Hey guys! Chapter 4 is here! This chapter is sort of/not really filler, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!
(P.S. Find the Higurashi references and you get a cookie~)
~Monday, October 24th, Destiny Islands High School, Media Center, 3:33 p.m. ~
Naminé rolled the mouse around in her right hand as she glared at the computer screen, the little cursor hovering over the search box just waiting to be filled. She'd intended to come to the quiet, serene school library to do a little research on Aqua and the house, but as of now, she had no idea where to begin. Sighing, she reached into her book bag and pulled out the picture of the house, her eyes gravitating to the address written in the corner in bright red ink. 66 Semi Avenue, it read.
That's a good a place to start as any.
She nimbly typed it in the search box, what the internet provided her was a series of rental housing sites, saying that the property was available, had spacious rooms, a beautiful ocean view, was perfect for large families…
With a wince, Naminé tacked on murder to the end of her search query and put quotes around all four words. Maybe that would be of some use.
Three results came up.
The first, coming from an outer-city newspaper article archive, looked promising.
With a satisfied click on the link, Naminé was already intrigued by the article's title, 'Dance to their Deaths'. This could be it…! She squealed, starting to read.
Dance to Their Deaths – November 2nd, 19XX
"Tragedy struck a large house in the village of Shirakawa of the Destiny Islands on the morning of Halloween. But not just any tragedy – two very mysterious murders."
Naminé paused. …Two? Pulling out a notebook, she started to take notes as she read.
"Twin girls of the Satsujin family, Aqua and Xion, both age 16, had always seemed to have a good relationship, via what their parents could tell detectives. "They were both avid ballet dancers, and were always helping each other with a move of some sort," said their grieving mother, Altenna Satsujin. "Every time we would turn around, one of them would be calling, 'Come in my room and dance with me, sister!'… I don't know what could have gone wrong!"
"However, their mother was obviously left in the dark, as many of Xion's friends reported that the girl always felt intimidated by Aqua, as she was always better than her both in and out of school. Aqua's accomplices, however, said Aqua loved her sister to endless bounds and even bought her a very expensive necklace for their sixteenth birthday earlier in the year. Somewhere along the way, something inside the youngest twin must have snapped and lead her to murder Aqua, although psychiatrists are still trying to figure out what might have been Xion's mindset at the time of the murder. "Delusion and paranoia is my best guess," said Dr. Futari Shimomura, M.D., who has been in the practice for twenty-eight years. "Xion saw her sister as threat and proceeded to vanquish that threat, though Aqua claimed to not have done anything to harm her sister."
"The weapon used was a cleaver said to have belonged to a neighbor; only Xion's fingerprints had a match to those on the handle, leading detectives to the conclusion that Xion first stabbed Aqua repeatedly in the stomach, set up the murder scene – her own bedroom – to look like a break-in, and then proceeded to commit suicide by shoving the blade through her heart, as the room was depicted when their parents came in hours later. The autopsy on both bodies showed no more signs of physical struggle.
"Though the details are vague, the people of the small village of Shirakawa all agree that this was a terrible tragedy to occur at such an ominous time. Both girls will be greatly missed, and a funeral will be held later in the week. More information will come as it is released."
Naminé stared at the screen, every word settling into her memory. This was all she needed right here. Aqua's sister was Xion Satsujin, and they were twins, just like Kairi and Naminé. Xion murdered her sister – in their rental house - most likely out of rage for being so much better than her, but Aqua claimed to love her sister with all her heart, in which that love was expressed in that necklace…
The necklace. Naminé started trembling with the realization. The necklace Kairi had gotten from the house was once Xion's and now Aqua was… possessing Kairi through her sister's necklace?
Something still didn't fit.
Riku had said ghost who died a hostile death had hostile specters. Aqua's death was more horrid that Xion's, but Xion's emotions were running higher…
A paper fluttered onto her lap. Without a second thought, Naminé started reading. It had to be another note from Aqua.
It's not me! Naminé, you've got to believe me. I loved my sister, and it wasn't only the necklace that I showed my love with. She couldn't see how I was trying to help her with school and dance. I tried. She kept shutting me out, refusing to see how much I had tried to sacrifice for her. I would never possess Kairi to do the things she did. It's Xion. She's out to get revenge, not only on me, but on other twins as well.
Naminé… I can't say much more… just keep your eye on Kairi.
Naminé wanted to believe her. What other choice did she have? As she clicked to print out the article, she weighed her options. She could believe Aqua, go ahead and say it was Xion possessing/guiding her sister, and – somehow – try to get the necklace away from Kairi. Or, she could go to Kairi herself, completely open-minded, and just ask her what had been going on lately.
Option One seemed like the safer option. But Option Two seemed like the one that would get her the farthest.
Stuffing the drawing into her book bag, she slung the pack over her shoulder and grabbed the article from the printer on her way out the school library. She'd talk to Kairi. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But soon.
Before anything else falls apart.
~Mizu residence, 4:15 p.m.~
The blonde teen slumped into a dining room chair, her notes and the article splayed out in front of her on the table as the sunset's light crept in from the window behind her. She stared at the papers, scanning over them, trying to pick out anything she had missed. But soon her eyes grew tired and she shuffled the papers together and set them down gingerly, planning to look at them again tonight.
Kairi was home, which was a rare occurrence for a Monday afternoon, and Naminé had made careful not to try to talk to her about her… issue, yet. She'd fumble over her words, and Kairi might blow up at her or something for being accusing. "What to do when there's nothing to do," she murmured to herself.
She shuffled up the stairs and into her room, shutting her door with a bang and flipping on the television. She sprawled in front of it on her stomach. If nothing else, she could at least check the news for any information on the murder. It had been nearly a week since the first report, and nothing had showed up. Naminé felt like giving up on the whole thing. Kairi surely couldn't have been involved…
"… have acquired the audio from the murder near the hardware store, recorded off one of the victim's dropped cellular device."
Naminé smirked. How convenient. She pulled out her own cell phone to record the voices off of the TV. Scooting closer to it and turning on her voice memo feature as she put the mic against the TV speaker, she figured it was either coincidence that the reporter decided to release the audio now, or a force from some higher power.
Whatever the reason, she was glad she hadn't given up.
The grainy audio started playing the sound of men talking. It was vague and muggy at first, but the words gradually became clearer.
"Nice necklace you got there." A male said.
"What's it to you?" said a tense female voice that was eerily like Kairi's. It can't be true…
"Ah, nothing. I wish I could give my wife something that pretty."
"Man," said the second male, "You know you'd never be able to get the money to get something that expensive."
"Don't touch it." The female again, her voice flooded with anger.
"Don't worry, I—"
"I said DON'T!" The female's scream filled the air as the sound of wood against flesh was heard, and a something metal clattered to the ground. The two males' voices became groggier as each hit made contact, and Naminé could hear the blood hitting the pavement with unbelievable force. Her demonic grunts were absolutely hatred-filled, and the males' horrified yells died down with each splat until they were completely silent. The female's voice spoke again, her breath labored as the wood clattered to the ground.
"I… they… haha! – They won't come after me… anymore…"
The tape stopped. Naminé turned off the TV in an instant, her heart pounding. That wasn't Kairi. It couldn't be. She wouldn't… kill people. No way.
But as she lifted the phone to her ear and replayed the recording, she had no doubt it was her twin. She replayed it again.
And again.
And again.
She couldn't get that voice out of her mind, that scream out of her mind, the laugh out of her mind. It sounded like Kairi… but didn't sound like her at the same time. She couldn't be sure of the murder was Kairi's action or one of the ghosts. But one thing she knew for sure—
My sister is crazy.
She got up and went downstairs, almost in a trance-like state. She couldn't be sure her life was real anymore. This was her twin she was talking about! Her committing a murder was unthinkable. Aqua had said to keep an eye on her though. But how am I supposed to do that without… you know… dying?
She sat down at the dining room table, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose when she closed her eyes. She wasn't safe anymore. If she wasn't safe, then Sora wasn't safe, Riku wasn't safe, and Roxas wasn't safe…
She stretched her fingers out onto the table, feeling for her papers.
They were gone.
Her eyes snapped open, springing from her chair and into the foyer hallway. Just in time too, because Kairi was in the hall trying to steal away up the stairs with her twin's papers behind her back.
"Kairi," she said slowly as her sister's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing with my things?"
"I wanted to see them," she replied simply.
"Well, you could've asked," Naminé said, reaching for her twin. The redhead stepped back. Naminé stepped forward. Kairi stepped back.
"Give those to me," Naminé hissed.
Kairi stared at her twin. "No."
"I'll be your best friend if you give those to me." Naminé said, trying not to sound like she was pleading.
"Hah! Aren't you straightforward." Kairi let the papers fall to her feet as Naminé rushed to gather them. "Sure, you'll be my best friend. If I had a dime for every time I heard that one."
The blonde stepped back on unsteady feet. "Yeah. Whatever."
Kairi shrugged and headed up the stairs, moving with an unnatural grace.
With her papers, Naminé stepped back and slid down the front door. What did Kairi want the article for? Not for anything good, Naminé thought as she started to scan through the article again. For some reason, now, one phrase kept popping out at her – 'Come in my room and dance with me.'
Come dance.
Naminé groaned at her stupidity. How many times did obvious have to call out to her before she understood? She knew she'd heard that phrase before – Kairi had tried to lure her out of bed with it, but there was also a time before, when they first gotten to the rental house…
~Saturday, October 15th, Former Satsujin residence, 11:06 p.m.~
Naminé pulled the thin covers up over her head, the darkness penetrating the air all around her. She hated this house. It was dark, cold, and dusty. And something always felt off. And they were here for a whole weekend. She thought things couldn't get any worse until she heard that girl's voice, loud and clear as a bell, in her head.
Come dance with me…
"But I don't want to," Naminé whined softly, mentally slapping herself for talking to a voice in her head. She just must have been tired from the trip. Nothing more.
Come dance…
Naminé burrowed deeper into the covers, though every instinct was telling her to get up and go dance with whoever it was. The voice was so sweet, so alluring, it was as if she just wanted to forget all her troubles and follow it.
But she fought the urge, even as the voice grew louder and she heard Kairi's door slam, as if she'd gotten up to go check. She fought the lure as the voice died down to the point where it was only an annoying buzz, and then it disappeared altogether.
Oh, how she hated this place. It was going to make her go crazy.
~Monday, October 24th, Mizu residence, 4:58 p.m.~
If only had she remembered that voice sooner. She ran her hands through her hair in frustration. Was it Xion or Aqua who called out to her that night? Aqua had said she would never possess anyone, and it was Kairi who got up that night and had Xion's necklace the day they left. So it was Xion… wasn't it?
But petty assumptions would get her nowhere. If she wanted to be absolutely sure, she had to go to Kairi.
Though every instinct decided against being within a five foot radius of her insane sister.
It had to be soon. Sooner rather than later. Kairi was obviously a mentally unstable person right now, and before the ghost – whoever it was – pushed her sister any further, she had to get her answer while she was still partially sane… but what if…
This is too much for me!
Overwhelmed, Naminé hugged her knees to her chest, lowered her head, and started to cry.
Reviews are appreciated!
~Lukia