Blues on the Canvas

6.3

October 15th of 2016

*may have triggering content!

The shadow slowly stood up, but not reaching for any of her weapons. She stood completely still, her eyes not leaving Fox's approaching figure.

The thief did not raise his own katana, simply walking straight at her. But before he could reach any closer, the shadow blasted some fire in front of him. Yet he waved it off with his own cast of ice, stepping in front of her.

"How did you...wake up?" the shadow asked, her face somewhere in between glaring and concern. 

"You granted me a dream...of yourself." he replied.

"Myself? ...Oh, you miss my counterpart don't you."

"My thoughts often trail back to her, spending so long in her palace has made me think of her more."

"You know...if I were to grant you the last memory...you'd face an enemy much worse."

"There is no monster I wouldn't kill if my friend gets released."

"I suppose...there's no use running is there? But look at your friends, look at the smiles on their faces as they sleep...dreaming about the future and their hopes as their pain fades away."

He turned his head, and stared. The shadow in return, walked towards the thieves and gently brushed the veil that hovered over them.

"I wouldn't mind if you wanted to join them." she said, her eyes never leaving the slumbering bunch.

"Sleeping through my goal would be preposterous."

"...I suppose so....yes...but I can't yet wake them up. Not until both of us... me and her...get consumed by our dreams."

Fox scoffed, dashing towards the shadow and placing the tip of his katana on her neck. 

"Wake up, I know she...or rather both of you are not this weak. Your counterpart needs you, and so do you need her. Stop this nonsense and wake them up. We will face whatever monster lays ahead."

She stared at the katana, gently pushing it down and placing it back into the case in Fox's hand.

"Very well...I'll wake them up."

And so she stood in front of the group, releasing the veil over them and causing it to dissipate into butterflies. She turned her head, manifesting the last memory into the flower. Despite the ominous aura it radiated, she held onto it strongly, walking towards Fox and placing it in his hands.

"I trust you...well...she does. She's waiting for you. Don't let her down." 

He nodded in return.

"I won't."

She backed away and stood far away from him. 

"You know, I see why there's a longing from her when I see you. So...here. I want you to win after the next adversary."

The shadow smiled and manifested an orb again, she sang a lullaby to it and released it, allowing it to float towards the thieves. 

Fox felt a surge of power in him, and the magic of the orb entered into everyone else's minds, waking them up. They woke up slightly disoriented, yet the newfound power given immediately struck them as if electricity had just done so. They stared at the shadow, watching as she waved with a gentle smile before she gestured to the flower on Fox's palm. 

And with that, the flower bursted into the last memory.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

It was the bustling streets of Tokyo at night, the girl was walking alone with her mother.

In the child's hands, a newly bought white stuffed rabbit and in the woman's, a cake for her husband's birthday.

They decided to take the short cut to go home as the woman did not want to keep her husband waiting.

But in that alleyway, she suddenly felt off. Almost as if losing herself, or turning soulless.

Her eyes turned a shade of white and she released the child's hands, walking away from her and dropping the cake on the floor.

The child sobbed, about to run towards her mother, but was too scared to move any of her legs.

Then, her mother had a heart attack, and was about to perish. Yet at that same time, a gun shot was fired towards the dying woman, hastening her death. Another bullet was fired at the child's direction, but in her dying moment, the woman shielded it from the child, further injuring herself.

The child scrambled to her knees, crawling towards the dead woman she once called her mother. She sobbed and sobbed, and when she turned around frantically, she spotted her father, walking away with a smirk. 

The child continued to sob, and when help finally arrived, it was too late for her mother. 

That night, she sobbed in her own bedroom, holding her now blood-stained doll close. Her hands trembled, her eyes all red.

Her brother watched from the creak of her bedroom door, glancing at the entrance door to the house, knowing that their father was somewhat involved. 

Months passed and her brother flew away to Korea for training, leaving her alone with her father. She was full of rage every time she saw him, but she never said anything, in fear that she too would die. 

Her hobby was playing the piano and she entered several competitions, being branded as a prodigy. Because of so, her father decided to send her out more into the big world after realising how much money she was gaining back from him.

There were times where she snapped back at her father, but the moment he punched her, she hid in her room, staring at the stuffed rabbit.

But one day, her father had pushed her too hard. Causing her to fall and land on the ground on the back of her head.

She fell unconscious for days, before waking up and developing retrograde amnesia.

She forgot about her brother completely, yet faint traces of her mother lingered.

At times, when she found herself trying to remember, she sobbed, staring at the blood-stained rabbit and throwing it around when she got frustrated. 

And still, she was under the same torment she had endured before the accident.

She was sent to be Kamoshida's student despite his allegations, she had lost most of her memories and her brother, and every time she disappointed her father, she endured another slap.

And the memory ended, fading into nothing.

The thieves stood there in silence, with the exception of Gale bawling.

But their attention turned to the shadow.

A ominous monster was crawling out of the arena's glass panes, covered in purple sludge. It groaned and roared, eventually bursting out of the panes before engulfing shadow Hanae under its slimy grasp.