20 Days In The Past - Aikatsu Love Story (SenAka)

Labyrinth Of Thorns

       The labyrinth was cold, dark and dry.  All Akari could see was the dim outline of thorn walls.  Hopelessness began to sink in.  The darkness was a reflection of the hope lost as Tsubasa's voice faded.  The sharp thorns which tore at Akari's dress and prickled into her skin was a symbol of her harsh reality of what was never to be, her happy ending.  The cold grey stone underneath her feet was cold, as cold as she was lonely.

        Akari wandered the labyrinth for what felt like hours, only meeting a series of dead ends.  It was cold, and all she could see were the shadows of prickly thorns under the lamps of skulls with a single candle in each. Absolutely petrified, cold, and hungry, she screamed.
          "Who is responsible for this!? Where am I?"
          "Yell again, I may be getting close!" She heard a male voice.
          "I'm over here!" She called back.
          "Call out again, I think I may be getting close." He said.  Akari rejoiced as she ran in the direction of a boy's voice.
          "Over here!"
          "I'm coming."
          The two of them ran towards each other, meeting at a cold courtyard of black thorns and a single cold stone bench.
          Akari sighed in relief.  "Thank goodness! I was so worried I'd have lost you." She said.  Tsubasa stood still.
          "Why would I be lost?" He asked, embracing her in his arms.  Akari was immediately hit with the scent of lavender.  Weird, I thought he smelled like vanilla.
          "It was so dark! I was so scared." She said, nuzzling into him.  He looked at her, widening his eyes in confusion, squinting as if something were wrong.
         A running noise in the background, alongside the sound of heavy breathing.  "Oh thank goodness you're here.  Who is he?" Akari pulled away, and saw Tsubasa catching his breath and pointing at the other boy.
         "What-? I thought it was you." She backed away immediately.
         The guy widened his eyes in the dim lighting.  "Yume...did you replace me?"
         "What?! I'm not Yume." Akari exclaimed.
         Subaru's face dropped to a pout.  "Oh."
        "I think I may I know her though." Akari said, her hand intertwining with Tsubasa's.
         "Oh my apologies, I didn't mean to get between you guys." He said.
          "Tsubasa-kun, I was so worried." She said.  She opened her arms to hug him.  Tsubasa stood and said nothing, not even bothering to hug back.  She looked up.  "You aren't mad at me are you? I couldn't tell in this awful lighting."
          "It doesn't matter.  I don't love you."
          Those word hurt like 10 knives stabbing her 10,000 times.  "Tsubasa, I'm sorry!" She said.
          He smirked.  "I'm sure you are." He said, before Akari felt something clamp around her wrist.  Tsubasa pulled away, as Akari looked down and discovered shackles.
          "Wait! What are you doing?" Akari said, taken aback.  Tsubasa gave her an evil glare and cuffed her other wrist.  All whilst the other boy had hidden suspiciously, pretending he'd gone away.
          "You really thought I would kiss you?" He asked.
          "Tsubasa! What are you saying?" She asked.
          "I knew about the spell all along, and thought you would make a good experiment."  Akari shot him a glare, before he hysterically laughed.  The laugh became a feminine voice as a cloud of red smoke rose up, and faded away.  There behind it, stood Elza.

          "We meet again." A familiar feminine voice said.  Akari turned around, meeting eye to eye with Elza.  Akari couldn't say a word.  Her mouth was almost frozen shut.  "No words to say?"
          "You tricked me!"
          Elza laughed.  "You two are both so dumb.  He fell for the same trick too, and his reaction when I revealed myself was better.  Now looking back I should've left things as is,  In case you escaped."
         "You are awful!"
          "Thank's I know.  I assume you're wondering about your whereabouts?"

          "Wh-where am I?" Akari asked.  She backed away a bit, slightly intimidated.
          "It's the labyrinth of thorns.  How do you like it?" Elza gestured at the tall bushes of thorns, barely seen amongst the darkness in the sky.
          "Where is Tsubasa?" Akari asked.  Her eyes narrowed.  Her back straightening as she slowly ascended towards Elza.
          "Fear not."  Elza slowly approached Akari, hovering over her as her gold wings fluttered.  "At the strike of midnight you will be brought to your present day."
          "That doesn't answer my question.  Where is my boyfriend?" Akari asked, growing impatient.
         Elza smirked,  "He will be free when the spell is broken."
        Akari felt close to tears. "Why? Why do you do this?!"
        "The dead should stay dead."
        "Come on, that is not the real reason." A voice could be heard from behind.  Elza looked behind her to see Yume, still in disguise. 
        "Wait! Aren't you that strange woman who-"
        "It's me you want.  Let them go." Yume waved her wand.  A tornado of swirling lights swarmed her, as she rose into the air.   Her dull grey hair had gone back to the vivid gold to pink ombre, her skin smoothed and glistened, as her body slimmed.  Her hair was held into pigtails, and her dress was the same, however big for her much younger body. The boy, watching in his hiding spot widened his eyes, and his stomach dropped.
        "Yume, how pleasant.  How did you find me though?"
        "That is not any of your concern.  Let them free.  Let them be happy.  Take me, it's not like I can do anything if I'm imprisoned by you."
        Elza threw her head back and let out an evil laugh.  "Oh she'll go free right now!  It is midnight already after all."  Yume widened her eyes in shock, as Akari's body glowed, reverting back to 25, and fading away.  Akari had disappeared, and it was just Yume and Elza.

        Akari shook her head, as she remembered the events happening as if they were a distant dream.  She got up and noticed the room was dark, and the elderly lady was gone.  She stood up, and decided she would make her way back to her home, with the husband she absolutely despised.
       Oddly so, she felt a weird feeling.  It was almost as if she just knew it would be bad news.  She shrugged it off, and kept walking in the city.  She was in a daze, and looked at the billboard again, still advertising the headline of Tsubasa's wedding.  Why did it feel so odd to think of him?  It was if she had seen him yesterday, however she couldn't remember. 
        The rain still ruthlessly poured.  She was soaking wet.  As she had gotten back to her house, something in her gut told her not to go in, like a distant memory.  She furrowed her brows, but couldn't interpret her confusion.  And so, she stepped towards the door. 

        "Oh no! I have to save her!" Yume exclaimed, taking out her wand.  Elza snatched Yume's wand.
        "This is the moment I have waited for! You're all mine now!" She said with an evil cackle.  Yume backed away a bit in fear.  "Time to kill you, stupid princess."
         "Not if I can help it!" A familiar male voice said, as Elza felt her crown get taken off her head.  Elza turned around, seeing it was none other than the guy she had trapped and forgotten in the labyrinth, Subaru.  "Yume! Catch!" He threw it to Yume.  Yume nodded and caught it. Elza tried to jump between them and catch the crown.  Yume successfully placed the crown on her head and felt the power that Elza built through her veins, as she was the true heir she used a single wiggle of a finger to make glowing magic chains cuff Elza.
         "Next time think twice before messing with me." Yume said before she flew down to ground level, and fell into Subaru's arms.  
         "Yume! I missed you terribly!"
         Yume nuzzled into his shirt.  "How did you stay sane?" she asked.
         "I thought about you, and although I felt lonely I knew I'd see you again someday." He said, caressing Yume's cheek.  He leaned in, however Yume pulled away.
         "Wait! Now is not a great time, I have to save Akari." She took her wand back and opened a portal back to the land of fairies.  "I'll see you when I'm back.  Spread word." She said, before going back to the present.  Akari as already gone.

         Yume searched for Akari everywhere.  After and hour she found Akari about to walk into her house.
        "Akari! Stop!" Yume yelled.  Akari turned around.  "Hey....were you a fan?"
        "No! I mean, you cannot go in there!" Yume yelled.  Akari raised a brow.
        "Look, it's really wet and I don't want to catch a cold.  If you want an autograph-"
        "No! I do not want your autograph.  It's dangerous to go in." Yume said.  "Jeremy is drunk."
        Akari widened her eyes.  "H-how did you know?" 
       Yume took out her wand, starting to wave it.  But before she could restore Akari's memories a door swung open.
        "You ****ing b****.  Have you been talking bad to me to random people now?"
       "N-n-no honey! I didn't-" Jeremy pulled Akari in by the hair as Yume watched in despair.  Akari was due to die soon, and she needed to stop her quick.  Yume sighed in grief and tried to open the door, with the door being locked. 
        To Yume's luck, previously within the magical timeline the deal brought, she told Tsubasa everything.  She told him about the spell, Akari's fate.  She had also casted a spell that he would not lose memory if the spell was unsuccessful.
         Her action payed off, she spotted Tsubasa.  Although she could not give back Akari her memories, there was still someone who could save her.
       "Excuse me, this is Akari's house, correct?" He asked eyeing the address.  Yume nodded.  He ran to the door, immediately trying to open it. 
        "It's locked." Yume said.
        "Are you Akari's friend?"
        "No, I was yours and Akari's fairy godmother.  I'm just in my true form."
        "I see, could you check the windows for entrance? I need to save Akari urgently." He said.  Yume nodded.
       Tsubasa climbed and jumped over Akari's fence and bolted to any back doors as Yume checked the windows.  Yume smashed a window open with her magic and gestured at Tsubasa.

        Tsubasa entered the house, finding his worst nightmare.