Mira looked around. She looked around again. She closed her eyes and opened them again. No, this wasn't right, this had to be a dream. The green sheet stretched across the room like the horizon. Covering everything while at the same time not. And in the distance she could see the windows and curtains. They were so far away! A sudden feeling of dread and realization washed over Mira. The Coil. It was the only excuse for this.
She closed her eyes again and opened them, still hoping for it to be a dream. But it wasn't, it felt too real. She knew it was really happening, everything was too real. "Kyouma!" She screamed. "Kyouma! Where are you?!" She was sure her voice hadn't carried out of the room. Maybe not past her own lips.
She waited, closing her eyes again. When she opened her eyes again, the room had shifted. Now she was surrounded by walls barely a couple arm's length from each other. With a couch in the center. There was no way out of the room, so she just sat and waited.
A loud, echoing banging sound shook Mira awake, and in a fright she tried to gather her wits. Was that a car crash just outside? Was there still an outside? Her heart jumped into her throat as her vision blurred. She felt dizzy, and nothing looked quite right. She turned and swung her legs to get up off of the couch. But…something was wrong. The couch was now far larger, far more rugged, then it had been when she had closed her eyes for sleep state. She got clumsily to her feet, only to tumble over the edge of the couch into an abyss.
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Kyouma woke up to a pounding headache and his arm sore and terribly numb. He gave a groan, trying to sit up but didn't get far before he collapsed back down. It felt like he had had a heck of a night. He rolled over into a sitting position to relieve some of the pressure on his arm and aching back. Then tried to recall what happened to him. He could recall going to a house with Mira...looking for some girl. Kate? Summer? Madeline? Something like that. Baby steps. Everything would come back in time.
Outside his forsaken head, he became aware of something metallic being shuffled about. Along with a soft sobbing...Mira!
He cautiously opened his eyes, hoping to get more clues of what had happened to him. The broken light coming through the shattered windows made his headache jump a level while he focused on his surroundings. He sat up fully, gasping when his left arm stung at the small motion. Looking down, he noticed his sleeves were gone, replaced by swollen and red skin decorated with shards of glass. That's right...another game of throw Kyouma into the wall.
Looking over the rest of his body to see if there were any other pronounced injuries, Kyouma found a large wet gash on his forehead leading to his left eye. Still fresh, but the nanosuit was doing its job at least. Kyouma wondered how long he'd been out. Out of the corner of his eye, Kyouma caught sight of Mira, sprawled out next to the stairs. Had she fallen?
"Mira!" He cried out worriedly, carefully nudging the robot with a gloved hand. Mira gave no response to the voice or the nudge. Holding his breath, Kyouma gently pushed against one of her shoulders, rolling the girl over onto her back. He was relieved to discover that Mira was unharmed. At least physically.
Kyouma glanced around the room, realizing that whatever had attacked them might still be in the room. "Just hold on," he whispered to his partner's slumbering form, feeling protective of the robot. "I'm not going to let anything else happen to you." He carefully fitted his jacket around Mira, and lifted her into his arms bridal style. Keeping a watchful eye out for anything out of the ordinary, Kyouma slowly made his way back to the entrance of the house. He walked as carefully as possible, keeping his footsteps soft and even, not wanting to cause any more injuries to himself. Or make Mira's condition worse.
Finally reaching the car, Kyouma dropped his partner on the back seat. Where she gave a soft moan.
"Mira? You awake?"
At the sound of his voice, Mira bolted straight up, accidentally head-butting Kyouma and sending him slumping to his knees.
"I'm awake." Confused, Mira looked around at her surroundings, then down at Kyouma. "Kyouma, why are we outside?"
There was a brief moment of silence as Kyouma struggled back to his feet, leaning against the car for support. Well so much for healing…
"We're outside the house. I went through the ground floor, and didn't find anything. So I went back to the living room to wait for you. It was weird though, there was a box on the table in front of the sofa. When I went to take a closer look at it, this woman in a white dress showed up and started giving me a tour of the fine china. That's it, I believe. I got knocked out. Then woke up to find you next to the stairs. Speaking of which, how did you get there?"
Mira shrugged. "I can't remember."
Kyouma nodded. "Can I ask one other thing?"
Mira nodded. She caught a note of apprehension in Kyouma's tone and frowned to herself.
Out of nowhere, he pointed to her chest.
"Kyouma!" She started, slapping away his hand.
"Wait. Please. Hear me out." He pointed to the rearview mirror. "What do you see?"
Confused, Mira was about to ask Kyouma what the heck he was talking about, but the words caught in her throat when something flashed in the mirror. She blinked, hoping her world would snap back to normal, but it didn't help. Nothing around her was making any sense. "What…"
She found herself sitting in the back of Kyouma's car, like she had done so many times before. But unlike all those times. There was an added addition. Around her neck hung a necklace. A golden one with a small bird enveloped by a circle. Upon closer inspection, the bird had three spikes piercing it from the head down to its tail. Unlike most necklaces, it didn't hang from her neck. But more was imprinted into her chest. Causing lines of yellow to stretch out below it in a half-circle that went from shoulder to shoulder.
She felt her breathing speed up the moment she looked back at the mirror. Mira stumbled backwards, trying to put space in between her and...and… "K-Kyouma…?" She gasped out, still in shock and unable to process everything.
Mira tried to steady her breathing, not wanting to let Kyouma know just how freaked out she was. "Wha-What? How? What happened?" She found herself demanding, mostly to break the uncomfortable silence that was stretching out between them.
Kyouma got into the driver's seat before answering. "I'm not sure." He looked out of the windshield. "Do you remember what happened before you got knocked out? Something that might have caused this? Were you attacked by the same woman?" He asked her softly, afraid of scaring her worse than she already was.
Closing her eyes, Mira shut out the world around her to try and get her mind off how FREAKING WRONG everything was and brought her attention back to her...problem.
Kyouma inspected the necklace, eyebrows furrowed. He frowned as he leaned forward, eyes narrowed. Mira couldn't stop herself from squirming around uneasily at the scrutiny. His eyes were only a few inches away. Uncomfortable with her friend's proximity, Mira kept her eyes glued on the roof. She was so, so far outside her comfort zone right now.
Kyouma leaned back again, giving her some breathing room. "What do you think?"
Pulling with both hands, Mira tried to tug the necklace off with all her strength. It didn't budge. "It won't come off."
"It's definitely a distinctive piece of jewelry. Did you see anything written on the back before you put it on?"
"I didn't put it on, Kyouma. It just appeared there." Mira couldn't hide the annoyance from her voice. What did Kyouma take her for?
He nodded. Turning back in his seat, he pulled the car back onto the road.
Mira sat back against the back seat with a sigh. She hoped they were able to find a solution quick.
