Chapter 11
Update. So I am not dead. Rebecca is crazy on sweet Moon Armor power or whatever. Clara is not dead and is now in an intimate relationship with an air vent. The Ronin Warriors are here to save us from Rebecca. I had thought the Moon Armor and whatever chick wielded it would have been my friend. This is not the case. Yes, I am stuck in an internal monologue as I watch Rebecca reload with another arrow.
I am now being gently carried out of harm's way by Kento like a sack of potatoes. Rebecca fires an arrow at us but misses. Its no surprise that even the most skilled archers are caught off guard by a big cat. Rebecca throws Whiteblaze to the side and draws the two, thin not-hidden-anymore blades from the back of her armor.
Kento lays me down as far away from battle as he can.
"Damn, your armor is heavy, sis," he says.
"You have no idea," I reply. Or I think I reply. I am not sure my lips are actually moving. I think my body has gone into shock.
Ryo and Sage duel with Rebecca. Cye lifts me off the ground and makes me sit like a human, not a sack of potatoes. Rowen fires arrows over head. Police are now gathering in the parking lot where students are fighting to see a glimpse of what is happening on the roof.
Cye asks me if I am all right. I tell him I don't feel well. Oura is still chatting away in my head, delighted Rebecca may get hurt.
"Maybe you should get off your fat ass and help them finish her off?" asks Oura.
"Maybe you should shut up for once," I reply. I immediately apologize to Cye who is doing his best impression of an emotionally hurt kitten, thinking I just told him to shut up.
"Oura is still in my head," I explain to him. "She won't shut up. I have a feeling that girl over there has Becka in her head like Oura is in mine."
Kento goes flying back, leaving a human size dent in the air vent. Cye leaves me to help him. Rebecca is fighting back and winning. The guys will need to call upon the Inferno armor to stop her or we will be here all day at this. I still have papers to turn in.
And the guys do just that. Only this time, the Inferno armor's attack is blocked.
"They won't be able to stop her," whispers Oura. "We're going to have to stop her." I silently nod. Energy returns to my body. The armor is no longer heavy. I lift myself up, knowing I am going to have to do something to stop Rebecca. What? I have no frickin' idea.
Rebecca strikes down Ryo. The rest of the guys watch, amazed and stunned. What could they do? They gave up their armors to the Inferno armor.
"Rinfi…let me out," Oura whispers. "I am not supposed to be here…let me stop this…let me out…Rinfi."
I am teleported to another place, a room deep in a temple. Candles, mirrors and colored glass surround two people talking in low voices. I walk closer and recognize them immediately. It is Oura and Kindra as teenagers, shortly after receiving their armors.
"I don't understand, sister," says Kindra. "Why would she do something like that to us?"
"Because she isn't our mother anymore," replies Oura. "You are not to speak a word of this to Becka."
"But she ought to kno—""
"—what? Know what? She won't believe a word of it. You know that. I need you to keep this between only us. Do you understand?"
Kindra painfully nods her head.
"What are you going to do?" she asks.
"Mother is still out there…somewhere. I can feel her. I'm going to find her and confront her. I need you to keep an eye on things while I am gone. Can I count on you, little sister?"
"Don't you trust me?" Kindra asks.
"I will forever be remembered for my power and your sister for her paranoia," says Oura. "You are the only good left between us, Kindra. Do something with that."
Oura disappears from the room. Kindra lowers her head. Becka enters the room from another door.
"What are you doing in here?" she asks.
"Nothing."
"I knew it. Oura is up to something, isn't she? I won't let her make a mockery of our gifts from mother!"
Becka storms off after Oura. Kindra is left alone in the room. She sighs and looks at the statue of her mother.
"We used to be so happy," she hums. The statues' eyes turn red and a voice slithers out from it's stone mouth.
"Your mother isn't here anymore though, is she?" it says. A slight smirk appears on Kindra's lips for a brief second. Could I have imagined it? Kindra runs from the room, screaming for her sisters.
"We were set up for destruction by our mother," explains Oura. "Our mother gave us those cursed armors because she too was cursed. Cursed by what, I have no idea. A demon, perhaps. Whatever is was, it was strong enough to exist under my watch till mother left us. I knew then something was not right. Something had been released into our world."
"Is this story going to be a long one?" I ask. "I probably should go save the guys and Clara soon."
"Yes, I am wrapping things up! Humans now-a-days are so impatient and whiney. As I was saying, I realized I could still see mother in my dreams. I figured Becka could too, but she wouldn't tell me. I told Kindra to keep my suspicions secret from Becka. Becka came up with her own lies and secrets to place on me. The armors brought out the worse in us. I had become power hungry and consumed by it. Becka had become paranoid and defensive, and my little sister Kindra had become passive and worrisome about everything. How annoying.
I played the villain well, just as Becka imagined me to actually be a villain for her to act out her fantasy as a hero. Kindra, who was aware that the armors were cursed, even began to believe Becka's paranoid delusions and accusations. You see…this is why we have to stop her. She won't stop till we're dead. And she won't stop there. She'll kill your family, friends, and your little blue—"
"Then why us?" I ask. "Why possess me? Why possess her?" I point to Rebecca. Rebecca quickly glances over at me while in the middle of battle. I imagine a giant question mark hovering over her head.
"We share the same curse," explains Oura. "We share the same darkness my mother left behind."
"We don't share anything! You found me, remember? You found me out as a child."
"We share the same curse, Rinfi. Two pieces of a large puzzle. We are destined to be intertwined. You, me, her, and us are all a part of this whether we like it or not. Stop fighting me and start fighting her!" Oura screams.
Rebecca's sword comes crashing down on Rowen.
"NO!" I scream, my scream echoing and blowing though the make-shift battlefield on the roof. My armor buckles and cracks. Black blood pours out. I feel as though my body is caving in on itself. So much pressure. All I can do is curl into a ball and hold my head.
Rebecca stops her attack on Rowen and charges me, her sword held straight out to the side. Strength, anger, and frustration overcome my body in this moment. All I could think about is this psycho blonde chick killing everyone I love. I lift my arm up to shield from her sword's blow. Nothing hits me though. I open my eyes. I am now grasped the staff of the Sun Armor in my hands.
"Bitchin!" mouths Clara. Whiteblaze nods.
"Wrong! This is all wrong!" I yell, jumping to my feet and swinging the staff as hard as I can at Rebecca. Rebecca falls to the ground, her helmet shattering like glass on the ground. I fall forward to the ground on my knees. My body tips over to the side, and I lay there motionless. Something very big has just left my body. I need to take a breather or two or fourteen.
I can see the guys running towards me. Sage holds his sword at Rebecca's throat. Ryo calls back the Inferno Armor. Kento is saying something to me, but I can't hear a word of it. Cye watches the puddle of black blood change into smoke and then disappear on the breeze. Rowen lifts my head in his arms.
I turn my head to the edge of the roof. I can see her running. The little girl with long black hair runs to the edge of the roof, leaps, and transforms into a large, black bird. I can hear Oura's words in my head. We are destined to be intertwined…you, me, her, and us.
"Where will you go now?" I ask with the little strength I have left.
I can see Oura. I can even see Becka in Rebecca, but where is Kindra's human host? Is she here in me, now? I feel empty. But what about the sun sign that had appeared on my forehead? Was that Kindra, the armor, or something else?
There is so much mystery in the youngest daughter of the trio of sisters. How much is a lie or fabrication by Becka and Kindra? What if Oura is telling the truth? What if she is merely misunderstood in this story of mine?
I need that second half of the Greena's manuscript. I bet I know who found it. But does she still have it? So many questions and no energy to try and answer them now. Rebecca leaps into the air and flies off.
I still cannot move. Rowen is carrying me now. We are leaving the roof. Clara is talking to Kento, probably explaining to him the events before the guys showed up. Sage does not follow us immediately. He stays behind for a moment or two and stares at the dented air vent Clara was hiding behind. I can feel the shadow lingering of something that used to be there. Sage turns and looks at me. I can feel him staring through me, trying to find Oura in me. He sighs and follows the gang off the roof.
I sense something sinister surrounds the youngest, assumed innocent sister Kindra. Had I really imagined that evil, little smirk on her face in my vision? I think the youngest sister pulled a clever and deadly trick on her elder sisters, and Oura now knows it. What will happen now?