DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of Angelic Layer, it is owned entirely by its creator CLAMP. As a result of this, I do not wish to be held responsible for any copyright infringements that may take place in this fanfic, as I will be using some original characters.

Chapter 3: The Heart of Coldness

"Misaki…Misaki…" A calm voice beckoned towards her through the darkness. It sounded sweet, enticing. Almost as if it was persuading her. The brown-haired girl looked over towards where the voice came from. She saw in the darkness, four Hikarus.

"Hikaru…?" She blinked. They were arranged in a diamond-like pattern. The top one was Hikaru as her normal self. On the left, below the normal Angel, was the Hikaru that fought against Suzuka just yesterday. On the right, was a sinister-looking Hikaru that wore an evil little grin. She was dressed in all-black, except for her torso's clothing, which was pinkish grey, along with black eyes. She also had a pair of daemon wings and a daemon tail.

The last one was a curious one…bearing no clothing whatsoever. Well, the only thing that was covering her where she needed it was coruscating fields of blue energy which embraced her like a child to its mother. This Hikaru also had blue eyes, and she was missing the headband that had the antennae.

"Suzuhara Misaki…the four of us are as one… We are all different parts of Hikaru's soul. The good, the bad, the neutral…It will be you who chooses the path we take…"

"Hikaru…what are you…?" She couldn't finish the sentence as the darkness faded to light and she awoke. When she awoke, she sat up and looked immediately at the Angel Egg, watching Hikaru sit up and stretch as well, before the doll looked over to her and smiled.

"Good morning, Mother Misaki."

"WH…wha, wha?!" Misaki screamed, was Hikaru possessed?! Is she really alive?!

"Misaki, what's going on in – HOLY!!" Shouko blinks at the rising Angel. Her long, grayish brown hair was in disarray and deep purple eyes were filled with sleep. She was currently dressed in a long, white t-shirt and a long pair of black pants, both of which hugged to her quite impressive form.

"Mother, please, don't be frightened of me…" Hikaru climbed out of her egg and sprouted a pair of angel's wings, fluttering up to Misaki. When Hikaru lands, the wings fade.

"Hikaru…what's going on?"

"Mother, please. I'm coming to you now, after all this time. Aren't you glad for me, Mother?" Hikaru smiled to her.

"…First of all, why are you calling me 'Mother'? You can refer to me as 'Misaki-Chan' or 'Misaki-Chi'. Alright?"

"But, that wouldn't be proper. I can't call my mother my friend." This made Misaki blink and blush.

"I've…never considered you my child. I've always considered you my friend, Hikaru."

Meanwhile, Shouko's simply standing in the doorframe with her mouth hanging open. She was thinking that she was going insane, and so suddenly fainted, hitting the ground with a 'thump' that shook the room.

"Ummm…Miss Shouko?" Misaki blinked.

"Perhaps she can't take my presence, Mother?" Hikaru giggled softly.

"I…don't know. Wow, this is so…new!" Misaki smiles and holds Hikaru close to her.

Hikaru sighs. "Mother, I need to let you know of something…"

"And what's that? You can talk to me, Hikaru, if you ever need anything." Misaki smiled down to her, she truly loved her Angel, and now she was coming alive right in front of her!

"A strange dark presence is leaking its way from the Dreamworld through the Angels. We have to purge it from these Angels that have been infected and rid this world of it, then we must travel to the Dreamworld to rid the Darkness forever!" She speaks adamantly, as if she believed strongly in this statement.

"Hi…Hikaru, how are we going to get there? I mean, you can travel to the Dreamworld, but what about me?" The girl gasped slightly.

"I can lend you some of my powers for a short time, but not now. I'm not strong enough yet. We need to rescue more Angels and their Mothers and Fathers…the more Angels we free, the stronger the Pure Angels become."

Misaki blinks then raises an eyebrow. "You mean, I'm going to be saving the entire world???" She sounded worried about…something…

"Yes, Mother, we will save the world together!"

"…Ehhh…" She suddenly falls backwards, fainted, with a dazed look in her eyes.

"Mother…? Mother!" Which, Hikaru started to shake the collar of her pajamas shirt. "Mother, wake up! Please don't die on me…Mother!"

"Ugh…" Misaki shook her head a bit and sat up, Hikaru squealed with delight.

"You're okay." And for an instant, as Hikaru placed a death-like hug on the poor girl's neck and she started to cough. "Mother…?" She slowly released Misaki and blinked.

"You…were choking me!" She said through coughs and gripped at her neck. Hikaru laughed nervously, her hand reaching to the back of her neck.

Misaki shook her head and started to stand up, Hikaru gripping at her shoulder to stay on. Moving Hikaru off of her, she went to get dressed, and fixed her hair a bit, before grabbing Hikaru and taking her out into the kitchen, where Misaki cooks various things for herself and miss Shouko for breakfast.

"Mmmm…it all smells so nice, Mother!" Hikaru smiled, watching from atop her shoulder. Misaki smiled back and continued to cook, while miss Shouko slowly rose back to her feet.

"Ugh…was that for…real?" She moaned, and blinked at Hikaru on Misaki's shoulder. Who turned slightly to look to her.

"Good morning, Aunt, are you feeling better?"

"Ahhh! Misaki, what the HELL is going on here??" Shouko blinked, rubbing her eyes.

"Hikaru's come to live with us, Miss Shouko, isn't that great?" Misaki sounded so…enthusiastic.

"…Why don't I believe you? Are you going insane, Misaki? Am I going insane?" Shouko shrieked

"No…I don't think so." Misaki blinked and gave her a plate of food to eat.

"It's very…complicated, Aunt, I'll have to explain later. Right now, two worlds are hanging on the balance of chaos, and we must deliver it!" Hikaru spoke in a divine tone.

"Err…right…I'll just…err…eat my breakfast now…" Which Shouko started to do, rather quickly even. Misaki also started to eat, and by the time 10:30 rolled around, she started to worry.

Where's Kotarou-Chan? She thought and sighed softly. He…he had the same look in Tamayo-Chan's and Hatoko-Chan's eyes, was he taken too?

"Your friend Kotarou…and Tamayo…they were infected, I could feel it." This made Misaki gasp and she looked to Hikaru.

"We need to go then and save them!" Which, suddenly Hikaru was grabbed and Misaki soared out of the condo in search for her two best friends.