"I want to be remembered as the girl who always smiled even when her heart was broken, and the one who could always brighten your day even if she couldn't brighten her own."
-unkown
December 12, 2014
She came into our world faster than we could blink...
Alex never understood how seasons worked here in this dimension. It was December and yet it wasn't even snowing-no, in fact it was summer. And it was Summer break. It was like the seasons come-and-go however they like here.
"You know..." Kaoru began quietly from his spot on the chair next to her bed, "It's kinda scary."
"What's scary?" Alex asked, lifting her head up from the book she was reading. "It's only a hospital."
"That's not what I'm scared about!" He snapped, causing Alex to jolt and stare at him with wide alarmed eyes. He leaned over and buried his face in his hands, unable to look at her. "Th-This... losing you. You can't die, Alex...it's too surreal."
Alex swallowed, holding back a flinch at the pain in her throat. "Death happens all the time, Kaoru," She responded with a false close-eyed smile, her bangs falling into her face. Kaoru slowly raised his head, revealing the tears he was hiding. "I'm just one of its victims."
The door to Alex's hospital room slammed open, revealing a raging Hikaru. "Don't you dare say something like that!" He held the coffee cup in his hand tightly, so tightly Alex thought it was going to get crushed and coffee would spill everywhere. The styrofoam trembled underneath Hikaru's hold. "You...You shouldn't have to be a victim!" He marched over and slammed the coffee cup on the nightstand against her hospital bed, and grabbed the collar of her shirt as he climbed on her bed. "You shouldn't have to be dealing with any of this shit, damn it!"
"H-Hikaru-" She began, sweat beading down her pale face, but he merely cut her off.
"No! Who the hell decided that you'd get to die like this!? Who the hell made it their business to stick you into our lives only to rip you right out!?"
Alex froze and lowered her head, the shadows covering her face to hide her eyes from him. Hikaru ground his teeth together, an urge to punch something growing much more strongly in his gut than ever before. It's all my fault... Alex should have never tried to play hero. She should have never helped that old woman. Alex... her name meant "defender of mankind" like Truth had said. And yet, here she was, weak and fragile as a tiny twig sitting away in a hospital and hiding any documents and files that could lead to Kyoya finding out about her condition.
Hikaru happened to be quite the excellent hacker, something his father taught him when he was younger and was actually able to spend time with his children. "I'm going to kill someone..."
"Hikaru, calm down," Kaoru began, but the older twin quickly glared at him. Kaoru cut himself off, stunned not at the fact that Hikaru was glaring at him, but at the fact that the rougher twin was crying. "H-Hikaru..."
"She's..." His grip on Alex's collar tightened, and the girl merely sat there, not saying anything. "Why can't... why can't we do anything?" He sounded so hopeless.
The room was left silent at those words, knowing nothing could be done. She was immune to any of the medicines that could possibly save her life. It was as if her immune system was made specifically to leave her helpless against Tuberculosis. A supposed "cured" disease. The doctors have tried everything-so they've been told. They've run multiple tests on her and tried multiple medicines, but still nothing.
"Hey..." Alex finally spoke, and Hikaru loosened his grip as he and Kaoru lifted their heads to stare at Alex. Their blood froze cold, and their mouths ran dry in disbelief and shock. "Just relax already! I'm fine... Besides, I'm not staying in this hospital forever. I already told Haruhi that I'd be going with her to Karuizawa!" Alex laughed with a huge smile on her face, acting like everything was okay. "Gotta live life to the fullest, you know?"
"A-Alex..." Kaoru stammered, stunned. His gaze quickly drew to Hikaru, who was trembling. He released Alex abruptly and stood up, storming towards the door. For a brief moment he paused, and Alex and Kaoru both flinched when Hikaru suddenly slammed his fist against the wall yelling loudly,
"Stop acting like everything is okay, damn it!"
Alex watched him leave, her voice leaving her and her smile turning down into a frown. She stared at the door where he left for a moment before looking down at her hands, clutching the sheets tightly.
That's the thing, Hikaru... I-I'm not. She bit her lip, digging her nails into the sheets. I'm not treating it like everything's okay. I-I'm not, I-I swear, I'm not... How could she? She was dying.
All over again and there was nothing to be done to save her.
She needed to leave Kyoya, but the weird thing was that they weren't actually boyfriend/girlfriend were they? No... He never properly asked her out. He just kissed her and that was that. She had very little time left and-
Alex raised a hand up to her mouth, coughing harshly into her palm. Kaoru shot out of his chair and leaned over, placing a hand on her back and rubbing it gently, all the while reaching over her body to the nightstand to grab a tissue. Red liquid trailed down her fingers and wrist, droplets falling and hitting against the bed sheets. Kaoru quickly dabbed it all up while she coughed, making sure to clean her hand up as well. A pained look was on his face, and he could feel his heart shattering.
He wondered if this was how Hikaru felt whenever he saw their sister like this. That feeling of-well, it wasn't really something that could be described. It just...hurt. It was like the time at the beach when Alex drowned and... and they both thought they lost her.
"Alex..."
"Hm?" Alex pulled away from her hand, allowing Kaoru to dab at the blood on her lips and chin with the napkin as if he were her mother. "W-What...is it, K-Kaoru?"
His lips drew back as he tried to speak, the tears welling up in his eyes.
Kaoru lunged forward, wrapping his arms around her tightly and hiding his face from her. She tensed, startled, before relaxing and clearing her throat. "H-Hey, it's okay. I'll still be here." She hugged him back awkwardly, making sure her hands didn't touch him from where they were bloodied earlier. Even if they were cleaned, it still felt weird with that feeling of the stickiness from before.
"W-We'll find you a cure...I-I promise. We'll get you better." His voice cracked, and Alex felt her heart drop into her stomach at his words. It was an empty promise.
No longer caring about how her hands felt earlier, she placed her hands on Kaoru's shoulders and gently pushed him away, causing him to stare at her with a tear-stained face, his caramel eyes red and watery. She placed a hand underneath his chin and lifted his head up, forcing a smile. "Don't...don't make promises you can't keep, Kaoru. Thank you though, for caring."
That was when he saw the tears in her eyes.
...and now she's being forced out of it by nature.
December 16, 2014
The strange girl who appeared out of nowhere...
Kyoya ran his hands through his hair in irritation, anger bubbling inside of him. His sister Fuyumi went through his drawers in an attempt to sort out all of his clothes while he typed frantically away at his laptop, circles under his eyes from lack of sleep. Kyoya stopped typing for a moment to go through some papers that were lying on the table in front of him, before scrolling down on his laptop and typing away again.
Nothing. Zilch. Nada.
Kyoya let out an angered yell and stood up, slamming a fist against the table as the chair he was sitting on flew backwards, knocked over by the sudden momentum.
"Damn it all to hell!"
Fuyumi let out a startled gasp and whirled around, dropping the shirt she was trying to stuff back into his drawer. "K-Kyoya? Is something wrong!?"
"That girl is hiding something from me and I intend to find out what the hell it is! Damn it-ARGH!" He let out another frustrated yell and punched the table again, causing a dent. Fuyumi was stunned and wasn't quite sure what to say.
That girl? She felt a smile grow on her face. That explains a lot. Last time I've seen him grow so worked up or even the slightest bit emotional at something was when he first met Tamaki. To think that Kyoya has a girlfriend...or something of that sort. It appears her father wasn't lying after all. "Care to explain?"
He lifted his angry eyes to her calm ones, "Explain? You want me to explain? She's been avoiding me when before all she ever did was run to my side and hug me. She's been looking away whenever our eyes meet instead of blushing and smiling shyly like she usually does and making a sarcastic remark. She's been lurking around those twins more than usual and hardly even speaking to me and when we're finally alone and able to talk, you know what she does? She acts like she's going to tell me what's wrong before she changes the subject to something else and I know she's sick and she won't go to the damn doctor or tell me anything! What the hell is wrong with her!?"
He grabbed the closest thing he saw, which also happened to be the least expensive, and threw it across the room, smashing it against a wall. The book crumpled to the ground with a soft plop, hitting the carpeted floor.
"But if she is going to the doctor, which I know she is, she has someone wipe all the records!" He fell to his knees and scratched as his head frantically, causing his usually neatly brushed hair to become messy and wild. His glasses threatened to fall off of his nose. "Damn it!"
Fuyumi was about to make a comment when Kyoya's cellphone suddenly rang. He scowled and let out another loud string of curses, before pulling out his phone. He seemed visibly disappointed for a second before he answered, pushing up his glasses and standing up.
"What the hell do you want, Tamaki?"
"HARUHI'S BEEN KIDNAPPED!"
"What?" Kyoya asked, visibly annoyed and confused at the same time as he furrowed his eyebrows. He sighed, rubbing the sides of his head with his two index fingers as he put his phone between his ear and shoulder. "Is this one of your delusions again?"
"NO! Why would you even think that, Kyoya!?" Tamaki sounded hurt. "She's not answering her housephone and I can't get hold of Alex either!"
Kyoya's blood froze, and Fuyumi watched in interest as he stiffened. She could hear everything being said on the phone due to Tamaki's loud voice. So her name is Alex?
"...Alex is missing along with Haruhi?"
"YES!"
Suddenly the twins voices could be heard on the phone, "Have you tried their cellphones?"
Tamaki sounded so lost, "Cell...phone? WHY ON EARTH WOULD THEY HAVE CELLPHONES!?"
Kyoya suddenly had a flashback to a while back when Alex had taken a picture of him without his consent. He remembered how she said that the picture would have looked better if he was smiling.
What reason could he have to smile when she was avoiding him? She had the strangest of effects on him. His chest had this odd pain when he thought about how she's been avoiding him, and even worse when she ran away when it was just the two of them. Seeing her talk to the male guests brought such anger to him and...
She would talk to them, but not him? Her own-No.
A sudden realization dawned on Kyoya at that moment. He had almost forgotten, something which he had planned to do a long time back. Was she mad at him because he never asked her out properly? Surely she could understand due to his father and his strict ways, but now that she was an Hitachiin his father would probably be much more lenient than before. Maybe, just maybe, he could keep her by his side once and for all.
Kyoya scowled and shook his head, berating himself for such thoughts before going through his laptop for some files. He found what he was looking for and calmly informed Tamaki, "Not to interrupt your delusion, but Haruhi and Alex are currently in Karuizawa...along with Akiko Urushihara." Surprise laced his voice for a brief moment, surprised at that sudden knowledge on the document he was reading. He knew she was a regular of Alex and Haruhi, but to think they were that close... He underestimated the common girl.
Akiko Urushihara was a girl born into a family who made cosmetics and salon products. She wasn't too important or famous, but her family is well-known. She's more middle-class than that of high-class; her intellect was above average though, which gave her access to the A-section of the school rather the B or C.
"Haruhi...was turned out of her home and was kidnapped beside Alex by gypsies, and forced into servitude...in Karuizawa?"
Kyoya scowled, his bad mood worsening, but couldn't help but say at his best friend's stupidity, "Moron."
Kaoru suddenly asked, "Wait, who's Akiko?"
"Hold on, you mean that girl that hung out with Alex when we visited Haruhi's place?" Hikaru asked.
"Oh! Yeah, I remember her. She comes over sometimes."
"You two don't remember our regular guest?" Kyoya deadpanned.
"Of course we do! What kind of hosts do you think we are?" The twins sounded indignant.
Kyoya sighed.
"Never mind. Tamaki's going to make us take a little detour, so hurry up and get ready." Kyoya was going to have to fix himself up as well, maybe take a nice long shower to calm down. His hair was in dire need of fixing and... "Fuyumi, can you please stop messing with my things?" He stared at the mess his older sister had created, his eyebrow twitching ever so slightly. He had calmed down for the most part, so he was able to speak properly again.
"B-But...I don't know how it happens, but when I take them out they just don't want to go back in!"
"Then don't take my clothes out in the first place!" He exclaimed exasperated, his cool exterior dissipating again. "You're not even supposed to be here, father will throw a fit when he finds out." Fuyumi waved him off with a grin,
"Forget about it! Just tell me about this "Alex" girl you seem so fond of." To her surprise and utter delight a light pink spread across Kyoya's cheeks. He cursed under his breath before saying loudly,
"Don't bother yourself with it. She's merely Hikaru and Kaoru's sister," For now, he added silently. Once he figured out what was wrong, he was going to ask her properly. "I'm taking a shower. Please don't bother me for a while."
Fuyumi wasn't able to answer as Kyoya closed his laptop and walked over, grabbing some clothes that were lying around that she took out of his drawers, and headed into the bathroom. She smiled. "I don't know when they gained a sister, but..." I'm happy for you, Kyoya. I'm sure you'll be able to sort out your lovers quarrel in the end. Everything worked out somehow, one way or another.
...is slowly vanishing from my life...
"Alex... Alex, it's almost time. Alex, are you there? Can you hear me? Akari, remember?" Alex groaned, shifting in her sleep before opening her eyes. She jumped and sat up straight, startled. All around her was blank empty space. "I...didn't exactly tell you the complete truth when we met. I didn't exactly die."
"Huh?" Alex blinked. This was sudden. Out of nowhere a barrage of coughs hit her and she leaned over, arms around her stomach. Blood splattered out and coated the white canvas, covering everything.
Suddenly she found herself running from a crazed man-or at least herself as Akari, in the girl's memories. The place was on fire. Her parents were dead. Akari was the only one left alive and she was running for her life frantically, screaming as loud as she possibly could as the man chased her. She tripped and was sent tumbling down, the man taking the chance to quicken his pace and pin her down, keeping her from escaping as he smiled twistedly. He twirled the knife, stabbing her in the leg and dragging the knife up. He removed it, ignoring Akari's painful screams, and right when she thought she was going to face death a man appeared out of nowhere, his hands slamming against the ground as electricity crackled about.
Blue electricity. Akari watched in horrified fascination as the man suddenly pulled a staff out of the ground, swinging it towards the attacker. The man who was trying to kill Akari blindly swung his knife, but it was easily knocked out of his hands by the newcomer's weapon. The attacker, sensing he was in danger, ran for it.
She remembered the greasy hands that grabbed her before she managed to kick him where it hurt and ran; she would forever remember the gleaming brown eyes and the rotten teeth that monster held...his horrid breath...
The man who saved her dropped the staff and knelt down in front of her, sliding his hand against the wound on her leg and coating his skin with Akari's blood. She cried out in pain, blood seeping out quickly, before the man drew a strange symbol around her. He smiled, his brown eyes gleaming in the darkness as he clapped his hands. "It'll be over. It happened to me, and I didn't want it. I'm going to die for doing this, but you... you'll get to live. You have another you out there, I know it...
I know it... Just you wait. You'll be saved. You'll meet that man." He slammed his hands on the ground, and the strange symbol he drew with her blood started to glow blue, electricity crackling. Akari continued to cry and scream, "He'll save you. He'll ask for a price, but that price is me. You're too young. Too young, too young... You'll meet her. Or him, I'm not really sure. I met a guy who had a female counterpart. It was strange. His name was Jeremy."
What the-Alex couldn't comprehend what she was seeing. What she was feeling. Were these more of Akari's memories?
After spending so much time in her dimension she managed to suppress the memories Akari had forced upon her. It took a while but she managed to do it. And now...
She watched Akari appear in front of Truth, completely unharmed as the white figure stared with a large grin. It laughed loudly, talking about the exchange of bodies and the "equivalence" of giving up a life to save a life. To send Akari to the border of Truth, the man gave up his own life so that there could be a transaction for her. A man who had once been a "puppet" himself.
Elishua. God's Salvation. Who saved her life, and ruined another's.
"I lied to you, Alex. Can you ever forgive me? I was never dead... I was here the entire time, that was true, but I was still alive. There is always a price for human transmutation, and he paid it for me. I have yet to fullfill my exchange with you... for I am not his puppet."
Alex couldn't see, but she felt something like hands cupping her face. She had the feeling that she was staring straight into Akari's eyes, despite not being able to see the girl.
"Alex! It's me, Haruhi. Are you feeling any better?" Alex groaned and opened her eyes, her vision blurring before taking sight of a petite brunette sliding into her room with a tray of food. Haruhi set the tray on the nightstand next to her bed and pulled off the rag she had resting on Alex's forehead, frowning worriedly. "You look like hell."
"Th-Thanks..." Alex breathed, wheezing. Her entire body hurt. "I shouldn't have come..." But she couldn't risk Kyoya coming over and seeing her. As long as she stayed in her room at the Inn she was safe. Haruhi and Misuzu have been taking care of her the entire time, leaving Akiko to do the work when they weren't there. "Don't... tell anyone I'm here, alright?"
"I don't understand why you plan on hiding this from everyone," Haruhi started, the door to the bathroom wide open so she could keep an eye on Alex as she wet the rag again and got rid of the access water, "but they're going to find out eventually. I mean I won't tell them, but they're either going to find out on their own or the twins are going to let it leak."
"I...I can't..."
"Shut up. No talking. You're only hurting yourself." Haruhi let out a sigh and spread the rag across Alex's forehead, biting her lip. "I...I still can't believe this is happening."
Alex tried to laugh, but ended up coughing the process. She forced a grin, trying to keep the tears from welling up in her eyes, "H-Hey, it's life, you know?"
"I know but... Alex, have I told you how my mother died?" Alex blinked and slowly shook her head, frowning. She knew her mother died from an illness, but Haruhi herself never told her. Wait, was Haruhi...? "...It happened when I was little. She worked a lot, all the time and did her best to care for me even when she was ill. One day...she just got really sick. She just wouldn't get better, Alex. And now it's happening to you as well." Haruhi looked down, disheartened. "I know...that there's not anything we can do. But travelling about and hiding your sickness from the rest of the club isn't going to make you better. You need to tell them, they deserve to know."
...A puppet is merely a puppet. A messenger of sorts sent to change the direction of fate...
Alex opened her mouth to responded, but Haruhi quickly clamped a hand over Alex's mouth.
"Don't talk. I know you told the twins, and I think Mori-Sempai and Honey-Sempai know, but Tamaki-Sempai is a bit dense. Kyoya-Sempai...he deserves to know the most. I know there's something going on between you two and I know that he suspects something is wrong. You can't hide it from him." Alex turned her head stubbornly. Haruhi narrowed her eyes, "If you think you're helping him by not telling him you're wrong. If you die and-and he finds out," Her voice cracked and she swallowed, blinking a few times. "Kyoya-Sempai isn't going to be happy. He'll be hurt more by the fact that you lied to him and didn't tell him at all then if you told him now."
Alex frowned, closing her eyes halfway. Shadows covered her face.
She knew it would hurt more at the end of the road, but if she left now then he could find someone else and be happy. He wouldn't have to deal with a dead girl.
Alex was, after all, more trouble than she was worth.
...They're sent to a place where they are needed, to push people together...
"HARUHI! ALEX!" Suddenly there was screaming and Haruhi scowled, standing up. "DADDY'S COME TO SAVE YOU!" Both girls made sour faces, and Haruhi stormed over to Alex's window, stress lines forming on her face at the sight of Tamaki using a blowhorn from inside a helicopter.
"THE HELL ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING HERE!?" They could hear Akiko screaming loudly down from her spot outside from where she was hanging the laundry up on the clotheslines to dry. "GO BACK HOME!"
Alex inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, able to imagine Truth laughing her head off at what was happening to her. She could just see the huge toothy grin and dark mist surrounding her. She opened her eyes and coughed again, feeling weaker by the second. Just a few more months...
Their lives mean nothing in the end. After all, only "God" gets to choose what happens to them when the story ends.
And more drama. BUM BUM BUM! Alex probably won't be in the next chapter so much, but you know. (Shrugs) We'll find out. Read and review, feel free to bash on the whole "truth" thing. It's a bit complicated as well, but I like trying to make confusing plots because they work out really well in my head. It's writing it down that the challenge, which makes it a bit fun. Since Truth is here, would that make it a crossover? I have no idea. I don't think it would be, but... (Shrugs again) Sorry for the wait. here ya go.
Trying to explain things a bit more with Akari. She isn't exactly Truth's "Messenger" or one of his supposed "puppets". She's more of an...um, what's the word? "Accident", let's go with that. When her family was being murdered a man named Elishua, which mean's "God's Salvation" or "Salvation of God", was sent to Ouran as well, but he was killed for committing Human Transmutation on a living human-Akari. She lost her body and soul and was sent to Truth's gate, and they made a deal that when she was old enough and most likely able to survive the ordeal there would be another transaction.
That was where Alex came in-that was why she became one of his puppet's. Truth chooses people with certain names bestowed upon them. She was the defender of man. Akari did not have that name and was instead an extra chess piece. He takes people, certain people, and sends them to where he thinks they would do best at. He knows who will choose to stay or choose to switch back, but they still take a price.
Akari and Alex have the same price.
Can you guess what that is?
...I don't know if I'm being subtle enough. Sometimes I feel like things are really obvious, but I probably only feel like that because I know what's going to happen so it feels obvious to me. Is it obvious? I have no idea... Hm... I hope not. Oh well. YOLO, though in Alex's case...more like twice.