The Marked Ones - Arc 0 FINALE: Chapter 3 - Promises
#3 of The Marked Ones
Here we go! Time to wrap up Arc 0 with a pretty long chapter!
Please read Chapters 1 and 2 of Arc 0 so that this will make some sense.
CHAPTER 3: Promises
I had a nightmare similar to last night's. The one with the feral form of myself in a dark void. It was mostly the same, but the end was extremely different this time around. Instead of lunging at me, "I" walked back a couple of steps and sillouettes appeared around me in a circle. Instead of pitch black, they were pure white, like I was supposed to know they were there. A spotlight shone down on the two infront of me. I gasped after I recognized who the figures were.
"Mom?! Dad?! What the hell are they doin' here!?" I ended up thinking, since I couldn't move like last time. Another sillouette, this time jet black, appeared behind what was looking like my deceased parents. Bright violet eyes appeared on the new shadow. It slowly closed it's eyes and it thrusted it's dark hand forward. A blade burst from my mother's chest, sending her blood flying forward. The metal retreated and burst from my father next, in the same manner. The blood from my parents now coated me, matting my fur in a light crimson-red color. My eyes shot open in shock. I then realized that the bodies were on the floor in the same way I found my parents on that day.
I felt sick and disgusted at witnessing the event. I felt like vomiting at that instant, but it never came. I just stood there, eyes open wide, paralyzed by some mysterious force. The spotlight went out and the only light was the pure red of the demon-wolf's eyes and the mystery killer's violet eyes. The white of the sillouettes around me faded along with the spotlight. It came back after an agonizing minute of just seeing those two pairs of eyes. The next figure was of my first childhood friend and boyfriend in Fuko, Jason. I started to scream hysterically in my mind, and I felt a wetness flow from my eyes. The dark shadow thrust it's hand forward once again. Metal and blood erupted from the Shepard's chest, in the same way as my parents. The wet tears burst from my blue eyes as the blood of Jason splashed onto my body, over my parent's blood.
This torture continued with more of the ones closest to me. My friend and cover girlfriend, Emily. My guardians, Shane and Mandy. All that I considered friends once in my life, regardless of the current relationship status. When I finally thought it was over, the spotlight shone on the last person I wanted in this horrible nightmare. I finally found strength to move my muzzle and speak.
"...N-No! Please! Anyone besides him!" I pleaded to the shadow. The violet eyes just closed and opened slightly again. The shadowy hand raised higher than before, showing the bloodstained murder weapon ready to strike.
I fought off the violent sobs wanting to be released and screamed "NO!!! TAISUKE!!!"
I shot up in the bed, sweating and panting heavily. I looked around to grasp where I was. I saw the white of the hospital room I was in. The fluorecent lighting kept the silence from consuming the room. I looked over to Taisuke's bed and sighed in relief. He was still sleeping peacefully. He looked so serene, as if nothing happened and this was some bad accident.
I heard running steps approaching the room. Did I scream in my sleep? The doctors and nurses burst into the room and frantically asked the standard "Are you OK?!" and "Why did you scream?!" questions. I simply replied with a calm "Yes" and "I had a nightmare" to the questions respectively. After I assured them for a fifth time that I was OK, they bid me a good rest and left. The lights were off this time, so I could only hear Tai's steady breathing. I rested my head on the pillow and risked fading back into that hell for a little rest.
Not a second after I hit the pillow, Taisuke shot up screaming like he had seen a murder. I lept out of my bed, not caring about my pain at that point and rushed to the arctic wolf's side. He flinched when I rushed up to him, but when he recognized me, he put his head onto my shoulder and sobbed violently. I hugged my crying friend, trying to calm him down. "Shhh... It's alright Tai. It's Kantano. I'm here." I whispered. He kept sobbing. "Oh god Kantano... I-It was h-horrible! I was in s-some sort of d-darkness and this s-shadow started t-t-to... to k-k-k-kill everyone I knew!! My parents, my friends, e-everyone!!" I started to worry. This sounded strangely similar to my nightmare. Had he experienced the same thing? Taisuke continued. "a-and the last one that I s-saw was... Y-YOU!" I gasped audiably, but Tai seemed to not hear it. "I'm staying with for the rest of the night. No arguments." I demanded. Tai looked at me and weakly nodded. The bed was fairly big enough for two furs. I got under the covers next to Tai and laid down in the bed. Just as I started to fall asleep, Taisuke whispered a plea to me.
"Kantano... Please, don't ever leave me alone".
I hugged my ice-furred friend. "I will never leave you, Taisuke. Not ever. I swear it."
The next morning, I woke up at 10 AM. Taisuke seemed to awaken at the same time. "Heh... Mornin' Tai" I said groggily to my friend. It took a second but he finally remembered what happened a few hours ago and smiled back. "Good Morning, Kantano" he responded. I looked at the clock. "Damn, it's 10 AM?" I usually woke up at around 2 or 3 PM on Saturdays. I wonder why today was different. My thoughts directly went to thinking about the nightmare last night. "Tai said to never leave him... Does he remember that at all?"
Tai interupted my thoughts looking worried. "Kan, are you OK?" I nodded and questioned why he had asked why. "Well I was wondering... maybe you wanna get some breakfast, or lunch or something..." he blushed furiously while explaining. He looked so cute when he was embarrased! I chuckled at his bright red face that contrasted his icy blue and white fur. "Sure, Tai" I cheerfully replied. "...and y'know, you don't have to be embarassed about two friends eating together. I mean we ARE in a hospital recovering." Taisuke blushed even harder and looked at the ground. "Uh... yeah, sorry"
As we started to eat our breakfast, my thoughts kept screaming that I forgot something. I thought of all that happened as I ate a spoonful of my cereal. "Lets see... We were ambushed, I woke up in the hospital, that dobie...!!" I just remembered the Director's words. "Meet me on the roof when you and Taisuke awaken. The fate of our universes may depend on you two..."
I kept wondering what the last part meant. Fate of the universes? Depending on us? I decided to relay the message to Tai. He looked just as puzzled as I felt. "What are you talking about, Kan? Fate of universes?" He cocked his head "Are you sure you're alright?" I sighed. Not this again, and from Tai too. "I'm alright, and you were unconscious at the time." The arctic wolf nodded slowly. "It sounds like some trap" he added quickly. I started to glare at Tai. "You really think someone wants to kill me?" I said, flatly "We're going regardless. I have this... feeling that we HAVE to go" I noticed Tai was looking uneasy. "What's wrong Tai?" He shook his head slowly. "I-it's nothing... When should we go to the roof?" I was a little confused with his sudden change of heart. He usually fought back, even if I pulled the 'No Arguments' card. He clearly didn't want to talk yet, so I thought about the time of the meeting. "How about 3PM? When we're supposed to leave?" Taisuke nodded in clear agreement.
The 5 hours from 10AM to 3PM were filled with rest, food, talking, and TV. No matter what though, we never spoke about the earlier hours of the night. We were still thinking about it though. When 3PM rolled around, I nodded to Tai to let him know we had to go. We took the elevator to the lobby and checked out. "Um... can we go up to the roof for one last time?" The receptionist smiled and nodded. "Of course. You two are needed there, right?" Taisuke and I exchanged glances of suspicion. How did this vixen know about us being needed on the roof? She slid the keys over the counter to us. "This will open the door to the roof. Good Luck, Kantano. Taisuke." she said. We quickly made our way to the stairwell, slightly creeped out by the receptionist's knowledge.
We opened the rooftop door with the key given. Instead of a warm breeze that I expected, we were greeted with a freezing burst of air. Since Tai was adapted to the cold, he paid no attention to the sudden air rush. I, however, jumped in surprise and started to shiver. A figure was staring out to our little town of Reza. The figure turned around, and greeted us. It was The Director. "Ah... You've come. Thank You Kantano, Taisuke." he closed his green piercing eyes as he spoke. The dobie held out his arm. "Please grab onto me. I need to take you somewhere." We both hesitated at this. A mysterious fur wants us to take his arm and go somewhere. The both of us weren't stupid, like most others. I took a daring step forward to the dobie. "Why?" I asked in a demanding, confident tone. Tai followed suit with "Why should we go with you?" The Director lowered his head. "Hmph! Such spark!" he praised "I knew I made the right choice with you two!" the doberman laughed heartily, like a jolly old man. He lifted his wrist in the air above his head. "Camo off." He commanded loudly. A black piece of technology appeared on his wrist. He put the piece of tech close to his mouth. "Teleport area, Enova HQ" he yelled and a light blue bubble of light surrounded the roof. Within a few seconds, I felt as if I was being ripped apart into little bits. With a flash, we disappeared from Reza and started to speed through an unknown space.
The trip lasted about a few minutes and when I felt myself being put back together, I had a feeling this was about over. We appeared from some circular object which I guessed was a teleporter. It was in the middle of a gigantic room filled with bustling furs. There was a carpet, lined with exotic looking plants and flowers, that led up to a desk manned by some formal looking furs. There was some tall buildings in the distance and the place looked very advanced. The Director stepped in front of us and cleared his throat.
"Welcome to Enova, you two"
So Kantano and Tai finally got to Enova, and the story can truly begin! Not much to say other than that Arc 1 (and future arcs) will be separated from the story-chapter-viewer-thing and it'll probably take a lot longer than Arc 0.