My heart was pounding as I walked through the front doors of Easter's building. I think I was even more excited - though perhaps a bit less scared - than I had been on my first visit to this place. If there was anything that planetarium guy had prophecized that was true, it had to involve this. The 'not being able to change my path' sounded like it more or less fit what I was going to do. After this fateful Saturday, I doubted there would be any turning back. No matter what I might end up doing after today, this would probably change everything.
But I was a dragon now. What might happen shouldn't concern me - only what is happening.
I had gone for one of my more common looks. I was wearing a black t-shirt, layered over a very dark blue long-sleeve shirt - matching the tight-fitting jean shorts I was also wearing. Going for perhaps a slightly more punk look, I had a thin but noticeable chain dangling between two of the belt loops. It didn't quite go with the entire theme of the outfit I was wearing, but it made me feel stronger and more rebellious. Feelings like those could come in handy today. Not to mention, it did kinda go with my slightly punk-like, purple-streaked hair. For shoes, I had on some black sandals, with small leathery straps that tied nearly up to my knee. I'd even gone to the trouble of putting some black nail paint onto all my nails, something I didn't normally bother with. When I'd looked in the mirror this morning, I'd thought the outfit made me look quite intimidating. At least, as intimidating as someone as young as me can be.
I was surprised to see that the other secretary - who Azami and I had been looking forward to bothering once again - was gone. In her place was a more reasonable-looking brunette. Maybe she took a day of vacation, knowing I'd be back. I thought, laughing inwardly.
"Hello. Welcome to Easter. May I help you?" asked the secretary courteously, looking up from her work. Couldn't secretaries come up with any better greeting?
"Yeah." I said, trying to stay calm. Nonetheless, I caught my legs shaking a bit. I managed to calm myself before continuing, "I believe I have an appointment today - my name is Yamada Miyuki."
"Yes, yes, of course," said the secretary, smiling, "You're wanted on the twenty-third floor. You'll want to go to the door marked, 'laboratory 5.' It should be..." she glanced down at some papers on her desk. Presumably a map of the building. "It should be down the hallway to your left as you exit the elevator."
"Thanks." I said, walking over to the elevators. Just before I pressed the 'up' buttong, I turned back to the brunette woman. "What happened to the other secretary?" I asked. Not like I was particularly concerned about that woman's welfare, but I was really curious.
"Oh. She was complaining about ghosts or something, and that her job didn't pay well enough for what she had to put up with." said the brunette, her smile fading into a more thoughtful look. I took a quick glance at Azami, trying hard not to smile as she started to crack up. The secretary continued, "She turned in her resignation form first thing last Sunday morning, and I was hired to start taking her shifts. However, I'm happy to say that I have had no encounters with anything supernatural that I know of." I smiled back at her before pressing the button and disappearing into the elevator. And, just like a week ago, that was when both of us started laughing.
"She actually quit!" I said, barely managing to gasp in some air before continuing, "Just because of a couple of scratches! What a wuss!" Of course, this probably wasn't a very funny event. No matter how... disagreeable she had been, she had probably been really freaked out by the scratches. And neither losing nor leaving a job is a fun experience. But neither of us cared. We both calmed ourselves down considerably when the doors opened and I stepped out into a well-lit hallway. Unlike my previous visit to one of this building's floors, this story was considerably more cheery. Hallways extended to both sides of me, each with doors along it. In front of me, a short hallway connected to a slightly lobby-like area (though it was obviously smaller than the main lobby downstairs). I headed down the passade to my left, easily finding lab number five. I steeled myself for what was about to happen, but the merriment from the elevator remained. No matter how long I stood outside the door, taking deep breaths, the thought of that woman's outraged and confused face from last week kept popping up, making me want to giggle. Eventually, I simply gave up trying to compose myself, and knocked on the door.
Or, rather, I almost knocked on the door. It opened before I could actually make contact, and I almost ended up hitting some very scientist-looking guy in the chest. He wore a white lab coat, and a somewhat cheesy smile was plastered on his face.
"Oh, you must be Miyuki-san! Please come in! Our boss even came down for this, which he hardly ever does - you shoud feel honored!" said the scientist in a very complementing way. He sounded like he would do anything he could to suck up to those with power. However, even though he was working for Easter, he didn't seem evil. At all. His posture, his was of speaking, all indicated almost a... almost a... a goofball. If this is as evil as Easter gets, perhaps I should've stayed with the guardians. Tadase seems more evil than this dweeb.
"I can hear everything you are saying." said the man I had met last Saturday from further inside the room. His tone was grim, as if he didn't want to be messing around with this obvious flattery. He stepped up behind the scientist, who tried to make himself as small as possible.
The man (whose name I still didn't know) smiled. It certainly wasn't kind, but nor did it seem completely cruel. I wasn't sure what to think of it. "Please come in." he said. The scientist scurried back inside and I followed. The room I entered was a large room, with all of the walls covered with high-tech looking equipment. At one end, instead of being covered with gadgets, the wall had a wide window installed in it, showing a small room beyond. The room was bare, except for a small, dark crystal on a pedastal-like object in the center of the room. A very solid-looking door connected the two rooms, and I guessed that the room was fairly soundproof. Other than the manager of Easter and the dweeby scientist, there were two other scientists in lab coats. One was a woman, who seemed to me to be radically similar to the dweeb, for some reason or another. The other one was a big, burly-looking man. I was surprised that he could even find a labcoat his size. Maybe it had had to be specially tailored.
Turning back to the manager, I decided to say something reckless. The slightly wicked merriment from the elevator was still making me a lot less serious than I should have been. "Of course, I am more than simply honored that someone as high up as you would go to the trouble of that long ride down the elevator just to see me. I am humbled." I did an overly elaborate bow, as if my sarcasm wasn't apparent enough. As I stood up again, I could tell that my lack of real respect had not gone unnoticed. However, he remained as if nothing had happened. I'll admit that I was ever so slightly impressed - he could take goads well.
He smiled back, pretending to take my words at face value. "I simply wanted to verify that we were still in agreement as to our terms, as well as to make sure that everything went smoothly."
"I still agree to everything we agreed to a week ago, if that's what you mean." I said.
"Excellent." Replied the man. "Then I suppose we can get started." He turned to the dweeby scientist, who didn't quite comprehend for a moment.
"Oh, right! We'll get everything set up!" said the scientist, as all three of them frantically went about turning knobs and messing with the numerous intricate pieces of machinary around the room. The manager and I stood in awkward silence in the center of the room as the machines whirred around us. After about five minutes of hustling and bustling, the dweeby scientist approached me.
"We'll need your chara to go into that room. Once we close the- Ouch!" he exclaimed as Azami rapped him hard on one of his hands with her tail.
"You can talk directly to me, you know. And I'd prefer to be called 'Empress Azami,' rather than just be referred to as someone's chara." said the dragon as she came to hover in front of the scientist's face. I nearly burst out laughing again, but managed to hold it in. Who in the world would call Azami an Empress? Unless this man had absolutely no self dignity whatsoever.
The scientist was apparently conflicted between acting how he was expected to act and addressing someone a couple inches high as 'empress'. He turned imploringly to the manager, who simply glared. "A-all right, Empress Azami," said the scientist, his hesitation and dislike at the title clear. Azami flew contentedly onto my shoulder as the unhappy scientist continued. "We'll need you to go into that room. Once we close the door, you will need to land on the pedestal that the crystal is on. Once you are ready, you'll need to place both of your hands on it. We're not entirely sure what will happen, and it may hurt or feel unpleasant, but you'll need to keep your hands on it until it is obvious that nothing else will happen. All right?"
Azami stood on my shoulder, crossed her arms, and glared at the scientist.
"Oh, all right! Do you understand all of that, Empress Azami?" said the scientist, relenting.
She smiled, getting a lot of joy out of being called an Empress. "Crystal clear, my loyal commoner." she said. Of course, I was the only other one to get the reference to Kiseki. I nearly cracked up again, and this time, a laugh did escape me. I quickly stopped myself, afraid I would break into a laughing fit. The manager looked at me questioningly.
"Excuse me, your excellency." I said, continuing on the formalities Azami had introduced. It's just that mine were very much sarcasm-filled. "Please, let us continue." I walked over to the door, opening it so Azami could get inside.
As the door closed and Azami floated over to the crystal, the woman scientist turned to me. "You may experience some... discomfort as well. You'll need to try and keep control of yourself. Can you handle that?" I gave her a look that spoke loud and clear. Of course I could handle it! My only problem was why Azami was in there, and not me? I thought I was the one getting the power. Then again, I do suppose Azami was just an extension of me.
I turned my attention back to Azami as she landed on the pedastal. The scientist went back to her work, adjusting some more machines and recording some numbers that appeared on monitors. Azami glanced through the glass at me, and I could see in her eyes no fear, and no anxiety. The only feelings in her eyes were those of excitement and aniticipation. It was a look that I wished I could carry more often. Even now, my heart felt like it was going to burst through my chest, so hard was it beating.
She held my gaze for only a couple seconds. Then, she turned to the stone, reached out both hands, and put her palms flat onto it.
The first thing the both of us felt was exceedingly strange. If you know what having your breath knocked out of you feels like, and you can try to imagine what that would feel like if it was part of the very essence of you being pulled oud out instead of air being knocked out, then you might have a pretty good idea. I collapsed to my knees, gasping for breath as I clenched my fists. This hurt. Perhaps it wasn't quite physical pain, but it hurt in a different way. And I could sense more than see that what Azami was feeling was ten times worse. I managed to look up from my position on the floor, and it seemed almost like... almost like a purple fog that surrounded Azami was being sucked into the dark, shadowy crystal.
But the sight of the violet fog was gone the next moment, as well as the pain. Then pure exhileration flowed through Azami and me. If I had to describe this, it was like the feeling of adrenaline rushing through my veins, giving me the feeling like you can do anything in a moment of peril or fear. Except this feeling was more substantial. It felt like the energy had an almost physical presence, settling itself deep inside my chest. And with it, I could feel that dark feeling of the other day, after I had been hit with the X-egg attack. Whatever it had been - fear, doubt, sadness, guilt, or some other emotion - it was back. And I could tell that this time, it really wasn't going to leave. But this emotion was forgotten as the dark energy flowed through my body. This is what real power feels like. And despite that negative feeling I now had, I felt better than I had in a long time. In fact, this was probably the best I had ever felt in my life. I smiled. It was a smile filled with pure joy - something very different from simple happiness. I looked up, and saw that Azami was smiling, too. This time, the fog wasn't leaving her; rather, a thick, dark cloud was extending from the crystal and this time being absorbed into her. Like the first feeling we felt, I could tell that what was happening to her was probably many times more powerful than what I was experiencing. Perhaps I hadn't envied that the first time, but now I wished I was in her position.
And, as suddenly as it had come, the feeling left. No, I take that back. The feeling of it rushing through my body was gone. But now, I could feel all the energy, buried somewhere deep inside myself. It's very source was the dark feeling within me, and I could feel it smouldering away there, just as powerful as it had been a moment ago. The power didn't pulse or beat. I almost imagined it more as a steady vibration, a sort of hum inside me.
"Are you alright?" asked the woman as she approached me, reaching out her hand to help me up from where I was kneeling.
I ignored her hand, instead pushing myself up from the floor. I saw that my legs and arms were shaking, this time not with fear or aniticipation, but with excitement and amazment.
But I don't want to be shaking. It makes me look like I'm weak. Perhaps this was a stupid thing to think at the moment, but it had an effect. I felt the power spread throughout my body, stopping my shaking. It wasn't surging through my body like before. This was just a tiny fraction of the power. Then it withdrew back to its hiding place. The dark emotion didn't bother me too much: I was too excited.
The big scientist opened the door, and Azami zoomed out at top speed, flying over to me and occupying herself with flying around my head. Neither of us had to say anything to the other. Both of us were too absorbed with our new-found power.
"So? How are you feeling?" asked the manager. His wicked smile - which I remembered well from a week ago - was back. But this time, I wasn't concerned with it. Even if he had tricked me, he obviously couldn't understand this power. I couldn't imagine there being anything that could stop this tremendous energy within me. If he betrayed me, it would be his mistake.
I smiled back at him, quite a bit of wickedness in my own grin. "I feel amazing. I can feel the power within me. I feel like I can do anything."
"So are you ready to begin filling out your part of the deal?" he asked.
"Sure. What point would be there in me having this power if I couldn't use it for something?" I answered. Azami had stopped flying, and she was now standing defiantly on my shoulder.
The man nodded, as if he completely agreed, then reached into a pocket. He pulled out five twenty-dollar bills, as well as a very new-looking cellphone. "That's your first paycheck," he said as he handed both the money and the cell phone to me, "as well as how I want you to keep in touch. The phone has unlimited minutes and texting. You can use it for whatever you want, but you must have it on and with you at all times, and you must answer it if we of Easter are calling. This will be our main way of communicating with you. All right?"
"Yeah, yeah." I said, somewhat distracted. I was looking at the cellphone. I'd wanted one for a long time, and this one was perfect. Not only was I getting unlimited talking and texting for free, but it actually had a full slide-down keyboard for texting. And it was my favorite shade of violet.
Then I realized that Mr. Manager here wasn't done talking, and that he was waiting for me to look up. Once I did so, he got right to the point. "Can you tell if you have any special powers, now that you have this energy?"
I thought for a minute, trying my best to sense the power inside of me. "I dunno." I replied. "What kind of power do you mean?"
"You would know it if you could use it." said the manager.
I looked at Azami, and she nodded. I felt the familiar rush of a chara-change, with the added boost of the dark energy as it began to circulate as well. My eyes and the orb of my dragon pendant still turned red, but I was in for one more surprise. Now, my nails had also grown, to the point where they were thick, long, and pointed. An almost identical set to the talon-like nails that Azami herself had.
And the dark energy flowing through me gave me an almost instinctual feeling. Without really thinking, I pulled a single strand of hair from my head, pinching one end between my thumb and forefinger. Instead of drooping down, as a hair normally should, it stood straight up. I focused on the end of the hair, and the end that was standing up in the air began to burn. It didn't burn quickly, as a strand of hair normally does. Instead, it was more like a cigarette, the burning end more like a pinprick of ember than an actual flame. An exceedingly thin trail of smoke rose from the burning hair. This is what I was interested in. I turned to the dweeby scientist, who backed up against some machinary. The other two scientists managed to run behind me, so as not to be in the line of fire. And then I blew. The thin trail of smoke double, tripled, and quadrupled in amount by the second as it glided quickly, directly towards the scientist. A sweet, almost citrus-like smell filled the room, reminding me of the smell of fruit smoothies, or something like that. It was a very pleasant smell.
The scientist was enveloped with the smoke within a matter of seconds. Despite the now large amount of smoke, it was very thin. Nothing more than a slight haze in the air, unless you were looking for it. The fear faded from the dweeby scientist's face, replaced by a look of uncaring. Almost exactly like the look I had seen on Mai's face when she had had her X-egg, and I imagined that it was also very similar to the look I had had on my face when the X-chara had attacked me. In fact, I guessed that was more or less what I had done: an attack using that X-energy. I dropped the hair, which (as soon as it left my hand) showed no sign whatsoever of being burned. In the last few seconds before my chara-change disappeared, I noticed how much better I felt - stronger, faster, with sharper senses. That had to be another advantage of the X-energy.
As soon as the other two saw that I was back to normal (if you can really call my normal, 'normal'), they rushed over to their fallen comrade, shaking him. He quickly reverted back to his original self, just as I had snapped out of my own trance a couple days ago.
"Excellent." said the manager guy, and I turned back to face him. "I see you are harnessing the X-egg power for your own attacks. Can you do anything else?"
I smiled insolently, then took to looking at my now normal nails. "Maybe." I said. What did he think those massive talons were for? Decoration? I knew there was something I could do with those, other than just scratch someone.
The man appeared annoyed at my increasing amount of disrespect for him, but he continued to keep his temper. "Your first objective was to get close to the guardians. As I understand it, you have so far been able to do that. You must continue this, and keep their trust. Until I - or another Easter official - say otherwise, you are to do anything to keep their trust, even if it means fighting Easter directly. In addition to this, I want you to begin using that power as much as possible. We believe that this power might have the power to flush the embryo out of hiding. If you do happen to see the embryo, catch it at all costs. Most of the time, you will probably get nothing but X-eggs. Capture these if you can, and destroy them if they prove too difficult to capture. Is this understood?"
"I can understand it clearly enough, I think." I said.
"Very well." said the manager. "Please report to Nikaido after school on Monday. You will take your orders from him, for the time being."
My jaw dropped open. "Wait a minute. What? What do you mean, report to Nikaido?"
Now the manager smiled again. After all my insolent talk, he was probably enjoying shocking me like this. "I mean exactly what I said. Nikaido is an operative for Easter. He will tell you what to do."
I suppose I probably should've guessed. Nikaido had connections to all the X-egg incidents I had witnessed so far. With that girl from Kukai's class, we had encountered Nikaido on our way over to help her. Mai had been taking private math tutoring sessions from him. And now that I thought about it, soon after sensing the X-egg that me and all the rest of the guardians had gone after on Tuesday (the one that made me late getting home, giving me the ability to make a convincing lie about seeing Ikuto around my house), I seemed to remember seeing Nikaido entering the school. I had been too busy at the time to really take any notice. Still, it came as a shock. What were evil villains coming to these days? Klutzy, kind-hearted teachers? Or was there much more to Nikaido then I realized?
It took me a few moments to recover from my shock. "But I've got a guardian meeting after school on Monday. They'll find it suspicious if I don't show." I said.
"Then go after your guardian meeting. I'll make sure that Nikaido is still there at that time. Any more objections?" he asked.
"No..." I said, my mind still tii preoccupied with the concept of evil Nikaido to think of any witty response.
"Good." He said. "Please, let me escort you to the lobby." Like I need escorting down an elevator. I thought, but let him hold open the lab door for me anyway. Almost as soon as the door had closed behind me and we had started heading down the hallway towards the elevators (with the manager guy whose name I still didn't know leading the way), I heard a noise behind me. I turned around just in time to see about a dozen X-eggs burst out of a door further down the hallway behind me. They seemed like they moved like a flock, none of them getting too far away from the others. They spotted me soon enough.
"Useless!" they shouted. As one, they sent waves of dark energy to me. Before I could react, it hit me. But this time, I stayed in control of myself. Not only that, but it seemed like that dark part of me now buried in my chest was absorbing the energy as it hit my body. Power coursed through my veins once again, even more that it had during my chara-change. The power just welled up within me, like I was a dam holding back a massive amount of energy, that would crush anyone in an instant. I wanted to get those little X-eggs for daring to attack me. But that was more like an excuse. An excuse for my true want: to use this power.
"My own heart - unlock!" I said, as I made that same hand motion as Amu had when I had seen her chara-nari. I don't know why I said it - everything from that point on seemed almost instinctual. Instead of the light that I had seen shine from Amu, a dark cloud covered me, completely concealing me from view. I could still see everything around me, though. I reached out my hands, and Azami floated down until she was hovering right above them. She dramatically opened her wings, her gaze intense. Then, she folded her wings as her egg formed around her. With the egg hovering right above my hands, I pulled it towards me, bringing it up to my chest. It seemed to pass into me, and the energy within me grew even more intense as all of Azami's energy flowed into me. I felt more than saw new clothes form around me as my regular ones disappeared. Last, but most importantly, I felt two things pop from my back, where my shoulder blades were. At the same time, I also felt something else pop from the base of my spine, and two more somethings sprout from the top of my head. I knew immediately what they all were, and my heart soared. Then the cloud was gone, and to finish off the process, I shouted -
"Chara-nari: Dark Dragon!"
The power was constant now, and easily accessible. The X-eggs stayed where they were, warily examining my change. I took a moment to appreciate my new look. As was the case with my chara-change, my eyes were red, the orb of my necklace was red, and my nails were very lethal-looking. But that was more or less the only things that stayed the same. For an outift, I was wearing a completely black dress,which cut off just below my knees. Instead of the traditional dress, which is held up with straps around the shoulders, this dress actually tied behind the neck. My upper back was left completely exposed due to this style of dress, leaving room for the most awesome part of my transformation to poke from my shoulder blades: a pair of black, leathery, dragon wings. Due to the proximity of the walls, my wings were partly folded against my back. I longed to get somewhere open where I could stretch them. I could feel the two, slender horns positioned fron the top of my head, but I had now way of telling what they looked like without finding a mirror. My hair was the same as it always was - it wasn't as short as a crew cut or anything, but my hair was too short for much else to be done with it. It was still a dark blonde color, with the streaks of puple making it look very vibrant.
My long, sharp nails were painted black, just like they had been in my normal form today. Actually, no. They weren't painted black - they actually were black. A tail sprouted from my dress where the end of my spine was beneath the dress. Though I could see that the tail sprouted from the dress itself, it was also connected to me. It was no more separated from me than any other part of my body, just like Azami's own tail. This tail, unlike Azami's puprle one, was covered with hard-looking black scales. To wrap it all up, you might expect me to mention my shoes, but the fact was that I had none. Instead, my feet were left bare, showing long, claw-like black toenails to match my fingernails. I felt amazing. It wasn't just the energy flowing through me - there was more to it than that. I felt liberated in this new form, as if I had been born to have wings, a tail, horns, and claws. I loved it, as well as the outfit that went with it (which was odd for me, considering that I never cared too terribly much about style). And even more than that, the feeling that I now was what I really wanted to be. Azami's attitude flowed through me along with her power, and I didn't have a care in the world. I had the feeling that now, I could do whatever I want, whenever I want. I still had control of myself, so I wouldn't go do something stupid just because of that, but the feeling was incredible. This was what it felt like to truly be myself, or at least myself as I really wanted to be.
Now, I turned my attention back to the X-eggs that had dared attack me. They backed up warily, preparing to run. It was almost a comical sight - a dozen little eggs, clustered together in fear of me. I transfixed one with my gaze. While the others continued to back up, this one stayed put. It was helpless beneath the glare of my red eyes. I advanced, walking until the egg was right in front of my face. The poor thing was shaking, but unable to run from me. This would have been the perfect time for the other eggs to run, but they were hanging back, apparently watching to see what I could do. I reached up, grabbed the egg from the air, and began to squeeze. The egg, seeing its danger, started squirming, to no avail. I continued to tighten my grip, until the egg shattered in my hands. It didn't bother me in the least that I had just completely crushed someone's dreams. If they were able to let go of their dreams, then perhaps they even deserved this. But I didn't need justification. I was a dragon. I had wanted to crush the egg, so I had crushed the egg. It was as simple as that.
Now the other eggs scrambled (if you'll forgive my pun) to get away from me, bumping into each other in the process. But I didn't let them leave.
"Let's do it, Miyuki-chan." said Azami evilly from inside me. That was a weird feeling. It was more like her voice had just sort of reverberated through me. But I knew what she meant, and I was ready.
"Hopeless Haze" I murmered, as a small flame appeared in the palm of my hand. Except, it wasn't a normal flame. The flame was not orange or yellow or red, nor did it give off any true light. The flame was varying shades of black, and though it seems impossible, it actually shone with darkness. A small tendril of black smoke came up from this flame. I blew it towards the still confused X-eggs, and the smoke engulfed them. It was very similar to the smoky attack of my chara-change. The smoke had that same fruity smell, and even though this smoke was black rather than grey, it was still very hard to see. It seemed to calm the X-eggs down. They began to float carelessly through the air, not really paying attention to anything around them. I hadn't exactly been expecting this, but it worked. Instead of destroying them, I decided to start on the mission I had been assigned from Easter. I gathered them up in one of my arms, while I kept the smoke-giving flame going with my other hand. That way, they wouldn't try to escape. The smoke itself seemed to follow my intent, clinging in the air around the X-eggs, with not a wisp going anywhere else.
"Very impressive." said the manager. He had been watching from behind me this whole time. "I don't know how that could have happened - our stock of X-eggs is usually very well contained."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't kid with me. You were just testing me." I said. It was too much of a coincidence that the X-eggs just happened to break from their room right after I'd gotten my powers. "Anyway," I continued, "Do you have a bag I can stuff these guys in? I don't want to carry them around all day." I practically had them cradled in my arm. They seemed soothed by the smell.
"Oh, here, here. We've got a bag." It was the grovelling, dweeby scientist. He and his colleagues had apparently been hiding in their precious lab, but had probably been listening to the whole thing. They gave me a large, cloth sack, which I tossed the eggs into. It was about a minute after I had tied off the top of the bag before they snapped out of their daze and began to struggle. But they couldn't get out of the bag. I wondered if it was made of something special, but I didn't bother to ask.
"Now how can you accuse me of staging something so dangerous as that?" asked the manager, in a tone that said that he was obviously the one who set it up. "You may leave now. There will be a car with driver waiting out front to drive you home. Remember to report to Nikaido on Monday after school. Try not to reveal your ability to chara-nari to the guardians if you can help it." He turned to leave, but I stopped him.
"Wait!" I said. I was still in my character transformation, and energy was still pumping through my body. I didn't want it to go away quite yet. "Can you point me to a window?"
While the manager looked angrily at me (apparently, he didn't like the question, for some reason or another), the female scientist answered. "If you go down the hallway and turn left, then walk all the way down, it meets up with another hallway with windows all the way along it." she said, trying to be helpful.
I smiled, ignoring the glare of Easter's manager. "Thanks." I said, before dashing down the hall down the route she had told me. I heard the manager yell at me to wait, finally losing his temper, but I didn't listen. Once I turned left I saw, at the end of a long hallway with more doors along it, a window. That was apparently where this hallway joined the windowed corridor. I dashed down, running at full speed towards the window. My mind was focused on only one thing: my wings. Though they were folded up now so as to not hit the walls as I ran, they would be large when extended. Azami cheered inside me, knowing what I was doing. I was running faster than I had ever run before, with more power than ever. This was the power from my chara-nari, as well as my recently acquired darker power. I lowered my head right before impact. My horns (which, though curved slightly, more or less stuck up vertically from the top of my head) were the first to make contact with the glass, their sharp points enough to break through. I crashed through the shattering glass, ignoring the cuts my arms and face were obtaining as I jumped out the window.
I had already dropped about five stories when instincts - or perhaps it was Azami - took over. I spread my wings, which immediately caught the air and started me gliding instead of falling. I lined myself up with the street below me (since if I'd kept going straight I would have hit the building across the street), and started flapping to gain altitude. Who knew how many people might be seeing this? But I didn't care. I gained speed and height quickly, and with very little effort. And then-
I made it above the buildings. Now I could truly fly. The whole sky was open to me. Exhileration - so similar and yet so different than the excitement when Azami absorbed the X-egg power from the crystal - flowed through me. I soared through the sky, my tail acting almost as a rudder, easing turns and making flight even more enjoyable. I swooped over the business district, glided above some residential housing, and even circled around the huge building where I now went to school. My wings seemed to be more natural to me than my own legs or arms, and the feeling of the air rushing past them was more satisfying than... than.... than any other experience I could think of. Azami and I said nothing to each other, both of us totally enthralled in our experience. Apparently, even flight as a shugo chara was nothing compared to this. How we stayed in our chara-nari so long, I don't know. I suppose that I was pulling on reserves from the dark energy throughout the experience, because I'm fairly sure that it takes a lot of energy to keep a character transformation going. I had probably been flying for an hour or so when I did finally tire too much to continue. And when I say tired, I mean that I was beat. As enjoyable as it had been, flying for an hour in chara-nari was probably equivalent for jogging the same amount of time at a good speed non-stop. Possible, but on the first try very exhausting.
I flew to my house, landing on the front step as the character transformation faded. I managed to stumble through the door, only to come face to face with my mother. She was angry. Whoops, I thought, Did I forget to tell her that I would be gone for a while?
"Where have you been this time!?!" she practically shrieked. Yep - I'd definitely forgotten to tell her.
I really was not in the mood to deal with an angry mother. I had just had an amazing first flight, and she was ruining my mood. Not to mention, I was tired. Azami, realizing how I was feeling, activated a chara-change. Though perhaps lessened due to my exhausted state, I could still feel the dark energy course through me. I powered my gaze, glaring directly into her eyes. I could feel that I had more control this time. A lot more control.
"I was just at a friend's house, mom." I said forcefully. My mom just stared back, nodding her head slightly in recognition. It was then that I realized just how much control the X-egg energy was giving me, and so I continued. "In fact, I'm going to be at friends' houses a lot more often. Just don't worry about me. You can keep cooking lunch and dinner for me, as well as act as you normally do, but you are going to leave me alone for the majority of the time. Got it?" She nodded vacantly, not even arguing. I felt ever so slightly guilty about this. I mean, this was my mother. And here I was, more or less telling her to keep on taking care of me, but to otherwise buzz off. The dark feeling in my chest, which had remained present but dormant during her flight, now grew. That guilty feeling seemed to expand inside of me. It wasn't enough for me to totally lose my common sense and take back my commands, but I didn't like feeling guilty.
I tore my glance from my mom, then went up to my room and practically crawled onto my bed. Azami floated sleepily onto my pillow, falling asleep almost immediately. It didn't take me much longer to doze off, but vague feelings made my rest uneasy. It's not so much that I had bad dreams, but it was like... like a darkness inside of me was constantly there, just waiting to be released. Like a prowling lion, constantly circlling until it sees the perfect opportunity to snatch its prey. Maybe I would come to regret this day. I didn't know yet. But like that stargazer - Amakawa Tsukasa, was it? - had predicted, I figured that it could be very hard to turn back or change paths from this day onward. Whether this was because I was tricked, or because I enjoyed this new power so much that I would never give it up, I didn't know. I had made my choice. Now all Azami and I could do was wait and see what it led to.
Wow. 7,257 words in that chapter. Longest chapter yet, if I remember correctly! Admittedly, I had been looking forward to writing this chapter for a while, which is probably why it ended up being so long.
Thanks so much to Vampiresweets and -MindControlisMyThing- for both reviewing and favoriting! Also thanks to Oshima zakura for favoriting! As always, I'm glad to know that people are liking my story.
However, one of Vampiresweets's reviews brought an issue to my attention that I thought I should mention. And that would be the whole good guy/bad guy thing, and which category Miyuki might end up under by the end of the story. I still don't know how this story is going to end, but I will tell you that it's probably not going to be purely happy ending. This could have to do with relationships, the good guy/bad guy thing, or even who remains alive by the end of the story, but don't be reading this and expect a happy ending. The last story I really got into writing (it was a short-story, for a class assignment), all seven of the characters died. (If you're interested in the story, go to arrowfoot[dot]deviantart[dot]com and read the story called 'Amber Eyes') If anyone reading this is one of those people who really hates sad or bad endings, then I will understand if you simply stop reading now. It's just that I always feel that any ending that ends with everyone happy is unrealistic. Yet again, I still don't know how this will end, and so perhaps it will be just one step away from a happy ending. Or maybe it will end horribly for everyone. I really don't know. I doubt it will be like that short story I was talking about, however, where everyone dies. Everyone ending unhappily is pretty unrealistic as well.
Please keep on reviewing! Tips and pointers as to how I might improve my writing is always helpful, and I always like reading the comments on my story! (admittedly, that's taking into consideration that I haven't got any negative comments yet, but still...)