Darkest Before Dawn
Chapter 52
Tails' POV
V I S I O N
It was perfect. Completely perfect.
The sun seemed to shine brighter than normal as the songs of the mockingbirds run throughout the air. The city of Descentmet was prosperous and gorgeous, living in its own little world. Children ran down the streets playing as the older spiritualists went along with their daily work. It seemed as though nothing bad could happen on such a flawless day. Sadly, an event that would directly affect the lives of every person in the world would occur later that night.
It was perfect. Completely perfect.
The sky was pastel blue with blots of white scattered across it. It was like one of those beautifully taken photographs that sparks inspiration into even the most uncreative mind. From the looks of it, there was no chance of rain.
It was perfect. Painfully perfect.
It should have rained blood.
"Milady, surely you understand my reason for my constant warnings," a voice said behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to find Ai, along with a tall cloaked man, hurrying through the streets. I quickly followed. "I should be executed for such a statement, but I do not trust Lord Keita in your presence or mine when the Lord is present. He has already inflicted enough pain upon your soul, Milady, and ---."
Ai slightly smiled with sadness in her eyes. "Thank you for your concern, good Reuel, but you do not need to fret so. Keita should not be at hand during our drop-in, and even if he suddenly does make an appearance, I am only there to gather the last of my belongings. After this we shall return to the adobe we had left long ago and place this fit behind us."
Reuel reluctantly nodded. "Yes, Milady, I do hope you are right…"
Something did not seem right. Well, actually, a couple of things were not correct. The fire was supposed to take place at one in the morning according to Keita, yet it was the peak of the afternoon. The second problem was not clear to me, but I knew it was present. I decided not to let my mind wander though, for then I might miss something important.
Reuel and Ai did not speak to each other for the rest of the trip. I trailed them through long forest paths the led to our destination: Keita's mansion. I found it odd that the house was far away from the city and the Watchers tower, but it could be just because he wanted privacy. At least he did not lock himself up in a haven like his companions did.
I stopped when we arrived at the front gate. I had never seen the outside of the tenth Watcher's house before. It was a three or four story home built in an old Victorian style that made the place look even more elegant. It was a pale white that beautifully contrasted off of the green pines that surrounded it. The red roof was more than noticeable and the landscaping was clearly thought out. The steps that lead to the huge oak doors was white marble that sparkled from the light of the sun. It was a pity that soon this house would be burnt to the ground.
Reuel helped Ai up the rather high steps and they entered the house without a knock. They closed the oak doors on me, but I was able to walk right through. I had entered the atrium(1), which had an extremely wide staircase as the central point of attention. I began to walk up the stairs, where the two I was following headed. It was hard not to notice the extraordinary chandelier made of diamonds and glass shards while walking up the carpeted steps.
"Reuel," Ai said, directing her attention to her servant, "would you please get my belongings from my old room. Most should be already in cases or in the chess."
"Yes, Milady." The cloaked figure took a left, retreating to another staircase and soon disappearing all together.
Ai sighed and just stood for a moment, overlooking the house. She seemed to remember what she was here for though because she suddenly took a right and hurried down the hall. I pursued her until we came to a door, which she had a bit of trouble opening. She was about to enter, but stopped abruptly. "Keita?"
I peered over her shoulder to find that Keita, who was dressed in royal-looking cloaks, was sitting at his tea table. He casually sipped his tea as though he was supposed to be here and there was no surprise of the two meeting. "Hello, Ai," he greeted. His voice sounded eerie and almost disturbing. "Fancy meeting you here."
"I was just picking up the last of my belongings," she said, her voice hinting a slight level of fear. "I believe that you told me you had a meeting with the Watchers today and would not be home…"
He nodded. "Yes, I did, but canceled. I had more important events to attend to, anyway. Please, dear Ai, sit and have tea with me."
Ai did not hesitate. She swiftly entered the room and sat down across from her ex-fiancé. She helped herself to the tea Keita had upon the table. The entire time she was doing this, the Watcher stared at her with a mad look in his eyes. I moved into the room and sat down at a seat between the two. Something isn't right…
The hybrid looked up to find Keita's piercing gaze upon her. "Keita," she asked with a concerned voice, "is something wrong? Because if someone here as something to be mad about it is me – you are the one who called off the wedding, not I."
Keita chuckled as he put down his tea cup. "Oh, Ai, I do have a grudge against your existence. If you're here, it will never work."
"Excuse me?" Ai said ignorantly. "I do not have a clue of what you speak of."
The Watcher stood and casually walked to the window. He stared out of it for a moment in silence, but then explained, "See, Ai, I have a plan to make everything perfect. A plan that will change this world for the better – to an extent that nothing wrong could ever happen. It will make this a perfect world…"
Ai giggled. "That is one thing I'm going to miss: you're wild, impossible imagination. The only way you could even attempt to make sure a world is through a dreamworld…"
"Exactly," he shouted with odd excitement. He turned to face her. "A dreamworld. That is what I am going to create. A perfect dreamworld." His eyes were alit with madness. "And for this plan to work, you cannot be alive. Or, at least, the real you cannot live. My love would betray me if I was me."
The hybrid stood up, almost knocking over the tea table. "You do not love Kage, Keita," she screamed, " you're just obsessed with him! I've told you this over and over again! You cannot base your feelings over a mere obsession! See, it's starting to make you talk of nonsense – what has happened to you? Have you gone absolutely mad?"
"Why does everyone say that I am mad?" Keita asked more to himself than to her. "I personally would rather be deemed a genius. My plan is flawless, it cannot be failed." He began to approach Ai with a sickening grin upon his face. I could recognize that grin from anywhere: it was also Shikyo's. "Since you are about to die, I shall tell you my unblemished strategy. It begins in five seconds…" He muttered something under his breath and fire appeared in his hand. He carelessly let it fall to the ground. The wood floor immediately caught on fire.
Ai tried to run to the door, but she found it locked.
"Now, Ai, you truly do not think I would let you escape so easily. See, in this fire, you die and I disappear. Do not fret, dear, you will get a nice funeral. Once that happens I'll be in the clear, no longer having to upkeep my duties of a Watcher. I shall shift shape into you and steal your identity – once I do this, everyone, including dear Kage, will believe I am you and you'll be the villain."
"You've gone psycho!" Ai screeched with her attention on the fire that was spreading across the room and the doorknob. "REUEL! REUEL! HELP ME, REUEL!"
Keita snickered, "What's wrong, whore, can your dear Reuel not hear you? I know you were cheating on him with me… I saw you two once. I didn't mind though. After all, I have my own secrets – like Kage, for example. Do you really think I would have kept such a low person in society around if I did not at least have some sort of interest in him?" He grabbed her and she screamed. "See, he can't even hear your damn voice. You were always annoying, screaming like you do."
"Morire nell'acqua, egil il diavolo malvagio," she immediately cried.
The Watcher let go of her and looked at his hands. They seemed as though they were about to melt. "What did you do to me! What did you do to me you bitch?"
Ai smirked as she gained a bit of confidence. "It's a curse – Kage knows it too. I taught him it just before he left. I didn't tell him what it meant nor will I tell you. He'll use it though – he's smart. There's hope yet. You'll never succeed. You don't even know how to create a stable dreamworld. I might die in here, but my revenge will be carried through someone else."
"It doesn't matter how long it takes me to make my dreamworld," Keita said while shaking his hands and laughing. "Everyone will think I am you – even if they get close enough to kill me, they'll use fire, not water. Its flawless, this plan. No one will defeat me – no one."
She spit on his shoe(2) and muttered, "We'll see." She whipped around and before Keita could grab her, she ran across the room and jumped through the window. Sadly, flames on the curtains caught onto her long, blue dress and she shriveled up seconds before impact.
Keita grinned as he sat back down in his original seat. He sipped his tea. "All attempts will be futile."
E N D
I shot up with cold sweat pouring down my face. I found myself in a bed and sunlight pouring through the window. I did not pay too much attention to the fact that it was light outside though. I was too shocked to care. I could not believe it. There was no way.
Keita is Shikyo.
(1) Though most people believe that an atrium involves plants and skylight, the word atrium can also represent the entryway of a house. Just didn't want there to be confusion.
(2) Spitting at someone is already a huge offense, even in our society. In spiritualist society, if you spit at someone in higher status than you, you can be put to death.
... Are you surprised? You shouldn't be. There has been so much foreshadowing to this that it should have been completely clear to all of you. Next chapter, when Tails explains all this to his companions, I will put a chapter number with every bit of evidence that comes from his mouth because there is a chapter for every single hint.
Problem is that I will be taking a break off of Darkest Before Dawn for a month. I know, le gasp. I'm quite mad I ended it on this chapter before November too. See, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month. The point of it is to write a 50,000 page book in one month. Crazy? Yes. Impossible? No. Impossible for me? Probably. But I'm determined to make it pass the 50,000 word mark by the 30th (my manager, Yoda ((yes, laugh at her nickname)) wants it done on the 28th so it can be revised, but that's not going to happen. Sorry, Yoda)). All I know about my book is it is called Nevaeh and is a fantasy novel. I wanted to do a horror/suspense type thing, but I would have to think too much about it. Now thinking of it, I'm going to have to think about a fantasy one too. Dammit. Oh well.
If anyone is interested in my NaNoWriMo book, I have a plotline on PowerPoint and Microsoft Word (okay, I was lying. I know more about it than just the name and the genre). Also, I will be sending the rough draft (which is my NaNoWriMo version) out to anyone who wants it. Also, if you are interested in participating in NaNoWriMo, you can go to and apply. You don't need a plotline or anything like I have (my manager made me do that), you just need to have a basic idea and type away. Tell me if your participating (email is on my username thing) because we can share the joys and sorrows of it with each other (everyone I'm surrounded by thinks I'm crazy for doing this, so I need someone to help me see the light of sanity)
Going on, the concept for Keita's house was based off of this house: http/ I hope the owner of this house doesn't hear that I based the house that burns down into a crisp off his. I might get sued. But I do hope to buy his house one day. I absolutely love it! It's an impossible dream though.
"People who fight fire with fire die in the ashes of their defeat. Why not fight fire with water."
