Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Close To The Edge

Hello, my faithful readers!

I'm having a break from Tabula Rasa for a while so everyone can catch up on what's going on and so on.

CTTE will probably be short, maybe 5 chapters. But I won't make this one too long.

This is my first real attempt at this kind of story so this probably won't be really scary or a masterpiece of some sort.

Note from the author:

This story will contain material that some people might find disturbing. I also won't recommend reading this if you can't stand depressive issues, suicide-themes or violence/blood/gore or are too young to read this stuff (under 15 years old).

So don't complain to me if you get nightmares or something. I've warned you.

--------------------------------------------------

Close To The Edge

Chapter 1: First steps

--------------------------------------------------

Scream.

That’s what I remember the best.

Bruises and cuts faded, memories never did.

Did I mention the scream?

The one that came from the mirror on my wall one night?

It’s a pretty old mirror. Wooden frames. Dusty, until mom dug it from the attic because I “needed something nice” in my “own” room.

Yeah right. I don’t call it my own since I never get even a minute of peace and quiet.

“How was your day honey?”

“Are you alright?”

“Why don’t you bring some of your friends over sometime?”

It might be a good point to tell you that I don’t have friends. Haven’t had any in years.

But let’s get back to the mirror. The wooden framed, old mirror.

So I had to put it in my room to get my mother off my back. I didn’t really care about the whole thing. I don’t spend half an hour in front of the mirror (another thing my mom got worried about since it wasn’t “normal”).

And there it was for a few months. The few months the house was quiet.

The few months before I was dragged to a psychologist every week.

Hey, maybe I need help but no one was interested until recently. I can keep most of the things to myself. I just smiled and played that I was a part of the whole happy-family-thing.

Though I never really was.

I was the freaky, quiet kid in the sunny, lovely family that had a white picket fence and their own house (white with blue details, just how my mom liked it).

I drew the line to the point where my “own” room would’ve become a clone of a picture in some decoration magazine. Brown walls, neutral carpet and red curtains that would’ve made a “lovely detail” to my non-personal room.

So I went and painted the walls dark blue. My mom wouldn’t believe what had gotten to her little boy.

When she looked at the world she saw nothing wrong with it: birds were singing, flowers blooming and all happiness, except for her son who kept staring at his feet, didn’t talk much and managed to bring sadness to the perfect, sunny world she lived in with her husband and other son.

And while this happy little family was spending their eternal summer days, I was in the world outside where people were beat up, raped, killed, drugged and lost in wars no matter how much you tried to deny it.

Narrow-minded people, my family.

So my family lived in the bubble while I was out of the bubble.

Sorry, got a little off-track there. But let’s return to my mirror and therapy sessions.

Oh why was I going to therapy sessions?

Good question.

It took my parents years to notice anything. In the bubble, out the bubble and all.

My mom thought that I had fallen down some stairs when I got back home one day with broken glasses.

My dad told me to go wash my hands when I appeared to the dinner table with something red leaking from inside the sleeve of my blouse.

And Alex didn’t even look twice when I got back from school one day with blood on my face and bruises everywhere, not to mention my weird walking.

In other words, my family was too wrapped up in its own happiness to notice anything else.

But their bubble was burst when someone called from the hospital about their son who was in the hospital after some people had found him on the floor of the local school’s restroom with open wrists and in the middle of a pool of blood.

And that wasn’t even the first time I tried to find some sort of relief.

Though I didn’t have to go to a hospital because of those.

But back to the mirror.

It was on the night after I got home from the hospital.

I woke up in the middle of the night. It was around midnight and I couldn’t sleep so I turned on the light and tried to move around a little.

It was alright until I walked past the mirror and heard a scream.

So I looked at the mirror and froze.

Not because I looked like crap after the uneatable hospital food and being without a proper shower for God knows how long. No.

It was because I was looking to what seemed like a black hole with a person in it.

I tried to get a closer look. Suddenly I was staring at my own eyes.

And then my closet flew open and the person from the mirror walked out.

It was a little girl, at least 8 years old, maybe younger: black hair, pretty baby-blue eyes and pale skin. Short and walking like she was having a huge weight on her back.

No kidding. She was almost doubled over and held her hands on her stomach like she was in pain or something. She was staring at me from under her black locks. I thought that her eyes would roll around in her head if she looked up even a bit more. Her eyes had dark circles around them, like she hadn’t slept in years. She didn’t blink.

“Hi.” That was merely a whisper.

“Erm, hi.”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Chris.”

“Oh.” She said that like she wasn’t even vaguely interested. “Where is this?”

I looked around. Wasn’t that a bit obvious? “You’re in my room.”

She started slowly walking and turning her head around to the sides but never looked up.

“But who are you?” She stared at her feet.

“…Jadie.”

“Okay, Jadie, what are you doing in my room?”

She was quiet for a while.

“…I don’t know.”

“Why are you walking like that?”

No answer.

“Why are you holding your stomach like that?”

She looked at me. “Because my insides will fall out if I don’t.”

Okay, there I was, in the middle of the night, talking to a little girl who had some serious issues.

No, wait a sec. I probably wasn’t any better since I was the one with a bandaged wrist.

“What happened to your hand?”

“Oh this?” I lifter my hand and she nodded. A small movement but at least it was something. “Let’s just say that I tried something and I screwed up.”

“Did you try to kill yourself?”

“What?”

“Did you try to kill yourself? That’s the only thing that you can screw up and get a bandaged wrist.” She looked curious. “Does it hurt?”

“No.”

“Oh.” She sounded disappointed.

“Why are you afraid that your insides will fall out?”

“Mommy said they will.”

“Your mom? Why would she say something like that?”

“Dad’s insides fell out.”

Alright, rewind and freeze, what did she say?

She nodded. “Dad’s insides were all over the floor. And there was blood too, lots and lots of blood. And when dad was taken somewhere Hope cut the cat.” She was quiet for a second. ”Mr. Meow’s insides came out too.”

“Who’s Hope?”

“Hope laughed at that. She thought it was funny.”

“Jadie, who’s Hope?”

“And then Hope was taken somewhere. She never came back.” She paused. “Dad didn’t come back either.”

“Who is Hope?”

Then she looked at me. “Hope is my sister.”

“And where’s your mom?”

“In her room. She never comes out. She sleeps and when she wakes up she-” She closed her mouth as if she had just said a bad word.

“What does she do Jadie?”

“I can’t tell you.”

Before I could ask why she opened her mouth again. “Why did you try to kill yourself?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“That’s what Jane said.”

“Who’s Jane? Your sister?”

Jadie nodded again. “She’s in the moon now.” Then she started chanting. “Jane’s in the moon, Jane’s in the moon, now she’ll never be in a bad mood…”

“What happened to her?”

She stopped the chanting. “She said that she’s going to the moon. And the she was lying on the floor. There was blood around her. She was smiling. She wanted me to come with her. She wanted me to see the people in the moon. And then dad came in and dragged me out. And then Jane was gone too.”

“So Jane died before your dad did?” Yet another nod.

“Now it’s just me and mommy. Why did you try to kill yourself? Did you wanna go to the moon too?”

“No, my problem was a bit different.”

“How?” Her eyes had gone wide.

“I won’t tell you that.”

“Oh. Why not?”

“You’re too young for that.”

“Am not!”

“Yes you are! Now go back to where-ever you came from and let me sleep!”

She stared at the floor for a minute. Then she slowly walked back to the closet and opened it.

“See you in the morning.” She climbed in, sat down and shut the door.

I didn’t sleep even an eyeful.

I even checked my closet a few times.

She was there. Quiet, eyes closed, arms wrapped around her knees.

But she was still there.

--------------------------------------------------

Read and review, please!


Comments (3) | Permalink

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Tabula Rasa

Note: From now on, this indicates thoughts/talking on the phone etc.

Chapter 17

“How can you be so sure? If I remember correctly, you were the ones who ran off!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Kaoru’s POV)

“I wonder how they’re doing…”

“Relax, they’ve got Malice with them, they’ll be fine.”

I can’t help but grin. “You said you’d be fine before you got locked up by an army of women, didn’t you?”

“Shut up.” I can almost see the vein on his forehead…

And then my cell rings.

“Kaoru.”

“Hi sweetheart!” I can’t hide my smile.

“Rei! Hi, what is it?”

“I remember we had a date planned-”

“Yeah, I know and I’m sorry but something came up-”

“Yeah, I know. Everyone’s working right now. So are we re-scheduling?”

“Yes. Next week?”

“I doubt this thing’s over before next week. After that?”

“Sure. When?”

“Let’s see how things go and think about it then.”

“Okay! Love you!”

“Love you too!”

“Who was that? Your girlfriend?”

“How’d you know?”

He smiles in the way that makes you want to go and punch his teeth down his throat. “I know everything.”

“Riight.”

“Seriously, why haven’t we met her?”

“…I won’t let you guys ruin this.”

“What! Who said we’d ruin it?”

I raise an eyebrow at that. “Common sense bro. You should look that up sometime…” He raises his hands in defeat.

“Fine, fine. But you can’t hide her from Sam for too long.” I shiver.

“Maybe, but I’ll try.”

~*~*~*~*~

(Sam’s POV)

“Ungh…”

“…what happened?”

“Hey! Where’s Anya?! ANYA!”

“She’s not here.”

I look around for a while and spot the Mean Woman sitting cross-legged on the floor with her rapier right next to her. Nabooru on the other hand is trying to get up from the floor. Not too successfully.

“Sure took a while for you two to wake up.”

“What happened?”

She scoffs. “Those brats tried to move us out of the way. Literally.”

“What?!”

“They tried to teleport us. And they managed to get rid of Anya.”

Wow. That’s the first time I’ve heard her calling Anya by name.

“So where is she?” Malice shrugs.

“Who knows. She might be dead for all I know. But once the great leader here” she waves her hand at Nabooru “gets her ass up we should look for those brats and try to figure out a way to get Anya back here.”

“From the Office or not, I suggest not mocking me. At least I know where I’m going.”

“Sure you do. Now can you enlighten us about this whole thing?”

“No.” Now she’s pissed Malice off. Royal.

“Look. My partner is missing, we’re facing an enemy we know nothing about and I suppose that this is going to get a hell lot worse. I’m not in the mood for your childish games. So now you tell us all you know or I’ll snap your neck!”

Nabooru stares at her as if she’s trying to decide if Malice is being serious or not. Finally she gives up.

“Fine. First of all, I have no idea who those boys are, nor where they came from. We noticed that there’re demons here, yes. One of my best squads was lost while they were on their mission-”

“If you mean that they were stealing something just say it.” Nabooru glares at Malice for that.

“Fine, as I was saying, while they were stealing something I ordered them to steal they were attacked and never came back. Not even their bodies were found.”

“What were they stealing?”

“That’s none of your business!”

Malice’s eyes narrow and she leans in. “My patience won’t last forever so I suggest that you tell us what they were here to steal or I force it out of you and I promise you it won’t be pretty.” I can feel the dangerous waves radiating from the Mean Woman and so does Nabooru.

“Alright, they were here for the Medallion!”

“What medallion?”

She looks at me like I’m a little kid who knows nothing. “It’s the source of power that for one, keeps us and this place hidden from human-eyes. It also makes it possible for us to live here.”

“And most important thing is that it’s a part of a set of 5 medallions. They all keep certain things hidden from humans.” Malice turns to Nabooru. “But don’t they only work in their set places?”

“No. As long as they stay inside the area they’re protecting they’re powers won’t change.”

“So why did you want it?” Nabooru’s eyes flash.

“To keep it away from the minions of darkness, of course!”

“To put it simply, dark powers combined with the medallions is no good.”

“But if those boys are already here-”

“They’re probably waiting for the right moment to move the Medallion away. Not a good thing.”

“So I was here to kill The Witches to prevent the Medallion from falling into wrong hands. The Witches have been possessed before, but no one has ever managed to kill them…” Nabooru ends her story.

“So we’re in trouble?”

“Big time.”

~*~*~*~*~

(No POV)

“Angst? What is it?” Angst has been standing in the same spot for a few hours. Well that wsn’t anything new. But she didn’t have her umbrella with her. And she’s been mumbling to herself too.

“Nach einem Windstoß ging ein Sturm los…“ (After a gust of wind began a storm…)

“Huh?“

“Wir waren namenlos: wir haben einen Namen. Waren wortlos: die Worte kamen. Das hört man doch. Wir sind nicht fehlerlos: nur etwas haltlos...“

(We were nameless: we have a name. We were wordless: the words came. You do hear it. We aren't flawless: just a bit anchorless…)

“Angst?! Are you alright?!“

Angst falls to the ground.

“ANGST!“

~*~*~*~*~

(Sam’s POV)

“So what do we do now?!“

“I think we should find the brats first, make them give Anya back and then kill them. Then we can worry about the Medallion.”

“Ooh-ho-ho!”

Speak of the devil. I turn around slowly. “Yeowch.”

“My, my! Is there something wrong with my ears or did they just talk about killing us?”

“They did! They did!”

“Well sorry ladies but that’s not going to happen!”

Malice laughs. “How can you be so sure? If I remember correctly, you were the ones who ran off!”

“That was only once!”

“It won’t happen again!”

“We’ll make sure of it!”

“Where’s Anya?!”

“Oh that friend of yours?”

“We sent her away, faar away!”

“Yeah, that’s pretty obvious, but where?!”

“To the Grey Dimension!”

One boy smacks the other one. Guess the other one’s not that bright…

“IDIOT! THAT WAS A SECRET!”

“OUCH! SORRY BROTHER!”

“Well, now we have to kill them!”

“Do we?”

“YES! Mistress said so!”

“Oh, okay!”

“Wait a sec!” The twins turn to Malice.

“What?”

“Shouldn’t it be an honorable battle?”

“What is she talking about brother?”

“No clue.”

Okay, maybe they’re both idiots.

“I want a fair fight!”

“What!”

“No way!”

“How about this: I fight you both, on my own, and if these two can get through to the battlefield they can take part in the fight.” She smiles sweetly. “Or are you too scared to face me?”

That gets the duo going.

“NO!”

“ALRIGHT! WE ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE!”

“But you have no right to complain when we kill you!”

Malice snickers. “Don’t worry, I have nothing to complain about. Shall we go?”

“Yes!” The boys and Malice disappear like they were never there.

I look at Nabooru.

“Should we get going then? You do know the way, right?”

“Of course I do!”

“Great! Then let’s head out!”

~*~*~*~*~

(Kaoru’s POV)

“Hey Kaoru! Bad news!”

I knew it.

“What now?”

“We lost Anya!”

“WHAT!”

“I’m serious, she’s just disappeared! No traces what-so-ever!”

“How did that happen?”

“I don’t know. And guess what, the Witches of the Desert are dead!”

“No way!”

“Yeah, and apparently the guys who killed them are in the Colosseum right now!”

“Oh shit.”

“Couldn’t have said it better.”

“So where are Sam and Malice?”

“In the Colosseum with Nabooru. I’m still waiting for more information but this is what we have so far.”

“So they’re in trouble?”

“Yeah, even worse that just the BB.”

“Can’t you get over it already?”

“Whenever you do sis, whenever you do.”

“So what can we do?”

“Wait or send more people. I don’t recommend the last option so we just gotta wait and hope for the best.”

I think for a second.

“Should we look over the other cases? In case they have something in common or something?”

“Good idea.”

--------------------------------------------------

A/N: So this was another "break-chapter" (I use those usually between fighting scenes or when I fell the need for a larger view).

All the copyrights of the German stuff belong to Rammstein (I changed it a little, but the original things is theirs).

I also noticed that people really liked my latest poem, Falling non-stop! Awesome! ^^ Comments like the ones I got from that poem keep me going!

FAQ

Comment:
Woot! Awesome chapter! Sorry I didn't read it yesterday. We need to get more people to comment on your story!! It's not fair that I just read it. Your talent should be recognized! This was a great chapter though. ^^ I felt bad for the lizards. haha >_< There seriously needs to be some lesbian type thing in the story!! haha >_<

xoxo Britty


Answer:
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I've signed guestbooks and all that and few people have actually been interested in this thing! ^^ Which is great.

And as some of you might know, I'm involved in a project called The Otaku Poetry Union along with Ekedo and silver star rose. We have a site but it's currently under construction so it won't be up for a while...but look forward to it!

If you write poetry in anyway and you think you can publish it on TOPU's site feel free to apply for membership by PMing one of us! ^^ The more the merrier!

Yeah, sorry about the lizards. ^^''' And if I can find a good place to put it I might wirte an extra-chapter with a lesbian type thing. How about that?


That was all for now. Later!


Comments (3) | Permalink

Friday, June 8, 2007

Falling non-stop

As I sit here and think
I realize that my chest is empty

[My heart won’t feel a thing anymore]

You told me you love me
But those were only words without the real feeling

[I saw it everywhere and still refused to open my eyes]

What did you do it for?
Was it practice in case you'll really feel that way someday?
Or did you want to know how long you can keep up this game?

[You truly have your way with words as well as lies]

You took my heart and almost my soul
But then reality hit me

[It’s supposed to be said to only one not many]

I asked you about it once
And you asked me if I thought you were fake

[I though all my tears would form a lake]

I said no and we never mentioned it again
We should have I know

[You know it’s been going on too long when nothing comes out anymore]

For three times already
I’ve cried in fear of losing you

[And each time it hurt less]

Someone said that love is blind
But I know it’s also sadistic
Why else would it be so hurtful?

[My broken heart found its way back into my chest]

Do the others know this too?
Do they know that they’re not the only ones in your heart?

[If you have one at all or did you only stole the hearts of others]

People have hurt you I understand that
I got a message from the woman wearing black

[She speaks of rapes and her love for you happily in the same sentence]

She tried to pull me down to her level
Claimed that she was like me years ago
Was it before or after you I don’t know

[Haven’t heard of her in a while but I doubt she’s given up]

You tell me to drop the subject
And then tell me to open up
Though you yourself never do it

[There are hypocrites where-ever you go]

So were you looking for support from me
When you got none from anyone else

[I know you know what pain is]

Keep things to yourself if that’s what you really want
But remember that you’re not the only one who’s been there

[I will never open my defenses again]

And in case you fall over the edge
Don’t drag me down with you


Comments (3) | Permalink

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Tabula Rasa

Chapter 16

“I don’t know. We’ve just been here for an eternity. No apparent reason.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After what seemed like hours of struggling our way through the sand and wind and all sorts of traps we finally found our way to the Colosseum. It’s huge. The wall that’s facing us is made to look like a human (face, arms, torso, but nothing below the waist) and it makes me feel really small. Something this big in the middle of a desert? I wouldn’t believe it if I weren’t standing right in front of it.

“Is that the Colosseum?”

“Yup.”

“…can something like this really be here? Who’s the madman who built this?”

“They had a better weather when that was built.”

“Which was when?” Malice shrugs.

“1000 years at least? How should I know? This isn’t my territory. Ask Kaoru and Kyoto when we get back.”

“So we just find this Nabooru, kick some demon-ass and where outta here?”

“Exactly.”

~*~*~*~*~

The Colosseum is huge. The hall we arrive in through the door is about the size of a big house. A few statues here and there but otherwise it looks like it’s just one room. No other ways but to go outside. Maybe this won’t be as hard as I thought…

“Just so you know, this place is full of hidden doors, traps and all the like so stay alert. You never know what can jump on you around the corner…”

“You sure know how to make a relaxed atmosphere.” Malice smirks.

“With years of experience.”

“So where’s the leader of the BB?”

“That’s what we’re here for, aside from the supposed demons.”

“Do we split up?”

“Hell no. You’d be a goner before an hour has passed. No, we stick together.”

We walk up the stairs. I don’t see any doorways…

“Now what?” Sam scratches her head and Malice starts walking around and checking the walls and statues. Then I notice something on the wall left from us.

“What’s that hole over there?” I point at it. Malice walks over to it and looks through it.

“Looks like a way in rookie. Good job.”

“So we crawl through?”

“Yeah. It’s not that hard, right?”

“Well who goes first?” We look at each other.

“Rock-paper-scissors?”

“Sure, why not.”

After a few rounds of the said game Sam is picked to go first. She mumbles something I can’t understand and crawls through the hole. After a while she says it’s okay to go and we crawl through the hole.

“Okay, what is this?”

We’ve entered a large hall with a picture of sun on the wall. Sun has closed eyes. In the corner of the room is a snake-shaped mirror. There are also cubes that have moons on them. Sunlight comes in through a hole in the ceiling.

“Can you think logically?”

“What?”

“Who didn’t understand that we need to lighten up the damn sun?”

“But look at those cubes. They block the way!”

“Well we just gotta figure this out before the sun outside sets. Otherwise it’ll be a long night.”

Sam nods and we start walking through the room and re-arranging the cubes. After some time we manage to clear to way for the mirror.

“Okay, now we push it so that the light reflects to the sun…”

We start pushing the mirror to the center. The light lights up the sun and it opens its eyes. It also looks like it’s smirking at us. Freaky.

“And there we have another door!”

In the next room we face a disturbing sight. Lizards. Big, walking lizards. With really big knives.

This really isn’t my day.

-Oh c’mon rookie, there’re only three of them! One for each!-

-I hate lizards.-

-Well just go ahead and kill them, the faster you do it the faster it’ll be over.-

-…I hate you.-

-Love you too rookie but we’ve got some lizards to squash, now don’t we?-

Sam is already taking aim at them with her bow.

-Just say when you’re ready.-

“Hey! You there!” The lizards turn around. I curse at Malice in my head. Sam shoots an arrow right through one lizard’s skull. It falls down with a cry and disappears in purple flames. The others are already running over to us. Malice smirks yet again and a shadow rises up to suffocate another big green demon.

“Rookie! Don’t just stand there!”

I barely manage to dodge a knife. Sam’s arrow pierces through the last demon. It disappears in flames like it’s comrades.

“Rookie! Why didn’t you take out your weapon?!”

“I can’t!”

“What do you mean you can’t?!”

“I don’t have a weapon! I’ve tried to take one out but there simply is none!”

Malice curses. “So we have a soul-keeper with no weapon and because of the location no powers! This is just great…”

“I don’t think that’s a serious problem-”

“Fine! You look after her.”

We don’t say a word to each other until we arrive to a hallway. Long, red carpet is covering the floor. There are torches on the walls. In the end of the hallway is a tall figure with long, red hair and white clothes.

“Nabooru! Long time no see, how’ve you been?”

Nabooru turns around in shock.

“Who let you come here?!”

“Oh yeah Saleec and one of the guards were a bit reluctant to let us through but we’re from the Office and we have a right to come here.”

Nabooru curses. “Those incompetent little-”

Suddenly we hear giggling.

“Look who we have here! The great Nabooru and some brats from the Office! And one can’t even defend herself here!”

“Ooh you’re right brother! Pathetic beings, aren’t they? No idea of real power…”

“No, they don’t have any clue as to what’s really going on…”

“Shall we tell them brother?”

“No, let’s play with them for a while!”

There’s a flash and in front of us are two little boys on brooms. Both wear robes. They look like twins. Nabooru’s eyes widen in shock.

“Who are you?! Where are the Witches?!”

“Oh those old farts?” The boy giggles.

“Those senile old farts are long gone! We surpassed them a long time ago!”

“We sure did brother! Should we show these four how we did it?”

“No, but let’s play with them!” Both giggle. “Oh dear we almost forgot to introduce ourselves!”

“I’m Seth, the wizard of the sand!”

“And I’m Hesel, the wizard of the wind! Kneel before our might!”

“Hell no.”

Seth and Hesel stop their bragging and look at Malice.

“Brother! It’s the Coffin Dancer!”

“Oh my, it truly is!”

“We’ve heard rumors!”

“Yes we have!”

“Of the powerful Coffin Dancer who dances her victims to the arms of Death!”

“Yes! A woman you should fear!”

Malice yawns. “Thanks guys, but we’re busy so-”

“We demand a battle!”

“No we don’t!”

“COWARD! OF COURSE WE DO!”

“YOU CAN DEMAND A BATTLE BUT I WON’T!”

“WHY YOU LITTLE-!”

“As interesting as your fight would be, we’re still busy so can you two go play somewhere else?”

“PLAY?! Did you hear that brother?!”

“I did! You dare to call this a play!”

“I sure do. Now scram.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking brother?”

“Frogs?”

“NO YOU IMBESILE!”

“Then wha- oh. OH! That!” The other buy rolls his eyes.

“Yes brother. THAT.”

The boys start to fly in a circle around us. They go faster and faster until they’re only a blur. Then there’s nothing. I’m falling in the darkness.

~*~*~*~*~

“Look Angst!”

“…”

“There’s someone over there!”

What the…?

“Hello! Are you awake? Look Angst it’s moving!”

“…”

I sit up. Something must’ve happened to my eyes since everything is in shades of grey and black.

“Welcome to…where are we again Angst?”

“…”

“FINE. Well anyways, we haven’t had guests in a while!”

“…what happened?”

“You saw those who defeated the Witches of the Desert.”

“OH NOW YOU DECIDE TO OPEN YOUR MOUTH! AFTER YEARS OF SILENCE-!”

“My head hurts…”

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to shout.”

“…where am I?”

“We don’t know actually. We’ve just been here as long as we can remember. Which is a really long time.”

“Where’s Malice? And Sam? Where are they?”

“In the palace of the Queen of Sand.”

“Huh?”

“Oh yeah you call it the Colosseum, right?”

“Then how am I here?!”

“The transportation was blocked before the others were teleported.”

“How do I get back?!”

“That’s a bit more complicated.”

I blink. I’m being hysteric and that doesn’t happen often.

“Who are you?”

“Oh I’m Ai and this is my companion Angst.”

“Love and Fear?” This is getting too absurd…

“Bingo, and on the first guess!”

“And what are you doing here?”

“I don’t know. We’ve just been here for an eternity. No apparent reason.”

“Great.” I stand up. “So how do I get back to my friends?”

“Should we tell her Angst?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. You have to go to the Grey Woods. That’s all we can say.”

“You can’t tell me or you don’t know?”

“Can’t tell. You have to go through this on your own.”

As if I ever get help in anything…

“Fine, where are these Grey Woods? I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

The girl the other one called Angst points at the black treetops at the horizon. I wonder how she knows where she’s pointing at with that blindfold on.

“Those are black woods.”

“No, they’re grey. You haven’t seen them in daylight.”

Figures.

~*~*~*~*~

After Ai and Angst drop me off at the woods (I still think they’re black) I walk for about a few hours until I arrive in to a wide opening. What’s the weirdest thing about it is that it’s in color. Colorful flowers, butterflies, green grass, blue sky, blue lake…and grey trees. Should’ve seen that one coming.

“Who is it?”

I look around and see a girl at the edge of the lake. She’s got a long, brown hair and a blue dress. Her baby-blue eyes look at me. She smiles. The white scarf on her shoulders is moving with the wind.

“What’s your name? No, don’t tell me, it’s Anya, right?”

“How’d you know?” She laughs.

“I know all about you.” She walks over to me and leans in closer. “Even better than you do.”

“What do you want?”

“I want” her sweet smile turns into an arrogant smirk, her eyes turn yellow and her pupils look like they were stolen from a cat “to kill all the little idiots who make the mistake of coming here!”

--------------------------------------------------

A/N:

Me: Zzz...
Kaoru: She's tired.
Sam: *pokes at me*
Me: Zzzz...
Anya: It must've been the tea and the spice cake...
Me: Zzzzz...
Malice: WAKE UP!
Me: *snaps awake* Huh? What?
Kaoru: You have to make the A/Ns.
Me: Don't have any.
Sam: Sure you do!
Me: I don't. I'm tired, it's burning hot outside and I want more tea. So stop bothering me!
Malice: Blame yourself, you made us!
Me: *bangs head to the wall* Darn.

Me: So until the next chapter folks...zzz...
Everbody else: *rolls eyes*


Comments (1) | Permalink

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Tabula Rasa

Note: (-'s POV) means a change of POV. (No POV) means what it says.

Chapter 15

“To the desert kiddo. The BB likes it hot.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Anya’s POV)

“Alright, first of all, who is she and second of all, how does Anya know her?”

“Her name’s Dinah and she was someone from my life.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“Moving on: who does she work for or is she alone, what is her goal-”

“There are too many questions to think about right now. Let’s call-”

Malice’s cell rings. She answers.

“Hello? Kyoto, I was just about to call ya, we’ve got a problem here-” A pause. “WHAT! Nothing at all? Nothing?” A pause. “Okay. We’ll be there as soon as we can. Bye.”

“What was that about?”

“All the demons have disappeared from the human world.”

“What?! Seriously?”

“Yeah. And they need us back at the Office, pronto.”

“So we’re leaving?”

“Yes, rookie, we’re leaving. Why don’t you ever use that brain of yours?”

“Did they say anything about me?”

“No, Katja can stay here.”

“YAY!”

“KATJA PÄÄSTÄ IRTI!” (KATJA LET GO!)”

”Alright, we’ll be going then-”

“What about me?”

“Oh, you’re not our case anymore. Katja’s gonna look after ya for a while.”

“Great.” Tarina keeps on shooing Katja away from her.

“WAAA!”

~*~*~*~*~

(No POV)

Two people are on a grey beach. The other one, a tall blonde girl wearing a black blindfold and holding a black umbrella is standing and looking at the ocean. The other girl, a short brunette wearing a black dress is sitting and playing with a deck of cards. The dark grey ocean is the same as always, as is the dark grey sky. Black clouds can be seen here and there.

“Oi. Angst.” The tall girl won’t respond, as she hasn’t done in years.

(A/N: Angst is said in the German way, meaning fear.)

“…”

“Look. It’s raining again. Here it rains every day.” The brunette looks up at the sky for the tenth time. The black rain falls down.

“…” Angst stares at the ocean. With her short, black jacket and long, black slacks and black shoes she could easily be mistaken as a skinny boy but her shoulder-length hair gives her away. Her pale, almost white skin suggests that she hasn’t gotten sunlight in years but she hasn’t stepped a foot indoors. Only stood and stared at the grey ocean.

“Why are you so quiet all the time?” The brunette is getting annoyed. Her silent companion hasn’t said a word for who knows how long. She straightens her knee-reaching, black dress that’s filled with beautiful details. Lace and some more lace. Her short, brown curls move with the wind.

“…”

“I’m bored out of my mind and you just stare?”

“…”

“Why am I even bothering?” She pokes Angst.

“Hey it’s me, Ai, remember?” No response.

(A/N: Ai: said in the same way as I in English: it means I in English and love in Japanese.)

“Fine, have it your way Angst. I’m going.”

Suddenly Angst’s head snaps up.

“Hey what is it?” Angst stares at the sky. Her lips are drawn in a thin line. “Is there something up there?” Ai looks up again.

“I don’t see any-”

“Quiet.”

Ai jumps and looks around for a minute before realizing that the voice belongs to Angst. Angst stays still for a minute before closing her umbrella. She turns around and starts walking. Ai hasn’t seen her do so much in a long, long time.

“Hey! What’s the problem?”

“…”

“Hey! Silent one! I asked you a question!”

“…”

Ai runs after her.

“Darn!”

~*~*~*~*~

(Anya’s POV)

“So what are we going to do?”

“Wait.”

“WHAT! You really think I’m gonna sit around and wait?!”

“That’s what you gotta do Malice. There’s nothing we can do before we have more information.”

“Kyoto, tell me you’re shitting me.”

“I wish I could. And I mean it. An irritated you, really a handful.”

“Why you little-”

“Calm down! Any news from Sam?”

“She got there, but no one let’s her go to the Colosseum.”

“Why?! She’s a representative of the Office, they have to-”

“Well they’re not. Seems like there’s something going on in the Colosseum and the BB wants us to stay out of it. Never a good thing.”

I turn to Kaoru.

“What’s BB?” She giggles. Now that’s a sound I haven’t heard before.

“It means the Bitch Brigade. Kyoto started calling them that after he had his first assignment there. See, it’s an all-woman race and they hate men in all forms, except their own leader of course, who despises them with all her heart. And when Kyoto went there they locked him up. I had to go and negotiate him out of there. He’s still pissed about it.” She starts laughing. “Must’ve been a huge blow to his ego!”

“Shut up, I’ve had to save you about a million times!”

“And most of the times I didn’t even need it!”

“I was sent over so obviously you did!”

“SHUT IT!” Malice is getting more and more irritated by the second. “If Sam needs help, can’t we go?”

“Great idea!”

“There’s something wrong, Kyoto’s too happy about this!”

“Hell yeah there is! No need to listen to her complaining when I can get rid of her!” He shuts up when Malice glares at him.

“So off we go, but where?”

“To the desert kiddo. The BB likes it hot.”

~*~*~*~*~

(No POV)

“You must let me go! I’m here on business, Office business!”

“Well then you should go back there because you’re not going to the Colosseum. We’ve got it all under control here.”

“Like hell you are, I wouldn’t even be here if you did!” Sam shakes her fist at the guard. The guard only rolls her eyes. The redhead has been yelling about the same thing for almost two hours.

“How long are we going to debate on this? You. Are. Not. Allowed. To. Go.”

“I wanna speak to your leader!”

“The great Nabooru isn’t here at the moment.”

“Then where is she?!”

“What’s going on here?” The guard straightens up at the voice of the present lady-in-charge. Her dark outfit looks like a rag compared to Saleec’s bright-green one. It makes a strong contrast to her dark-brown skin and her bright-red, long hair which is currently on a ponytail on her neck. She also wears a lot of golden jewelry: necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings. She’s in charge and she shows it.

“This old hag won’t let me through!” The guard’s eye twitches.

“Nabooru’s orders. No one is allowed to go through at the moment. I’m terribly sorry.”

“Sorry my ass! You let me through right now or-”

“What? Your Office sends in some more squirts to bother us? Why can’t I just kill her?”

“Nabooru’s orders too, if you don’t remember.”

“Oh yes.”

“And no one has told me where she is!”

“That’s our business, not the Office’s.”

“HEY! SHE’S FROM THE OFFICE! YOU HAVE TO LET HER GO!”

Sam, the guard and Saleec turn to look at the two figures approaching them.

~*~*~*~*~

(Anya’s POV)

“You just have to go and beg for trouble, don’t you?”

“Where’s the fun if I don’t?”

A woman in green looks at us.

“Who are you?” The woman in dark outfit laughs.

“More brats from the Office, isn’t it obvious?”

“Quiet if you wish to keep your head.”

“Yes, Saleec.”

“Oh you’re Saleec? Where’s Nabooru?” Sam opens her mouth.

“That’s the million dollar question! They won’t tell anything!”

“Oh really? And why’s that?”

“N-”

“Do NOT tell me that it was Nabooru’s order.”

“It was.”

“Did you know that our authority over-rides hers? Meaning this: you keep your pretty mouth shut and let us through!”

“Absolutely not. Or unless you want to get killed.” She draws a pair of sabers. “You in?”

“Absolutely.” Malice is already charging. Saleec raises her weapons. But Malice suddenly takes a step on the right and disappears. Saleec’s reaction comes too late. She steps forward and Malice’s shadow traps her. Before Saleec can blink Malice is pressing a rapier against her throat.

“I win, step aside. NOW!”

“Fine.” Saleec curses while the trap let’s her go. “Move. They’re free to go.”

“But-”

“DO I HAVE TO REPEAT MYSELF! MOVE IT!”

“Yes ma’am!”

The guard opens the gate. Before following us through the gate Malice flashes a smirk at Saleec.

“Though luck.”

We hear curses before the sound of flying sand covers all the noise.

--------------------------------------------------

A/N: POV changes, yes. Gives a wider view on what's going on, doesn't it?

I'm also going to describe the characters and surroundings more from now on. Okay? ^^

FAQ

Comment:
Woot! Awesome chapter! I totally loved it! I can't wait to read more.

Haha, hmm...is he as bad as Clay as well? Clay is so cheesy!!

I can't wait to read more!

xoxo Britty

-Simpleplanluver

Answer: Respect for the person who comments on every chapter! ^^ *hugs* And the question: It's kinda hard to say, I don't know this Clay...but Antti Tuisku is really cheesy. -.-'


Until the next chappy! ^^


Comments (2) | Permalink

Monday, June 4, 2007

Tabula Rasa

Chapter 14

“Sorry guys, but that's classified information!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“WHAT?! Are you sure?”

“Yup! I even wrote a note!”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?!”

“I don’t want to die again.”

Cursing.

“Fine. Where is that stupid note?”

“Here!” Katja stuffs the note to Malice and disappears again.

I really don’t like the look on Malice’s face. She finishes the note.

“I’ll put it simply rookie: we’ll be busy for a while.”

“Why?”

“Demons are popping up almost everywhere. Just like that.” She snaps her fingers. “So we’ve got a lot of work after we’re through this case.”

Katja pops up from behind me and I jump.

“Speaking of your case, I think we’ve found your bad boy!”

“Where?”

“It’s at- where was it again…”

“KATJA!”

“Okay, okay…it’s in Tarina’s school. One of the students.”

“Who?”

“…we don’t know.”

“You don’t know?! Are you saying that we have to go through all the students?! There must be at least 400 brats in that place!”

“I know.” For some reason she’s smiling.

“And how do we do that fast enough?”

“You’re getting some backup!”

“Oh great. Who?”

Katja points at herself.

“Me!”

“Fu-”

“Okay, okay let’s focus on the case and not on cursing each other.”

Malice glares at Katja who doesn’t seem to even notice. She jumps around happily.

~*~*~*~*~

“So who is she?”

“The nutcase of the country, a.k.a. Katja.”

“Oh she’s Finnish?”

“Joo!” (Yeah!)

“IHANAA!” (WONDERFUL!) To our surprise, Tarina hugs Katja. “Viimeinkin joku selväjärkinen!” (Finally someone who’s sane!)

”Yeah, yeah, cut the chit-chat, we’ve got work to do.”

“Oh right. The demon.”

“Speaking of the demon, how well do you know the kids in your school?”

“Pretty well I guess.”

“Well that should help.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our bad boy is a student in your school.”

“Somehow I guessed so.”

“OK. What kind of student are we looking for?”

“Any transfer students lately?”

“No.”

“Then we’re looking for someone who’s always looking for attention but doesn’t blabber about everything.”

“Popular?”

“I’d say yes.”

“Or then it’s the student who seems invisible most of the time.”

“We only have a popularity-freak.”

“Great! Let’s start with that!”

“Oh with Laura? Go ahead, punch her for me!”

“No. We just observe for a while.”

~*~*~*~*~

“-ja siis iha tosi, kukaan ei käytä sellasii vaatteita, ei siis kukaan!” (…and I mean seriously, no one wears clothes like that, I mean no one!)

Laura really seems to be the queen bee. She wears the latest fashion (grey clothes, colorful scarf and a pink bag) and wears too much make-up.

“Let me guess: that’s Laura?”

“Bingo.”

“Wow looks just like one bitch I knew a long time ago!”

Katja’s looking around the canteen. For some reason she has an umbrella with her (a small one, red with white dots) and she seems to enjoy herself. We’re on lunch break. Only Tarina has food that she’s currently eating.

“So what do we do now?”

“Look out for odd behavior.”

“She’s the queen of the school. All the popular kids are odd in some way.”

“Like how?”

“They listen to Antti Tuisku.”

Katja hisses and shivers.

”Who’s Antti Tuisku?”

”A popstar. That’s all you need to know.”

I don’t like pop music, at least not much. And Katja is a goth (according to Malice) so the reaction is understandable.

“Okay, but more odd behavior. Does she meet up with strangers after school?”

“How should I know? I don’t care if she gets run over by a truck!”

“Okay so you don’t like her.” Tarina makes a strange noise. I take it as a yes.

“So do you know anything about her. Except that she’s a bitch?”

“Go ask her, she’ll be more than happy to tell you herself!”

“Okay, I will!”

Malice gets up from the table and walks over to Laura. They chat for a while and then Malice comes back.

“Okay, she’s the queen bitch, spoiled and an idiot. Unfortunately that doesn’t make her evil.”

“Did you read her mind?” Malice scoffs.

“Didn’t need to, the girl’s so full of herself that she tells everything.”

“We all know that. But try and tell her that.”

“I think I know the reaction.”

“Yup.”

“Katja, what are you doing?”

“I’ll talk to her!”

“Katja, sit down!”

But she’s already heading towards the queen bitch. The girls in the table turn to Katja when she starts to chat with Laura. She looks at us and starts laughing. Katja returns.

“Little miss perfect. That’s what she is.”

“So what do we do?”

“We keep an eye on her with this.” She pulls out a small ball from her pocket. “Katja, you know what to do with this, right?”

“Right! Leave it to me!” She gets up, walks past Laura and disappears to the hallway. Laura giggles with her little group.

“What was that?”

“We can track her with that. Katja let it get away near Laura so it attached itself in her head.”

“And she doesn’t notice it?!”

“Nope, which is perfect, since we don’t want to be discovered, right?”

“…who makes this stuff for us anyway?”

“There’s a team for that in the Office.”

“Figures.”

“So let’s get going, we have English class to attend.”

~*~*~*~*~

After the last lesson we go to Tarina’s place. Her parents aren’t home.

“So how do we track Laura?”

“Piece of cake. We’ve got you rookie.”

“Me? What can I do?”

Malice walks to the kitchen and opens the faucet.

“Make us a mirror. It’s easier to see with a clear screen.”

“So I…”

“Focus and make us a screen.”

I do as I’m told and close my eyes. A bit of focus and I can already form objects out of water. Though there needs to be water close, in some form, otherwise I can’t do anything. I return to reality when I hear Malice shutting the faucet.

“Great! You can stop now.”

I open my eyes and watch as the wall of water comes to life. Looks like I’m watching a TV-show.

“Okay now where is she?”

Speak of the devil, that’s Laura and that girl with her is…

“DINAH?!”

“Oh you two know each other? Well it looks like our bad boy is actually a bad girl…”

I’m too shocked to response. But there she was, the sick girl from my life. A life I thought I already got rid of.

“Oh what are they doing?” Katja doesn’t seem to notice my anxiety.

“Talking…let’s turn up the volume.” I have no idea how, but suddenly we hear clearly what they’re talking about.

“-so what are we going to do now?” Laura’s pronouncing is causing me a headache.

“Did you do what I asked you to do?”

“I put the blue balls in the forest.”

“And?”

“What?”

“What happened to the spiders that were supposed to come out of those eggs I gave you?!”

“I didn’t see any! Spiders! Yuck!”

Dinah sighs.

“Let a human do the job and go clean the mess afterwards.”

“What?”

“Do you know what I want you to do next?”

“What?”

“Stand right there and close your eyes.”

“Okay!” She doesn’t suspect anything. I don’t know if I should laugh or cry.

“Good girl.” Dinah grab Laura’s face with her left hand. Laura’s eyes open, she screams and then falls down like a puppet. Dinah is holding a glowing soul in her hand.

“Stupid girl. You never really had brains, did you?” The soul doesn’t react, just stares into nothing. Dinah sighs. “Well now you’re in better use than getting on my nerves with your whining.” The soul disappears.

Dinah turns right to the tracker and smiles widely. She waves.

“Hi! I suppose you’re from the Office, aren’t you? Nice to meet you, even though not face-to-face…”

Malice’s eyes grow wide.

“No way! She can’t see the tracker! That must be just good luck!”

As to answer to her comment, Dinah talks again.

“Oh you though I wouldn’t see that pathetic attempt of following that stupid girl? Well I’m more than I look like.”

She looks at Laura’s corpse.

“She was pretty useless. Couldn’t do anything properly. But she was cheap and didn’t think of her own good. And she wasn't that strong, just a stone around my neck!” She spits on the corpse. Then she turns back to the tracker. “I guess you’re wondering what I’m doing here?” She nods to herself as if she’s answering her own question.

“Sorry guys, but that's classified information!” She laughs. “Aww, don’t look like that, if you manage to be clever enough, you’ll figure it out!” She seems to be picking the tracker between her fingers because that’s what it looks like now.

“But I have a schedule to follow, so this is bye-bye for a while. Nice chatting with you! Bye!” The screen cuts off.

Everyone’s quiet.

--------------------------------------------------

A/N: A new chapter! Took longer than usual, didn't it? -.-' I'm not proud of that.

I've got some new inspiration now! ^^ That should be good.

And in case you're wondering, Antti Tuisku is a Finnish popstar. He came in 3rd place in the Finnish Idols. He's doing really great. I hate his music. -.-''' It destroys my ears. He's like...Justin Timberlake.

That's all for now.


Comments (2) | Permalink

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Tabula Rasa

BIG NOTE: No POV (3rd person).

Chapter 13

“Sure. As if we couldn’t find a solitaire addict anytime we’d need one.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey Kaoru, what do you think Anya’s doing right now?”

“Why are you asking me that?”

“Well what do you think?”

Kaoru flips her pen a few times before going back to her report. Sam gets up from the floor and sits on the couch.

“I have a feeling it has something to do with spiders.”

“SPIDERS?! YUCK!”

“…and that it’s going to get a lot worse soon.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind.”

“So how’s your love life?”

Kaoru’s eyes twitch. She reaches for her paperweight and throws it at Sam. She barely dodges.

“Hey no need to get so violent!”

“I told you to stop asking me that all the time!”

“OOH! SOMETHINGS GOING ON!”

“And why do you think that?!”

“YOU’RE TOO CRANKY ABOUT THIS! SPILL IT, WHO IS IT?!” Sam seems to be having the time of her life.

Kaoru sighs. She goes back to her report.

“WELL?!”

“…”

“NAH NAH YOU WON’T GET AWAY WITH THIS! WHO-IS-IT?!”

“You don’t know her.”

“Her? KYAA~ KAORU HAS A GIRLFRIEND!” Sam starts jumping around.

“I’ll NEVER introduce you to her.”

“WAAAH! Of course you will, I’m your best friend!”

“Says who?”

“Says me!”

“Well that sure makes it true.”

“WAAAH YOU MEANIE!”

“SAM GET OFF ME!”

~*~*~*~*~

“So who’s going to tell the boss?”

“Not me! I don’t want her wrath upon me!”

“Then who will tell her that we screwed up?”

“How about you?”

“Hey what’s so scary about her anyway?”

The other four turn to look at the girl. The rookie, been a member for a week. Figures.

“What’s so scary about her?”

“It’s clear that you haven’t met the boss.”

“No, so what’s so bad about her?”

The other girls look at each other and then at the rookie.

“Oh I don’t know, maybe the fact that she can kill you in seconds if you really get on her nerves!”

“So, the one who tells her about this is practically risking her life!”

“Hey I have an idea!” Everybody turns to look at her.

“Let’s send rookie to tell the bad news.” Four girls smirk.

“Great idea.”

“Hey I didn’t say- hey let go of me!”

~*~*~*~*~

“Yo Kyoto!”

“Hi Stefan.”

“You heard anything about Nabooru’s gang recently?”

“No, I haven’t. Why?”

“Well I was just wondering that they’ve been a bit too quiet lately, if you know what I mean.”

“So you’re saying that they’re up to something?”

“Well it’s always a possibility.”

Kyoto sighs.

“Well I’ll look into that after I’m done with this thing.”

~*~*~*~*~

“So you’re telling me that one of my best squads, and I mean the BEST, got caught?”

“Yes.”

“While stealing the target?”

“Yes.”

“One of my best squads.”

“Yes.”

“…” Nabooru walks around a little before laying her amber eyes on the trembling rookie.

“What’s your name again?”

“Alycia.”

“Alright, Alycia, how long have you been a member of us?”

“For a week.”

“Do you know what I do to people who screw up?”

“Y-y-you k-kill them?”

“Correct. But tell me Alycia” Nabooru leans closer to the shaking rookie who looks right about ready to faint any second “how can I kill those morons when they’re not here?”

“I-I-I d-d-don’t know-”

“WHY aren’t they here?”

“B-b-because they were c-caught by th-th-the Witches.”

“Correct. But WHY were they caught by the Witches?”

“I-I-I d-d-d-don’t-”

”Yes, you don’t know because NO ONE does!” Nabooru waves her hands and walks around again. Then she stops.

“Alycia, was it?”

“Y-y-yes.”

“Go get all the squads- all of them, I don’t care if they’re even in the middle of a bath- to the main room. Tell them I have something to tell to everybody.”

Alycia shakes and won’t move anywhere.

“WELL WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU STANDING THERE FOR??!! GO GET ALL SQUADS!!! NOW!!!”

“Y-y-yes boss!” Alycia runs as fast as her legs can carry her. Now she knew what was so bad about their great leader Nabooru.

~*~*~*~*~

“SAM GET OFF ME RIGHT NOW OR I WON’T BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONCEQUENSES!”

Kaoru’s cell phone rings.

“HEY LET GO!”

“Okay.”

Kaoru answers the phone.

“Yeah? Kyoto? What’s up?”

A pause.

“WHAT?! Demon activity in the Colosseum?! How did that happen?!”

A pause.

“…sure, the minute we get some peace and quiet-”

A pause.

“Okay, Sam’s right here, I’ll take her to the Office. We’ll be there in a minute.”

She shuts the cell phone.

“Sam, you got a case.”

“YAY! What is it?”

“The Colosseum. There’s been some demon activity all of a sudden.”

“The Colosseum?! But I though it was cleaned up long time ago!”

“Well there’s something in there now so we need you to investigate.”

“Okay…”

~*~*~*~*~

“Dear fellow thieves! We have a problem. The Witches are awake again!”

Mumbling and whispering is heard everywhere.

“And my spies have informed me that the Office has been alerted of demon activity in the Colosseum! For now they have no idea what’s really going on, so we gotta move fast!”

Everybody’s listening.

“I myself will go to the Colosseum and retrieve the Medallion.”

Gasps and more whispering.

“The rest of you will stay here, take care of the people coming here from the Office- yes, I’d say they’ll be here any minute- while I’m on my mission. I’ll be leaving the Valley and while I’m away everybody does what Saleec tells you to do. This is my order! And all those who oppose-” she smirks “well do I really have to tell you?”

No one opposes. These women can be cruel and kill without hesitation, but they’d rather keep their heads attached to the rest of their bodies.

~*~*~*~*~

“Should we let Malice know what’s going on?”

“Yeah, it might be the best. You can call her.”

“Why me?”

Kyoto smiles widely.

“Because in Finland it’s around 4 AM and Malice hates it when people call her when she’s trying to sleep.”

“And I can be sacrificed?”

“We can replace you, but I’m not replaceable.”

“Sure. As if we couldn’t find a solitaire addict anytime we’d need one.”

“Tell that to the upstairs.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Then off you go.”

~*~*~*~*~

“…and we need to take it down before it gets away for good- AYA! ARE YOU LISTENING?!”

“…”

“Y’know, I have no clue why we need to work with a brat like him-”

“AYA!”

“…”

“Maybe he’s deaf?”

“FOR THE LAST TIME, AYA: ARE. YOU. LISTENING??!!”

Aya raises his eyes from the floor.

“Hai, Jarrod-san?” (Yes, Jarrod-san?)

“Listen you brat-”

“GET BACK TO YOUR SEAT HENRY!”

Aya doesn’t react.

“But sir that little idiot doesn’t even bother to pay attention-”

“Which is not your problem!” Jarrod turns to the young man at the end of the table.

“Aya, have you been listening?”

“Hai.” (Yes.)

“And you know what you’re supposed to do?”

“Hai.” (Yes.)

“You’re really trying to piss me off, aren’t you brat?!”

Aya looks at Henry and smiles wickedly.

“Haai.” (Yees.)

“WHY YOU LITTLE-” Henry ties to get off his chair but Jarrod holds him back.

“HENRY CALM DOWN! Do you really want a katana through your heart?”

“BUT THAT LITTLE-”

“I don’t care about what he did, you should learn to control yourself! Aya, you’re free to go now.”

Aya gets up from he’s chair and leaves the room. Once the door closes Henry starts shouting.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?! That bastard just-”

“He does that to everybody he meets for the first time you ass! It’s his game and you lost!”

“What?!”

“You’re not dealing with a teenager even though he looks like it.”

“What is he then?”

“Classified information. But I’ll tell you one thing: never piss him off. He can kill you before you even blink.”

“Sir, is there anything you can tell about him?”

Jarrod gets up from his chair.

“Let’s just say that he does his job and he does it damn well as long as we don’t annoy him. He’s the only one we’ve got and finding a new one-”

“What do you mean only one?”

Jarrod opens the door.

“Just make sure you won’t get in his way. It might get bloody.”

~*~*~*~*~

“Wow, this is strange.”

“What?”

“We got an alert from Vietnam’s local forces.”

“What about it?”

“They’ve met a demon that’s not in the database.”

“WHAT! That’s impossible!”

“Not anymore.”

--------------------------------------------------

A/N: Well we have some new characters! Now I don't want to hear any complaining about having too many characters, I don't have that many (not even close to Naruto and Bleach and they both have about 100 characters).

Summer break is getting closer! ^^ More chapters, hopefully faster!


Comments (1) | Permalink

Friday, May 25, 2007

Different.

He was different.

He looked different,

wore different clothes,

talked differently.

Everybody said he was different.

But one day

he stopped me on the school yard

and said:

"Would you like to go out with me?

I’ve never talked to you before

But I know you’re different."

"What are you talking about!

I’m not different!",

I yelled at his face.

He whispered:

"Aren’t we all?"

and turned away.

And I stood there

watching him go;

walking away from me.

From the same world back to the different.

But sometimes the different isn't so different after all.


Comments (0) | Permalink

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Tabula Rasa

Chapter 12

“Someone’s going for something big.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

English class.

We met up with Tarina at the bus station. The last 4 classes went smoothly, or as Malice would put it, it’s been boring as Hell.

So at the moment we’re attending the class and listening the boys in this class. They’re basically destroying every bit of belief about them having brains. Oh well.

Suddenly Tarina pokes me.

“Salla, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah?”

“What do the nasty stuff look like?”

“Why are you asking?”

“Because I just saw a huge blue spider with four yellow legs and one red eye jumping around the yard.”

-Did you hear that Malice?-

-Hey I’m not deaf.-

-So what do we do?-

-We go to the bathroom.-

-What?!-

-You heard me. I go now, you follow me after five minutes have passed.-

-Oh, okay…-

-Great.- “Hei, voinks mä käydä vessassa?” (Hey, can I go to the bathroom?)

“Joo. Käy nopeesti.” (Yeah. Go quickly.)

”Kiitti.” (Thanks.) Malice leaves the classroom.

“You guys have a plan?”

“Malice has a plan to be exact, but that doesn’t comfort me.”

“Huh?”

“Forget it.”

After five minutes I go to the bathroom too. Not.

“Rookie, over here!”

“Where are we going?”

“To the nest.”

“Nest?”

“Please tell me you know what a nest is?”

“Yeah, yeah so what do we do there?”

“Hack’n’slash of course.”

“Oh yeah. And after that?”

“Get back to class and see if the big evil guy notices his missing minions.”

“Thank you, that really made me feel better!”

“Drop the sarcasm rookie. It doesn’t suit you.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Pas de probléme.” (No problem.)

She’s obsessed about showing-off her language skills.

“Okay, move out!”

~*~*~*~*~

“And the nest is HERE?”

“Where did you think it would be?”

“I don’t know, but not-“

“Shh. Quiet.”

After the millions of spruces and pine trees (and the tens of millions of pine and spruce needles in my hair) we reach the nest. Or so Malice says, I don’t see anything.

“Where are all the-”

“Good question.”

Thump.

Rustling.

Thump thump.

“Malice?”

“Yeah?”

Thump thump thump. More rustling and thumps.

“I think we found them.”

“You don’t say?” Her cross glows, the rapier appears and that’s about all I see before she’s back to her mad killer-dance and the spiders go down one by one.

“Rookie! A little help here!”

Oh. Right.

A spider appears behind my back. Perfect.

I form a ball of water in my hand (I’ve been practicing my magic for a while and I can do only a few things for now) and aim for the blue jumper. The pressure releases right at the spider which gets a few gallons of water against it. It hits a near tree before burning away in green flames.

“Rookie!”

I’m already forming the next attack. A big swan made of water moves around a little before attacking a small group of spiders. Unfortunately Malice is right in the middle of the spiders and gets her share of the water too. I look around. No spiders in sight.

Malice on the other hand is getting up from the wet ground, pulling the drenched strands of hair off her face and giving me death-glares.

“You are SO going to train that aim of your once we get back to the Other Side.”

“I swear it was an accident!”

“Aim-practice, and no buts!”

She looks around too and I notice the necklace back around her throat.

“Well that was quick. I thought that there would be more of those bugs.”

“We gotta get back to class.”

“If you wanna explain why I’m drenched! We were supposed to be in the bathroom!”

“Pff. Okay that’d be tricky.”

“So I say we ditch the rest of the day, I try to dry myself and we wait for Tarina.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Naturally. Now let’s get back to school and find something I can use as a towel.”

~*~*~*~*~

After the end of the last lesson.

Tarina gives us a look and asks what happened to Malice. She seems amused.

“Do not ask if you wanna keep your pretty head on your shoulders.”

“Fine, fine. I assume you found the spider?”

“A nest of them actually.”

“A NEST?!

“Keep it down moron.”

“Sorry.”

“A suspiciously small nest really.”

“Huh?”

“Oh c’mon, any idiot would know that it was way too small to have been there for more than a week.”

“Which means?”

“…”

“Malice?”

“…I gotta ask Kyoto once we get to the local force’s base.”

“Who’s Kyoto?”

“A smartass who’s probably playing solitaire even now.”

“If he plays solitaire all day long why is he so strong?”

“He trains his skills, something you apparently have never done!”

“I told you it was an accident!”

“And I told you to practice your aim! Think about what might have happened if there would’ve been more spiders and you would’ve accidentally knocked me out!”

“Alright! I get it!”

“Why did you two become a pair?”

“’Cause the people upstairs HATE me.”

“What?”

“Forget it. It’s nothing you should worry about.”

“Okay…”

~*~*~*~*~

At the local force’s base (LFB for short).

Malice’s been talking on her cell for about half an hour.

I’ve been chatting with Katja. Now that’s an energetic girl. She won’t take those cat ears off.

“Okay, so what do we do?” A pause. “Alright. You really sure about it? The local force hasn’t mentioned anything.” A pause. “Yeah. Right. Well gotta go now, bye.” She shuts her cell.

“This is weird. There’ve been reports about small spider nests and all that all over the world. They’ve been taken care of, but it’s still weird. And they just pop out of nowhere with no explanation. It was suggested that someone’s trying to cause a smaller demons’ revolution over humans.”

“So what do we do?”

“We take care of this case and get back as soon as possible.”

“And how do we do that?”

“If there are smaller minions, there’s gotta be a big minion that rules over the small ones. It’s simple, really.”

“So we kill the big minion and we’re done?”

”Probably.”

“Alright. So how do we find the big guy?”

Malice pulls out a map. It’s just the map of Elimäki (one that includes Koria).

“The nest we got rid of” she says while picking up a red pencil “was about here” she circles the area behind the school building with her pencil “and some other nests have been found here, here, here and here” she circles four other areas.

“Now what does this look like?”

“It’s a formation.”

“Right. And when we draw lines from are to area” she does so “it looks like…?”

I look at the map for a while.

“…it’s star.”

“A pentagram to be exact.”

“What does that mean?”

“Someone’s going for something big.”

“And we should do something about it?”

“Right. But first we gotta look after Tarina and slain the bad boy.”

“Right.”

We’re both quiet for a minute.

“Why does this all seems like X/1999?”

“Can anyone spell coincidence?”

Katja pops up. “C-O-I-N-C-I-D-E-N-C-E!”

Malice stares at her for a minute. “…right.”

--------------------------------------------------

A/N: Another chapter. Well what can I say...

Listening to Minutes To Midnight really speeds up the writing process. Yeah my dad downloaded the mp3-version, but I'm still going to buy the album! I LOVE IT! ^^

So a warning beforehand: the next chapter will be all short clips of what's happening everywhere else (a.k.a. how the other characters are doing). Then we get back to M&A. Okay?

And if you don't know what the reference to X/1999 was about: in that anime there's a pentagram in Tokyo, which forms when you draw lines from one point to another. In the middle of the pentagram was the Tokyo Tower where the last big fight occured.

Well I got to go study some Swedish (evil exam) and French (evil word test) and biology (another evil exam) and listen to some MTM. *waves* Bye for now!


Comments (1) | Permalink

Friday, May 18, 2007

Tabula Rasa

Chapter 11

“Am I a lost soul or nasty stuff?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last lesson has finally ended.

-Didn’t remember math being that boring.-

-And you were on your last math class when? 1789?-

-Hah hah.-

-Oh there she goes!-

She’s walking towards the busses.

-Let’s get a move on.-

Malice does something I would never have the guts to do: she walks over to our target and says “Moi.” (Hey.)

“Mitä sä haluat?” (What do you want?)

“That’s a bit rude don’t you think?”

“Oh you wanna speak in English now?”

“Jag talar svenska också.” (I speak Swedish too.)

”Moi aussi. But let’s stick to one language, please.” (Me too. But let’s stick to one language, please.)

“Fine. We need to have a little chat.”

“About what?”

“Can’t say it here. Let’s wait until my partner gets her ass over here, we get to the bus and then go to your place.”

“And why exactly would we do that?”

“Trust me when I say that it’s a matter of life and death. Literally.” She waves at me. “YO! ROOKIE!” People give her glances but she ignores them completely. I sigh and walk over to them.

“Hey how about you tell us your name for starters?”

“Tarina.”

“Well that’s an interesting name.” (A/N: Tarina means a story in English. It’s not a common name.)

“Fuck you.”

“Oh my, the lady can swear!”

Tarina glares at her while taking out her bus card.

~*~*~*~*~

“So who are you two really?” We’re walking towards Tarina’s house.

“For starters, I’m Malice and the rookie here is Anya.”

“Malice. What a fitting name for you. And?”

“We’re dead.” I glare at her.

“You shouldn’t say it so bluntly.”

“Well it’s the truth and there’s no way around it.”

“Okay, you two are dead. So why are you wasting your time with me?”

“’Cause your our case. Our job is to keep lost souls and all the other nasty stuff in line.”

“Am I a lost soul or nasty stuff?”

“Neither. Yet.”

“Let me guess, you’re here to prevent that?” I look at her.

“You’re amazingly cool with all this.”

She shrugs.

“I had a feeling something like this would happen sooner or later. Not this fast though.”

“Well that makes this a lot easier then.”

“So how long are you two going to stay here?”

-A good question indeed.-

“No idea. The gate back won’t open before we’re done here.”

“WHAT?!”

“What, that your new favorite word?”

“Sorry to interrupt this very intelligent conversation but we’re here.”

She opens the door.

“You don’t lock your door?”

“No, there aren’t any thieves around here.”

“So when are your parents coming home?”

“In a few hours.”

“That’s enough time for us.”

“To do what?”

“Smash this place into pieces of course.”

“She’s kidding!”

“I know.”

“You do?”

“Yes. I know some people like her.”

“Well good for you. Now get moving.”

“Is she always so aggressive?”

“Absolutely.”

“Hah hah.”

We enter Tarina’s room. She sits on her bed after throwing her bag to the corner.

“So let’s get down to business.”

“Right.”

“We’re here to make sure you won’t get on the bad side.”

“And that’s going to happen how?”

“That’s where we come in: we’ll be here to keep all the dark stuff away for some time.”

“OK.”

“You sure you get all this?”

“Yes.”

“Hey Malice. Where will we stay during this mission?”

“Don’t worry we stay at the Finland’s local forces’ place.”

“Which is where?”

“In Helsinki.”

“That’s two hours drive from here!”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“Yes.”

“Now you’re trying to piss me off on purpose.”

“Yes.”

“Damn it.”

“Back to the point, how do we get to Helsinki?”

“A bit of teleporting. I’ve. Got. It. Covered.”

“As always.”

“No need to get smart rookie.”

“Whatever you say, boss.” Malice smirks.

“And don’t you forget it.”

“So will we bump into this dark stuff?”

“It’s possible. Well rookie can practice using her powers.”

“Well isn’t that great.”

“So here’s the deal: we keep following you around for some time. So you better get used to it.”

“OK.”

“And we leave you on your own once our job is done. Get it?”

“Yes.”

“Great! Now we gotta get going while the teleporting magic is working properly.”

“Huh? Go? Now?”

“Yes rookie. Go. Now.” She digs her bag and takes out a small square-shaped, red object. She throws it on the floor. It starts glowing and turns into a door.

“Well it was nice talkin’ and all but we have to go now. See ya tomorrow!”

“See ya.” Malice opens the door and walks through it. I follow.

~*~*~*~*~

I walk into a small office. A few desks around. I’m greeted by a blond guy.

“Oh so this is the Koria team.”

“Yeah we are. Where’s Katja?”

“At the back.”

“Thanks.”

We walk to the back. The door slams open and I can see something black before I see a girl dressed in a full Goth-attire (as in a gothic dress, dark make-up and surprisingly a pair of black cat ears) hugging Malice. She looks about 14 years old.

“Kya~ it’s been so long!”

“Katja get off.”

Katja lets go.

“So is this Anya?”

“Yeah. So how’s Finland been holding up?”

“Fine, I even got the time to go to Tuska last summer!” (A/N: Tuska (Suffering) is a big rock/metal festival in Helsinki. If you go the you won’t see any other colors but black.)

“Oh that’s nice.”

“I loved it! You should go there next year!”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Oh yeah you’ll be sleeping on the sixth floor, hallway 6, room 6.” (A/N: Sounds like a great place to stay in.)

“Cool. We’ll go unpack our stuff now.”

“OK. See you later!” And with a small puff and black smoke she’s gone.

“Okay, off to Hell we go.”

--------------------------------------------------

A/N: First of all, the character Katja is based on one of my good friends (also named Katja).

And to everyone who didn't get the Hell-thing, 6th floor, hallway 6, room 6. 666. Get it? Good.

There was also a little bit Swedish and French in the chapter. Swedish is Finland's second main language so we have to study it at school. And I study French now.

Until the next chapter!


Comments (2) | Permalink