I woke up after someone shook me for what might've been the fifth time. My vision was still blurry, but I could make out a few details. There were four or five blobs surrounding me, trying to get my attention or something, because I could definitely hear them saying something to me.
My vision cleared, and I saw my friends along with Vanitas and the other soldier hovering over me. I groaned as I sat up and rubbed my head. "Let me guess," I started.
"I got drugged, tied up with the rest of you, excluding you two-" I pointed my chin to those two. "-and was brought to a strange place. Is there anything I missed or got wrong?"
Jay glanced at the soldier. He was bleeding at the side of his head. "No, not really." He looked back at me. I glanced at the soldier, who took off the mask he was wearing, along with his hood. I stared at the face underneath.
It was a boy about fourteen years, with black hair, along with two eyes that slightly contrasted each other; one white and one grey, with a little yellow in them. His skin was a pale white, and he looked at me with daggered-filled eyes. "You're so stubborn, you know that?"
I stared at him, puzzled. "I'm sorry. Have we met?." He scoffed.
"Like hell. You know of all people who I am. You said so yourself, 'No matter how you look, I will always recognize you by your personality.'" A smile crept onto his face, while I remained confused as ever.
Had I said that? And if I did, when? I thought about it, before giving up. "Nope, don't remember," I said. "Who are you, and why do you think we've met?"
"Maybe this will clear your mind." I watched as his hair changed to a cappuccino brown, the ends dyed a dark teal. His eyes changed from white and grey to an ocean blue, and his skin darkened into a light tan. Our jaws dropped at the sight of the boy.
"K-Karma?" Mune said, still shocked. I suppose we should have seen this was coming, but it seemed that none of us were ready for it.
He turned his head, and grinned wider. "What? Do you think I was actually dead?" He laughed, sending chills down my spine. Suddenly, I didn't want to wish he was alive again. Karma noticed, and laughed a little more.
"When I faked my death, I thought that was it," He said, walking near the edges of the room. "You wouldn't bother me anymore, I wouldn't become a burden to you anymore, yadda, yadda, yadda." He stopped in front of me, and glared. "But I guess it's my fault for not seeing this coming, huh."
I watched as he changed back to his original form. Vanitas leaned on the side, staring at us with quiet eyes. "Who are you exactly?" I managed to say weakly. He grinned as he morphed into my reflection.
"Anyone I want to be." His voice matched mine in a way that no one could tell us apart. He morphed into his original form and gave me one of those stares. He looked at Vanitas and spoke to him in a language I didn't recognize. He looked back at me as Vanitas left the room. "Now, where were we?"
Jay yawned and sat down. "Gee, I don't know. Why don't you tell us?" He seemed ticked off by his voice. Karma-or whoever he was-raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised.
Vanitas popped in again, with two guards behind him. "At least you didn't kill anyone this time, Grai." Gray . . . Huh. Who knew. I thought.
"You say that like it was a big deal." Gray said.
"It was for me." Vanitas said. He pointed at Nico and Mune and then looked at one of the guards.
"Take them to the room." He glanced at Gray. "And make sure he doesn't leave your sight. Yuuto wants to talk to him." He looked at the other guard.
"Take the rest to the same place." He gave me a look before continuing. "Yuuto doesn't want any mistakes, got it? He needs all of them there when it happens."
"When it happens"? What's happening? Before I could have the chance to speak, Vanitas left the room, one of the guards at his heels with Nico, Mune, and Gray. "Are you going to get up, or are you going to stay here and rot?" One of them said, poking me with the end of his spear.
I'm going to grab the nearest thing and stab you with it, then kill Gray and Vanitas and get out of here as soon as possible. I thought. But I couldn't do that, because the only thing near me was a spear, which was held by someone that looked like he was eighteen or something.
I sighed and got up to follow the guard with Jay and Lina. On our way, Jay was fumbling with something in his hands, while Lina was watching the guard with careful eyes. We stopped in front of two giant doors, the others in front of us. I was confused when I didn't see Gray or Vanitas with them.
"Why aren't we going inside?" Jay whispered beside me. I shrugged.
"I don't know." As if on cue, the doors opened, revealing multiple teenagers, all huddled and staring at the stage. There, sat on his knees, was Michael, held down by Vanitas, as Yuuto-I think that was his name-spoke.
"Welcome, new ones. As you know, I am Yuuto, the leader of these people. Today, we have brought you all here to show you what happens when one of you tries to escape."
From the corner of my eye, I saw Gray standing in front of the door on the other side of the room, looking around the room while keeping an eye on us. I pretended to not know but his presence bothered me too much. I was so busy trying to ignore him that I didn't realize the dead body without a head on the stage, Vanitas holding a blade with the end covered in blood, and Yuuto smiling.
"Oni!" Mune whispered yelled at me. I whipped my head to him, confused. "I've been calling you for hours!" He was? Why didn't I hear him then? Was I going deaf?
Lina stared at the stage, fear plastered all over her face. "He killed him . . . He really killed him . . ." She looked like she was going to vomit.
"Killed him? Who killed who?" I asked. Mune looked at me like I hit my head.
"Are you sure you're okay? Because I don't think you are."
"Of course I'm okay. Why would you think that?"
"Because Vanitas killed Michael not a few minutes ago, and you're saying that you don't know what happened. Now, are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." I lied. I wasn't fine. I wasn't sure if I was going mad or I was in a dream, because it sure felt like one. It's just a dream, I thought. I'm going to wake up to the sound of my mom telling me I was going to be late for school, my adopted brother Karma would still kind of hate me and get into fights, and everything would be normal.
Except it wouldn't. Karma was dead and replaced by someone named Gray-that might not even be his name, but who cares-, Michael was dead by Vanitas, and my friends and I were stuck in who knows where while our parents searched for us.
They might not be searching for us, I thought. For all we know, these people could have told them that we were already dead… I shook the thought away. Someone tugged on my arm. I turned to see Nico with a grim face staring back at me. I looked behind him to see Gray leading the others to the door.
"Are you sure we should follow him?" I asked. "He could kill us too."
Nico shrugged. "Yeah, that's true." He replied. "But if that were so, he would've killed us already." He wasn't wrong, but I didn't care. I stood there and watched as my friends walked away with him.
I took a long breath before following them outside. "Hey! Wait up!" They turned around. Jay and Lina beamed. Mune seemed surprised yet calm. Nico gave me a small smile. Only Gray stared at me with no emotion.
In no time, I caught up with the rest of them. "Like I said, stubborn." Gray said as he watched me catch my breath.
"Screw you." I replied through pants. He shrugged.
"I wasn't asking for a compliment," he started walking again. "Come on. I'm not going to do this for a second time." We all entered another room, one that reeked with the smell of iron.
"Blood…." Jay said, his nose wrinkling.
"Yeah, this is where we practice our fighting skills." Gray told us, unruffled by the smell. "People don't always clean up, but don't worry. No one's died here." He handed us each a mask. "You're going to need these. The further we go in, the more horrid the smell."
Lina winced. We all put them on, and all I could think about was how ridiculous we looked. The twins looked like voodoo dolls, Jay looked like he was a part of the sunny colt, Nico looked like he was going to set off a deadly gas attack, and I myself looked like a psychopathic surgeon.
"Have these masks been used recently?" Lina asked, looking at her brother. Gray shrugged, clueless.
"I don't know. It's the first time I've been here too." Through his mask, Jay raised an eyebrow.
"If it's your first time here, how do you know which room is which? I might not be Einstein over here"- He pointed his chin to Mune beside him -"but I'm pretty sure someone like you couldn't know this place just by walking in here."
He gave him a daggered look. "Last I checked, there were such things as maps. And a tour guide named Vanitas." As if on cue, Vanitas popped in.
"What about me now?" He asked. Speak of the devil, I thought. He walked past me and straight to Gray. "Yuuto wants to see you. I'll handle them for now."
Nico raised an eyebrow. "And who gave you the authority to make such choices?" He growled. "I ain't going to listen to someone who's younger than me by a few months." Vanitas and Gray stared at each other for a few moments before bursting into a laughing fit, leaving us all in confusion. "What's so funny?" Nico ordered. We all took a few steps back-Jay at least fifty-, knowing the outcome of this.
"If only you knew…." Gray replied before falling into another laughing fit.
"Shall we all hide now?" Mune questioned. We all nodded, and separated throughout the room. Nico snapped, and charged them. Gray noticed and gave him a judo flip as soon as he struck a punch. If I didn't know either of them as well as I already do, they'll be at it 'til nightfall. I thought.
Vanitas held Nico back before war broke out between them, proving my hypothesis wrong. "Alright, knock it off you two!" He hollered. "Neither of you are going anywhere 'til you both cool down, understand?" The two of them continued to glare at each other.
Nico took a deep breath. "Okay. Could you let go of me now? I've cooled down." Vanitas eyed him suspiciously, then let go of him. Bad idea, I thought as I continued to hide. As soon as he let go, Nico ran towards Gray.
Something flicked in Gray's hands. I wasn't sure what it was until I saw an orange flame the size of a strawberry grow bigger by the second. "Nico!" I yelled. Too late though; Nico was thrown across the room, towards Jay.
There was a heavy silence for a long time. Vanitas took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Grai, how many times have I told you to control that temper of yours?" He asked Gray. He continued to glower at Nico. Vanitas sighed. "You can go now. Yuuto isn't a man with much patience, you know."
He left, but his presence seemed to remain in the room. After a few minutes-it felt like a few hours-Vanitas continued the tour.