Great. So far so good. Threading slowly on this one so that's why updates are this slow. But anyways thanks to everybody who reads it and keeps up with me.
DarkFlame for reviewing ch.2 and sky of c-o-l-o-r-s for the review and story fav. and to March Haress for the story fav.
Thanks to you guys I'm pretty sure I'm getting somewhere with this story.
.: Playthrough 3 :.
= Three Hearts to Start =
The only way to make sense of a change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.
-Alan Watts
Had she fallen asleep? Reiyo shook her head and could not believe that she had fallen asleep. Right before they left the slums, she had felt a sharp pain on her neck and fell asleep. But now all she saw was blackness and thought, oh great a blindfold. Finally getting out of the car, they left the outdoors and entered an edifice. She felt the man's, Marie's, hand holding firmly to her forearm as he guided her through the place she could not see. This was all thanks to one of the dumbasses that she had kicked who had the brilliant idea to blindfold her and restraint her hands behind her back for precaution in case she intended to escape.
Bullshit. They were just mad because a girl of seventeen kicked their ass even when they had the upper hand. After several doors were opened and several floors of distinct feeling passed, Marie finally placed her inside one.
Removing the blindfold, Reiyo caught the first glimpse of light. It was from a lone gaslight hanging from the small square room. The room itself must have been no bigger than the one at her own house. There was a single bed and a cabinet, a full body mirror, and wardrobe for clothes. The gaslights were on either side of the wall making them the only lighting of the place. On top of the neat bed was a change of clothes hard to look at from her distance.
Marie dealt with the handcuffs that took possession of her wrists. When done he gently pushed her ahead making her step deeper into the room almost bumping into the bed. She held her wrists while he talked, "You will change and await until one of the maids comes for you." Those were all his words before he left. Cocking her head slightly the door's way, she heard the slight click of lock. She sighed and walked over to the bed. She was still in her dragged out clothes from work.
She couldn't work out her escape plan like this. Stripping from her old rags she changed into the clothes they had prepared for her. When she was finished she found it strange that it fitted perfectly, hugging her figure. The red tube shirt fit well and the black shorts were a little loose but the white belt with the cross buckle kept them in place. The nice jacket was black with vertical thin lines of white color that went well with the fedora hat that matched the jacket's print. The only thing she kept from her old outfit were her boots that were nice for running which was what she mostly did at Gabrielle's while serving. Plus she didn't like the little shiny shoes they left her.
Turning she caught her reflection in the mirror. Unconsciously she posed with her right foot behind her left and her right hand on her hips. With her strawberry blonde hair loose it came to be past her shoulders blade and was quite messy since she hadn't cut it for the longest time. Her ice blue eyes looked back at her. She sighed and took the hair band from her left wrist and tide her hair in a low ponytail to keep out of the way. That was she she took the two bobby pins that held her bangs and stretched them out. Kneeling in front of the doorknob she found the keyhole and began to jest with it with the pins.
Have you ever seen a door opened with a pair of bobby pins? Yeah, well she had grown up having to find ways to open doors since Grace would always leave her locked out when she worked late. Using bobby pins was only her latest discovery. After a some tries and a couple of minutes Reiyo finally heard the distinctive click of the lock. Turning the knob and opening the door as quietly and slowly as she could, she peered down the two hallways that stretched to either side. Seeing no one she stepped out and closed the door.
"OK," she whispered to herself sticking to the wall. "Think Rei, think. Which way?" After minnie-minie-moe-ing it, she decided to go for the hallway to her left. Jogging through the corridors and turns she would only halt for noises that turned out to be nothing. Through her running she had to place a hand onto her semi-flat chest to keep the tag from jingling while she ran. After some halls and turns and some cases of stairs, she found herself in a foyer which had two double doors two either side and another pair straight ahead. Going straight ahead she opened the one of the doors but when she peeked outa huge toothy mouth barked at her. She yelped and tripped over her feet startled. The mutt, though, couldn't reach her for it was chained to what she now saw as the backyard of the place.
Kicking the door shut she heard the yelping of the animal. She snickered, dumb doberman. As she stood back up she tried to figure how the hell she had ended up at the back of the place. Damn, escaping would be harder than she first thought. Taking a leave through the door to her right she entered what seemed to be a hallway that turned to the left and ended in another door. Going through there she found herself inside the servants' quarters. Beds and small drawers were put about evenly for the workers of the place. Passing through the beds she reached the end where another smaller door headed upstairs. Going through it, she found herself in the kitchen.
Wow, she thought, very convinient. Stepping up when there was no one looking she sneaked her way across it but couldn't go on any further. Beyond that was the dinning room which was being prepared for the house family and therefore was filled with maids preparing it. She clicked her tongue slightly and step out to go back to that foyer. But just as she was about to run away she bumped into someone. Fortunately, this time, Reiyo was not the one to fall to the ground and neither was the person she had bumped into. Instead the victims were the pile of porcelain plates that the person had been holding that crashed loudly to the floor shattered in pieces.
Looking up from the mess Reiyo saw a girl who could've been very much her age or younger, perhaps a year. Her hair was a dark teal, almost black, which was short and bobbed and the eyes that stared surprised at Reiyo were the shaded of an even darker teal. Reiyo noted that this girl wasn't dressed in the uniform that she had seen the other maids using.
"Are you..." the girl began in a sweet voice, "-lost?"
Busted. Taking no caution anymore she ran for it through the dinning room scaring the numerous maids and butlers that were about the manor. Turning corners and going down more stairs she finally found what she assumed to be the front foyer; this was it, the one that would lead her out to freedom. She didn't care if they'd go looking for her. She'd go for Gemma and make a run for it. Who gave a damn about turning of age? She could just leave with Gem and never come back.
But all those hopes were hit out of her mind just like the air was hit out of her lungs when she felt that sharp round pain on her ribs. That force itself had knocked her off her feet and onto the wall. Coughing and too distracted by pain, she noticed that it hadn't actually been a wall on which she had bumped into. Those same hands from before lifted her in the air and over his shoulder.
"Put me down!" she coughed out the yell over and over as she struggled, kicking and punching. "Put me the fuck down!"
"Who's the brat, Marie?" the man that had hit her, apparently with a soccer ball, asked Marie while he held the ball inbetween his arm and body. His spiked hair took Reiyo's attention from fighting the big guy holding her. That and the marks of purplish make-up he wore under his eyes.
But after that brief second, the word clicked into her brain setting her on a fit. "Who the fuck are you calling a brat, you fucking douchebag!" She tried prying herself off the man holding her. "Put me down!" she wailed like a kid pried of her candy.
"Was she the one that the old man got for him?" the spiked-haired boy asked.
"Indeed," Marie answered over her yells.
He chuckled, "Let's take her to him. I wanna see his expression. It's gonna be priceless." They started walking away from the exit that she had so fervently been looking for. Her wails and yells didn't stop on the way there. "Why's she so damn loud?"
"I'm beginning to regret carrying her," Marie noted.
"Then put me down. On. The. Ground!" she wailed kicking and punching.
"If you hadn't attempted to run away just now, Marie might just let you walk."
"Then I won't run!" She kept trying to get away from his grip. "I swear! I swear on... on... ! I swear on my unborn child I will not try to escape again. Just put me down!"
"Whoa!" the guy laughed at her words. "Your unborn child! Haha, amazing. Oh he's gonna have fun with you."
"With all seriousness, will you not try to escape anymore?" Marie asked seriously but gentle.
She nodded vigorously, "I swear! I swear! Just put me down! Please!"
"What do you say Daisya? Can we trust her?" Marie asked trying to upset the girl.
Daisya smirked, "Why not? Even if she tried to run away she wouldn't get far. Walker-kun got one of those trackers in her."
A what?
"You're right." Maire put her down on her feet while she still contemplated the one word puzzle in her mind. The two only stared at her oblivious look while she unscrambled those seven letters to form that one word. Then the tic-tac size torpedo detonated. "You fucking put a tracker in me!" She was shocked and mad.
"Okay, you can ask questions later," Daisya said pushing the mad girl through the long hallway. "For now they want to introduce you."
"But when!" she screeched in horror. So many things to say but only the same thing came out, "When!"
"I'll personally see that you are informed but for now just remained quiet unless spoken to and you'll be fine," Marie assured her as he opened the double doors to a room and pushed her in along with themselves.
Her surprise and shock left her when she saw the people who were in the conference room she had now entered. A round table was set in the middle with papers about and cups with drinks. Around the table were eight chairs but only four people were sitting down. Two she vaguely recognized but couldn't quite place the faces. The other two she didn't know at all, that was for sure. One was a white-haired boy with grey eyes and very nicely dressed seated on the right side of the table. His eyes and lips, basically his whole expression, smlied at her. The other was an old man with bushy gray hair with a mustache and beard with huge red rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose who was seated on the farthest front side of the table. He was dressed rather casually compared to the other young guys. His smile gave Reiyo a sort of sense of security amongst the craziness she's been living since they took her away. Then her eyes landed on the two others seated to the left. The redhead's eyes were sprakling recognizing her while the Japanese only ignored her presence.
Wishing she could crawl out of her skin, she turned to run but was stopped by the two arms of Daisya and Marie holding her together.
"No! Forget it!" she called.
"You swore," Marie said smiling sheepishly.
"Remember, your unborn child," Daisya chuckled.
"Fuck my unborn child!" Reiyo exclaimed. "Let me go home!"
"Ma-kun, would you please?" the old man's voice said in a rather caring tone to Marie. Without warning, Marie picked the girl's small frame up in the air and swiftly put her down on the chair right across the old man's. Trying to push herself out of the chair was useless for Marie was keeping one of his hands on one of her shoulders while Daisya got the other. Having no other alternative, Reiyo calmed herself down and breathed but she could feel the many emotions that ran through her mind. Anger and annoyance being the strongest. She blew a strand of her hair off from her face. The silence was beginning to be so irritating.
Finally she snaped at it letting her emotions and short-temper get the best of her. "Okay. Gloves off, bare hands." She slammed her hands on the table. "What the fuck do you want with me?"
The old man chuckled at her sudden declaration and assertion. "Your name is Niyishima Reiyo, correct?"
"Yeah," she answered slouching on the chair and crossing her arms in front of her chest. With this gesture the two holding her shoulders retreated knowing she would stay sure.
"Nice to meet you, Rei-chan." It surprised Reiyo that he so blatanly used her name without her permission. "My name is Froi Tiedoll. I'm the owener of this humble home you are in." He motioned his hand towards the white-haired boy, "This young man is Allen Walker-kun, a family friend."
He smiled warmly again making her blood slightly rise to her cheeks. By huffing she intended to disuse his bold cuteness. "Allen Walker. It's quite a pleasure to meet your aqquaintance, Reiyo-san." He had a slight accent which reminded Reiyo of some Scottish actor she had seen in one of those American movies. What was his name? Some hot guy... Ah! Gerard Butler, yes. That kind of accent but perhaps less on this boy. This tiny thing made his cuteness needle turn slightly to the hotness part of her boy radar. Tiedoll's hand motioned to the redhead who only smiled sheepishly and waved at Reiyo. Her eye twitched a bit at his rection. "Another close family friend, Lavi Bookman Jr."
"Hello there, sweetcakes," he purred sending shivers down her spine. Although she did think he was more hot than cute, she hated men purring. It was a big- just... no. That was just a no-no on her book. "Bookman Jr. at your services but you can call me Lavi."
Tiedoll finally motioned to the one person she really just did not want to see. "And this is my youngest son. Kanda Yu-kun."
"Stop saying my freaking name," Kanda scowled at his own father. After a few seconds it somehow didn't shock her that the mamoth wouldn even say hello.
"Language, Yu," Tiedoll reminded the boy. Reiyo muffled a giggle disguising it by clearing her throat. "And you have already met my other sons, Noise Marie and Daisya Barry." Reiyo kept thinking that all his so called 'sons', all of them had different surnames.
"Okay, introductions are over. Now tell me why your men broke into my house and took me away."
Tiedoll nodded one for her. "Yes, what we intended was to contact Mr. Mason's daughter, Gemma Mason. Marie told me about what you did and said. You said that you were Hughes Mason's illegitimate daughter. Only because he could verify this information did Marie allowed Gemma to stay while taking you in her place."
"Get to the point old man," Reiyo said trying to speed things up.
"Well, I'm sure you have heard of Inaguri's game, Exailion," Tiedoll said knowing she would.
"What about it?" she asked.
Allen took the reigns next. "We found out that Mr. Hughes' daughter was enlisted in Exailion's list of volunteers. Since he's an old friend of the family we wanted to take care of his child after his request." Lavi and Kanda stared at the Brit who only smiled. They both knew that the kid was lying through his teeth.
"If that is why you came for us then you can just shove it," Reiyo said angrily. "I don't care about Hughes. So I could care less about any of his requests to any friend of his."
"That is not the only reason actually," Tiedoll confessed. "We accepted you from the volunteers to become one of our Excells. Meaning that you have no choice but to remain here."
"I never signed up to be an Excell," Reiyo said smirking. "So I can leave whenever I want."
"Not today, sweetcakes," Lave said letting a piece of the papers slide from his hand her way. Stopping it with her fingers she looked at it and noticed the name. "You volunteered after the volunteered. So you are now standing in Gemma Mason's name as a volunteer."
Reiyo crumpled up the paper in thought. Gemma's name and information was on the sheet of Inaguri's Excell list. Reiyo felt betrayed but most of all pissed because Gemma had gone behind her back and signed up for Exailion. Snapping back she threw the paper ball at Lavi to catch which he did with one hand.
"Alright, I'll be this Excell of yours if you can comply with my end of the bargain first," she spoke to Tiedoll.
"Cut the crap, you brat," Kanda hissed.
"What is it?" Tiedoll said ignoring his son.
"If I become your Excell then you have to swear that you'll leave Gemma Mason alone and that all assets come from my job as one will only be given to her and for her only," Reiyo said in one breath.
It was a no brainer for any of them. What she asked for was nothing more than a dent in their plans. With a smile the old man answered, "You have my word."
She threw her arms to her side and relaxed herself into the situation. "Count me in."
With that Allen took a black lidded box and stood up. Taking the sit nearest to Reiyo he placed the box to one side of the table and opened it. Inside was a somewhat thick blue book and on top of that was a fancy white glove. Taking it in his, he gently placed it before her.
"Are you familiar with Exailion's player and Excell relationship?" he asked her.
"I'm glad to say I am not," Rei said unamused.
"A player, the owner who bought a controller, wears the ring that proves their Mark of Mastership." As he spoke Reiyo followed his left hand and noticed the blue topaz ring with Exailion's signature of ownership: the distinctive V and an invertive V over it, the middle creating the diamond's shape. He was a player. "While the Excell wears the Proof of Mastership, a token from their master is that proof. This connects them two as the complete set. They are known as the full-fledge Contestant. Now, the only one who actually plays is the Excell while the player makes the calls. If the Excell is injured those injuries are transfered to the player after the match is over." Reiyo was having a hard time paying attention and staying awake for his long explanation. Her eyes even began to get droopy. "Then comes the winning and losing. When a player loses the weapon has to be given to the winner of the match and when they win they get a new weapon in their arsenal."
"Allen?" Lavi's voice came out sheepishly and smiling. Allen turned to him and Lavi only pointed at Reiyo who was sleeping against the chair.
"Did you even hear you anything he said!" Kanda yelled at her.
She picked at her ear while squinting her eyes, "Shut up. I did, okay. Geeze."
Allen sighed in frustration but took a breather before continuing. "Reiyo-san, did you hear anything I just said."
"Yeah, yeah," she yawned. "In short, he who owns me can do whatever he wants with me. If I get injured during the game he gets it afterwards. And if I lose I'm fucked."
"Wow, she was listening," Lavi chuckled.
"Anything else I need to know?" she said tired out of her mind. What time was it?
"That you have a very different goal than the others," Allen said serious. Reiyo only narrowed her eyes trying to look at him without giving interest. "When you win you will not win the weapon. What you will do is terminate the contract of mastership between the player and Excell."
"How, in God's name, do you think I'll do that?" Reiyo said in disbelief.
"With this," Allen said motioning to the glove. Picking it, Reiyo noticed the different signature it had which perplexed her. All the signatures were supposed to be the same. Instead this one had the normal V but the inverted one was tilted up making it seem it was pointing upward. "This Proof of Mastership is unique. It can terminate the contract of the Contestant and therefore free the Excell without punishment."
That's true, she thought. If the girl's wanted out they would have to pay the money they got form their owner and get a punishment. Nobody knows what it is since nobody once has done it. "Why me?"
"It's in our best interet. You are our Ace of Spades, per say," Lavi smirked.
"I don't really get why but okay," she yawned and stretched her arms above her head. "When are we leaving old man?" she asked as she put the glove on her left hand.
It took Tiedoll a minute before laughing. Reiyo didn't know what was so funny about the situation. "I'm sorry but I think you have me confuse. I'm not the one who owns you."
"Oh but I thought-" she shook her head. "If it's not you then who owns my ring?"
Allen smirked looking at the two sitting on the left. Kanda scowled while Lavi sneered and lifted Kanda's left hand to reveal a bracelet. A purple beaded bracelet with one extra space which held a small ruby encrusted in silver. Inside it had the same insignia as her glove.
Right there and then those three containers of hearts reduced to one and then the warning beep began to annoy her ears.
How was it? It's two in the morning here and I'm falling asleep here. Hope you liked it. that last sentence was like when your dying in zelda and that annoying beeping sound comes. I hate it.
Please review!