Another chapter up! I hope you enjoy it!
Music played loudly in the background as we joked, laughed, talked, and occasionally sang along. I was in Amelia's dorm for a sleepover, something I hadn't had time for in a while. Much to my dismay, she wanted to have a girl's night. As soon as she saw my reaction she proposed a deal; we each pick something that we like to try and get the other into it. She had picked doing nails and listening to music. She had immediately turned on punk rock music, something that surprised me. I wouldn't have taken her to be punk rock fan, but she proved me wrong.
Later, we were going to watch one of my favorite movies of all time, Silence of the Lambs. I loved it because Hannibal Lector was a genius, and while he could have been very successful, he choose to be a murderer. It was intriguing. It was a fast paced movie, and I loved the action. Amelia had never seen the movie, and I wanted to introduce her to a classic. I had given her basics of the movie, and her face had immediately turned to one of disgust, but I reminded her of our deal.
Amelia was currently painting all of my nails gold, but my ring finger which was going to be painted black. It was nice to just sit and listen to music with a friend, to get away from the stress and worries for a while. The girl across from me put in the lid back on the nail polish and announced that she was done. She inspected her nails which I had done for her.
"Ya know," she said turning her hand back and forth, watching the lamp light glint off the silver nail polish. "For not liking this kind of stuff, you're pretty good," she complemented.
"Just another form of art, I guess," I said with a shrug of my shoulders. "It's always been an outlet," I explained, crossing my legs to sit more comfortably. "It's kinda therapeutic in a way," I told her. She nodded and began cleaning up her nail polishes and other items. "Unless you have art block, that's another story," I said with a smile, causing her to laugh.
"How are you and your boyfriend?" she asked suddenly, a mischievous glint to her eyes and a smirk on her face. I sighed a little and leaned back against her bed. Her smirk immediately fell. "What happened? You didn't break up did you?" she asked, moving to fold her legs under herself. I sat for a moment, looking down at my hands as I tried to figure out a way to tell her without revealing too much.
"We didn't break up," I reassured the girl with ridiculously curly hair. "Our relationship has just been..." I trailed off, looking for the right word, "strained," I finished. She nodded, her eyes telling me to continue. I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. I looked up at the ceiling and tried to find the right words. "I'm dealing with family issues right now, and I'm not supposed to tell anyone. I'm lying to his face, and it's killing me, but I don't know what to say," I explained, throwing myself back to lay on the floor, staring up the stark white ceiling of the dorm room. "If I tell him one thing I'm just going to end up spilling it all," I said, looking over at the girl.
She looked thoughtful for a minute, twirling her already curly hair around her index finger. "Well," she began. "I really think you should at least tell him that something is going on," she advised. "Tell him that you are having family issues, and you're not supposed to share. That will at least let him know why you're acting strange." She stared me straight in the eyes before speaking again. "A tense relationship can lead to no relationship like that," she said, snapping her fingers for emphasis. "Communication really is key," she reminded me.
"You don't know Bon like I do," I said, crossing my legs. "He's going to press and press until he has the full truth," I explained. "He presses all the buttons, hits every weakness." She nodded with a frown.
"He's seems like that kind of guy," she mused aloud. "But if he really loves you and values your relationship with you, he'll wait until you're ready to tell him." I nodded, agreeing with her words. "Come on, (Y/N)," she said, poking me in the shoulder. "Tonight is supposed to be fun. Let's watch that stupid scary movie that you like," she said, getting up from her spot and turning on the TV she had in her room.
"It's not stupid, and it's hardly scary," I said, grabbed the DVD case. I took out the disc and gave it to her. "It's interesting and a little disturbing but not scary," I said.
"That makes me feel so much better," she deadpanned, causing me to laugh loudly. She smiled and shook her head as she put the movie in the DVD player and started it up. "Let's just get this over with," she said with a small smile. I smiled with her and sat down.
Throughout watching our movie, I could tell that with every passing minute, she was getting more and more invested in the story line. She was trying to guess everything that was going on and what would happen next. That was exactly what I had done the first time I watched the movie. Her antics caused me to laugh, feeling light and stress free for once in a long time. It was good to get away and just enjoy my friend's presence. It was nice to just be able to relax and laugh freely with no worry of the coming day.
{Line Break}
"That's it, (Y/N). Easy, now. Don't over do it," Katsuro said, his hands on my shoulders. He was helping to take some of the weight I was experiencing. I was standing in the middle of the training center, Katsuro behind me and Shura in front of me as I tried something I never had thought possible; I was trying to channel some of Kitiara's powers through myself. Kitiara had told me that this was a possibility when I had showed up for training that afternoon. Katsuro immediately disclosed that this could be dangerous and cause me to loose control.
Eventually, if I proved strong enough, I would be able to channel one hundred percent of Kitiara's power. It would allow me to use her powers without summoning her. It could be used as quick defense in extremely dangerous situations of I needed it. I wouldn't even need to be touching the rings or have them with me. I could tell Katsuro and Kitiara were trying to avoid another major injury.
Now that I had formed such I strong bond with the two demons, I didn't need the rings. Over the long months since my great grandmother died, I trained hard every other day, sometimes two days back to back, depending on my schedule. It was hard and grueling work, but I could already see improvement. I could summon them right from ring form, not having to transform them into swords and then to their natural forms. It was quick and efficient but took a toll on me. It was all exhausting work, but I needed to be prepared for the storm coming my way. It could strike at any moment, and I needed to be prepared.
I could suddenly feel my whole body shaking, power thrumming through me. It was overwhelming. "(Y/N), don't push it," Katsuro warned in the growl. "Back off a little," he advised. I tried doing what I was told, but I was so lost in the flow of unimaginable power that I couldn't focus. I couldn't tell up from down, left from right, pulling more energy from letting it go. My entire mind was taken over by the demonic power, and my body just kept grabbing it and taking it in.
"(Y/N), let it go!" someone shouted. I didn't know how. I was panicking. If felt as if my whole body was on fire, my mind being pulled back and forth violently. It felt as if my mind was being ripped apart. I could hear someone screaming, and I could only be left to wonder what it was coming from. It took a few, terror filled, moments until I realized that the ragged, bloodcurdling noise was coming from my own throat. Every part of me burned. It felt like nothing I had ever felt before. It was excruciating and beyond frightening.
Hands suddenly grabbed my shoulder, and my vision cut out, leaving me in a dark void. Those eyes kept making a reappearance, flashing across my vision combined with a grin so wicked it sent a stake of fear straight into my heart. I wanted to scream, to run, but there was nothing I could do. I was stuck with no place to go, no peace from his torture. It still felt as if my body and mind still felt as if I was being pulled apart, covered in kerosene and lit by a match. It was awful.
My eyes were suddenly flying open. My vision was blurry as I looked ahead of me. I was so disoriented that I didn't know if I was looking right, left, up, or down. I could hear a voice, and could feel soft hands touching my shoulders. "(Y/N). (Y/N). (Y/N), can you hear me?" The voice finally came in clear. I groaned, looking around and trying to find who was talking to me. "(Y/N), you need to listen to me." That voice was female and very familiar. I spent a lot of time around it. "I'm going to sit you up, (Y/N)," the voice said soothingly. I nodded and felt someone hands behind my back, pulling me upright.
I didn't know until then that my breathing was ragged, my was chest tight, and my face was covered in tears. A hand rubbed my back, right in between my shoulder blades. "Breath for me, (Y/N)," the voice said. "Take a deep breath, and then let it out slowly," it instructed. No matter how hard I tired, I couldn't bring myself down. I couldn't focus enough to calm myself. The familiar voice said something that wasn't directed at me, and a deeper voice responded. "(Y/N), look at me." I turned toward the voice until my eyes finally focused on the person in front of me. It was Shura, her green eyes wide. "Deep, slow breaths for me," she advised. "You're alright. You're safe. Me and Yukio are here to help you, alright?" I nodded shakily.
Suddenly, something was being pushed into my hands. I squeezed it tight and felt more than heard it crinkle. Shura grabbed my hands and brought the item to my mouth before instructing me to breath deeply. I did and soon found myself coming down from my panic. I pushed the paper bag away from my face and leaned into Shura's side. I felt a hand brush over my hair and heard Shura's soft words in my ears. "Are you alright?" she asked softly. I nodded.
"Yeah, I just wasn't prepared. And it was a lot to take in." I took a deep breath. "And when I passed out there were just...terrible images," I said, looking at the ground. "It was just Ishida over and over again and I just-" I broke off, trying to figure out how to explain my feelings. "I just have a bad feeling," I said, pulling my knees to my chest. "Even after the attack, I didn't feel like this. I'm just...anxious, like I feel something is just going to go wrong," I said, looking up at Shura.
There was a grim look on my teacher's face. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, and her brows were furrowed. "Okay," she said after a minute. "Let's just see how you feel over the next week or so, okay?" she offered. I nodded, but I wasn't completely satisfied.
"Tell Mephisto at least," I pleaded. Both of Shura's eyebrows rose.
"You feel that strongly about this that you want to tell the clown?" I nodded earnestly.
"Shura, I think we should," Yukio said, speaking for the first time since I regained my composer. "(Y/N) is the closest lead we have to Ishida. Everything thing she says matters, even if it's just a feeling. We don't want to pass over any possibilities." Shura nodded, staying silent for a moment.
"Alright, we'll tell Mephisto. But right now I want you to go back to your dorm and rest; we won't be training very hard until I know you're ready," she said, standing up and offering me a hand. I nodded, understanding where she was coming from. "You'll be okay. We'll get it all sorted out, I promise," she said with a startling amount of conviction in her voice.
"Okay. Thanks, Shura," I said sincerely.
"You got it, kid," she said patting my arm. "I'll call you with any information, 'Kay?" I gave her a thumbs up and a weary smile before heading out the door, heading back to my dorm to get some much needed sleep.