
Neither of them had a reflection…
I looked wide eyed at the man who so much resembled Izzy.
He gave me a knowing smile.
"You obviously don't know much about the spirit animals, do you Rei-chan?" he asked, looking at my widened eyes.
Spirit animals…
"They're reflections of the soul aren't they?" I asked, a bit uncertain of myself at the moment.
Soul reflections… the mirror…
"Yes" he said, a bit quiet "we are reflections of our masters souls, and we live to ensure the safety of them. We make sure that our master never dies in the afterlife, by protecting it" he said quietly, his eyes flickering from Izzy's sleeping face to mine.
Then I remember that at least once a month Kirimi… err… Richard would come to check up on Izzy.
"Is that why you check up on her? To make sure that she's safe?" I asked, forcing myself not to yawn.
He looked down at their hands.
"Yes" he said, once again running his thumb over Izzy's knuckles.
"That's so kind of you" I find myself saying. "To spend your time making sure that she's okay…" my sentence railed off when I saw the disturbed look on his face. He looked as if he had saw a ghost or something…
He said nothing for a long while.
"It's not kind" he said after a while longer. "It's completely selfish. All spirit animals are selfish in that regard, I guess" he said a bit shakily.
I raised a brow.
He looked at me with a troubled and shamed look on his face.
"Spirit animals are bound to their masters in almost every way... we know their every thought, and motivation, we know every memory, every sight, sound, smell, taste and touch they've ever experienced... we know everything there is about them, because we're bound by the world of mirrors…"
World of mirrors?
"We are their reflections" he said calmly.
"Whoa" I said, suddenly confused.
I look at my reflection, then at Richard's- Izzy's- eyes.
"And because we have such a close connection, of body and soul, we die the same instant our master's die. Because we are just reflections, we cease to exist once our masters are gone." He said, his eyes swimming in guilt.
"So the reason you all protect your masters" I started
"Is to selfishly protect our own asses." he finished for me. "It's unbelievably selfish" he added, averting his eyes from mine, and focusing on his hands, which were still holding Izzy's.
Izzy stirred in her sleep, and Richard used his free hand (the one that wasn't really holding Izzy's hand) and touched his fingertips against Izzy's face, and almost immediately she calmed down, and returned to her slumber.
After another long silence, that threatened to make h=me fall asleep, I asked
"Why isn't your hair color the same as hers?"
Richard looked- or at least tried to- at his black hair in front of his face.
"Because I'm half reflecting what she looks like in the mortal world" he said, still trying not to look stupid while looking at his bags. Stupidly I might add.
"So her mortal self has black hair?" I asked, trying not to laugh at how ridiculous the man before me looked, trying to cross his eyes, so he could see his hair properly.
"Yes" he muttered, still distracted by his hair. As if he'd never seen it before.
"… and she's male?" I finally asked, getting the stupid question out of my stupid head.
Stupid.
He looked at me now, genuine surprise clear on his face.
"What?" he looked like a little kid, tilting his head on the side. His green eyes focused clearly on me. No longer distracted by his hair. Finally.
"You said that you half reflect her in this world, and half from the other, so if she's female here…."
He laughed, and ran his free hand through his hair. Again with the hair! What the hell?
"No… no, no, no… no…" he laughed again.
"Izzy is very much female in both worlds, Rei-chan"
But…
"Then why are you male?" I asked, exasperated, and annoyed.
"All reflections are the opposite gender of their masters" he said simply, as if it was the most obvious and simple answer in the world.
My eyes flicker to the mirror, where only my reflection could be seen.
"… All of them?" I asked, sitting up straighter in my chair.
Ne nodded.
"every single last one… except for the ones that belong to hermaphrodites… because then they'd be both genders either way I guess" he said, his eyes looking off into the distance as if pondering the meaning of life. But of course everyone knew the meaning of life was Pie~
His spacey look was enough to get a laugh out of me. He looked as clueless as Izzy did when someone tried to explain the theory of relativity (or something like that) to her.
"Reflections are freaky…" I muttered.
He smiled at me, in a devilish manner that reminded me oh-so-much of Izzy and her smiles.
"What else do you expect from us monsters?"
For that I had no answer.
Instead I got a good look at his clothes for the first time.
He was wearing a white button up shirt, with a black jacket vest over it, and a bright red tie, that matched Izzy's hair color. He was also wearing black slacks, and dress shoes.
A vague thought came across my mind… Izzy would prefer to dress this way if she were a man…
"So she was hurt… and Lacey was there?" I said. Sokiko had at least told me so much while I went to go change.
"yes." He said, his brow furrowing a bit more. As Izzy's reflection I guess he would feel bad for her daughter, right?
"So then how did you know she was having an Alice attack?" I asked, rubbing my eyelids, in a vain effort to keep them from feeling like lead.
"I could sense it" he said, a bit bored sounding.
Then I thought about the horrendous storm that had taken place in the mortal world.
"It was practically a hurricane out there…" I muttered to myself.
"Really now?" Sokiko said, striding back into the room.
"Yeah" I said, suddenly aware that this was probably the reason why the hurricane had appeared.
"I guess that's our fault then" Sokiko said, scribbling down something on her clipboard, and then looking at Izzy.
"We were all worried sick about Izzy, and couldn't help but let our emotions get the best of us." She said. "And she felt so absolutely wretched inside already, so that was a part of it" she finished. Her deep dark blue green eyes peered into my icy blue ones, though her white, silvery hair. Her expression was stoic.
"Did you have anything to do with that?" she asked me, as I brushed a pale gold lock of hair away from my face.
"I saw the storm, and wondered if any of you had anything to do with it. So naturally I became worried myself" I replied, and then a small smile grew on Sokiko's face.
Just then I felt another wave of sleepiness wash over me, and try to pull me into its deep dark depths.
"What time is it?" I asked groggily.
"3:17 A.M." Sokiko said, clicking her pen.
"Damn, it's late" I said, a bit stunned at how loud I said that.
"Early" Richard and Sokiko said in synch. I bet Izzy would say it too if she was awake…
"Whatever" I say slightly flustered.
"Sokiko-sama?" a light childish voice asked.
"In here, Lacey" Sokiko said, still scribbling on her clipboard.
Lacey walked in quietly, her wavy strawberry-blonde hair tied up in a ponytail, and she was already dressed up in pajamas
"You're supposed to be asleep already, young lady." Richard said a slightly disapproving tone in his voice.
"I know…" Lacey said, a bit guilty. "But I was worried about mama, and couldn't sleep…"
From the angle I could see, her yes shimmered, the green parts of the iris' practically glowing, like when fire light passed through green glass.
"We all are, sweetie, but you'll be able to see her in a few hours" Sokiko said patiently.
"Is she at least better than before?" Lacey asked, worried.
"Much better" Richard said" she'll be back up on her feet by tomorrow" then he offered a smile to Lacey.
"For a moment I gazed, in slight awe at how much Lacey looked like her father. They had a similar shape of face, and eye shape. They even had the same crinkle in their brow when they were worried.
After a second, Lacey returned the smile tentatively, and then left, muttering her goodbyes.
So she had seen what had happened to her mother…
That poor kid…
"Will you be staying for a while?" Sokiko asked, interrupting my train of thought.
"Eh? Oh! Sure…" I said, thinking that it was probably too late for me to go back out to the mortal world. In my pajamas.
In hurricane like weather.
Hell no~
"Alright then" Sokiko said, beginning to lead me to my room.
As I left the room, I took one last glance at the still sleeping Izzy.
Then I wondered if Elli and Momiji were going to be alright.
Envylamperouge: k… so… only like 3 weeks gone *coughfourcough*
And… this …. Thing … was what was produced. First on paper at school. That only took a few days… but transferring it onto the computer… not so fun….
I have part of the next chapter written already… on paper…. OTL what a failure….
A bigger failure: I created Richard back in December and have been waiting to put him in this story.
*cries in corner*
… Rei based chapter again. I'm having fun writing things through her perspective… I wanna try to do Haru's perspective at least once more too… sometime in the near *coughfarcough* future.
Maybe.
I wanna get started on my Kuroshitsuji story soon…. *has like 20 pages written on several notebooks already* … yup.
Thank you if you review, and/ or PM me… I am deeply touched by your caring words QuQ
I love you all~~ *hands out virtual cookies*
So please review~!
I'll love you a lot~~ … LoL…
Original finish date: 11/12/10 (okay… so it was four weeks…)