A/N: Hey there, Nordic is back and procastinating to make the paper she has to turn in next week! (I did not just say that...)

Not much to say, since I uploaded a few days ago... so let's just skip to important part, and get on with the story!

Disclaimer:I own nothing but plot and OC's.

Attack of the Pendulum

Sobokuna's memories.

Sobokuna:

Sobokuna Kokatsuna was sitting in her room, plotting and scheming. She was fuming over the fact that a rich brat like Una Yamagawa had effectively cut off any chances she had to get close to someone with at least a bit of status.

Seriously, all she wanted was to become someone. Someone who people would beck and scrape for, someone who could do everything she wanted! Was that so bad? So what if she had to lie and trick people? As they say, the ends justify the means.

But that was out of the question for her now, since that cow had cut off her chances. Surely, people would warn others against her now. Unless she did something to make Una seem like the liar.

Currently, she was reading all the stuff she could find about Yama-Tech. Inc. online. There had to be something she could use... something that would make a great scandal and ruin her life.

"Come on… a little slip up… that vile temper of hers… wait a second… her temper! I've got it!" Sobokuna thought, an evil grin spreading on her face.

If she leaked the story to the press and made it look like Una had, without a reason, just suddenly attacked an innocent student who just wanted to be her friend… Oh, it would be glorious! And add a little about her probably on some kind of illegal diet, drugs sounded like a great idea, Una was sickly thin and pale anyways. She said she didn't diet… pfft, as if! And she, Sobokuna Kokatsuna, was going to be the one uncovering her little scheme.

Yes… Una was the evil one… she was innocent… she had never done anything wrong. People were after her because they knew she was pure, beautiful, and better than they. She had always been, and would always be.

"You honestly believe that?" a voice suddenly said behind her.

Sobukuna whipped her head around, looking for the voice. But no one was there.

"I'm being silly… there's no one there," she said to herself, turning back to her computer.

"But there is someone… I am right here," the voice said again.

Sobokuna turned around again, standing this time. She felt a sudden chill go down her spine, like someone was watching her.

"Who's there?! Show yourself, creep!" Sobokuna said, trying to sound brave, though her voice was trembling.

A sinister chuckle resonated through the room. "Silly girl…" it whispered to her left, so low it almost wasn't there. Sobokuna looked to the side.

"Nope, I'm not there. I'm over here," it whispered from somewhere behind her. Sobokuna turned around.

"Oops, wrong place, I'm over here!" "No, I'm right here". "Come on, I'm not invisible".

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere around Sobokuna, and she looked around helplessly.

"Who are you?! What do you want from me?!" She called into the room, feeling her body go cold, as a heavy hand landed on her shoulder, and she felt breath against her ear.

"Isn't it obvious? You are going to pay for you evil intentions," the voice whispered.

Then the hand gave her a hard push, and she stumbled forwards, turning around in the process. What met her eyes when she looked at the owner of the voice froze her in place.

In front of her stood a woman wearing a light purple cloak, with a big hood covering most of her face. The only thing she could see of her face was the mouth, which was set in an angry scowl. Though Sobokuna couldn't see her eyes, she knew the woman was glaring at her.

"Who… who are you?" Sobokuna stammered, taking a little step back. The scowl changed to a creepy smile.

"I am the bearer of the Crystal Pendulum. Punishing those who wish to do other people wrong to get further in life is my mission. And you, Sobokuna Kokatsuna, have just become my top priority," she said, taking a step forward.

Sobokuna stepped back, beginning to feel cold sweat covering her body. "I… I have no… no i… idea what you're talking about. How… how did you get in here?" she said, still stammering. The woman grinned.

"I have my ways… Now, do you want to receive your punishment right away, or do I have to use force?" she said as she held out a shining pendulum made out some kind of glass. It gave off an air of power and authority.

Summoning a bit of otherwise non-existent courage, Sobokuna squared her shoulders and glared at the woman. "You think you're something, huh creep? Tell me, what asylum have you escaped from? You better get out of here right now, or I'll call the police!"

The woman began chuckling. "Oh, poor, ignorant child. That was the same threat Emi Koroki used on me, and as you probably know, she met her fate, too," she whispered.

Sobokuna froze. She had heard about what had happened to Emi, and that she had ended up in a coma. "That… was you?" she managed to say, almost choking on the words. The woman nodded.

Immediately Sobokuna's survival instincts kicked in.

She sucked up to those with more power. And she was certain that, with that pendulum, this woman was the most powerful person she would ever meet.

"Wow, that is quite a bit of power you must have. No wonder you beat up Emi, if you used that. I'm honored that such a strong being like you would stand before me," she said in a sweet little girl voice, hoping it would work.

The woman let out something similar to a growl. "Cut it out, child. It will never work on me, and you will never use this dirty little trick again. I hope you enjoyed your last minutes as yourself," she said in a low voice as the pendulum began to shine even brighter and she took yet another step towards Sobokuna.

Finally Sobokuna's survival instincts told her to get the hell away, and without a word, she turned on her heel and stormed out of her room, towards the front door. Behind her, she heard a heavy sigh.

"Fine, suit yourself. I guess we have to do this the hard way… again!" the woman said.

?:

"Why do they always run?"she thought as she silently commanded the Strings of Fortune to catch Sobokuna. She heard a loud bump and the scream of the girl as the black and white, mostly black, strings probably wrapped around her feet and slowly bound her to the ground.

"Oh, I don't know… maybe because you THREATHEN THEIR LIVES?!" the other voice boomed in her head. She winced at the harshness.

"You said I was free to do as I wished, earlier," she whined.

"Yes, but people get scared when you suddenly appear and attack them with the Pendulum. It's no wonder they run!" the voice scolded, though with a gentler voice.

"But I don't want to hurt them… I don't even want to use the Pendulum this way," she whispered as she walked to where Sobokuna was being bound in a tight cocoon, the strings covering her almost entirely from head to toe. She was trembling with fear.

"Then don't. Just make her forget all of this ever happened… let her go…" the other voice said gently. She shook her head, as she held the Pendulum over Sobokuna's head.

"You know I can't. She has to be changed entirely, or she'll never learn," she answered, blocking off the other voice. She looked at the girl at her feet.

"Look at all these black strings. They are your evil decisions, your dark side. The white strings are the good you've done, the light you still possess. And I can read these strings, child, and I know you've been good. But something happened, and I am going to find out what. So relax, now, as I read your soul," she said to Sobokuna, her voice the lowest of whispers.

And then she closed her eyes and let her mind drift into the soul of Sobokuna Kokatsuna.

At first darkness was all she saw. She wasn't afraid though; she had done this before. She couldn't remember how many times exactly, but enough to embrace this darkness, and wait for the light she would see eventually.

Soon little spheres of yellow light appeared around her. Some hovered around lazily, others bounced through the darkness, and others again shot past her like little lightning bolts.

"Let's have a look at these memories… How about we start with childhood?" she said, mostly to herself, though she knew Sobokuna could hear her too.

As soon as she had said the words, a couple of the spheres connected and formed a bigger sphere in front of it. Carefully she approached it, and began watching its surface.

And what she saw surprised her, and yet it didn't. She had expected it to show something like it, but it's never nice to be right in such assumptions.

She saw a child being paced towards perfection by her parents. She saw a child yearning for attention and being approved of. But they always said to her, "It wasn't bad, but you can do so much better", even if she had done her very best. And the child began believing it, began believing she wasn't good enough. So already at the age of seven, she decided to do anything, at all costs, to show her parents she was good enough and would get to the top. So what if her ways weren't clean? All that mattered for her was for her parents to approve.

She called for a few other spheres and watched as the child evolved into a young girl, just as cunning as her name said, still hungry for her parents to see and approve of her.

She did everything she could, both good and bad. Doing homework half the night and proudly showing her 100% test to her parents. They barely looked at her, and said something about it being fine.

And still they did not see her or approve, and still she cried on the inside, begging for them to say she did great, tell her they loved her. But those words never came. So she turned towards cheating and being the puppy of the teachers, older children, anyone whom she thought had a bit of status. But even this couldn't make her parents notice her.

Instead her father ran away with some woman, and her mom engaged in her work, never being there, and leaving poor little Sobokuna on her own most of the time.

She sighed. Sobokuna was just another forgotten child, just another lost soul who had given up.

Silently she watched as the child grew into a teenager, who forgot why she did what she did, and just did it out of habit. She watched a teenager who enjoyed the misery she imagined those who had less than her were in, and would do anything to get to her goal. So what if she lied and cheated? She was someone. And if she wasn't, life wasn't worth anything.

She decided enough was enough, and finally retracted from Sobokuna's mind, appearing in front of the bound girl. She saw fear in the girl's eyes, but also pain and anger. She could almost hear her yelling profanities at her.

"Oh child, so broken you are," she said sympathetically, ordering the strings to uncover the girl's mouth, so she could respond. A few seconds passed, then Sobokuna screamed.

"How DARE you! What on Earth did you do to me, you freak? Let me go, let me go, let. Me. GO!"

She sighed once more, ordering the strings to cover the girl's mouth again. Setting her face in a perfect emotionless mask, she said, "You have forgotten yourself, child, and you are broken beyond repair. So as the bearer of the Crystal Pendulum, it is my duty to fix this by taking that wicked, evil thing your soul has become, and changing it into something new and shining. But don't worry, you won't feel a thing. Actually, you won't remember this happened at all."

She took a step towards Sobokuna, knelt down by her side, and held the pendulum over the girl's head.

"You're going to fall into a nice deep sleep for about a week. You'll see your old self drift away slowly, being replaced by the new one. And once you wake up, all your pain and evil deeds will be forgotten," she whispered.

Sobokuna's eyes got big, and her pupils filled almost all of the green color. She stopped struggling, as the strings around her loosened their grip, and the pendulum glowed.

"Penalty: soul change," she said as the Crystal Pendulum glowed even brighter and white dust poured out from it, covering Sobokuna.

Sobokuna:

She watched in fear as the white dust suddenly covered her from head to toe. She felt it creep down her body under the strings and her clothes. But it didn't feel bad. More like being covered in a thin, warm blanket.

The black and white strings around her body loosened, and she could move freely again. She didn't try to move though. She only turned her head to the side, watching the woman's retreating figure.

She could feel her body drift away into slumber. With the last of her power, she whispered, "Who… who are you?"

The woman turned around and looked at her. She caught a glimpse of golden brown eyes and a surprisingly gentle smile.

"My name is Fortuna*," she whispered.

That was the last thing Sobokuna heard. Then she fell unconscious.

*Fortune

A/N: Finally ?'s name is revealed! Took long enough, but hee you go: ? is named Fortuna.

This chapter is a little darker than what I usually write. But I think I did a pretty good job describing the different emotions. Pain, sadness, anger etc. Hope you liked it!

We've hit chapter 30! (Or 25, if you count each of the chapters with multiple parts as one.) Thank you for sticking with me so far.

Special thanks: Scaehime-KingofKing's Daughter, ThunderNinjaBird, anna the viking XD, mika. laylani, Crystalbird1769, The Queen of Water, SerenePanic, Aimee-Leigh .M. Attwood, xxxPureRosexxx and Dynasty-Feral. A new "face" on the review page. I welcome you to the madness I represent in my writing, and hope you'll enjoy the future chapters :D

See you all next time!

-Nordic Twin