Dark Secret - Day 12




Posted by Sak

I'm really really really really really really [insert 1,000,000 more really's here] sorry that this chapter took so long! I was just busy, and I got hooked on Soul Calibur 3 again, and I sort of... forgot about it. Plus, it also turned out a little bit longer than I had planned due to some things at the end, so it's over a post long! (YAY, MY FIRST CHAPTER THAT'S MORE THAN A POST LONG! lol.) Well anyways, here it is. Enjoy!
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Dark Secret - Day 12 - These Photographs

-- Kairi’s House --

Sara opened her eyes and got out of bed. It was still pretty early in the morning, but she just couldn’t go back to sleep for some reason. Like always, she hadn’t bothered to put on pajamas the night before and slept in her clothes, well minus her combat boots and fishing hat. Sara reached over to her night stand and grabbed her hat. She walked over to the other end of the room and looked in the mirror. What she saw was her usual self; same old white tank top, same old black miniskirt, same old nose ring, same old mud-caked combat boots, in other words, the same old Sara. From what she saw in the mirror, she could tell that it was definitely time for a change. Sara inhaled deeply and went about the room, looking for something else to wear…

-- Sometime Later, Kairi’s House --

Sara walked down the stairs. “Sara, you’re late for breakfast!” shouted someone downstairs, to the right. “Coming!” Sara replied, quickening her pace. She stepped down onto the wooden floor and began walking to the left. “What took you-” Hotaru said, stopping mid-sentence. Everybody was giving her weird looks. “What?” she asked as she walked over to the table and grabbed a plain, white plate. Nobody replied. “What’s with the new look?” asked Sora, finally breaking the awkward silence. “I just thought… that it was time for a change,” she replied. Sara was wearing a dark grey t-shirt with a bleeding bullet hole painted on it with her stomach exposed, a pair of torn up jeans, a black, fingerless glove on her left hand, and various arm bands and bracelets in shades of grey and red. Her medium length, electric blue hair was held in short pigtails by two, dark red ponytail holders. “A very drastic change.” “Well you look-” began Sai, whose sentence was interrupted by an elbow in the stomach from Hotaru. “Let the kid say what he wants, Hotaru, I don’t care,” responded Sara. “What did you call me?!?” shouted Sai. His hands began to glow. Sara swiftly grabbed one of her pistols and aimed it directly at Sai’s head, despite not even looking at him or having her eyes open. “Do any of your demon bullshit, and I’ll blow your brains out.” Sai got a nervous look on his face, and his the glowing around his hands began to fade. Of course, Sara was just kidding, but Sai didn’t know her well enough to know that. Sara grabbed the oversized serving spoon and piled some scrambled eggs onto her plate. She ate them quickly and got up from her seat. Suddenly, the front door was kicked open and several windows in the house broke. “What the fuck is going on?” mumbled Sara as she grabbed her pistols out of their holsters. “Come out come out wherever you are!” shouted an annoying, male voice, most likely Kokiro’s. “So how are we going to plan our strategy for this battle?” asked Sara. “Let‘s see…” said Anara softly, “Well there’s the ground floor and upstairs, and I’m pretty sure that I heard something in the basement as well… I guess we should split up into three teams. Sara and Hotaru, you two stay here.” “Right,” the two of them replied simultaneously. “Kairi, Sora, and Kousuke, you go downstairs.” “Fine,” said Kousuke as he started heading towards the basement. “Riku and Sai you’re with me upstairs.” Nori-nori flapped her wings rapidly in front of Anara’s face. “And Nori-nori too of course. Let’s go.”

-- Basement --

“It sure is dark down here…” said Sora. The basement was rather dark. It was completely made of concrete and would have been bare if not for some piles of storage boxes. Along with that, it was also very large, and there were no lights at all down there, so the darkness couldn‘t be extinguished. “Scared?” asked Kairi. “No way!” “Whatever you say…” Kairi took Sora’s hand in her own and held onto it. “Why couldn’t Anara have paired me with Hotaru?” Kousuke grumbled. “Do you and her have a thing going on or something?” asked Sora as they continued walking. Kousuke stopped to think. “Yeah, I guess you could say that; it was only one kiss though.” “It’s about time you guys kissed,” stated Kairi, turning around. She began to walk backwards and said, “You two look so cute together.” “Hey, I think I see something up ahead,” said Sora, “Take out one of you books, Kairi.” Kairi did as she was told and removed her grey book from her book bag. “Let me see if there’s a spell in here that can help us see…” she said, thumbing through the pages. “Oh, I doubt that being able to see will help you fight me,” came a shrill voice…

-- Second Floor --

Anara walked down the hallway, Riku, Sai, and Nori-nori following closely behind her. So far, they hadn’t found anyone upstairs, but it was rather quiet, which obviously meant that something was wrong. Anara sighed. “You guys are way too quiet.” “And you’re way too loud,” replied Riku. “Not too mention bisexual,” laughed Sai. Anara stopped dead in her tracks. “Excuse me, did you just dis me for being bisexual you little brat?” she asked angrily. “Yeah, what of it?” Anara turned around and punched him in the face. “Shit, you made my nose bleed you little bitch!” he shouted. Sai got up, and his hands began glowing. “Stop it, you two,” Riku said calmly, “We’re not alone.” Anara slid her claws onto her hands and began looking around the hall. “I don’t see anything,” she replied. “Neither do I,” said Sai, whose fingertips had stopped glowing. “Look above us,” responded Riku, as if he expected them to answer him like that. What Anara saw when she looked up was not what she had been expecting. A man was gripping to the very top of the wall. He was wearing a dark cloak with a hood drawn over his face and held a sword. “You!” shouted Anara…

-- Ground Floor --

Sara shot at a female, brunette heartbrid with ridiculously skinny arms while dodging a poorly aimed slash from a second, male heartbrid with red hair and huge, bulging muscles. The bullets hit the heartbrid deep in her chest, and she disappeared into a pool of shadow, as heartbrids usually did when they were defeated. Sara turned around to shoot at the male heartbrid, but saw that he had already been taken care of by Hotaru. The two of them nodded to each other and stood back to back. “Ready?” asked Sara. “Ready,” replied Hotaru. “VENGEANCE!” they shouted in unison. A huge, glowing, lance made entirely of energy appeared in the air above them and threw itself into the polished hardwood floor. The resulting explosion send white light cascading upon all of the heartbrids, causing them to disappear in hastily made pools of darkness. “Was that all of them?” asked Hotaru. “No, Kokiro’s still around here somewhere; I can feel it,” Sara replied. She began running towards the direction of the front door, where she knew she would find Kokiro. “Hey, slow down!” shouted Hotaru after her…

-- Basement --

“Show yourself!” shouted Kousuke as he clapped his hands together. He pulled them apart, and a silvery sword appeared in his hands. “But that wouldn’t be fun at all,” replied the shrill voice, which seemed like it was coming from behind them now. Sora charged towards the direction of where the voice came from and wildly swung his keyblades. Nothing was there. “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” taunted the voice, “You’ll never defeat me if you can’t aim correctly, dear boy.” “ILLUMINATI!” shouted Kairi. Beams of light flew around the basement, illuminating everything, and they all got a good look at their enemy. The voice’s source was a very voluptuous, yet, somehow, shockingly skinny woman with long, pure red hair that barely managed to end at her thighs. Her skin was a sickly green color, and there were slits were her nose should have been. Poking out from underneath her black lips was a pair of twin fangs, and on her face was a pair of glowing yellow eyes. The most distinguishing features about her, however, were her ridiculously long arms and fingers. “Oh poo,” the woman taunted, “Now you know where I am. Now where’s the fun in that?” Both Sora and Kousuke ran where they thought the woman was and swung their swords. She simply swung her giraffe-length arms at the wall to her side, and swung away from the blows. “When will you ever learn?” asked the woman in her shrill voice. “MAELSTRA!” shouted Kairi. Purple energy flew from Kairi’s book in the form of several long whips and struck the woman, paralyzing every single inch of her body. “Go get her, boys!” A smirk rapidly formed on both Sora and Kousuke’s faces, and the two of them charged at the woman. Sora wildly swung his keyblades in arcs down upon the woman, while Kousuke pelted her with a myriad of quick jabs from his sword. These attacks barely managed to scratch the woman’s scaly hide, though. “Fuck,” Sora cursed under his breath. “FIRAGA!” shouted Kairi. Before the attack could even begin to form with the slightest spark in the air, the woman vanished in a pool of darkness, leaving one single word in the air where she had once been, “Slither.”

-- Second Floor --

“You’re not happy to see me, Anara?” asked a voice that was very familiar to the thief. The cloaked man removed his hood to reveal a face that was familiar to Anara as well. It was a handsome face, dotted with small, brown freckles here and there, a thin line of hair on its chin, and completed with a pair of almond shaped, brown eyes. The look on Anara’s face hardened. “You’re not Sean, so stop wearing his face you bastard!” “What you don’t believe it’s really me?,” the man replied. “YOU ARE NOT SEAN!” she shouted at the top of her lungs as her face reddened and the slightest buds of water formed at the corners of her forest green eyes. “Well then,” said the man, “let me prove to you that it really is me.” He began walking over to her and put his arms around her slender shoulders. Anara grabbed his throat. “Drop the disguise now]!” Tears began to fall down her cheeks, working their way to her neck, and onwards. The man began to choke. Little by little, his appearance changed into one drastically different. His pale complexion changed to a much darker tan, and his long black hair seemed to shrink into a buzz cut, like watching a video of someone growing their hair backwards. The thin line of hair on his regal chin vanished, leaving only skin. Anara threw him to the other side of the hallway, where he crashed into the floor, leaving it somehow unscathed. Not bothering to wait for him to even draw his blade, Anara jumped on top of him with her claws on her hands. She lodged both of her claws into his chest, and threw him backwards. Before he even hit the ground, he disappeared in a pool of darkness, as all nobodies did when they were defeated. Anara took her claws and wiped the oozy black blood off of them with a small rag that was in her pocket. Riku walked up to her, “Anara, what was that about…?” “Nothing, Riku,” she casually replied. “Well it must have been something; you’re not usually that aggressive.” “I really don’t want to talk about it, Riku…” “Please, Anara, just tell me what it was about.” Anara sighed. “You’re not going to give up are you?” “Not a chance.” “Well you’re just going to have to keep on nagging me, then.” Without another word said, Anara headed down the stairs and disappeared from view…

-- Ground Floor --

“Kokiro!” yelled Sara as she ran towards him. “Well, well, well, Sara,” Kokiro said, “It seems you’ve ditched your old look for something even uglier; I didn’t even think that was possible.” “Taunt me all you want; I really don’t give a damn,” Sara replied. “That’s what you keep telling everyone, but you know that it isn’t true. You’re just hiding your true feelings with a horribly made mask, like you always do,” taunted Kokiro. “And they say that I’m the one with telepathy,” Sara muttered under her breath. “Sara, you run way too fast!” panted Hotaru when she finally caught up with the gunner. “Just shut up and fight him,” Sara said, rather bluntly as she fired several bullets towards Kokiro. Shockingly, all of them but one missed. “That all you got, you little bitch?” asked Kokiro. He was behind her, but how? A second ago he was right in front of her. “When did you get so fast?” asked Sara. She turned around and went trigger happy on Kokiro once again. Right after the first one hit him in the arm, Kokiro bolted to the other side of her. “Just keep calm, Sara,” she thought to herself, “He’s just trying to frustrate you.” Just then, Hotaru ran at Kokiro with her sword raised. She swung down violently, but he just dodged it. Her sword went crashing into the wood floor, sending bits of debris everywhere and leaving a huge dent at the spot where the sword hit. “Kairi’s not going to like that, Hotaru,” taunted Kokiro. “Shut up!” Hotaru shouted as she swung her sword at him once more. Again, she missed. Sara’s eyes rolled into the back of her head, and everything went black. Gradually, an image overshadowed the darkness. Hotaru swung her sword at Kokiro again and again, missing each time. She swung once more, and Kokiro dodged it once more. Then, he ran behind Sara, and, catching her off guard, stabbed her with both of her daggers right through her stomach. The image faded, and Sara’s sight returned to the presence once more. Hotaru swung her sword at Kokiro again and again, missing each time, just like in Sara’s vision. Hotaru swung her sword at Kokiro once more, but he dodged it once again. Kokiro ran behind Sara, but before he could stab her, she turned around and shot him in the head. Kokiro’s eyes remained open, but there was no life left in them. Rapidly, his body turned to dust, scattering across the floor…

-- Aftermath --

“I can’t believe you actually killed him Sara,” said Hotaru. “I guess I just… sort of went a little over the edge,“ the other girl replied. “Sara, did I just hear that you killed Kokiro?” asked Anara, who was just getting to the bottom of the stairs. Sara solemnly nodded her head. “Hmmm… You never struck me as the kind of person who would kill, even for revenge,” the thief responded. “Anara, I want to know what that was all about!” shouted Riku from the top of the staircase. Anara sighed. “Men are such stubborn creatures.” Riku thudded down the stairs, with Sai following closely behind him. “Please, Anara, just tell me!” Riku pleaded. She sighed loudly. “Fine. Come to my room, and I’ll tell you.” “Whoa, Anara. What’s this I hear about bringing Riku into your room?” asked Kousuke when he, Kairi, and Sora arrived on the ground floor at last. “Oh don’t you dare even think those thoughts,” said Anara, causing Kairi and Sora to giggle. “Anara and Riku sitting in a tree!” yelled Sai. Everyone burst out laughing except Riku and Anara, even Sara. Infuriated and embarrassed, Anara turned a shade of red that was usually impossible for a human being to achieve and stomped off to her room. “Real mature guys,” Riku said before chasing after Anara, in a much more calm manner…

-- Anara’s Room --

“Anara, are you okay?” Riku asked when he arrived in her room. “I’m fine,” she replied. Of course, she was lying. It was quite obvious that she wasn’t okay. Tears were streaming down her face, and her emotional state couldn’t have been more apparent if the word “sad” had been tattooed across her forehead in hot pink. Riku went over to hug her, and she yielded to his touch. “Come on, it wasn’t that bad,” he said softly. “Yeah, yeah, I know,” Anara said, “I’ve just been so damn stressed out lately. I mean I need to help you guys train, which you’ve all gotten much better at by the way, then I need to plan our next move, and when I’m done with all of that, I still need to worry about myself, at least a little. I really never thought that leading a bunch of teenagers would be so much work…” Riku chuckled, “Life’s full of surprises.” Anara removed herself from his embrace and wiped the remaining tears away from her eyes. “I guess I’ll tell you about what happened upstairs was about now.” She went over to her nightstand and took a photo album of one of its many drawers. Anara opened it and said, “Before I came to meet up with you guys, I traveled with a group of my friends.” She pointed to a picture of a younger version of herself (wearing her signature bikini top and mini skirt), a girl in a black halter top and holding a large sword, a male keyblade wielder, a young man carrying a staff with multicolored hair, a girl wielding a staff decorated with dozens of flowers, a young man wielding a katana, and a girl who appeared to be an alchemist. “That was the original group that I traveled with. Vecks-” she pointed to the mage “- used to disappear every once in awhile, and Angela-” she pointed to the girl with the flower staff “- sacrificed herself to save the rest of us. The amulet that I’m wearing right now used to be hers. Those are Eiyuu, Aurie, Mateo, and Renai.-” She pointed to the keyblader, the boy with the katana, and the girl who looked like an alchemist as she said the names. “-I guess you could say that Aurie was my childhood friend along with Vecks and also my… first crush. Renai was really the quiet type, she didn’t say much. Eiyuu was pretty much the exact opposite of her, same with Mateo.” Anara thumbed through a few more pages with various pictures of her old friends on them until she came to the page she was looking for. On this page, there was a picture the same group as before. Accompanying them this time around was a man with a single wing on his back, a young brunette wielding a beautiful, silvery sword, and a girl with several shuriken in her hands. “Kayne left right before I did-” Anara pointed to the man with the wing “-, and Keira betrayed us not too long after that. Fera-” She pointed to the brunette. -“was the quiet type; she never said more than a ‘Hmm…’ or an ‘Ah’." Anara looked at Riku’s face, and was surprised to find that he was actually interested in what she was telling him. Turning back to the album, she turned the page. On this page were two photos. One was of a little girl, and the other was of the young man whose face had been worn by the man they had fought on the house’s second floor. “That’s Adalline. -” Anara pointed to the picture of the girl “- She joined us the day that Keira betrayed us. She was the niece of some Atlantean Guardian or something like that. And him, -” she pointed to the picture of the young man “- he’s Sean. He was… he was my boyfriend, I guess you could say. Our love died young, though; he died not too long after we first met. That’s why I was so angry upstairs. Sean died, and I want his spirit to rest in peace; I don’t want him… to be remembered as the face worn by my enemy. I want to remember him as he was.” Anara sighed and closed the album with a loud thud.




Posted by Sak

“So that’s your story?” asked Riku. “Yeah, pretty much,” she replied. “I understand why you lost control upstairs, now. If someone did that to me using someone’s face that I cared about, I probably would have gone berserk.” “Going berserk is not fun.” “And you would know this because…?” “I used to be part berserker. I lost control during countless battles, and I even hurt some people that I cared about. Thanks to Aurie, though, I am now completely not-berserker.” Riku chuckled a little bit, and said, “Come on, let’s go back to everyone else; by now they probably think we’ve had sex.” Anara chuckled a bit too. “Yeah. Come on, let’s go.” Riku began walking towards the door, when he suddenly stopped. “Anara?” “Yeah?” she replied. “Will you… be my girlfriend…?” Seconds dragged by, like snails across the ground. A minute passed, or had it been five? Riku really couldn’t tell; time was passing too slowly. His heart thudded like a jackhammer in his chest, waiting for a simple “yes” or a “no” for an answer. “No, Riku... I don’t think I’m ready to move on from Sean yet… and… we barely know eachother... And I probably wouldn't make a good girlfriend right now; I have too much work to do... There are other girls out there, though Riku... Girls who would probably be better for you than I am..." came the reply. She gave him a brief hug and exited the room. “I don’t want any other girl though…” Riku whispered to himself.

-- to be continued --




Posted by Roxas Lover

I'll have to read this later. I have limited time here on at the library. But I bet it's good. And I'll get my next chapter done as soon as I can.