Fade to Death

Chapter 12: Aura

Kira wakes up to find himself lying in bed in a dark room. He's covered in bandages. The door suddenly opens.

"Finally, you've awoken. Do you know how long you've been asleep? Three days!"

Marsha stands by the doorway holding a tray with food. Kira tries to stand up but something doesn't let him.

"I chained you to the bed. All you can do is sit up and reach up to the nightstand next to you. Maybe if you behave, I'll loosen them a little more, 'kay?"

Marsha places the tray on the nightstand and places a chair near Kira. She sits down and smiles warmly, awaiting his reply. He stares down at the bowl of hot cereal on his lap.

"Why'd you tie me up?" he asks.

"Well, if I didn't, you'd leave without my consent again."

Kira quickly changes emotions. His once calm and neutral nature turned bitter quickly.

"Since when are you my mother?! And why would you stab me and tie me to a bed?!"

"I can't let you leave without her. She has to go with you. Besides, I didn't stab you, you passed out from shock when I pushed the Amuleto into you."

"And why'd you do that?!?! I thought I was dead! And isn't that what caused the transformation in the first place?!"

"Yes. You've been 'asleep' for three days because I had the liberty of talking to Killer. He was pretty beat up. He told me to be warry of you. You're becoming secluded, Kira. You care for nothing but yourself. You weren't like that, what happened?"

"Life happened. I lost everything twice, all that's left is hate."

"You say you've lost everything? You're wrong. You still have your life- no, your future ahead of you. You have me, the Amuleto, and you have Yuuki, Jonah and Killer. Now, if someone's supposed to be down it's gotta be her. Kiki's parents are gone, she has no other family but me, and she doesn't have a future to look forward to. And it's all because of THAT curse. The curse will kill her soon, and when it does, I hope you don't regret what you've done. Find the witch, kill her and undo the curse."

"Future? The Amuleto? you? Killer? Yuuki? and who's Jonah? You're wrong, my future was decided when I was born. I'd kill until I couldn't look at myself right, and die. That's life, you live meaninglessly and you die like a pawn in someone's game."

Silence. Marsha says casually: "Now that you have eleven days, I suggest you talk to the others, especially Yuuki."

The door slams shut as Marsha leaves. Kira decides to talk to Yuuki and figure things out.

Marsha walked outside into a barren space in the forest where Kiki was leaning against a rock.

"You ready?" Marsha asked.

"I was born ready."

"That was cheesy."

"Whatevs. What exactly were you planning to teach me?"

"How to use your Aura. Aura is a certain energy that one can have a lot of or a little of, but nonetheless, each being possesses it."

"So? How does it work?"

"Well, it depends on the person. A normal person has one type of aura which one can identify by seeing the color of his or her Aura. Say, if a person's Aura is purple, that person would have a different ability than one who's Aura is orange. You have the rarest kind of Aura. Your Aura changes colors."

"Wow. So, what do I have to do to aquire my 'ability'?"

"That's the hard part. You see, unlike Kira and I, you weren't born with your powers. You have to awaken them. Unfortunately, I don't know how to do that."

"Then why did you even suggest the idea?!?!"

"Because I have a theory that just might work. You see, White Aura represents light, Pink aura represents love, Red represents blood shed , Black represents darkness, Blue represents sadness, Orange represents mercilessness, Yellow represents happiness, Purple represents murderous intent and so on. Therefore, since you possess all of these and more, I believe that you must experience these in order for your power to awaken. To do this, I will imprison you in a dream-like state, where you will experience all of these without actually having to sacrifice anything. Any questions?"

"Umm, are all Aura's good? If not, does bad Aura mean a bad person?"

"No, all Aura is not good. You see, as you inferred, some Aura's such as Black, Purple and Orange are bad. However, fewer Aura's such as Red and Color-Changed depend on the user. For example, Red Aura can be bloodshed for the protection of others or for the joy of pain or death. It's complicated but that's how it goes."

"So, what about Kira? You know, what's his Aura?"

"In special cases like Kira's, Aura can change color based on personality. His Aura was White and Yellow. It's now Red that's slowly turning Black. But, let me worry about that, 'kay?"

"Whatevs, let's just start." Kiki said.

"We begin tomorrow!" shouted Marsha.

"Why?!"

"I'm not done with the machine."

"Fine, then. Tomorrow."

Kiki waved goodbye to Marsha, and went back to the house. She believed that this was too easy to be true. For once, she thought: Maybe the odds are in my favor...

But what she didn't expect was the agonizing memories that she would find along the way.

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YES! The next chapter is the beginning of the 3 part series of Kiki's past! Yep, it'll take me two to three chapters to finish her past! Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, even though... it's kinda short? I dunno. Like the great Soup once said, POTASSIUM!

~V.P.