Arigatou ありがとう
Colors 色
"The sky, the people, and me... it's all so red." – Vincent Nightray, Pandora Hearts
You're blind you know.
She could hear the mocking voice everywhere. No matter where she turned, she could hear it echoing all around her, like blood pouring out of her ears. It was mocking and sinister and sounded just like her. No! She wanted to scream. I can see just fine!
Can you? Tell me, what do you see?
Darkness, darkness, darkness, and her reflection in the mirror. She wanted to tear her hair out and scream at the voice to just go away, but her words died in her throat, and all she could see was her own reflection.
See? You can't see. You don't know what's really around you.
The voice reverberated around the empty room, wrapping around her like dark tendrils of smoke. I can see! She wanted to yell. But I can only see me! (But was that really her? Could that fragile, sniveling, and all around pathetic girl in the mirror actually be her?)
And that's your problem. All you can see is you.
Her eyes became blurry and unfocused, and her mind desperately tried to come up with excuses. Surely that's not true. Surely that girl in the mirror must be someone else. It just can't be me.
Oh, but it is you. Who else could that be? You made your decisions, and now you must pay the price.
I didn't do anything! Her desperate screams sounded pathetic as they made no echo. I didn't mean to do it! I didn't mean to kill her!
But you did. You killed your best friend.
She could see the blood splatter on the ground at her feet, the beautiful long hair stained in blood. The unblinking dead eyes looked up at her, the dead girl's mouth open in a silent scream. Why did you kill me? After all I did for you?
"No!" she shrieked, her hands full of clumps of her hair. "I didn't do it! I didn't kill you!"
Still denying it? How could you try to forget the death of your best friend?
She could see the red flashing before her eyes; on the ground, staining her hands, on the dead girl's chest. It was everywhere, and no matter where she turned, all she could see was red.
That was all you ever wanted, wasn't it? You only ever wanted to get rid of her.
Her legs gave out and she fell in a pathetic heap on the ground, her fingernails bloody and her sobs loud and unstoppable.
"No," she repeated over and over, the word sounding gurgled through her tears. "I never meant to do it. I didn't want to kill her. It's not my fault!"
Tell that to the blood on your hands. Tell me, is that your blood, or is it hers?
She gazed down at her bloody hands, so bright and fresh it resembled newly opened red paint. The blood dripped off of her hands, causing droplets to fall on the ground. It's like water, her fast-moving mind tried to reassure her. It's just water; colored red. Surely it can't be…
You can still see it, can't you? The red that stains your hands and stains her heart.
Three gunshots resound through the night.
A fire starts somewhere nearby.
A delicate body falls to the ground, three holes visible in the middle of her chest.
A shaking hand drops the gun, the noise silent amidst the shouts and screams around them.
Arms gather around the broken body, desperately trying to hear a heartbeat, see a smile, anything.
No one hears the hopeless screams of the crumpled body, and no one hears the tear-filled laughter of the traitor.
She frantically shook her head, refusing to believe this memory. "I couldn't have…" Her voice trailed off as she searched for a solution. "She was miserable." The shaking girl swallowed. "She had no one left; nothing left to do. There was nothing left for her. I… I put her out of her misery. She wanted me to kill her."
Is that what you tell yourself when you think of her?
She could clearly hear a delighted laugh coming from the back of the room, the laugh sounding familiar and yet strange to her ears. "You know, sometimes I think that it was destiny for us to meet each other. I think that no matter what life we could have been born into, there was always a time made specifically for us to meet each other. I think we were always meant to be friends."
Would best friends kill each other?
"Stop it!" Her hands found her hair, pulling and twisting strands of it in a painful fashion. "JUST STOP IT!"
You could have saved her. You could have done something before it was too late.
"I forgive you, you know. No need to look so nervous. We're best friends, right? We always forgive each other."
IT'S YOUR FAULT!
The voice was a whispered shout, the sound practically cracking the sobbing girl's skull. The girl let out a tear-filled cry and curled into a ball, hiding her head in her trembling arms.
SHE LOVED YOU! SHE WOULD HAVE DONE ANYTHING FOR YOU! WHY WOULD YOU KILL HER?
She screamed and thrashed on the floor, resembling a thrown rag doll desperate to be in the hands of its owner. Her pleading words died in her throat, her hands reaching unsuccessfully for something to hold on to.
"I'm sorry," she cried. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
The image of her best friend's dead body flashed into her mind. She could see her head snapping to the side as the force of the bullet knocked her to the ground, her eyes wide open in horrified shock. She could still feel the blood seeping on to her hands as she tried to stop the bleeding; could still feel the life quickly seep out of the girl whose eyes used to shine like emeralds.
Did you ever even love her?
The girl jumped up from the ground as if she had been yanked up by force, her eyes unfocused and unseeing.
"Of course I did!" She screamed at nothing; it was as if she was talking to empty air. "Of course I did! She was my best friend!"
(And the girl lets out a wild scream mixed in with strangled laughter, and throws her blood-stained shoe at the mirror, staining it in red. It was as if it had died, and the girl dead with it.)
Have you died, yet?
(Because all stars eventually die.)
It
Seems
You've
Lost
The
Game
(But did you ever stand a chance?)
"We're best friends, right, Sinead?"
I killed you because I loved you.
…
a.n.
The crazed girl is Sinead.
The voice is her conscience.
The dead best friend is Amy.
Explanation: Sinead has just killed Amy in their last battle against the Vespers, and has now gone crazy because of this. Perhaps the voice she has been hearing is Vesper One, Isabel, or maybe even herself; having become so insane she has lost the ability to recognize her own voice.