OUPS! I MADE A MISTAKE IN THE LAST CHAPPY! MY BAD, BUT YURI WAS BACK WITH C.J DURING THE BIG MANTIS BATTLE! SORRIEZ!
THIS MEMORY IS A MODIFIED VERSION OF THE IDEA PRESENTED BY austriantatious. THANKS FOR THE IDEA, MY GOOD READER! ENJOY!
Ch. 48: The Ground Crumbles
P.O.V: Black
I couldn't help but be impressed. After the hell of her childhood, C.J had pretty much figured out her life via sudden epiphany at just 13 years old. My respect, and fear of her bizarre aggression, went up about 200 points.
The therapist stared at her as she sat there grinning like the fool I know. He sighed and looked down at his clipboard and started scribbling down on the papers. "C.J, it's become apparent that you no longer need physiological guidance. Therefore, I will be resigning as your mental health counselor."
She fist pumped, "Heck yeah, I'm officially cured!" "However, I will be transferring you into the nearest available anger management class."
Her grin disappeared, "What?!" He frowned sternly, "Yes. Coupled with that new attitude and confidence, you also seem to have a new violent tendency. I mean, you sent a boy to the hospital with a rope of your own hair, for Christ's sake! If that's not a 'violent tendency', I don't know what is!" C.J harrumphed and turned her head away, "Traitor."
P.O.V: Pierce
I stared at the fallen head, frozen by my own shock. All eyes were switching between me and the head. Even the little bug things were staring in silence. Boris shook off the apparently stricken things and came over, plucking the focal from the forehead and looking up at the creatures remaining. "Well, we got it! What 'chya gonna do about it?"
The things were still for a moment, and for a sec I thought they were going to attack. Then, they just sort of slunk back into the shadows, disappearing without a trace.
My knees gave out.
P.O.V: Black
This time, the door was nothing but a panel with a handle in the wall. I'm d*** lucky I didn't skim over it!
I paused before opening it, took a deep breathe, and yanked open the door.
We were now standing in a forest…a rather unhealthy looking one. Dead leaves carpeted the ground and the trees all had choking vines matting their trunks. (Most of them looked either dead or well on their way.)
I immediately took notice of the difference in this place from the other memories. For one thing, this place seemed more…fake. Fabricated, like a replica of something real. I looked down to the mask, "Hey Yuri, you still with us?" No reply. "…Yuri?!"
"Wh-what?! Did something happen?!" I rolled my eyes, "I think so." White leaned down, "The area we're in now seems different than the others." Yuri paused. "…You've most likely crossed the border by now. C.J's memories and the fabrications of the spell are starting to blend into one. This is likely to be a fabrication made to mimic a place C.J knows. Look around, you might find one of C.J's halves."
I perked at that. It's about d***** time we found her! I sighed and looked around. "So what exactly are we looking for?" "Like I said, you're looking for one of C.J's halves. It'll be around here somewhere, but be cautious. You can be heard and seen in this kind of memory, but C.J's half won't remember you until you get her away from this particular fabrication, so you may frighten her, and alert her guard."
I looked down, "Guard?!" "You thought he'd leave C.J's half unattended? There will be some sort of protection from the spell, likely to be macerating as someone C.J knows… or knew."
Then I heard the voices. I glanced at White, remembering Yuri's warning, and ducked behind a tree.
Soon enough, two children went walking past our tree. The one in front was a young boy, probably around 10 or 11, with blonde hair and large blue eyes, leading a familiar little girl by the hand. As I peeked around the tree to see her, I almost collapsed in laughter. C.J was now about 4 or 5, hardly 3 feet tall, and had her long hair in adorable pig tales and was wearing an orange baby doll dress and black Mary-Janes…WTF?!
C.J was chattering nonstop as they walked by, in the usual manner of small children. The older boy, who I recognized as a memory of her brother, smiled and listened to her chitterling with more patience than I'd ever seen in a child his age.
C.J looked up, "Ni-san, where are we going?" Her brother (now that I think about it, I've never heard his real name!) grinned and winked, "I found this really cool place the other day! Don't worry, we're almost there!" I shivered, noticing two things.
One being that that boy's grin was shockingly like C.J's. The second being that he was as fabricated and false as the tree I stood behind. So C.J's big bro is the guard…this will be tough.
P.O.V: Peirce
I looked down at the claw that was still in my hand, "…How did I do that?!" Ace came over and grinned widely, "I don't know, but it got us the focal! Nice thinking!" Boris nodded, and then hulled me to my feet roughly, "On your feet. We need to get this thing to Yuri ASAP."
I nodded and looked down at the focal, trying to ignore the gooey, reeking blood all over me. The focal itself was rather pretty. It was a perfectly smooth crystal sphere, about palm sized, with strange cracks and imperfections spider webbing from the center. I frowned, noticing that the cracks had taken on a strange black tint from the outer shell and were seeping deeper into the cracks.
I gulped, a horrible feeling coming on. …If that black gets to the center…C.J is a goner.
P.O.V: Black
White and I had followed the mini C.J and her brother imposter/guard ninja style. At some point, he came to a stop. I peered out of the trees and let my mouth fall open.
The two kids were standing at the edge of a huge, funneling sink hole! It was at least twenty feet in diameter, and the sandy cone bottom was about a fifteen foot drop from the edge. Debris, random junk, and other assorted things like fringes and large safes were partially sunk in along the sides. One of the trees that had been sucked in had enough life still in it to struggle managed to cling to the sides, looking somehow heroic compared to its broken and snapped comrades elsewhere in the sink hole.
The boy abruptly stopped, putting out his arm and harshly stopping little C.J. "Be careful! The soil too close to the hole is crumbly; you could fall in! Just stay about two or preferably three feet from it, ok C.J?" She looked very excited, "Ok Ni-san!"
He grinned and knelt down, picking up a fair sized rock. He chucked it in, landing dead in the center. They, and we, all leaned over to watch as the rock sank and disappeared into the sandy bottom. I gulped.
The mask tried to get our attention. I looked down, keeping tabs on the two as they tossed rocks and sticks into the sink hole. "What?" "Can you describe this C.J to me?" White frowned, "She's…young. Maybe 4 or 5…." "Is she talkative? Chatty? A smidge hyper?" I looked over at the little C.J as she gripped her brother's copycat's hand and bounced in excitement.
"…A little. Why?" "Then that's probably C.J's emotional side. I'll tell you now, the emotional side is best dealt with through action. She won't respond well to reason, as she has little herself. Understand? And she will not remember who you are until you're in the next area." I looked over and grinned, "…Yeah, I get it. We run in, snatch her, and run before the wolf in big bro's clothes knows what hit him!" White nodded, starting intently at the tiny girl, "…I may have an idea."
I hefted a rock and tossed it pass the kids, hitting the side of the sink hold and it rolled/sank down. Both immediately snapped their heads to me, startled by the stone. I hid myself, praying they couldn't see me.
"Who threw that Ni-san?!" "I don't know…C.J, you stay right there. Don't you move one muscle, got it?" C.J must have confirmed, because I heard the boy coming my way. I took a deep breath, seeing his shadows against the leaves. Cool it…it isn't really C.J's brother, you can do this….
I felt White contact me and telling me that he was ready. I took a deep breath and we counted to three, the boy coming closer with each number. At three, I jumped out of the brush and seized the kid by his wrists, heaving him up off the ground before he could even twitch. He yelled in outrage and shock, and I heard C.J shout to him.
Then, C.J screamed shrilly. I felt White confirm that he had her. He really didn't need to, her screams were like nails on a chalkboard. The imposter shouted and struggled harder in my grip, suddenly much, much stronger than a 10 year old should be.
It was…really weird. I felt him, his weight was perfectly real, but…his skin had no warmth of its own, and it seemed to be kinda stiff. That is, until his flesh started to shift under my palms, changing into Dealer knows what.
My eye widened, "F***!" He hissed, low, threatening, and clearly inhuman. C.J screamed as White restrained her, oblivious to the change in her brother. No! This isn't her f****** brother!
I shut my eye tight and chucked the kid into the pit.
C.J's screams pierced my ears like railroad spikes through the ears. White grabbed my shoulder, twisting me around and leading me away without looking back to see what had become of the thing.
AND THAT'S A WRAP! PLEASE DROP A REVIEW, ALL THAT CHIZ, ETC.
I HAVE HAD AN APPIPHANY; I'M NOT GOING TO BE A BORED TEEN FOREVER. IT'S MORE THAN LIKELY I'LL HAVE A JOB AND BE TOO BUSY TO WRITE FANFIC BEFORE I CAN GET ANY OF MY IDEAS OUT THERE!
AND SO, I HAVE DECIDED TO HAND A FEW OF THEM OUT! ONLY THE ONE'S I DON'T LIKE QUITE AS MUCH AS THE OTHERS, WHICH WILL COME OUT EVENTUALLY, BUT YOU GET THE PICTURE! IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO WRITE A HnKnA FANFIC, BUT HAVE NO IDEAS, YOU MAY VISIT MY PROFILE AND SEE THE IDEAS LISTED. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO USE THEM, PLEASE PM ME FOR DETAILS, COUNCIL, OTHER SUCH COLLABORATION CHIZ.
AND YES, I DO REALIE THAT ONCE THESE CHARACTERS ARE WRITEN BY ANOTHER, I NO LONGER KNOW THEM AS I WOULD HAVE IF I HAD WRITEN THEM. BUT, I MUST BE WILLING TO TRUST THAT ANOTHER AUTHOR CAN BRING LIFE TO THESE CHARACTERS AND PLOTS (MY BABIES) PHERAPS EVEN BETTER THAN I COULD HAVE! SO, HAPPY WRITING!
