Chapter 8
A/N: Wow…I've finally started chap. 8, but now it is Christmas holidays…AND MY BIRTHDAY IS IN A FEW DAYS!!! January second, to be specific…Um, wow, so much happened since October…if you don't want to hear it, skip on to the story.
Dance week was awesome…we got to learn ballroom dancing…and I'm really good at the waltz, and somewhat the jive. But foxtrot…I mean, seriously, that's not my style. Um, dance week, I discovered my best friend had 10 – 12 people after her and my other friend (who's a guy) wanted to commit suicide, for real. -Sigh- but we're over all that…
Winter feast was cool…though I missed the actual feast…congrats to all the people from my school that have their own little 'thing' with bands and stuff…like D.C., Sam, Daniel and Jackson…they were awesome. XD
Oh, quick note – I will start shortening my chapters. Um, I've gotten advice from other, more successful authors (Kawaii Saki-chan) for not losing interest in stories, and apparently shorter chapters work. I think I AM boring you with such long chapters…aren't I?
Also, one more thing, on the last chapter, I forgot that percentage signs don't show up. So when Kenta was telling Ryo and Henry about his deck, imagine a percent sign after the number. And also when Rika was telling Ryo about using up more than '2', it was actually 2 percent, because some genius figured that humans only use two percent of their brains.
Special note to Despot Dragon: Aw…do you really have a pet monkey? I've always wanted a pet monkey…seriously!
"Are you alright?"
I asked him with concern. He seemed to be lost within the shadows of his own thoughts as he simply sat there, staring into the fire. He looked hollow and weary.
"Ryo…" I called again.
"I am fine." He said in a voice that held such harshness, it could not have been him. "It is you that you should be concerned with, Slayer."
"Ryo, what are you…?"
"Don't you get it slayer?" He turned to me; his usual cerulean blue eyes were a menacing gold, boring into me. "You will never be safe. It is your closest friends that shall betray you…I have been since day one." His face curved into a hideous smirk. "They are plotting to kill you, Rika. It is not us who are your enemies."
Then, where Ryo stood a second previously, was an aged sorceress, her beady eyes on me. "Ryo is not to be trusted, Rika…"
"And why should I believe in someone like you? Ryo has been there for me." Rika retorted. "I don't see you risking your life."
The lady merely chuckled. The rumbling laughter turned into a loud cackle; the hair on my neck stood up.
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Rika stood at the corner of the intersection of the street she lived on, and the street Ryo did. She tapped her foot impatiently. He was never this late before… he'd better have a good excuse.
"Hey! Sorry I'm late…" Ryo panted as he appeared, opposite of the direction of his house. "My watch broke."
Rika scowled, "fix it…it's annoying when you have to wait for someone in the middle of this mess." She glared at a man who walked by with fake hair and sunglasses.
"Really…you out of all people should know that this place is usually more normal." Ryo clapped Rika on the shoulder.
"I suppose…but if they're staring at you…" Rika trailed off – she hated attention.
"Good time to make some new friends, eh?" Ryo grinned. "Good thing I'm not the only one late…"
It was true. Alice and Henry were supposed to have met there as well, except they were going to be later than Ryo.
"Good thing…?" Rika cocked an eyebrow.
"You know, Rika, it might be you whose watch is too fast." Ryo pointed out.
"I seriously doubt that." Rika informed him.
"Hey guys," Henry's voice came from behind them, in the same direction Ryo did. "Why so early?"
Ryo's grin widened as he looked at Rika with an expression that said, 'hah, in your face'. Rika scowled.
"Good morning, kids." Alice had arrived. "Thank you for waiting." She said, mocking their Vice Principal.
"Not welcome…" Rika mumbled. "Stupid staring people…"
"Why so grumpy? It's a bright, cheerful Sunday morning; the birds are chirping…the grass is dewy…" Alice trailed off in a happy-go-lucky voice that didn't quite suit her, and would have been better on Jeri.
Rika thought about the dream, and about how the three were betraying her. Why were they late? Perhaps they had a meet…that would explain them coming from the same direction and being late. She knew her watch was on time – it was an auto-detect watch, just new on the market, which her mum had gotten for her.
Maybe they were acting, and were plotting…
No…
It couldn't be…
Could it?
"I'm not being grumpy…I just…woke up unpleasantly, that's all." Rika lied, and to boost it, she weaved a tale about how her grandmother was bothering her about food, and her mother about her clothes, and her alarm set on ring instead of radio.
They bought it.
"Normally, I set my alarm on ring…" Ryo informed her. "The alarm doesn't wake me up."
"That's right." Alice said in fake sympathy and patted Ryo's back. "Don't worry…we don't mind that you sleep like a boulder, and eat like a pig. We really don't…"
---
The three spent the rest of the day eating ice cream and discussing the problem. Now that they had more memory and power back, it wasn't long before someone realized that there were more than Shadows and Nocuouses. What they were called, the four have not remembered. But a faint shadow of what it was haunted their minds, teasing, toying with the fact that not all of their memory had come back.
By the afternoon, they had returned to the park.
"It started with a Z." Rika announced after a while of silence.
"Could have…we don't know." Henry muttered. Even when he is muttering, he is reasonable. Rika shook her head at his calmness and the way he always looked at everything from more than one point of view, which is good, unless you are trying to guess a long forgotten name. Then, every possibility becomes no possibility at all.
"It could have started with a P for all we know…" Alice grumbled.
"Let's stop wasting our time." Henry told the other three. "Knocking our noodles out of our head won't help us figure it out…nothing will. We'll just have to wait and expect anything."
"I agree…" Ryo said quietly. "We're not going anywhere with this."
"I have a question." Henry piped up. "There is a supposed 'war' between the Shadow people and the Slayers, correct?" To that, Rika and Ryo nodded. "May I ask how are we going to have a war if all we have on our side are the four of us?"
Then it hit Rika. The question was never really answered. She didn't know. How can they defend the innocence? They have merely 4 people.
"I think…" Ryo paused, thinking over the answer. "I think when the time is right, the good will rise to full power, just as the Shadowed have."
"When is the time right?" Rika frowned.
"I think…it will be soon…" Ryo mumbled. "But right now, if the war were to happen in five minutes, we'd get our asses kicked."
"Hear, hear…" Alice raised her hand to toast with an invisible glass. She gave a meagre chuckle to feeble joke.
Rika sighed. This was not going well. They could, of course, hold their ground, but only for so long…before history repeats itself. Except this time, it's the shadows that will come to total power.
"If the shadows to come to complete power…" Ryo said, almost as if he read Rika's thoughts. "Everyone would be controlled, and there would be bloodshed everywhere. No one would want to live in such a place…"
"They don't have a choice." Rika finished for him. "It's all or nothing in this game…"
---
"Child…"
The sorceress was back. I flinched at her name for me. I was not a child, and certainly, she would not be one to call me a child. I concentrated on emptying my soul so that no lie of hers would contaminate me.
"Do you understand? All your suspicions were correct – I was almost worried you had forgotten." Her drawling voice slowly drilled its way into my mind. "They were planning to kill you, my child."
"I am not your child." I snarled.
The woman chuckled. "Now, it is perhaps time to use your hate upon your true enemies. Ryo, Alice and Henry…they wish you dead."
"No, they don't. They're my friends…they won't do that."
"They were incarnated into this world to become close to you, and then when the time comes, kill you. You can believe whatever…but, stay alert for who your true enemy is."
"You are my enemy, trying to feed me lies about my friends." I spat.
"Especially Ryo…he is the leader of the three, leading them into a secret plot to rid of you." The sorceress's voice was misty and made me drowsy. Her voice was venomous every time she talked about Ryo, Alice and Henry.
"He risked his life for me."
"It was all an illusion."
"All those times, Ryo was alone with me, why didn't he try to kill me then?" I challenged.
"I could kill you right now." She said in a way that surprised me. Almost as if she wanted to, just to prove to me she could. "But I do not. Do you know why? Your little friends do not have the power to kill you yet. But they are waiting…"
"No." I shook me head.
"Yes Rika, they are trying to kill you. Listen to me…Rika, believe me…"
Her smile grew wider and her eyes narrowed. I felt my head aching…it hurts…so much…
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Big bouquet for all who reviewed!
alexian-goddess: I can't believe I have sisters reading my fic…that's so flattering. Though I haven't figure out how…Um, yeah, I guess sisters can be annoying, I don't know – I'm an only child. :-P Here's an update, hope ya liked it. :)
Wings of Reason: Wow...your sister is alexian-goddess? That's so cool!Despite how I go to school with idiots, a few of the guys aren't all that bad looking. Even though all of them are stupid, they're at least good at one thing. Thanks for the review! I hope you like this chapter.
midnight-mystic-dragon: I am so glad you like my writing. XD here's an update. :)
youkaiofdaunderworld: Yay - a supporter for my somewhat stupid song idea. Though I did quite like that idea…ah well. Here's an update!
Despot Dragon: Ah, writers block, does hang around a lot, doesn't it? Um, you weren't being terse, don't worry. I'm just…worried for bad first impressions. Thanks for the review! I'll try to work on the past-future thing…I'll read over my whole story again, when I have time. Yes, I do type pretty fast if I may say so myself – I've been writing, playing Materia Magica (which, as geeky as it may be, is a text java MUD) for 5 years straight. I'm a computer nerdish person…lolz. But my teacher is still killing me about my accuracy. (He has ninety something accuracy.) Have you tried the came, Typer Sharks? It's stupid and childish but increases typing…and somewhat entertaining.
Xtremequeen666: Thanks for the nice comment and the review. Here's your update, not as soon as I absolutely could, but as soon as I did. :)
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A/N: Ok, half the length of my usual chapters, or so. It's easy to see the plot developing…I mean, even as I read it over now, it is so simple. Ah well…I will make it slightly stretched next chapter. Tell me if the shorter chapters are better, or worse. Or unless you wanted it even shorter, or longer, or you want something in between…just review and comment.
Also, a bouquet (which is what I'm going to use from now on) is basically a thank you. A nick is a sorry; a brickbat is something bad…like fat Joe stepping on my foot or something. (There's no one I know named fat Joe…) A Cody is something weird…or was that funny? Ah, all the love to my school…coz they made up all that. XD Isn't that awesome?
This is the first time that I completed a chapter in the same range of time…usually I write half of it in one month and leave it (lack of muses) until a few weeks/months later. Yay!