Fighting Back 2
Chapter 8: Mind Maze
Suddenly, around Tori, a world formed. It was her home, the city where she grew up. 'Whoa... did I... is this...'
She stood up, looking around. The city was deserted.
"Hello? Anyone here?" she called.
Her voice echoed through the buildings. No answer came.
Blinking, she walked off down the street. "I remember this place... my house is..."
She turned a corner and gasped. There was her house, still standing.
"What? But... but... HE burned it!" she proclaimed, running towards the little building.
She stopped in the front yard, panting in disbelief. It was still here, everything. Her beautiful front yard, the tire swing, the bird bath... but what about...
She walked over to the tire swing and sat down, swinging slowly back and forth. If this city was deserted, there was no way...
"Victoria, what're you doing out there?" came a voice that pierced her through the heart. She turned her head slowly, not believing what she'd heard. Her big brother stood at the front door. "Mom says to come in; dinner's ready."
"T-Taylor?"
His brown eyes blinked.
"What? You sound like you haven't seen me in forever."
Before he could react, she'd tackled him on the spot, crying hysterically. "I thought you were dead!" she wailed.
Taylor shoved her off roughly.
"Jeez, what's your problem?"
She stared at him, and giggled through her tears. "Yeah, it's you."
He stood up and brushed himself off. "Mom said dinner's ready and for me to come get you, so hurry it up."
Tori stood, following him inside. In the kitchen sat her little sister, griping about the meatloaf... as always. Her mother berated the girl before rounding on Tori.
"I told you not to be gone so long, your dinner's getting cold!"
Tori couldn't believe it. They were here... her brother, her sister, her mom...
"Honey, did you see where I put my tie?"
Her dad.
She turned to see him leaning into the room with dressy pants and a button-up shirt on.
She blinked.
"Where are y'all going?" she quipped.
"The Martellis have invited us to a party at the pier, honey, so eat up and don't forget to do your dishes. If this kitchen isn't clean when I get back, there'll be problems for every one of you, hear me?"
The three siblings nodded.
Tori sighed as she watched her parents go. Her normal life was back... for the most part.
She turned to her brother and sister, who were already eating.
"Sit down and eat, you heard Mom," said her brother through a mouthful of meatloaf.
She nodded and sat down, but examined their faces carefully. This couldn't be real... hadn't her life elapsed a few years since they were killed?
"Victoria, you're staring," said Juliette, her sister.
She blinked.
"I had the oddest dream..." she murmured.
"Really? I had one about dancing cupcakes last night," said her brother sullenly.
"Really?"
"No, now shut up, the Braves are on."
"But honestly! It was the weirdest dream ever! I was mated to a demon, and we were fighting other demons and ghosts, and I had these really goofy friends named Yusuke and Kuwabara, they were a riot. And then this girl called Botan..."
"Mated to a demon? Sounds like a Charmed episode or whatever Juliette watches," said Taylor.
"No, you moron. None of the Charmed ones are mated to demons," snapped Juliette. Trust the Charmed addict to know...
"Yeah, but it all started when this guy I had for a boyfriend came and killed all of you!"
"The demon?"
"No, two guys before him."
"You had three boyfriends? You really WERE dreaming, weren't you?" snickered Juliette.
"Watch it, Pipsqueak... Anywho, the first one was the one who killed you guys, the second one was all creepy and had a pharaoh of Egypt spirit possessing him."
"What were their names? Were they hot?" asked Juliette.
"The second one was named Yugi, the third was named Hiei, and the first was Riku," said Tori, "And he..."
"Riku? That IS your boyfriend, Victoria," said Taylor.
Tori paled.
"S-say what?"
"I said RIKU was your boyfriend, or don't you remember? He called again while you were outside, I told him you weren't in, and he got all pissed and told me to tell you to call him back," said Taylor.
Tori froze.
"B-but..."
"Victoria, this is reality, or don't you remember?" said Juliette, "Riku isn't evil in the real world."
"Oh... r-right..." muttered Tori. She stood up and got some Seran wrap to cover her plate with and stuck it in the fridge.
"What're you doing?"
"I'm not hungry."
"Mom's gonna get mad..."
"Tell her I'm sick, then. I don't feel good," said Tori, running up to her room and closing the door. She flopped down onto her bed and breathed in the scent of her room. Finally... she was home... no ligress, no demons, no Spirit World, no Makai, no Yusuke, Kuwabara, or Kurama... no Hiei...
She sighed. Ok, so Hiei had only been a dream... but he'd been a wonderful dream... most of the time.
She heard a light thump on her windowsill and whirled her head to see a boy propped on it, smirking at her.
"You alone?" he asked.
"Hey... Riku..." said Tori, putting her head back down on the covers, "No, my brother and sister are downstairs, so don't get any sick thoughts."
Riku hopped to the floor, walking over to her bed and sitting down on it next to her, pulling her into his lap and stroking her hair. Tori remembered this gesture well, but it seemed so long since she'd felt it. Juliette was right, the Riku of her dreams was just that... a dream, not the real one. The real one wouldn't murder her family for such a stupid reason...
She gently wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled her head into his stomach, a nice set of abs...not as sexy as Hiei's, but what the hey... he was a dream now.
"I dreamt about you," she murmured, her eyes half-closed with comfort. She was home... with him... with her family... everything was all right again...
"Oh? What happened?" he asked softly. Tori looked up into his piercing blue eyes.
"I dreamed you were evil," she said, her face turning grave. Riku looked at her.
"Evil... in a sexy way?"
"No... there's nothing sexy about murdering my family... not that I think you'd really do that!" she said quickly, hugging him.
Riku seemed oddly calm. "So you thought I'd commit murder?"
"You know dreams, Riku, they're wacked, especially mine. Get this, I also dreamed that after you were gone, I was MATED to a DEMON. How great is that?"
Riku laughed, ruffling her hair. "Yep, pretty bizarre, even for you."
"My brother thought so, too."
"So... was I sexy even in the slightest bit?"
Tori laughed and pushed herself off him. "You moron, you're sexy all the time."
Riku smirked.
"Damn straight."
Tori laughed as he pulled her back against him and kissed her on the neck.
Suddenly, he reeled back in shock. "Ouch!"
Tori sat up and stared. "What?"
"I dunno, I just got zapped..."
Tori paled and reached for her neck. The collar was gone... but...
She ran to her standing mirror and examined her neck. 'Oh, shit... I don't believe it...'
"What's that, a spider bite? That's one big bug!" said Riku, coming up behind her.
The mark was still there.
Tori held her head and fell to her knees. It didn't make sense! It'd all been a dream! Hadn't it? 'Hiei's mark must've been protecting me... but it's all a dream! It's just a stupid dream! I'm home, I'm happy! WHY?'
"Tori?" asked Riku, tugging at her arm.
"I don't know what's going on... Riku, I'm so confused..."
-The time inside Tori's head elapsed, and now we're back with the others-
Hiei gritted his teeth hard as they raced along. They'd been pursuing the thing for three straight days, but it never seemed to sleep.
"I see something up ahead!" yelled Inuyasha as they flew along the path. Hiei looked up; a large field became visible through the trees, with the ligress running through it.
Suddenly, he saw another white figure intercept the cat up ahead.
Inuyasha's keen eyes had memorized this costume to the last hair.
"Kagome! You were right! Naraku's alive!" he yelled.
Kagome, running with Kurama, yelled back, "I told you! Is that him?"
"Looks like it!"
"Be careful, guys!" called Kagome as Hiei began racing ahead, quickly followed by Yusuke and Kuwabara.
Hiei skidded to a stop in time to see Tori pounce for a giant white baboon, which quickly disappeared and reappeared behind her, lashing out a series of energy nets that entangled her and threw her to the ground.
Hiei glared as the monkey reached for the ligress's neck, and vanished, appearing in between him and the ligress.
"Back off, or taste my sword," he threatened, pointing his blade at the strange creature. It turned its head as Inuyasha raced up with Yusuke and Kuwabara.
"Naraku! You're not supposed to come back, you moron! When you die, you STAY down!"
"Ah, Inuyasha, good to see you again," purred a deep voice from the costume.
Hiei took its distraction as an opportunity to swing his sword at the nets binding the ligress.
"Are you sure you want to be doing that?" warned Naraku, "Without those nets, she could be attacking us all, and I doubt any of you have an ability such as the creation of your own restraining devices."
Hiei ignored him, his sword flying through the strings like melted butter.
Acting fast, Kurama strung a net of vines around the big cat.
"On the contrary," stated the kitsune, "I DO have an ability like that."
Hiei glared at Naraku and disappeared. Within seconds, the baboon's head flew off, revealing a wooden doll underneath, and Naraku's voice echoed.
"My nets have injected a serum into your precious mate's brain. If you cannot regain control of her before her mind collapses from the strain, the serum will activate and she will become my servant. Take that however you want..."
Hiei snarled.
"Get back here, coward!" yelled Inuyasha, "Damn it, I didn't even get to fight!"
Kurama looked worriedly at Hiei. "Shall we proceed, then?"
Hiei nodded and knelt down near the cat's head. The ligress snarled and lashed out at him furiously with her claws.
"Hurry, Hiei, I can't hold her forever!" yelled Kurama.
Hiei grabbed the ligress's large head between his hands and closed his eyes, entering its mind...
He emerged in a large jungle. Huge trees layered with vines surrounded him, and he heard the roar of the creature within as she panicked to be free. Turning away from it, he went towards the wall of the ligress's chamber, finally finding the door into the hallway dividing the chambers occupied by Tori and the ligress.
He hurried to Tori's door and opened it, seeing nothing but an empty chamber.
Hiei looked up, and the image of Mukuro kissing him lay frozen on the screen. His heart burned with anger. Why...
He looked around. He saw the door on the other side titled Tori, and he also noticed something he clearly hadn't before in his last trips in here. A curtain had been torn down from the wall, revealing six more doors. Hiei stood up and walked towards them. On each door was a different name.
"Ashura, Lystell, Excel, Rain, Lena... Victoria... " he muttered. He noticed a set of keys on the wall. On each were the letters A, Ly, E, R, Le, and V. He took the one with the A on it and slid it into the lock of the door titled 'Ashura'.
Upon opening it, he noticed several coolers of soft drinks, a mountain of pure sugar, and candy along the wall. Looking on the one bed in the corner...
"TORI?" he yelled. A girl that looked exactly like her was dancing on the bed with a set of headphones on her ears, clearly going crazy and singing the lyrics at ninety miles an hour. When she opened her eyes and saw Hiei standing rigid at the door, she froze, too.
Throwing off her headphones, she jumped off the bed, landing in front of him.
"Hiya!" she chirped, "Don'tseemanyotherpeoplearoundhere,myname'sAshura,what'syourname?" Hiei backed away slowly. The clearly over hyper girl peeked around his shoulder. "FREEEDOM!" She bolted out the door.
"So... you're not Tori?" asked Hiei.
"Nopenopenope! What's your name, buddy?"
Hiei looked back in her room, noticing the big banner on the back wall that said HYPER in big, pink letters.
"I'm Hiei..." he muttered.
"Funfunfun!" squeaked Ashura, standing up and running around in circles, "Freedom,freedom,freedom!"
Hiei shook his head slowly and slid the key titled Ly into Lystell's door. Looking inside, the room was all black, except for the word DEPRESSION in neon letters on the back wall.
"What do you want?" asked a bored voice from the darkness. Hiei stepped inside.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Name's Lystell, but I'm sure you don't care now, do you?"
"What?"
"If you don't wanna talk to me, not like anyone does, just close the door on your way out."
"I'm just trying to-"
"Lystell!Lystell! Guesswhat?Guesswhat? I'm FREEEEEEE!" hollered Ashura as she appeared next to Hiei, hopping in circles.
"Congratulations, it appears I'm free, too... but that's really not all that great, Ashura..." Another girl that looked exactly like Tori came to the door. Her eyes were full of sadness.
"What's wrong this time, huh huh? I'll make it ALLLL better!" said Ashura, running and glomping the other girl.
"Ashura... you're crushing me."
"Sorry!"
"Someone we care about deeply has betrayed us yet again... It cannot be forgiven, but I'll leave the revenge to Lena..."
Ashura grabbed her arm and pulled her out into the main chamber. "Lookie! Tori's not out here! Ya think she got hurt?"
Lystell walked over to the Tori door. "No... the depression has overwhelmed her. That's why I should've been let out to take care of this so she didn't have to. I'm the one who handles the sadness around here."
Hiei walked over to the next door while they conversed and opened it. A room full of teddy bears and unicorns and rainbows greeted him. The banner on the back was titled CHILDISH.
This time, a tiny little girl sat on the bed, playing with two unicorns and brushing their hair. Hiei shook his head. A child couldn't help...
"Oh, hi Mister!" came the child's voice. She slid off the bed and scampered up to him. "I'm Excel, what's your name?" She held out a tiny hand to the warrior. Hiei knelt down, examining the child's face. It was Tori at about the age 4 or 5. Her big, brown eyes blinked curiously. "Something wrong, mister?"
Hiei blinked and took her hand in three of his fingers and shook it. "No... not really... I'm Hiei."
"Hiei?" The girl giggled slightly. "I like that name. It's funny!" Hiei sighed and stood up.
"I don't suppose you can help me with Tori?" He pointed to the door. The little girl toddled to her doorframe and peeked out.
"Oh, no!" She took Hiei's hand and tried pulling on it. "Come on, mister, let's go see what's wrong with her!" Hiei followed, letting the child pull him to the door. She reached up and took the knob. "Lemme in, Tori!"
Ashura came bounding up, dragging Lystell behind her. "Hiya, Excel!"
Hiei went to the next door and unlocked it, suddenly looking into a large landscape of clouds as the floor, and the night sky with the full moon shimmering brightly. White flowers grew on the cloud, and another copy of Tori sat crosslegged on a bed of clouds with a notebook in her hands. She looked up and stood, gracefully floating over to the door.
"Welcome to my realm of night,
Where poems and stories are born of light.
Many attempt to copy in vain,
For I am their muse, yes, I am Rain."
Hiei stood, dumbfounded. "What?"
The banner in her room read CREATIVITY
"She's the poet and author, if you haven't guessed already," said Lystell, walking up.
"So, she won't be of much help?"
"Probably not... then again, none of us are that much help individually."
Hiei rolled his eyes and went to the next to last door while Rain walked out to sit with Excel.
"I wouldn't open that if I were you..." said Lystell.
Hiei raised an eyebrow. "And why not?"
"Trust me... it ain't a good idea..."
Hiei glared. "Since you won't give me an answer, I'll just find out, then."
What he saw behind that door was... quite literally... Hell.
He caught a glimpse of fire throughout the whole place and a banner reading ANGER before the Tori copy on the bed stood up and screamed,
"GET THE HELL OUTTA MY ROOM!"
Hiei slammed the door as a chair collided with it.
"That's Lena..." muttered Lystell.
"Wow..."
He walked to the next door. "Anything special I need to know about this one?"
"Just watch your step," said Lystell, before turning to leave.
Hiei unlocked the door to a room lined with bookshelves. A set of weights and a punching bag sat in one corner. A tall, beautiful woman that seemed to be Tori in her early twenties sat on the bed, reading. Her eyes flashed as he took a step inside.
"What is your business here?" she asked, sitting up. Hiei noticed the gold-plated sign on the back, MATURITY.
"I'm here because Tori's not in control," said Hiei, "And if there's anything..."
"Not in control?" said the woman, startled. She stood up and hurried over. Hiei noticed she placed her feet very carefully on the floor.
She stepped out. "Oh, my... you're right"
Hiei showed her the keys. "You seem to be the only sane one around here, mind explaining a few things to me?"
The woman took the keys. "So YOU let us out... I was wondering why I heard Ashura... I had my room put on the opposite end of hers for a reason."
"Yeah, I did. Why were you guys locked up?"
"Tori locked us all up a very long time ago. I could get out, but the others had trouble. Unfortunately, sometimes they DID get out, and things became chaotic. After a while, we became accustomed to our prisons. We are her emotions."
Hiei glanced over to Lena's door.
"Lena got out the day that you and Kurama were put under the spell, I escaped to watch the fun on the screen. It was her that saved you from your curse."
Hiei watched all the girls gathered around the Tori door.
"So, besides maturity, what else are you?"
"I am Tori's confidante when she can't rely on you, I am also her self-defense mechanism. I work with her ligress to make sure she stays safe. Of course, when we screw up, you're there to help, so we've gotten lucky recently."
Hiei looked at her. "You work with the ligress? Then you're who I'm looking for!"
"I am?"
"I need someone to subdue that thing!"
"What? But the ligress never does anything without my command!"
"At the promise of freedom, she would, I'm sure," said Hiei.
"Maybe... all right, I'll get on it."
"You're Victoria, right?"
"Yes, I am."
"MISTER! She needs you!" called Excel.
"Go on, Hiei," said the woman, hurrying off towards the chamber door, pulling something from under her belt.
Hiei turned and hurried towards the others.
"How do you know?"
"The door won't let any of us in, we think that you, being her mate, might be able to get in," said Lystell.
Hiei reached for the doorknob, feeling it warm underneath his palm, and he turned it, opening it.
"Good luck, buddy, you'll need it," droned Lystell, shooing the other girls away.
Hiei sighed and entered the door, the light enveloping him.
CHAPTER TITLE PREVIEW: Release Me... But Stay Away
