Mikau: Hello! I'm officially on Spring Break! So while all my friends go to Florida, I've decided to lock myself in my room and type. I'm excited to finally have an opportunity to sit down and do nothing but write. I've been so busy since I last updated. The morning after I last update I got up and felt so sick. I had the flu. It was pretty horrible. All I did was lie in bed and sleep all day. I finally got up and went to school on my birthday. I had a really great birthday. And then that weekend was Into the Woods, and I worked backstage moving set pieces. There was only one blackout for the entire show, and no set pieces moved during that blackout, so all the set people had to wear costumes so we could go out on stage to move things while the lights were on. I got to where one of the Silly Girls' dresses from Beauty and the Beast. It fit perfectly, but it had this horrible plunging neckline, so I really couldn't bend over much with all the boys backstage. Then after Into the Woods closed, I had A Doll's House rehearsal every night. I finally got to sit down and type today, and here's the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King.
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Traitor
Lucifer had been exceptionally amazing that night and I was exhausted. I just barely woke up as he got out of bed early that morning. I could tell he was trying to slip away without waking me. I caught him by the wrist as he snuck out of bed.
"Lucy, it's three o'clock in the morning; where are you going?" I sleepily whispered.
"Shhh…. I won't be gone very long. Don't worry." He kissed me lightly and gently freed his wrist from my loose grip. "Go back to bed."
"So you're just going to leave me?" I sighed weakly, sleep still tightly binding me.
"Hoshi…. I promise I'll be back." He pulled away and slipped on his clothes. "I love you."
"Really?" I couldn't help but try him.
"Hoshi, I'd die for you." He sat back down on the bed beside me and played with a tress of my crimson-brown hair. "I love you that much. I finally understand what love means, and it gives me the courage to go on."
He smiled sadly, kissed me again and walked slowly toward the door. "Goodbye. I love you." I swear I heard him mutter under his breath, 'I'm so sorry Hoshi, but it has to be done.'
I awoke the next morning to the sound of explosions. 'Mom's back down in her lab again.' I didn't want to open my eyes yet; it was too early. I couldn't tell what time it was thanks to my bedside alarm clock flashing 12:00 o'clock. There must have been a storm or something knocking out the power earlier that morning after Lucifer left and I had fallen back asleep.
'Lucifer!' I sat straight up in bed, now fully awake. I had no idea where he had gone, when he would be back, or why he had gone in the first place. I rushed out of bed to pull on some clothes. I nearly overlooked the piece of orangey-red paper on my pillow, anchored down by a red velvet jewelry box.
'It's too big to be a ring case.' I sighed, somewhat disappointed. I opened the case and gaped wide-eyed at the beautiful ruby phoenix necklace. I held it up to the light and admired it as the light particles refracted, sparkling, gleaming like falling stars. It looked gorgeous on me as I modeled it in front of my bedroom mirror.
Once I got over my stunning new accessory, I picked up the note my boyfriend had left and read it. Once I was done I read it again. And then again. It didn't make any sense.
"I'm sorry to leave on such short notice, but I have been planning this for some time. Thank you for showing me the true meaning of love. You've helped me to reach my full potential as a person, and gave me confidence in myself. I love you, and hope you'll take me back when this is all over. I'll return to you once I finish the game. Forever yours, Lucifer, King of the Underworld."
I stared that the slip of parchment. All I could do was stare. 'What the hell is this? And where does he get off signing "Lucifer, King of the Underworld"? I'm his girlfriend for crying out loud! He could at least sign "Lucifer-koi" or something like that…'
"And just what does he mean 'finish the game'? What is this?" I sighed pathetically and placed the letter on my desk on top of some medical text. 'And why do I have such a horrible feeling about this?'
I put on a tight pair of blue jeans, a white tank top, and a crocheted burgundy sweater. I was wearing fall clothes in the middle of spring because I was unnaturally cold that day. My blood ran like icy floodwaters in my veins. Something in the brisk air made me shiver uncontrollably. Something was wrong. I could sense it, but I couldn't tell what it was.
I stepped out of my bedroom and nearly ran over my little sister. I exchanged words of little consequence with Thorn and then was on my way. I ate a small breakfast, but was too distracted to remember what exactly it was that I had put into my body. My mind was somewhere else that entire morning.
I was finally woken from my dreamlike state when explosion after explosion sounded from the basement laboratory. Anna and I rushed downstairs only to see Ivy engulfed in a sea of flames. She sat there soullessly staring off into the fire. I was too numb with shock to do anything, but Anna must have gotten a fire extinguisher and put out the flames, for it seemed to me that the flames were there one minute, but not the next, and there sat my mother on the floor still staring off into the rubble.
She was beautiful; she looked exactly like I had seen her in pictures: gorgeous. Shoulder-length coffee-colored locks, charcoal black eyes, and perfect pale complexion. I must have said something, and I remember hugging her joyously, but everything was such a blur.
"Look." She pointed into the rubble at a body. Anna and Ivy exchanged excited exclamations at the discovery at a fully working body. I added a few comments here and there, but my mind was elsewhere.
My mother seemed to notice my far away gaze, and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Oh, it's nothing." I mumbled under my breath, not wanting to worry her. She gave me 'the look' and I had no choice but to share my problems. "It's just that I'm worried about Lucifer. He left early this morning and I don't know where he is. He left a note, but it was really quite vague, and he didn't say specifically when he would be back, and…well, you know. I'm really worried about him."
She smiled, trying to reassure and comfort me. "Why don't you go look for him? He couldn't have gone too far, and I'm sure it will make you feel better if you're out looking rather than just sitting here feeling worried and useless."
"Thanks Mom. I'll do that." I smiled slightly and went off on my way to search for my missing boyfriend. Even the searching was a blur to me. It was like a smudged chalk drawing. I walked pass trees and bushes and houses and shops, but I didn't really see any of it. My mind was too far away to register anything.
'Where is he?' I was completely inundated in my thoughts, lost in the inner corridors of my mind. I found myself in the local park sitting on a bench by the pond. I let out a heavy sigh. I had been sighing a lot lately. I tossed some breadcrumbs into the pond for the ducks as they swam by.
Laughing children ran pass, yipping puppies and brightly colored kites in tow. I smiled at them as they waved to me, but the smile was a fake, a façade. I was really in no condition to smile. My heart felt like it was breaking inside of me, bleeding. It physically hurt. It burned. It was as if a part of my body had been severed from me. I felt sick and worried. Something horrible was happening. My soul was being torn from my body.
I blinked and cleared my mind of all thoughts. "You're overreacting." I got up from the bench, but my legs folded under my weight. I gasped, sucking in the cold morning air. This wasn't just my mind playing tricks on me. This was real. Something had happened. I curled up on the ground in excruciating pain. Every single one of my bones felt broken, but I couldn't see anything wrong with my body on the outside. My vision was going black. I was going to pass out from all this pain. Right before everything was encompassed in darkness, a horrific image passed before my eyes. 'Thorn…'
"HOSHI!" Two familiar arms propped me up in their embrace. "Hoshi, can you hear me! It's Lucy! Come on Hoshi…"
The pain lessened considerably as he held me to his chest, cradling me. My eyes flickered open and I gazed tiredly up at him, still feeling weak. His appearance was a little disheveled, but it was him. "Lucifer? Where were you? I was worried…."
"Shh…. It's okay now. Everything is going to work out. How do you feel?" He pushed bangs out of his face and my own, and I saw the beginnings of tears in the corners of his eyes.
An exhausted smile painted my lips. "I feel a bit better now. I don't know what happened, but all of the sudden I was in this immense pain, and right before my vision went totally black I saw Thorn. She was bleeding and it was just so horrible seeing her lying there like that." I gripped desperately at his kimono-sleeved red shirt.
He smoothed my hair and held me close. "Shh… It'll be okay. Just take deep breaths." Silence reined over us and he looked down at me apologetically. "God, Hoshi I'm so sorry." He pulled me closer.
I wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled reassuringly. "It's okay, you've done nothing wrong."
'You've no idea…' I swear he said something, but I couldn't hear him mumbling under his breath.
"Will you help me up?" He nodded and lifted me to my feet.
Just then my cell phone rang, letting out a burst of "Hana, Hoshi, Sora". I answered the phone and spoke uncertainly, "Hello?"
"Hoshi? It's Ivy. Come to St. Lucy, Patron of Eyes Hospital, and go to room six hundred sixty-six. I'll explain when you get here." She hung up before I could say anything. It sounded as if she was in a great deal of pain, trying to choke back the tears.
I looked in utter panic at Lucifer. "That was my mom. I have to go to the Patron of Eyes Hospital." My voice was hollow; I didn't yet fully understand what was going on.
"I'll drive you." He helped me to his car and we set off at what must have been an illegal speed. The whole time I sat staring out at the scenery, not really taking in much of it. 'Something is wrong. Someone is hurt.' The thoughts kept tumbling over and over in my mind like wet socks in a dryer.
We got to the hospital and found the room on the third floor. It was one of the rooms in the intensive care unit. I clasped Lucifer's hand tightly and he put an arm around me. I took a deep breath and opened the door. The Asakuras, Akira, Makoto, Ivory, and that annoying detective Lyserg were inside.
Anna and Yoh comforted Hana, Ivory and Makoto sat over to the side quietly crying, Lyserg stood off in the corner observing the others, Ivy and Hao tightly embraced, crying in each other's arms, and Akira sat staring at the person in the hospital bed hooked up to countless machines. He had such a blank look on his face like he had been completely wiped of emotion, and no longer possessed a soul. He sat ridged and unmoving like a deactivated robot.
When my mother noticed I arrived, she broke away from my father and nearly crushed me in the tightest hug I had ever received. "Oh my God Hoshi…" My father followed quickly behind her, taking me in his own arms when my mom was finished.
I gave them both frightened and confused looks. "What's going on?"
My father led me over to a chair and sat me down. My mom rubbed my back and held me in a half hug while Hao talked. "Hoshi, there's been an accident."
My thoughts immediately rushed back to in the park when I had almost passed out. The last thing I saw before things started to go completely black was Thorn lying on the ground bleeding. My hands started to shake and my father continued.
"Thorn was out front of the Moon and Stars, and there was a truck loaded with those concrete pipes they use for construction. Well, the chains holding the pipes on the truck broke and…" He couldn't go on.
I stared at him in utter horror. I refused to accept what he was saying. It couldn't be true. My brain wouldn't allow me to process the information. My face lost all its color, and I stared at him, unbelieving, until my mother started talking.
"Hoshi honey, she's not going to make it. The doctors tried everything and they've done all that they could for her, but…. Hoshi, the pipes nearly crushed her to death, and there was too much internal and external bleeding, and even if they could save her life, her entire lower body was completely crushed, and her spinal chord has been severed, and…" She couldn't go on. Ivy broke down in tears and sought comfort in Hao's arms.
"Hoshi?" Hao questioned softly.
"Is she still alive?" I asked, my voice shaking.
"Yes, but not for long. She won't last the hour." My mom tried to dry her tears, but they kept flowing.
I got up out of the chair and stood beside Akira as he gazed down at my sister. Her body had almost entirely been destroyed. Her lowered body was crushed, and the rest was in a full body cast. Her face, however, still remained more or less pretty as always. It had several scratches and cuts and scrapes, but for the most part, her face remained intact.
The next thing I knew I was crying. As I watched the levels on the monitor slowly decline, I could sense her spirit drifting further and further away from me. It donned on me that she would never open those dark chocolate eyes ever again. She would never smile that naïve little grin of hers. She'd never blush innocently or come to me for advice. She was gone.
Lucifer held me close and whispered in my ear. "Hoshi I'm so sorry." I held him just as tightly and cried my heart out.
"This wasn't an accident you know." The green-haired detective in the corner spoke.
"What do you mean?" My father growled softly. "If you know anything about what happened to my daughter, you better speak up now."
"That's why I came here. I've been put in charge of the investigation. This was a murder; those chains didn't just break, they were burnt—melted. Someone was trying to kill her."
"Who would want to kill Thorn?" Ivy asked breathlessly and indignantly. "She never harmed anyone."
Lyserg rolled his eyes, indifferent to my mother's pain. "Well apparently someone had a grudge against the girl; chains just don't melt themselves after all."
"How would someone burn through that kind of metal? It's nearly impossible for a normal person to get their hands on something that would get that hot. What would they use to melt away those kind of chains?" Anna retorted, voice overflowing with doubt.
"I'm sure I don't know madam, but I plan to find out and crack this case." Lyserg boasted. "I promise to find the murder and bring him or her to justice."
"I love you. Don't you ever forget that." Lucifer whispered softly in my ear so that no one else could hear. He let go of me and stepped forward toward the British detective. "You won't have to look far; your murder is in this room."
"You. Do you know something about this?" My father glared across the room at my boyfriend.
Lucifer slowly nodded.
The green-haired Englishman stepped forward authoritatively. "Who's the culprit? Tell me or I'll have to arrest you for hindering the investigation and withholding evidence from an official."
There was something ironic in the way Lucifer smiled. "You'll have to arrest me anyway. I'm the one you're looking for."
No one moved. Not a muscle moved. No one blinked. No one breathed. No one uttered a solitary syllable. Silence reined, and there were stares. Blank, confused stares on every face. Every face except Lucifer's. His face held only a small, apologetic smile.
"What?" Hao broke the spell on us all.
"I'm your murderer." A simple question, a simple reply.
No one moved as disbelief struck us all.
"Aren't you going to arrest me? I am a criminal after all."
Still no one moved. Lucifer made eye contact with every other person in the room besides me, but nothing happened. The door opened and in stepped a short, orangey-red-haired, forest eyed nurse in a crisp white uniform. She looked at each individual face and apologized with her eyes.
"Bad time? I'm sorry. I'll come back later. I just wanted to tell you that we've done some tests, and are now completely certain that Miss Asakura only has about forty minutes left. Also, everything happens for a reason, and everything is going perfectly according to a higher plan. I'm so sorry that I can't comfort you any more than that. My condolences." The nurse seemed to lock gazes for a brief moment with Lucifer, but only for that quick instant. And then she left.
My gaze met Lucifer's. I stared deep into his eyes, and he looked away.
His eyes dropped to the floor. "Well? What about your justice? Aren't you going to do anything? I brutally murdered your daughter, cousin, niece, sister…"
"STOP IT!" I attached myself to his torso, burying my face in his chest. "Stop lying. Please. Tell them the truth! Tell them that you didn't really do what you said!"
He looked down at me and smiled. Lucifer tried to get me to release my hold on him. "Hoshi, it is true. I did murder her. I'm the one who melted those chains. I'm the one who wrote the letter from Akira that made her go there in the first place. I placed an order for those pipes to be delivered there at that exact time. I planned this. I—"
"—NO! NO, you didn't!" Tears rained from my eyes, flowing like rivers down my cheeks. I could taste them, salty and death cold, in my mouth. "You don't have to take a fall for anyone. You don't have to protect them. Just tell them the truth. You didn't do this…. It was your brother wasn't it? It's okay, you can tell them."
"I'm not trying to protect anyone. I'm simply admitting to my own crime. I did kill Thorn." He smiled sadly and wiped away my tears, but they were soon replaced by more.
"NO." I held him tighter.
"Yes. Hoshi, look at me." He tilted my chin upwards and forced me to meet his eyes. And there I saw it. "Have you ever known me to be able to look you straight in your beautiful blue eyes and lie to you? No. I could never lie to you. Not to you. I love you, and I killed your sister." My heart broke. I could see it in his eyes. He had done what he had said.
I knew it was true, but I still refused to accept it because I couldn't understand why. The floor of my world had been pulled out from under me, leaving me to fall into a deep dark void. It was like a black hole, sucking away all logic from my body, and leaving me on autopilot. That was, until my emotions took the wheel. "No. You love me. You wouldn't do that. You…you wouldn't betray me like that. You…you wouldn't."
"You bastard." Hao's cold, heartless look scared even me. He grabbed Lucifer by the collar, lifting him off of his feet, and getting ready to punch the poor demon.
"No!" I grabbed my father's arm and held it tight to my chest so that he couldn't hurt the man I loved. "Please, he didn't do this to Thorn, Dad. I love him. He wouldn't do this to me. He loves me. He wouldn't hurt me like this."
"He's a cold-blooded, heartless killer. He used you Hoshi." Again everyone froze as a new voice entered the conversation. Akira, without getting up or looking away from where Thorn lay, shot icy daggers of hate at Lucifer in the form of words.
His words stung my own heart as well. I tried to tune him out, but without a drop of logic in my body to contain my wild emotions, his hurtful words leaked in and slowly poisoned my heart. "No…" I tried to protest, but my voice came out weak and strained.
"I would never do that!" Lucifer fought back.
"Quiet demon!" With the wave of a hand, Lyserg seemed to put some sort of silencing spell on the culprit.
"How can you still love a man who killed your own sister?" Akira stood and glared icily at me, his eyes red with tears. "How can you think he loves you when he easily admits to the murder of your own flesh and blood without remorse? Don't you see he's been lying to you this entire time? Entertaining himself with your body and using you to get closer to Thorn so that he could kill her."
I couldn't say a thing to defend him. There was no evidence to prove he was innocent. He had killed my little sister. He had obviously been planning this the entire time, and yet he still acted like he loved me. He had still slept with me. He kissed me and held me and touched me and lied. He had lied. Not just once, and not just twice, but throughout the entire relationship, he had been keeping secrets and lying. Had he truly ever loved me in the first place, or was that all an act?
I slowly shook my head soullessly. "No." Even my voice was hollow. "He—"
"Akira's right Hoshi." Hana spoke for the first time as well. "Back when you first made a deal with him to get the musical cast when we were setting up Thorn and Akira, he tried to have you kill Thorn, and then he put a spell on you so that you couldn't tell anybody. Remember? You told me about it after he took the spell off of you! He was planning this all the way back then!"
My entire body went numb. He had been planning this all from the beginning, and even after having 'fallen in love' with me, he still carried out his plans. He really had never cared. Words started spinning around in my head. Sentences, horrible, horrible, sentences formed. "He used you." "He never loved you." "He was toying with you." "He killed your sister." "He's a monster." "How could you love the devil?" "How could you let this happen?" "It's your fault that Thorn is dead!" "You let him get close to your sister!" "You let your guard down and he took advantage of you." "He doesn't love you." Hoshi? "He doesn't love you." Hoshi, I can explain. "He doesn't love you."
A hand reached out and lovingly caressed my face. "Hoshi, I can explain why I did this. I love you, and—"
"—Get away from me!" I jerked away from my X-boyfriend.
He looked completely and utterly shocked. "Hosh?"
"It's Hoshi to you, you pig! How could you lie to me and use me like that while pretending to love me?" My unchecked emotions flared up into an emotional outburst.
Lucifer tried to quell my anger. "Hoshi, you don't understand. I—"
"—I understand perfectly. You used me to further your goal of killing my sister!" I walked over to Thorn's bedside and kissed her lovingly on the forehead. I whispered softly to my dying sister. "I'm sorry that I couldn't keep that monster away from you. It's my fault that I let him into my life and fell for his tricks. I'm sorry that you had to pay for it with your life." I sauntered over to Lucifer and glared at him with an intense and powerful loathing. "And now that you've succeeded in your diabolical plans, leave me alone! I never want to see you for as long as I live and even after that, you bastard!" I punched him for all that I was worth, and ran as far away from that hospital as shamanly possible.
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Mikau: Okay, no hate mail or whining or complaints of "Why did you kill Thorn?" or "Why did you break up Lucy and Hoshi?" or "Why did you have Lucifer kill Thorn?" Please don't hate me? It was my birthday on the 10th after all. (Yea! I'm finally 16!)
Thanks to: demon thing, isa18, yo wuz up, Lady Valandario, thoughtless dreamer, Andrea Nefisto, Sonseray, LisaTheHedgehog, Ayume Yamashira, -BeLLe33-, and KaZuYa MiNeKuRa.
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