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Back to Square One
AN: Since it took me quite a while (and I mean 'a while') to update (BIG THANKS to a.k.a. Lily for reminding me about the fact that this fic still existed), I made this chappie extra longer than usual... Well, extra long according to my standards anyway;. This is for the reviewers/flamers, 'cause with just 10 chappies, I got 95 comments already(minus that little, ahem, glitch that I did. I was supposed to be reviewing aisu-sama's work, but one thing led to another, and there, sorry for dissappointing The One Who Reads the Reviews)! Again, big thanks to everyone!
Disclaimer: For disclaimers, read the first few chappies. (What, you expect me to write them everytime?)
AN2: Arghhh! This fic is becoming an OCxOC! What the hell... enough of that Rei! He wasn't supposed to be there in the first place!
"Maybe, we should ask around," sighed Yoh, scratching his head. We have arrived at some American city, and we have no clue about the whereabouts of Patch Village. Well, I did anyway. Safe to say, we're... they're lost.
And look around we did. We all went our separate ways. Ren did offer to accompany me, reasoning that I could easily get lost on my own, but this only made me angry, so I dragged Rei with me instead. I mean, how dare Ren tell me that I could get lost if I was all by myself! Does he really think that I'm weak?
Come to think of it... Does everyone in the group think that I'm just a weak little girl...?
Putting that aside, as expected our inquiries returned zero results, so Rei suggested that we rest up at a little coffee shop he noticed earlier. I don't know where he got the money, but, whoa, he's loaded.
"This asking around is going nowhere," Rei complained as soon as he got back with two Frappucinos. "No one has even heard of Patch Village! Are you sure that it really exists?"
"Yeah, I am. I-"
Just then, I lost track of what I was thinking about. My eyes fixed themselves on Rei's eyes. I observed them carefully, and realized something quite eerie.
The glint in his eyes, the way he looks at me, the way they look as if they're scheming something... The eye color was different, but I was positive. Those eyes, were Hao's eyes.
What the hell was going on? How could Hao's and Rei's eyes be exactly the same? Well, not exactly the same, but the way he looks at people, the way he sometimes glares at the others, particularly Ren (Does he think that I haven't seen him do so?), it was the same as how Hao would look at the humans with his eyes full of hatred and revenge. Realizing that fact... they made me really terrified.
I can't believe I actually liked a man who constantly found pleasure in murdering innocent people, and thought nothing of it.
"What are we going to do now?" Rei had asked before I hastily got up from my chair. He looked up at me, eyebrow raised. "What's wrong?"
I was terrified. I didn't want to be there as of the moment. I wanted to think, to be alone, to find answers. I wanted answers, or at least, someone to answer my questions.
"I'm going for a walk..." I replied quietly.
"Hey! Stella! Wait-"
I didn't let him finish, and I just ran out of the shop.
"What's bothering you?" my worried guardian had asked as he followed close behind me.
"Ever since I came here, I've been thrown a lot of mysteries which I could never hope to solve... And now this!" I yelled, almost bumping into some old man as I turned at the next corner.
"I'm scared Galatel!" I yelled. "How could I even think of liking someone so evil, so homicidal!" I've reached a place that seemed to be a park, but that really didn't matter to me. I was frightened, not just because of Hao, but because of the fact that I'm here, right now.
"Why? Why did I come here in the first place? What did I want to prove? What did I want to accomplish?"
A small house was in view, yet I didn't really notice it, nor did I notice the fact that I entered the place.
"How was able to get here? How was I able to reach this place? I want answers!"
I recognized the place vaguely. It was the same place where Yoh and the others were to be trapped by the Lily Five.
"And you... Galatel! What are you supposed to be? How was I able to become your master?"
"I..."
I saw her in there, Sharona I mean.
"And what's Rei doing here? How'd he get here? How was he able to find me?"
Without meaning to, I had let out a powerful attack against Sharona.
"I don't like this Galatel! I don't like it at all! I don't want handling things that can't be explained by logic! I want the things at my grasp to be easily explainable!"
The other members of Lily Five, except Lilly, had barged in after hearing the blast that I had conjured. They looked at me with angered eyes, but I didn't care. I sent out an attack again, against all of them.
"I want to go home to reality!"
What have I done?
"Are you finished?" asked Galatel quietly as he went out of the Jewels and stood by my side. He didn't feel shocked or disappointed. He just felt pity, not for the Lily Five, but for me.
I fell to my knees, my eyes at the brink of tears. What, why did I do this? I couldn't bring myself to look at the poor girls. What have they done to deserve this?
"Sharona... what?"
I looked behind me, eyes wide. It was Lilly, followed by the very people I dreaded to see at the moment. They observed the place with disbelief, and afterwards, their eyes were on me.
"Stella," started Yoh, looking dead serious. "Did you do this?"
"I-"
"Let's get out of here, Lilly!" Sharona had yelled. "Let's get away before she really kills us all!"
"Wait! I-"
But it was too late, they had dashed off.
"Did you do this?" Yoh repeated.
All I could do was silently nod as the tear I tried my best to supress made their way down my cheeks. I could never lie about something so serious.
I don't know which was more evident with the whole group, Yoh's sad face, Ren's angry glare, or the others' wide eyes.
"But... I didn't mean-"
An overwhelming pain slapped me right on the face. It was a powerful, hard slap from someone I least expected. I looked up at him as I held my swelling cheek.
"Ren..."
"You bastard!" came Rei's outraged yell as he lunged towards Ren, but was stopped by Ren's kwan dao threatening to stab him.
"How dare you hit her!"
"What I did to her was only a tiny fraction of what those shamans felt when she inflicted such attacks!" Ren retorted, not bothering to even look at him. He turned back to me and said, "Next time, be responsible for your actions! Don't try to make excuses! Just becasue you're a girl doesn't mean that we'll give you the special treatment. It's either you're with us, or you're without us."
"Y-yes..." was all I could say as I looked down on the ground. The tears flowed down harder than before, but it wasn't because I was so sad or anything. In fact, I was happy, happy that they think of me as an equal, happy that they think of me as one of them.
I suddenly felt a light bonk on my head, and I looked up to find Ren stooping down in front of me, holding his kwan dao that had its dull edge resting on my head.
"Do that again, and I'll hit you hard with this next time."
Wiping my red eyes with my eyes, I replied, "Sorry..."
"And if there was something so heavy bothering you that you got yourself to almost kill a bunch of already weak shamans, why didn't you just tell us in the first place what it was, and maybe you could've taken it out on us instead?" Horohoro had butted in out of the blue. "I mean, we could've taken it, but those shamans were weak!"
"Are you sure that you're not talking about yourself?" Ren taunted with a grin on his face. It would've become a brawl too, if Ryu hadn't grabbed Horohoro from behind when he started to throw icicles courtesy of Kororo at him.
As the others tried to settle things down, Rei approached me and asked, "What was bothering you, anyway?"
I wouldn't look at him, still scared of seeing Hao's eyes within him. "No worries," I said, trying to make my voice sound as cheerful as possible. "I'm over it."
"Yeah," Yoh replied with his usual smile. "Ren's paying."
"So, two rooms," we heard Ren say to the inn lady. "One for five boys and one for a girl."
"Hold on," Rei suddenly protested. "You're letting Stella sleep alone?"
"Why?" Ryu asked, a sly grin on his face. "You wanna sleep with her, perhaps?"
I gave a small grunt and looked away from everyone. I heard Yoh laughing as he patted my head.
"Aw, she's angry," he said.
"I didn't say anything like that!" he said, defending himself, although his cheeks did turn bright red."But what if someone attacks her or something?"
"Even if you stayed with her, you wouldn't be able to protect her, being an ordinary human being," Ren said, not bothering to even look at Rei. Everyone went silent. "Compared to her who's a shaman, you're pretty worthless. Stop underestimating her."
"I wasn't underestimating her! But why are you looking down on me so much?"
"What's wrong with looking down on someone worth looking down upon?"
"Why you-"
"Let's just leave things to Yoh-kun! He's our leader after all, right?" I suggested. That's right, after that little incident, Ren suggested that we should have a leader, someone who'd look out for everyone to make sure no mistakes were to be made again. After much deliberation (actually, it was just Ren who decided), Yoh was chosen as leader. At first, Horohoro protested because of Yoh's lazy nature, but in the end, he just gave up and agreed.
"Ren's decisions are fine with me," said Yoh. "He's paying, after all. The one with the money has the authority."
"I'm the only one willing to pay here," Ren added in a boastful voice, and he glared at Rei through the corner of his eye. Did he know about Rei having money? o0
The town was so dark that night, so dark that I regretted coming out on my own. Not that I believe in ghosts or anything (wait a sec, Galatel's a ghost... oh, I do believe in ghosts!), but the place was really eerie and creepy, like something would come pouncing at me any second. Maybe I should've asked one of the boys to accompany me, but it's a little too late for that now.
And what not better way to spend the night than to get lost in a town you're not familiar with!
"Where the hell are we?" I asked Galatel.
"Looks like a pier to me," he replied.
"Who are you?"
"Ack! We have to hide!"
I then realized that the voice wasn't directed at me. I hid myself behind a warehouse and watched what was happening from a distance.
It was a shaman fight, no doubt, but it didn't seem like a formal one because the official fights were to resume once everyone got to Patch Village, right? Looking closely, I could vaguely recognize one of the fighters. I remembered this scene very well, and at tht time, I didn't want to see it, but somehow, my legs wanted me to stay put and see for myself.
"Are you... strong?" the fighter asked the other.
"Of course I am!" the other retorted. "I'll show you! Get ready kid!"
It was a horrible sight, or rather, it was just bloody. The fighter's weapon was so fast, and so lethal. It was like an arrow going zooming around uncontrollably, going smoothly through the other's flesh, blood spilling everywhere.
"You're not strong after all," I heard the fighter sigh.
"It's best we get out of here," Galatel whispered. I nodded, and started backing away slowly.
"Hm?" I suddenly heard him. "What's wrong, Morphine?"
"Oh no," I muttered. "Now would be a very good time to dash off..."
"Then don't just stand there!" Galatel hissed. "DO IT!"
I ran for my life. I could hear his footsteps. He was after me.
"No!" I yelled when he suddenly jumped in front of me, blocking the way.
"Are you strong?" he asked, his emeral eyes glistening with the moonlight. It was an intimidating sight. I knew inside, I was nowhere near defeating someone like him.
"Let me see you're strength!"
I saw it coming. The pendulum was diving right for me with unbelievable speed.
No, I thought. I don't want to die...
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"
All I could remember was a sudden flash of amethyst light so strong that it made my eyes close. A powerful squall came and passed through my feet, and I felt as if my body was being torn apart, only painlessly.
I slowly opened my eyes, and the next thing I knew, I was lying on my bed back at the hotel. True enough, I looked around and found myself back in my room. I checked myself to see if I was missing an arm or something, but was relieved to see that I as still in one piece.
"What happened to us?" I asked Galatel.
He cleared his throat and replied, "Uh, I totally forgot that I used to know this teleportation spell. Haha..."
I shook the Farlos Jewels vigorously, took them off, and threw them at the wall.
"OW!"
"WHY DIDN'T YOU REMEMBER SOONER?"
"Couldn't sleep well last night," I replied, yawning. "I was scolding Galatel..."
"Oh? Why?"
"Uh... never mind."
"Hey you two, where'd Rei go?" Ryu had asked suddenly to the two of us. I looked around, and Rei was nowhere to be found.
"Wasn't he supposed to be with you boys?" I asked back.
"Darn it," I hissed as I kicked a small pebble on the ground. I left the hotel early and decided to go for a stroll around town. I have so many things to ponder about.
"What am I doing here?" I asked to no one in particular. "How did I even get here?"
Before I knew it, I was in front of what seemed to be an abandoned house.
"I was just worried about Stella would've gone to... And now I find myself here..."
I turned the knob. It was a bit rusty, but it was unlocked.
"Well, I found her, but I'm just being a burden..."
I was already going up the stairs. I could here it creaking, as if it would be destroyed by my weight any second, but luckily, it didn't.
"I'm being a burden 'cause she's a shaman. I'm weak while she's powerful... If I could, I want to be one of them. I want that power too."
"You really want to be one?" came a voice from the end of the 2nd floor hallway. There was a guy standing there. He had long hair, and rather large earrings hanging from his ears. His cape was swaying, even when there was no wind up here. If I thought that Ren guy looked weird, this guy's creepier.
"Who are you?" I asked. He was looking outside the window.
"If you want to be a shaman," he said, his voice sounding firm and cold for some reason, "I can make you into one."
"Can you really?" I asked. I was desperate, this guy could be my last hope.
"Of course," he said in between chuckles. "But I have one condition."
"Anything!" I said right away.
"My condition is," he started, at last facing me. My eyes widened as I stared into his black eyes, eyes full of hatred, anger, and destruction. "Stay away from Stella."
"Where is he?" I asked Galatel desperately. "While I'm here looking for Rei, the others are hard at work looking for Patch Village!"
"Why don't you just tell them where the Village is so we can get things over with?" Galatel suggested.
"I'd love to do that," I replied. "But something in me doesn't want to do so."
"Then we're stuck here looking for your friend," he shrugged.
"You two are so amusing..." someone commented behind us. I didn't even need to guess. Who else would always sneek up behind us with a weird opening commentary?
"Hao-sama," I mumbled.
"Aw, you still refer to me as your master," he said with a smile as he was sitting on a tree branch. "How nice... Have you been well?"
"I'm looking for someone," I replied. He knew a lot of things, so maybe he could give me a little help with this.
"Oh, your friend Rei, correct?"
"That guy, yeah!" I said. I knew that he knows where he is! "So, do you know where he is?"
"Of course."
"Then where?"
He smiled even more as he said, "He decided to join my side. Isn't that just great news?"
"W-WHAT?"
isa18: Military training just ended, and whoohoo! I'm an officer! Thanks for reviewing and waiting!
Ayume Yamashira: I'm not getting rid of Ren, I'm getting rid of Rei! Haha! Thanks for your review and suggestion!
kill-me911: Hehe... Don't forget our little Gundam SEED Destiny watching marathon at my house! Hehe...
Mayumi Nakashima: Sorry to disappoint you about that. Anyway, yes I am a Filipino! Are you one? If so, then, YES! KABAYAN!
angelady: TY po!
a.k.a. Lily: Book Writing Authorities... we actually have one here in the Philippines... NOT! Anyway, I just noticed that I have many reviewers from England. Thanks!
LisaTheHedgehog: Thanks for your support!
Obsessive-Compulsive-KSARA: Yes, Ren's spike did grow. Thanks for your review!
Meister: I refuse to speak to you.
Shackle: Thanks! And the card thing really is a pity...
Fiamme: Sorry, but that's how my readers like the POV thing. And when I say 'Normal POV', I mean the 'Third-person POV'. And thanks!
De Code Master: Thanks for the weapon info and the review as well!
aisu-sama: Thanks! Looking forward to your fic as well!
Yumi Sakura: Thanks a bunch! You're hyperactive, aren't you?
T.O.W.R.T.R.: Sorry for the disappointment. I've explained why I did it, 'kay?
Roze: Thanks!
FlyinWithoutWings: Thanks!
P.S. I'm planning to change my username to 'a745'. Thought you guys ought to know. o0
WORLD PEACE!