So, here's the first chapter of the fic! Hope you like it!
DISCLAIMER: Magic Knight Rayearth's not mine. I'm merely an obsessed fan who vents her frustrations in life through writing and singing (although I'm not a very good singer).
Chapter 1: START OF THE BATTLE: GOOD VS. EVIL
Angel Lantis watched the sleeping redhead. He watched as her chest rose and fell; he watched as she mumbled something in her sleep; he watched as she turned to her belly and clutched her red pillow tightly to her face. He watched as a small smile spread on her serene face. He watched as her hair turned into some sort of halo around her, making her look like a fiery young goddess of fire.
He sighed and lowered himself to the ground. His feet touched the rough surface of the red carpet covering the whole floor of the person he's supposed to watch over. Then he walked across the room and opened the window close to the door. He let fresh air enter the room before he settled down on the one-sitter sofa near the redhead's bed. He crossed his arms across his chest and stared at the redhead.
Once again, he sighed. The redhead was even more beautiful now that he's within arm's length from her. Her cute, small nose, her thin red lips, the high cheekbones, the upturned chin and of course, the flaming red hair. Although her eyes were closed, he would bet his wings that they're beautiful too, like ruby pearls at the heart of the ocean.
He was about to close his eyes when he heard a rustle from behind. He turned around and saw a look-alike of the redhead, but the thing behind him possessed a hard face, pink hair and elfin ears.
She's definitely one of the enemies.
He stood up quietly and in the blink of an eye was already in front of the devil.
"Ah, so you're the emissary of the King of the Underworld, huh?" he asked, with a hint of sarcasm underneath his smooth tone.
The devil raised her chin. She looked up and down on him, sizing him up, with an irritating snicker on her face. "And I see that you're the emissary from the Heaven. I'm Nova, what's your name?" she answered, sticking out her palm for a handshake.
Angle Lantis shook his head before accepting the polite handshake. "Angle Lantis," he answered curtly. Nova surprised him when she pinched hard on his hand, enough to draw a trickle of blood from him. He immediately retracted his hand and stared at the devil.
Nova laughed softly, keeping an eye on the sleeping redhead. "That's my own way of greeting, Lantis. Even Lucifer was not spared from that," she supplied.
Angel Lantis passed a hand on his wound, and immediately the puncture was gone, not a scar was left. "As I expected," he just said, and then resumed his staring at the redhead. "Are you also here for her?" he asked.
Nova looked first at the redhead before turning her gaze on the waiting angel, "So what if I am?" she asked back huffily.
Lantis' face softened, but the tone of his voice was hard. "Because I won't let you get her. She has suffered the last six years of her life, and still suffering until today. And for her to suffer an even graver punishment on her life after death is already too much,"
Then he turned to the redhead and even to his distance, he was able to transmit to the redhead a kind of peaceful feeling that the redhead has long since forgotten. "That's why I'm here, to stir her back to her good deeds and stop this nonsense she's doing. I'm going to stop her from ruining her already damaged life, then help her redeem her soul once again." he said with finality.
Nova continued to sneer at the raven-haired angel, "Then try to stop me. I love challenges, you know, and I'm not the one to back away from a nice dispute that I'm sure to win, especially in this case. You know very well that the odds are on me, due to the fact that Hikaru's closest friend, or rather her best friend, is a very bad influence."
She raised her eyebrows at him, "What are you gonna do, Angel Lantis?"
He turned his back on her and levitated towards the head of Hikaru's bed.
"You'll see. Just a little friendly advice: don't count your eggs until they're hatched." And with that, he disappeared into thin air.
"I'm not one to believe into proverbs and sayings. You should know that," Nova muttered before she too, disappeared from sight.
"The battle for your soul, Hikaru, will begin the moment that you wake up," Nova's sinister voice echoed through the room softly, followed by her giggle before silence once again took over the redhead's room.
*************
"You're not going to school again, are you?" Hikaru asked. She and Umi were outside Tokyo University, sitting on a bench below a big tree. She looked at Umi before glancing around the place.
Umi shook her head, letting a few locks of her ocean-colored hair fall from her shoulder. "Iie. I'm getting tired of going to school. You wanna come?"
She was about to nod her head off, but a soothing voice came into her mind.
Would you really want that, Hikaru? Isn't school one of the few things you love with passion? Would you really want to be persuaded into cutting classes? Remember that your mother will be very disappointed if she knew this.
So she shook her head and smiled apologetically at her best friend, "Gomen, Umi-chan, but I wanted to attend classes today,"
Umi just raised an eyebrow at her, "Humm…you're acting a little strange today. Although I know you for being a good student by not cutting classes, I was kind of expecting that you'd re-consider this time. After all," she dropped her voice a few octaves so only Hikaru will hear, "Ferio's brother smuggled a new kind of drugs, and he wanted us three to taste it before anyone else,"
Hikaru grinned. Just then, a new voice entered her mind, this time, a baleful voice.
Go on, Hikaru, I know how much you crave for drugs ever since Umi introduced it to you. Follow your desire…come on…a single cutting classes will be worth it…you'll see the tempting voice said.
Then the soothing voice came back again. No Hikaru. That single cutting classes will be the start. Soon you'll be cutting classes just to satisfy your other worldly needs, and then you'll just find out that you're flunking school because of so many absences. Would you want that to happen to you?
Umi watched as different emotions passed through the redhead's face, and she waved a hand in front of the redhead to wake her up.
"Hey, Hikaru, snap out of it. Hey!"
Hikaru blinked a few times before her eyes focused on Umi's curious stare. "Nani?" was her only response.
Umi rolled her eyes, "I was just asking if you want to consider you decision on going to school today instead of taking dope. Why do you have to be so confused?"
Hikaru's eyes turned glassy, and she looked down on her lap. "It's nothing," she muttered.
This time, Umi's eyes showed concern, and she reached up to touch Hikaru's shoulders. "Daijobou desu ka, Hikaru? Doushita?" she asked.
Hikaru looked up again and forced a smile, "I'm fine, Umi, don't worry about me. Anyway, I really am not going to recon what I said. I really want to attend my classes. So, see you tonight?" she answered.
Umi still held that concerned look in her eyes, but she returned Hikaru's smile and patted the redhead on her head. "Sure. I'll pick you up. You take care," she said, before going off into the direction of her parked car.
Hikaru nodded then she proceeded to go inside the University.
"What was that all about? What are those voices I heard in my head a few moments ago?" she muttered.
You won this time, Angel Lantis, but we're not through yet.
I'm prepared, Devil Nova, I'm always prepared.
*************
Hikaru scribbled down notes for Organic Chemistry class. The professor was discussing something about the functional group alcohol, its properties, reaction mechanisms and nomenclature. She looked up on the board and listened to the lecture.
"All alcohols contain the hydroxyl functional group, -OH. Some common alcohols are the following: methanol, ethanol, propanol and isopropyl alcohol. Among these, the best known is ethanol, or ethyl alcohol. It is produced biologically by the fermentation of sugar or starch. In the absence of oxygen, the enzymes present in bacterial cultures or yeast catalyze the reaction, from glucose, a six-carbon compound, to ethanol and carbon dioxide. This process gives off energy, which microorganisms, in turn, use for growth and other functions. The alcohols are very weakly acidic: they do not react with strong bases such as NaOH and KOH. These alkali metals react with alcohols to produce hydrogen."
After an hour of discussing, the professor turned back to the class, "So to further assist you of the reactions of alcohols with different types of chemicals, I want you to research on alcohols. Everything about it. And I want you to experiment with the chemicals. Of course, you'll be asked to use the laboratories here, obviously, to ensure your safety," the professor declared.
The class started to discuss to themselves, but the professor got their attention again. "But don't worry, you'll be in pairs. In eleven groups, 4 groups will be composed of three members, and seven groups will be composed of two groups." He paused, and then looked back on his list. When turned back to the class, there was a mischievous grin on the professor's face, "And it's a good thing that every one of you acts as a representative for every alphabet. Why, your class is composed only of 25 students, and each student corresponds an alphabet!" he joked, which caused the class to erupt in laughter.
"Okay, so here it is," and he proceeded with the grouping. When he reached the name Hououji, everybody else was silent. They waited for the professor to say out loud who Hououji's lucky partner was.
"And Miss Hououji Fuu will be paired up with Miss Shidou Hikaru. Mister Izukani will be paired up with Miss Tetsuna." And the voice of the teacher continued on and on.
After the pairing, the professor pulled one more sheet of paper from his lesson plan. "So this is your assigned alcohol to test: group 1 methanol. Group 2 ethanol. Group 3 will have propanol. Group 4 shall study isopropyl alcohol. Group 5 will research on butanol. Group six isobutyl alcohol. Group seven ethylene glycol. Group 8 diethylene glycol. Group 9 triethylene glycol. Group 10 glycerol and group 11 phenyl ether."
The rest of the class looked enviously at Hikaru. Hououji Fuu was known across the College of Medical Technology for her extraordinary brain and exotic beauty, and to be paired up with her on a school activity was as good as getting a perfect mark on your grade. And troublemaker Shidou Hikaru was one hell of a lucky student to have Hououji as her lab partner. She'd be sure to have a perfect grade on their activity, and that could raise her GPA and maybe impress a few teachers who knew of Hikaru's character.
After the class, Hikaru made her way towards Fuu, who was busy arranging her things, "Konnichiwa Fuu-san," Hikaru greeted.
Fuu looked up, and a smile spread across her lips when she recognized the redhead. "Konnichiwa, Shidou-san,"
Hikaru grinned then sat at the chair beside the brunette beauty. "Oh, just call me Hikaru. After all, we'll be partners for this activity!" she teased.
Fuu chuckled and stood up. Hikaru followed her. "That would be nice, Hikaru-san. I'm glad I have you as a partner. I'm sure we'll have a good time doing the project," Fuu said enthusiastically.
Hikaru nodded happily as they walked through the corridors. "Yeah! I'm sure of it! You know, I'm really interested in chemistry and everything, and I'm sure this activity will be a blast!" she supplied.
Fuu seemed infected with the redhead's enthusiasm, as she nodded too. "Would you like to start as early as now? That is, you don't have anything to do," she added hastily, looking sheepishly at the redhead.
Hikaru nodded enthusiastically and clapped her hands together. "Alright! We'll start researching today! Or maybe, tonight we can research on my house. We can see each other at the front gates of Tokyo U and then we'll head over to my place! What do you say?"
Fee laughed, "That's fine by me. I'll be heading home now, but I'll see you at 6 in front of the gates, okay? Ja ne!" she said, and then waked away, waving at Hikaru.
Hikaru waved back. Then she heard Umi's voice from behind. "Why are you talking to that brainy Hououji?"
Hikaru turned around, and saw Umi frowning. She just smiled and waved once again at Fuu before answering Umi. "We are partners for an activity at Organic Chemistry. We decided to start researching about diethylene glycol tonight at my house, so you know," she said, shrugging.
Umi's eyes narrowed, and she looked angrily at the redhead. "But we've got something planned for tonight, Hikaru! We're going to welcome our new members! You promised to be there! It is a must to be there!" she hissed.
Hikaru just shrugged and walked with Umi by her side. "Sure, but I'll be going at 6. I promised Fuu-san I'll meet her at the university gates at that time, and I'm not one to break promises," she answered nonchalantly, not aware of Umi's raging anger.
Umi stopped walking. She looked ready to explode, as her face was red from suppressing her anger. "But that's the group's rule, Shidou Hikaru, and as one of the leaders of the gang, I'm ordering you to attend the welcome party. That's an order," Umi stressed through clenched teeth.
Hikaru looked back on Umi, and was actually surprised to see Umi really angry. "Umi, it's not such a big thing. Why do you have to make an issue out of it?" she reasoned out.
Umi just looked stubbornly at her and even tilted her head up, "Nothing that concerns you, Shidou. And if you don't attend the party this afternoon, you're dead,"
Hikaru stared hard at Umi, trying to read her best friend's thoughts. But when Umi just stared back at her with rigid eyes, she sighed. Then she hung her head and nodded slowly at Umi.
"Alright, you win this time. I guess I'll have to call Fuu-san and cancel our appointment for today," she muttered, loud enough for Umi to hear.
Umi smiled a little, but there was still that trace of anger in her eyes. "Here, use my cell phone. You can check the operator for Hououji's contact number," Umi offered.
Hikaru shook her head as she pulled out from her back pocket her own cell phone. "I have my own. And besides, I have Fuu-san's number listed on my phonebook," she answered curtly, and then dialed Fuu's number.
Umi turned around as Hikaru spoke on the phone animatedly.
"Hououji…" she mumbled, a glint of fierceness in her sapphire eyes.
*************
You deceived me…
All's fair in love and war, Angel Lantis. Was Nova's reply.
Lantis sighed as he looked down at the retreating forms of Hikaru and Umi. Both girls had their shoulders hunched up, showing the tension that befell on the two a few moments ago. You urged Hikaru to cancel her appointment to Hououji. That's foul.
I merely used Umi, Angel Lantis. It wasn't a deception, it was a plan. Nova laughed. She pointed down at Hikaru and Umi, and besides, it was Hikaru's decision to choose Umi instead of her new friend Hououji. What's the matter with that? I simply pushed her into making an easy decision.
But you made her feel uncomfortable in choosing between her best friend and new friend! And you knew that she'd choose Umi instead of Fuu!
Well, that's your problem. All I know is that I helped her into pacifying Umi's anger.
And that's one more thing that I have to discus with you. You made Umi very angry and jealous at the thought that Hikaru might choose that Hououji instead of her. How could you?
Angel Lantis, remember that we are in a fight for Hikaru's soul. You have no govern on what I do to win in this challenge, as I have no govern on how you do your tricks. See you later!
Devil Nova!
R/R again, please! And thanks to that one person who reviewed my fic! Hey, if you read this chapter, please tell me if you already know a story that has the same plot and concept.
Flames are very much appreciated. ^_^
Peace, men!
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