So here's your next chapter! Since it's the real world…no music! Haha.
/=+=/
She jumped out of the TV screen like she was jumping off a ledge, looking around and surprised to see that there was no one in the room. Charice looked around in confusion as Li Xiao peeked through the TV set and jumped out, looking just as confused as she was. It was then that she decided to speak.
"…um…" She turned her head. "Where is he?"
"He's not here…?" Li Xiao turned his head around. "Wait…"
Charice noticed that he was staring at something. She turned her head and realized that he was looking at the clock on the wall. It was then that she was shocked: it had only been two minutes since they had jumped into the TV set. Two whole minutes…
"Was it really two minutes in there?" She blinked. "It was a lot longer than that…"
"Time is different in both of these realms…" Li Xiao concluded. "But even if that's different…where did Matthew go?"
"Well, I guess we're going to have to look for him in the school…"
/=+=/
After a few minutes, Charice found him in the middle of one of the libraries. They looked in and realized that he was staring at a TV screen, most likely the one that he had fallen into. She knocked on the wooden shelf, alerting him to turn his head and see the smiling Filipina smiling back at him.
"Everything connected on you?"
"Yes…thank you." Matthew blushed. "I hope that I wasn't that big of a trouble…"
"No, no…everything is fine!" She grinned. "Besides, if we're only doing it once, I don't think there's any problem with it!"
"Um…t-thank you…" He blinked. "Oh, Li Xiao."
She turned her head to see that he had indeed caught up with her, giving him a small wave before walking toward the TV to make sure nothing was going to come out of it. He touched the screen and saw that his fingertips had still passed through them. It scared Matthew still, but not as much.
"So everything that happened is…?"
"It happened, Matthew. You can't deny it." He pulled his hand out. "Fortunately, we Asians are also good secret keepers."
"…Thank you…i-it would be weird if my true feelings leaked out to anyone else…" He laughed nervously. "But…what was that place, anyway?"
Charice opened her mouth to answer when she realized that Li Xiao was answering his question in great detail. She sat there and listened to him talk about the Shadows and how they're incarnations of the sadness of the people from their world, how Matthew was the one who created the area he fell in, and how Li Xiao knew everything about it.
"Carlos…?"
"He was the one who found that world. It was when I was in Cuba when Yao was visiting him." He began. "There was a murder there…similar to what happened here. He told me that there was another world on the other side and it was the only explanation for that murder with no marks on it…"
"But, how…"
"When he went to save her, I accidentally fell in after him. He realized that I had a power as well, similar to his, and we decided that we were going to make sure that anyone else who had the same fate were saved as well." He smiled. "He never told me who the girl was…he just said it was a fellow citizen that he needed to help."
"Woooow…" Charice's eyes widened. "So Carlos showed you…"
"It was then that we realized that someone else fell victim to this strange murder pattern…the country Monaco. Not only that, we realized that it halted the reincarnation process." Li Xiao sighed. "We were too late to save her…but then we realized that our powers allowed us to complete the reincarnation circle with a simple touch of our fingers."
"I-Is that how it happened back with…?" He grunted, unable to say his name. "When Charice touched him…?"
"Yes. If I were to say anything, he was probably passing over his powers to her." He answered. "Though I could be wrong, and she was just as talented as I was…"
"Are you saying that I was born with whatever you had…?"
"I would like to assume so…"
"W-what would that mean, though…?"
"Well, DUH. All Asians are just innately gifted!" Charice chuckled.
…
"Either that or it just turned out that I was at the right place at the right time." She shrugged. "I really don't know. But hey! Would that mean that Matthew has the same power as we do now cause he fell in there?"
"T-that's not something I want to test out…I don't want to go back in there…" He cringed. "That was scary the first time."
"Fortunately, we don't have to worry about it. For some reason, these murders tend to vary itself…from once a day to even twice every six years. We were never able to figure out who was actually doing it." Li Xiao sighed. "But please know that if this happens again, I'll have to handle this again."
"Hey hey HEY! What about me!" Charice shot her hand out like she was waving her hand for a test. "I have the power too! AAAAAND I'm Asian, so don't throw that excuse to me!"
He shrugged. She figured that was his way of saying yes. Suddenly, they heard a thud.
"Matthew! Dude, is that you? Oh god, please tell me it's you and not another freakin' mirror in front of me! DAMN that Ludwig for making this place filled with 'em!"
"Eh? A-Alfred?"
"Oh, thank god it's you! I've been looking for you this entire time!" He grabbed his brother's shoulders. "Do you know how worried I was? Ever since what just happened, the whole building's gotten phobic!"
"…you were worried about me…?"
"Of course I was! Why wouldn't I be? You're my brother, Matthew. We're family."
It was then that Charice realized that both she and Li Xiao were in a personal moment, yet found herself so interested that she didn't want to leave. She turned and walked toward one of the bookcases as if she was going to leave but instead went in for a better look. Matthew's eyes were now watering before he wiped a falling tear.
"…Thank you, Alfred…thank you…"
"…we should get to class."
DAMN you, Li Xiao Chun…
"Eh? Oh, hey dude! When were you here?"
"Just now. We were looking for him and found him here." Li Xiao stood up. "Now if you excuse me, I have to get to class before I get late."
"Leave it to an Asian to worry about class!" Alfred chuckled. "All right, all right. Let's get to class!"
/=+=/
Unfortunately, all she could really worry about during class was the strangeness that had happened today. She had to admit, it was something she couldn't just sit there and ignore. What is there to be forgotten about a murder victim, jumping into a TV and fighting the sadness and anger of all humans on this planet? What is there to be forgotten about diving into a country's deepest, darkest secret?
Nothing. Nothing at all.
Was she emotionally capable of handling something like this? Of course she would choose the path of saving lives. That was the path that God has given her, and she will take that road. But could she emotionally handle holding so many secrets? Who else could be next? When would the next murder happen? A few hours? A few days…centuries from now? Would she still be ready then?
I have this power…I can save so many people…and here I am chickening out of it! She thought. I know Matthew probably won't be able to handle it…but that would mean that Li Xiao Chun would have to do all of this alone. No, I have to do this. Even if it kills me-
"Ate? Are you OK?"
She looked up to see that Rizal was standing in front of her, looking confused. It was then that she realized that he always seemed to have that weird oblivious look on his face, even when he was fighting in a world war against a super nation. What makes him wear that look of confidence…?
"Oh, hey bro." She sat up. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
"It's lunchtime. The fact that you haven't been jumping from your seat means that something's wrong." He folded his arms. "So what is it?"
"Lack of sleep, I guess." It was the universal excuse. "I woke up a few hours earlier than usual and couldn't sleep afterwards…"
"Sure, of course not. There's something bothering you, Charice." Rizal leaned in. "Tell me."
"…I can't lie to you, can I?" She smiled. "It's just the murder recently…it's been bothering me. I never thought countries could die like that…"
"We have a human form, Charice. And anything with a human form can be killed like one." Rizal stated. "That's all we can do. We have to protect each other."
"Yeah…exactly. That's all we can do." She smiled. "That's all we can do."
Rizal smiled, happy that she's a little cheered up, when he looked at the time and realized that he had somewhere to be. He turned to her as she stood up, ready to just talk to someone at this moment. She was the one to openly talk about something.
"Take care of yourself, ate."
"You too, kuya."
He nodded as he walked down the stairs and headed out the door to the room. She laughed at him as she walked down the stairs after him, deciding that she might as well crash the Newspaper Office again and see if there's food there, when she realized that she was pointing the sky when she said that and that there was a card in her hand.
Oh…that's new. Was that there before?
She looked at the cover and saw how it looked like a spear with three lines in the middle of it. It looked interesting until she realized that someone else was in the room. She turned her head and noticed that there was a tanned birdman behind her, glowing a strange white and dressed like a Filipino deity.
["I AM THOU, AND THOU ART I."]
"Whoa…what the hell was…?" She turned her head around. "How did this happen? I thought you were supposed to be in the other world…?"
["AS THE HOLY SCEPTER THAT YOU WIELD IN YOUR HAND, I AM AT YOUR COMMAND."]
"…Galang Kaluluwa." Um…why does he have Rizal's voice?
He sank into the card in her hand, which then sank into her arm. She looked around for a few minutes before deciding that she was going to wander around the school instead…though she sorta hoped that she would find the Newspaper Club instead.
/=+=/
She walked around for a few minutes, wondering just what the heck she was going to do, when she found herself in the middle of the music hall with music playing. Confused, she turned her head toward the door and knocked on it, hearing a small "come in".
As she came in, she realized that there were three people in the room. One of them looked like an extremely busty lady with platinum hair (whose breasts reminded her that she HAD none), while another one kinda looked like Ludwig with his hair down (she thought…it was probably the glasses). Still, she found herself interested with the last man at the piano: he looked so much more elegant than the rest of them.
"Are you looking for something?" The blond man asked.
"No…just wandering around. I heard music and wanted to see if I was going insane or not." She smiled. "I mean, I never heard music so pretty before."
"Why thank you!" The girl said, bouncing in happiness and making a weird boing sound as well (again, she found herself looking at her lack of breasts). "Hey, are you from the Asia class?"
"Yep! I'm the Philippines, but you can call me Charice!"
"I'm Ukraine, but you can call me Irunya." The girl chirped. "The blond man here is Eduard, who is Estonia…and that's Roderich over there. He's the president of the Music Club, but you can call him Roderich."
"I would much prefer Austria, though…especially since this is the first time we met."
"Formalities. Of course, of course, Mr. President." Charice grinned. "In that case, call me Philia."
"Philia?" Eduard looked confused (yet sounded nothing like Ludwig…blech). "But I thought you were the Philippines."
"I am, I am. But my brother uses that title. It sounds manlier." She pointed at herself. "I use Philia to make people know I'm a girl."
"Oh, I see." Roderich nodded. "Like how Italy is."
"Italy? You're saying that he has a brother too?"
"You didn't know that? I was made aware that you met Italy."
"Yeah, Italy. Not his brother, though." She chirped. "But I want to know where I can meet him!"
"Wish I knew. I don't pay attention to him or his brother anymore."
"Oh…OK…" She tilted her head.
"But no matter." Roderich sighed. "Can you play an instrument?"
"Um…drums? Sorta, kinda, not really…"
He just sighed.
"But I was just passing by, really! I wasn't planning on joining the music club and completely ruining your image!" She laughed nervously. "Well…I've been annoying you enough…maybe I should go back and annoy someone else right now…"
"Yes…please do…" Roderich turned back to the piano.
"But don't be hesitant to come back! We love the company!" Irunya chirped.
"Of course of course!"
She closed the door behind her and sighed. What was up with these clubs having Germany lookalikes? Seriously, if she finds one more of them she was going to be seriously lucky that she doesn't go flat out insane. She looked up and almost screamed: there was a woman in front of her. She had blue hair and white robes, but there was a wheel where her midriff was.
Whoa…I'm changing what I'm drinking in the morning…
["I AM THOU…AND THOU ART I."]
Oh…it speaks in Irunya's voice. Thank god! She sighed. God forbid it does something weird like-
["AS THE ONE WHO SPINS THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE, I AM AT YOUR COMMAND."]
HOLY CRAP it spoke like Roderich!
She turned her head to her hand and saw a card there. This time it was a yellow dagger in front of what looked like to be a wheel or something. The image sank into the card as it sank into her arm. She blinked for a few minutes before sighing in her sleeve.
Women talking like men. God, I'm never going to live through this.
/=+=/
Galang Kaluluwa is a Filipino deity that takes the form of a winged man. He is shown as a lover of travel and is a close friend to Bathala, which is the Filipino deity for the creator of the Filipino world. When the Spanish spread Christianity, Bathala was quickly assumed to be that Christian God. [Rizal Pacquiao- Hierophant]
Fortuna is a Roman goddess. She used to be associated with fertility but is now known for spinning the Wheel of Fortune. [Music Club- Wheel of Fortune]
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