Reliving the Nightmare
By Kuro Kin'youbi

Chapter 12


Finally, they were allowed to see Tess. Torn had been sleeping for the past hour or so, waiting, and Harmony was waiting for Errol and their other friends. When the nurse came out to say that Tess could be seen, Harmony went over to Torn's sleeping figure. She shook him gently.

"Hey, wake up!" She said. "We can see Tess now!"

Torn stirred, and opened one eye. "Huh? Oh, we can see Tess?"

Harmony nodded. Torn shook away the last remains of sleep and went into her room. She was sitting up, leaning against a massive pillow. She beamed as soon as Torn came in.

"Hey, are you ok now?" She asked.

Torn raised an eyebrow and pulled a chair over to the side of her bed. "I should be asking you that. I was only upset at Ashelin; not shot in the back by her."

Tess' face darkened. "Don't remind me!" She said. "She's done enough. I mean, she pushed you off a balcony, shot me, and will be likely to cause something else."

Tess grinned. "You could be right there. So, what happened? I only remember saying to Ashelin something about her father, then this wound."

Torn thought a moment, then told Tess what he knew. Tess listened with interest. She closed her eyes for a moment after he finished.

"Wow, I said that?"

Torn shrugged. "That's what Harmony said."

And, talk of the devil, Harmony knocked on the door and popped her head in.

"Hey, I'm going back to the Underground – I left something there. I'll be back in 30."

Tess smiled and nodded, and Torn nodded. "See you then." He said.

She nodded and left. Torn looked at Tess. "How do you feel?"

Tess thought a moment. "What do you mean, how do I feel? Oh, the bullet? Well, my back really hurts."

Torn nodded. "I thought so. I'd be in a lot of pain after being shot."


Harmony slowly walked along the path, humming a tune to herself. Plus wondering about Ashelin, and why she was currently the center of attention. She had been accused of shooting Tess, she had pushed Torn to his almost certain death… It was too hard.

She came to the Underground, and noticed that the door was open. She walked up to it, wondering if someone might be there? Errol, maybe? The Shadow? She walked down the narrow stairwell, where her mouth fell open.

The Underground was in pieces, literally. Someone had left the door unlocked, enabling someone else to come in and vandalize the place as well as they had. The place was pretty much ruined. Posters were ripped; bunks were upturned and shot to hell. It felt as though the entire KG had run a rampage through here.

"What on earth happened here?" Harmony muttered, looking around through the upturned items and ripped papers. Torn had been working on those so long…

"Aah, Harmony."

Harmony heard her voice, then the sound of at least ten guns being aimed at her. She looked into Ashelin's stone cold gaze.

"Ashelin, what's going on?" Harmony asked. "People are making all kinds of statements!"

Ashelin sighed, and tilted her head to the side. "Harmony, you're old enough to know that people are not always as they appear to be."

Harmony widened her eyes. "So, you shot Tess? I always thought you had something in you! Is it just because you couldn't have Torn?"

"Shut up." Ashelin hissed, smacking Harmony in the face.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but he's been getting quite close to Tess lately. You should have seen them at the hospital. They were that close to kissing, whew!"

"SHUT UP!" Ashelin yelled, grabbing a gun and hitting Harmony in the face.

Harmony nearly fell back at the force of that hit. It really hurt. She held a hand up to her face and felt the blood.

"Ashelin, what's wrong with you?" Harmony moaned. "We were supposed to be really good friends!"

Ashelin glared down at the younger girl. She felt no goodness towards her anymore. She just wanted to do what she came her for.

"Kill her." Ashelin breathed.

Harmony looked up at Ashelin, hearing that.

"Ashelin!" Harmony said.

The KG around her took aim, and fired.


Errol got to the hospital, and went to Tess' room. Torn was sitting on a seat, reading an article, and Tess was in bed, listening amusedly.

"Hey, guys." Errol said.

"Hey Errol." Torn said, not looking up. "This article is about Ashelin; how she's gone mad!"

"Which doesn't surprise us." Tess said. "How are you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine – but I want to know how you are. Not many people can get shot in the back where you did and live to brag about it!"

Tess smirked, and replied: "I have no idea. But I'm lucky."

She glanced at the wall clock, and frowned. "Torn, what time did Harmony leave?"

Torn looked at the wall clock, too. "About an hour ago. How long did she say she'd be?"

Errol watched the two talking. He was a bit dazed. "What?"

"Half an hour."

"Errol; go to the Underground and see where Harmony got to, please?" Tess asked. She seemed quite distressed.

"Uh… sure. I still don't know what's going on, though." He replied, and headed out.

"Do you think something happened to her?" Torn said, a worried look on his face.

"No, I don't." Tess said nervously. "At least, I hope not. She could get herself out of danger though, right?"

Errol walked briskly through the city. Night was falling and the last place he wanted to be at night was out in the streets. No one knew what kind of dangers lurked in the shadows. He approached the Underground Hideout. The door was ajar.

That was strange, Errol thought. Harmony wouldn't leave the door open. He shrugged it off and walked inside.

"Nice of you to join us, Errol."

"Ashelin?" Errol said. "What happened here?"

"Go inside yourself and find out."

Errol walked down the staircase into the ruined room. The first thing he noticed was the massive bloodstain. He got nervous all of a sudden, and turned to face Ashelin. And – it seems – her gun.

"W-where's Harmony?" He muttered.

"Look over there."

Errol turned and looked over at the desk. Harmony's body was lying on it, dozens of bullet wounds and an obvious head wound. Errol yelled out something and ran over to her body, and pulled it close to him.

"You killed her?" He yelled at Ashelin. "What did she deserve to do to die?"

Ashelin moved into the main part of the room and glared at Errol. "She got what was coming to her."

Errol blinked. It didn't make sense. "And that means…?"

"It means…" Ashelin said, raising the gun to Errol's chest and firing 3 times. "That by letting you live, my secret would be out."

She smiled a simple, satisfied smile, cleaned her gun and put it away. She took a seat at Torn's desk, where she would await the arrival of the others.


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