The Mission~Chapter One
Livid Crimson; Heavens Black
As the first rays of light began to spread into the black heavens, one girl stood awake by her window, watching, but not truly seeing the beauty before her eyes. Time crept slowly by as Dawn banished Night and the girl's fears from the world. Only when the sun had fully risen over the horizon did she dare venture into the depths of her room, flicking every light switch and lamp on as she went. Her face was ashen, strangely contorted and her cerulean eyes livid with suppressed fear. After making an inspection of her room she turned to the mahogany doorway of her bathroom. The door was shut and looming before her as the girl drew closer to it - her pulse quickened. Standing before the door, the girl outstretched her hand for the china knob. Mindlessly she focused on it but intensity only contorted her face further. Her fingertips just barely grazed the white knob-
"Miss Releena?" Instantly her hand pulled away from the knob like it had been burned. The stupor of fear had begun to fade and an unknown guilt took root in her heart as she turned from the knob.
"Yes?" Releena replied masking quite well the fear in her voice. The door opened to reveal an older man dressed in butler attire.
"I can't believe you're up." He said with a small smile. "Mornings normally aren't you're taste. Anyway, since you're up so early I can make you a wonderful old-fashioned breakfast. How's pancakes and eggs sound?"
"Just perfect, Pagen." Releena forced a smile to her lips.
"Great! I'll be done cooking in about forty-five minutes so hurry and get ready."
"Alright, Pagen. I will." And with one last smile, Pagen left the room shutting the door behind him. Only when his steps faded from her hearing did Releena relax. Sinking to her knees on the white plush carpeting, she wondered why she felt so guilty. Unwillingly, her eyes turned to the china knob. Unwillingly, her pulse again began to quicken. Unwillingly, she rose and walked from the room, feeling a pair of green eyes boring into her soul.
*~*~*~*
Church bells rang clear in the crisp morning as five boys walked onto Saint Gabriel High School's campus. Many other students were buzzing about and their voices all seemed to melt into music, falling in time with the echoing bells of morning. These boys went unnoticed, strangely enough, as they walked through the thick crowds and into the school. Unfortunately, the crowds they tried to avoid inside the school decided they would come to them as the church bells finished ringing. The din from outside came inside, rising gradually from dull whispers to an echoing current of sound. Duo noticed all of this as he and four others walked to their lockers. His friends seemed unusually happy to him today, perhaps due to the fact that depression had struck him late last night and had not relented. His normally sunny disposition became languid, lethargic. He felt blank and empty. Too empty to even feel anger about his friends not noticing his plight.
"We have a math test first period, I think." Quatre replied.
"It's a good thing I studied last night then." Trowa commented.
"Yeah, me too," Wufei said, "And we had better get to class on time or Miss Kinomoto will have our heads."
"You're right about that." Quatre replied as they began to walk down the hall. After about ten paces Heero said,
"Where's Duo?"
"Huh?" Quatre questioned, he and the others stopping in the middle of the crowded hallway. Duo was leaning against his locker, seemingly deep in thought.
"There he is, over by his locker," Wufei said with an annoyed edge to his voice, "Hey Duo! Get over here!" Duo slowly closed his eyes, his long black lashes staining his overly pale face. Slowly they opened again and he walked through the crowd and joined the others. After a few wisecracks from Wufei about Duo being ditzy, they continued their passage down the hall.
*~*~*~*
Noise, no matter how loud it is, has a distinct hum to it. Almost a melodic quality, slightly intoxicating if you listen long enough. Or at least Releena thought so.
'All this listening and no talking. Boy, I must be going insane.' She thought her mind still in harmony with the buzzing around her.
'I wonder what everyone is talking about.' She looked around Miss Kinomoto's math class, which had yet to officially begin, seeing all the different people. Of course she knew them all by name, face and reputation but, as for persona, she knew nothing. Absently she began to fantasize about whom they really were behind the façade that they fronted to the world. As a group of five boys entered the class, her fantasy took a very large turn. Her eyes slowly moved from the black ponytail to the blonde, then to the brown unibang and the chestnut braid. Finally she laid eyes on the tousled, slightly spiked brown. Heero.
'I wonder who you are, Heero. Maybe you're really a sensitive gentleman who enjoys candlelit dinners and listening to Elton John in the firelight. Yeah, and I'm a poor, middle-class single mom working for Subway-' Releena would have continued her rant but a seemingly disembodied voice echoed through her head.
'But what's so funny about that?' For some strange reason, Releena wasn't troubled by this voice in her head and replied,
'Well, because I could never be that. It's irony, you see.'
'Irony, huh? It must be very ironic for the poor, middle-class single mom working at Subway, barely making enough money to put food on the table for her kids. Very ironic, indeed.'
'Look, I don't have to defend myself to you! Life's tough! Get over it!'
'You don't need to defend yourself to me. Rather, tell that to the single mom the next time you see her.'
And then, the voice was gone. Releena, gathering her bearings, realized that her eyes were very unfocused. She was still staring at the spot where Heero had stood in the doorway of the math room. Confusion began to leap into Releena's throat. She frantically scanned the classroom. The students were silent or Releena couldn't hear them. Miss Kinomoto was at the front of the classroom lecturing, her mouth was moving, but no sound came to Releena's ears. Slowly shifting her gaze around the entire room, she saw more mouths moving but no sound came to her ears. Releena's eyes finally returned to the front of the classroom, the digital clock on Miss Kinomoto's desk drawing her attention. As Releena stared at them, the black numbers seemed to burn from the face of the clock. Her eyes too felt the burning, tears welling up to quell the pain. But to no avail, the black burning of the numbers invaded her sight even as her eyes squeezed shut. The pain finally blinding her, she rose madly from her seat, tripping and falling onto the soft crimson carpeting.
*~*~*~*
"Why do I even bother?" Duo sighed staring down at his math book. The little numbers and words become no more than squiggly lines as he squinted at them.
'It's no use..' he thought, no longer listening to Miss Kinomoto drone on about quadratic equations or whatever they were. His began a vague scan of the room. He could see everyone from his vantage point at the far back corner of the room. As he looked over into the middle row at the desk furthest from him, he noticed something peculiar. He saw Releena staring into space. This shouldn't have been very peculiar to Duo – he was used to staring into space on a daily basis. If it hadn't been for the fact that Releena's lips were moving subtly, as if she were murmuring. She would pause for a few moments after, as if she was hearing a reply to her silent musings then being again. Duo stared transfixed at her for an eternity it seemed until she blinked and started looking around. A blanket of silence had covered the room. Releena's eyes were filled with panic as the clock on Miss Kinomoto's desk caught her gaze. Salt tears began to run down her face as she squeezed her eyes shut in pain. Duo rose and walked towards her but the short distance from his desk to hers somehow became a long distance. His walk became a run but he never got any closer to Releena. The room became black and all else faded away but the crimson carpeting and Releena. Releena screamed out in pain as she blindly rose from her chair, tripped and fell onto the carpeting.
"Releena!" Duo cried out, his voice reverberating around him. The crimson carpeting suddenly became like an ocean of blood and Duo fell into the currents, his strength failing him as the waves stained him red. He madly attempted to stay above water but he could not. Duo cried out in fury one last time before the currents forced him under the water, never to return to the surface again.
*~*~*~*
AN: Sorry this is so short! I have suffered from writer's block for several weeks now and am finally getting over it! YAY! Anywho, please review. I don't care if you nit-pick my story to high heaven or horrible hell ::grin::, just tell me what you think.
Sayonara for now –Seikei Hyoutan cobaltempress@yahoo.com
