When someone asked me to go with them, I usually wouldn't, but this girl was a whole different story. I live a few minutes away from my new school, so I take longer to get ready and sleep a few extra minutes. I'm blessed, I know. On my way there I get asked the same question as always.
"Are you Keiichi Norigani?" A blonde short girl asked.
"Nope."
"Do you know where he is?"
She looks like she was in my grade.
I pointed at the school's baseball field. I think they were at a baseball training camp, I wonder if he's still there. The girl smiled brightly nodded towards my way and then ran off. My brother was such a player-- no pun intended-- I'm glad he's fitting right in, I rolled my eyes. Suddenly another girl came up to me, she had dark blue hair that went to teal to her white ombre tips. It suited her cute, short, figure, she was wearing a Japanese school uniform, and a small backpack, it was also in Japanese style. Her violet eyes resembled a butterfly and had no Asian resemblance, maybe she liked Japan, otherwise, why would someone be wearing all this in a different country? I had to look down a little to talk to her, it started to hurt my neck as I waited for her to speak,
"Are you Tousuki Norigani?"
She looked young, are the younger ones falling for my brother already?
"Nope, he's-- wait... Tousuki?"
She gave me a look that had the expressions "that's what I said didn't I?" and "If you don't answer this question..." I nodded, she walked closer to me, I stepped back, eventually, I hit a wall in the alley near the school, it was my short cut, the fastest way Keiichi and I got home.
Don't tell me she's going to do that cliché hand-against-the-wall thing
Her face closed up to mine.
I thought the guy was supposed to do this
She then looked like she was struggling, right as she opened her mouth to say something she got smaller. I looked at her confused, then I remembered, she was short, we got interrupted.
"Tousuki is that you?"
Both heads turned to look at the voice, it was Keiichi, mom's Japanese traits showed more in him than me. He looked a little like a samurai with the stick he was holding in one hand, and the robes he was wearing. The girl in front of me glared at my twin, did she have a problem with us. I turned back to look at the girl in front of me and took her hand off the wall.
"Look, little lady, if you--"
"I'm the same age as you!" She yelled offended.
"I'm sorry, I think we should sit down and talk somewhere. In private if the matter is important," I said, sending signals to Keiichi.
Slowly he came behind her, she shouted in my face for "calling me short."
"I'm not that short anyway!" She called out.
My lips curled, definitely smirking at her remark, which she, in return, gave me a long deathly scowl. Crossing her arms, she made a small "hmph" and looked away. I looked at Keiichi and gave a small nod, he started to run towards her, right as Keiichi was going to grab her, a sudden loud collision was heard in the distance. I looked up at the sky in uncertainty. Keiichi pinned the small girl against the wall with a small thud, before too looking at the sky, then at me. The girl looked infuriated, passed the point of no return, another loud explosion was heard.
The girl looked at me and glared, I glanced at Keiichi and he let her go. She then proceeded to hit Keiichi where the sun doesn't shine and punch me in the chest. My air got knocked out while Keiichi's was sharply inhaled in. Peering at the girl I noticed something, she looked horrified.
"Tousuki, in what direction did that sound come from?" she asked.
It took me a small moment to regain my breath, as my poor brother couldn't regain his pride. I couldn't help but groan in sympathy for him.
"Well, it...it came in the direction of the mental hospital but…"
"Run!" The girl said.
She got a headstart as she ran, I helped my brother up and considered the idea of leaving the girl, but that wouldn't be gentlemanly would it? I sighed before running in the same direction as the girl, it took a while, but Keiichi trailed behind us.
What were we running for? What was the point in all of this?
The girl looked horrified as we ran over the hill and right up to the black barbed fence, red lights shone upon the white walls, the loud blaring and smoke indicated something was wrong, but she began to climb. I recoiled as I watched the smoke float into the sky like bubbles, my breathing got a little heavy again as I began to panic. Keiichi's faint voice made me dizzy, it got hard to keep my head up, did the girl punch me in the chest again? Without me noticing?
"Tousuki!"
Keiichi's light pat on my back brought me back to my senses. I took a few long deep breaths, I was suffocating on visions. My brother, then patted me again, his worried face made me mad, I was being weak again. I shook his hand off my shoulder and looked at the girl staring at me from the other side of the fence. Her stare said "Hurry up!" --Was she expecting me to jump over as well?-- I just stared back, "No." She glared at me, but this glare seemed weak, something was wrong.
"Fine," I said with a little annoyance.
I had to suck it up, breathing in and out, I walked back to gain some acceleration as I pushed myself forward, jumped on the fence, climbed a little and jumped over. Landing on a half spiderman pose on the soft green grass, Keiichi laughed as he pointed at me.
"You get over here too," I glared.
"No, just you Tousuki." She said.
We entered the burning facility, with some gas masks on, and an extinguisher. Looking around, I started to gasp, the fire was spreading from every corner in this hospital. I could feel myself begin to panic once again, suddenly something caught my attention. The girl brought out a strange looking dagger, there was a word as the blade, and colorful stones as the hilt, the blade was colored with a galaxy. She raised the weapon with both hands over her head, before stabbing the air, it should've kept going, but the dagger stopped midway down. The scar of reality opened once again, on the other side of this rip was the same mental hospital with the same white halls, and the same smoke on the ceiling; the only difference was, honestly I didn't know.
It didn't feel any different when I went through that rip, or as this girl in front of me called it, a portal. A big gap laid between these two portals facing each other, I felt curious as to what these "portals" were and why there was a gap. As if she read my mind, she told me that this is a portal to another dimension, and to not look in between these portals of mist, when I asked why her response...startled me.
"You'll go insane." she said, "you'll have to stay in this hospital just like them."
The chill that went down my spine as we stepped through couldn't be described well by me. Was I now in another dimension, wait a minute, is the theory of multiverse true? Does this confirm the theory? I didn't look through the portals when we stepped through but, I'm already feeling a bit… deranged.
We walked through the now brown-black halls, while I was wondering where we were going or where we even were, the girl in front of me kept tugging my arm as we walked. I took deep breaths as I looked from side to side, each door had a window which let a person look inside. Every so often I would peek through these windows and would see screaming people, some with fire in their rooms, or on them, others were just… screaming. This sight seemed a little too familiar for comfort, it kept getting hotter as we walked further in, but I dealt with it. Why weren't there any firefighters here, or any magicians around?
We reached a black door with no window, the girl gave it a knock. She twisted the knob and of course, it was locked. She peeped behind her, obviously looking at me, she then looked at the door once again. I raised my eyebrow as she did the same gesture once more. I crossed my arms, she peeked behind her shoulder again, seeing that I wasn't comprehending she sighed.
"It's pretty obvious that I don't have enough strength to kick the door down," she sighed and looked at me expectantly.
What does she…? Oh. Let's tease her a little
"Hmm… I wonder why that is…" I said, mockingly confused, then looking down at her with a small grin.
Her eyes widened as she looked at me with a face full of disgust.
"That's sexist!" she yelled.
What?
"That's not what I meant! I was talking about your height--"
She started to laugh, the tense atmosphere escaped through the air vents in this hospital, it was nice to see her smile. Suddenly her laughter ceased, her face glowered once again, her aura changed one more time.
"I dare you to finish that sentence," she growled.
I just put my hands up, and sealed my lips, slowly I prepared myself for more screaming from her. Instead she looked troubled, she played with her fingers as she looked at the door. I stared at the black tattered door, looking at the doorknob once again, I noticed a dent.
After all the pushing, the door finally gave in and we barged into a large black room. With the glimmer of light shining from the doorway, I saw this room was full of clocks from every age. What caught my attention was the dark figure on the floor, and the one sitting on a chair.
"Get him," the girl said, pointing at the figure on the floor.
I walked forward, and the clocks in the room "ticked", "paused," and "tocked" with my every step. I picked the figure on the floor up, when the light of the door shone on him I realized it was a boy. The girl was out of the room when I placed the guy's arms over my shoulders. She looked at me expectantly, I walked her way when I remembered, there was another guy back there.
Are we going to leave him?
The fire started spreading from the doorway into the room. Looking back, the figure seemed unconscious just like the one I was carrying. I glimpsed at the girl and she was a distance away from the room with her dagger ready. She then glanced my way, and once she saw me looking back at the figure, she shook her head. The guy on my back started to cough and I realized that the smoke and fire were closer, they had almost fully covered the room and hospital.
"We are not leaving someone behind in this fiery room," I said with furrowed eyebrows and a frown.
"You say that now, but ignored all the burning people in those locked rooms when we walked by," She said, giving me a dirty look.
I stood quiet and the girl stared at my grimace face, I fell into a trance of memory before jutting my face a little, I took a deep breath and cleared my mind focusing my mind on one thing, not letting that day repeat itself.
"...And that," I swallowed a bit of saliva to wet my desert-like mouth, " was my mistake, which I will not repeat with this person," I said as I walked her way.
I put the guy on the floor leaning against the girl's leg. I looked at the dagger in her hand in cursive. The word was harder to read, but I managed to make out the first word before she had hidden behind her.
Ciel? The beginning of the blade is Ciel? A name…?
I had no time to waste with pondering thoughts, looking at the guy I could see he wasn't heavily injured. Nor was he in hospital robes, was he a visitor? Looking at the girl once more I had realized, if I needed to call out to her what would I say? I didn't know her name.
"Hey," I said.
Well that worked, but it will only work once for sure
After successfully grabbing her attention, she looked a bit startled to see my face. Suddenly she began to cough, and I knew I was running out of time. The oxygen in this hospital was lowering with each passing second, and it started getting hotter than before and the unconscious guy's chest started to fall and rise faster.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Is it time for that right--"
"Okay fine, don't tell me, but when I yell out open the portal, take this guy with you and leave the hospital," I paused, "you told me the portal lasts about two minutes open right?"
She nodded, in response, before once again taking out the dagger.
"Okay. Whatever you do, don't look back," I said dramatically, her stunned face made me smile, "I'm going."
I ripped a bit of my t-shirt and put it over my mouth and nose to stop me from inhaling the burning smoke, hoping my clothes work as some sort of filter.
Alright in three, two….
"Alethea. My name is Alethea," she said.
I looked back with a grin, I launched myself forward, upon entering the room I yelled out.
"Alethea, now!"
Smoke filled my eyes as I stood in that room, quickly stuffing the cloth into my back pocket, I fell to the floor and crawled towards the center of the room where I had seen the figure before. The flames in the room made it clear to see the chains around the figure's feet, neck and wrists. I quickly took a pin out of my pocket, it's never a bad idea to carry a pin with you. Unlocking the chains around the neck I quickly discovered that the person in the chair was a girl. I fumbled with the pin a few times before eventually dropping it.
Curse my clumsiness!
I felt around the hot floor for the pin, sweat dropped onto the ground, as nervousness paralyzed my hands, a small groan from the girl brought me back. I quickly unchained her, and took the cloth from my pocket, carrying her princess style. I put the cloth over her mouth and nose.
How long was I in that room? Were my two minutes over?
The girl groaned once again, she was waking up. I ran out of the room as fast as I could, the portal was still open. Her eyes opened, soon her gaping eyes were filled with panic, when she saw me, she seemed to calm down a little.
"Please press the cloth against your mouth," I panted,
I ran to the portal as I counted down from thirty, assuming that's the time I had left. Ready to jump through I remembered what Alethea had told me.
"Close your eyes," I said standing in front of the portal,
She looked at the misty gate, before looking at me with the same gaping eyes. I couldn't get used to the portal. She looked at the portal several times before looking at me with worry.
"Please trust me," I said with a small smile.
Hopefully, my charm would work
The girl nodded before shutting her eyes tightly.
It worked
I jumped through and charged towards the end of the hall, turning right I reached the glass doors we had entered through earlier. Pushing those open, I could already feel myself landing on the soft grass, I made it a little further before the girl was taken out of my grasp and I was pushed into an ambulance. A lady came over and took my pulse, checked me out, put a breathing mask on, and stuck an IV in my arm. She put a blanket over my shoulders before patting my back.
"Nice job out there kid."