Chapter 4: Into The Dark
While Haruka sat on her window bench, pondering about the past events, Michiru laid on the more or less comfy bed of her room, staring up at her ceiling. "Are you here to hurt me again?" she heard her own voice, speaking in her mind. "No. I just want to talk." Came another, well-known speaker. Michiru closed her eyes, the image of her traitorous lover appearing in front of her inner eye. "She said that she's still in love with me." The aqua haired girl whispered to herself. "But can I trust her?" "No." a third voice came, a voice Michiru knew well by now, too. Turning her head, Michiru looked at herself, sitting on the chair Haruka had been using before, a smug smile on her face. "You can't trust her." Her counterpart now spoke. "Why not?" Michiru asked, frowning. "She said that she loves me…and I remember happy times with her…" "…that were only show on her part." The other, "evil" Michiru replied. "Did you really think that Haruka loves you?" she talked on, her voice full of scoff. "She never did, stupid girl. All she loved was your money…and when she had enough of screwing you, she decided to get rid of you. End of story." "That's not true." Michiru whispered, hot tears stinging in her eyes all of a sudden. "Oh yes, it is, and you know it. You know that she wanted to kill you, right?" Michiru nodded, the tears running down her cheeks. "Yes…she wanted to kill me…the poison…and later on, the knife…" the aqua haired girl spoke to herself, burying her face in the pillows. "She wanted to kill you." Her mirror image repeated, standing up from the chair and walking over to the bed. "And that's why you had to shoot her, right?" Michiru nodded again, the memory of her shooting her lover coming up in front of her inner eye.
~*~ Flashback ~*~
"Michiru, this is total nonsense. Why on earth would I want to kill you?" Haruka demanded to know, speaking to the closed and locked door of the bedroom. Michiru rummaged through the cupboards in the meantime, frantically, nearly scared to death. Harukas fist hammered against the wood of the door once more, and Michiru let out a shriek. "If she gets in here before I find it, I'm in trouble." The aqua haired girl spoke to herself, digging deeper into the cupboard. And then, she finally found the object of desire. Pulling the revolver out of it's hiding place, Michiru quickly checked it to make sure that it was loaded before she turned around, facing the door. "Haruka, what's going on?" Setsunas voice came from the hallway. Michiru listened, waiting for the one who claimed to be her lover to reply. Waiting for the reply of the one who wanted to kill her. "Michiru locked herself in there, she thinks I want to kill her!" Finally, the low and husky voice exclaimed, the statement followed by a little gasp. Hotaru. "Michiru-mama? Are you in there?" "Go away." Michiru whispered, more to herself than to the little girl outside. "Go away…you are not supposed to see this…" "Michiru, I'll open the door now!" Haruka shouted. One second later, the wood shook with the force of the blonde crashing against it. After three more crashed, the door finally swung open. Haruka entered the room – and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the gun glistening in Michirus hands. "Back off." Michiru spoke, her voice surprisingly calm. "Michiru…" Haruka started, her fear clearly showing in her voice, "please put that gun away. Please." „I said, back off." Michiru repeated, still as calm as ever. She readied the gun, aiming it at Harukas head. "Unless you don't want me to blow your brain out of your head." "I don't want to harm you." Haruka spoke, trying to sound reassuring and convincing, but failed. "Yeah right." Michiru shot back. "You are trying to kill me! Why don't you just admit it, dammit?!" Haruka took one step forward, opening her mouth to say something, but Michiru yelled at her: "Back off!!" Her finger closed around the trigger. "Michiru, don't!" Setsuna shouted, but it was too late. Michiru pulled the trigger, the shot rang and one second later Haruka fell to the ground, screaming in tremendous pain while blood splashed from the shot wound in her right upper leg. "Daddy!" Hotaru cried out while Setsuna launched forward, tackling Michiru and wrestling the gun out of her hands. After a short, hard fight, the guardian of time and space somehow managed to knock her friend out, immediately feeling sorry for what she had done. Turning around, the green haired woman found herself looking at Hotaru who kneeled on the ground, Harukas head in her lap. The blonde was staring up at the ceiling, her breath coming in rasped, pain-filled gasps. Her leg was bleeding heavily, the blood dripping on the carpet and coloring it red. "Hotaru, stay here with your papa." Setsuna spoke in a soothing voice, trying to keep her calm. "I'll call the police and the ambulance, I'll be right back." Hotaru nodded, gently stroking her papa's sweaty face while Setsuna hurried out of the room.
"See?" Michirus mirror image spoke, smiling satisfied. "You had to shoot her to keep yourself save. And you still think that she loves you?" "No." Michiru spoke out loud, sitting up on the bed. "She doesn't love me…all she loves is my money." Her mirror image smiled at her, a cruel, somehow evil smile. "Good thing you finally got that into your head. Go to sleep now, Michiru…everything will turn out good in the end." Michiru nodded again, letting herself fall back on the bed. Soon, her eyes closed, and she went off into the dark.