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DISBOUND
chapter 20
beyond the frontiers
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Theme song: Egao ni Natai, Marmalade Boy
~*~
Just a little girl, pretending she was Queen
Didn't know her world would change
Didn't know what change would mean
Which face will you wear today?
How about the pretty one?
~*~
"I don't know," the teary girl professed, attempting to pour every possible ounce of sincerity into her words. "I don't know why I'm here, I don't know anything about any deaths and I promise you, aside from Erin, I have never seen any of you before in my life." Jacqui looked up miserably at the row of unbelieving and accusing faces.
Erin leant against the far wall, her expression concealed in shadow and her arms folded; her stance however gave out little hope of solace and support. She was obviously choosing to remain neutral.
"Listen!" Sarah snapped, her head jerking forwards with the sheer force of her words, "I have seen you almost every single night in my dreams for over two months. You are the girl who's been talking to me. You have the same name as her even!" Jacqui shook her head vigorously, her eyes stinging.
"You're wrong, I-" She was cut off as Sarah slapped her hard across the face.
"Sarah!" Erin called immediately and sharply from across the room, but she was ignored.
"Don't call me a liar!" Sarah cried, her face contorted in anger, her eyes beginning to appear moist. "You know! You know what's going on here! You're just toying with us! You heartless bitch!" Sarah spat, her hands balling into intimidating fists. She jumped as she felt Tracey grab her wrists from behind and begin to murmur to her in a soothing tone.
Rachel eyed the pale girl sitting on the end of the bed in front of her. She had a delicate, serene aura, her hair and eyes a deep brown and her skin so porcelain she looked like a china doll. She was definitely the girl that she had seen.
((A girl that Rachel had never seen before was standing just a little way behind the circle. A young teenaged girl, her height or even shorter, but with a wise expression that made her seem far older. The girl stared at her with deep brown eyes; her face was pale, and her shoulder-length, ringletty hair shone a similar dark brown, so it was almost verging on black.))
She seemed more real, sitting here crying quietly, playing nervously with her hands, her pale features blotched red. Rachel's eyes suddenly widened - was it… yes, barely visible, but it was there. The catchless, gossamer thin golden chain showing slightly around the collar of Jacqui's black teeshirt.
She didn't feel the need to ask - Rachel strode up and yanked the chain, dropping it again as if it had suddenly become red hot as a stone became visible. Shaped like a tear-drop. Suspended by a thick gold triangle from the emaciated chain. Red as blood. There was silence in the room, save only Jacqui's stifled sobs.
Trish looked down at the younger girl. One of us, she thought, questioningly, thinking back to her half-red tent, of which she had previously had the luxury of sole occupation. But the crimson of the pendant hit too close to too recent memories of Michelle's blood soaked form - gashes on her face and the pumping puncture above her hip.
I can't trust her. I don't trust her.
~*~
Light crept along the white ceiling like inquisitive fingers as the summer dawn broke over the sleeping island of Mandarin. Sarah lay awake, unperturbed. She hadn't slept when she had realised it was midnight. One am. Three am. Why should the fact that it was now light disturb her insomniatic thoughts?
Her room-mates, Trish and Karlie, lay asleep, oblivious to that which churned relentlessly inside Sarah's head, denying her sleep or peace. It was wrong. She felt wrong. Everything was going wrong.
It wasn't just the arrival of this girl who refused to admit who she was, currently occupying Michelle's bed in the next room - Sarah had not been feeling herself for a few days now…
Or maybe she was feeling more herself than she ever had in her life?
It had all started with that violet figure in the lift, back at the Takai-Ryokan. Sarah thought about her all the time. The other her. The girl with the face identical to hers. With handwriting identical to hers. With a purple gem identical to hers. Easily, she conjured up the image of the figure, bleeding heavily and selflessly from the base of her neck.
Ever since that encounter, Sarah had felt as if something was on the verge of happening. Something big. Something important. Or maybe just… something.
Just when she was beginning to sort things out in her head, Jacqui appears. And although Sarah trusted Erin, and her faith in the innocence of her longtime friend, she was in no doubt that this something that she felt had everything to do with Jacqui. Although her denials and tears were real, there was something inside her that even she may not be aware of. An artic wind that blew from her eyes, her fingertips, her words. Ice-water running like a river through her veins.
From a cloudless sky shall fall red rain.
Sarah shifted as that particular line from the verse came to her again.
((She was startled as she felt something heavy and wet drop onto her noise, and peered up at the sky. Large raindrops were visible, pouring from the heavens as if someone had just wrung out a cloud.
"Oh, it's raining," she murmured to herself, gazing up at the inky infinity above their heads, feeling yet more drops roll down her skin. The others glanced at each other warily, and up at the seemingly clear nights sky. Sarah smiled slightly, and looked at Tracey's face. She blinked in shock and felt nausea in her stomach as she saw the drops dripping unnoticed down his cheeks, and the cheeks of the others, were thick, and red.))
Sarah exhaled. She felt close to some sort of conclusion, but every time she attempted to put her finger on it, slipped away, like water through her fingers. It was infuriating; Sarah's fingers, tanned already from the tropical climate, tightened on the bed linen.
She was on the verge of realising something.
And it was on the verge of happening.
~*~
Something spoke to Velve.
Something with a soft and gentle voice that shone a soft and gentle purple.
And for a brief second, there was a moment of mutual understanding.
~*~
Tracey awoke, his cheek cold against the pillow, his dream merging with the early morning light and becoming lost to him. Instinctively, he clung to the final speech, the words from a familiar voice echoing around his head.
Hatred is my downfall, and love is my death.
Strange, Tracey thought, blinking as he raised himself up from the bed on his arms. For a dream that ended on a note of death, the feelings from it had been warm. Adoring. Must have involved Kaz, Tracey smiled to himself as he scratched the back of his neck, where his forest green hairline met with slightly tanned skin.
Outside the window, morning officially broke with the call of a Dodrio. Tracey's experienced ears caught and identified the echoing call of a fledgling Doduo. He should get up - do some sketches. Summer was a very profitable season for a Watcher.
Tracey clambered out of bed and slipped into a pair of dark orange shorts. He made his way to the bathroom smiling for no particular reason at all.
~*~
Another day in paradise. Mia gazed out at the blinding surf through the window of her room. She sweatdropped slightly as she saw the obviously eccentric owner, Celestine, attempting to sweep the veranda clear of sand, while the morning wind simply blew it straight back on. She didn't jump as a figure stole up behind her and poked her in the base of her back with its two index fingers. Her hunch on the identity was proved right as the same two arms snaked around her waist and a chin found a resting place on her shoulder.
"Morning Angel," Gary murmured into her hair, making her shoulder quiver with the vibrations from his throat.
"Morning," Mia replied, reaching up languidly with her right arm to poke him in retaliation. Gary straightened and moved to stand at the side of her, and she lazily turned to face him, tip-toeing slightly to receive a morning peck on the cheek. As she moved away Gary grabbed her forearms and she looked at him with slight amusement. He had his sexy, wicked glint in his eyes…
~*~
Whirr, click.
Whirr, click.
Rachel stepped barefoot onto the beach, her short blonde locks immediately being tousled by the breeze that made the heat bearable. Squinting she scanned the edge of the water in search of the sound, and saw Todd a little way away from the beach-house, face obscured by his camera. Hearing her approach, sipping at her glass of water, Todd whirled around.
Whirr, click.
Rachel squealed, raising her free arm to block her face a few seconds too late. Todd removed the camera from his eyes, grinning wickedly.
"Bastard!" Rachel pouted, playfully flinging the remainder of her water in his general direction, not really intending to hit him. Todd dodged the spray for show anyway and grinned again. The petite blonde couldn't help but smile back.
"Well, you interrupted my solitude," he laughed, looking back out at the aquamarine carpet that stretched out to where he could see the peaked rocks that surrounded Trovita Island and beyond.
"Well," Rachel began, slightly flustered, "breakfast's up." He must have been thinking about Duplica, she thought, curiously watching his profile for a change in his serene countenance.
"Thanks," he simply said, his nose slightly wrinkling in a smile as he continued to survey the sea. Rachel suddenly felt uncomfortable where she had felt comfortable before.
"See you inside," she murmured, before turning and walking back in the direction of the beach-house. Todd turned to watch her. Her slim legs jerked slightly from side to side as her feet slipped in the soft, shifting sand. Her fair hair and silvery-grey thigh-length skirt were intently pushed to one side by the breeze.
Todd looked out at the ocean again, deeply breathing in the salty-tasting air. He smiled, and turned to follow Rachel inside the house.
~*~
Breakfast was a bizarre affair. Faces were disturbingly absent from the table; Brock explained that Erin, Ash and Jesse had gone to the hospital to see if they would be permitted to see Michelle yet. The additional face was also disturbing - Jacqui sat uncomfortably in the spotlight, almost visibly squirming as she ate tiny bites of her food.
Tracey and Karlie sat oblivious to everybody else, tantalisingly feeding each other strawberries that Brock had no recollection of buying. In comparison, Mia and Gary seemed embarrassed, and had seated themselves at opposite ends of the room. Currently, Mia seemed desperate to avoid contact with him - she began a conversation with Celestine, who had come into the room with a fresh pitcher of milk. Although it had been forced and awkward at first, the two were now chatting away.
Trish's eyes flicked suspiciously between Gary and Mia, taking in every detail of their flushed faces and rumpled clothing. Her mouth twitched, but she didn't know whether it was a frown or a smile. She decided to let it slide, reaching for the milk. I've gotta get out of the motherly protective role, she sighed to herself. Besides, Riny was moralistic enough for the both of them…
~*~
Now the proud owner of a new outfit, Trish walked more jauntily down the highstreet, averting her eyes when she came to the cordoned off area where Michelle's blood still stained the pale-stone sidewalk. Karlie walked alongside her, her hands in her pockets, her short sleeves rolled up even shorter due to the blistering sunshine.
"So, I need updating," the younger girl said, smiling mischievously, "how many 'Drakes' have you been out with now?" Trish sighed. She knew she really should be flattered that -how many now?- six good-looking Drake look-alikes had pretended to be the real thing when offered a date with her, but…
Trish looked up wistfully at the sky through the wavy heatlines emanating from the pavement, not so bothered by the heat as Karlie due to her Australian origins. I guess, she thought soberly to herself, I'll never find Drake… my Prince Charming.
Trish walked into a lamp-post. Karlie half-gasped, half-giggled as Trish stepped back from the metal pole, relatively unhurt but slightly dazed none the less. A poster had dislodged itself from the pole from the force and fluttered lazily downwards to rest at Trish's feet.
ORANGE LEAGUE CHAMPION DRAKE
WILL BE SIGNING COPIES AT THE LAUNCH
OF HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY 'DRAGON-MAN'!
SATURDAY ONLY!!!
2-5pm!!
TROVITOPOLIS BOOKS
255 HIGH STREET
~*~
Trish lay on her cool white sheets and twitched her toe to the rhythm of the song in her head. The window was open as the night was humid, and from her adjacent bed, Trish idly watched the white muslim curtains flutter.
Sarah was taking a bath and Trish could only guess that Karlie was with Tracey. She had the room to herself and simply lay, quietly appreciating the beauty of the colourful world she was currently in, as the lights from a flock of Ledian danced around the stationary lights of the stars.
She allowed herself to guiltily wish that Michelle's treatment would not be finished by the morning so she would be able to visit the book signing!
~*~
Jesse opened the door, with a pink toothbrush sticking out the side of her mouth. Gary was slightly startled at her make-up free face (well, what of it he could see around the green face-mask).
"Er, um, is…"
Wordlessly, Jesse pulled the door open further to reveal Mia lying in her bed, holding her sheet up to her neck in alarm. Gary sighed. "Can I have a word?" It was not so much a question as a plea.
Out in the cool stillness of the corridor, Mia smiled sincerely at her boyfriend. He felt relieved.
"Why you been funny today?" he murmured. "People think something's up."
"I was just embarrassed… didn't want people to think something was up!" Mia laughed slightly at the irony. "It was just…"
"A little further than was meant?" Gary finished simply. The two teens stared at each other. Gary smiled and took her hand. "Still a lot further to go together though!" Mia stifled a laugh and mocked outrage at the lecherous suggestion. Gary felt almost weak with relief - spending the day thinking Mia was horrified, regretful and angry with him had been emotionally exhausting. He kissed her gently, enjoying moments like these that were softer than his personality dictated.
As Mia retreated into the shadows, her pale nightshirt the only thing obvious in the gloom, Gary began to walk backwards down the corridor, watching her for as long as he could.
Just when did this boxer-stealing tomboy become so………?
~*~
The darkness came for her.
Pouring in through her mouth, the light solidified into a ribbon. Green. Dark green. Almost black.
It ran down inside her, setting fire to her throat. Her lungs rasped and tightened. Rasped and tightened. Rasped and tightened.
The ribbon reached her stomach and exploded into light, bouncing off her internal walls, leaving angry red welts wherever it came in contact.
She could not breathe in air, she only breathed out fire. Gasping, she clutched to her consciousness as the darkness became more and more complete.
She felt the fire spread. Felt each and every organ give out on her.
The darkness came.
She was dead.
She only uttered a gasp as she sprung perspiring from her pillow, but the gasp may well have been a scream as it roused Sarah and Karlie almost instantaneously. Trish pressed her neck with her palm, breathing in labouriously and thirstily.