Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Tragic Play: X ❯ Act VI: Waking Up ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: MellyN

XxXxXxXx

Tragic Play: X

By: Melissa Norvell

Act VI: Waking Up

XxXxXxXx

"Ugh..." Kimidashi stirred awake.

"Kimidashi, are you alright?" Shuukaku looked concerned for the girl. The black-haired child informed her that her condition was fine and sat up slowly before she arose.

"Why did it fail? I thought it was an unrested soul?" Ichirio informed. Surely it should have worked, if that was the case. One would think that the soul couldn't wait to be returned to its body so that it could carry out its duties on a mortal plain that were left unfinished.

"It was," Kerebros stated. "This girl was murdered."

"Yes," Kimidashi agreed. "She told me that she had a great pain. She wanted to be free of what kept her stuck on this mortal plain."

"Well, in cases like this, it's very likely that the soul does not have enough power to get back into their body. There seems to be some energy that is missing and as a result, this soul will not return to their physical body. Even Jari wouldn't be able to bring this one back." Shuukaku explained. This was far from good.

"Then what do we do?" Her assistant asked.

"We'll have to bind the soul to its corpse."

"What if we don't?"

"This woman will never know what it truly means to live again," the Seamstress answered her understudies' constant inquiries.

"What do we have to do to put her back in her body?" Ichiro asked as the soul then flew towards Kimidashi. It was almost as if it sought to comfort her for what had happened.

"It's alright. Don't worry about me," the long-haired girl chided the soul's silent worries.

"Someone will have to sacrifice a small portion of their soul to combine with this girl's but do remember that this can be dangerous. When you do this, the other soul will want to rejoin with yours and you will feel an attachment deeper than anything you've ever experienced before. Those who do not handle this spell properly can go permanently insane. The result is often suicide. You will also feel like a part of you is missing without the other around. You will also feel empty at times because a part of you is missing," the woman advised.

Kerebros smirked to himself from across the room. While others would take caution to those words, he found them intriguing. 'A bond like that...so permanent...with someone who'd have a deep and ever-lasting bond with you in return. A life time mate...I could live with that. I can take the chance.'

The spiky-haired man opened his fanged mouth to volunteer his service but before the words could even escape, Ichiro spoke up and volunteered himself to do the job. Kerebros' golden eyes widened in shock. He didn't even get a single word in before some brat seized his golden opportunity.

"Are you sure that you want to go through with this?" He heard Shuukaku's smooth, feminine voice question.

"I'm positive," Kerebros had hoped that he'd change his mind, but the brat seemed more than confident about undergoing this procedure.

The demonic man bore his fangs in detest as a wave of rage coursed through his body. 'You little bastard.'

"But you don't even know her," Watashi spoke up. She didn't see how anyone could just randomly be that close to a complete and total stranger and a dead one at that.

"I'll be fine," the young boy smiled back at her. "If it helps her then it will be worth it, right?"

"Yay!" The dog-demon jumped up in the air and celebrated. "Then our efforts will not be in vain!"

As soon as her celebration began, Kerebros' anger had done more than reached the boiling point. He stuck out his fist and brought it back into the wall behind him, creating a loud 'bam' and a long crack that nearly split the wall in half. The sound was loud enough to get everyone's attention. They all turned in unison as they gazed at his irate figure.

"I'm sick of this!" The spiky-haired man outraged.

"What's wrong Kerebros?" The Seamstress questioned in concern. She knew that the dog-demon had a temper but usually it was always about something that he truly had problems coming to terms with.

"I will no longer be a part of this, good-bye," he couldn't take it anymore and he most definitely wouldn't watch his opportunity for companionship go to some snot-nosed greenhorn. Kerebros was royally pissed and as far as he was concerned, no one had better get in his way or he would flat out kill him.

"What's his problem?" Ichiro was confused by the whole ordeal. Had he done something wrong?

"I think it was you," Watashi placed her hands on her hips and frowned deeply in disapproval at the boy. She didn't know why her brother was so angry but she did know that the whole time he was mad; he was looking straight at Ichiro.

"What? Does he not want the soul to accept her body?" The blonde boy was a little offended that Kerebros seemed so against the idea of reviving the girl so that she could go through with her duties and become a rested spirit again.

"Nevermind," Shuukaku didn't want any fighting. Unnecessary stress was not needed on subjects like these. "Let's commence. Ichiro, lay down beside of the corpse. Watashi, lay the corpse close to him."

"Mmm..." The brown-haired girl puffed up her cheeks in defiance. She didn't want to help anyone who upset her brother.

"Stop imitating a puffer and hop to it," the woman demanded and Watashi sighed and did as she was told.

'I don't get it. Why was he so pissed at me? I thought I was doing a good thing so they wouldn't have to tear their souls off for her.' Ichiro sighed. The whole incident was just befuddling. 'Oh well, I can't worry about it now.' He thought as he gazed at the corpse beside of him. 'It'll be weird having such a beautiful woman sharing a soul with me...' Simply thinking about the subject caused him to blush.

"Are you sure that you want to do this? You will be losing a part of yourself. You'll have no memory of it," Shuukaku wanted to make sure that he knew the dangerous consequences of the spell before she had began it. This was the final step; there would be no backing out. There was no way to reverse it either. Everything from here on out would be permanent.

"I'm willing to make that sacrifice," Ichiro was confident on his answer. Nothing would change his mind. He was going to do this for the sake of the others and the beautiful girl who would soon depend on him like a security blanket. For once in his life, Ichiro was going to feel as if he had a purpose and nothing would take this moment away from him.

It was his time to shine.

XxXxXxXx

Kerebros was infuriated as he stalked down the hall of the castle. Ever since he'd left Shuukaku's house his anger had just escaladed to the point that it nearly blinded him. He had to stifle the urge to kill the little creaton for ruining his one chance at partnership with someone. Ichiro didn't deserve a beautiful woman like her, nor did he deserve to live. He didn't deserve to be Shuukaku's understudy either.

"Ichiro!" The enraged man shouted. "That little neophyte! I'll kill him before he can get the change to get close to that dead girl!" He picked up a large, stray bone that was lying in the floor and crushed it with his bare hand. The powder and shards tumbled from his clawed hand. "I'll crush his bones." The dog-demon promised lowly with malice as he caught sight of The Queen of Diamonds and Jari walking from the opposite direction of the hall.

The thief walked a few steps behind the Puppet Master as she walked in silence. The girl thought about a plan of escape as she followed the blue-haired man closely. 'If I do what he says, then he won't possess me so maybe I can pull a fast one without him knowing a plot my escape.' At that moment in time, she passed a sword hanging on the wall as a decorative piece. Her green eyes looked to it and a smirk crossed her face. 'There's my chance.'

"Who's that?" The red-haired girl found Kerebros very intimidating, especially the way he stalked around with a scowl on his face. 'Talk about creepy looking.'

"Oh, Kerebros, what are you doing prowling around here?" Jari asked casually. Of course the Puppet Master would know such strange and morbid looking people. Only he could greet them with such a casual look on his face, as if nothing mattered and they weren't intimidating in this slightest way.

"Puppet Master, tell me how to stop a soul binding spell," Kerebros commanded more than asked.

"Soul binding spell? Why?" Jari cocked his head as he came to a stop. Why exactly did he want to know something like that? What was going on?

"There's a soul binding spell that I don't want to take place. How do I stop it?" The dog-demon pushed the question.

"I'm afraid there is no true way to stop it. Let's see," the blue-haired man placed a finger to his chin in thought. "You could also bind part of your soul to the person in question but they will not feel an entire attraction to you. You can also separate the two soul fragments by killing the person in question-"

"I can't do that," Kerebros cut him off.

"That's the only way I can think of. Who's performing the soul binding spell?" Jari asked out of curiosity.

"Shuukaku."

"Shuukaku, but isn't she your mistress?"

"It isn't her. It's the third party in question," Kerebros replied unhappily.

"The one getting bound or the one giving a part of their soul up?" The other male really should specify those types of things.

"The latter."

"Who are they?" Jari wondered if they were anyone that he knew. If it was, this could definitely make for an interesting situation. He was always up for a little drama.

"That rat bastard Ichiro. He stole my opportunity for companionship," the other man seethed.

"I know I don't have a say in this and I don't know exactly what you're talking about but isn't it a little wrong to force someone to be attracted to you by joining your soul with theirs?" The Queen of Diamonds had always been one for natural attraction and believed that if someone was attracted to you then it was because they loved you. According to her beliefs, things that were done when intoxicated and under forced influences were not acts of love.

"Jari, tell your puppet to mind her own business," Kerebros shot coldly. He wasn't talking to her and it wasn't any concern of hers.

"I'm not a puppet!" The feisty girl balled her fists by her face and retorted stubbornly.

"She does this often," Jari simply took the situation with grace. "So sorry about her being so rude. Explain to me why you don't want this person to bind their soul to anothers?"

"Let these two souls become one!" Shuukaku commanded as she lifted her hand up. Ichiro's chest jerked up and a piece of white-, ghost-like material popped through his skin and hung into the air. The blonde boy let out the most blood-curdling scream that the human body could produce. He was convinced that not even torture felt this bad. In fact, he would have rather taken the torture. The sheer amount of pain was enough to make him pass out cold.

The piece of a soul was directed over to the dead girl's and the two united and shot into the girl's body. Her corpse jolted, then simply laid there and didn't move. Everything was dead silent for a few minutes.

"It seems as though it worked," Kimidashi replied as the girl slowly sat up. Her form trembled and she glanced around the room.

"What? Who?" She asked faintly. The girl hadn't spoken in a long time and she was starting to get used to it again. She looked at Shuukaku and Kimidashi with a questioning look on her face. She looked a little shy and worried about her new surroundings. The undead woman was a little weary because she was in a place that she didn't know of with people she'd never met while she was alive. Her pink eyes then looked to Ichiro, who had just woken up. "Who are you?" She asked him.

"My name is Ichiro," he replied weakly. The boy was still coping with the new, strange feelings the plagued him and the pain from the spell.

"I don't know why...but I trust you for some reason," the girl continued to stare at him.

"I saved you."

"Saved me?"

"Allow me to explain..." Shuukaku interrupted.

"Who are you?" The girl asked the Seamstress.

"Soon, that will become very clear."

XxXxXx

"Soon...very soon, I'll be able to put my plans into motion and then I'll have you where I want you," Arkas monitored the situation from the dark depths of his castle.

XxXxXx

"Success," Shuukaku was quite pleased with herself for what she had done.

"Yes," the long-haired girl agreed with her. It was indeed a job well-done between the both of them.

"Why?...Why do I feel so attracted to you? I feel like we share the same soul," the long-haired girl continued to stare down the boy who lay beside of her.

"Well, technically, you do," Kimidashi walked over to the two of them. "Let me further explain it to you." The girl explained the process of the soul binding spell and how it worked. She also explained who everyone was and what had happened and the trials and tribulations that would be ahead of them in the future.

XxXxXx

"I see, I suppose that would make one quite mad but why do you feel an attraction to her?" Jari asked. She must have been someone to make Kerebros interested. Not just anyone catches his golden eyes.

"I don't know. I don't even know her," the dog-demon narrowed his eyes and looked to the side.

"Is it the aspect of how you'd benefit from it?"

"It was a potential mate. I refuse to be submissive to some amateur and I refuse to treat him like an alpha male," Kerebros replied stubbornly. No way would he bow before anyone his junior, nonetheless some lowly apprentice boy.

"Well, I guess from that point, I can see why it's offensive,” the Puppet Master often had to remember that he was talking to a canine and not a human. Even though he assumed a human form, he was still a demon and his situations had to be seen from a dog's point of view.

As the two of them were engaged in conversation, the Queen of Diamonds found a prime opportunity to take the sword from the wall and make her attack. She ran at her alleged master with the sword drawn, ready to kill.

Kerebros saw her coming in for the kill. 'Jari...'

'Die, Puppet Master!' Jari simply outstretched a hand and the girl was frozen in her position. It was as if someone had frozen her in suspended animation. Shock spread across her features as she realized that he had caught on to her and managed to detain her once again. 'What's...going on?'

"Ah, such an irritancy," the blue-haired man sighed lightly as the red-head struggled behind him but made no progress. Her body did nothing but tremble under his spell.

'My body...can't move...'

"As perceptive as ever, I see," Kerebros commented. Jari was always on top of things.

Jari smiled, " but of course."

"Damn it..." The girl cursed.

"Killing me won't do you any good. Taking a gamble on whether or not you'll still be possessed is merely a risk. In the end, it's not really I who possess you, it's Lord Arkas," Jari informed.

"Who is Lord Arkas and what does he want with me?" The frustrated thief replied.

"Even I do not know that," Jari put his hand back down to his side and the girl fell to the ground. A little after she made contact, the sword did as well. The clank signified its descent.

"What an insolent whelp. You should train her better, Jari," Kerebros criticized.

"She's only been here but a few days. She'll grow used to it. Besides, she wants to know what X is like," the polite master turned to his slave. "Don't you?"

"Don't mock me," the thief sat on her knees with her legs out to either side and her bangs shading her eyes.

"Like this doll," Jari held up the Queen of Diamonds doll. "You are subordinate to do as your master wills and dance upon the strings of predetermined fate. Do not try and hide it. It's your destiny."

"I don't believe you...There's no way that I can possibly believe that," the girl denied and jerked her head away. She didn't even want to look at him or his sickening play things. She just wanted to be alone. The Queen of Diamonds was already beaten at her own game, held captive and now she was reduced to that status of 'pet' to these two men. Her pride had been hurt enough.

"Does it really matter if you believe me?" Jari's voice was always so polite and soft-spoken, despite his devious nature. "Right now you belong to me, Jing Mei."

"What? What did you say?" How did he know her real name?

"I said Jing Mei. Is that not your name, Queen of Diamonds?"

"Yes, but how did you know that?" She had never told this man her real name. How did he acquire such information?

"Then you are the right one," Jari simply wanted to make sure that he had the right girl in question; otherwise, Lord Arkas' plan would be a complete bust. Things had to be just right for this event to take place and he would not be the one to screw it up.

"Again, what are you talking about? You guys keep talking about me like you specifically targeted me." To be honest, she didn't know why they would want to, what motives they had or even who their master was. What the hell was going on? She would really like to know the answers to these questions. There was nothing worse than being left in the dark about something that you were supposedly the center of.

"That's because we did." Was Jari being honest or just a jackass? The thief wasn't entirely too sure.

"But why? I've never even met any of you or been to this land." That's among the few things that she didn't get about this supposed plan.

"It's too bad that we had to resort to these tactics to get him here but this is a matter of top priority. The Mosquito King decides when we strike," Jari stated.

"Mosquito King?" Jing Mei asked. 'Again with this guy? Who is he?'

At that moment, Jari had received a telepathic message from Lord Arkas that stated that he was needed in the throne room. The Puppet Master uttered the phrase 'yes, master', which caused the girl to inquire on who he was talking to. She looked around the room but she didn't see anyone, nor did she hear them speak.

"Now you'll meet the Mosquito King, since he requires my assistance," the blue-haired man gazed at his puppet. This was it. Jing Mei was going to meet the mysterious enigma of X. A part of her wanted to see him but a part of her wanted nothing more than to just be away from this entire mess.

Whether she was ready or not, she was about to meet the very one who targeted her in the first place.

XxXxXx

A long, bony hand painted symbols on a piece of paper with a feather pen. 'This will be the first step of my plan. Once the letter is sent, then everything will be put into motion.'

The thief walked along behind Jari as they neared the Mosquito King. Many thoughts ran through her head about everything that had gone on from the time that she had been in X until the events that took place now. 'They know my name? Very few people even know my real name...In fact, the only person who knows my name well enough is Chokichi...I wonder if that means that...' Realization crossed her face as it lit up with fear and shock. 'Chokichi is in real trouble! I have to try and save him...but how can I do that if I don't even know where he is. He travels a lot and I haven't been able to keep in touch with him for three months.' Jing Mei's green gaze hit the floor.

"Oh no..."

"Something wrong?" Jari looked over his shoulder. He was about to open the door to the Mosquito King's throne room before her words distracted him.

"Nothing," the girl replied simply. As if she truly wanted to tell him anyway.

Her silence allowed the Puppet Master to go through the door and she followed in his footsteps. It was very dark in there and if the Puppet Master wasn't controlling her legs, then she probably would have fallen over something or not known where to go.

"My King, is there something you want to ask of me?" Jari asked as the two stood before a pitch black room. It almost appeared that Jari was speaking to the darkness itself. He left Jing Mei standing where she was as he kneeled before the abyss and pulled out a pale green hand, which possessed bony fingers and prominent bones with claws and large rings on every finger. The Puppet Master held the hand as if it were a frail treasure and planted a long kiss on the top of it in a romantic fashion.

"Jari, you've always treated me so kindly." A youthful, strong voice came from the darkness. The male voice sounded very flattered by the Puppet Master's actions. From their interaction, it could be judged that they had a close relationship.

"But of course, I love being in your presence," Jari replied sweetly with his utmost respect as he still caressed the hand in his own.

'That must be the Mosquito King, but I can't see anything but his hand from here. It's so dark...' The girl strained her eyes as hard as she could but she just couldn't see him at all.

Soon the hand reached up and caressed the uncovered side of the Puppet Master's face. Jari closed his eyes and leaned into it and a few minutes later, a letter was handed to him. It was rolled up and tied with a purple ribbon. The blue-haired man took it and glanced at the object in question.

"What's this?" He asked.

"I want you to deliver it to a nemesis of mine," the voice directed.

'Nemesis?' Jing Mei wondered, then spoke. "What are you talking about?"

"You should know, Jing Mei," the Puppet Master pulled his face away from the hand and glanced over his shoulder at her.

"Why? Who is it?"

"Sadamichi Chokichi," the very name sent chills up her spine. Now she knew for sure that it was him that they were after. Of course, it all made at least some sense now.

'I knew it.' It was exactly as she had feared. Chokichi really was in trouble.

"It's an age-old battle from fifteen years ago. We just want our revenge," the King explained.

"I will not fail you, my lord," Jari held promise in his voice as he walked out of the room with Jing Mei following suit. As soon as they reached the door, the sickly-looking hand pointed to Jing Mei.

"Not you," the voice finally spoke up.

"What?" What did he want with her? What was he planning? Was he going to do something to her? What would that something be? She actually felt a little safer with Jari than with this guy. At least she knew that Jari was legit but the king was just outright creepy, more so than anyone that she'd met so far. Jing Mei really didn't want to stay with him and hoped that Jari would say that he needed her for something.

"I want you to stay with me," those dreaded words came. "You will not interfere yet. You are to stay here unless instructed otherwise."

"We can't risk you saying anything to him either," Jari agreed and walked out of the door, leaving the girl alone with the Mosquito King.

'Chokichi, please be careful. Who knows what the Puppet Master will do when he finds you. I'll think of a way to save you, count on it.' She had to be strong for him. The thief would put up with her current situation until she could find a way to escape. She knew that there was no chance of doing that while the unknown Mosquito King was there and even now she could feel something watching her, piercing a hole in her soul and daring her to get out of his sights but she wouldn't run.

All she could really do from her position was pray and hope for the best.

~Soon, it will begin, a great Time of Ending~

To Be Continued...