X~30~X
Yuki hops down the stairs, clutching her prized bunny stuffed animal under her small chubby arms. As she bounds down, her dark brown pony tails bob and swing around her head, dancing to a melody she is busy humming. Rounding the corner, she steps into the warm glow of the yellow lights above and watches her sister slowly mop up an assorted puddle of blood and vomit, accompanied by the quiet and peculiar teal haired girl. Yuki charges forward, skidding to a stop before the teal girl, who is on her hands and knees, using a white towel to blot away an oddly colored patch of liquid on their hardwood floors.
"Your hair's funny." She states plainly, outstretching a hand a poking Miku's scalp.
"It is?" Miku whimpers, becoming self conscious she grips one of her massive pony tails, and with her other hand paws gently at her soft and silky locks.
"But in a good way. Funny like… like… like a puppy or a… a… bunny?" Her train of thought slowly melts away, and Yuki simply stands there making eye contact with Miku who has reared up to sit on her knees.
"Yuki!" Oliver calls from the kitchen loudly in a slightly commanding, but not stern voice. Immediately the small girl steps back a few paces, turns to Miku once again, stands stick straight, and salutes her like a member of the military. As Miku sits giggling Yuki speeds off, her bare feet making a rhythmic thumping as she rounds a corner and bolts down the hallway, eventually swinging around into the kitchen just to the right of the front door.
"Take this up to the blonde girl in the guest room. Be careful, don't you let it drop." Oliver says, dropping a blue plastic plate into Yuki's arms. It rests just on top of her toy's head and with her other hand she holds the cup of water. On the plate is generous heaping of instant ramen, dressed with Miki's special, pepper flakes, olive oil, and a peculiar red seasoning whose name escapes the child.
"How long are they gonna' stay Ollie? Them and IA?"
"I'd like to tell you not long, but that's up to Miki." He responds blandly, leaning back on the counter top and rubbing his temple.
Yuki speeds up the stairs, nearly tripping over Miki, still beside Miku, cleaning up the mess. Running up the narrow stairs, Yuki has more than a couple close calls with sloshing water and spilling the salty ramen noodles, but eventually makes it to the guest bedroom, holding the plate in place with her chin and opening the door with her foot.
Inside the shutters are closed, the lights turned off besides the small slivers of afternoon light streaming in between the white wooden slits. Under the covers on the bed is a large lump. Slowly and cautiously Yuki approaches, only barely lifting the blankets covering Rin's head. Her face is covered with sweat, her fists white from clenching the sheets to the point of causing herself pain, and her lip bleeds steadily. Immediately upon the blankets being removed, she darts upwards, gasping in surprise.
"What?" She blurts out a little harsher than she had intended.
"Were you having a bad dream?" Yuki asks, setting the food down on the bed besides Rin, and shifting her stuffed animal under her left arm.
"I guess you could call it that." Rin mutters dryly, her eyes widening at the glass of water in the girls left hand. Noticing her gaze had fallen upon the cup in her hand, Yuki thrusts it forward, sloshing cold water all over Rin's front, soaking through Len's jacket, which he had graciously lent to his sister who's clothes are currently drenched with various bodily fluids. "Ah geesh." Rin takes what was left in the cup, and within seconds has swallowed every drop of water with one large gulp.
"Are you thirsty a lot?" Yuki asks, sitting beside Rin on the bed.
"Well I haffta' drink. Everyone gets thirsty, so asking 'a lot' is kind-of a dumb question, kid. So just answer for me." Rin says, relaxing into the pillows behind her.
Before Yuki is able to respond, the door opens, and a blonde haired boy slowly comes walking in, staring Rin in her sharp red eyes. Oliver motions for Yuki to leave, and she hops of the bed, scooping up her stuffed animal in one swift motion, and scurrying out of the room like a mouse. Oliver eases the door shut behind him and stands stiff, hovering over Rin's bed.
Rin sits up, turning herself to stare up at Oliver and she hisses at him, "You gonna' stand there all day or apologize?"
"Apologize? Who do you think you are, the queen of England? I came in to ask you something." He shoots back.
"Tch." Rin scoffs at him, "What makes you think I'm going to answer to you, eye patch?"
"You're not exactly in a position to refuse. All you're little bug-eyed pals wanna' stay here, and, well, if I understood correctly you need something from Miki. Some information, per say? Well I want some information from you. One question, that's all."
"Screw you, shorty-the-one-eyed-pirate." Rin spits back in his face.
"Oh you-" Oliver growls, struggling to restrain himself from punching Rin in the jaw.
"Look, you gonna' ask your question, or stand there babbling all day and looking like you're about to pull out a knife and stab me?"
"Why didn't you die? You shot yourself. So why, didn't, you, die?" Oliver blurts suddenly, then he clams up abruptly, realizing how childish it must have sounded to blurt out like that.
"Wouldn't we both like to know?" She responds softly, blinking for a long time and folding her arms over her chest.
~ ~ ~X~ ~ ~X~ ~ ~
"Should I order a pizza or something?" Miki asks, stretching over the table with a phone in hand.
"Yes!" IA and Yuki scream in unison. The two children, for lack of chairs, are both crammed onto the same dark wood chair, IA being skinny and small enough for both of them to sit comfortably. Len sits to the immediate right of IA, and Rin on the other side of Len. Across from Rin is Oliver, next to Oliver on his left is Miki, and next to her is Miku.
"Cheese okay with everybody?"
"Anything is okay right now, but if it doesn't get here soon I swear Miki I will eat everything in this house." Oliver sighs.
"You do and you're paying for it." She growls back. After placing an order she hastily pours drinks for everyone, and after getting out a bottle of pink vitamin water for herself, sits back down in her seat, and folds her arms on the table, staring down the group with new intensity. "So, here we are."
"Yeah, so." Len sighs deeply, leaning forward in his own chair.
"Well, where do I start?" Miki asks.
"Anywhere really. Just from the beginning." Len responds.
"Okay." Miki pauses, sucking in a large breath of air. Night has already fallen, every window in the kitchen drawn shut, and the glow of yellow lights illuminating every corner of the small home. "Well, when I was born, my mother had other things on her mind and left me at home with a nanny. I was almost a year old when she left my stroller at the top of the stairs because she was about to take me out. I was a little… rambunctious and ended up toppling the small red stroller all the way down the stairs. When she found me, my skull was nearly crushed and I was lying in a pool of my own blood. I was dead. There was no way anyone could have survived something like that, but about five minutes after the ambulance had shown up, I simply just woke up crying. I didn't even have a single bruise, and my nearly caved in skull seemed to magically have fixed itself. My nanny was nearly driven to madness by it, she was convinced that I had died, and she had killed me and that it was her fault.
"I don't really know how she got the number, or even found the people that she did, but one day when I was five these men and a woman in white lab coats came and took me away for almost two weeks. My mom was gone anyways on a business trip, so she never even noticed. The things… the things they did were so… horrible." She shudders with the memory, almost recoiling at her own terrible flashbacks. "And one day they led me into a room with this really big window, and once they had walked out I jumped through it and started running. I eventually made my way home, we actually used to live just mere miles away where that facility was. My mom fired the nanny for other reasons soon after, and every night I would hear the company's van pull up to our house, then drive away. Then we moved and I didn't see them, and then we moved again, and again. We've moved houses for my mom's job about six times since then, and I haven't seen them since. But I did do my research. And It's not like they didn't tell me anything, of course I couldn't understand it at my age then but, as I got older I understood more and more.
"Eventually everything they said to me just clicked in my head. I know why now. Apparently, every member of that corporation is a member of a cult. A religious cult centered around a 'doomsday date'. In the ancient texts they say the original cult members, their profits, gave them, they tell of:
'Immortal children, with red in their eye
Watch out for them, for they will never die,
The final warning they are, the day without a star,
Vanish into air, beware,
For they're the ones, the demon glare.
"They believe that if they can figure out how to kill us, their 'demon children', then they can stop the end of the world from coming."
Suddenly a sharp ringing echoes through the frozen room.
"Oh. Looks like the pizza's here." Oliver says, his voice a choked out whisper.
For they're the ones... the demon glare...
Character Pole:
IA- 2
Kaito- 1
Lapis- 1
Len- 3
Miku- 4
Rin- 5
Oliver- 1
~Tiruneko ;3