Chapter Seven
POV: ?
I watched the whole scene through the window. What was that woman thinking, attacking a girl and her dog like that? And that second dog—or was it a wolf?—for that matter; without a second thought it had smashed directly through the window and joined the fray. I had to assume there was more to this story than I knew so far. After all, I'd only been here for a day. I didn't know anyone here...or why I was here, for that matter. All I knew was that my apprentice and our horses had come as well.
I turned around, walking away from the window. This wasn't my business to take care of. It was the business of the people who lived here. We'd have to go get them, then.
As I made my way to the girl's backyard, where I had left my apprentice and the horses, I noticed my apprentice was reading a book on his horse's back. "What are you doing, Will?" I asked, sighing in exasperation.
"...Since when have we had a book?" Will asked.
I stared at him, not really sure how to respond to that. He handed me the book, and I read the name on the spine: The Ruins of Gorlan. I raised an eyebrow.
"We can learn more about it later," I decided, shaking my head. "Right now, we've got other places to be."
"Like where?" Will asked. I wondered if I should leave him hanging. It was kind of fun to do that. I sighed again and shook my head, deciding against it, for now.
"Remember that building labelled 'school' we saw earlier? As far as I'm concerned, it's the only building with people in it at the moment, not including this one. We need to talk to the people there."
"Why?" Will asked.
I rolled my eyes, not responding. We didn't have a lot of time. I got onto Abelard, my horse. Will realized I wasn't going to answer his question and sighed. We both took off.
It didn't take long for us to reach the building. I swiftly dismounted, tying Abelard's reigns to a metal bar. "We need to hurry," I said, pushing open a door. Will tied his horse, Tug, next to Abelard, and we darted inside.
There was a long row of metal cases stacked on top of each other, with locks keeping them shut. I ran down the hall and stopped at a door. Before I could open it, though, it opened itself. Two girls—apparently twins—a red haired girl, and a boy made their way through. They stopped and looked up at me.
"I have an important message for everyone here," I said.
"You're Halt, aren't you?" said the boy, his eyes widening in excitement.
"...I think you're right, Echoheart!" said the twin with the longer hair.
"Isn't he the one who throws people into moats?" the short haired twin asked, and she and her sister laughed. I took a minute to examine their condition. They both had various healing but still disgusting and painful-looking wounds. The long haired girl had a large set of scratches running down her face. There was a large set of similar scratches running down the short haired girl's leg. I shook my head. I would ask later.
"What's the message?" the red-haired girl asked.
"It's about one of the citizens and her dog," I replied.
"...Starry," they all said, exchanging worried looks.
"She's under attack by a woman with animal eyes and wolf people."
The reaction was huge. The twins' eyes widened and they both whipped around and ran across the room. The short haired girl yelled "SHEILA!" while the long haired girl screamed "FAI!" The red haired girl looked shocked and scared. "That woman...could she be the Dark Sorceress...?"
"She mentioned 'the Healer'."
"That's her..." The girl's voice shook.
"We'll help you, Emily," said the boy, Echoheart I presumed. He looked at my apprentice, who was standing just behind me. "You're Will, right?"
Will seemed startled. "Y-Yes..."
"Your book is awesome!" he said, giving a slightly forced smile. In the room behind him, the oldest woman was organizing the fighters in the room. I noticed the long haired twin was standing next to a brown haired boy with a sword and a blonde haired man who I guessed was Fai, by the way he was freaking out. There was also a girl next to a spiky black-haired boy who looked about ready to run from the room at full speed. Everyone was talking about battle.
"Could you please teach me archery?" Echoheart asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"...Maybe," I said briskly, as the entire group started heading in this direction.
"We're going to help Starry. Are you coming?" said the short haired twin as she passed.
"Yes," I said, nodding, and taking off down the hallway.
—
POV: Lostpaw
I had never been to Starsight's house before. I was surprised to know that she only lived two minutes away from my house, on foot. She lived only three minutes away from school, but those three minutes felt like forever. Everyone was running, no one was slowing down. Fai was freaking out beside me. Lilacheart and Soundstorm, despite their injuries, were trying their best to pull ahead of everyone. I think it was because the two had been arguing with Sheila, Kurogane, and Syaoran over whether or not they could fight in this battle, and that they wanted to prove themselves. I thought it was kind of funny to see Syaoran rejecting the idea of them fighting. Or, more or less, it was funny to see Lilacheart hesitate before she argued. He was her favourite character from her favourite series; it must've been pretty hard for her to fight his opinion.
Rabbitfoot was leading the entire pack at an all-out sprint. She was, after all, Starsight's best friend. She must be scared to death. Danny Phantom was keeping up with her.
Dawnstripe and Icetail were running side by side, talking about something. I wasn't sure what they were talking about, but it was obviously pretty important to them. I heard the words 'forest' and 'maybe' used several times. Sheila and Magicyop were keeping a good pace, speaking quickly to each other between breaths. Kirby was riding on Absol. I wasn't sure it understood what was going on; it seemed worried only because everyone else was. Sevenclaws was running in perfect time with his Absol, which didn't surprise me in the slightest. Jayfeather and Echoheart were running beside Halt and Will, which was actually quite amazing, seeing as the two were on horses.
Overall, everyone was freaking out. I knew that everyone would always be like this, no matter whose life was on the line. Though I hoped that, after this, no one else's life was ever on the line again.
I wish.
As for me? I was running next to Kurogane. He was, after all, my instructor. I was kind of nervous. After all, was I really good enough with a sword to use it in a real battle? I certainly didn't think so.
After what seemed like an eternity Starsight's house finally came into view. We all stopped at the door for a 10 second discussion; after all, we couldn't just run in there without a real plan. Well, we could, but it wouldn't be smartest thing we'd ever done. Kurogane kneeled down beside me and started whispering last minute strategies that I had yet to perfect into my ear, but I wasn't actually listening to him.
"I can help!" I heard Emily arguing with Sheila.
"If the Dark Sorceress was trying to lure you here using Starry, you shouldn't take the bait," Sheila said, sounding unnaturally calm. But then again, she couldn't exactly freak out without sending everyone into hysterics.
"I won't just sit here and do nothing!" Lilacheart argued with Syaoran. "Please! Starry's my friend, and I've been doing enough sitting on the sidelines!"
"...Fine," Syaoran sighed. "You and Soundstorm-san can get Starsight-san out of there, and bring her to Emily-san, who can heal her. I'm sure she'll need it."
Icestar was taking out her bow and arrow. She was, after all, a good archer. Nearby Rabbitfoot and Rubystripe were talking about Alchemy. Something to do with FullMetal Alchemist.
"I bet you that Roy Mustang will appear in the county sometime soon," Rubystripe said.
"I wish! But I doubt it. If he does, I'll propose to him," Rabbitfoot laughed. The two were obviously trying to lighten some of the tension they felt. That we all felt.
"You're on!" Rubystripe said.
I sniggered.
"Are you even listening to me?" Kurogane demanded.
"Yes," I lied.
"Then what did I just say?"
Sheila saved me here. "Open the door, let's get in there!" she yelled.
Fai flung the door open, and everyone charged inside, weapons at ready. I stopped both Rabbitfoot and Soundstorm at the door.
"Soundy, you can take my sword," I said quickly, handing the blade to her. "You might need to defend yourself when you get Starry."
"Won't you need it?" Soundstorm asked, seeming worried.
"Rabbit, where's Starry's room?"
Rabbitfoot looked confused. "Up these stairs, take a left," she said.
"Thanks." And before either of them could ask me anything more, I took off up the stairs.
The words I had said during training earlier today rung in my head: "Or maybe I can just hit you with a chair!"
Who would've thought I was serious?
As I entered her room, the first thing I saw was a chair. I'll need to apologize to Starry for likely breaking this thing later, I thought, picking it up with a light grunt of effort. How did I manage to get back down the narrow hallway with a chair over my head? I'll leave you to figure it out. But it took ten seconds.
I stared at the scene laid out before me. The battle was a giant mess. The Dog was missing lots of fur, but otherwise, she seemed okay. Lots of Erasers were taking on the members of the county. It hadn't even been that long, and lots of us had received several wounds. So had the Erasers. Blood and claw marks stained the walls and furniture. A window which took up half of one wall was broken, and cold air blasted in through it. I didn't look for Starsight. It would be hard to find her in this mess anyway.
Enough staring! I snapped at myself, charging into the battle. A lot of heads turned to look of me. Of course this would happen; I was an angry teenage girl holding a chair over my head! I would've laughed at the thought if the situation hadn't been serious.
"Take this, Kurogane!" I yelled, bringing the chair down on the head of the nearest Eraser. The noise was loud, and the sound of something breaking was very disturbing. But all the while, I was pleased with myself. I didn't look for Kurogane. I could imagine the look on his face. While the thought amused me, I knew I'd be in trouble with him for this later.*
—
POV: Lilacheart
I'm embarrassed to admit it, but seeing Lostpaw run into the room with a chair made me laugh so hard I nearly cried. It was just PERFECT; she had traded her sword to Soundstorm for a chair! It took me a minute to get over it, and then I remembered I was supposed to be looking around for Starsight.
"Sorry, Soundy," I said quickly.
"No, that was actually amusing," Soundstorm said, laughing behind her hand.
We scanned the area as well as we could while the battle raged around us, but we both saw Starsight at around the same time. She had smashed into a wall unit on the other side of the room, and was surrounded by various DVD boxes.
I dashed into the battle, weaving in and out of the fighters, receiving a couple of grazes here and there, no matter how careful I tried to be. Soundstorm was right behind me, holding off the Erasers with the sword Lostpaw had given her.
An Eraser suddenly charged towards Starsight. I swung around to alert Soundstorm, but she was busy holding off a different Eraser. I completely panicked, and did the first thing that came to mind: I grabbed Will's bow and arrows off his back. It wasn't the greatest thing I'd ever done, and I later I would completely regret it, but I was kind of freaking out at the moment. I pulled out an arrow and tried my best to nock it. I had absolutely no idea how to use it, which made me feel even worse. Will yelled at me in protest, but he hadn't actually been using it, so he just continued to fight with his knives.
I pulled the string back, and the arrow seemed to go along with it. Suddenly, a voice yelled from behind me, "Pull the string back further, and aim a bit higher!"
I had no idea who said it, but I listened, and let go. The arrow flew well enough, but the string snapped back and painfully whipped my wrist. "I deserved that," I muttered, but I looked around for the Eraser I'd been aiming for. I found it, all right: it was dead, the arrow coming out of its chest.
"Holy crud, did you do that?" Soundstorm asked, the Eraser she'd been fighting driven off by Amaterasu. The sun god was fighting as well as she could without blowing anything up, injuring any of the Wands and Worlds County members, or gorily tearing the Erasers in half, because that was the last thing we needed.
I looked around to see if I could find the person who'd given me the helpful orders, and I saw Icestar, giving me an approving look. "You got lucky," she said.
"Heck yeah," I responded. "Thanks." I thought for a moment, then asked slowly, "Could you teach me how to use the bow and arrow properly at some point?"
She gave me a small grin before sending an arrow through an Eraser's shoulder. "If Syaoran will allow it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I cried indignantly. She just laughed and disappeared into the fray. Unfortunately, I knew exactly what she had meant.
"Everyone knows that you like Syaoran," Soundstorm said, a cheeky grin on her face. I handed Will back his bow and arrow and looked around. The Erasers were getting their butts kicked, which was good to know. I briefly wondered where the Dark Sorceress had gone, but I quickly dismissed the thought.
"He's my favourite book character," I said.
"I mean the other type of like."
"I don't get it," I lied, running towards Starsight.
"You've been bitten by the love bug!"
"Have not!" I yelped. Soundstorm laughed, but she quickly was cut off when we saw Starsight.
Her arm was covered in blood, a small puddle building by her fingers. But that wasn't what freaked us out: it was her skin. It had turned so pale she was nearly white. She wasn't wearing her jacket; obviously she hadn't been expecting the Erasers or the Dark Sorceress to be waiting inside her house. The window had been smashed open, and it was snowing outside, which accounted for the frigid temperature in the room. I shuddered. I didn't even know skin could be that color.
We couldn't go back and get her jacket, so I resorted to taking off my jacket and putting it around her. Soundstorm did the same. Starsight was several years older than we were, so our jackets didn't exactly fit, but it was the best we could do for now.
The two of us picked her up, and the Dog, seeing this, began to shudder slightly. At first I wondered what in the world she was doing, until her collar glowed brighter and several symbols shifted off it and down her snout, quivering at the tip of her nose. She let out a loud bark, and the symbols exploded forth, erupting in white fire that drove the Erasers back, howling.
We darted through the cleared path and headed down the steps towards the door, where Emily was waiting outside. I grabbed Starsight's jacket on the way out. We stopped on the front steps outside, carefully putting her down. Emily looked terrified. "Is she okay?" she asked.
I realized that I hadn't checked for pulse or anything of the sort. But she was breathing, so that was good, at least. "Sort of," I concluded.
"You might want to put your jackets back on," Emily suggested.
"She's needs it more," I said with a shake of my head. Soundstorm put Starsight's jacket on her. Emily didn't object to either of these two actions. She held out her healing crystal, closing her eyes. I sat silently on the steps, Soundstorm and I both hoping everything would be okay.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps. I looked up to see a man clad in a dark blue cloak that looked like he had just stepped out of the ranks of the military. And...white gloves?
"Do you ladies know what's going on around here?" he asked.
"You...you're Roy Mustang, aren't you?" I asked, surprised.
He seemed slightly startled I knew him, but shook it off and nodded.
"Rabbit's so in for it now," Soundstorm muttered.
"What do you mean?"
"...I'll tell you later."
"What's going on is Starsight is dying on her walkway while the county members fight for their lives inside," Emily whispered, sounding miserable.
"...Are you saying you can't heal her?" I asked, terror gripping me.
"I'm trying!" she said frantically.
"Can you help everyone inside?" I asked, looking up at Roy. "I know you don't even know us, but please...we need all the help we can get."
Roy seemed to consider for a moment before running past us without another word inside.
"That answers that," Soundstorm said. We both walked over to Emily; I knelt down and put my hand on the Healer's shoulder. "You can do it. Just relax, all right?" Fortunately she didn't know the irony of my words; I was ready to freak out myself.
But what I said seemed to reassure Emily. She took a few deep breaths, then closed her eyes again. This time, her crystal glowed bright, and a healing light spread over Starsight. Her arm stopped bleeding and her skin seemed to regain some color, which was good since I was worried she was about to literally turn white. And she was still wearing our jackets as well as her own...
"I'm freezing," I complained quietly to Soundstorm, realizing I was shivering violently.
"Me, too, but we'll live," she whispered back, and I nodded in agreement. My attention was brought back to Starsight when she groaned and opened her eyes.
"You're awake!" I exclaimed, the fear ebbing away to be replaced by relief.
"Are you oka—Sorry, standard question," Soundstorm said.
"Are you?" Starsight asked, slowly shifting position.
We both cocked our heads.
"Aren't you cold?" she prompted, noticing that she was wearing our jackets.
"Definitely, but at least you're okay. Everyone's in your house fighting the Erasers."
Starsight attempted to jolt upright, but she groaned and fell back down. "Are they okay? You two? Sheila? Fun-Bun? Fai? Everyone?"
"Yeah, I'm sure they'll all be okay," I said, half lying. "Oh, and Losty's fighting with your chair."
There was a short silence, then Starsight laughed. "I'm not even going to ask." Her expression suddenly became solemn, and she fell silent.
"Are you feeling better, at least?" I asked.
"Well...I had this strange dream..." she muttered.
I cocked my head curiously.
"A creature flew up to me, asked me a few questions, then said it liked me and...entered my heart."
"Sounds kind of like a...holy—!"
I said a bad word there, but the sound of something breaking inside drowned it out.
"I'm sure Magic can get someone to fix that for you," Soundstorm said quickly.
"That sounds like a Kudan," I finished.
This time Starsight swore. I'll leave you to figure out the word.
"You have a Kudan!" I said, stopping my voice from rising to a squeak. Native to the Tsubasa manga, Kudan were creatures that helped you fight and protect others. They came in all shapes, sizes, and forms. In the manga, Syaoran's had been a flame wolf, Kurogane's had been a water dragon, and Fai's had been a bird.
A big grin spread across Starsight's face. "That is too cool..." she whispered, her voice in awe.
From inside her house there was another explosion.
"...Well, it might be cooler if my house wasn't blowing up."
She was about to stand up, but Emily stopped her. "You're in no condition to fight. Lilac, Soundy, you can go check it out. And take your jackets with you before you freeze to death. I'll take Starry over to your place."
We both nodded, and Starsight gave us our jackets back, which we took without much hesitation this time.
"Thanks," Starsight said, smiling.
"Thank Halt. He's the reason you're alive right now."
"From The Ranger's Apprentice?""
"Yeah!" Soundstorm and I both said.
"...I just had my life saved by a book character. Holy foo, that is both awesome and scary."
We both laughed, glad that Starsight was okay.
"We'll catch up with you later, okay?" I said, then we swung around and ran inside.
Starsight was wrong when she said her house was blowing up.
Only her living room was a bloody mess full of broken windows and furniture. All of the Erasers were dead on the ground. The members of the County were covered in various cuts and bruises that were probably not as painful as they looked, but weren't as injured as I thought they'd be. Probably because our odds had been so much better against the Erasers. I noticed that Lostpaw was sitting on the chair she had been fighting with and I laughed, hard.
"Is everyone all right?" I asked, guilt sweeping over me as soon as I recovered from the laughing fit. I had been so useless.
"We're all okay. How about you two?" Jadepool asked.
"We didn't do anything."
"Yes, you did! You got Starry out of there!" Squirrelflame insisted.
"Speaking of Starry-chan—" Fai began.
"Is she okay?" Rabbitfoot asked, her eyes full of fear.
"She'll be all right. Anyone know what happened to the window?"
"That would be me," a gruff voice responded on the far side of the room, and a large dog wove past the county members and into the center of the room. It had a wolfish-looking appearance, and seemed slightly familiar.
"Who...?" Soundstorm began.
The canine gave a friendly growl and shook his head. "Balto."
"I knew you seemed familiar!" Hawkstorm exclaimed.
I nodded in agreement, seeing it now. "Did anyone notice when Roy Mustang came in?" I asked.
"I did," Rubystripe said, a huge grin on her face.
"We can talk about that bet later, okay?" Rabbitfoot said quickly. "What happened to—?"
"Starry got a Kudan!" Soundstorm said, smiling. Most of them said "A what?" Several people just looked dumbfounded. With the exception of Syaoran and Fai, who both smiled, and Kurogane, who had a 'been there, done that' look on his face.
"Oh my god, LUCKY..." Cloudwind muttered.
"Well, she nearly died. Nothing lucky about that," I responded.
"True," she said, then she hugged Fai.
"...Who are you...?" Fai asked tentatively.
"That's Cloudwind. Not sure if you've met her yet."
"...Ah." He looked a little freaked out. Then again, it's weird being recognized and adored when you didn't even know you were famous.
"...Kurogane? You're...you're not too mad at me about fighting with a chair, are you...?" Lostpaw asked slowly.
The ninja was silent for a moment, then he sighed loudly. "It was probably for the better," he admitted irritably. "You weren't ready."
Lostpaw let out an audible sigh of relief.
"Cloudy? Let go of Fai," Soundstorm said, proceeding to drag her away while she struggled.
I walked over to Syaoran. "Are you sure you're okay?" I asked.
"I promise you, I'm fine, Lilacheart-san," he assured me.
"We should all go home for the day," Sheila announced. Everyone nodded, thankful that we didn't have to go back to school after the ordeal.
"Wait!" Soundstorm exclaimed suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her.
"Where's the Dark Sorceress?"
There was a long silence as it sunk in. She was still on the loose, along with Ashura. Kurogane swore loudly.
"There are children in the room, Kurogane," Fai said. That got a couple of laughs out of everyone.
"All of you be careful on your way home, alright?" Sheila said, her tone serious. We all nodded.
"Kurogane should escort everyone home!" Soundstorm said, and everyone laughed.
"Very funny," he growled dryly.
"You should go home with Losty," I suggested, "since she's the one you're training."
He gave a slight nod.
"...I'm not going to get a lecture, am I?" Lostpaw asked.
"You are," he reassured her.
"...Yay," she muttered sarcastically. The two walked out the door arguing about something. With a glance around at the rest of us Balto followed them out. There was a long silence, then we all broke out giggling.
Fai turned to look at me. "Syaoran-kun, you go home with the twins. We need someone with better fighting skills to go with them, because of the evil people out there and all." Syaoran nodded.
"What about—" I began.
"I'll take care of everyone else," he said. "Tell Starry I hope she feels better soon."
I smiled. "Okay." I glanced over at Sevenclaws. "How was your Absol?" I asked. Even before he had one, he was always telling us to 'remember the Absol.'
"It was good, but it would be made better if I had 12 more, yes?" he said with a smirk on his face. We all laughed, but I doubted that he was kidding.
I glanced at Amaterasu and smiled. She flicked her ears, wagged her tail, and rubbed her head against Spirithunter's leg. I had a feeling she was talking to her, which was confirmed when Spirithunter nodded and whispered, "Thank you."
I glanced at Halt and Will, who were standing next to their horses, Abelard and Tug, respectively. "You might need a place to stay," I said. My house was full with the Tsubasa cast, so I couldn't offer them to stay with me.
"They can stay at my place," Echoheart offered. "My yard is big enough for a couple of horses, too."
I glanced at Halt. He nodded. "Thank you," he said, though I got the feeling he was a little reluctant to accept the help.
"Sheila...?" I asked. She looked at me.
"I want to start fighting soon. I'm done resting, and I feel useless when everyone fights without me. I don't mind who I practice with..."
"Preferably Syaoran," Soundstorm teased.
"HEY!" I protested, pretending this wasn't true. (Which it was, by the way.) "I actually want to learn archery..."
She nodded. "It's a Friday, so you can start on Monday, after two more days of rest. Is that okay?"
I smiled and nodded. "It is. Thank you." I walked over to Kirby and pet its head. "We need to get Kirby a sword," I laughed, remembering its sword ability. It didn't seem to get what I was talking about, because it jumped up and down and made silly little noises. I laughed again, then turned around. "I'm going to go home," I said, trying to stifle a yawn. "See you later, everyone."
"See you Lilac! See you, Soundy!" said a bunch of scattered voices. I followed Syaoran out the door, Soundstorm behind me.
"I wonder who—or what—will drop in next?" Soundstorm asked me.
"...I'm not sure..." Syaoran responded before I could say anything. "But I have a bad feeling about it."
I looked up at him, cocking my head. "Why?"
He stayed silent for a moment, then sighed. "No reason. Come on, let's get going."
—
Saturday. I was on my computer, listening to music. I was also on [wandsandworlds,com/community], our website. It was fun talking to the county members in the chatroom when we were too lazy to go across the street. This time I was talking to Runningflame and Coalfang. Runningflame had been a resident of the county until a little while ago. He'd moved, but most people here still remembered him and tried to keep in touch.
An IM suddenly popped up on my screen.
**Runningflame: 'There is no WAY book characters dropped into the county. There's just no logical way!'
Coalfang: you and your logic, runningflame, lol.
Lilacheart: xD
After all, Coalfang had a point. Runningflame was always thinking things had to be logical. While I was sure there was a (semi) logical reason behind some of this, I didn't know what it was. I didn't really care, either.
**Lilacheart: I can get Syaoran onto my computer, if you want me to. I'm...just not sure if he knows how to use the keyboard.
Runningflame: ...I'd have to see it for myself.
Lilacheart: Then come back for a visit sometime!
Coalfang: yah, everyone here misses you, runningflame.
Lilacheart: Except the people who don't know you, lol.
The door creaked open. I forgot to pause my music as I turned around, but I didn't really think anything of it. Syaoran walked into the room. "What are you doing?" he asked.
I shrugged carelessly. "Talking to Runningflame, a member who left the county some time ago, and Coalfang, the older member who was fighting alongside Moonglow in the last battle. Moonglow's the one in the black clothes, by the way."
He nodded. "I remember her."
"Hard to forget. I'm also browsing the community website and listening to music."
Syaoran fell quiet, listening to the song. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he cocked his head. "It sounds...familiar," he admitted. "What's it called?"
"Hmm? Oh, it's called Kizuna."***
"Who sings it?"
I stopped short. I now knew why it sounded so familiar.
"That would be...you?" I said. Syaoran's Japanese voice actor, Miyu Irino, had sung this song. He fell quiet for a moment, his eyes widening. When he next spoke, he sounded freaked out.
"When did that happen?"
The song ended on that note, and moved to the next one. Zankou.***
"If it makes you feel any better, Kurogane sung this song."
There was a long silence as the song progressed. Syaoran suddenly sniggered, then doubled over laughing. I laughed with him. It was just too funny.
"Who's dying over there?" Kurogane snapped from outside my room, down the hall.
"I am in no way responsible!" Soundstorm yelled back.
I fell out of my chair laughing. Syaoran was on the floor; I was pretty sure he was crying from laughter. Fai walked into the room to see this.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
We were both laughing far too hard to respond. Soundstorm walked into the room and, after a moment, asked, "...Is that Zankou playing?"
I managed to nod, and she burst into laughter too.
"...I'm not following this," Fai said.
Then Kurogane walked into the room. I pointed at him and laughed even harder. I couldn't even breathe by this point. I wiped a tear away from my face and laughed some more. Soundstorm was laughing because I was laughing, I was laughing because Syaoran was laughing, and Syaoran was laughing because he just learned that Kurogane's voice actor sung. It was just too great.
"SINGING NINJA!" I screamed, and we all laughed harder. Kurogane's eyes narrowed. "Second thought, I don't want to know," he said, then he turned around and walked away.
Starsight walked into the room, looking confused and amused at the same time. "Why does Kurogane looked extremely ticked?" Then she heard the song and began to laugh. How she heard the song over our hysterical laughter was a mystery to me. Fai glanced at her and sighed.
"Kurogane sings this song!" Starsight yelped, laughing really hard.
"KUROGANE SINGS!" Syaoran yelled, trying to catch his breath, and failing miserably. Fai didn't find this as funny as we did, but he did laugh a little bit. After a minute, he shook his head, looking way past amused. "Don't tell him or he'll kill you all."
Somehow we all managed to nod through our hysterics to show that we'd heard. He left us, and we all laughed long after the song was over.
It was just one of those moments, I guess. But still, after the events of the day before, I was glad we were all able to laugh like that.
—
"I'm going out for a walk, okay?" I said later that day, going down the stairs.
"Be careful, okay, Lilac-chan?" Fai called, and I nodded.
"I should be back in either ten minutes or an hour, depending on whether or not Foxwhisper wants to chase me around the street," I replied with a slight laugh. I closed the door and locked it behind me. Starsight had gone home about two hours after the whole laughter attack, but not before she told me the Dark Sorceress had entered her house because the door was unlocked. Even though Soundstorm, Syaoran, Kurogane, and Fai were at my house, I didn't want to take any chances. Emily and the Dog had gone with Starsight.
I walked silently down the road, heading towards the park. It was a quiet, uneventful walk. I passed a large tree and stepped into an empty field. I was about to sit down, when I noticed a set of footprints in the snow.
My eyes followed the path the footprints had taken. They started coming the same direction I had come, then they turned around sharply and continued behind the tree I'd passed before stopping.
I cocked my head. "Hello?" I called.
There was no response. I took a cautious step forward. The branches rustled. I stopped, suddenly scared. I took a deep breath tried to calm down. There was no point in freaking out over nothing. "Who's there?" I asked.
Suddenly a figure leapt out of the bushes. I didn't even wait to see who it was, I just turned around and ran as fast as I could. I heard the sound of quick footsteps across the ground; whoever it was they were chasing me.
"Jinxy, if that's you, please stop!" I yelled. Jinxstar, or Jinxy, had a habit of trying to scare the heck out of people.
There was no response, just the sound of an unsheathing sword. I sped up, in a full scale panic. Something sharp slashed across my back. I cried out, swinging around and kicking whoever was behind me in the stomach. Then I felt a sharp pain in my neck and everything went black.
—
* The chair has officially become a weapon. No, seriously.
** These chats were originally colour-coded. Unfortunately, colour doesn't show up on FFnet, so these lines have been altered.
*** Clips of these two songs were originally included in the forum. Unfortunately, I can't post them on FFnet.