Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, just Lilandra and her story
Lilly didn't go to school the next day and Chad felt his heart drop a few feet. He was depressed all day, but no one could really tell since his exterior expression never really changed. Everybody was going down to the old abandoned hospital to see Don Kanonji get rid of an evil spirit that was haunting it. As Chad wandered through the crowds that night he couldn't block out the screaming that seemed to be filling the air around him. "Keigo?...do you hear that screaming?"
"Not here of all places Chad." Keigo turned his back to his friend.
"Right…Sorry…my bad."
"Chad?" A quiet voice he could hardly hear came behind him, followed by someone grabbing his arm for comfort. He looked down to see Lilly at his arm. She was more pale than usual and her eyes had dark rings under them. "You hear it too?" She looked up at him and his heart was wrenched in his body at the sight of her eyes. They looked glazed over and full of such pain he almost couldn't stand it.
"Lilly? Where were you today?"
"I was resting. I didn't feel too good." Lilly had a determined look plastered on her tired face. But what was she determined to do? "Look…Ichigo…And—"
"Rukia." Lilly couldn't help but feel envious that Chad knew Rukia's name and sounded concerned as they started after their friends because Rukia and Ichigo were bombarded by security. Keigo and Mizuiro protested and tried to stop Lilly and Chad but he protected her from their grabbing hands and they pressed on towards the mob holding Rukia and Ichigo.
As Lilly was running up she watched a strange man in a weird hat push Ichigo's spirit out of him with a stick and run away with his body and Rukia. "Chad…someone good got them out, but now we have to stall the guards. K?" Chad and Lilly caused such a commotion more people were paying attention to them than to Kanonji. They fought until Lilly could no longer see Ichigo's body floating among the crowd. She worked her way over to Chad and fought with her back against his. "On the count of three, you take Keigo and I'll take Mizuiro and we run back to my place. Chad nodded as he threw a guard into the crowd. "One," Lilly kneed a man in the stomach, "two," They made sure they were near their friends, "THREE!" Lilly and Chad threw two guards into the other guards creating a domino effect. They ran to their friends, picked them up and ran through the crowd until they were three blocks away, only then did they slow to a walk and Chad put Keigo on his feet. Chad and Lilly led the way and a confused Keigo and Mizuiro walked behind them.
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Keigo lectured them. Lilly rolled her eyes and Chad smirked.
Without any warning whatsoever Lilly sank to one knee on the ground and covered her ears as she screamed and vomited. "Lilly!" Chad bent to her right side and Keigo went to her left. "What's—" Chad fought not to cover his ears as an agonizing scream reached his ears as well. "Come on…" Chad picked up Lilly's shuddering form bridal style and ran to her house.
"You know where she lives?!" Keigo wailed. "WHY!!!???"
"Mizuiro, get her keys out of her coat pocket." Mizuiro searched her pocket and found her key. When he opened her door Chad rushed her inside and laid her on the couch. He found her cats nosing her and put them each on top of her. "Keep her warm." Chad wandered to the kitchen and opened the child safety gate to let the puppies out, then he opened the door and dried off the bigger dogs, letting them inside. Chad wandered all over the first floor going into every room trying to find blankets. When he couldn't he decided to go to the top floor. He opened the first two rooms and found them empty, but the third one was different by far. When he opened the white door he saw unlit candles and smelled incense. In the far corner of the room was a mahogany chest topped with four pictures. Chad felt drawn to these pictures so went to look at them. Kneeling down he saw the first picture held captive a young, pale girl with long blonde hair who looked a few years older than Lilly, but they were definitely related. They had the same just visible cheek bones and almond shaped eyes, but this girl's were green. The second picture that caught his eye had two people in it. One was a man with chestnut colored hair and dark skin holding a woman with long black hair and silver eyes, like Lilly's. They both had smiles on and they reminded him of Lilly. The third picture was of a young girl, looking to be about three. She had Blonde hair and silver eyes with green flecks. Her smile was bright and toothy, like one of those girls that everyone loves dearly. The last was a man with dark brown hair and green eyes. Chad looked at all the pictures once more and realized it must be a shrine of some sort. Had all these people died? He suddenly remembered the blankets he was in search of and left the room with a bow of respect to the pictures. After searching a few more rooms Chad found four heavy blankets and went back to Lilly's side. He lifted the cats gently then laid the blankets across her and replaced the queens. He went to the kitchen to make some tea and feed the caged animals. When he came out he found all of Lilly's cats, dogs, bunny and bird with her. Crystal was on her head, Snow at her neck, Autumn was on her stomach and Midnight was in between her legs. The puppies were all curled around her feet, Buster was in her arms and the bigger dogs sat with their heads on her unconscious body. Chad handed out the tea and the boys sat in silence for a half an hour before Lilly started to move.
Mizuiro and Chad straightened in their seats; Keigo had fallen asleep and was now drooling on Mizuiro. Lilly sat up and studied her surroundings as her animals also straightened to greet her with concern. Lilly burst into a laughing fit as she saw Keigo drooling and Mizuiro trying to wake him up nicely. "How long have you guys been here?" She asked when she was calm enough not to laugh.
"Hour, Hour and a half. Something like that." Chad sat with his head down, not looking at anyone. Mizuiro and Keigo saw nothing wrong with this, but it bothered Lilly, something was wrong.
"Well, I'm fine now. You guys should go home and get some rest; we're going to have a big day of getting in trouble tomorrow." Keigo and Mizuiro rushed out of the house but Chad took his time. When he got to the door Lilly put a hand on his arm. "I know something's wrong. You gonna tell me what it is?"
Chad sighed. "I saw that room upstairs. I'm not prying, but if you wanna talk, I'm here…I guess…sometimes it helps." Chad started out the door but Lilly grabbed his hand.
"Then let's talk." She jerked her head towards the living room. "I'll be right back. You can wait, or make tea or something." Lilly walked slowly upstairs and was up there for a few minuets before coming back down to the smell of tea and the sight of Chad on her loveseat surrounded by her animals. He looked so kind and gentle that she wanted to run to him. But she didn't. She worked her way down the stairs slowly and went to sit next to him with all of her pictures in hand. She sat Indian style and put the pictures next to her. After taking a long sip of the tea he had made she felt she was ready to reveal her life to him. "This one is my sister, Angel. She was engaged to this man, Brian." Lilly held up the picture of the Blonde girl next to the picture of the brunette boy. "She was pregnant with Amy." Lilly showed him the picture of the smiling little girl. "When Angel went into labor, the doctors had to perform surgery to get Amy out because the umbilical cord was tied around her throat and they didn't want her to die. However they didn't look into my sister's records that showed that she shouldn't have the surgery, they didn't even tell her what was going on. Didn't tell us either. In the end Amy got out, but my sister was dead." Lilly took a shuttering breath. "They told us they were sorry, but they weren't, and that made it all worse. We didn't even get a chance to tell her goodbye. Her baby would never know her mother. The worst part was, we watched it happen. We watched helplessly as her heart monitor stopped, when she took her last breath. She was only 19." Lilly kissed the picture of her dead sister and picked up Brian's picture. "I went to the roof to be alone so I could cry, But Brian came up too. It was like he didn't see anything." Lilly's eyes glazed over as if she was seeing it all again. "Nothing was up there except him….He walked to the edge of the roof and looked down…I ran to him and called his name…but he didn't hear me….couldn't hear me….He jumped. I reached out for him but all I got was the locket my sister always wore." Lilly showed him the locket around her neck. It held a picture of herself and Angel. "It flew out of his jacket pocket on the way down…I watched him fall…Watched him hit the ground…I saw the blood smear like paint onto the white sidewalk and building. All I could think was 'you jerk. You selfish jerk.' The rest of us lost her too. But he had a daughter to take care of. Now that daughter wouldn't know her mother or her father." Lilly placed his picture next to her sister's and traced the smile of Amy. "She was…"Lilly gulped down a sob as a few tears leaked onto her face. "The brightest, happiest girl anyone knew." Lilly smiled through the tears that built up and spilled over. "When she was…three years old we were playing outside…and… her ball fell into the street. I told her to wait but she was giggling and so happy she didn't listen to me. She ran out into the street after her orange and yellow ball. I ran after her, but I was too late. A speeding ambulance came around the corner, hit and killed her. I stood on the sidewalk and watched her smiling face run into the street, then I watched a speeding ambulance with no sirens on hit my baby girl. I both heard and saw her fragile body break and crumble. And when I looked down, that stupid ball had come back to my feet. I've always blamed myself…and I think everyone else did too. I always felt like there must have been some way I could have stopped her, some way I could have protected her at least, but I replay that moment in my head over and over again and I can't find anything I could have done. I find it ironic that the ones who are supposed to save people have been the cause of the deaths of a whole family…" Lilly kissed Amy's picture as her three cats climbed into her lap to comfort her. "Angel loved the snow. She would play in it until she got sick. She used to tell me that snow is what came between death and rebirth. That's why I got her." She patted the pure white cat with blue eyes on the head lightly. "Brian loved the autumn. Said it was the most beautiful painting he would ever see, and it was always different, every time he looked. So I got her." Lilly pet the multicolored cat on her shoulder. "And Amy…She would wake up at midnight almost every night and come to my room saying she was looking for mommy and daddy's stars because when we die we get a star. So I named her Midnight." Lilly looked at the black cat specked with white sleeping on Chad's lap. As she picked up her tea cup again they could see that her hands were shaking and she tried to steady them as she picked up the picture of two people. "They are my mother and father. They…They were killed just before I came here. A….um…Hollow…was after me and my mother and daddy got in front of it and told me to run…It was the first and last sign of affection they showed me after Angel died. Before her death they were so full of life. They always teased each other and joked with us. My mamma always listened to our problems and daddy loved spontaneous family trips. Then the Hollow came. He killed them…because of me…Hollows go after those closest to them and people with really high spirit energy. My parents just happened to get in the way. And for some reason, I've never gone. I should have died at least a hundred times by now, but I haven't….and I don't know WHY!" Lilly threw her empty tea glass to crash into the wall opposite of them. Her companions raised their heads in alarm and watched Lilly burry her face in her hands then into Chad's chest and cry her heart out.