I luckily got this one done faster than my last one. I'm sorry for the weird parts and Sak, if you don't like it, tell me and I'll rewrite it.
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Dark Secret - Day 15
--East Shibumi, tall fields--
Running through the fields, panting heavily, and holding her sword at her side, a twelve year old Hotaru tried to outrun the boy, who was three years older than her, that was chasing her. She heard him making quick, easy running steps behind her. Stopping to catch her breath, she heard that the steps stopped as well. Hotaru turned to see that her pursuer was standing about a meter away from her with no emotion on his face. His shoulder length, pure white hair surpassed the glow from the full moon that sat in the sky.
And here's the rest of it.
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--Battle with the mindless - Hotaru’s view--
Hotaru began swinging her sword at every mindless that came at her with Kousuke a few feet away from her. For some reason, she found the fight against the mindless as the best thing that has happened all day; it took her away from the depression and confusion that rested in her heart. Destroying another small group of six or seven mindless, she progressed further into the army leaving Kousuke behind. She sensed that there were at least two beings watching the battle from the sidelines. Her feelings were usually always right and she could tell some difference between the two different presences. “Ok,” she thought destroying more and more mindless as she thought, “One of the beings has more power than the other, so that must meaning that one of those two is controlling the mindless and the other is just sitting back and watching for their own entertainment. They are also in different areas of the fight which would probably mean that they aren’t on the same side. But where are they?” Hotaru threw her sword at a group of mindless and after hitting and destroying them, it came back just like a boomerang. Looking up to the sky she didn’t see very much but a small group of airborne mindless. She heard louder gunfire and looked around her to see if Sara was around so she could ask her about the presences, but she only saw the massive sea of mindless around her. Hotaru felt a sudden jolt of power coming from the sky and instinctively looked up to find it. She then saw a being hovering in the air; it was one of the beings she sensed. The individual in the air looked to be a woman, but she wasn’t sure due to the fact that the being was eclipsing the sun. The sun rays that didn’t hit the woman shot at Hotaru’s eyes and blinded her for a second. She immediately shut her eyes which left her vulnerable to the mindless attacks. The mindless began closing in on her and sprung to her about to attack. “I don’t think so.” she heard someone say. The sudden sound of a whipping wire was heard and a shadow was cast over her. When her vision came back she saw her protector was the man she met today. Overcome by surprise and confusion once again she asked, “Artimis what are you…?” “If you are to die, then it will be by my hand not by these low class creatures.” Artimis answered. Hotaru was still confused but put it in the back of her head. She turned and they then stood back to back. “We need all the help we can get right now, so I guess you’ll do.” she told him. “Just like the old days huh Hotaru?” “Nope,” she replied, “Because this time, the battles are much worse.” Artimis smiled and replied, “You haven’t changed a bit.” “And neither have you.” Hotaru told him. She pulled off her cross and connected it to her sword. The sword began to give off immense power and began to glow a bright shade of red. “That’s a new trick.” Artimis complemented. “Thanks, but let’s get rid of these things before they get rid of us.” Hotaru said. They then began attacking the mindless that surrounded them.
--Battle with the mindless - Kousuke’s view--
“Damn it! I lost her again.” he thought angrily. He destroyed the mindless that tried to prevent him from moving further and tried to find Hotaru. The first person he came across in the large army was Riku. Riku had just destroyed the group that was attacking him and noticed Kousuke. He made is way towards him and immediately asked, “Where’s my sister?” Destroying more of the mindless Kousuke told him, “I don’t know; I came this way to find her.” Anger overcame Riku and he told Kousuke in a cold voice, “After this battle is over and I find her hurt because you weren’t there to help her, I’m going to make your death quick and painless. But if she’s dead, I’m going to make your death be slow and unbearable.” “I’m not going to let that happen.” Kousuke declared. “Then you better go find her, I’ll hold these guys off for you.” Riku said. “Right.” Kousuke then took the first chance he got to run off and find Hotaru.
Kousuke heard a strange sound and ran towards it hoping to find Hotaru. As he got closer to the sound, he then caught a glimpse of Hotaru but he also saw the man both he and her met today at Shibumi. “What’s he doing here?” he thought with anger. Kousuke wanted to run at them and pull Hotaru away from him, but his legs wouldn’t move for some reason. He wanted to see what would happen between them if they were alone. “Is he really going to try to win her over?” he thought. There were no mindless around him so he hid in the shadows of a building that he stood next to. Suddenly a large group of mindless formed a circle around them and Hotaru and Artimis went back to back. Their mouths moved but he couldn’t hear what they were talking about. He saw Hotaru pull off her cross and transform her sword, showing that she was getting serious. He then watched them begin to attack the continually growing group of mindless that surrounded them.
--Battle with the mindless - Hotaru’s view--
The two of them noticed that the group surrounding them was growing larger. Hotaru’s sword and Artimis’ sharp, piercing, mechanical wire’s attacks were only cutting their numbers down by a few. “There are too many of them.” Artimis pointed out. “Yeah, but I bet there’s more were my friends are fighting.” Hotaru said. “You know what we have to do, right?” he asked her. A sudden memory of an extremely destructive power came to her mind. It was the most powerful but most dangerous power Hotaru could use, but only Artimis could activate it. “No, that’s too risky.” Hotaru said, “I’m not going to use that unless this battle gets worse. And how do I know that you can really activate it? For all I know, you could be some imposter that is trying to mess with me by looking like the real Artimis, who I know is dead.” “I’m the real Artimis and I’m not dead anymore. If you need proof, I have proof.” he told her calmly. “Alright then show me.” Artimis let out a small sigh and turned to face her. He threw off his coat and un-buttoned a few buttons in the middle of his shirt. When he opened the shirt, Hotaru saw a large scar in the center of his stomach. “You see?” Artimis asked quickly buttoning up his shirt again, “That was the scar you gave me that night. Are you convinced?” “A little.” Hotaru replied unsatisfied. The mindless surrounding them got closer and grew larger in numbers. He got closer to her and said, “Maybe this will convince you more.” He then quickly brought his face down to hers and he kissed her. As soon as his lips touched hers, a sudden spark jolted inside of her heart causing the anger, hatred, and confusion in her to form together and created a desire that she almost never felt. The surprise of him kissing her soon left her as the sudden desire to kill rose in Hotaru’s mind. He broke away and saw her pupils turn white, as they usually did after activating this power. Most of the time, the power worked as a self defense attack for when she was in deep, deep trouble in battles. But for some reason, during the training session that Hotaru’s dad held between Hotaru and Artimis, they found out that Artimis could activate the power. “Are you convinced now?” he asked again. Hotaru turned to her opponents and a wide smirk was shown on her face. “Yes, I’m now convinced.” she said. Her body began to overflow with power and the desire to destroy the mindless. “I haven’t felt like this for a long time.” Hotaru said looking at her arm and then creating a fist with it. Her fist felt light, but it also felt very destructive. One hit of her fist could kill a man instantly in the state she was in now. Artimis chuckled and told her, “Just remember, the power doesn’t last for very long and don’t be as messy as you were last time.” “Don’t worry,” she responded, “these pathetic mindless aren’t as messy as the last few enemies I’ve destroyed in this state.” “Oh, and don’t lose your self control again.” Artimis added lastly. Hotaru laughed and said, “I’ll try, but in case I do lose it you know what to do.” Artimis smiled and said, “Right.”
--Kousuke’s view--
Kousuke clenched his fists and gritted his teeth during the sight he was watching. “He kisses her?!” he thought with hatred, “What the fuck is he doing kissing my girlfriend?!” He saw Artimis mumble something to her and tried to listen closely, but couldn’t hear him. He watched Hotaru turn in the direction of the mindless. He was expecting to see her usual self, with maybe a little anger or upset after what had happened, but to his surprise, she was smiling. It wasn’t a smile that Kousuke has ever seen on Hotaru’s face before, it wasn’t her usual happy, joyful smile, but this time it was a smirk, a smirk that showed a lust for blood and death. He also noticed that her pupils had turned white and had the same stare in them as her smile showed. “What happened to her?” he asked himself worried and confused. He saw them move their mouths again, but he could only catch parts to what they were saying. “…the power doesn’t last long and don’t be messy like last time.” he heard Artimis say. “Power? What power?” Kousuke asked himself. “…these pathetic mindless aren’t as messy as the last few enemies I’ve destroyed in this state.” he heard Hotaru say. “What are they talking about?” he asked himself. “…don’t lose your self control again.” he heard Artimis say. He then heard Hotaru laugh but it was a bitter laugh that he had never heard from her before. “I’ll try…” was the last thing he heard from Hotaru before she went on a mindless killing frenzy.
--Battle with mindless - Hotaru’s view--
“Heh, this’ll be fun.” she thought in her mind. Catching the mindless off guard by lurching at them in a random moment, she began swinging her transformed sword every which way, hitting every one of them in sight. She suddenly threw her sword in the air and began attacking the mindless with punches and kicks. Miraculously, she managed to destroy most of them, but no one watching would have guessed that her fists and feet were each engulfed in a red flame like substance since the only ones who could see it were Hotaru and Artimis. They could see the red flames engulf the mindless’ bodies and cause them to burn to ashes. While doing this, her sword in the air was destroying airborne mindless that were polluting the air. After they were all gone, her sword came back and she looked at her sword. “It’s just not the same without the blood.” she thought. More and more mindless were coming at her but she easily destroyed them with one quick easy swing of her sword. Soon all the mindless in the area were destroyed. “Have you had enough?” asked Artimis. “No,” she replied softly. She turned to him with a gleeful smile and said, “I want more, but this time I want blood to drip off the end of my sword.” “Hotaru, your self control.” Artimis reminded her. Hotaru let out an unhappy sigh and her smile left, “Alright, but I still want to get rid of the rest of them.” “Fine, but I’m going to watch from the sidelines until it’s time for you to finish, then I’m going to snap you out of this state.” he told her. Hotaru’s smile came back and she ran off to find more to kill.
--Destiny Island’s - Kousuke’s view--
Kousuke watched in horror as Hotaru destroyed the mindless that were around her and Artimis. The power she had was phenomenal but she still wasn’t herself. All throughout the battle Hotaru had a wide grin on her face that just kept growing wider and wider after she got rid of them all. Soon she was finished and began talking to Artimis again. “I want more.” was the only thing he heard from the conversation. “I’ve got to snap her out of this.” Kousuke thought, “But how?” Before he knew it, Hotaru was running off to kill more, but Artimis stayed where he was. “Did you like our performance?” he heard him ask him. Kousuke walked out from the shadows with his sword ready. “How long did you know I was here?” he asked. “The entire time.” he responded not facing him. A slight breeze flew over them causing Artimis’ long hair to sway to the side. “But I am still wondering how you liked our performance.” he added. “What did you do to Hotaru?” Kousuke asked bitterly. “Nothing that wasn’t unnatural to her, when we were younger, we used this attack all the time, but I have to hand it to her, she does have a little better control of it now.” he answered with a smirk and a taunting voice. They then heard a small explosion. “Just to let you know, I’m the only one that can activate that power she using and I’m the only one that can snap her out of it.” Artimis told him before disappearing into a portal. As soon as he was gone Kousuke threw his sword to the ground as hard as he could in frustration. “Damn it!” he yelled. He then heard another small explosion. “That must be her.” he thought. He picked up his sword and vowed, “Hotaru, I’m coming for you.”
--Battle with mindless - Hotaru’s view--
After reaching another group of mindless, Hotaru began attacking again. She used most of the same tactics she used a little while ago but then added a few others. Hotaru was away from her friends so that they wouldn’t see her in this kind of state, especially Riku and Kousuke. She seemed to have a sane sense of mind at some points in time during this state. The small explosions came from her slamming her sword to the ground as hard as she could, creating waves of power that destroyed all the mindless in their paths. “Ok Hotaru, you’ve had your fun for the day.” she heard Artimis say coming up from the sidelines. “No, I want more.” she said. “Hotaru.” he said. “Fine,” she replied, “but hurry and switch me back before I change my mind.” Artimis walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. He looked her straight in the eyes and put a few of his fingers two inches away from her eyes. She stared at his fingers as they started pulling back slightly. As if he had her sanity on a string, he snapped her back to normal, but she then collapsed in his arms. Before she blacked out, she saw Kousuke running towards her. A thought came across her, “Did he see?” She then blacked out.
--Kousuke’s view--
“Hotaru!” he yelled, running towards the two of them. Artimis thought of taking Hotaru with him, but then gently placed her on the ground. As soon as Kousuke reached her, he quickly picked up her unconscious body. “So you aren’t going to use another of your dirty tricks?” he asked. “No, then it wouldn’t be fun.” he said, “And besides, I know she’ll come to me in the end anyway. I mean, after what you’ve done, who wouldn’t?” Shock came over him and he asked, “What did I do?” “Remember and you’ll know same as her.” Artimis said in a taunting voice before fleeing through another portal. Kousuke picked up Hotaru and held her close. He then began walking off back to Kairi’s house.
--Aftermath - Kairi’s house--
Hotaru woke up on her bed and felt a little drained. “How did I…?” she began. “I brought you here.” she heard someone say. Looking over she found Kousuke sitting next to her bedside and next to him was a small pile of wrapped up boxes. Hotaru rose from the bed and leaned over to Kousuke. She wrapped her arms around him in a warm hug and said, “I’m sorry you have to see that back there.” Kousuke hugged her back and said, “Don’t be; we’ll talk about it later.” They stayed like that for a few minutes and then Kousuke said, “Come on, everyone is waiting for you down stairs.” They broke away and started out the door. Hotaru then felt something in the pocket of her skirt. She pulled it out and it was a small jewelry box. She waited for Kousuke to leave the room before opening it. When she saw what was inside, she tensed up and put the box drawer of her nightstand and soon followed after Kousuke. Inside the box was a ring with a ruby in the center shaped like a rose, Hotaru’s favorite flower. Attached to the ring was a small note that read, “Happy birthday Hotaru, Artimis.”
--to be continued--
Great chapter! Not as great as the last one, and it's probably not your best chapter ever, but it was still great! :D
The only thing I really didn't like was when Kousuke and Hotaru "felt the wave of danger" and Hotaru identified that there were two people hovering above the battle and their reasons for being there through her gut feeling. I mean the "wave of danger" seemed far too much like a premonition and the other part seemed far too much like telepathy, two powers that Hotaru (well, from what I know anyways) doesn't have.
Oh and I really liked Hotaru's extreme bloodlust and savagery when her power was activated and how her power was activated. It really made her seem like a completely different character.
Alas, no love for me and my fic.
Yes, I know it wasn't my greatest chapter, and I wasn't aiming for it to be my greatest chapter. I just wanted it to get it done before next week, that's when I have to study for finals.
I knew that the premintion thing and the telepathy thing wasn't as good of an idea, but I just wanted to give the two of them a reason to leave Shibumi without having someone call them or something. And I wanted to give Hotaru a reason to go off by herself and not stay behind. I wasn't aiming for it to really be a premintion or telepathy, I was really aiming for it to be instinct or something like. So, sorry about that.
You really liked that?
Yes...Yes I do.
It's short, just glance over it. I'll go back and read yours! The main reason I haven't is because I have a personal thing against Fan Fictions.
The Empty Book and Blank page are Fan Fictions, but don't use the characters from the original thing.
That was cool!
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been while since ive been in vgc!
It's unforgivable because I know it was wrong 'n I'm not sure how people would take it.