Chapter 3

The Nightmare

"Then she shut the door right in my face." said Aidou with a pout. He had just finished recapping his meeting with Zell and Yuuki and was looking for sympathy. That was not what he got. Far from it

"Ha- Ha- Ha! She's got spunk! I like her already." Laughed Kain.

Aidou punched him.

"It's not funny!"

"Yes it is." said Shikki and Touya.

"Shut up! Nobody asked you!" cried Aidou.

He went down and sat at a desk. As he stared at the floor sulking, he noticed an ice blue note book caught under the leg of the table.

"Hey look at lease pictures. They're really good." said Aidou

"Not to mention creepy." said Ichijo.

Everyone gathered around Aidou and they started flipping through the pictures. There was a picture of a moon except that it glowed the color of half dried blood. There was a golden bow with wicked looking blades on the end and golden arrows in a leather quiver that was stamped with little sunbursts.

Then there were the battle scenes. They were gruesome illustrations that depicted lots of people slaughtering each other. Half of them were wear Cross Academy uniforms.

"Hey! That looks like us!" Cried Ruka.

"It is us." stated Touya wonderingly.

"That's impossible." Stated Kain. "These pictures show us fighting as vampires, look there's my fire, not as humans. Whoever drew this couldn't have possibly figured out our secret."

"Hey. Look at these." Aidou held the notebook.

The open pages showed a couple looking at each other. The woman had a stubborn mouth but kind eyes. Her hair was piled up on top of her head and she was wearing a wide silk scarf around her shoulders.

The man had on a white collared shirt and a vest. The man's eyes seemed to pierce straight through to the souls of the observers and there was a hint of a smile that played on his lips.

"Whoever drew those pictures really loved them." Said Ruka.

"Yeah." whispered Aidou.

Cold air rushed in as the window slid open and a heap of leaves, red fabric and chestnut colored hair landed on the floor.

"Stupid tree. Stupid third floor classroom." complained a familiar voice.

It was Zell. She was wearing a red silk night gown and red socks that ended above her knees. The socks had little pom-pom's that dangled from strings at the top. Most of her hair had escaped the sloppy side ponytail and had bits of twig and leaves caught in it.

It was obvious that she wasn't completely awake and there were dark circles under her eyelids. Her eye's focused on the blue book that Aidou was holding. Zell ran over to him and snatched the book away.

"What do you think your looking at! That's private."

"Sorry, we didn't know it was yours." said Ruka. Zell tried to walk away but was so tiered she started to fall down the stairs. Aidou reached out and snagged her around the waist, pulling her close.

"Careful now, you don't want to hurt yourself, idiot."

Something gold caught his eye. It was a necklace in the shape of a bow crossed with an arrow.

"What's this ¾ Ahhh!" When he picked the necklace up to get a closer look, it sent gold lightning up his arm stinging him. He wouldn't be able to feel his hand for days now.

"What is that?" said Aidou horrified.

"A family heirloom. My mother…. gave it to…. me. What's with the face?" Questioned Zell.

"Do you know what that was?" asked Shikki.

"Yeah static shock." Zell said in a tone that implied the "duh".

"Zell. What are you doing here? It's dangerous to wander around at night." Said a voice in the corner.

The shadow's parted when someone stood up.

"Kaname. I had to get my note book. It was important. I wouldn't have gone outside otherwise. I remembered your warnings." Zell said quietly. Kaname's face softened.

"Did you have another nightmare?"

It was like someone flipped a switch. Tears sprang to Zell's eyes and that look on her face was that of a frightened child. She broke away Aidou and ran to Kaname. He wrapped his arms around her and let her cry into his coat.

"They're getting worse and worse. Like they were before that damn Zero showed up. Every night. There's blood everywhere and everyone I see at school….." Sobs racked her body so hard Kain thought she would break apart.

"Make me forget Kaname Please. Like when Yuuki and I used to have nightmares when we were little. You could always make them go away. Even if it's just for a second and even it doesn't really work on me." She felt his hesitation and turned her tear streaked face towards him.

"Please." she said in a cracked whisper.

Kaname put one hand on her head and a purple static orb appeared. Zell's cries stopped and there was a moment of quiet. Suddenly the orb flew into an overhead beam and left a huge smoking hole in the wood. Everyone stared at it.

"Thank you, Kaname." said Zell, sounding much calmer. She walked over to the window and sung her legs over the sill.

"Wait!" cried Aidou. "Who were those people in your notebook, the man and woman?"

"They were my parents."

"Were?"

"Shinji and Oki are dead?" Kaname said looking startled.

"Why do you think I'm here, Kaname?"

"How ¾"

"They were murdered."

The doorknob turned temporarily and the teacher walked in, distracting everyone, and when the looked back at the window, Zell was gone.