Broken Melody

Chapter 7

Broken Doll

I didn't get as many reviews as I hoped for on chapters 5 and 6. I live on reviews, people. I need them. If you like this story, please, I am down on my knees begging you, please review! P.S. Thanks to Jo-Ryan Salazar for being such a great reviewer. I bow down!

Standard disclaimers apply. PLEASE do not use Lance, Jean-Paul, Nightmare, Indigo, or any other of my characters in your story, RPG, or whatever! I spent forever coming up with them, they belong to me!

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Chiaki struggled wildly against the agents that firmly held him. He was in shock that for one, he'd been caught, and for two, that giant drawing-and-quartering machine had gone so long without being noticed by him. It was indeed a huge contraption, with a hard metal tabled in the center for the victim to lie on. Then ropes were connected to the five main parts of the machine- one to go around the neck, one for each arm, and one for each leg. Then a person was needed at each 'station' to work the machine. All they had to do was continue rotating the lever until the torture and killing process was finished.

For those less-informed people, drawing and quartering is a form of killing criminals. It was used in the medieval ages. What happens is, a person lies on the ground, or s held down, and five horses are attached to the person, at the aforementioned places. Then, the horses are simultaneously smacked roughly, and they run as hard and as fast and as far as the ropes will allow them until the limbs of the person are literally torn off. It was a bloody way to die or kill.

And believe it or not, drawing and quartering was like hangings. People gathered to watch for fun.

Anyways, five agents, not including Jean-Paul, were chosen quickly to operate the machine. They had five more in 'reserves', because the machine could malfunction and end up killing one of the lever-rotators. Jean-Paul directed some of them in French, and though Maron couldn't understand, she thought she knew what they were going to do.

"Wait!" she shouted, and, to her surprise, they actually stopped. "Why are you dragging Chiaki into this? He isn't anything, he isn't involved. Let him go!"

Jean-Paul simply smiled with Nightmare at her forceful words, the last sentence choked with tears that had just now been shed.

"My dear brother," Nightmare said in a singsong voice that still carried a slight French accent. "You have been neglecting to do what you promised yourself you'd do. You have some explaining to do." Chiaki was still breathing heavily and struggling, but he paused as she spoke her words. He stared at her, eyes wide in shock. She grinned even wider, baring a mouth full of razor-sharp fangs.

"Or shall I say it for you?" She asked him mockingly, placing one hand on her hip and twisting a strand of her hair. Chiaki took a deep breath. Nightmare stomped her foot like an impatient child, and turned to Maron.

"Jeanne? You have an opponent, yes?" She asked her, obviously enjoying herself. Chiaki was mentally praying that she wouldn't spill his little-yet-very-important secret. Maron nodded slightly, a look of fierce defiance in her eyes.

"What of it? So I have an opponent? What's the big deal?" Nightmare's smile got even wider, which disturbed Chiaki slightly. Not the fact that she could smile that widely, the fact that she was enjoying herself this much. She was definitely having fun.

"And you and this boy, this Chiaki, you are close, are you not?" she asked her. A light of understanding was beginning to dawn in Maron's eyes, quickly replaced by disbelief, or, more correctly, denial.

"Not that close," she said hesitantly. She wasn't stupid, she was beginning to put the pieces together now.

"But you would like to be closer?"

It's funny how life works. Maron had never been able to tell Miyako, or Finn, or Chiaki her feelings. And yet, here she was, in front of a huge amount of people, Chiaki included, and she never thought twice about admitting the way she felt.

"Yes," she said clearly, and Chiaki's jaw dropped. Well, you had to admit, it was kind of a surprising way to find out. But, anyways.

"Well, lover-boy here has neglected to tell you one very tiny important detail." Nightmare said, her grin vanishing and turning into some sort of smirk; like the one you'd expect off of one of those preps after they effectively insulted you and stole your boyfriend.

"What is it?" Maron asked coldly. Of course, by now she'd figured out what Nightmare was insinuating. After all, it's not like she's stupid, or whatever.

"Oh, I just thought you might want to know that my dear onii-chan here is, well, that lovely little Kaitou Sindbad."

I don't think Maron knows, to this day, that it was her that screamed, that ungodly, bloodcurdling sound. But she was deaf to the sounds of horror, shock and pain she was making.

"No," she sobbed, burying her wet face in her cold hands and sinking to the floor on her knees. "You're lying." She said, as firmly as she could in her current state.

"You have to be," she sobbed brokenly. Nightmare looked down at the pitiful person weeping on the floor, but there was no sympathy or pity in her eyes. Just pure, burning hatred.

"Am I? But, my brother's precious little broken doll, if I were lying, would he not have denied it by now?"

You know how sometimes, people say the exact wrong things and you feel like your world is crashing down around you? They say things like that, and you feel like every sorrow you went through to achieve joy wasn't worth it for this newfound misery? That's what Maron felt like. But, unlike when that happens to most of us, she actually knew how to deal with the situation. Well, up to this point anyways. After that, it was probably back to the 'broken doll' thing.

"Is it true?" she asked Chiaki quietly, and he pretended not to hear her.

"Is it true, Chiaki?" she asked in a louder voice, but a much colder one. "And tell me the truth." Well, seeing as he had lied to her so much in the past, it looked like it was about time he started to tell the truth.

"It is true," he said softly, looking at her limp form apologetically for a few moments, then looking down at the ground in shame. Screw honesty; how could he have caused her so much pain?

 She looked as if her sorrow was beyond tears. Or sobs, at least. Tears were rolling silently down her already-streaked face, and her eyes were turning red. She just kneeled numbly on the ground, not bothering to wipe her tears away. Two agents finally dragged her up, exerting more force than Chiaki thought necessary. They then dragged her forward.

Normally, Maron would have been kicking and struggling and screaming, but she was still in shock. They forced her down on the wooden platform, binding ropes that chafed her skin even more around her waist and underneath the board. They looped a rope around her neck, wrists, and ankles. She was breathing heavily and brokenly, not sobbing anymore, and tears were no longer rolling down her face. But she was afraid.

"Don't worry," Nightmare said, seeing the fear in Maron's eyes. "Pain is just fear leaving the body." Chiaki glared at her.

"Just how could you do this?!?" he asked her loudly, his voice echoing in the huge chamber. "What did we ever do to you!?"

"That is a very good question," Nightmare said, and Chikai knew that she was going to answer it, though not the way he wanted. He was right. "But the better question is, what did you ever do for me?" Chiaki remained silent, because she was right. No one had wanted to be nice to her; no one had even bothered to pretend to care.

"I know what that's like," Maron said. "I don't think anyone at school really likes me, except Minazuki, Miyako, and Chiaki." She continued, and Chiaki wondered why in the seven hells she was comforting the psycho who was going to kill them all.

"Yeah, well, I know no one likes me, and I'm not excluding anyone." She paused, and a dreamy look crossed her face. "In Japan, I mean."

"So, you have friends somewhere else?" Maron asked, and then it hit Chiaki like a ton of bricks(only not as heavy): She was trying to convince Nightmare tha tshe had friends.

"Yeah, well, thanks to my dad I'll never see them again. Ohh, I miss France…" she trailed off again, and Jean-Paul was looking at her suspiciously.

"Elle fait essayant pour mystifier vous{1}!!" Jean-Paul screamed at her, drowning out whatever Maron said next. Nightmare's eyes narrowed, and she reached for the lever that, when rotated enough, would rip Maron's head off. Maron looked at her calmly.

"Y-you will welcome death?" Nightmare choked out, hands unconsciously moving up to grip her head form the sudden exploding pain.

"There is nothing anyone can do to stop it," Maron replied, and the fear in her eyes disappeared.

Nightmare was gasping in great breaths of air, her head bowed and clutched in her hands. She was gripping her head so tightly that her claws had dug into her skin, causing blood to mingle with the tears of pain running down her face. As her on blood oozes onto her hands, the symbol on her forehead began to fade fromblack to a light silver-grey. Suddenly, a great burst of light exploded from her forehead, and all the agents covered their eyes and winced.

"Elle fait essayant pour mystifier vous!!" Jean-Paul screamed even louder in a last attempt. Sadly, it worked. The silver-grey mark turned black in an instant,  though it did not seem that the pain in Nightmare's head disappeared.

"Take her off," she said to the agents, gesturing with her hand that still had a few droplets of blood at the fingertips. The agents just stared at her, dumbfounded.

"Take her off," she repeated, and they nodded, as it finally dawned on them.

They dragged the two teenagers through uncountable, long hallways. Finally, they reached a set of stairs, which they were dragged roughly up. Finally, they reached the ground outside the hospital, and it was night again. Maron looked up at the moon; even though it was only a quarter moon, it was still beautiful.

"Look, if you're doing this because we're kaitous-" Chiaki started, but Nightmare cut him off.

"Don't flatter yourselves. We just need to kill two people at all of the stages of the moon, and we really wanted to get you brats out of our way. For different reasons then you may think, though."

"What are those reasons?" Maron asked, still ignoring Chiaki. Well, OK, ignoring = looking like she wanted to rip him to shreds but couldn't because of the agents holding her. 

"When you die and if you go to Heaven, as your precious God." She snarled, then drew out a long, sharp rapier. "Now," she said, gesturing to a small pile of weapons. "Kaitou Sindbad, you pick your weapon," she paused as he chose a dagger.

"And now," she struck a fighting stance, her right hand holding the sword above her head and behind her where it glimmered in the moonlight. "We duel,"

And so she lunged forward, sword glittering in the moonlight with her fangs, but Maron reached out instinctively and grabbed Nightmare's hair with her only free hand. So when Nightmare tried to run, Maron yanked her hair back hard in that moment, and thrust her face into Nightmare's.

"How do you like it?"

Nightmare snarled and shot her leg up into Maron's stomach, sending her flying back, completely wounded.

"If your girlfriend interferes once again, then my sword will meet her stomach instead of her foot." She told Chiaki, though now it looked like the other agents were giving Maron a clear Path to Nightmare.

Chiaki mostly tried to avoid Nightmare, though she was smaller, lighter, and faster than him. She had already cut his cheek, his shoulder, his arm, and she was still getting started. They were shallow cuts, and hardly hurt to him, but they were all bleeding steadily. Nightmare slammed her knee into his stomach, winding him, and threw him down. She then dropped on her knees and held her fist a centimeter above his face though he was winded, he slammed his knee up, much as she had, and propelled her backwards over him. She landed flat on her back, three feet away from him.

The agents were, naturally, in shock. They gaped as Nightmare lay unmoving on the ground for a minute while Chiaki gathered his breath. Then she jumped up without warning and chose another weapon; a broadsword. This was heavier and shorter, so it hindered her reach and speed. However, Chiaki's weapon was even shorter, so it didn't make much difference. Chiaki was slowly becoming tired, though Nightmare seemed to have endless energy.

"Come on, sit up, brother dearest," she said. "I didn't mean to hurt you. It will all be over soon; you won't feel much pain. At least, I hope not, for I would not know, having never died before."

Chiaki glared at her and jumped to his feet, much in the same way she had. She lunged, but he was ready for her this time. He didged, and she thrust her sword forward in a stabbing motion. When her hand was directly next to him, Chiaki smacked it roughly with the hilt of his dagger, causing her to lose grip on the broadsword, and it clattered to the ground. She snarled and swung her hand out in a wide ark, scratching his hand deeply and causing him to drop the dagger. Now, they were both unarmed.

"Now the real fun begins," Nightmare said softly, striking a fighting stance, with her fists up. He sighed and mirrored her position, and they both stared each other fearlessly in the eyes. And then she ran towards him.

He had a feeling he really, really wasn't going to like this…

~End Chapter 7~

A.N.: OK, I finally finished this, and it was waaaay off my weekly update schedule. But that's what happens when I post a chapter early and you don't review. I might have to change the weekly update date to Saturday now. I mean, because I haven't even started chapter eight yet, and it has a huge chunk of the plot in it. Luckily, I have it almost all planned out. Anyways, pretty please review.

{1}She is trying to trick you is what that means. Sorry, the French should stop here and now, or halfway through next chapter. Sorry again.

-Knife thrower