Second Movement - Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni
This was a nightmare. What was worse was the fact that I couldn't wake up from it. My own house didn't feel like a safe place anymore. So it's come to this. This time there's no getting out of it, not unless I think of a way.
I was curled up on the living room couch and staring at the blank TV screen. Dad always put the remote somewhere I couldn't find it, and I didn't have the will to get up and change the channel manually. It was just me and my thoughts. Plans were running through my head about how to get out of it.
I could run away. He didn't know where I lived, after all. If I can find somewhere to hide, just for one night, it would throw him off. That plan sounded good, but there was a chink in the plan.
"He knew where I was the first time I met him," I told myself. "He knew who I was." If he could find that out, maybe there was some way to track me. After all, he wouldn't threaten me and then leave without thinking that I would try to escape. There was no way he had that much trust in me.
My eyes darted to the telephone on the coffee table in front of me. Maybe I could call for help. It's enough of an emergency to get the police involved. I grabbed the phone and held it up to my ear only for my hope to shatter.
The phone line was dead.
The phone fell to the floor as I let it go. Roxas had that base covered. And after thirty minutes of searching, I found that I couldn't find my cell phone either. "This is hopeless," I whimpered.
The situation was draining my energy, so I wobbled back to the couch and collapsed on it. It felt like I fell asleep as soon as I felt the impact.
I stirred and opened my eyes to a completely different scene. Why was I outside? And far away from home? It wasn't cold snow under my body, but warm dirt and grass. Leafy shields shielded most of the sunlight. And I heard the chirping of some kind of insect all around me.
"Onee-san, kochira te no naru hou e…"
Clap clap
I quickly sat up at the sound of singing. It sounded familiar.
"Onee-san, kochira te no naru hoe e…"
Clap clap clap clap
It couldn't be!
After getting up and following the clapping, I got my answer.
"Okaa-san…" I said breathlessly.
She was sitting on a hollow log in a small clearing, looking serene as the sun shone on her face. The strange thing was that she wasn't wearing traditional Western clothing, but a formal kimono with a butterfly design.
"Okaa-san!" I called out to the woman.
Mom smiled at my voice and held out her arms. "You found me," she said pleasantly.
As much as I wanted to run and hug her, I knew none of this was real. "It can't be. You're dead."
She kept her smile although she put her arms down. "Yes, I am."
The insects' cries grew louder, almost hurting my ears. "Where are we?"
"I guess it is my place of eternal rest. Despite the cries of the cicadas, it's quite peaceful."
Eternal… Tears escaped my eyes again. I leaned against a tree before my legs could give out from under me. "Is this a dream? Or am I dead?"
"You're just here on a temporary visit. There's no need to worry; you are unable to stay here long."
I hid my face from her. "I put you here."
"Oh no." She stood up and quickly yet gracefully strolled across the clearing to me. She still seemed so much taller than me. "I thank you for this. I don't remember ever being this peaceful during my life."
I looked up at her kind eyes, still not understanding. "What do you mean? Weren't you happy with me and Dad?"
"There's no doubt that you were the best thing that ever happened to me." She gently stroked my hair. "But I had lived far too long. I was ready for my life to end."
"Too long? But you looked so young, unless…" I tightened my hold on her loose sleeve. "You're like me too."
"That's right. I truly believed that you could've lived without knowing that side of you, but even I eventually found that to be wishful thinking." She held me close. "You must accept your fate."
"No…" I tore myself away from her. "I can't do that! I'm human!"
"You're not human. Stop living in denial."
"Stop pretending to be my mother! My mother would never tell me to just accept this fate! She would try to protect me!"
The cicadas suddenly stopped chirping, leaving the forest quiet. The woman narrowed her eyes at me. "You cannot escape."
"NO!" Instead of pushing away the woman, I pushed myself off the couch. I was only on my back for a few seconds before I sprang up. "I'm not letting him get me!"
I only packed my backpack with the essentials, and then put my emergency funds in my wallet. "He can hunt me if he wants," I grumbled to myself as I ran down the stairs. The front door was just feet away…
Clap clap
"Onee-san, kochira te no naru hoe e…"
My hand stopped an inch from the doorknob. My eyes stayed glued on it. Someone else was in the house.
And it wasn't Dad or Roxas.
"My my, is the little bird flying away so soon?" a female's voice chimed. The voice seemed to freeze my spine.
Heels clicked on the floor as the stranger walked behind me. I still didn't look around even as she ran a finger down my back. "L-leave me alone," I stammered pathetically.
She just laughed cruelly and yanked my head back by the hair. A sharp cry tore from my throat. "Turn around and face me, little bird."
I gulped and waited for her to let my hair go before turning to face her, although I kept my head down. She was wearing the same leather cloak as Roxas, but her boots had high heels. My eyes didn't go higher than her chest. "How long were you in here?" I asked her.
She growled and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look in her face. Her thin fingers felt like they were going to pierce my skin, even though they were in leather gloves. "Long enough to hear your pretty little song. Did your mommy teach it to you?"
I struggled to get away from her but her hold tightened. How could this woman, who didn't look like she had much muscle on her, be so strong? "I used to play the game with her and Dad," I finally admitted. Then my tired look turned to a glare. "Wait, why am I explaining this to you? I'm not obligated to answer your questions!"
She was too quick to react. Her hand lashed out and smacked my cheek hard enough to knock me to the floor. The blow stung more than it should've. Then she pressed down on my side with her heel, laughing when I whimpered in pain. "You're not obligated to mouth off to me," she growled. "Unlike Roxas, I don't bother with the whole friendly act."
I lay still, not wanting to anger her further. But I couldn't help but notice that the lights flickered for a brief moment. "You know him. I bet he sent you to make sure I don't try anything."
"So you do have a brain in that head of yours!" She took her foot off my body but I stayed on the floor and rolled onto my back. My eyes traveled to her antennae hair. Were these guys into weird hairstyles or what? "I'd have to admit that I was tempted to let you go, just to hunt you down again. It's always fun to see the fear and confusion of my prey as they try to escape!"
My anger for her grew, another unknown feeling that took me by surprise. "Well, then maybe I should stay here just to piss you off."
She pulled another quick move, and I cried out in pain as her foot struck my side. My anger vanished and was slowly replaced by fear. If this was the person Roxas sent to watch over me, who was watching over this psycho?
"How interesting," she mused as she circled my prone form. "So close to your transformation, yet so much emotion in your eyes. It's hard to believe you're about to lose your heart." She nudged my side with the sharp toe of her boot and kneeled so she could whisper in her ear. "But you know, they say your heart beats the hardest when it's about to die." Her grin grew into something the Cheshire Cat would be proud of.
As she said that, my head pounded until the sound filled my ears. I rolled onto my other side and covered my ears as I whimpered pitifully. It almost hurts. I can't take this much longer! I ignored another kick to the side. "Please leave me alone. I won't run, I promise."
"'I won't run, I promise!'" she mimicked mockingly. "You really are pathetic! You're the person Roxas wanted to get personally? Do you really mean that much to him?"
"What are you talking about? Why can't any of you just explain this?"
"You're already a big baby. If I just told you everything, you'll just cry and cry." This prompted more tears to flow from my eyes. "But maybe it'll help break your little heart faster."
"I don't want my heart to break!" I cried out. My throat burned from my accidental attack, but the woman seemed unaffected. I sat up and faced her with as much courage as I could. My voice lowered to a whisper. "What are you? Why did you intrude in my life and play around with me? I'm not a threat to you. Are you concerned about what I might do to other people?"
"Hmph! We don't care about humans. You can do whatever you want to them. You and me…we're monsters. The only purpose they are to us…is as food." Her tongue slowly slid across her lips.
My heart thumped loudly again, but this time it wouldn't stop. "Food? What do you mean?"
She ignored my response. "What we're afraid of is what you may do to us in the future. Despite what you say now, we're not taking any risks."
"But—" I stopped my protest when we both heard the sounds of the door unlocking. And we were just a foot away from it. "Otou-san…"
The psychotic woman's grin got more devious but she stayed quiet. The doorknob had not moved yet. Did Dad hear this woman talking? What is she planning?
She looked down at me. "The bond must be severed completely," she whispered.
I gasped. She was planning on killing him. "RUN AWAY!"
Instantly I felt an unfamiliar, excruciating pain. It started in my foot and quickly rushed throughout the rest of my body. I screamed bloody murder and clawed at the floor. It only lasted a couple of seconds, but that was two seconds too many. When I found the strength to roll over and glare at her, I saw sparks flying from her. [i]Electricity?[/i] My body was covered with electrical burns.
The woman cackled and knocked on the door. "Ojii-san! You'll come in if you want your daughter to live!" she yelled.
No, don't come in. I'm not worth it. Either she'll kill you or I will. Just run so neither of us will. Don't…
The doorknob slowly turned, and the door swung over to reveal my scared father. He immediately noticed the mysterious woman, who pointed down at me. "Nia…" Dad said softly.
"Leave here, otou-san," I said softly. "She's a maniac."
The woman yanked my father in the house by the collar of his shirt. "Do you really want your father to end up like yourself?" she asked me.
I looked down at my burned arms and shook my head. After a closer look, I could see the burns slowly shrinking. They were healing. The pain was slowly diminishing too. If I don't get Dad away from here, he'll end up a lot worse than me. I grunted in pain as I finally got to my feet and faced my attacker and her newest victim.
Dad understandably looked confused, looking from me to the woman and back to me. "Nia, do you know her?" he asked me.
"No," I replied immediately.
"Does it matter?" the woman said with a smirk. "The one you should be worried about is your dear daughter."
"What's going on?" Dad demanded. His eyes widened as he looked into mine. "You couldn't be…"
I looked away in shame. It didn't matter if I was planning to kill him or not. I knew he wasn't going to survive while the woman was here.
Dad's breathing got harsher until he yelled out in frustration. "How could you do this to your own father? I took care of you, even after what you did to your mother!"
The stranger cackled and shoved him away. "Do you think she cares? Look at her! She's probably plotting your demise right now!"
I didn't try to deny it. There was this nagging voice in the back of my brain that thought this whole thing was getting pretty annoying. This woman's laughing is giving me a headache and Dad isn't making it better. Just take the nearest blunt object, knock the woman out, and hit that whining bastard in the right spot—
"STOP IT!" I screamed out, covering my ears in an attempt to block out the voice as well as stop my head from ringing. My mind had started to revert to a state it hadn't been in since the attempted murder of my father.
The cocking of a handgun chased that voice away.
Dad had somehow gotten his gun, probably even had it in his car and brought it with him in the house. Whatever the case, he had it out and was pointing it at me. At me. "I won't die by your hands," he told me through gritted teeth.
My fear and anger had been fading in and out for the last few minutes. Right then, I wasn't feeling as scared as I should've been. It wasn't like he hadn't thought of killing me before. I calmly looked at the gun, ignoring my burning throat and wondering if everything would be better if I would let him shoot me. "Otou-san, you don't have to do this," I said to him slowly.
The woman giggled and sat on the back of the sofa, clearly amused. "Of course he has to do it. It's rather simple. Either you kill him, or he kills you. Don't you think it's natural that he would choose survival?"
"Stay out of this," I warned her. Once more the lights flickered as she glared at me, and I instinctively took a step back from her. There was no way I was ending up like Mace Windu.
She smirked and continued flapping her gums. "Go ahead, ojii-san. She's not even making a move to escape. Or do you want to end up like your lovely wife? Strangled with her daughter's jump rope—"
How does she know that?
"By her own daughter?"
The finger on the trigger started to squeeze.
"Was it too much trouble to stash that body, ojii-san?"
I licked my lips, aching to say something that would save my skin.
"How could you even think that she would leave you alone after that? After all, she's still changing."
"ENOUGH!" Dad bellowed. The gun that was pointed at me was finally fired.
BLAM!
A small hole…
Between the eyes…
Of the crazy woman.
Dad immediately threw his gun through the nearest window and bolted out the front door, knocking me over in the process. I made no move to stop him. The man was just trying to save himself from being killed by his own daughter. I sat up and looked back at the body of the shot woman.
She was still standing.
Her head was bent back from the impact of the bullet, but it was like she was paused in mid-fall. Just as I was getting up to get out of the house, I heard something that chilled my whole body.
"Heheheheh…" The "dead" body shook slightly from laughter. My eyes widened so much that they threatened to pop out of their sockets. My bottom lip quivered with fear. I couldn't control my heartbeat, which felt like it was too much to bear.
She finally righted herself and looked at me with an unbelievably wide grin. The bullet hole was still there, but it wasn't bleeding anymore. In fact, it was quickly closing. "You're still alive?" I hoarsely asked in disbelief. "It was a headshot."
"You don't get it yet, do you?" she chuckled as she scraped away the dried blood.
"There's nothing to get because you haven't really told me anything."
She shrugged and walked towards the door. "You and I are no longer human. To humans, we're either invisible and forgotten or feared and hated. We are Nobodies. As Nobodies, pitiful human things no longer matter to us. Like age, sickness or injury."
"I will never be like you!" I sprang to my feet and ran for the door, only to have the feet swept from under me. She stood over my fallen body and stretched out a hand. Electricity crackled in the palm and formed into a knife-like shape. When the light disappeared, she was holding a couple of small kunai knives that were still sparking with electricity.
The look that she gave me was one of pure evil, very unlike Roxas. "I know where he's headed. Do you want to know?" she asked me sweetly.
"Don't harm him," I warned shakily.
In a quick movement I couldn't see, she embedded the knife in my right shoulder. I screamed in pain as loudly as my sore throat would allow me. "He's going to the snowy field where you first met Roxas. Take your time. I'll make sure he doesn't go anywhere else."
"How would you know…" I screamed again as she threw another the second knife into my other shoulder. She giggled again and left the house, leaving me bleeding on the floor.
I didn't make any moves right away, but as soon as the pain started to subside, I reached for the knife in my right shoulder. A small shock kept me from doing any more. "Dammit," I panted. "Will I die here? Was this Roxas' plan all along? Maybe now my heart will be at peace."
"Nia?"
I gasped and strained my eyes upward to se Roxas looking down at me. Surprise, relief and anger all coursed through me. "Why are you doing this to me?" I blurted out angrily, not knowing a better question for him. My voice was so gone that nothing was being affected.
He blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"That woman! You left her here to watch over me and look what happened! My father's terrified, and she's probably gone to kill him!"
He was reaching for one of the kunai knives in my body, but then his hand paused. "What woman?"
"Your partner, dammit!"
His eyes narrowed. "I came here alone," he growled as he yanked out the knife in my right shoulder, wincing from the cry of pain that came from me.
My anger got stronger. "You lie! She knew about you! Aah!" He had pulled out the other knife without effort. There was only a little blood gushing, then it was just bleeding slowly.
"Do you know where they are?"
"She said he went to the snowy field where we met." He bent down to help me up but I rolled away from him. "Don't touch me!"
His gaze softened. "You need help."
I made no move to stop the tears from falling. "Death is more desirable. At first, I felt almost nothing. Now, I can't stop from feeling. I can't control it. I don't know which is scarier, but at least when I wasn't feeling anything I had control. But you came along…" His eyes widened. "You took away my control. You changed everything. It's all your fault!"
"You can't pin this on me," he said sadly.
I groaned. He did have a point, but I was in no mood for rationality. Blaming him made some part of me feel better. "Yes, I can. Don't try to help me."
He sighed and took a few steps back, watching me as I struggled to my feet. Moving my arms and shoulders didn't help with the pain at all. I stumbled out the door and down to the sidewalk, then looked back to see that Roxas was calmly following me. I just gave him a look of disdain and continued to the snowy field.
It wasn't hard to spot a figure wearing black and a dark-skinned figure standing in a field of white.
Dad had a look of defeat, his head hung as he kneeled in front of the cloaked woman. The woman had one hand on his head and both eyes on me and Roxas. "So you came after all," she told me with a neutral expression. "Didn't think you had the strength."
I glanced at the blood that was dripping on the snow. My wounds weren't healing yet, and my strength was starting to drain. "Let my father go," I commanded.
She sneered. "Oh? And who's going to stop me? You'd probably faint halfway here." She looked at Roxas. "I know my partner isn't going to stop me."
Roxas looked her over with anger. "I don't know you," he seethed.
The woman feigned shock. "Of course you do! I'm Larxene!"
"Like I said, I don't know you. Now let the man go. None of his blood needs to be spilled."
Once more that wicked grin was on her face. "Are you really going to stop me?"
I studied Roxas' face. He glanced at me for a brief second then looked away, guilt written all over his young face. "No."
"No?" I repeated in surprise.
He grunted. "I can't."
Larxene cackled again. "See, little songbird? We're not heroes. You might as well just sit back and enjoy the show." She tightened her hand on Dad's head. Sparks danced down her arm.
"No!"
She didn't hesitate.
The scream that my father gave as thousands of volts of electricity surged through him gave me as much pain as the wounds. Yet, I didn't take a step from where I stood. I just watched Dad shake and scream, then fall silent as his the life disappeared from his eyes.
All three of us were still, my whole being strangely numb. Larxene huffed and shoved the smoking body into the snow. "I wanted to torture him longer. But who knows what'll come along to ruin your fun?" she said brightly. Black smoke rose from the ground around her and wrapped her in a cocoon before dissipating, taking her with it.
I stared at Dad's body, as well as the brown grass it revealed as it melted away the snow.
Waited for my heart to die…
But it didn't.
The heartbeat got even quicker. Something burned within my body until it threatened to explode.
It was anger. Unbridled anger.
And it needed a target.
"You…" I snarled at Roxas.
Roxas was unaffected. "You didn't want my help," he said seriously.
"You could've helped anyway!" I yelled through the pain. My voice was a little stronger.
He looked down, his guilt seemingly real. "I couldn't. We couldn't have any witnesses. We can vanish without a trace, but he can't. Besides, his inner pain is gone now."
"I…" Every second our eyes stayed on each other, my anger grew. His kind face just sickened me now. I couldn't control the urge to strangle him or whatever I could do to kill him. "I HATE YOU!"
He moved before I could, swiftly running up, grabbing my arm, and yanking me into his arms. All the anger in me vanished and was replaced by confusion, and maybe even comfort. "If hating me will keep your heart beating, then go ahead." I stiffened in his hold. "I don't hate you."
"Yes, you do. Why would you make me go through all of this?" I sobbed.
He sighed and rested his forehead against mine. "It was inevitable."
The rest of my energy seeped out of me so quickly that it was like it was being sucked out. I made no move to get out of his arms, too tired to even hate him. My eyes drooped and finally closed.
"Sleep."