Chapter 7

Untold Truth and Unspoken Lies

Terra looked away from Mega's shocked expression for a second. "Her name was Skyler. My mom picked out our names; dad wasn't very good in that category. She didn't want our names to rhyme like a lot of twins names do, but she wanted to make sure that we would always be connected so she chose Skyler and Araya. Sky and Air or a ray of sunshine and moonlight however people took it."

Terra looked back up at Mega he still stood there speechless, a small smile started to creep its way across Terra face. "Hey take a look at this." She said as she got off her bed removing the locket from Mega's paralyzed hands and rubbing her fingers across the locket's spine. Suddenly the locket began to glow sending out a holographic image, one of Terra, Chaud, and Whisper. Obviously they were goofing off for the camera because they were all on top of each other as if they had been wrestling. The picture had been taken so long ago that it seemed like it had been taken from someone else's life. Terra smiled as the memory came back. "Skyler and I had gotten into a fight over something. It was so long ago that I can't even remember what it was about, all I can remember is that Chaud tried to break it up and he got pulled in instead. It must not have been over anything serious because after a while we were all laughing. My mom had heard us and she came outside with her camera and she took the picture."

"Chaud knew you had a sister? He's never said anything." Mega commented when he recovered from his shock.

"He's just like that." Terra said as she closed the locket and put it back on. "He knew how hard I took her death and he wouldn't bring it up unless I did first."

"How'd she…"

"Die?" Terra asked, "She was hit by a car. We were six and it was pitch black outside, Chaud, Skyler and I were playing hide and go seek. Skyler found me and started chasing me around the house when some rich drunk prep hit our curb and flipped his car. Skyler pushed me out of the way and she was hit instead, but it didn't kill her right away…

flashback…

"How is she Doctor?" Dr. Javedson asked with Terra and his wife by his side.

"She stable for now but it doesn't look good. She suffered a lot internal bleeding and swelling. We managed to get it down but she's in a coma, if she doesn't come out of it in the next two weeks I don't think she'll make it."

Terra went numb when she heard what the doctor said. Her sister could die? Terra looked down the hall to the room where she had seen the doctor come out of, her sister's room. Silently and stealthily Terra slipped away, totally unnoticed by the others. She went down to the room and ducked in right before a nurse who was making her rounds turned the corner. When she saw her sister her heart felt as if it had been ripped out. She was black and blue all over and her face was swollen beyond recognition. As Terra took a closer look she noticed that the doctor was right, this was no ordinary sleep. Terra closed her eyes, concentrated all she felt from her sister was numbness, it was like she wasn't there.

"It should be me lying in that bed not you." Terra whispered, tears forming in her eyes.

"How is she?" someone asked. When Terra turned around she saw it was Chaud.

"How'd you get here?" she asked wiping away a tear that had escaped her eye.

"I'm a Blaze, I have connections," Chaud replied, Terra raised one of her eyebrows, "Ok, ok, after the police talked to me I snuck out of the house and got a driver. So how is she?"

"They say that she has internal bleeding and swelling but they managed to stop it and now she's stable." Terra replied.

"Well that's good isn't it?" Chaud asked.

"It would be except the doctor said that she was in a coma, and that if she didn't come out of it in the next two weeks that she won't make it."

"Well Skyler should beat those odds, she's a fighter, and after all she has you to look after. She can't leave you alone."

"Look after? She's only two minutes older than me."

"You know what I mean, if anyone can come out of it she can."

Terra looked back at her sister in the bed. 'Yeah,' she thought, 'but sometimes that isn't enough.'

"Oh my you children shouldn't be in here," a nurse said as she passed the room, coming in when she noticed to two kids, her face softened when she saw Terra's face. "You're her sister aren't you?" she asked in a consoling voice, "and you must be her other friend," she asked when she turned to Chaud. Booth Chaud and Terra nodded. "Well don't worry we'll take good care of her, she's in good hands here." the nurse said as she led the two six year olds out of her room. Terra looked back just before they rounded the corner. She felt like she was abandoning her.

/

Terra walked down the hospital hall, lunch tray in hand. It had been a week since the accident and since Terra's school let its' students out for lunch Terra had decided to eat hers at the hospital. She wanted to make sure that if her sister woke up someone would be with her, or if things took a turn for the worse the opposite. The doctors and her parents had tried to shield her, whisper around her about her sister's plight, but she had heard anyway. There had been no change in her sister vitals. Sometimes she felt as if she could feel her sister struggling, trying to free herself from something, but even that wasn't as strong anymore. Of course her parents didn't know about her schedule, they thought that she spent lunch at school. As she neared her sister's room she heard two voices drifting from it. She placed her tray on a bench and eased up to the door, she recognized her dad's voice, but the other one she hadn't heard before and she didn't know who it belonged to.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" her father asked.

"It should, it's been successful both times I've done it." The unfamiliar voice stated, "are you sure she's not going to come out of it Jonah?"

"I'm sure," her farther replied, "the doctors said if she was going recover that she would have shown some type of change but she hasn't, they don't think that she going to make it."

"Have you told Amy and Terra yet?" the voice asked. Obviously the man knew Terra and her mother.

"No, no I haven't, I'm hoping she'll make a turn around, it'll kill them both if she dies. Especially Terra."

"Well now they'll have a chance." The voice replied reassuringly.

"I know, thank you Yuuichiro." Her father said as his voice seemed to come nearer. Terra quickly moved and hid behind the marble bench and peeked out just in time to see her farther leave with another man, a tall brunet, through the exit. Having forgotten about her lunch Terra went into her sister's room shut the door and began to cry. She had already begun to prepare herself for her sister's death but she had always wished in her heart for a miracle, but now her hopes had been crushed. If her father thought that her sister wasn't going to make it, it was probably true. This was all her fault. As she sobbed she noticed a dim blinking underneath Skyler's hair as she raised it she noticed a small blinking device on her right temple what was that?

/

It was a week later and Skyler's vitals hadn't gotten any better. In fact they were slowly beginning to drop. Terra was in her room along with her parents. Both of them had been under a lot of stress but Terra's mother had been under the most strain. She had been trying to put on a brave face but it finally managed to crack. She started crying and ran from the room with her husband following her out leaving Terra alone. Terra looked at her sister, the bruises were almost gone but she had grown paler and looked less alive, she would just have to face facts, her sister was dying. She was going to have to say good bye while she still had the chance. She hoped that what doctors said about coma patients being able to hear what was said around them was true. Terra closed her eyes but her tears burst through anyway. Little did she know that what she was going to say would be the last words Skyler would ever hear as a human.

"Skyler I know you've been fighting, I could feel it, but I could also feel your pain too. You can let go now, I don't want you to suffer. I want you to know that I love you and that I hope you can forgive me, this was all my fault. You shouldn't be lying here, I should. I ruined your life, please forgive me."

Terra searched their link for any indication that Skyler had heard her, but what happened wasn't what she expected.

Sykler opened her eyes and with a small smile on her face said: "It wasn't your fault."

Terra couldn't beleive it but she didn't have a chance to do anything else; Skyler eyes slowly closed just as they had opened and then Terra heard the most horrid sound on earth:

"..."

The sickening sound of a flat line.

Slowly everything that Terra sensed from her sister faded untill there was nothing.

End flashback…

"You were there when she died?" Mega asked.

Terra nodded, "Yeah, just like Lan was there for you."

"Dose she know?" Mega asked.

"What, that she's my sister?" Terra asked.

"Yeah,"

"No, no she doesn't." Terra replied with shadow in her voice.

"How's that possible that doesn't make any sense." Mega replied.

'I know it doesn't, but truth be told, I'm not even suppose to know…"

Flashback…

Terra walked down the dark hall of her house, every few seconds the house would light up as bright as day. Metro City was having one of the worse electrical storms it had had in it's history and the lighting was really bad.

Terra was now nine years old and it had been three years since her sister's death, and she had finally gotten over it, or more likely gotten past it, death isn't something one can simply get over. And it had been really hard. Right after Skyler's death Chaud's mother had come down with cancer and had died shortly thereafter. If that wasn't bad enough for the two of them a few months later Chaud father picked up the family and moved. So she had been left sisterless and bestfriendless. Terra had worked through it though, she had gotten closer to the other friends she had. But one thing had remained the same, lightning still freaked her out. As she continued down the hall to her parents' room she noticed a soft glow of light coming from underneath her fathers office door. She figured that her dad was just working late and was fixing to walk into the bedroom on the opposite side when she heard her farther speaking to someone. With her curiosity aroused she dropped the pillow she carried and eased up to the door.

"Sweetheart are you ok?" she heard her father asked, "the lightning isn't affecting the net space is it?"

"No dad everything's ok." another voice replied one that Terra hadn't heard in three years and never thought that she would hear again. She became sick to her stomach, as another strike of lighting occurred.

"Well in any case I think that it would be best if you transferred to the PET, I have a feeling that there may be a blackout." Dr. Javedson replied.

Terra couldn't take the pressure that was building inside of her anymore. She quickly turned the knob and opened the door coming face to face with her father, and on her father's life size holographic generator her sister in full navi form. Her dead sister. Terra's father was speechless, fully shocked seeing her there, but Skyler wasn't.

"Airie," she said as she stepped down from the generator's pedestal walking toward her sibling.

Terra could help but recoil when Skyler came near to her, she couldn't even make a reply. But soon anger overcame her fear and shock; this helped her find her voice. "How is this possible," she managed to chock out not really knowing if she was asking her father or herself. Her dad gave no reply. "Is this why I never felt that she was really dead?" she demanded. "Is this why every time I ever got around a computer or net appliance I felt her? How could you keep this from me? I thought that I was going crazy, but I never said anything because I didn't want you to send me to another shrink! How could you do this?" Terra continued asking as the questions streamed out of her.

"Hey Terra it's ok." Skyler said as she came toward her sister. Terra made up her mind to reach out for her but when she did her hand passed through her as if she were a ghost.

"Yeah, I'm not really good at the touching thing." Skyler said. Since the two sisters were preoccupied in their impromptu reunion neither one of them noticed that their father had made his way to his computer. Just as soon as Terra managed to give a short laugh Skyler disappeared in a shower of pixels. "Dad what are you doing?" Skyler asked when she found that he had trapped her in the computer.

"I'm sorry," their father simply replied. But the way that he said it Terra could tell that he didn't mean that he was sorry for lying to her. Skyler noticed it too.

"You're sorry for what?" Terra asked apprehensively as she watched her father reach for the computer's keyboard.

"I'm sorry for what I'm going to do. You weren't suppose to know." He replied as he began to key comands into the computer, something that Skyler couldn't see, but Terra saw it.

"Sky get out of there!" Terra exclaimed but it was too late, after her father struck the enter key Skyler fell lifelessly to the floor of the net space…

"What did you do to her?" Terra screamed as tears streamed down her face. "What did you do? Why did you lie to me?"

So many emotions were building up inside her at once: fear, anger, hope, confusion, it was too much; after a few seconds she began to feel lightheaded the last thing that she saw was her father suddenly rush toward her before everything went black.

End flashback

"The next morning I woke up in my own bed. The first thing I did was run to my fathers office and look for Sky but I couldn't find her. After that I tried to confront my dad but he looked at me like he didn't know what I was talking about, said that I had just had a really vivid dream. I was convicned that what I had seen was real but after I couldn't find anything that told me otherwise I began to beleive it myself. I never saw Sky again until my dad gave her to me as a navi two years later. He told me that he had made Whisper as a memorial for Sky so that I would always have a peice of her with me.

When I saw her that frist time it brought everything back, I was sure then that what I had seen was real, that it hadn't been a dream. I mean why would I dream that Sky was a navi and then two years later be given a navi that looked exactly like her? I tried to question her, give her a sign that I knew the truth, but she never seemed to catch on. After a while I realized that either she just couldn't remember or that what I experenced hadn't really happened, that it had been a dream. I'd been wresting with that ever since until I met you and Lan. When I saw your father for the first time I recognized him as the man I had seen in the hospitial.

I was so releaved to know that I wasn't crazy in thinking that Sky was still alive; and then when I stumbled across your death certificate that day I realized that your dad had to have done the same thing for his child. That one of the two times he mentioned to my Dad had to have been you since you were Lan's navi and you had that uncanny resemblence. I was able to give Lan the nudge that he needed to get things out in the open. After the truth came out about you I was able to know once and for all what truly became of Sky; I just didn't know what to do about it."

"I don't understand why your dad blocked Whisper's memories, having her keep the truth from you I can see; but to take the truth of her idenity away from her, and then to convince you that what you had seen was a dream…" Mega said as he trailed off.

"I don't understand it either, my best guess is he thought me knowing would somehow be a threat. Probably the same reason you haven't told the chief the truth about you. He probably trusted me but was afraid that if I told someone it would set off some moral debate."

"You know if your dad really did block your sister's memories there has to be a program in place that's doing it, if you take it down..."

"I know, and there is a program. After I knew for sure that that Whisper really was Sky I hacked her one night; found it."

"So this is what's been bothering you lately isn't it?" Mega asked.

"Yeah pretty much." Terra replied, "I've been trying to get the nerve to delete the program, and lately I've been rushed into make a decision."

"Why?"

"Because the program's slowly degrading. You've noticed how Whisper's been more bold and in your face lately haven't you?"

"Yeah, now that you've mentioned it she has been acting a little weird."

"Her subconscious has slowly been attacking the program and rejecting it and that's causing her true personality to show through, she was always a little more blunt that me; which is hard to beleive I know, but she just naturally holds back. I've wanted to tell her, but I was so afraid of what my dad might do, I thought that he might try to block her memories again. After I noticed that the program was stating to break down that just caused more problems. I was scared that Skyler would be mad at me for not telling her the truth sooner, so I've just put of off. Now somehow Regal's found all this out and he's forcing me to play my hand."

"Terra you're going to have to tell her. Nothin's going to get better until you do."

"I know that." Terra said as she stood up and turned toward him.

"You ok?" Mega asked.

"Yeah, I know I've got to do this, we're not going to understand why we're really here until I do." Terra replied.

"Well do you need any help? You know, moral support?"

"Of course, but this is probably something I need to do myself. Thanks though." Terra said as she walked through the door.

Mega watched her leave. After a few minuets he decided to follow her. There was no way he was going to let her do this alone.

Meanwhile at city hall…

"Have you found anything yet?" Chaud asked as he shut the drawer on one filing cabinet and opened another.

"Nope," Lan replied, "and to tell me again exactly what we've looking for."

"Three records of people who died and came back to like." Proto simply replied.

"Oh yeah like they're actually going to put that on paper, plus this city houses over two million people and we're suppose to find three who laughed in the face of death? That's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Is Regal nuts?" Lan asked.

"Yes," Whisper replied, "but not in this sense or he wouldn't be having is do this." She said as she looked over a file and then put it back in it place, then she paused for a second, "You know Regal said that the three souls would rise up after their death ergo, a resurrection. Lan your brother did that, plus he said that we could find the answers within ourselves so they have to be someone we know. Why didn't we just start searching with Mega?"

"Because he's a false lead," Chaud replied, "Mega's the only one of us who's had any type of resurrection and unless the two of you somehow died early on and came back to life it would be a lost cause and a waste of time even looking into it. You two don't know anything that we should know do you?" Chaud asked directing the question to Proto and Whisper. He knew that the answer would be no but he had to ask it anyway. He wanted to be thorough.

"No." Proto and Whisper replied together without even looking up from the files that they were checking.

As Proto thumbed through the files he came to one with a 'Blaze' marking, he glanced at it for a few seconds and moved on. As Whisper looked over at her files she started to slightly grimace. It felt like she was having a headache. At least she was pretty sure that this was what a headache would feel like, she wasn't human so she wouldn't really know. She hadn't told Terra that she had been having them because she didn't want her to worry; she had enough going on. Besides she wanted to know where this was taking her, the headaches weren't exactly headaches although that's what they felt like. It was more like she was experiencing a forced download. Like part of her programming wanted the information but part of her was trying to reject it.

It seemed like whatever was being forced into her were memories. Someone else's memories. She hardly ever understood what they were, they came and left so fast that she couldn't grasp them. But whatever they were they seemed to be slowly changing her personally, she had become so brash lately. As soon as it was over she relaxed then tensed. Ever since the downloads had started she had become more and more perceptive each time, this time she could have sworn she caught a glimpse of Terra and Chaud but they had been so young, what was up that? Did this have anything to do with Terra's nightmares?

She thought it over for a second and then brushed it off. She couldn't think about this right know, she had a job to do. As she continued to flip through the filing tabs she came upon one of interest. This one was marked Javedson, Terra's family's name. She pulled it out and opened it. It was Terra's birth certificate, she smiled as she looked at it, that was until she noticed that the option for single or multiple birth was marked as muliple, and Terra was designated as the second child. Terra was a twin? Why hadn't she said anything?

Whisper felt something well up inside her, like something was fighting to get to the surface but she pushed it away. She quicky went back into the filing cabnet and saw that she has missed another Javedson file. Inside she found a birth certificate for a Skyler Nadia Ann Javedson, she then turned to the next certificate in horror, it was a death certificate, one with the same name. "Wait a minute," Whisper thought to herself, "Skyler, that's the name that Terra's been yelling out at night. And the name that Chaud's butler called me. Who is this girl?" but Whisper didn't have much time to ponder over the mystery, the feelings and pressure that had been building up inside her that she had pushed back wouldn't be denied this time. They broke loose and fully encompassed Whisper inside. This was the biggest download that Whisper had ever felt, and the most painful, she couldn't help but let out a hair-curling scream as the pain became to much to bare.

"Whisper!" Proto exclaimed as he turned around at the sound of the girl's scream and caught her just in time before she fell to the floor.

"What's wrong with her?" Lan and Chaud asked as they came over.

"I have no idea, one second she was fine and the next she was like this." Proto replied as he looked upon his friend who was writhing in pain.

Although Whisper had three people standing over her talking she could barely hear them, her mind was being bombarded by information that was flooding in like a hailstorm. The memories just kept coming and they wouldn't stop. After about two minuets though they ceased, and everything went back to the way it was before; it was like the download had never happened. Well everything but one tiny little detail.

"Whisper are you ok?" Lan, Chaud and Proto asked together when they saw her body suddenly relax.

Whisper jumped at their voices when she came to. "Yeah, I'm ok," she said as she picked herself off the floor still rubbing her temples. She did this for about five seconds before something finally clicked. "Oh my diga pix." She breathed in such a low whisper that it was barely audible. But Protoman managed picked it up.

"What wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," Whisper quickly replied, "I just remembered there's something I need to tell Airie, but I can tell her later." She replied as she turned back to her filing cabinet. She knew that that didn't sound very convincing but it was all she had at such short notice. And it wasn't Protoman was still worried.

"Whisper you're sure there's nothing wrong, because last time I checked navi's didn't suffer from any type of internal pain."

"Protoman I'm fine," Whisper replied as she turned back around so she could face him and put his mind to ease. But her plan sorta backfired. When she turned to face the shaded teen he was instantly taken aback, was well as everyone else.

"What wrong?" Whisper asked.

"It's your eyes," Proto replied.

"What about them." Whisper asked back.

"Nothing really, they just look different." Proto replied as he continued to stare.

By now Lan and Chaud were staring into her eyes as well, almost seeming to be captivated by what they saw. Whisper was becoming unsettled with the amount of attention she was getting; she needed to get out before someone put two and two together.

"Ha," she laughed nervously, "you know what, this thing that I need to tell Araya is really staring to bug me. I think I need to go tell her."

"Well you can go, no ones going to stop you, after all it's not really like we're going to find anything anyway." Chaud said giving Whisper the window she needed to escape. But Whisper could tell that he wanted her gone. Was it possible that he could have recognized something? Whisper decided not to think about it, she needed to get out while she still could.

"Thanks Two Tone," Whisper said as she stated to leave instantly mentally slapping herself. She had just made a big mistake he would surely know who she was now.

"Two tone?" Lan and Proto asked together when they were sure Whisper was out of earshot.

"I haven't been called that in years." Chaud said in a fog as if he was trying to remember something.

"You were actually called Two Tone?" Lan asked in shock. He couldn't even believe that Chaud had ever had a nickname.

"Yeah, that was Terra's sister's nickname for me." Chaud replied.

"Terra had a sister?" Lan and Proto asked shocked.

"Her name was Skyler, she died eight years ago from a car accident." Chaud replied.

"Died?" Lan whispered to himself as he looked up at the door Whisper has just walked out of. Something had seemed different about her when she left but he couldn't put his finger on it, after thinking for a while though he knew what he saw. He had seen the same thing in Mega when he found out the truth. His eyes had transformed and Whisper's eyes had changed in the same way. They looked more human. When he looked down to the floor he noticed the file that Whisper had dropped it's contents scattered a few feet from each other. As he picked them up he could only stare at one of the papers, Skyler's death certificate.

TBC