Fade to Death

Chapter 19: Death at Jay's hands

After dropping Janice off, Kira tried to search for Jay's Aura. As he was walking along the rocky walls of the tunnels, he felt someone else approaching nearby. After a moment, he recalled that familiar Aura.

"Shit." he cursed, as the vehicle stopped behind him. He pretended to ignore it and kept on walking. 

"Stop." Kiki said. 

"Like hell I will." he mumbled as he proceeded going further into the tunnel. 

"Well, I guess Marsha was right. You left Janice in her custody, right? I don't think you have a choice right now. " Kira heard a clicking sound in the back, like a gun ready to shoot. He stopped at the sound of it. 

"I'm doing you a favor. I'm going to kill Jay. Isn't that what you wanted? To get your sight back? Or is that all just a pipe dream now?" 

"You don't fucking get it, do you?!"  Kira looked a little surprised for a moment. He quickly changed his expression and turned around. 

"I can do this by myself. Leave me alone. " he told her, her gun now pointed at his face.  She drew closer to him, grabbed him by the shirt collar and pointed the gun closer to his forehead.

"Listen, bastard: Whether you fucking like it or not, I'm going after Jay.  I'm sick and tired of your little solo act. Doing things alone doesn't make you a macho man. So, fucking suck it up and move on with your life, because I have a personal vendetta too, and I don't need someone--especially you--to do my dirty work for me." she whispered into his ear aggresively. Afterwards, she let go of him, put the gun back in its holster on her waist, and kept walking forward. Kira stood still for a moment, his face unable to be seen because of his long bangs. 

"You don't have to do this alone, you never had to. Kiki's just trying to tell you that." Mika told him as he followed after Kiki.

"It's your funeral." Kira mumbled as he walked a few feet behind them. Mika tried to hide the smirk that grew on his face. 

"So, it is." 

Meanwhile, Janice and Marsha made their way underground too. As they ran through the dark tunnels, Janice asked:

"Marsha?"

"Yes?"

"Kira seems... different. Is he okay?"

"Well, yes and no. He must've told you that he suffered from amnesia, right? It must've been hard for him to go through all of those things so quickly, you know? One night, he remembers his sister. The next, he remembers her death. And so forth. He's been depressed lately, that's all. He'll be fine though, I promise. It's just a matter of time."

"Time, huh? After what's happened, I've started to question time itself."

After a few minutes of silence, they reached their destination. It was the same cavern from before, with the beautiful waterfall in the background and the small pools of magma in the corners. 

"Marsha, why are we here again?"

"Oh, I just want to run a few 'tests'." she said, taking out a bow and arrow from her medical bag.  She pointed the arrow at Janice and asked:

"How are you, really?"

"W-What are you talking about, Marsha? I-It's me, Janice." she said, backing away slowly. Everytime she took a step back, Marsha took a step forward. 

"You're holding the real Janice captive. You might've fooled Kira but that Aura Barrier is nothing to me.  Besides, why does your dress look brand new when you've been "dead" for a few hundred years?" 

"Janice" smiled wickedly, and, suddenly, her hair changed color, her eyes looked darker, and her teeth looked a little sharper. 

"So, it is you, Jay." Marsha took a defensive pose. 

"Yes, it is. But I can't blow my cover just yet. After all, how will it look when you're pointing your arrow at Kira's beloved?" Jay said in a different voice.  Marsha looked behind her and saw Kira, Mika and Kiki. She turned back to Jay to find that she had changed back to look like Janice. 

"Kira, help me! Marsha's trying to kill me!"

Marsha looked behind her and saw his shocked face. That feeling of betrayal  gleamed in his eyes.  He walked towards them slowly. 

"Kira, that's no--"

"Shut up! Just shut up! I'm sick and tired of all of this! Everyone, just shut up!" 

He then walked past Marsha silently, ignoring her shocked face. He stood in front of "Janice" and put his hand on her shoulder, his face still pointed at the ground. After a moment of silence, he asked her:

"Do you love me?" Silence.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"If you really do love me, tell me why you did this to me."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"The real Janice must've stayed conscious longer than me. After all, I blacked out before her. And I'm pretty sure you must've seen her face, she must've known your intentions."

"You, too? Why does everyone think I'm Jay?" she lied, her facing looking sad.

"Because the real Janice's breasts aren't this small." he chuckled. 

"Right, Jay?" he looked up at her. His eyes were red now, along with his hair, and they had an evil gleam to them. His voice was raspier; his laugh, chilling. 

"Hakyuu? I see that you finally took over. Took you long enough." Jay smiled, reverting back to her real form. 

Behind them, a few fifty feet away, were Kiki and Mika. Kiki started coughing harshly as she kneeled on the ground, while Mika tried to help her. Pretty soon, blood stained the ground. Her lungs were filling up with it. 

"Kiki!! What's wrong?!" Mika shook her worriedly. 

"It's Jay! She's making her condition worse!" Marsha screamed. Hakyuu sat on a boulder and calmly saw Jay disappear and reappear next to Kiki. A force of energy that shot from her hand pushed Mika a few hundred feet away from her and Kiki. She crouched down beside her and lifted up her chin with her right hand. 

"Well, well. What'd I say aboout getting near me? Tsk, tsk. You could've lived a few more days you know?"

She only had days to live?! Marsha and Mika thought. Jay looked at their shocked faces and snickered.

"You knew your condition was this bad and you didn't tell them? Oh, that's brave." she mocked. 

"You bi..." Kiki slowly lost consciousness as Jay let go of her chin. A staff appeared in one of Jay's hands.

"Sweet dreams, my beautiful red butterfly." she smiled, pointing the sharp end of the staff at Kiki. Blood stained their clothing as the staff went through, and a woman's scream echoed through the cavern.

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There you go guys! A cruel cliffhanger, and a good one at that! Yay! So, who do you think got hit by the staff? Kiki? Marsha? Mika? Kira? Guess you'll have to wait until I decide. Hehehehehe. PLEASE VOTE. PLEASE. and LEAVE COMMENTS. I'd love your feedback!  ~V.P.