[Authors Note] Hello everyone! I'm back with Chapter Twenty for Down Into My Shadow :D I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and please don't forget to let me know you'r oppinions thus far. Thank you Acid Veins for the lovely review :D I hope I have not disappointed with this installment. And it turns out that some of you have actually missed me :D I must say, thank you very much, and I hope I have time to get another couple of chapters out before my Business really kicks into gear! That's May the 2nd, fyi. In any case, without further ado, here is Chapter Twenty!
Jozei / Melon Fox Jozei out!
CHAPTER TWENTY: In The Town Of Incessant Rain
it was Raining in the world inside her head, though she couldn't feel it.
It was Raining in the world outside, too, and yet she could escape it.
Lightning crashed in the skies, the rolling of thunder causing tremors to shake the foundations of the empty house. The darkness sunk into the entire interior of the double-storey house built of limestone, it's once been splendor of architectual attraction now a marred, weather-worn shell of it's former glory.
The only illumination inside the building itself was of the flashes of lightning from the coastal storms, revealing near-empty rooms and passages inside.
The house itself appeared that of an abandoned mansion to outside gazes, in fact, the general opinion of the Fythe Residence was that it had been abandoned, the former Lady of the house having packed up the house and taken her step-daughter with her. They didn't stop to wonder why the expensive house was left to disrepair like it had been; The reports and investigations at the time were more than enough to give all outside gazes a kind of foreboding of it. The old Fythe Residence was once joked to be haunted, however the image has permanently stuck, not from the ill informed hearsay of others, but for the slightest changes that occurred every now and then.
The smallest shift in the curtains, the soft hints of a voice in the dark of the night, all manners of small occurrences that would give such an image.
The Lady of the House was kindly thought of by all those who spoke with her, even moreso to those who had the opportunity to get to know her, despite her rather prominent vanity issues. She was a kind Lady who would always stop to talk if time permitted it, broken by the events of recent past.
No one could blame her for the sudden decision to pack up and leave town. In fact, no one could blame her for not saying goodbye, either.
At least, no one except for the invisible residence of 2634 Coral Crescent.
Her marginally different coloured eyes stared at the veiled window in the Architects Office on the second floor, nestled loosely in the chinz armchair that the prior resident of the room had once sat in whenever he had time to think. The house was left virtually unchanged since her Step-Mother's sudden decision to run away, whether in fruitless effort to keep everything in order for her return, or just out of an inability to let go, no one knew.
It had been a long time since she had left the house. She couldn't exactly recall how far back it was, but she knew it had been a very long time. Long enough for her to have forgotten what the outside world looked like, in any case.
All she knew was that no one was coming back for her anymore.
About the most she could stomach in doing was the mundane day-to-day tasks when she got sick of reading or just staring off into space. Ever since she cloistered herself within the confines of her Father's house, she had read every book in the house at least twice.
For whatever reason, the water hadn't been cut off, and the electricity was still running. It made no amount of normal sense, at least until she realised that her Father liked to have the utilities paid in overabundance in case something happened and his family was left without an income.
Just like now.
It was the first time it had rained since her Father had passed away, and the first time since her Step-Mother had run away from her. She used to love the rain so much, but for the first time she could think of, it just made her miserable.
'Hello?'
The girl turned rigid in her seat as an unfamiliar voice echoed through the storm-touched darkness of the house. She didn't know where the voice had come from, nor had she even expected to hear it.
Despite the taught aversion to strangers out of the guise of 'Stranger Danger', her subconscious urged her to rise to her feet, as if the voice was something she didn't want to miss.
This was the first time in months that it seemed that she had heard another voice, and inwardly she began to hope she wasn't hearing things.
'Hello? Is anyone home?' Came the voice again, curiously the girl found herself liking the voice. It was bouncy and energetic, and belonged to what she could only assume was a middle aged man, however she couldn't be sure. It also sounded like the voice was … coming from the hallway leading off from the stairs on the lower level of the house.
Cautiously, her numb feet lead her out of the Architect's Office, through the joining hallway leading to the stairs at the other end of the house. She peered cautiously down the stairs for any sign of whoever it was that was inside the house, but she couldn't see anything. Further to that, she couldn't hear the voice anymore.
Yet her curiosity brought her to continue downstairs, as if that made all the difference in the world.
There was no one in the house, she was sure of it, and yet she still couldn't understand where that voice had come from.
'Ah! There you are!' Echoed the same voice all of a sudden, startling the girl out of her wits. Turning her head frantically from left to right, she tried to locate where the voice had come from, with no luck. It sounded like it had come from right behind her, and yet there was nothing there.
'W-where …?' She couldn't help but whisper, tears beginning to prickle her eyes as she struggled to make sense of the situation.
'I'm over here!' The bouncing voice echoed once again, not the least bit bothered by her lack of understanding, it seemed. It was in this moment where she pin-pointed the location of the voice, and she found herself staring at the mirror propped up against the wall facing the stairs.
The mirror showed not the darkness-clad reflection in front of it, nor did it show nothing but darkness, instead the mirror looked more like a window at that second, revealing a sky-blue room with yellow floor, and a figure that was clad entirely in black, disregarding a pair of rather square-shaped hands resembling styrofoam, and a white mask in the shape of a cartoonised skull with three excessively triangular teeth.
The form on the other side of the mirror was bouncing rather entertainingly, and it had her begin to wonder if he was doing it on purpose.
'Hello, Serah! It's very nice to see you again.' The form greeted her, his bouncing beginning to lessen ever so slightly as she watched hesitantly from the foot of the stairs.
She wondered how this person knew her name, even though he implied he had met her before – She knew for a fact that she had never seen this man before.
'W-who are you?' She hesitantly asked, her brow creasing ever so slightly as she began to edge towards the mirror despite her brain telling her to stay put.
It didn't appear that the man at the mirror was bothered by her question - In fact, he didn't look bothered at all about anything, really.
'That's a fair question – You were just a baby when Andrew had introduced you to me.' The man remarked, his mask-veiled head tilting a little to the side as he spoke. 'My name is Lord Death, and I'm an old friend of your Fathers. I'm sorry if I scared you - That wasn't my intention.'
'M-My daddy?' She spoke, more to herself than anyone else. Her eyes widened as she recalled the rare moments she had seen her Father standing in front of this same mirror, talking as if there was someone on the other side. She had always thought it one of her strange, reoccurring dreams, but at this current moment, she knew that it wasn't.
'Where is your Step-Mother? Heather, as I recall Andrew calling her. Is she home right now?' The man called Lord Death asked, interrupting her small epiphany with little effort.
The prickling of tears returned, far stronger than before, and she shook her head ever so slightly as she hung her head.
'Then do you know when she'll be back? I need to talk to her about something important.' Lord Death asked.
'She hasn't been here in months ...' She spoke up, her hands wringing as the tears began to overflow. 'She … ran away ...'
There was silence in response, and hesitantly, she lifted her head to look up at Lord Death.
The Black-Clad form seemed to wear a glare behind the white mask, though she couldn't be sure of it. His bouncing had stopped entirely, and he seemed to be lost in thought.
'I see. Well, we can't have you all on your own, can we?' Lord Death remarked after an additional few seconds, straightening up slightly as he then pressed the palms of his comically large hands together, and his expression lightened all of a sudden. 'In that case, I'll need you to pack a small bag of clothes and anything else you need for a week's stay – Since your Guardian has clearly made her decision, I think it's high time you get to choose what you want to do from now on.'
'S-Sorry?' She repeated, confusion beginning to overrule her other emotions.
'Think of this as a small holiday – I can't very much leave Death City right now, so I'll send someone to come pick you up, and drop you home when all's said and done.'
Stunned, it was all she could do to just nod her head ever so slightly, her tears drying up with the shock.
'Good, The person I'm sending down to collect you is called Sid. He may look scary, but he's actually a nice guy.' Lord Death responded, lifting his right arm and waving ever so slightly. 'He's a Dark-Skinned man with tattoos down his arms, and dreadlocks. I suggest you get your bag packed in time for tomorrow morning.'
'T-Tomorrow morning?!' She squeaked out, her expression flaring with shock.
'Yes, I believe it'll be about that time when he arrives.' Lord Death responded, nodding his head ever so slightly. 'I also suggest getting a good night sleep, if you can manage it. It's going to be a big week for you starting tomorrow.'
'Okay …?'
'Until then, stay safe, Serah!' He remarked, and then all of a sudden it seemed, the mirror rippled ever so slightly and then returned to show her own reflection in it's glass surface.
She stood in silence, staring at the glass as she tried to understand what had just happened.
When Serah woke up, she didn't know where she was.
When Serah woke up after colliding head-first with an opening door, she was greeted with the immediate sensations of a killer headache. Her head pounded like her skull was about to split open, and she was more than just a little dazed; It felt like her head was spinning, whether by cause of her hyperventilation, the Dream, or the impact, she couldn't tell.
Nor did it really matter all that much.
She found herself at first wincing with closed eyes, her brow furrowing just slightly as she managed to lift a hand to gently touch where the headache was situated in her aching skull.
Instead of skin, she found herself discovering the unfortunate familiarity of cotton over her forehead, and after a few seconds of thought, she remembered what had happened. She'd taken off at top speed, and ran head-first into an open door.
She also remembered who had appeared in the Academy, of all places.
It had been a long time since she had that dream, and even longer still since she had actually met Lord Death in the hallway mirror. It was still as vivid as day to her while she was recalling it, but as soon as it left her mind, she barely even recalled the event at all. It was one of those strange kinds of memories that just hid somewhere in the back of her mind, only coming to light due to a related trigger.
Serah opened her eyes with a faint sigh, only to find herself staring up at a rather unfamiliar ceiling. She also found that she was lying on an unfamiliar bed, and her general surroundings were unfamiliar. All except the huge bookshelf of various books, some of which she recognised immediately as ones that Maka had been reading on occasion.
So … by process of elimination, Serah guessed that she was at Soul and Maka's place at the moment.
After a few seconds of effort, Serah lifted herself upright to take another look around the room, and in the motion, she found that was definitely in Maka's room. There were more items in the room that were of posession to the Meister, and after a few seconds, Serah realised that it would be really weird if she woke up to find herself in Soul's room.
Serah did wonder about the transition between Academy floor and Maka and Soul's place; What had happened in the between time while she was unconscious? Where had her bag ended up? And what had happened once she had managed to knock herself out on the door? She was getting tired of all these missing pieces, but at least this time it wasn't so bad. She didn't want to know if Heather had followed, or the scene that would have ensued afterwards.
Through Serah's silence, she could hear the sounds of voices speaking through the wall. She immediately recognised Maka's voice, and a couple of seconds later, she recognised Soul's voice echo in response. There was an edge to their tones though that hinted at concern, and it brought a sigh to Serah's lips.
Well, she hadn't gotten too much of a chance to keep Maka up to date with everything, so of course the girl was going to be concerned with the situation; She didn't know who Heather was, either.
That was going to be a tough one to explain, especially with the small incident that Soul and Tsubaki were both witness to.
At the thought of explaining Heather to her friends, Serah could only shake her head, displeasure creeping across her face.
She really disliked that woman.
Of course, with the appearance of Heather, Serah resigned herself to having to read those cursed letters after all. The woman was obviously here for a reason, and knowing Serah's Luck, it was going to be a reason she really would abhor. She may as well know what the reason is before coming face-to-face with her again.
The woman was not going to leave without some kind of outcome to what she wanted, and Serah's panic-stricken escape would never count as that – It was just a set-back, and would not be taken seriously.
Deciding that she may as well go and apologise to Maka and Soul for all the trouble, Serah carefully lifted herself from the bed and began to trudge across the room to the door.
The voices outside the room fell silent as Serah opened the door, and she felt eyes fall upon her in immediate response.
'How's the head?' Came Soul's voice all of a sudden, startling Serah with little effort; She flinched, turning her head towards the kitchen where she could see Soul and Maka both seated at the kitchen table. She blinked momentarily, before she began to approach them.
'Sore, but I'll deal.' Serah responded, picking up on the look of concern that showed brightly across Maka's face. Soul just looked like he wasn't feeling much of anything.
The situation was becoming very awkward for Serah, made even worse by the silence that had descended upon the three of them, even as Serah had come to a stop at the table.
'S-so … Do you mind if I ask you something, Serah?' Maka hedged, appearing to throw a glance at the window.
'Shoot.' Serah responded, though she wondered about the glance towards the window.
'You can sit down, you know.' Soul interjected all of a sudden, startling both Serah and Maka with little effort. Serah couldn't help but wonder if anything had happen to annoy the guy, though she didn't question it – She just took up the third seat around the table, a breath escaping her with the motion.
It was a couple of seconds later when Maka had cleared her throat to ask her question.
'Who's that woman that came to the Academy, today?' Maka asked, turning her head to fix Serah with that same concerned look she had been wearing before.
A slow breath escaped Serah as she looked from Maka, to Soul, then to Maka again, searching for the words best to explain.
'Her name's Heather. Unfortunately, I know her from back in Chicago.' Serah responded, her breath hitching ever so slightly at the shift of pressure in her head.
'You mean home, yeah?'
Serah let out a breath at the question, though she did choose to answer.
'Chicago hasn't been home for a very long time.' Serah responded, more to herself than anyone else.
'So … is she really your Mom?' Maka asked, causing Serah to snap her gaze straight back to the Meister.
'What?!' Serah nearly exclaimed, her surprise turning quickly to annoyance. 'She most certainly isn't – Did she introduce herself like that?'
Maka and Soul seemed to share a glance between themselves before Maka answered.
'It was more of a demand to let her see you.' Maka spoke, a somewhat sheepish look creeping across her face. 'She basically accused Stein of helping kidnappers keep her away from her daughter – Obviously she was talking about you.'
Serah's annoyance seemed to flare even more to life, and it appeared that Maka and Soul could tell; Maka seemed to giggle sheepishly, and a sympathetic look crept in place across her face. Soul just looked confused.
'Of course she jumps to the worst choice of words to use.' Serah spoke, her tone hinting at exasperation.
'So if she's not your Mom, then who is she?' Soul cut in, causing both Serah and Maka to look at him. He of course just fixed Serah with a rather exasperated look.
Serah let out another breath to try and regain her hold on her mood.
'She's just some woman who lived with me and Dad for a few years.' She answered, her gaze shifting to the window as she sighed. 'She's not my mother – We're not even related.'
'Then?'
'If you must have a technical term for the woman, then Step-Mother would be apropriate.' Serah responded, looking back at Maka and Soul for just a moment. 'I wouldn't even call her that, either. Just an acquaintance.'
'So … Your actual Mom?' Maka began, albeit a little uncertainly; Serah returned her gaze back to Maka in response. 'You said that Heather's technically your Step-Mom … so your real Mom and Dad don't get along, either?'
Serah was silent for a few seconds, unsure on whether she should give an answer to that question. She also guessed the "either" was more in reference to how Maka's own parents weren't on civilised terms.
'I mean... Nobody knows anything about you before coming to Death City.' Maka piped up, appearing rather uncomfortable with Serah's silence. 'It was all fine, but I can't help but wonder now that your Step-Mom's here...'
Serah regarded Maka's question for a few seconds longer, before a breath escaped her and she gave in. It would be a nightmare if Heather convinced them of some scenario she'd spout out, all because Serah herself didn't just answer the question.
'It's not anything like that.' Serah responded, her arms lifting to cross loosely over her chest. 'I never consciously met my Mom, to be honest; She died not long after I was born, so it's not like they don't get along, but more like they can't.'
Well, Serah didn't doubt that they were together now, but it wouldn't do her very well to remark on that – That'd open a whole new kettle of fish, and she really didn't want to deal with that right now. And she always abhorred the idea that there might be some time where she'd spill all of her life-story with someone. The idea bothered her greatly, so she always refrained from saying anything if she could help it.
'Oh.' Serah heard Maka deadpan, and immediately the Scythe Meister began to fidget like she was suddenly beginning to panic. 'I'm sorry – I didn't mean –'
'What's there to be sorry about? It's just something that doesn't come up.' Serah remarked, casting a small wry smile at a surprised Maka. 'It's not even like I lost my Mom, I just never had one to begin with.'
Maka nodded her understanding, while Soul just shrugged.
Of course, Serah's earlier curiosity was beginning to rise to the surface again.
'Sooo … I hate to ask such an obvious question, but how did I get here?' Serah chose to ask after a few seconds, earning a sheepish smile from Maka as she rose to her feet – Soul just looked unimpressed, like he was recalling something embarrasing. The look he wore was most likely the one she herself wore whenever the topic of Black*Star came up ever since her first incident with him.
'You mean after Kid nearly killed you with a door, again?' Soul questioned, bringing a sheepish smile to Serah's face.
There were many questions that had suddenly been answered with that one somewhat sarcastic remark from Soul – It was Kid that had once again knocked her out with a door, although this time it was mostly her own fault, and Soul and Maka were both fully aware of the first incident to begin with.
'How … do you know it was Kid?' Serah couldn't help but ask, and in response Soul let out a groan. There was a faint giggle from the fridge, where Maka was in the middle of searching inside for something.
'You've never seen him freak out when he breaks symmetry himself, have you?' Soul remarked, an exasperated frown touching his face.
Oddly enough, Serah couldn't think of any incident where she had seen that kind of emotional crumbling from Kid, and she found herself both perplexed and wary.
'No, I can't say I have.' Serah responded, almost hesitantly.
Another groan escaped Soul, and he looked over at Maka over his shoulder.
'You can explain this one – I'm over it.' Soul remarked, and then he picked himself up out of the chair and walked through the door next to the fridge to his room.
Maka of course threw a frown at Soul's retreating back, though she didn't say anything in response. She instead placed the three glasses of juice she had in her hands onto the table – One in front of Serah and the other two in the middle - and took her seat once again.
'Dare I ask if it's anything like what I've seen?' Serah could help but ask, wondering if she really wanted to know the answer to that one.
"Hmm, well maybe.' Maka thought outloud, taking a sip of her glass of juice as she sat down in the chair opposite Serah. 'Have you ever pointed out to him that there's something unsymmetrical about his appearance? Like Liz does a lot of the time?'
Serah was silent for a few seconds, and about the only thing that occurred to her was when she had made a jab at Death The Kid's Socks.
'I have.' Serah responded, looking up at a sheepish Maka. 'But I didn't exactly witness the reaction that ensued.'
'Oh, right. Socks.' Maka murmured as she nodded her head, and it caused a wry smile to touch Serah's face. 'Well, he kind of starts freaking out, sometimes crying, depending on how bad it is. You've been sitting next to him for months now, surely you've noticed something.'
Serah was silent for a few seconds once again, scanning her conscious memory for any kind of incident matching Maka's description. About the only incident that actually popped up was on a written assessment day – They had a test and for some strange reason Death The Kid spent the whole time trying to fix all the letters that were the tiniest bits off, and didn't get around to answering any questions at all.
If Serah remembered correctly, he did spend nearly the whole time crumbling to a nervous wreck because he didn't have a ruler and a curve tool. She didn't exactly see him ruin any symmetry though – She was too busy focusing on her own test and didn't pay much attention to the source of all the sobbing sitting right next to her.
'I think so.' Serah responded after a few seconds, her brow furrowing ever so slightly as she looked back at Maka. 'He's started bawling his eyes out over a written assessment, before.'
'Yeah, you're on the right track.' Maka remarked, her sheepish smile still in place. 'So when you ran off, Soul called me and took off to try and stop you before you broke your neck on the stairs, and I think Tsubaki kind of held your step-mom up to give us some time. I don't know exactly what happened apart from what Soul's told me, but by the time I caught up you were unconscious on the floor, and Liz and Patty were trying really hard to calm Kid down.'
A sigh escaped Serah as she thought on that for a second.
'Please don't tell me he was throwing a fit cause I got blood on him again or something.'
'Not really – It was more like he really thought he'd actually killed you with the door. Apparently the impact was so hard even Patty thought you'd died, and it didn't help that you were bleeding a lot by the time I'd got there.'
Once again, Serah sighed.
'Oh yay, another apology I owe.' Serah grumbled.
Maka gave a small giggle before she continued.
'Well we didn't have much time before your Step-Mom would have caught up, so we grabbed you and came straight here.' Maka spoke, an apologetic smile touching her face. 'We didn't have a chance to grab your bag or anything – Liz said something about bringing it by before we left, though, so I guess that'll be after school.'
'That's cool.' Serah spoke, a breath escaping her as she turned her head to look out the window for a second. 'There wasn't anything all that important in there, I don't think.'
'Oh, good.' Maka breathed out in relief, causing Serah to turn her head right back to look at her.
'Huh?' was about all that Serah had said, earning a momentary look of surprise in return.
'Oh, it's nothing. It's just that I think your bag burst when you hit the door – There were books and photographs everywhere. Even some letters I think – Coloured envelopes or something.'
'Photographs...?' Serah found herself rather perplexed. She didn't have any photographs in her bag – She knew that for a fact – so how could there have been photographs all through the corridor?
Unless … maybe that was what was in the package?
'Umm … Serah?' Maka spoke up, albeit hesitantly, causing Serah to blink in surprise and look back to the Meister.
'Sorry, didn't mean to space out or anything.'
'It's alright.' Maka responded, though concern was beginning to touch her expression once again. 'You did hit your head pretty hard after all.'
'Yeah, I should be used to it by now.' Serah responded with a wry edge to her words.
Maka seemed to watch Serah for a few seconds before she got to her feet once again.
'Well, since it doesn't look like you're going home for a while, I think I'll make some lunch for us.'
Serah blinked in surprise at Maka's remark.
'Eh? Why's that? I can go back to the Academy to grab my stuff, surely?'
'I don't think you'd want to.' Maka responded, casting an apologetic smile at Serah once again.
'And why's that?'
There was a few seconds of silence from Maka, and she glanced once again at the window.
'Well …I'm not exactly sure, but I think your Step-Mom's waiting outside for you.' She explained, earning a startled look with little effort. 'I think Tsubaki managed to hold her up for us, but that doesn't mean that she stopped her.'
Immediately, Serah picked herself up out of her seat, walking briskly to the window overlooking the street as her stomach began to churn on her once again.
It was as she peered down that she recognised the uncomfortably familiar form sitting at one of the benches just down the street. Indeed, as Maka had said, Heather was just sitting there with a book in hand, glancing at the front door to the apartment building every now and then, much like an undercover cop would when tailing someone.
'Son of a bitch.' Serah seethed, venom seeping into her tone of voice as she realised what was going on.