Sakura

Chapter 6

Nami woke to a sharp, throbbing pain somewhere on her head. Scrunching her face up she attempted to open her eyes and found she hadn't left the theater and was instead now on the stage nearby the grand piano. Shifting, the siren made an attempt to stand and found herself unable, realizing she was not only bound but her human form had gone.

 Looking down at her lower half she was met with the familiar mermaid tail and scales she had known all her life.

 "Beautiful," a voice came from somewhere in the darkness. "Remarkable."

 The words left a shiver to trail along Nami's skin as she attempted to loosen the thick, rough bindings keeping her arms pinned painfully behind her.

 How was she still alive?

 "What do you want?" Nami called out, her voice a dry croak.

 A silent step came from within the audience and Nami squeezed her eyes, trying to focus past her swimming head.

 "Shh," the voice hushed, seeming to almost come from everywhere. The sound wrapped softly around Nami in an unexpectedly soothing way which only made the siren even more panicked.

 "Just tell me what you want!" Nami cried out. How long had she been here? Black spots began to dot her vision. No, not now, she thought, her eyes beginning to dart around for an escape.

 "You will be my masterpiece," the statement held a finality that shook Nami to her core. What sort of masterpiece? What was he talking about? She never saw the demon leave anyone alive. How was she still breathing? It must not be for long anyways. With a shaky breath darkness took over her thoughts once again.

 A firm shake brought Nami to consciousness again.

 "No, no, not yet," the voice spoke, a trace of annoyance lining the words.

 Nami's blue eyes rolled around until focusing on the frame holding her, crouched above her.

 "What-" Nami began and the figure above her brought a long, thin finger to rest over their own frozen, pale lips. It was a mask. The Golden Demon.

 Everything in Nami went rigid and magic surged within her.

 "Tsk, tsk," the voice admonished quietly, wagging the same finger at their lips and Nami felt her magic quickly repressed. "Behave or I will let you sleep and die."

 The words were spoken so quickly and with such a familiar indifference that Nami could only blink. It was almost as though she were speaking to one of her own people. She had grown so accustomed to human emotion out of forced habit that now... Now she found herself wanting to talk more just to feel a bit of familiarity, a bit more of home.

 For a brief moment Nami forgot why she was even here. How silly all this was- then the light shone on the gun at the hip of the Demon and the twisted bodies of his victims on display came to mind.

 This was true evil. And its seduction promised ease and relief, but in actuality there would be none.

 "Demon," Nami spat and the figure sat back on its heels, cocking their head to the side.

 A joyous laugh suddenly rang out.

 "I am no demon," the stranger spoke quite matter-of-factly, yet the laugh was still apparent as a single, amber eye looked at her from within the mask. "Perhaps you are. After all, you do change shape as they do," the voice continued, a light hand trailing along the midsection of Nami's tail for only the barest of seconds. 

 As if remembering something the stranger's eye closed and reopened. "Excuse me," he said and sounded apologetic. "Your scales are," he continued and Nami waited for the insult, the cloaked disgust, the apparent ignorant fear and misunderstanding nearly everyone had for Marai folk, "... magnificent."

 Nami swallowed, blinking in surprise.

 "You seem surprised," the stranger remarked, his humor again apparent.

 Swallowing, Nami tried to shake the sense of ease that rolled off the Golden Demon in waves. It was disorienting. This creature destroyed everything Nami had ever seen, and it was her Star Guardian duty to destroy him. Lux had shown her all the pictures, the destruction, the vast lists of names of his victims. And there had been those that Nami had witnessed die at his hands as well.

 "You don't speak much, do you?" The stranger stood and began to walk along the stage, his hand idly touching the gun at his hip. Tap, tap, tap, tap. Their finger rhythmically drummed along the barrel in unconscious sets of four. Nami's features began to grow angry. Was this some game to him? Did he taunt his victims before killing them?

 "I will destroy you," Nami said, her voice was low but it was filled with a vengeance that caused the stranger to pause. "I will never stop," she said with finality that made him spin around.

 "Oh, my dear!" The stranger exclaimed, a laugh booming through the theater that sounded nearly as identically mad as Jinx's. "I know! You've been tracking me for some time." As if a switch had been flicked, the Demon's voice became icy, to a point of sharpness that Nami winced as he stepped lightly toward her. He made next to no noise in his movements and Nami realized very quickly that he was beyond a mere demon. She was staring into darkness itself as he leveled himself to her face. "This game," he said, pushing a lock of her bangs away, "must come to an end."

 With a smooth motion, his hand reached up and Nami watched in horror as he removed the white mask. Unable to look away, Nami took in his eyes that were a mismatched view of sapphire and amber. Then with a blink they both became a raging crimson.

 "You see," said the stranger, his voice on the edge of madness. "They want you to join us-," before he could continue a boom came from somewhere else in the building.

 Nami's head jerked, along with the Demon's who was already fixing his mask again to his face.

 "Another time, Sakura," the Demon said, tossing a flower beside Nami. Blooming out, a gorgeous, pale white lotus flower budded immediately and sprang forth.

 "Wait!" Nami yelled and a spray of thick gas released and Nami felt her vision swim. "No-," she sputtered and felt her head grow heavy. "Wait..."