Phantom's Queen (Book Three of the Phantom Series)

A Single Tear

Harumi's POV-
I ran through the city, the rain pattering beneath my feet and onto my skin. I gripped my bracelet, the one Jita had given me, afraid that I would drop it, and my only tie to her would be served.

The day had started out normal enough. I had woken up, taken a shower, gotten dressed and was on my way out of the door when a message came through. From none other than the Senator Harumi Kogo. Or as I knew, Jitaku.

Written in a haunting pattern, the message chilled me. It read, 'Please, Aina. Lives are on the line. My life is on the line. I know it's wrong but please forget about me. It's for he best if Harumi Kogo disappears from this world.'

A second message followed, this one even more unsettling. 'Please, Aina. I'm going back, I'm going back home. Don't remember me, it will only bring you grief.'

I stopped running, out of breath. Rain- or was it tears- streamed down my eyes, making my cheeks light up green. I then realized- I couldn't go to Nya or Skylor or Pixal like this. They would find out. They would figure out who I really am. It worries me, to think of them finding a secret I kept so close to me.

I clenched my first, angry with myself. Why can't I tell them? I kept asking myself. Why do I have to keep this a secret? Won't they accept me for what I am?

And then I remembered. It wasn't about Nya or Skylor or Pixal knowing. It was about everyone else. Every single soul out there who oppressed me, who went against my cause- if they found out my true identity, their anger would boil, and I would soon perish.

Oh, how I wished to be like Jita. I wished so much that I was a simple person, often overlooked, free to lead a simple life with the woman I loved.

I made the wrong choice.

My heart beat against my chest as I remembered. Our father had given us a choice, Jita and I. He had told us to decide if we wanted to follow him into the long line of Senatorial Representatives his family held, or to lead a quiet life, a simple life, a life together, yet blissfully alone.

I had made the wrong choice. I had thrown myself into a life of giving and giving and giving and never receiving, for my father only. He was the one person I trusted then, save for Jita. I had given up my soul, my life, my love just to keep his legacy going.

I regret everything, and yet, nothing.

My father died a couple years after I joined the senate, leaving Jita and I with an empty mansion and a burden of a legacy to preserve. We ended up giving the mansion to our father's cousin Kasou, whose profession was in the preservation of fine old buildings.

I will save for you, what you left, for when you return, I will be there, father.

At some point I had crumbled under the pressure of being a senator. I had slowly ebbed my way into the Elite, at first slipping out into the night when Jitaku was sleeping, then eventually going full-time and blaming it on a diplomatic meeting. I suspected Jita knew, but my presumptions were not confirmed until she asked me never to go back after I stumbled home after the 'Morro incident'.

She was everything to me, and now I have no idea where she could be, or why she's there. It's my fault, I thought. If I hadn't pressured her to do this, it would've been me. I would have been the one to be hurt. It should have been me. This world truly knew how to hurt someone like me, not by hurting me, but by hurting those I love. It was a cruel, cruel trick of fate.

The rain streamed down my face as I made my way toward Skylor's house. I, somehow, was going to tell her. I was going to tell her everything.

Skylor's apartment was on the north side of the city. It was a long walk, and by the time I got anywhere near her building.

I stood in the light of a warm, orange street lamp. The light illuminated the rain, like streaks of brilliance in the void of the night. I felt alone, cold, wet, and heart broken. It took all my will to move out of the street lamp and toward Skylor's home.

The only thing moving me forward, preventing me from collapsing, was the thought of Jitaku, waiting for me. Tears and rain streamed down my face, my cheeks lighting up green.

I stumbled to Skylor's door. It was illuminated by a single pale light, the same pale orange that was the streetlamp I had stood in earlier.

I knocked on the door.

"I'm coming I'm coming." I could hear Skylor say behind the door.

I questioned my choice, to come to her. Perhaps it was because Skylor was blind now. She couldn't see who I was, she only knew me as I wanted her to know me. It was reliving.

The door opened, Skylor behind it. Her hair was down and her eyes were blind as always.

"It's me." I whispered. "Harumi."

Skylor nodded. "Come in. The storm is horrid out there."

Skylor led me inside, and still, I was afraid of who I was, and what I hid.

A/n: yup haven't updated in a while sorry. But have this. AND THE PLOT IS A ROLLING!!