A/N: Sorry I haven't updated much – my muse is taking a break, lol. No, the ideas just haven't been flowing as fast as I'd like them to…I actually have some for this chapter, though, so it should be interesting. Muahaha…
Emily: you're right, I did address it to the wrong person…Sorry, I luv jesse! Forgive mee! *Genuflects* … *Falls over*
Fireblade K'chona: Working on it!
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Chapter 4: The…New Cali?
**Jesse**
Susannah has been knocked out. Marvelous. Not. Nombre de Dios, I'm talking like Susannah…I saw the door flare red and explode right in front of her. I saw her fall under the pieces of wood, so I knelt and dug her out from under the pieces of the now dead door. Shockingly enough, the fire didn't burn anything. It was just sort of…there. Anyway, I pulled her out of the debris and stood up. Facing me was a girl I really didn't recognize, though she reminded me of Calixte…was it her, reincarnated? That would be just typical of her…
"Ah, hello?" I said to her. She had been in sort of a trancelike state, and now came out of it, blinking.
"Where am I? Who are you, and who is she?" She pointed at Susannah, who I had cradled in my arms. This girl's voice reminded me of Calixte's. It had the same tone quality and pitch, actually, but there was a different…something…about it. Interesting. I'd never met someone I knew reincarnated, so this was…new to me.
"You are in the Shadowland. I am Jesse, and she is Susannah. Look, I don't know if you know, but I think you are a friend of ours, reincarnated. Do you remember how to get out of here?"
She snapped back into her trance. "The same way you got here," she said. Aha – that was Calixte. She was speaking through her new form. This girl had honey blonde, curly hair. Her eyes were exactly Calixte's color, and they had the exact same form. I suddenly realized what it was that was really different about her – I wasn't drawn to her the way I had been to Calixte. She had been part siren, though, so that explains a lot.
"The same way I…will that bring you and Susannah with me?" I asked her, hoping I was speaking to Calixte and not this other girl.
"Um, yes? Why else would I have told you to go back the way you came?" Oh good, it was Calixte.
I thanked her and closed my eyes. I closed my eyes in concentration, still holding Susannah. I felt the girl's hand grasp my shoulder – probably Calixte's doing – and then I felt myself start to fall. You know those dreams where you're falling, but wake up right before you hit? That was exactly how it was. I opened my eyes with a jolt and found myself in one piece, back in my body. Susannah was still unconscious, but thankfully not dead (as I found out when I checked her pulse.)
I heard someone clearing her throat near the window, so I glanced over. It was the nameless girl Calixte's soul now inhabited. "What is your name, anyway?" I asked her, turning to face her.
"Ah, I'm Aria," she said quietly.
"Aria…interesting," I remarked. "Do you remember anything about your past life?"
"Well, not – Jesse, just talk to me. Don't call her Aria," Calixte ordered. Well this was rather Jekyll and Hyde if I am any judge. I read the book awhile back, and I've found some uses for the term "Jekyll and Hyde," such as this situation. The way Calixte kept interrupting Aria. "Listen, Jesse. Paul and Suze are in trouble. The doors are killing them. I have to go under to save them and you have to keep me semi conscious. Okay? Don't let me pass out," she said, walking over to me. Alright, so Calixte had her powers. Wait a minute…Dios, is this confusing…How can she have her powers if I have them, too? She gave me the rest of her life force, along with her powers, and I didn't think Aria was an angel, so how could Calixte possibly still have her powers? Maybe they were new powers…or maybe the powers went with the soul, not the mortal body. Or immortal…or something. So confused…Aria shook her head, blinking. "Well that was odd. I don't remember walking over here… - I'm taking over, sister," Calixte snapped at Aria.
Oh, this was going to be strange. Calixte sat down next to me on Susannah's bed and rested a hand on Susannah's throat. Her hand started to glow white, and her breathing became heavier. I automatically touched her temples and gave her a little energy, just to make sure she'd stay conscious. I didn't know what would happen if she passed out.
About an hour later, she pulled her hand away and shook her head, blinking. "Whoa…dizzy…"
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my room?" Susannah snapped at Calixte/Aria.
"It's Cali, Suze. I just saved you; I'd think you'd be a little more grateful – I don't know what I'm doing here…I'm -" I reached over and covered her mouth before she could finish her sentence.
~Susannah, we have a bit of a situation here. Calixte was reincarnated into her,~ I mindspoke, jerking my head in her direction while talking to Susannah. ~The situation is rather…Jekyll and Hyde. Calixte keeps taking over, fighting Aria for control of her body. We have to do something and I don't know what. I don't suppose you do?~
"No, Jesse, I - " I covered her mouth too, telling her to answer in thought. I could hear it if she directed it at me. She glared daggers at me, so I uncovered her mouth. Fine, Jesse. No, I don't have any idea what to do. This is Cali's field, not mine. Evidently, not yours either, seeing as you're as confused as I am if not more so.
"Mmph!" Calixte protested, so I uncovered her mouth. "I have to fix Paul," she said, then walked over to the other side of Susannah's bed. She sat next to Paul and rested a hand on his throat. Her hand glowed white – a little more dully than before – and her breathing intensified and slowed. As I went to touch her temples and jolt her with energy, she collapsed. I swore loudly in Spanish and Susannah raised an eyebrow.
"What's going on?"
"She said not to let her pass out – didn't say why, just not to let her. She wouldn't warn me against something if she didn't have a reason, would she?" I walked around to the side Calixte/Aria was on and touched her, quickly yanking my hand back. She was hot. This was bad. I didn't know why, I just had this awful feeling that this was very bad.
**Calixte/Aria**
Fuck! Jesse, you idiot!
"What's going on?" Aria asked aloud.
Jesse let me pass out, the idiot, I told her. Now shut up and let me figure out how to get out of here! Aria was a bit of an airhead. So unlike me. How could someone like me get reincarnated as someone like her? With her curled, honey blonde hair and big, blue doe eyes. God, she annoyed me. The worst thing was, she was me.
This girl who kept snapping at me was really mean…she was in my head. I'm so confused. She said her name's Calixte – ah, I mean Cali. I can hear all her thoughts, and she's really smart, but she's kinda…bitchy. I suppose I can understand why, but you'd think she'd be a little more grateful. I'm being her body and I'm not fighting her, except when I want to talk. I'm seeing the weirdest things in her head, words like Hevanican and Tridaggers, and Hellatian and things like that…So confusing. So confusing. I like to think I'm not much of an airhead, but she thinks I am. It's really annoying. "I don't understand why you passing out is so bad," I told her.
It's bad because I'm deep in meditation, trying to save this jerk, Paul. I'm too deep to get myself out, and no one can wake me up because the state is induced by my power, which is in pure state right now, she told me. Oh yeah, like that helped.
"I don't get it. Can you clarify?" I asked as nicely as I could.
If we don't get out of it, our body goes deeper and deeper. I didn't say anything because it sounded like she was going to continue…If we go too deep our heart stops and we die, you airhead! Whoa. Um…
"Oh."
"Oh?" "OH?!" Are you kidding me? God…I can't believe I'm reincarnated as you, she said, still sounding really pissed off. I hope there's a way to split us and leave us both alive. Either that, or you're gonna die, she told me, sounding thoughtful now. Oh yeah, that's comforting. "Either that or you're gonna die", huh? God…I can't believe my last life was such a bitch…
"You're a bitch," I told her.
You're an airhead. Deal with it.
**Suze**
Okay, now Jesse was panicking. He was pacing in circles around my room, muttering to himself in Spanish, and I was sitting there, watching Cali. "Jesse, stop it. You're going to put a hole in my carpet." He obediently stopped pacing and sat down next to me. Then he tried to stand up five minutes later. I, of course, yanked him back down before he could. "Stop. If I know Cali, she'll fix this. Either that, or you're gonna have to learn how to use your powers fast."
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A/N: Muahahahahahaha…the next chapter should be interesting…when I get around to writing it. ^^;;