Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Tragic Play: X ❯ Act I: Captive ( Chapter 1 )

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Tragic Play: X

By: Melissa Norvell

Act I: Captive

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'Now…How do I get in?' the Queen of Diamonds thought to herself as her green eyes scanned her surroundings. The castle was large, but odd in architecture. All windows were very high up from the ground, and the large wooden doors seemed to be her only option. 'I could go to the door, but who uses the cliché' entrance? It does seem like I'd be walking into one big trap. If I walk in there, I'll be bombarded with guards. I'll be much safer and closer if I went through the window.'

The red-haired girl held her arm straight out from her body. "Time for my special magic trick!" She said aloud as a puff of smoke was created at the end of her hand, turning into a simple black top hat with a red ribbon around it. "Nothing up my sleeve!" She then held the hat straight out in front of her form. "Ha! My hat is filled with tricks of deception! Go Grappling Hook!" The thief shouted as a grappling hook shot at amazing speed from inside her hat. "It's show time!" The spunky girl shouted with excitement as the hook sailed through the air, eventually landing inside and catching underneath of the stone sill of the window. Luckily, the castle was created as if it came right out of the medieval period so it didn't have glass windows to cause the guards to stir.

The skilled thief began to scale the wall of the castle, every once in a while, she made sure to pull on the rope to make sure she was still secure. Bit by bit, the thief made her way towards her destination, planning out what she would do once she had entered the large castle. 'Man, I hope no one's up there.'

A top of the pillar, the black-clad masked man's observant blue eyes could see the small girl scaling up the wall. He didn't try to stop her, simply watched with interest. 'Interesting…'

Only a few inches from her destination, the Queen of Diamond's body was growing weary of her climb. Her movements were getting slower and she had to take more frequent breaks in order to regain her strength. Still, she pushed herself to make up to the window. If she lost strength now, she'd plummet to her death and fade away as a shadow of the land of X. 'Just a little farther…' she reached up towards the window sill and barely grabbing it. 'Got it!' She pulled herself up shakily and slowly climbed in the window, sitting on the sill with one leg dangling over the castle's edge.

It was very dark in this castle and there didn't seem to be many objects around. The walls were the most decorated thing in the entire castle. Every once in a while there would be a low table in the hallway, or some sort of table, whether it be long, short or tall. But they were never barren; each had something on it, even if it was only one thing.

'There's nothing there…It's just black in here…What's this place? You think a castle like this would have high security.' The green-eyed girl looked around to make sure her theory was correct as she climbed the rest of the way inside, gently setting her heeled feet on the ground. 'No matter, I still need to be careful. It might be a trap.'

The girl darted off down the hall with great stealth, making sure that no one saw her. She turned the corner, going to the right and running along each wall. Occasionally, she'd stop to look around in case she was being followed. The Queen of Diamonds could never be too sure. 'I hope I'm not going the wrong way…The last thing I want to do is run into that king.' She ran down a narrow, dark hall.

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The girl with long, black ponytails walked up to what seemed like a small gathering of ruins. The building that had once stood in that spot had Greek influences and used to be white in coloration. All around her were large chunks of the structure and broken pillars. The only thing that was still standing was a single pillar in the midst of the ruins and atop that pillar sat a lone figure adorned in black. Two different colored eyes set sight upon the figure in recognition. The girl still held the soul that she'd been speaking to earlier as she spoke his name.

"Jari-san, what are you doing here?" She asked.

The short-haired man blinked, his head lifting from the hand that had been propping it up as he looked down to see the girl below him. He gave her a gentle smile. "Oh, Kimidashi-chan! I was just looking at the castle," his voice was young and seemingly happy.

"Aren't you usually in the castle?" Kimidashi noted that it was indeed strange that the man was out and about.

"Hmmm, I haven't been lately," Jari looked towards the castle once more. "Lord Arkas hasn't told me anything to do. I think he's just tired of looking at my face," the blue-haired man nearly chuckled at his last statement.

"I see."

"I see you have another lost soul," Jari's keen blue eyes picking up the small paranormal figure from below. Using the leg that he had bent up, he pushed his lean body from the pillar, jumping off of it completely and landing near the black-haired girl, who simply looked at him emotionlessly with not show of fear or excitement.

"Yes…I found her near a tree," Kimidashi answered his question.

"Are you taking hr to the Seamstress?" He asked.

"Yes, she wants to be helped."

Jari took a glance back at the castle, closely watching the window that the thief had entered through. He shared a few brief thoughts with himself until he finally questioned the girl beside of him. "Kimidashi, do you think anything interesting will happen today?"

To him, the question seemed almost too ironic.

"I can't say for certain. Why do you ask?" Kimidashi could almost sense that he had a reason for asking that specific question. His posture and overall bodily communication told her that alone. Besides, Jari always had a rhyme or reason for saying the simplest things, and everything he mentioned had a sense of symbolism or deeper meaning.

"Just curious…" He seemed avoidant to her question.

"You know, don't you?" Two eyes of silver and black narrowed. If he wouldn't be direct, then she would just have to extract it out of him. Jari was a very secretive man as well, and often times they'd have to play the twenty questions game.

This incident was nothing new.

"Know?" He smiled. "About what?"

"About the girl from another land."

"You mean the one who recently scaled up the side of the castle?" Jari asked innocently. It seemed too innocent for him.

"That's where she is."

"Yes, I saw her climb in the window," the man said happily.

"I wonder what will happen to her when Lord Arkas finds her."

"This could be interesting," Jari commented, his voice seemed all too intrigued with this possibility of a new captor. Kimidashi wondered what was going on inside of his head.

"Could she be the one he's been searching for?" She asked in monotone.

"Who knows? If so, then we should prepare for his plan."

"Yes,I think I'll inform the Seamstress of this incident," the girl commented. If this girl had indeed been the one, then she would make sure that the Seamstress knew ahead of time. That way, if any preparations were to be made, there could be some work in progress.

"Have you met this foreigner?" Jari looked at her in question, noticing that the Queen of Diamonds didn't look like someone who was originally from X. Not only that but if she were from X, she wouldn't have to sneak into the king's castle like that.

"Yes, she spoke to me, but she didn't tell me her name."

"What a smart young lady," he closed his eyes, smiling brightly at the castle. Indeed, this one wasn't like the others who went ahead with their onslaught against X so stupidly.

"She seemed pretty adamant about getting into that castle, which leads me to believe that she may be the one Lord Arkas is searching for," Kimidashi stated.

"Perhaps I should prepare my doll."

"Do you think making a marionette now will be of any use to Lord Arkas?"

"It may prove to be useful or not if this girl is the one," he spoke calmly and kindly, as he always did. Jari liked to seem perpetually happy, as if life was a game and nothing truly troubled him. She expected as much from him.

"What are you thinking?" She wondered what was going through his head once more, but not having a clue to where he was getting at.

"If I told you that, you wouldn't have to wonder and that's the best part," he teased with a smile, holding up a finger.

"Huh?" Kimidashi blinked, the comment throwing her off.

"I shall be off," Jari smiled. "One! Two! Three!" He counted, holding up the one finger to signal the end of his count down as his form was consumed in a puff of smoke and he disappeared quickly as delicate flowers shot from the puff of white smoke, shooting out over the girl, covering her in brightly colored blooms. She shaded herself with one hand and closed one eye as her long, black pig tails danced in the small gust his spell had created.

'What a strange man. I don't think I'll ever understand his logic.' Kimidashi stood in the same spot she'd been in, covered in flowers. The soul that had been with her was still floating over her shoulder, a silent observer to the incident. It then floated in front of her face, catching the young girl's attention. "Well…We should get you to the Seamstress…Come," she waved an arm in invitation to the spirit was she walked off, heading for an area close to the castle.

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Green eyes piercing vision led the cunning thief through the darkness to find a long table, stretching down the hall. Upon the table sat an elaborate vase which was black in coloration with white flowers painted on it, no doubt, by a famous artist. A white gloved hand carefully picked up the vase as the girl studied it. 'This is an expensive vase but any millionaire could have this sitting around. I need something that can only be found in X for this heist. I'll only take this if I can't steal anything authentic.' She thought, sitting the object back down on the smooth surface of the table as she took off running once more.

"Now, where's the-" She began to speak to herself but was cut off as the floor gave way beneath her. She screamed as her body fell down into the darkness of uncertainty that was awaiting her. 'A drop off!' The girl thought in dismay as she could feel hr poofy red skirt fluttering around her and hear the rustle of her fabrics and ponytail as it streamed above her like a red river of blood.

"Magic steps in reverse order! Three!" She stuck her hand out. "Two!" A puff of smoke was created at her hand. "One!" A red and black umbrella appeared, as she then held it above her head, the object slowing her drop to a float as the girl safely made it to the ground. After her feet were planted firmly on the ground, it then disappeared once more.

"Great! Where am I now?" The red-head asked aloud, pulling something out from her skirt that looked like a tea bag with a small paper tag on it and throwing it in front of her. "Flash Bomb!" She commanded as it busted into a giant flash of light, illuminating the entire room. Above her, she could faintly see the story she fell from. Her green eyes widened at the finding this out. "Hm, I'm only a floor down," she sighed.

'I wish I had some kind of layout of this place.' The red-head ran back to the stairs and began to go up them, returning to the floor in which she'd fallen from. 'I'm glad escaping places like this is so much easier then actually robbing them.'

Having made it across the pit fall with great ease, she landed on the other side of the hole and looked around. All of the walls on this side of the pit fall were barren. 'It's strange…there aren't even any pictures here…It's so dark that it's hard to see anything. I'm just glad that I have good enough eyes to see well and magic spells on my side.' The girl thought as she continued to run down the narrow halls in hope to find something that she could steal successfully.

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In a puff of white smoke, Jari appeared before a giant throne which was created with red velvet and elaborately trimmed in gold. It looked very old, as if it had existed from a much older time period. It was a tall chair, enough to accommodate someone who was a good eight feet tall. Upon noticing that the chair was occupied, the blue-haired man, who was now wearing his mask on the side of his head, rather than covering half of his face kneeled.

"Lord Arkas, a foreigner has come to X and seems to be in search of you and your castle. Should I prepare a doll?" He looked up to the figure.

A hand of pale olive and dreadfully skinny laid upon one of the golden arm rests. The bone was clearly showing through the skin, and the nails were long and sharp, clearly claw-like. On that hand, the bony figure wore several rings. There was a distinct ring on the middle finger, one that had a large, red gem in it that reflected what little sunlight came through from the outside.

"Your update is most helpful, Jari," a deep, yet young, smooth and mysterious voice reached the young man's ears.

"Is this girl the one you seek?" The younger man asked.

"No, she isn't, but she could still be of use to me. Inform the Seamstress."

"I believe Kimidashi has that covered."

"So…Kimidashi knows, doesn't she?"

"Yes, she's actually seen this girl."

"I still want you to go to the Seamstress Shuukaku. Tell her to be on standby and to create a doll for you," Arkas ordered the slender man from his seat upon the throne. His body didn't move and his form was mostly in the shadows. All that could be seen of him was that one, pale green hand with claws and adorned with jewelry.

But Jari was one of the few who had seen his real features.

One of the few to know who he really was.

"But I usually create my own marionette," Jari preferred to make his own dolls. Each one was different and held many features unlike any other. He feared that the originality would be taken out of them if Shuukaku created one. It wasn't that Shuukaku didn't have excellent skills as a Seamstress, it was simply the fact that if he did a job, he wanted to take on the task himself.

"This marionette will be special," the tone to Arkas' voice was stricken by some odd form of inspiration.

The blue-haired man at his feet simply smiled a false smile. On the inside he was a little upset that he wasn't directly included in this plan, but forced a happy reply, nonetheless. "What exactly are you thinking, Lord Arkas?"

"I want to leave the girl here. I know exactly what I'll do with her."

"As you wish, master, but what shall I do in the meantime?"

"You know every living being in X. I'm sure you'll pull someone's strings. You are a puppet master, after all," the lord's voice held a different tone when talking to Jari, something that seemed mysterious yet kind.

"Yes," the puppet master agreed, a little upset that the lord had told him to take a hike, but he trusted Arkas. He would not interfere in his plans.

"For now, I want you to bring Kimidashi back here. Don't come the normal way. I want you to use your teleportation magic," Arkas ordered. If Jari and Kimidashi came by simply entering the castle, there would be too much of a risk that they would meet up with his uninvited guest, and he wasn't about to ruin his own plans. Teleportation magic was a simple answer to that predicament.

"Yes, my lord. I won't let you down," Jari obeyed.

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"Now which way?" The curious red head looked from side to side. There were two paths in front of her, and her mind raced for answers as to which one to take. Right or left? Which one led to her true goal and which to her downfall?

'I've got to go on feelings about this one. And this path,' she thought, looking to the right into the dark abyss of the path. 'Gives me good feelings.' Deciding on that thought alone, the cautious thief ran down the path, disappearing into the darkness ahead.

This image of a girl, running down the path of uncertainty was hazy and seemed as if it was a projection on the wall of an unknown master, who was watching her every move as she raced against time and the odds. Odds that someone else controlled and odds that were clearly against her by multitudes. As the keen eyes of Arkas watched her form on the wall, he spoke to seemingly no one but himself.

"It would be unfair on my behalf to let her think that she can get here flawlessly. She is a thief after all and every thief needs to have a proper challenge set before them," he said. 'I'll just wait until Jari returns and I'll have him pull a few strings for me.' The lord thought, giving one final glance at the girl.

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"So, that's the situation?" A tall, big busted woman with long, straight black hair spoke in a deep, yet calming voice.

She was very beautiful and looked like a China Doll. Her form was tall and curvy and her skin pale, nearly white with slanted red eyes and long, thick lashes. Her lips were painted in a blood red and her cheeks rosy. She wore eye shadow, the color of ashes and her long hair was pulled back with chopsticks. She also wore two kimonos that hugged her form and were crossed low in the front, showing a fair amount of cleavage and a slit up the side, exposing most of her long, white legs. Zori sandals adorned her narrow feet.

"Yes," Kimidashi replied, looking at the Seamstress with dual colored eyes.

"Do you know if she's the one?" Shuukaku asked.

"I'm not sure. I've never approached Lord Arkas about the matter," the girl responded as a puff of smoke appeared a few feet behind her. The winds gentle breeze and the faint scent of wildflowers filled the air as she felt her skin be kissed with petals as the delicate blooms flew past her, causing her sights to be drawn to the source of this magic.

She knew all too well who is was.

Jari, the Puppet Master.

'Jari-sama…' Red eyes narrowed as flowers of pinks and yellow flew past her face.

"Again with you?" Kimidashi asked in monotone, though truth be told, she was a little tired of seeing the blue-haired man for one day. What could he possibly want now?

"Sorry for the dramatic entrance. Lord Arkas wishes to speak with you," the puppet master stepped through the white smoke.

Eyes of silver and black looked to the spirit in her hand. "Well, you'll have to stay here with Seamstress Shuukaku," Kimidashi replied as the small orb of paranormal light made its way to the light-skinned china doll, landing safely in her hand.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure that she's well taken care of," Shuukaku told the dark-haired girl.

"Shuukaku…" Jari began to tell her of his lord's plans.

"Does Lord Arkas want something from me as well?" She noticed that her name had been said, although somewhat hesitantly so.

"To stay on standby. We may need you to create a puppet."

"But why would he need one of my puppets?" Shuukaku arched an eyebrow. Usually the puppetry was Jari's department, so why was this time different?

"I'm not sure."

"What does Lord Arkas want with me?" Kimidashi questioned.

Jari smiled. "No worries, he just wants to talk about our foreigner."

"I see. I'll go with you."

"Thank you very much."

"No problem," Shuukaku's elegant red lips smiled at him. "I know you'll inform me when you need a doll constructed."

“Yes," Jari replied.

"Time is wasting," the black-haired girl turned away from the Seamstress and her spirit friend. "Lord Arkas will be upset."

"Right!" The puppet master began to initiate a magic spell. "Here," He shouted, holding one arm out as winds of white began to blow around the two of them, causing their hair and clothes to flutter in the wind. "We," He continued as the winds increased in speed, turning into a small cyclone. "Go!" He finished the sentence, the cyclone engulfing the two of them as the winds died down, leaving the area with only the original amount of air it had in the first place.

They later appear back in front of Lord Arkas, who is now standing. A figure shrouded in a long black cape that left everything to the imagination. Jari then bowed to the erect man bending slightly and folding an arm over his chest.

"My lord, Kimidashi is here," he spoke formally, his voice calm and happy.

"Is there something you need, master?" Kimidashi took a step forward.

"Tell me about this girl," a long, bony arm reached out, the familiar red gem catching the light coming from the projection as he pointed to the Queen of Diamonds. She was running for a few feet, then fell, her form hitting what appeared to be a slide as she shot down it at high speed through the darkness.

"EEYAHH!" She screamed, tears brimming her eyes from the high winds that caused them to dry out quickly. "What the heck is going on!?!" The red head yelled as she slid down in a long set of spirals, not knowing what uncertainties she was headed for. As she rode down the smooth cut of the slide, she began to wonder about her location and what would become of her. 'I have no idea where I am. It's dark in here and now I'm being purged further into darkness on some demented slide! What's up with this place?'

"Huh?" Green eyes blinked in question upon seeing the end of the slide. As her form came to the end, it hit a small half-loop and went sailing through the air. Upon realizing that she was in mid-air, the girl let out a small shriek of surprise and hit a nearby wall upside down, doing an odd belly-flop on it. The air was nearly beaten from her chest as she was forced to let out a huff of sudden breath. She could feel herself fall a short distance before she landed in something soft with a rough texture. It made a sort of small deflating sound when she hit it.

Laying there for a while, she blinked. The ceiling above her was very high and seemed almost a story up. Sitting up after regaining her breath, the red-headed thief look around a few times, 'I'm in some sort of storage room, but what is being stored here, I wonder.' The Queen of Diamonds picked up one of the coarse black sacks and examined it carefully. 'Do I dare to open this?'

"She hopped away. That's it really," Kimidashi finished her description of her first meeting with the red-haired thief.

"And I saw her scaling the side of your castle," Jari added.

"I see," the smooth, deep voice of Lord Arkas was heard afterwards, "Kimidashi, Jari."

"Yes, Lord Arks?" Both of them questioned simultaneously.

"I want you to help me with something."

"What would that be?" Jari hoped to be somehow included in his main plan.

"I need you to create some hulls," Arkas commanded.

"Of course," the blue-haired man held his hands up above his head with his fingers slightly curled as long, thin red strings flowed from his fingertips, extending down into the ground. They shimmered against the dull lighting of the building. "Strings of Fate, allow me to alter your movements so that I may be able to use them with good intentions. Forgive what I do, for I am not trying to play God," he chanted, as two black 'x' shaped pieces of wood appeared in his hands, simulating those used to control a marionette. "Spring fourth life!" He commanded as human hulls seemed to burst through the ground, each shattering it, and causing small pebbles to be dispersed on the ground. The hulls looked like dead humans, nearly like dolls with strings attached to their heads, legs and arms. The red strings of fate bound Jari to the corpses, and through his able hands, he could animate them to his will.

"It's time to start Act one," the young man said in a playful voice. The aspect of using his dolls for something fun excited him.

But his fun was short-lived as the long, sickly arm reached out and cut the red strings from the hulls. Without fate or their master to guide their movements, the hulls were useless and fell to the ground one by one. Jari's eyes widened at this. His dolls have never been cut free from their tyranny before. Why? Of all people to do something to him, why was it Lord Arkas?

The one man he-

"But if their strings are cut away, they detach from fate's grasp and then die," the slender man tried to tell the lord, but he ignored the puppet master's words as a large brown eye slowly made its way to Kimidashi, who stood a distance away.

"Call fourth the souls of the unrested and have them temporarily plant themselves in these hulls," Arkas commanded.

"You do realize they may not stay," Kimidashi warned him, in case he got his hopes up for any big plans he may have had.

"We'll deal with that factor when it arises."

"Fine, I cannot argue with your orders," the diminutive girl raised both hands directly in front of her head. "Spirits, come fourth!" She then closed her eyes as many small, white orbs began to swirl around her form in large, slow spirals. They seemed to gather at her hands.

After waiting a few moments, the girl then slowly opened her dual colored eyes and began to speak to them. "Would you mind temporarily inhabiting those hulls over there?" Kimidashi pointed to the bodies which adorned the floor in sprawled out in awkward positions. The small balls of light, colors ranging from pure white to pitch black, depending on the amount of negative force in them floated over to the bodies, slowly sinking into each of the empty shells, inhabiting them temporarily. A few moments passed and the bodies continued to stay down. All eyes were upon them, anticipating what would happen.

Slowly, the bodies arose with shaky and uncertain movements as they stood. It seemed as if they were just now being accustomed to having physical bodies again as they took uneasy steps towards the pig-tailed girl. Upon reaching a few feet, they stood close by, awaiting her next order.

"Thank you my friends," the corners of her mouth tugged into a small smile as she spoke charmingly to them.

"Jari," The king spoke to the masked figure in front of him, “send them into the room where the foreigner is currently staying."

"Yes, master," the young man pulled a staff from his pocket and with the end, drew a pentagram. "Go!" He shouted as it began to glow in an unearthly light that was white in coloration. This light shone throughout the room, bathing everything in a heavenly glow. The things most affected were the bodies. The pentagram was directly in front of them, as it beamed brightly. This was short-lived, however as it faded out as did the bodies, being transported into another portion of the castle.

"Could you at least explain what this is about Lord Arkas-huh?" The diminutive girl turned to question, but no one was there. "Jari?"

"It wasn't me," the young man replied with a smile.

"I wonder where he went," she mused aloud.

"Well, knowing him he has something up his sleeve."

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"What is this stuff?" The Queen of Diamonds held up what appeared to be an old worn cape. It was long and black in coloration with a blood-red interior. "It sure is creepy looking," the girl sneezed, causing her form to jolt and a small amount of dust to be stirred, "and, it's been here for a while. What a dust farm!"

The split second after she uttered the sentence, shock and dread shot through the green fields of her irises. Her eyes took on a cold sheen of light as she could feel herself being overcome with anxiety and dismay coursed through her body and caused her blood to run cold. She froze in her current position. 'Why do I feel this cold and ominous feeling…like I'm being watched.' She slowly looked over her shoulder, not truly wanting to know what she would find, but at the same time curious about it.

She was suddenly sorry that she had looked.

The reanimated bodies stood behind her. The girl screamed as they all dove for her, attempting to grab whatever they could. The Queen of Diamonds tried to scramble away as much as she could, clutching the cape tightly to her form. The red head moved her feet as quickly as she could. She wanted nothing more than to get as far away from them as possible. She had been found out by something in the castle and in order to achieve her goal at being a master thief, she would have to not only steal something to prove the existence of X, but she would now have to get rid of the reanimated hulls which looked at her with dead, expressionless eyes.

'This isn't good! I think I'm trapped.' She ran down a narrow hall. The only sounds that could be heard were her breathing, the fluttering of clothing and fast-paced footsteps.

"Nothing up my sleeve!" The girl called out, initiating her magic attack and holding her arm straight out. "But I have many tricks in my hat!" She exclaimed as her hat appeared in a puff of smoke in her hand. The girl then stopped and turned around, holding out her hat straight in front of her by both sides of the brim as several diamond doves (1) flew out. "Like this!" More and more of them came; it was as if she could fit an entire flock inside of her hat.

They flew at the bodies, flogging them and attempting to get away. The bodies attempted to fight them off and cover themselves as the doves flew at them, feathers and bird bodies going everywhere as they were beaten off of the hulls. They struggled to her escaping, but through the large number of birds, they became confused. A few of the bodies caught glimpse of her and began to take off after her.

Upon hearing more than her own feet hitting the hard ground, the young thief looked behind her to see that a few of them were still following her. 'Darn…I've got to out run these guys! I totally didn't count on them being here! I shouldn't have let my guard down!' She thought as one of the bodies lunged for her. It reached up and grabbed her arm harshly. She turned her head, red silken strands whirling around as her green eyes widened with fright. 'Oh no!'

Then, she smiled.

"Maybe I lied when I said nothing was up my sleeve…" She said to the hull, as if it were a living person as she let out a 'ha' noise, and threw the cape over his face, blinding him and disabling it from grabbing her arm. The girl hopped away, saying 'bye bye' in a feminine tone as she winked at the hull. The Queen of Diamonds jumped up to attempt to reach the story above her, but her ankle was grabbed suddenly by a hull.

She gasped, and then thinking quickly, she shoved her hat with the opening facing the hull's face.

"Magic Card Trick- Flying Diamonds!" The thief called out as what looked like playing cards shot from the hat, all with the diamond symbol of them. These were not ordinary playing cards, but concealed weapons that consisted of flat sheets of metal, shaped and painted like cards with razor-sharp edges that sliced through the mortal flesh of the bodies below her, causing them to scream and cry out in pain.

"Those cards-!" Jari's keen eyes made a mental connection as they widened slightly, but not enough to show any overdramatic sense of surprise.

"-Are actually blades," Kimidashi finished his sentence.

"I killed it," the thief panted as the hull that tried to grab her leg hit the ground with a loud thud and burst in a pile of yellow and magenta colored daisies. The soul that had inhabited its magical body floated away towards the ceiling. Green eyes looked to the pile of flowers before her. 'What the hell? It was magic…Then that means that the rest of these guys are magic too,' she looked around to see that the other bodies were slowly making their way towards her. She took a step back as her heel clacked on the floor. 'This will require a much bigger spell.'

"Okay! Time to Get Serious," the spunky one pointed her hat towards the bodies once more and began to blast them with bubbles and her special playing cards. "Magic Barrage!" The hulls began to attempt to shield themselves. The bubbles were easily defeated by their limbs, but the harsh blades of the knife-like cards were not so easily defeated. They sliced, dug and tore into their skin and hair disfiguring them and eventually killing them slowly.

Happy with this easy defeat and even feeling a bit on her high horse, the Queen of Diamonds smiled in victory. "Take that!" She heard the screams of the reanimated hulls as they were impaled with bubbles and cards. "No one will get past the infamous thief, Queen of Diamonds! Now, time for the final act."

The girl took off running around a corner and down the hall, her form disappearing in the darkness. "The actual theft itself," she headed through the uncertainty ahead of her. Rounding another corner, she ran smack into something that was solid. She could feel her body squeeze together, then spring off of this hard, cold object with great force. So much so, that it threw her form to the ground in the seated position with either leg out in front of her.

"Ouch!" She ran her hand through red locks. "What was that?"

The girl quickly got up, standing to her feet as she peered through the darkness struggling to see what she'd ran into.

Nothing was present.

"What's going on?" She was confused beyond all recognition. The girl could have sworn that she'd run into something, but when she looked nothing was there. Not to mention the fact that she couldn't have run into the wall, because the object she did run into was covered in some type of clothing. She did remember that clue. When her form crashed into it, there was the feeling of a stiff cloth upon her forehead and the faint smell of men's cologne flooded her senses.

Behind her, a tall and slim shadow appeared, inching close to the girl who seemed oblivious for a few moments. Her form then went rigid as she felt a cold aura overtake her. Slowly, she looked over her shoulder, hoping, wishing that nothing would be there. But, she had the sickening feeling that something was. As she looked over, her eyes widened in fear and she reacted suddenly, whirling around and gasping in fear as the shadow closed in on her slowly.

She screamed as everything seemed to fade into black.

You reap what you sow

…To be continued…

NOTES:

DIAMOND DOVES: Are a very small breed of dove which comes in dark browns and blues. I own a few of them and they have red-eyes and small need-like beaks. Mine are blue in coloration with white spots and have white underbellies and wings. They are very docile and make a low call, much like that of what they call a Mourning Dove.