Dark Reflections: Tedious Stars

by Creedogmon

edited by Godeerc VanDrey

Category: Digimon

Genre: General, Fantasy

Rating: PG-13 (Merely a precaution. It gets a little harsh.)

Language: English

Summery: Chapter 5 is up. Now, I'll give you a hint about what happens in this story. What has happened in the last three chapters? Okay, now look at the title. Who do you think this story is about? Now, do know the general outline of this story? Wow, you're smart!

A/N: I like my sarcasm like I like my peanut butter: laid on thick. Of course, I don't actually like thick peanut butter, but you get the idea, right? Anyway, if you've survived the last thirteen chapters of Power of Crests and the last four chapters of this mess, you are perfectly capable of reading this chapter and giving me positive reviews. No, don't worry that would won't be able to, just try. You'll be surprised how easy it is to give a good review. Give it a shot. Don't even read the chapter! It makes it easier.


Chapter 5: Tedious Stars

The tall, thin, dark-haired Mrs. Reyes smiles as her daughter and red-haired friend chat in the kitchen. Justine is a nice, friendly girl, but is shy, especially after her kidnapping, but it's nice to see she's friends with such an outgoing girl. "Okay, girls, here some popcorn. You can pull the TV into your room, Justine, and watch movies, but I don't want you bouncing around at 2:30 in the morning."

"It's okay, Mrs. Reyes," Anna comments, putting her arm around Justine, "We'll try to keep it down. We're just going to be giving Miss Justine here a makeover." Anna proudly displays her large makeup kit.

"Okay, but don't ruin my beautiful daughter. If she starts going to school dressed like Courtney Love every day, there'll be hell to pay."

Laughing, Anna responds, "Got it."

: : :

"Hold still, Justine!" Anna says, trying to put eye shadow on Justine.

"Not so heavy." Justine turns her head away. "As much as I appreciate the lesson, you're going a little all out. No guys are coming to my front door. Even if they were, my mom would shoo them away."

"They could climb onto the roof and into the window." Anna smiles, starting to brush Justine's hair. Justine looks in the mirror and wipes off what she can of the excess make-up. "By the way, are there any cute guys in this neighborhood?" Anna questions.

"Not unless you count Will Frend."

"Oh, does Virginia have a cute older brother?"

"Yeah, but he's in second grade."

"Not that kind of cute, Honey," Anna remarks, turning Justine's head to face her. She releases it and starts to fashion Justine's hair.

"Well, Anna, there's not guys our age in this neighborhood besides Chris VanDrey down the street." Justine gets the last dab of eye shadow she can off her eye.

Anna looks out the window towards the VanDrey house and coughs.

"Annacaye Eve Lee!"

"Sorry. Chris is a nice guy, but kinda shy."

"And why is it that you like me?"

"You're nice and kinda shy. Here, look at yourself, you're fabulous." Anna hands Justine the mirror.

Justine is quiet. "Wow, that's really nice. Remind me to call you for Homecoming." Justine's hair is crossed and woven in the back, with a small spurt of hair sticking up through the mix. "You're really good."

Anna sighs a proud sigh, with an Irish accent, " 'Sin me genes. We Irish folks jus' got dat talen' for good-lookin'ness."

Justine laughs, "So, Anna, we've got Bring It On and The Bridge on the River Kwai."

Anna adopts a Southern accent, "Oh, girl, you know I'm partial to cheerleading movies."

Justine, putting in the tape, smiles, "Why? You're a pom girl."

Anna, continuing with her accent, replies, "Oh, dat wuz a low blow. I am goshdarn proud to be part of duh pom squad. Bettah known as deh jazz dance team." She grabs Justine and pulls her back

"Toh-may-toe, toh-mah-toe." Justine replies, with false indifference.

"I'll give you a tomayto-tomahto if you mess with me." Anna jokes, pushing Justine down onto the bed.

: : :

The girls lie back in Justine's bed, side-by-side, the glow of the TV illuminating Justine's closed eyes and Anna's half-open ones. The credits appear and Anna looks over to her sleeping friend and smiles as she fingers a tress of hair out of Justine's face. She lies down beside her closes her eyes and opens them just once more, giving a brief glance at Justine and then the TV. They pop open and she bolts up in bed.

"Well, isn't that cute. You girls are just adorable," a shadow says to Anna. She leans forward, revealing that she is a Justine look-alike, sitting on the television, legs crossed.

"Justine," Anna whispers, rousing her friend with her arm, who looks up and too bolts up.

"Hey, beautiful," the girl remarks. "No, do get up. It makes it easier to get rid of you. Hey, two birds with one meteorite. Monotony of Star!" A comet shoots from the girl's body. The girls roll off the bed in different directions, and the comet hits the bedpost and explodes with light, not harming the bed. The clone slips off the TV, revealing her long, purple, tattered dress. Her hair, identical to Justine, is streaked with stiff, black shocks of hair.

Anna sneers, "What kind of blast was that? I didn't damage the bed."

"The bed doesn't have a life force. Trust me, you wouldn't enjoy the feeling. Monotony of Star." Anna again rolls out of the way, the comet again hitting the wall and showering sparks.

"Justine, Honey, are you okay?" Anna hears Mrs. Reyes call from downstairs.

"We're fine, Mrs. Reyes, I just rolled out of bed. I'll be fine." Anna calls, never taking her eyes off of the evil Justine, who smiles at her, then looks to the other side of the bed, where Justine is not to be found.

"Well, dear me, wear did that pesky twin of mine go?" the evil Justine questions.

"Over here." calls Justine, throwing a tape case at her evil replica. It breaks, hitting the twin's shoulder. Justine grabs her own arm from the strange form of recoil. "Silly Inquirer, you dare attack the Nuisance of Tedium?

Anna reaches around the Nuisance, grabbing her around the shoulder and stomach. When the Nuisance laughs, there is quick sizzle and the Nuisance yelps. "What's the matter? Can't take the heat?" Anna threatens to the fake, mouthing, "I'm sorry" to the crouching Justine, who nods back. Anna slams the Nuisance into the wall, with left hand over the Nuisance's face and the other under her breast. "I wouldn't move if I were you."

"You wouldn't ruin the pretty face of the Inquirer, would you?" she mocks.

Anna's formerly stern face goes blank from realization.

"Did think about that? That you'd be burning the face of your little girlfriend?"

"So help me…" Anna whispers, snake-like, her eyes alit.

"So help you, wha–"

She is cut short by a scalding hand to her throat. Tears fall down Anna's cheek as she hears her best friend wheezing in the background. Whatever happens to the twin happens to the original, Anna hears Christopher's voice say in the back of her mind, but killing the twin will not kill the original.

The Nuisance tries to speak, but nothing comes out. Anna throws her to the ground, placing her hands on the back of her victim. "I'm sorry, Justine." Shaking her head, Anna's hands turn red as she presses firmly on the backbone of the Nuisance, who lets out a voiceless scream, who glows with white light before disappearing, leaving Anna on her knees on the floor.

Hearing footsteps and a call for Justine from her mom, Anna jumps up and grabs the Justine in an embrace, her hand on Justine's neck and another on her back. Anna leans back, absorbing every last flicker of heat from the unconscious Justine until her body shivers. The door opens, "Girls, what's going on in here?"

Anna looks around, not knowing what to say.

"We were having a pillow fight, Mom," a voice comes from behind Anna.

Anna whirls around and the two share a secret smile.

"Well, Anna, you having quite a bad influence on my daughter."

Anna turns around, guilty. Mrs. Reyes smiles, "Well, at least it's not a boy having a bad influence on my daughter." Anna gives a sigh of relief. "Well, girls, when all the mayhem has ceased, get to bed."

"Yes, Mom."

"Sure, Mrs. Reyes."

"By the way, what did you do my daughter's hair?" Anna turns around seeing the white streak in Justine's hair.

"Oh, we dyed a streak. I think it comes out." Anna turns back to Mrs. Reyes with the same guilty look.

"You think?" Mrs. Reyes replies, lowering her brow.

"It will eventually," Anna stutters, "I forgot to check to see if it's the more permanent kind."

Mrs. Reyes forces a smile, "Oh well. I guess girls will be girls." Mrs. Reyes sighs while shaking head. "Good night."

Mrs. Reyes closes the door, and Anna tightly hugs Justine.

"Not so hard, babe," Justine says, smiling

Anna does not, "Justine, are you okay?" Her eyes are heavy.

"I'll be fine. You sucked all the heat out. Plus, Aloe Vera does wonders. I'll just tell my mom I had a run-in with a curling iron."

"Your hair's not curly." Anna notices.

"Well, there's our next project." Justine says, still smiling.

The two hug again.

: : :

The next Monday, as I hop into the Reyes's minivan, I notice something about Justine, several things in fact.

Mr. Reyes, a short, friendly man with glasses, turns and asked me, "Well, which did you notice first? The fact that my daughter has a white streak in her hair? Or that it's curly? Or her new contacts? Or that her neck is burned?" Justine turns to look at me, giving me secret looks.

"The former two I noticed immediately, and the latter two now that's she turned around. So, how'd they all happen?"

She answers for her father, "One word: Anna Lee."

The streak and "contacts" I understand. Anna must have curled her hair, I guess. But the burn on her neck?

I give her an "oh-no" look, but she mouths "It's okay," back to me. I'm not quite sure. At a neighborhood party once, she slipped while playing tag and skinned her leg on her own driveway, and she didn't look okay to me. I've never known Justine to be one who dealt well with pain. She gives me a calming look before choosing a radio station.

As the minivan halts in the Westwood Junior High drop-off area, I half-expect Justine to avoid Anna, but first thing she does after getting out is seek her out and give her a tight hug. I catch Anna's eye in the middle of the hug. She gives me a sad look, looking down toward Justine and I return her look.

Sympathy is the combination of two Greek words: sym- meaning "together" and –pathos meaning "to feel." I experience sympathy with Anna that day.

I go over to talk with James, because I've heard something very interesting about him.

: : :

A/N: Whew. No matter what, I always enjoy doing these. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. I see that they're getting a little dark, but I think my work could use a little depth. "Anybody can write sentiment. It takes an author to write depth." I don't know who said that.

(Sonriso) - Sonriso is beginning to feel out of place of these fics because they're getting to be so harsh. Oh well, at least I can fake an Irish accent like Anna. " 'Tis luck uv da Ireesh tha' Ah steell 'ave uh jobe."