Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Dark Dreams ( Chapter 16 )

I'm on chapter 16 (of 25 current chapters that I've written)

Here is a list of future chapters, just for general interest.

17: Ceres

18: Like Falling Leaves

19: Journey to Cloud Kingdom

20: Raiki, Dragon of Heaven

21: Tragic Angel Tsurugi (Yes, I Tsurugi back story chapter 1 of 2)

22: How I Became Dark (Part 2 of 2)

23: The Beautiful But Deadly Elf Kaizer

24: Illuminating Battle Keiji vs. Lumina

25: A Fading Light (On page 2)

Oh and a new warning…I'm proud to present that this story now has…

SHOUJO-AI!

Yes, there will be two shoujo-ai pairings in here. My first being written here. I usually feel uncomfortable with writing it (although I like to read them, especially Natsuhime's works) as I am a straight woman, but it tied so well in the future plot that I had to do it. So all of those who are fans of that category will be happy to know that I now have lesbian pairings as well.

Sacrifice

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 16: Dark Dreams

Everyone was assembled in a small circle in the middle of the small room. It was a pretty fancy looking room which had a couple of large windows and a vibrant red carpet. The walls were of a crisp white and most of the room was trimmed in a blue color. The beds were elaborate and had silken and lace sheets and covers with a few round, lace pillows.

"We have three rooms, so instead of rooming with people we like to hang out with, let's hang out with people we hardly know," Chichiri suggested. He thought it would be a good idea for everyone to get to know each other better since the trust issue was brought to light so much among the group members.

"One problem," Undine noted. "There are three rooms but eight of us. Two rooms will have to have three people in them."

Hiroshima began to jot something down on a small note pad that he held in his hand. His pen scratched against the paper rapidly as ideas began to floor his mind on the situation. "Here," he finally spoke, done with his noting and casually handed the paper over to Ko, who examined it with curious blue eyes.

"What is this?" She saw nothing but a random grouping of names.

"I randomly selected names and placed them into groups," the legend informed.

"Room one- Undine, Tsurugi and Chichiri," Ko read from the list. "Room 2- Azmy, Hiroshima and Ko, Room 3-Keiji and Fife."

"What?" The drummer shot, his voice held contempt for the current decision which was made.

"If you don't want to, then you don't have to. I'll switch," Fife offered although he felt his heart sank. He didn't know why he knew that Keiji would decline him as he'd done in the past. But the feminine male couldn't help but feel a sense of sorrow and it showed with his expression, losing more and more of his happy façade as time progressed.

"I think we should leave it as it is," Tsurugi looked at Fife with a pleasant smile. "Since we're a team the most important function is to get along, so the two of you staying together would be a good thing. You can talk your problems out."

"Fine," Keiji huffed, stiffly walking past Fife and paying him no mind. It was as if he'd walked by an inanimate object. The other could feel the negative vibes coming from his body as he passed him.

"…Keiji-kun," the navy-haired boy said lowly, his façade now gone and his voice carrying on nothing but pure sorrow.

Keiji stopped.

"If you would rather room with Azmy, then you can," Fife suggested. He knew that Keiji had taken a particular liking to the girl and thought that it would be in his best interest if he was in a room with someone that he actually liked.

"You heard Chichiri and Tsurugi. We have to do this so let's go," Keiji looked over his shoulder at the boy and reached out, taking Fife's hand firmly as he began to walk slowly out of the room and down the hall.

A light blush crept up on the male's cheeks and even though he tried to fight back the rising feelings within his being with negativity, it was a losing battle. Fife didn't want to believe that this was sincere. He wanted to try and find every reason to guard his heart against the battle he was losing. Keiji made his feelings very clear, after all. Someone like him had no chance against the slate-haired, gun-weilder.

"Keiji-kun…" The feminine one murmured softly as clear, steely eyes watched them depart.

"Well let's get to bed. We have a long night ahead of us," Hiroshima turned to the others, who all agreed. They had a hard day and it felt good to be able to rest in a proper bed.

XI.

Keiji and Fife sat upon the lace and silken sheets of the single bed that was placed in the middle of their hotel room. They were space a person's body apart and both of them were wide awake.

Fife looked to the other teen in question. "Can't sleep?" He asked trying to sound happy, but his voice came off as depressed and fatigued with a hint of fake happiness to it.

"No, you?" The drummer pretended to ignore it, although the intrigue never left his mind. What had really happened to Fife when he went away to perform that job? He came back and he was so…Different. He smelled different…Not of his usual scent of Morning Glory and rain water. His demeanor was different as well. He seemed darker then what he was before. No longer being the happy go lucky person he once portrayed himself as when they first met.

"No."

"So, let's talk," Keiji figured he could get some things out in the open between them this way. After all, it was the main goal of the rooming arrangement.

"You want to?" Fife's gaze fell to the teen. His features looked a little bewildered. It was as if Fife wasn't quite sure that Keiji had been acting himself.

"Yes. How come you could get that job so easily?" The teen tried asking again. It was the same question as last time.

Fife's eyes narrowed in sadness a little. He'd rather forget what he'd done, but Keiji kept throwing it up in his face. "I had a job before I joined up with you…I just went back to it," he replied in monotone, not really wanting to answer the question but at the same time figuring he should.

"You smell like cologne," Keiji remarked, bringing up the fact that the feminine one smelled more of Asian Spice than of his normal flowery scent.

"What?" Fife's voice held a small amount of surprise to it. He was beginning to feel strangled and he could feel the air thin around him.

"Did you get different cologne? You used to smell like Morning Glory and now you smell like spices," the drummer noted.

"I had close contact with people," the feminine one decided to make an excuse.

"Why the hell are you so sad?" Keiji's voice held scrutiny to it as his eyes narrowed upon making direct contact with Fife's. This unnerved the feminine one, so he averted his eyes and looked to the ground. Within the navy blue seas of his pupils reflected a small light from the moon. It was a light that made his eyes gleam in a distant sadness.

"I regret…A lot of things."

"Yeah, so do I. Why does it matter?"

"It's painful," Fife replied, in almost a whisper.

"Yeah," Keiji sympathized with Fife as his eyes lowered to the floor and the awaiting sadness engulfed them in a sorrowful shine.

"I know you like her," the long-haired boy said after a moment of silence his hair hanging over his eyes, shading them from view.

"Who?"

"Azmy."

"I barely know her," Keiji shrugged the subject off. It was even less emotionlessly that he shrugged off Fife's.

This made the boy look at him fully, turning his body a little to face Keiji. "But you acted so friendly."

"She's kind to me," he said simply.

"So am I."

"…"

"So why am I so different? Why do you hate me?" Fife asked sadly as his gaze shifting back to the floor.

"I don't hate you."

"What then? Why are you so distant?"

"I'm not getting close to anyone."

Fife looked at Keiji with a sincerity and question in his eyes as they reflected the incoming moonlight from his window nearby. Pools of illumination caused his navy blue eyes to have much more depth than in broad sunlight. "Why? Did you lose someone close to you?" The other male asked. He wondered if Keiji may have been afraid of being close to someone due to the fear of them being taken away because of something that stemmed in his childhood.

Green eyes widened as a sense of nostalgia overcame him. Visions of the past once again returned to Keiji's mind.

Chaos was all around. People were running and screaming in terror as a small, winged figure stood upon a hill with corpses all around him. It was dark and his form was shadowed heavily. The only things that seemed to stick out were his oddly colored eyes, a glassy blue and one white wing. The winged figure stood in an odd stance, his shoulders were slightly leaned over and his form seemed semi-curled. It was lanky and scrawny and seemed malnourished.

His eyes were so cold…

So emotionless…

Like those of a statue.

Then those eyes turned to him and he could see the true emotions that were held within- a contained ferocity, feral and wild feelings, unease, chaos…All of the things that struck fear into the hearts of the townspeople.

It creeped him out. He was truly afraid and could do nothing but stare back into those wild eyes. His form was locked in place with the fear he felt. Those eyes seemed to hypnotize him.

He was only seven years old, but Keiji would soon at his young age, be forced to grow up all too fast.

"Keiji!" He could hear his mother shouting, her long green hair danced behind her as she ran to him to save him from the winged figure's onslaught. But the winged figure caught sight of her and like a hawk in all of its power and glory, swooped down quickly from his hillside perch.

Keiji screamed in horror as his mother stood motionless only a few feet from him. Her eyes were glazed over and a sword's blade protruding from her chest, between her breasts where a crimson substance was quickly absorbed by the fabric surrounding it as the stain spread. The sword was jerked out savagely, and her form fell to the ground, dead.

But as she took her dying breath, she warned her child.

"Kei…ji…run…"

"Mother? Mother!" The child screamed as he ran over to her motionless corpse, but was beaten there as the winged figure was nearly nose to nose with him. His sword held in his hand. The winged figure was also a boy who appeared to be no younger than twelve in age. He was tall for someone that young and loomed over the small child. His demonic aura snapping in the air around him and overpowering the small child's and submerging him in a world of darkness and the boy was trembling before him.

"Ah!" Keiji called out in fear as the winged figure looked down upon him.

"If I were you, I'd rethink my decision and to go after her. You really should run yourself," the winged boy told him, his voice seeming so distant and cold.

"No! I can't!" The child shouted in dismay, tears streaming down his cheeks as he pushed past the winged figure, determined to get to his mother. He was nearly there, only a few feet from his destination when he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and heard something pop. The pain was so immense that he let out a loud, ear-piercing scream. As his green eyes looked to the side, he saw nothing but a sword blade piercing his shoulder.

"Bleed for me," the winged boy said as Keiji's wounded body started to fall.

"Mother…" Was the last word he remembered uttering before everything faded to black.

"You could say that," Keiji told Fife in a depressed tone.

XI

Ko sat on the edge of her bed. Her eyes were transfixed on the moon as she reeled over many thoughts in her mind. The events of the past, present and future were all converging and she wasn't quite sure what to make of everything. Things were happening fast, not to mention that they had just been getting downright depressing.

It was a lot of emotional stress for her to take on. She hoped that things would get better.

But doubt flooded her mind.

Across the room, Hiroshima lay stretched out over his bed. His long and slender wings were draped over each side as he stared at the ceiling momentarily, trying to drift off to sleep and recalling the events himself. His gaze shifted to Azmy, who was in the bed across from him, her back facing him as she slept soundly. He looked to Ko, who seemed to still be up.

"Ko."

"Yeah?" The singer looked over her shoulder; moonlight dancing off of her white hair and making it appear to be an almost silver color.

"Go to sleep."

"But-"

"Just go to sleep," Hiroshima pressed his command.

XI

In the room next to them, a red-clad woman stood upon her balcony. A gentle breeze swept through the building, toying wither her ebony hair as the long strands danced in the wind. A light rain began to fall as red eyes examined it, taking peace in the gentle shower. A moment of silence passed before the woman closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

'I haven't seen anyone here that Mistress Soel had been telling me about.' Ceres thought. 'Maybe Vespa sent them to the wrong town…Or Mistress Soel was wrong.'

XI

In another location Chichiri, Undine and Tsurugi were engaged in light and happy conversation on their balcony which was across from Ceres' on the bend of the building. They laughed and carried on as their conversations got louder and soon they could be heard faintly from across the building as their laughs echoed through the air, finally reaching the sharp ears of Ceres.

"Hm?" The dark-haired girl's red piercing eyes shifted to the balcony across from her own. 'Or perhaps…' She thought, smirking. 'They are here and such lovely males in this bunch…' Her eyes concentrated on Tsurugi's figure. 'This one too…' She looked to Chichiri. 'They'd make fine servants for my harem…And as soon as I defeat them, they'll be mine.' Ceres smiled, reveling in the fantasy of being surrounded by the male figures of that group. Then her eyes shifted to a small figure between the two and widened in shock. 'What's she doing here? Why is she with them? I don't get any of this…There must be other plans that I don't know about a foot. I've got to do something about this.'

Blue eyes looked towards the other balcony to see the woman staring back at her. 'I wonder who she is. She's certainly been staring at us for a while now…'

"What's wrong?" Undine asked, noticing that the angel was staring at Ceres intently.

He turned to the girl and smiled. "Oh nothing, just enjoying the rain."

Chichiri looked over to the room next to him which was blackened out. It was as if it was either abandoned or everyone in the room had gone to sleep. "The room next door is all dark. Guess Ko and the others are asleep."

"We should probably go a well. Hiroshima will probably have us up early," Undine told them, glancing at Tsurugi for some kind of affirmation.

"Yes, Hiro-kun is an early riser," the dark angel told them, trying to make a point. If they didn't want an extra grumpy Hiroshima it would be best for them to get to bed. The others in his group agreed with him as they all migrated inside of the room. All except Undine, who stood on the balcony as still as a statue with large slate colored eyes intently gazing at the red-clad woman a few balconies across from them.

"You coming Undine?" Chichiri shouted from inside, his loud vibrant voice catching the young girl's ears.

"Yes," Undine replied in monotone, turning slowly and glancing over her shoulder with one hand sat upon the door frame before tearing her gazes away from the woman.

XI

The two males lay together amongst the lace and silk of the bed sheets, both turned in to face each other. The moonlight bounced off of their forms, making them take shape of slender silhouettes. Keiji and Fife had spent the whole night talking and they found that they had much to talk about. They were currently on the subject of Keiji's suspected crush on a certain shy female of the group.

"I told you, I don't like anyone here," Keiji pressed, wishing that the navy-haired male would change the subject.

"But I like you," Fife said quietly, turning to lie on his back. His sights were on the ceiling and his eyes shaded by his dark blue tresses which looked almost black against the dim lighting of the room.

"In what way?" The drummer asked, his gazes turning to the other's face.

"Does my liking men offend you?" Fife's voice still depressed from whatever had happened to him before hand while they were out working.

"Do what you want, but if I were you, I'd fall in love with someone else," Keiji warned his tone serious.

This made the feminine male giggle in glee at his response. "You think I love you?" He asked happily, almost as if it were a joke, then turned towards him and laughed.

Keiji shot up, looking a little defensive as he sat among the silken sheets. "What the hell is so funny?"

"Love you?" The long haired male asked gazing up at the drummer, the moonlight dancing around within his navy pupils. "My, you're presumptuous, Keiji-kun!"

The green-haired boy narrowed his eyes almost as if he were trying not to let some sort of cryptic feeling show. He stared hard at Fife for a moment before tearing his piercing gaze away, almost painfully so, giving Fife a good view of the back of his head. "Well, you don't have to make fun of me." His voice was quiet.

"I'm sorry," Fife sat up and looked sympathetic. He knew that Keiji was having a hard time dealing with things, despite his emotionless façade and no doubt he wanted to help him. Laughing at him probably didn't help anything. "Did you really think I loved you?" He stared into the forest green of the drummer's eyes.

"What if I did?" Keiji's voice returned to its original form. He still looked a little on the defensive, almost as if he expected Fife to laugh at him again.

"Do you want me to?" The other asked sincerely.

"I'm not gay."

"Then why do you act like you want me to?" The navy-haired one asked, giving Keiji a small smile.

"Shut up and go to sleep," Keiji growled, laying back down in the bed and throwing the covers over himself.

"But I caan't!" The feminine one sing-songed the last word in a childish way as he held his knees and rocked a little back and forth, pulling off his usual happy demeanor.

"Shut up," the other male snapped.

Fife leaned over him playfully, navy blue silken strands hung down over the drummer. The blue eyed male still had his hair in a ponytail from earlier in fact, Keiji had never seen Fife take his hair down other than to wash it in the hot springs, but then he quickly had it pulled back in the long ponytail. This, among other things intrigued him about the other male.

"Keiji-kun…If you want a friend, I can be that to you," Fife said gently and reached down, hugging the other kindly.

XI

Ceres lazily flipped through channels on the small television that sat across from her. The red-clad woman sat at the edge of her white bed, a sleep tugging slightly at her eyelids, warning her eyes that their vision may be shut off at any second. Finally registering that she could stay awake no longer, she turned off the television.

"Well, I should be getting to bed," Ceres told herself, and then stood to place the remote on top of the television. Before she could even take a step towards her destination, the ground shook violently causing her to let out a scream and lose her footing as her form went crashing to the ground. Long, straight black hair was in disarray as she looked up, her eyes darting every which way to see if she could visually pinpoint the source of the sound, but found nothing. "What the hell is going on?" She exclaimed.

The earthquake could be felt all throughout the large building. Everyone was shaken awake by it.

"What the-!?" Hiroshima exclaimed, sitting up bolt-straight in bed and looking around wildly.

"I felt an earthquake," Azmy replied from her bed, her voice full of concern.

Fife lifted his head. "What was that?" He looked to Keiji in question. "I felt the building move."

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this."

Tsurugi's form crashed to the ground, as he fell on his butt a few inches from his bed. "I fell out of bed," he stated the obvious.

"It seems as if the plants are back," Undine observed.

As if by queue a giant vine busted through the middle of their floor, sending large chunks of foundation everywhere and causing yet another mass earthquake as everyone in the room attempted to avoid it by crouching down or running.

"Eyaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" Chichiri screamed, clinging to of the nearby pillars. He barely avoided the onslaught and could have died if he stayed in its path.

"This isn't good," Tsurugi got up looking at the stalk, which was still moving upward, causing more of the room to collapse around them.

"I'll have to do something about this," Undine began to motion her hands and began to pull water up from the surrounding rooms, the many streams flowing upwards towards her hands. The water then formed into a blob, it was floating in a pool around her. The water soon hardened, turning into ice and looking similar to a buzz saw blade, circular and with many sharp, deadly teeth.

"Ice Buzsaw!" The stoic girl called out flinging it towards the stalk. It cut through a few of the smaller vines, which acted as barriers between them and the largest vine. They all threw themselves around wildly as if in pain. Each one of them sprayed their syrupy substance. The buzz saw soon crashed into the wall at the other end of the room, smashing into multiple tiny ice shards.

Tsurugi pointed two fingers out in the direction of the shards. "Allow me. Rewind." The angel called out and the shards pulled themselves together and bounced back off of the wall in the opposite direction as if someone were rewinding a tape and were now in the form of a disc again. "Multiply and reverse," the blonde angel commanded further as the blade began to multiply into about ten blades, each looking remarkably close to the original. They then all shot back towards the vines from the opposing side and chop all of the remaining vines in half. But the blades didn't stop and were headed toward their small ground at lightning speed.

"Oh thanks!" Chichiri panicked. "They're headed toward us now!"

"Heat shield!" Undine called out, throwing her hands forward in the same stopping motion as before as a red aura shot from the ground in front of them. It was hot to the touch and even standing by it for a small amount of time made it seem as if one were standing in the broiler room of a ship. The Ice Buzz saws came into contact with the red aura and melted, splashing the group in cool water.

"Let's hurry and get to the others before it comes back," Tsurugi called out, lifting himself a little off of the ground by flapping his wings a little as Chichiri and Undine took off towards the other's rooms. Another earthquake hit and the ground shook with more strength then the last one. Undine stumbles and nearly falls, Chichiri ended up doing a belly flop on the floor, the noise echoing throughout the hall.

"Ouch!"

XI.

"What the hell IS that?" Ceres complained, standing out on her balcony as she looked down at the destruction below. Another giant flowering plant was sending its vines into their hotel. "First. I have no sexy man slaves to help me sleep well, and now this?" The woman outraged, irritated beyond all belief. Not only was she separated from her precious slaves, she now had to deal with yet another problem. That and she had absolutely NO sleep. Her red eyes glanced to the vines sticking out of some of the nearby windows.

"Eargh! What in the world!?" She yelled in surprise. 'I heard this town was famous for its plants, but this? Guess I'll have to go down there and cause some trouble. So much for beauty sleep.' The woman sighed, jumping back and absorbing herself into the wall once again.

XI.

"What in the hell was that?" Hiroshima asked, his sharp eyes looking to his roommates for any possible assumptions.

"Good question," Ko stood along with Azmy. "It felt like an earthquake."

"I'm kind of freaked out," Azmy's eyes reflected the moonlight in many dimensions as the fear shone clearly on her visage. "What if it's one of those plants again?"

"That bitch," Hiroshima frowned, stalking over toward the balcony and grabbing the Crimson Blade. "It woke me up from one of my few good nights of sleep. It's dying. Right now," the legend fumed, taking a running leap off of the balcony as Ko and Azmy looked at each other in question.

"I take it he's not a morning person," Ko replied.

"Mmm," Azmy nodded.

XI.

A few feet down the hall Chichiri, Undine, Fife, Tsurugi and Keiji were gathered, discussing the recent events which befell them. There were doors lining the hall, some open and some closed. A few corpses of the unfortunate littered the halls in random places, sticking out of doorways in the middle of the hall and pinned to the walls by vines, their blood cascading down the walls in crimson waterfalls as the moonlight bounced off of the liquid in haunting hues.

"What's going on?" Keiji asked upon seeing the dark angel and his companions.

"There's been a bunch of earthquakes," Fife noted.

"One of the goddesses' plants is attacking the building. It would be in our best interest if we got out as soon as possible," Undine informed.

"Wait…"Chichiri exclaimed, causing everyone's heads to turn in perfect synchronization towards his form. "Where are Ko, Azmy and Hiroshima?"

To Be Continued…

NOTE: Someone asked me about Honorifics, so let me break it down for you.

HONORIFICS

-san: This is the most common honorific, and is equivalent to Mr., Miss, Ms. Mrs. Ect. It is an all-purpose honorific and can be used n any situation where politeness is required.

-sama: This is one level higher then "san". It is used to confer great respect.

-dono: This comes from the word "tono" which means "lord". It is an even higher level of "-sama" and confers utmost respect.

-kun: This is used at the end of boy's names to express familiarity or endearment. It is also sometimes used by men among friends, or when addressing someone young or of a lower status.

-chan: This is used to express endearment, mostly towards girls. It is also used for little boys, pets, and even among lovers. It gives a sense of childish cuteness.

Bozu: This is an informal way to refer to a boy, similar to the term "kid" or "Squirt"

Sempai/Senpai: This title suggests that the addressee is one's senior in a group or organization. It is most often used in school settings, where underclassmen refer to their upperclassmen as "sempai". It can also be used in the workplace, such as when a newer employee addresses an employee who has seniority in the company.

Kohai: This is the opposite of "Sempai", and is used towards underclassmen in school and newcomers in the workplace. It connotes that the addressee is of lower station.

Sensei: Literally meaning "one who has come before," this title is used for teachers, doctors, or masters of any profession or art.

Keiji(no suffix after the name) - Usually forgotten in these lists, but perhaps the most significant difference between Japanese and English. The lack of the honorific means that the speaker has permission to address the person in a very intimate way. Usually, only family, spouses, or very close friends have this kind of permission. Knowin as yobisute, it can be gratifying when someone who has earned the intimacy starts to call one by one's name without an honorific. But when that intimacy hasn't been earned, it can also be very insulting (in which Fife did to Keiji in earlier chapters)