The open door seemed inviting at first glance, however, to Ran, it was not.
There was no light emanating from inside and while that is usually the case since it was still very early in the morning, it just looked creepy this time around. And what appeared to be black mist seeped out the open doorway, like the darkness from inside was crawling out.
Then static began buzzing in his ears as the black mist disappeared with a blink of his eyes. He didn't know if that was real or not, but he was not a person to take things lightly; especially when it revolved around the people he loved as his own family.
So, like a completely normal person, he shoved Fluffy into the apartment first to scout things out!
Fluffy entered the familiar environment first and she walked slowly as she was sleepy, but after reaching a certain point in the apartment, her body involuntarily shook as she looked in a certain direction.
She hastily reached Rans room without looking back; she opened his door, closed it and locked it.
She refused to come out….
Ran walked behind her, but seeing her actions unnerved him even more.
He continued walking with as light a footstep as he could muster; he reached the kitchen. There, while the lights were off, a sweet aroma wafted out in droves.
But he quickly decided to ignore it and walked to the living room. Once he was there, contrary to his expectations, he found Ann sitting there, perfectly… fine.
However, she didn't seem to notice him since she was just staring in front of her, even with Ran being right next to her.
Well it wasn't at nothing. Although the room was pitch black, the slight gleam of silver still escaped from her hand. She was staring at the necklace that Ran had gifted her, it was hanging on her hand as she looked at the crystal in the middle.
Ran wanted to let her know that he was here, back and safe, but he didn't know how. He could tap on her shoulder or speak to her, but it didn't feel right. Nothing he thought of felt right, and he didn't know why, so he just stayed silent.
Fortunately, it did not take long for Ann to change her target to gaze at. Ran didn't know when she turned her head to look at him, but it was like she was staring at him the whole time. Like she wasn't looking at him and when he inevitably blinked, she had already set her sights on him.
Even though they were looking at each other, the darkness that flooded the room prevented them from seeing… into one another.
With the both of them looking at each other, the atmosphere was strange. It wasn't awkward like it usually was in these kinds of situations, it was more like it was eerie.
Ran wanted to say something to break the silence, but it was like when he opened his mouth, something from the pitch blackness would come and steal the words right from his mouth.
But fear not, dear readers, as Ann has come to save the day! By… getting on one knee.
This greeting was common considering their relationship as well as Rans previous status. However, in this situation, it just felt disgusting to his eyes.
While he never really liked it when she did this, he would never, and never did, force her to do something. If she wanted to do something, then who was he to judge?
But this… he saw how her fists were tightly clenched and her body was slightly quivering; he immediately did what his body told him to do and he pulled Ann back up.
With the distance between them now closed, the darkness wasn't enough to obstruct their vision from seeing the complex swirl of emotions in Rans eyes.
Well, Rans eyes are always like that regardless of the situation, but the main character of this chapter is a different story altogether.
When Ran looked into her eyes, as you would on any other day, he found nothing.
An empty gaze. A hollow shell.
But that's not all, while she looked at him, her eyes had glazed over, though they were probably like that the entire time. And yet, something was streaming down her face.
Tears.
Tears, that's what was flowing down her face. But in this case, They were more than that - incredibly so for Ran.
It was as if he could see the emotions encased within them… they were emptying themselves out.
Her eyes and her tears were like two distinct entities even though they are usually intricately connected both literally and metaphorically.
One was empty and the other was full. And seeing her cry, he couldn't help but tear up as well.
He… he didn't know how much more he could take. Y'know, he could easily deal with pain, but psychological or mental pressure was a very real and scary thing.
And all his life it had been building up. He, himself, didn't know if he had a limit or if he was a limitless abyss of despair that can never be satisfied, but seeing Ann like this only added onto that.
Worse yet, he had seen this look of hers before.
Especially when they were little. Whenever he left or she left to train, when they reunited, she would carry this look with her and hug him - unable to leave his side for several hours. It got to the point where they had to sleep in the same room, but this alone isn't too strange.
And it got worse after she awakened at the age of twelve. Usually, this kind of achievement is extremely rare and basically impossible in this world, but she had done it. Yet, her behavior with and without him only got starker and starker in contrast with each other.
One was full of personality and the other was what can be considered a brainless and heartless machine; this was something he had witnessed himself when he was a kid.
Then there were times where the two seem to work together… and not in a good way either. She would often resort to self-deprecating or abhorring herself whenever she did or did not have a failure. That would be somewhat normal too if not for the intensity; it was far worse than hate, especially towards oneself. It was like if she had the chance to tear herself apart, she would jump at the opportunity. It got even worse if it was related to Ran in anyway.
Especially Ran. This compared to the lively and strong girl he knew and loved, he didn't know what to think.
The only thing he could come up with was that she had some kind of mental disorder, though he preferred to not think of it like that. Rather, and this was just his personal thought, he guessed that maybe she had some kind of severe version of SAD.
As in Separation Anxiety Disorder.
While it probably wouldn't explain her complete switch of character, it would explain her anxiousness to stay around Ran.
As for how she got it in the first place? He could only guess that it had to do with her origin.
Ann Sharebringer; the adopted daughter of Florence Share-Bringer, better known as Rans uncle or Torians younger brother.
In other words, Rans surname was also supposed to be Sharebringer! But I digress.
Unfortunately, Florence was murdered before this story even started; Ran and more specifically, Ann, was only twelve at the time. Oh, and did I mention she watched the entire murder take place in front of her eyes? I didn't? Well, the more you know….
After that, her focus shifted from trying to impress her family, to show her appreciation of their kindness to adopt her, to focusing on serving Ran… her life.
From her strength, to cleaning and cooking, to even something like companionship. Everything, all of her skills had reached max level as she worked and worked gleefully to the bone for one person.
All in all, she had something to prove and by god is she going to prove it! And who would she prove it to if not him!?
And what was she trying to prove?
Her life! Her usefulness! Her strength! Everything! Everything that made Ann who she was, she was going to prove it to him! To everyone!
But how was she going to prove anyone anything if the person she's trying to prove it to disappears? Thus, she deflates into a shell, unable to realize a simple fact.
The only person she should be trying to prove herself to is herself!
…
These were Rans thoughts.
The static in his ears started to change as his thoughts became a jumbled mess of guilt and childhood memories. Soon, the static faded and the sound of rain became dominant.
It was as if the rain was pouring right next to him, but of course it wasn't actually there. And yet, Ran couldn't help but look up, breaking eye contact with Ann, only to see nothing.
But the sound of rain only got louder and louder as his emotions went into overdrive off of each other. The rain poured harder and harder as Ran began emanating this presence of gloom.
The rain pounded into his ears as his emotions fluctuated more intensely, his soul heart thumped visibly through his chest as the soft light started burning through his chest. It was no longer soft, but a raging tidal wave of various emotions that shone through his very clothing!
It had to be said that Ran was a man who wore his emotions on his sleeve, but this is going above and beyond that.
However, out of the blue, in the midst of Rans self-induced confusion of myriad emotions, the sound of lightning smashing into something reverberated in his skull.
Just as Ran was about to collapse onto the ground, his soul heart shone brightly through his skin, lighting up the whole room that had succumbed to darkness.
Within his fading sight, pink strands flowed out of his pores and flowed into his and Ann's nose, even spreading throughout the room.
The scent of Sakura entered their nostrils and immediately, everything stopped.
The rain stopped pouring; the lightning stopped cracking; the gloom stopped spreading; the emotions stopped rampaging and only calm remained.
Clarity emerged from Rans eyes as he witnessed Ann's glazed eyes return to normalcy.
While calm had returned to both their lives, the slightly awkward atmosphere didn't dissipate.
"Eh? W-what are you doing he-" Ann was going to keep talking, but she noticed that Ran was caressing her body softly.
She quickly came to a realization as she smirked, "heh, you know today's not my safe day right?"
Instantly, the awkwardness shattered into pieces as it screamed for help, its tattered body crushed as Ran laughed and did a victory dance. She was fine! Totally fine.
Well, it was more of a mating dance to the opposite sex, but I'll let it slide.
Ran was elated to bear her voice again and his happiness boomed! He had survived being kidnapped by his nemesis', he met a new friend, as well as Ann returning to normal. It was a win-win for Ran today.
But inwardly, he was still worried; even with his rationalizations of Anns condition, he couldn't help but feel that it wasn't full truth. Something was missing from the equation, Ann's behavior was just too strange to him and he was willing to go to extreme lengths to find out the whole truth.
"Phew, I'm glad to see you're okay while I was out." Ran spoke as he looked at Ann complicatedly, he had already stopped dancing.
"Fool! I should be the one saying that! Seriously though, are you alright?" She asked softly, but she didn't push, if he didn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't cling.
On the contrary, Ran started blabbing his mouth, "pssh, what's a little torture? I'm more afraid of you than I am of them."
Ann nodded, happy with his response; normally, a girl might be offended by those words, however… Ann was raised together with Ran so their sense of humor was not that different.
As she nodded continuously, a sweet aroma wafted from the kitchen.
"Ah! I forgot! OH-MY-GOD, how could I forget?!"
She ran to the kitchen as Ran… ran along with her.
Thus, ending this strangely dark and filler of a chapter.