Mari's return

Fate

Thundering applause filled the auditorium. Mari could feel the sweat from the performance clinging to her body. She sat in awe as every note was perfect, just as she always wanted it to be. Her brother stood next to her, clutching his violin. His breathing was ragged as he was just as tired as she was.

She tried to get up from the bench to bow at the audience. But her legs wouldn’t move the way she wanted them to. It was as if something was pulling her down. She kept struggling to move. Fear began to fill her mind. She screamed for someone to help her. But no one was around. The auditorium was now empty. Mari turned to where Sunny was, but he just stared at her with that cliff-faced expression. His skin now looked pale and his clothes looked dark. In the place of the violin that was once in his hands, was a bloodstained knife. And after looking downwards, Mari found the version of Sunny she was just performing with, but stab wounds now adorned his body.

“He loved you and he killed you,” the boy whispered.

Mari suddenly awoke in a cold sweat as she felt the wind rushing past her. She remembered opening that door in the other world. If everything went alright then she should be somewhere in Faraway. But why was she falling?

‘Oh crap, I’m falling!’

Mari looked down towards her surrounding. It was the neighborhood that she grew up in alright, and as she fell closer she could see her old house. Bracing for impact, Mari fell through the roof of the home and landed at the foot of the stairs.

‘How ironic.’

Mari glanced around the home. It looked nothing like how she remembered. All of their furniture appeared to be missing and replaced with cardboard boxes. Were they moving? She looked up at the hole in the ceiling.

‘Mom’s not going to be happy about that.’

After quickly repairing the damage to the house via magic. Mari began to make her way back up the stairs. She arrived at the door to her room. Opening it, she could see it was much like the rest of the building with everything packaged in boxes. Aside from an old computer and a bed where a scared frail boy stood huddled in the corner. The noise from Mari’s arrival probably scared him.

“Hi Sunny! It’s me, Mari! I know this might be really confusing but, I need you to calm down okay? Deep breathes, little brother.” she said in an effort to comfort him.

The boy did as instructed. He did look calmer, but he still did look afraid.

“Okay Sunny, this is going to be very complicated but-”

Suddenly another large crash could be heard downstairs. It didn’t sound as loud as Mari’s crash, but someone definitely broke into the house. A rush of footsteps could be heard coming into the room. Preparing for the worst, Mari drew one of her swords to confront the intruder.

“Sunny! Are you alright- Oh geez a sword!” cried a tall tan boy as he entered the doorway.

“Kel?” Mari asked. Woah he really did grow, just like he always promised he would. He also looked a lot darker than before. Was Hero not reminding him to apply sunblock? Not only that but glass shards stuck out from his arm. It looked like he jumped right through their window.

“Who are you? How do you know my name? Did you hurt Sunny?” asked Kel in a panicked state.

Sheathing her sword, Mari approached Kel.

“Hey, what are you doing? Why’s your hand glowing?”

Mari brushed her hand near Kel’s wounds as the shards fell out and his skin mended.

“Oh, um thanks, lady.”

“I’m glad I could help. But I think you should sit down, Kel. This is going to be complicated.”

Doing as he was told, Kel sat on the bed next to Sunny, who seemed a bit more relaxed after seeing the tan boy.

“Okay, just don’t freak out okay you two?”

Mari removed her mask off from her face.