Chapter 14. It was refreshing having a chapter that didn't make me want to commit suicide. Anyway, just announcing that once I have finished this story, which will only be maybe five or six more chapters, I will post the sequel. I have a lot of time on my hands so I've begun it. Lost Soul II: Rebirth. I really have too much time on my hands….

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Sona couldn't sleep that night. She was so fueled by relief, that the excitement of being surrounded by friends, and not having so much pressure on her, she just stared around in the dark at the changing shadows. It was hypnotizing. At last she had found herself amongst those same shadows and reached for the smallest bit of light. Hiei was sleeping softly down the hall. Tempted to watch him sleep, she almost tiptoed to his room, but she thought he might get ideas…

In the back of her mind she began to etch the beginning of a song. Whispering in a soft hum, she voiced part of it, "I lay down by your side, and I feel whole once again… the breeze will speak softly the secrets we hold…and I'll surrender to you, love that is pure… softly broken…" While her eyes slipped shut, she felt his lips again. No one could take that feeling away from her. Tenderly his lips caressed hers, and she knew she shouldn't be in the same house with him 24 7. Something had to give, because she wanted to kiss him again. All over. This feeling had whelmed up in the center of her chest and now she felt like bursting. Never having felt this way, it scared her. This was the kind of thing her stepfather had told her he felt for her. After undergoing the torture from him, she didn't know what to do, or think. Was what she felt for Hiei wrong?

With her mind still a flutter, she passed out, dwindling on the past merging with the present.

~~~~~Nightmare~~~~~

The words never spoken to the unknown melody of her old jewelry box, began to awaken the sleeping girl.

"Maybe you, feel so blue, over your desire…latch onto his last words, as he sets your heart on fire…baby of the damned, they say, you will never live…but the mind has grown insane, yours is the one that gives…"Her eyes shot open to the haunting words, and she realized, this wasn't a dream. Voices. So many clustered together. She stood noticing she was weightless. Looking down, she saw herself sleeping, tossing back and forth in cold sweat. Separated from her own shell, her feet hit the icy wooden floor. So bitter. How could this be a dream? Soon, the voices stopped, and the melody continued, luring her away from the safety of her room.

"He is the only one…this is what you think…soon he will turn on you…and they all will grieve…Painted pictures hold the times before…you look so innocent…lying on the floor…stolen pride, and many tears…stain a golden soul…too bad find your corpse… you'll be stiff as stone…" Sona heard every last word, and every little phrase peeked her interest. Interest should have been the last thing she in her mind.

All the rooms were dark. Hiei could still be heard sleeping, and now she became concerned with his safety in this matter. Running towards his room, it didn't occur to her what might happen if this so called dream continued. Standing in the doorway she gazed upon the man with his eyes closed, breathing steadily, in the pale moonlight that shown through cracked blinds. He seemed fine.

"What you see deceives you." a man's voice spoke closely to her ear.

Whipping around she saw him. Standing behind her with an ashen face, salt and pepper hair, and otherworldly glow was her stepfather.

"Your dead!" she screamed at him.

"I am. But it seems that the dead can enter dreams, and turn them into whatever they want." he smiled.

"What do you want?" she glared at him in the eye.

"The question is, what do you want?" he smiled.

"I don't understand, and I'd like to wake up now." she tried to pinch herself.

"Don't even try. That old pinching trick never worked before, what makes you think it would help you now?" he laughed.

"I'm getting sick of having psychos analyzing me." she spat.

"You shouldn't make it so easy then." he shot back.

"Why are you in my dreams, then?" He eyed her, looking her up and down with utter pleasure, she wanted to vomit.

"Because, we have unfinished business." he grinned. "Your looking awfully well, girl."

"Stay away from me." she roared.

"Or you'll kill me?" he chuckled. "Oh, someone already took care of that." Leo appears at his father's side, with the same smirk on his face that made her blood run cold.

"Hello again." He leaned against a wall, still watching her.

"What is going on?" She wanted to take a step back, but her will power told her to stay strong.

"You have to face your fears. All of them. Now, or we'll haunt you until the ends of the Earth." They both seemed thrilled with following her.

"He means, you need to deal with all of us." Her mother stepped into the light. With a presence as powerful as ever, she embraced the evil within her.

"Three ghosts, one point. I think we should be calling her Scrooge." Leo mocked.

"One point? Now what the hell is that about?" she growled with animalistic charm.

"You. Its all about you." The older man put his arm around his wife.

"They didn't keep us from rotting in hell for nothing." Her mother giggled.

"Always knew you'd find your place." Sona muttered under her breathe, loud enough to be heard.

"Comply with our needs, and we won't make your dreamland a living hell, dear." Replied the women with the solemn face.

"Fine. I'll do whatever I am meant to do. But get this through your heads. This is my mind your in transaction with, and I am not afraid of you anymore." she clenched her fists.

"It may be your mind, child, but your still afraid." her mother's eyes were as loving as dead fish.

"Then get started," Sona smiled as well, "wouldn't want daybreak to stop this little powwow."

"Alright, lets start at the beginning of your, less than stable childhood." her mother announced as the bedroom dissolved into a scene she had almost forgotten until now.

Herself at seven sitting in the garden, staring into the sky. This had been the only time she dared to smile while at home. She closed her eyes, but was quickly dragged out of reality.

"Where are you?!" her mother screeched. The ghost women standing beside her and looked away.

With a pale face the child stood up, and watched as her mother stomped towards her. "Momma." she addressed quivering ever so slightly.

"You've ruined everything!" she slapped the girl hard across the face.

Now in tears, "What did I do?"

"Your stepfather knows about you not being his! He's thinking of taking away my part of his paycheck because of you. My little mistake is going to be the end of my millions!" she grabbed the girl by the hair, and just hit her until she bled so much, you couldn't see where it came from. The child fell limp to the ground. Sona watched herself, so pitiful. "Oh God…," her mother muttered as she watched the child lie stiffly, "What have I done?" Figures that the first time she cared, was the day it appeared that she had killed her. After taking the small body hanging on to life, into her arms, she ran to the house.

That day her mother had taken care of her. Out of guilt, but cared for none the less. The image faded as the little girl awoke from her coma, and saw the women sitting at her side crying for the first and last time ever. Nothing changed, but it was a time she'd always remember. Sona, still, would never forgive her though.

Sona turned to her apparitions. "All I saw was a child abuser trying to redeem herself. What else do you have for me?"

The female ghost started to fade away, "I'm sorry…" she said as she disappeared.

"Kind of late for that." Sona laughed.

"Well her part is done, I guess it's up to us to get the point across." Leo stepped forward.

Another scene began…This time five year old with a black eye sat on her big brother's lap. "Don't worry, Sona, she was just in a bad mood, she didn't mean it." he consoled with gentle words.

"But she always does this." she cried.

"Stay away from her. One of these days, she will kill you. Please, leave her alone, do nothing to upset her." he told her.

"I never do anything." she hugged him and he lifted her into her bed and she fell asleep. He heaved heavily. Those were the days when he was sane. Sona watched and smiled, but the thought of what he had become loomed in the back her mind. It dissolved just as it had before, and with the memories, so did Leo.

"I wish it all had turned out differently…" he stared at her the way he use to, years ago, and she prayed for his damned soul.

"And then there was one." her stepfather stalked towards her.

Now the final part of the ghost tale played before her. Ten years old now, she stood in her white nightgown, as he entered the room, drunk, and unsteady.

"Lay down." he ordered her as she clutched her fists tightly.

"No." she looked him in the eye. "No more. I can't take it. Please go away."

"I don't think so." he pushed her against the bed, holding down her flailing arms, and legs. "Your just a dirty little whore, but I'll teach you a thing or two."

"No!" she protested as he unbuckled his belt, and bound her wrists with it tightly to the bars of her bed. A master of the art of overpowering people, he knocked the air out of her lungs and she could barely breath. Her violent movements stopped half way through. She had given in, and just laid there, motionless. Nothing could describe the pain, she wanted to resist, but there was no strength left in her muscles. He put his clothes on. Now, halfway to heaven, the girl didn't blink, she just zoned out, in her own world. The belts cut into her skin and her fingers were blue.

Before leaving, he turned to her and said, "Your becoming of age, and to prevent any accidents, I've been putting toxins in your food. If my calculations are correct, you should never be able to have children."

In the moon light a tear shimmered and fell to the pillow beneath her head.

"Yeah, thanks for that." she turned to him, starting to cry.

He hadn't left yet. "I'm not sorry. That's probably why I'll never rest in peace, but I have to tell you, if you don't let go of everything that happened to you, you'll never let anyone in. So, get over it, or end up a vessel carrying an empty soul." And with that he was gone. The ordeal was over, and she was glad it was.

She was drawn back into her body, by Hiei shaking her from her nightmare.

"What's wrong? You were screaming and crying in your sleep." he looked concerned. She didn't reply. Instead she pulled him close and wrapped his arms around her.