Wazzup! New installment coming your way! Oh, and sorry about the wait. Please review!
It was cold. Cold and dark. Cold, dark, and-ow- painful. Those were the first things I noticed. Of cores, it is kinda hard to not feel burning pain coming from your legs and tails. If you had tails…
Anyway, I floated in between the thin line of life and death. I think that demon had crushed more than just bone. I cracked open my eyes and sat up. I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself.
Where am I? I wondered. The pain was fading, but I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. I stood up and walked forward. Soon, I found myself in a gray room with a gray piano in it. I walked over to it and trailed my fingers over the ivory and black keys, the only color in this gray room.
It had been years since I had played last. I hadn't played since the incident. I still wasn't sure what had happened, as my memory was hazy and fuzzy. But, it doesn't really matter. I prefer to live in the here and now. The past stays where it should be. The past.
But as I ran my fingers over the keys, I couldn't help but wonder.
What had happened?
Why did I stop playing?
Who am I really?
I sat down on the piano bench and rested my hands on the cool ivory. I closed my eyes and hit an A minor. A melody drifted into my mind, and my fingers flew across the piano, keeping in time with the music in my head.
A picture flew into my mind.
A young girl was standing in a burning meadow, staring at the flames with morbid curiosity. She turned her head as the sound of screaming reached her ears. I turned my head too. I saw a man and woman standing in the flames, their flesh being eaten by the angry hellfire. They reached out to the girl, but she did nothing. Just stood and watched. Watched the couple turn to ashes, drifting away, piece by burning piece. She watched until there was nothing left, and a smile slowly grew on her face. A chuckle escaped her, soon turning into a giggle, then into full-blown mad laughter. Tears streamed down her face and she laughed, beading double. She raised her head. Gone was the empathetic look, replaced by one of complete insanity. She twirled around, long black hair flowing around her body. "Dead, dead, dead! Dead and gone! Gone forever! Dead to this world!" She giggled, her purple eyes pinpoints. "Serves them right!" She stopped twirling and turned around. "Fools. All of them." She muttered darkly before walking off into the forest, and I was once again surrounded by the cold and dark.
I suddenly jolted to awareness on a soft bed. I placed a hand on my head and closed my eyes. I took my hand off my head and rested it next to my body. It was then a searing pain shot through my body, coming from my legs. I just managed to keep from screaming.
I looked down and grimsed. My legs were wrapped in bandages, blood staining the white cloth. My tails were in a similar state, with two out of action.
I thought back to the dream and pondered. It had felt real, and that little girl seemed familiar, almost like I had been there before. A memory perhaps? Either way, it had made me much more interested in my past.
A light snore made me turn my head, and I saw my brother sleeping in a chair to my right. I smiled slightly when I saw that he was ok, then winced again at the pain.
I somehow managed to prop myself up- Don't ask me how, because I can honestly look you dead in the eye and say that I have no fricken clue- and picked up a roll of bread that had been on the nightstand. As I munched to the roll, I looked around and wondered where I was.
My eyes landed on a pile of little building models and a pile of books on the said subject. I face faulted and face palmed. Well, that answered my question.
"Hunter! Oh, thank god your awake!" I turned my head just in time to get a face full of annoying little brother.
"GHA! Easy on the legs, Adian!" But I returned his hug none-the-less. "Yea, I'm awake, and I plan on staying the world of the living for a while longer, so there's really no need to worry."
"I know that, but as your brother, it is my job to be worried!"
I pushed him off and laughed, ruffling his hair, like how I know he hates. He scowled at me, but I just grinned at him cheekily at him. He played with his hair for a few minuets, trying to get it back to the correct amount of messiness.
Suddenly the door burst open and Shade skidded into the room, arm in a sling. "HUNTER! YOU'RE AWAKE! THANK GOD! NOW TELL SKY TO SHUT UP!" She screamed at me. My eyes were opened wide and I stared at my best friend.
"Alright, tone it down. I don't want to be legally deaf." I muttered, rubbing my ears, shutting my eyes against an oncoming headache. But as soon as I closed them, the melody and the memory come flooding back, making me gasp and grab my head.
"W-what…is this…?" I murmured as the tide finally slowed down. I opened my eyes to the concerned faces of my brother and friend. Suddenly they were gone, replaced by blood and gore. My head felt as though it was spitting open, and I grabbed my hair and screamed. Around the bed were the dead bodies of my family and friends.
Shade's neck had been torn out and her white kanata was skewered though her head, while her black one was in her stomach. A giant x had been carved into her arm.
Sky's wings were broken and her legs and arms were twisted at unnatural angles. Her staff had been spit in two and the pieces had been used to pin her down to the ground.
Adian had a gaping hole where his heart should have been and his internals were spread out around him. His gun had been used to shot a hole though his head and his eyes had been ripped out.
Vector had been decapitated. His life-blood pooled around him and his head lay next to him, eyes glassy and staring into nowhere.
James had no visible wounds, but blood leaked from his mouth, and his empty brown eyes were stretched wide in horror. If I had to guess, I would say he was either poisoned or scared to death.
I screamed while looking at my dead friends. I realized my hands were wet and sticky with some substance. I brought them down from my hair and stared at the blood coating me.
This is your fault.
What!? NO! I would never do something like this! And more to the point, where is that voice coming from?
I am you, and you are me. I know the secrets of your past, of the bloodlust in you that you don't know of. I know your darkest fears and your happiest moments.
No, that's impossible.
Is it? Just like the melody you had never heard before, yet held a familiar feeling? Just like the dead bodies of your friends, yet they are right in front of you? Is that impossible? You know it isn't, deep in your blackened heart. You know that this is not impossible. You know.
NO! SHUT UP!
But don't you want to know the truth?
SHUT UP!
I thought you needed to know. Is that not what you said?
No… I don't want this… I don't…
Very well. You will come to the realization sooner or later, though. You have been warned.
The voice disappeared, as well as the blood and bodies.
I once again saw the faces of my very much alive friends, who now looked panic stricken.
I put a hand to my head and looked around at them. "What are you looking at?" I asked, glaring slightly.
"Hunter… you just had a full blown panic attack…" Vector said slowly. "Are you ok?"
No, I'm not. Not at all, is what I wanted to say. Instead I put on a bright smile. "Yep! Just fine. You don't need to worry about it. I'm fine." I reassured them cheerfully. "I don't need you to baby me." Help me. "I don't need any help right now." Please. "It's not like I'm going to die on you guys!" I think I'm going crazy.
I guess they bought the fake smile, because soon they all left.
Not long after they left, I fell into a fitful sleep.
%^%^%^%
I woke up to cheering "HA! He woke up! Sky, you owe me 10 bucks!"
"You were betting on my recovery rate!?"
"Yep!"
"WHAT IN THE ACCUAL FRICK IS WRONG WITH YOU?"
"As opposed to the fake frick?"
"OH, YOU SHUT UP!"
I snickered. Definitely James and Shade.
I swung my legs off the bed and grabbed the crutches left out for me. I stood up painfully, with lots of swearing and cursing involved. Slowly I walked out of the room and into the living room, where James was laying on the couch, arguing with Shade, who was standing above him, glaring down. Sky stood next to the bickering duo, sweat dropping and trying to make peace.
"Don't bother, Sky. They might as well be siblings with the way they argue." I laughed lightly, smiling slightly at Sky's shocked face.
"HUNTER! What are you doing out of bed! You aren't healed yet!" She shouted.
I puffed up my cheeks and glared. "I don't need to be babied. Did I not already say this?" I groaned in annoyance.
I walked over to a chair next to the couch. "Hey, Shade. Go get me some milk." I grunted, looked at her.
"Get it yourself. I'm not your personal servant."
I gave her a puppy dog face, grey eyes wide and sparkling. "But I'm injured~ Would you really make your hurt friend get her own glass of milk? ~" To add to it, I teared up a little and put a fist next to my face.
Shade struggled not to give in, but she was cracking. I doubled my intensity. She gave in.
"This is a one time thing, ok?" She grumbled.
You could practically see the fox ears pop out of my head. Oh, wait…you can see them… DON'T QUESTION IT!
"Right, Shade-dearest." I drawled lazily. I gulped down the milk once she gave it to me, wiping my mouth on my sleeve.
I put down the glass with a dull thunk and turned to James.
"So, what the hell happened to you?" I asked oh-so eloquently.
"I'm not really sure." He started. "I defeated the demon, then passed out. Don't know why or how. I guess I was just really tired and worn out. You can ask Sky what happened after that."
I looked at him for a little while.
"Wait…how did you stop the demon if we couldn't. No offence, but you're kind of a weakling."
James went into his emo corner and cried heavily. "It's not my fault! I was born like this! Why does everyone hate me?" He wailed.
We face-faulted.
Shade walked over and slapped him. He snapped out of it pretty quick.
He coughed slightly and sat down. "Well, I had a tin of breath mints, right? So, after you were all defeated, it charged me. I put out my hands reflectively. I sniffed the breath mints and exploded."
I stared at him…and burst into hysterics. "W-what? I-it's all-allergic to BREATH MINTS? I give, I give!" I sputtered out between chuckles. I was now on the ground, beating it with my fist as tears pored out of my eyes.
Shade had also started to laugh, and Sky simply sighed at our stupidity. Then she pulled out a rulebook.
Old habits die hard.
The dream came to mind again, but I pushed it back.
Right now, all was well.
Even if it wasn't going to last.
Oooo! The plot thickens! What will happen next? To find out, click on the little box below and leave a review!
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