GoodGurl: All right, I know I haven't been updating, but who can blame me if I have to do homework and stuff? Sorry if I made you guys wait this long...
Chapter 7 - The Stranger Among Us
Noa lay on her bed, thinking about yesterday. It was quite odd how Vahn 'taught' those kids a lesson. She glanced towards the man sleeping by her side. Even though she was happy that he had come back to her alive, she couldn't help but feel something odd about her lover. Every time he was near her, she felt a shiver run down her spine, like there was something 'dead' about him. Startled, Noa glanced at the arm that was now draped over her stomach. She erased the thoughts from her mind, thinking that maybe she was just hallucinating. She was probably too shocked that Vahn was alive at all, that her mind was playing tricks on her. She had no right to doubt the only person who loved her just the way she is.
"'Morning," Vahn whispered in her ear.
Noa felt his breath tickle the side of her neck that she couldn't help but giggle. "Morning," she replied back. She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, before standing up to get ready, however, she was suddenly pulled roughly back down on the bed by a hand clasped tightly on her arm. Noa was suddenly on top of Vahn.
"Where are you going?" Vahn asked. 'Don't you dare touch her, you bastard!' a voice spoke in his head. He kissed the nape of her neck, hearing Noa's giggle. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her lips, his tongue exploring every contours of her neck. He knew she was sensitive in those areas.
Noa laughed. "Vahn!" She slapped his arm playfully, trying loosely to remove herself from him, but it was to no avail. His kisses were making her melt. Noa decided, at that point to play along, as she kissed him back with her own type of kiss, that she knew made Vahn weak.
Vahn opened his eyes. Her kiss was making him feel... It was making him feel... good... His head started to spin and his knees were starting to buckle. The kiss was intense, that his eyes closed once again, to taste her.
Suddenly, he pulled back, startling Noa. The kiss ended, but the taste in his mouth was still there. The taste of love and passion. Vahn stared at her, as if he was staring at her for the first time. "Noa..." he whispered.
'Damn! Her kiss!' he thought. He had heard Vahn's voice- the voice that he dreaded to hear. He didn't need this. What he did in the first place was stupid. Kissing her like that was stupid.
Noa looked closely into his eyes. She thought she saw the real Vahn there and by the time she had a chance to ask, something clicked in Vahn's mind. The same gentle Vahn was no longer there, as it was replaced now with cold, distant eyes. Without a word of warning, Vahn pushed her off of him as hard as he could, forcing Noa to land on her butt on the floor. The girl looked up at him in disbelief. He stared back at her, with his own expression of shock. What did he do? Why had he gone weak?
Noa's eyes furrowed curiously. "What was that all about, Vahn?" She stood up, dusting off dirt from her butt with her hands and looked at him. "What did I do wrong?" She searched through his eyes.
Vahn turned away from her. He had to say something, or else Noa will become more suspicious. "I'm sorry, Noa. I got carried away." He stood up and looked at her this time as she spoke. "I'm going for a walk."
Noa raised one eyebrow suspiciously, watching as Vahn stepped out of the room. She heard the front door open and then close. A few seconds later, Cort appeared in the bedroom, his eyes, so pure of innocence, looking up at his sister as she sat there paralyzed from feeling slapped on the face by the only person she trusted. The little boy's face straightened in worry.
She felt like Vahn had literally crushed her heart.
"Noa?" She heard Cort call her name, but she was too embarrassed by what had just happened. All this time, she had dreamed of Vahn, wishing for his return and when he returned, she regretted now of ever thinking he had returned as himself, when really- he wasn't himself anymore. He was someone else.
To her, he had become a stranger.
Her shoulders slouched for a moment, her eyes staring at nothing, but the wall from across the room. She felt small arms wrapped slowly around her and Noa looked up to find Cort kneeling in front of her, his face buried in her neck. Noa leaned her head down on hair, smelling the smell most boys get when they get cleaned up after playing in the dirt outside.
"It's going to be all right, Cort," she whispered to him. She kissed the top of his head and wrapped her arms around the little boy. Oh, how she wished her words were true- that everything was going to be all right. If Vahn chooses to leave her, because he was sick and tired of her... 'It was going to be all right,' she told herself. Everything is going to be all right.
******************
"Dammit!" he cursed out loud. He paced around the dark surroundings.
"You should've been careful..." a mocking, hollow voice spoke nearby. He looked up and found him there, with his hands still tied at the wall as he hung almost helplessly inside the cocoon made especially for him.
Angrily, his index finger jerked towards the mocking man. "Shut up! You shut up!"
"That's what you get for taking over my life!" He could see the man clenching his fists angrily at him, as if to say, 'and once I get down here, I'm going to kick your ass!' He could see in the man's eyes how frustrated he was with him, but he knew he couldn't let those eyes stop him from accomplishing his goal. He would have to get on her good side so she could trust him enough. It wasn't going to be easy, since he did almost fail. Her kiss... He touched his lips. Her kiss was intoxicating.
As if reading his thoughts, the man moved his arms back and forth, attempting to reach out to him with his fists and hissed at him. "If you touch her again, I swear I will kill you!"
Now, with a smirk, he folded his arms across his chest and looked up at him with his evil eyes. "And how exactly will you do that, Vahn? You're still tied up you know!"
Vahn gritted his teeth in annoyance. If only he was paying more attention to whom he was talking to and where he was going, then he would never have been in this kind of predicament. He had woken up from a dream, read the man's thoughts as he spoke with the girl... the girl... Noa... He was remembering everything now. Remembering her face. Her eyes. Her smile. He remembered the first time they kissed four years ago. Has it been that long? Being stuck in the cocoon got him to remember, thanks to the man who was taking over his life. "I'll find a way out. You just wait you jerk!" The man, whom was still nameless to him, shook his head.
"I don't think so. You see, if you leave this place, you wouldn't be able to survive anyway. Since you have no weapon and since this is an isolated place somewhere in the mountains, you wouldn't be able to fight your way through the monsters that still roam around the world."
"What do you want with the boy anyway?" Vahn closed his eyes. The soulful eyes of Cort flashed in his mind. How could this man take the innocence of a child? Cort was still growing up. He may not be able to see him, but he hopes in his heart that Cort will grow up to be a normal young man... not the corrupted man they fought so many years ago who wanted to take over the world by summoning the mist. NO! He yelled in his head as a thought came into his mind. He was going to use Cort and bring the evil Cort back from the past to revive the mist! "Don't you dare touch the boy!"
"Why shouldn't I? The Serus were a great creation from the Seru-kai. Why shouldn't they belong in this world with the humans? With the knowledge of humans and with the powers of the Serus, we will be combined into powerful beings." The man raised his arms in the air like a madman. "Normal people are just normal. Humans are weak when it comes to fighting against invaders."
"You're the invader!" Vahn yelled back.
The man laughed. "That's right, I am! A good invader, that is. I will create the most powerful beings and make use of them to protect invaders..." He smirked at Vahn. "Like me, as you say..."
Vahn felt the evil surrounding this man. He could feel the evil aura deep in his heart. He wondered what made this man so angry to people. Why do so many maniacs go for power than instinct or morality? "You say you want to summon the Serus and combine them with people like us? You're too late..." The man jerked his head towards him as he waited for Vahn to continue. "All the Serus are dead, ESPECIALLY the Ra-Serus!" He watched to see if the man will be shocked by the news, however, as Vahn watched, he wasn't shocked or anything at all. Instead, the man folded his arms across his chest and smirked his usual smirk.
"You're so naïve, Vahn, especially for a smart man like you." The man turned around, facing the solid, brown wall that was close to being cracked and glanced over his shoulder at the teenager. "This wall is the key to reviving the Serus again. Not just the normal Serus, but the Ra-Serus as well. In fact, this whole place is the gate to the Serus that have died many years ago. This place is the place where everything started."
"Conkram..." Vahn whispered, finishing the man's sentence.
"That's right. Cort is the last piece of the puzzle and he is the only one who can open the gate. After all, he IS the prince of Conkram. He is the one who gave birth to the mist!"
Vahn closed his eyes. He had to get out somehow. He had to! Or the world would be in danger once again.
********************
She reached for the phone and dialed the right number to Rim Elm. Noa waited for two rings, until a soft gentle voice answered. "Hello?" she spoke. Noa recognized the soft tone of Mei as she twirled the cord around her finger nervously.
"Mei?" She could hear Mei worry on the other line. She couldn't blame her friend, after all, she did sound nervous at that point.
"Noa? What is it? What's the matter?" she asked, her voice sounding concerned.
The red head took a deep breath. She didn't know how she was going to tell her about Vahn- he's not him, that she was living with a stranger in the house. Noa took a deep breath, before finally telling her about what happened that morning and how Vahn has been gone for hours now, while tears flowed down her porcelain face.
After about a few minutes or so of retelling the whole event, Noa waited for Mei's response. She was quite surprised, however, that Mei's answer was as kind as ever. There was no mocking tone in her voice when she spoke, no insults on how stupid she was being of thinking about Vahn that way. Instead, Mei, was as supportive as ever, telling her to calm down and that she was coming over soon. Noa hung up the phone and sighed. She was startled to see a shadow behind her. Noa suddenly turned around and noticed Vahn standing there. For hours, he was missing and she was worried.
"Vahn!" Noa wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his chest. "I was so worried! Why did you run off like that? Did I do something wrong?" She looked up and noticed his look. It was a look of pure malice. Malice? Vahn? "Vahn? What's wrong with you?"
Vahn smiled. There was no point in wasting time now. Cort was almost there. The young innocent boy was close to seeing his true self... the Prince of the Serus. He had seen through the boy's eyes. He was almost there. His hand slowly reached up behind her towards a flower vase and, without giving Noa a second chance, smashed the vase on her head. Noa's eyes closed and she collapsed on the floor.
"Sorry, Noa... You're just a bother to me now. It's time to take the boy home to where he belongs." The noise of the broken vase startled the boy from his rest. Vahn noticed Cort opening the door from his room and stepping out to find his unconscious sister on the floor. Cort's eyes opened in shock.
"Vahn?" Cort spoke, his voice small and vulnerable. Tears streamed down his face, the moment he peered deeper into his sister's forehead that was now cut and bleeding. "What did you do?" How could Vahn do this? Noa loved him! Cort clenched his fists at his sides. He wished he were bigger than the man so he could punish him! Punish him for hurting his sister!
Vahn walked towards him slowly. Cort was still on the innocent stage. Sooner or later, he's going to be his Lord... his Master. "Come Cort... let me take you home." When Cort did not move, his patience got to him. Vahn walked over to him quickly and grabbed the boy by the arm, then dragged him out of the house. Cort struggled, trying his hardest to kick him, but Vahn was far stronger than he and he was just a helpless little boy.
"NOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the boy wailed. "SIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
GoodGurl: AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! Poor Noa! Now you know that it's not really Vahn! It's really someone, who will still be nameless... pretending to be Vahn! And you also know that Vahn really IS alive! Confused? Well, keep on reading!
Chapter 7 - The Stranger Among Us
Noa lay on her bed, thinking about yesterday. It was quite odd how Vahn 'taught' those kids a lesson. She glanced towards the man sleeping by her side. Even though she was happy that he had come back to her alive, she couldn't help but feel something odd about her lover. Every time he was near her, she felt a shiver run down her spine, like there was something 'dead' about him. Startled, Noa glanced at the arm that was now draped over her stomach. She erased the thoughts from her mind, thinking that maybe she was just hallucinating. She was probably too shocked that Vahn was alive at all, that her mind was playing tricks on her. She had no right to doubt the only person who loved her just the way she is.
"'Morning," Vahn whispered in her ear.
Noa felt his breath tickle the side of her neck that she couldn't help but giggle. "Morning," she replied back. She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, before standing up to get ready, however, she was suddenly pulled roughly back down on the bed by a hand clasped tightly on her arm. Noa was suddenly on top of Vahn.
"Where are you going?" Vahn asked. 'Don't you dare touch her, you bastard!' a voice spoke in his head. He kissed the nape of her neck, hearing Noa's giggle. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her lips, his tongue exploring every contours of her neck. He knew she was sensitive in those areas.
Noa laughed. "Vahn!" She slapped his arm playfully, trying loosely to remove herself from him, but it was to no avail. His kisses were making her melt. Noa decided, at that point to play along, as she kissed him back with her own type of kiss, that she knew made Vahn weak.
Vahn opened his eyes. Her kiss was making him feel... It was making him feel... good... His head started to spin and his knees were starting to buckle. The kiss was intense, that his eyes closed once again, to taste her.
Suddenly, he pulled back, startling Noa. The kiss ended, but the taste in his mouth was still there. The taste of love and passion. Vahn stared at her, as if he was staring at her for the first time. "Noa..." he whispered.
'Damn! Her kiss!' he thought. He had heard Vahn's voice- the voice that he dreaded to hear. He didn't need this. What he did in the first place was stupid. Kissing her like that was stupid.
Noa looked closely into his eyes. She thought she saw the real Vahn there and by the time she had a chance to ask, something clicked in Vahn's mind. The same gentle Vahn was no longer there, as it was replaced now with cold, distant eyes. Without a word of warning, Vahn pushed her off of him as hard as he could, forcing Noa to land on her butt on the floor. The girl looked up at him in disbelief. He stared back at her, with his own expression of shock. What did he do? Why had he gone weak?
Noa's eyes furrowed curiously. "What was that all about, Vahn?" She stood up, dusting off dirt from her butt with her hands and looked at him. "What did I do wrong?" She searched through his eyes.
Vahn turned away from her. He had to say something, or else Noa will become more suspicious. "I'm sorry, Noa. I got carried away." He stood up and looked at her this time as she spoke. "I'm going for a walk."
Noa raised one eyebrow suspiciously, watching as Vahn stepped out of the room. She heard the front door open and then close. A few seconds later, Cort appeared in the bedroom, his eyes, so pure of innocence, looking up at his sister as she sat there paralyzed from feeling slapped on the face by the only person she trusted. The little boy's face straightened in worry.
She felt like Vahn had literally crushed her heart.
"Noa?" She heard Cort call her name, but she was too embarrassed by what had just happened. All this time, she had dreamed of Vahn, wishing for his return and when he returned, she regretted now of ever thinking he had returned as himself, when really- he wasn't himself anymore. He was someone else.
To her, he had become a stranger.
Her shoulders slouched for a moment, her eyes staring at nothing, but the wall from across the room. She felt small arms wrapped slowly around her and Noa looked up to find Cort kneeling in front of her, his face buried in her neck. Noa leaned her head down on hair, smelling the smell most boys get when they get cleaned up after playing in the dirt outside.
"It's going to be all right, Cort," she whispered to him. She kissed the top of his head and wrapped her arms around the little boy. Oh, how she wished her words were true- that everything was going to be all right. If Vahn chooses to leave her, because he was sick and tired of her... 'It was going to be all right,' she told herself. Everything is going to be all right.
******************
"Dammit!" he cursed out loud. He paced around the dark surroundings.
"You should've been careful..." a mocking, hollow voice spoke nearby. He looked up and found him there, with his hands still tied at the wall as he hung almost helplessly inside the cocoon made especially for him.
Angrily, his index finger jerked towards the mocking man. "Shut up! You shut up!"
"That's what you get for taking over my life!" He could see the man clenching his fists angrily at him, as if to say, 'and once I get down here, I'm going to kick your ass!' He could see in the man's eyes how frustrated he was with him, but he knew he couldn't let those eyes stop him from accomplishing his goal. He would have to get on her good side so she could trust him enough. It wasn't going to be easy, since he did almost fail. Her kiss... He touched his lips. Her kiss was intoxicating.
As if reading his thoughts, the man moved his arms back and forth, attempting to reach out to him with his fists and hissed at him. "If you touch her again, I swear I will kill you!"
Now, with a smirk, he folded his arms across his chest and looked up at him with his evil eyes. "And how exactly will you do that, Vahn? You're still tied up you know!"
Vahn gritted his teeth in annoyance. If only he was paying more attention to whom he was talking to and where he was going, then he would never have been in this kind of predicament. He had woken up from a dream, read the man's thoughts as he spoke with the girl... the girl... Noa... He was remembering everything now. Remembering her face. Her eyes. Her smile. He remembered the first time they kissed four years ago. Has it been that long? Being stuck in the cocoon got him to remember, thanks to the man who was taking over his life. "I'll find a way out. You just wait you jerk!" The man, whom was still nameless to him, shook his head.
"I don't think so. You see, if you leave this place, you wouldn't be able to survive anyway. Since you have no weapon and since this is an isolated place somewhere in the mountains, you wouldn't be able to fight your way through the monsters that still roam around the world."
"What do you want with the boy anyway?" Vahn closed his eyes. The soulful eyes of Cort flashed in his mind. How could this man take the innocence of a child? Cort was still growing up. He may not be able to see him, but he hopes in his heart that Cort will grow up to be a normal young man... not the corrupted man they fought so many years ago who wanted to take over the world by summoning the mist. NO! He yelled in his head as a thought came into his mind. He was going to use Cort and bring the evil Cort back from the past to revive the mist! "Don't you dare touch the boy!"
"Why shouldn't I? The Serus were a great creation from the Seru-kai. Why shouldn't they belong in this world with the humans? With the knowledge of humans and with the powers of the Serus, we will be combined into powerful beings." The man raised his arms in the air like a madman. "Normal people are just normal. Humans are weak when it comes to fighting against invaders."
"You're the invader!" Vahn yelled back.
The man laughed. "That's right, I am! A good invader, that is. I will create the most powerful beings and make use of them to protect invaders..." He smirked at Vahn. "Like me, as you say..."
Vahn felt the evil surrounding this man. He could feel the evil aura deep in his heart. He wondered what made this man so angry to people. Why do so many maniacs go for power than instinct or morality? "You say you want to summon the Serus and combine them with people like us? You're too late..." The man jerked his head towards him as he waited for Vahn to continue. "All the Serus are dead, ESPECIALLY the Ra-Serus!" He watched to see if the man will be shocked by the news, however, as Vahn watched, he wasn't shocked or anything at all. Instead, the man folded his arms across his chest and smirked his usual smirk.
"You're so naïve, Vahn, especially for a smart man like you." The man turned around, facing the solid, brown wall that was close to being cracked and glanced over his shoulder at the teenager. "This wall is the key to reviving the Serus again. Not just the normal Serus, but the Ra-Serus as well. In fact, this whole place is the gate to the Serus that have died many years ago. This place is the place where everything started."
"Conkram..." Vahn whispered, finishing the man's sentence.
"That's right. Cort is the last piece of the puzzle and he is the only one who can open the gate. After all, he IS the prince of Conkram. He is the one who gave birth to the mist!"
Vahn closed his eyes. He had to get out somehow. He had to! Or the world would be in danger once again.
********************
She reached for the phone and dialed the right number to Rim Elm. Noa waited for two rings, until a soft gentle voice answered. "Hello?" she spoke. Noa recognized the soft tone of Mei as she twirled the cord around her finger nervously.
"Mei?" She could hear Mei worry on the other line. She couldn't blame her friend, after all, she did sound nervous at that point.
"Noa? What is it? What's the matter?" she asked, her voice sounding concerned.
The red head took a deep breath. She didn't know how she was going to tell her about Vahn- he's not him, that she was living with a stranger in the house. Noa took a deep breath, before finally telling her about what happened that morning and how Vahn has been gone for hours now, while tears flowed down her porcelain face.
After about a few minutes or so of retelling the whole event, Noa waited for Mei's response. She was quite surprised, however, that Mei's answer was as kind as ever. There was no mocking tone in her voice when she spoke, no insults on how stupid she was being of thinking about Vahn that way. Instead, Mei, was as supportive as ever, telling her to calm down and that she was coming over soon. Noa hung up the phone and sighed. She was startled to see a shadow behind her. Noa suddenly turned around and noticed Vahn standing there. For hours, he was missing and she was worried.
"Vahn!" Noa wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his chest. "I was so worried! Why did you run off like that? Did I do something wrong?" She looked up and noticed his look. It was a look of pure malice. Malice? Vahn? "Vahn? What's wrong with you?"
Vahn smiled. There was no point in wasting time now. Cort was almost there. The young innocent boy was close to seeing his true self... the Prince of the Serus. He had seen through the boy's eyes. He was almost there. His hand slowly reached up behind her towards a flower vase and, without giving Noa a second chance, smashed the vase on her head. Noa's eyes closed and she collapsed on the floor.
"Sorry, Noa... You're just a bother to me now. It's time to take the boy home to where he belongs." The noise of the broken vase startled the boy from his rest. Vahn noticed Cort opening the door from his room and stepping out to find his unconscious sister on the floor. Cort's eyes opened in shock.
"Vahn?" Cort spoke, his voice small and vulnerable. Tears streamed down his face, the moment he peered deeper into his sister's forehead that was now cut and bleeding. "What did you do?" How could Vahn do this? Noa loved him! Cort clenched his fists at his sides. He wished he were bigger than the man so he could punish him! Punish him for hurting his sister!
Vahn walked towards him slowly. Cort was still on the innocent stage. Sooner or later, he's going to be his Lord... his Master. "Come Cort... let me take you home." When Cort did not move, his patience got to him. Vahn walked over to him quickly and grabbed the boy by the arm, then dragged him out of the house. Cort struggled, trying his hardest to kick him, but Vahn was far stronger than he and he was just a helpless little boy.
"NOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the boy wailed. "SIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
GoodGurl: AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! Poor Noa! Now you know that it's not really Vahn! It's really someone, who will still be nameless... pretending to be Vahn! And you also know that Vahn really IS alive! Confused? Well, keep on reading!