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 Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 1:11 pm
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Ashika Rose Dresden
She lay on her bed for hours, refusing to move as she cried. She couldn't believe that Erin had done that to her. The pain of her betrayal hurt much worse than Tsubatsu had ever hurt her. That's because you hated him, but you trusted her. She realized and cried harder, her throat raw from sobbing.
She finally looked up, her eyes red and puffy, her face slightly swollen, and saw the picture of her and her father on the desk. She slowly pulled herself out of the bed and slid into some baggy jeans and a white oversized t-shirt, knowing that she had to talk to him. Ash fished her cell phone out of the pocket of her discarded pants and dialed his number, listening to it ring. Come on Old Man. I need you to pick up. She thought as she chewed on her lower lip.
"Hello?" A deep male voice asked. "Ash?"
A small smile played on her lips. "Hey Old Timer. How's the shop? Good?"
A warm, rich laugh filled her ear. "You know it is Buddy! I do miss your skills with the motorcycles though. Kenny's good, but he's not you."
"Thanks! I miss the shop. I miss the guys. Did you finish my bike?" She asked happily, as if she had called just to talk shop.
"I got it finished about two hours ago. Ronnie is gonna bring it up to you tomorrow. Now, what's goin on Buddy? I know somethings wrong." Her father gently probed.
Ash felt her chest tighten and her throat ache, tears once again running down her cheeks. She cried as she told him about how much she loved Erin, and what she had done to Ash out of spite. She told him how she looked so much like Kyokai, and that she felt more hurt and betrayed than she ever thought possible. Her father listened to his daughter as she poured her heart out to him. They had never spoken like this before, she had raised like her dead brother after her mother left them, she didn't cry unless it was alright for men to cry over the problem. "I just don't know what to do. I should hate her, I should want to hurt her back, but I still love her." She said.
"Well, Ash. You should be upset. She did betray your trust and your love. But worse still, she did it to hurt someone else. Erin just wanted to hurt that Shizuka girl, but I don't think she expected to hurt you. Ash, you are a very unique girl. You have been to hell and have lived to be stronger than most men I know. She hurt you, but you still love her. She could realize that what she did was wrong, in fact it sounds like she already has. In time she may even ask you to forgive her. Ashika, You have the right to feel hurt, but you also have the right to forgive. Only you can decide if you want to forgive her though." He told her.
Though she really didn't want to hear that, it was something she needed to hear. "Yeah. Thanks Old Man, I love you." She said softly.
"I love you too Ash. And, I'm proud of you Buddy. I'm proud of the fact that you actually can talk to me. And your bike will be there at three or so tomorrow afternoon. Bye Buddy." He replied.
"Thanks. Bye." She responded and hit call end and putting the phone on her desk as she sat deep in thought adn pulled out her pack of Pall Malls, lighting one and taking a deep drag.
{Within the darkness, two halves become the whole once more}
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Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 2:04 pm
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Erin Joyce Lee
"They tell me that love is wonderful..."
Erin's thoughts returned to Ash as her uncle took her to his house. To distract herself from the horrible guilt, she looked out the window and asked a question nagging at her. "Why are you taking me home, Uncle? You haven't pulled me out of school, have you? My grades are satisfactory," she said in the clipped, formal tone she always used with him.
The man didn't look at her as he answered. "There is an urgent matter that requires your attention. That is all you need to know for the present moment." The limousine pulled up to her uncle's house and he got out. "Come along, Erin."
Erin sighed softly and got out of the car, shutting the door behind her. Her uncle took her wrist firmly and led her through the house, down to the deepest part of the cellar. Their destination and her uncle's odd expression began to worry Erin. "What are you doing? Why are we going to the cellar?"
When they reached the bottom of the steps, her uncle let her wrist go and gestured toward a chair in the middle of the room. "That's why, child." Erin gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth in horror. Sitting in the chair, in her uncle's cellar, was Lizzy!
"...but how can something so painful be wonderful?" |
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Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 2:09 pm
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Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 2:44 pm
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Erin Joyce Lee
"They tell me that love is wonderful..."
Erin stumbled toward her kidnapped schoolmate, horrified. "No, Lizzy... This is my uncle." Suddenly, the situation clicked in her mind. She turned to her uncle, trembling with rage. "You... You did this to her? Why? Why in the hell did you kidnap Lizzy?!"
Her uncle smiled coldly. "Ah, Erin. You think you understand me so well, but you have no idea. This child, Elizabeth Greene, is not human." He chuckled. "Neither are you, for that matter." He took a step closer, making Lizzy shudder and Erin wince. Her uncle was obviously insane. "Go on, Erin. Touch her. You'll see then."
Erin looked down at Lizzy. The poor girl looked terrified. Erin felt a rush of compassion, chasing her fear away. "Don't worry, Lizzy. No one's going to hurt you anymore. I promise." Erin took the girl's hand reassuringly.
Something unearthly happened then. A white light filled the room, emanating from Erin and Lizzy's hands. It was too blinding to look at, so all three beings closed their eyes. When they opened them, there were only two people in the room. Erin's uncle, and one girl. Lizzy and Erin had combined to create one being.
Erin/Lizzy gasped and clutched at her chest. Pain. Emotional pain. Deeper than anything Erin had ever experienced. "What... What the... What is this? What's happening?"
Lizzy understood the pain, and reassured her silently. 'Don't worry. I understand now.... Our name is Arietta, Erin. We're one person. I am the soul; our emotions and conscience. You are the body and the rational mind. We were split as a tiny child to keep us both safe from enemies. Our parents were powerful people; the rulers of our race.'
Erin/Lizzy looked up and gasped. Her uncle had enormous, black, feather-covered wings. She felt something brush against her arm and looked down. She had wings too! They looked exactly the same as her uncle's. Lizzy continued her explanation. 'You've heard of angels. Our race spawned that legend. We can fly. We are stronger than humans, we live longer, and we are smarter.'
Erin shook her head and replied to Lizzy mentally. 'I don't understand... Does that mean our pasts... Our pasts as Elizabeth Greene and Erin Joyce Lee... Are false?'
Lizzy laughed softly and responded in a sad tone. 'No. Your life, aside from your name and species, was real. That's why you remember our parents, and have their belongings. Mine was fabricated. A lie. My parents and sister were members of our race assigned to care for me until the chosen time, when we would combine, as we have. It's all clear now that we're one...'
'But then, why did my uncle kidnap you? Why not just let us discover... all this... on our own?'
'Ah, that was my fault, Erin... I got too close to Robin. Since I'm the soul, not the body, my physical form was much more frail than yours, and far more controlled by emotion. If I'd gotten any closer to Robin emotionally, I would have become a part of her, instead of returning to you.'
Arietta fell silent, her breathing slowing down to normal. She stood and looked down at herself. She was surprised and rather embarassed to see that she was wearing a gossamer black dress, a pair of black heels, her mother's locket, and a decorative circlet on her head. To Erin's relief, the only thing that seemed to have changed about the body was the hair length; it was now down to her waist. Well, and she was a bit curvier... Where Erin had been flat as a board, Arietta had some of Lizzy's softness to her chest and hips. That didn't bother Erin, though. She folded her wings gingerly behind her back and looked at her uncle.
The man bowed slightly. "Princess Arietta. It's good to see you again, after so long." He gave her a smile, a genuine smile. "I apologize for any discomfort this transition has caused you, child. It was necessary at the time to keep you apart. The enemies that killed your parents were looking for you. But now that you are grown, you can take your place as our ruler. Your fiance is very eager to meet you. I think you'll like him."
The word 'fiance' shattered any security Arietta might have felt. "Fiance?" Erin's personality rose to the surface, and she found herself slipping back into her regular annoyed tone. "You lied to me. My whole life, you lied! It turns out, I was only ever half a person! Now I'm flung back into a life I don't remember, that I never asked for, and you have the gall to try and tell me who I'm marrying?! Hell. NO! ******** you, and ******** this race! I don't want anything to do with you!" Arietta raced from the house and leapt into the still-gray sky, taking flight for the first time, heading back to the college. "Shizuka... I hope you're not still mad at me..."
Lizzy sighed and settled in to her new role. She wasn't exactly pleased, but what choice did she have? Erin was the body, and therefore far stronger and able to make the decisions. All she could do was persuade. She began probing gently about in Erin's recent memories and flinched mentally. 'Wow, Erin... You sure have been busy breaking hearts... Poor Ash... Poor Shizuka... Why did you say and do such awful things?'
"Shut up," muttered Erin to Lizzy, landing in front of the dorms. She raced inside and up the stairs, bursting into her bedroom. To her relief, Shizuka was there. "Shizuka... I... I have a bit of a problem..."
"...but how can something so painful be wonderful?" |
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 1:23 am
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 5:15 pm
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Arietta Lee
'Painted over in black....'
Erin's half of the mind was well-past confused by the time Shizuka finished speaking. But Lizzy quickly explained everything to her mentally. 'It's okay, Erin. Shizuka and I have been speaking telepathically for weeks now. She was trying to find me, and since I was in a semi-conscious state most of the time, I was able to join minds with her for a bit. It's hard for her to keep the connection open, but she kept doing it... For me...'
If she'd been able to, Erin had the sneaking suspicion that Lizzy would be blushing. Erin sighed and shrugged. The explanation made about as much sense as anything else at the moment. 'Okay, you can take over talking for the time being, then.' Erin retreated into the corner of the mind Lizzy usually occupied and waited patiently.
Lizzy blinked as she felt the glorious sensation of motor control once again. She smiled and hugged Shizuka tightly. "Nope, not hurt a bit. And don't be sorry; I'm so glad you kept looking at all. I have so much to tell you, though, Shizu-chan..." Arietta touched the girl's face and let her explanation of what had happened to Lizzy and Erin flow into Shizuka's mind. It was far easier than talking it out. "I'm kind of sad that I don't have my own body anymore... If I did, I'd..." Arietta blushed and looked away. "Anyway, there's something Erin wants to say to you." Lizzy carefully and somewhat reluctantly switched places with Erin, giving her control of the body once again.
Arietta looked into Shizuka's eyes and felt tears filling her own, embarrassingly enough. "Shizuka... I'm so sorry for all those things I said last night. I was being... well, a b***h. I had no right to judge you, or Badokku. It was your decision to make, and I respect that. And you're not a freak. I didn't mean any of it. I was just... Afraid of entering into competition with your brother." Once again, Arietta blushed. "Because I knew that I didn't have much of a chance winning you if Badokku was competing. But now I see... You like someone completely different." Arietta smiled slightly. "Or at least... Lizzy has very strong feelings for you, Shizuka." Erin could feel Lizzy's embarrassment and annoyance at that comment, but shrugged it off. The time for mincing words was over.
'.... An incomplete love.' |
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 5:36 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:24 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:17 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:35 pm
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Arietta Lee
'Painted over in black....'
Erin settled into the back of the mind and shut down for awhile. Lizzy seemed to have things well in hand. Besides, Erin needed time to figure out an apology to Ash, and work up the courage to go see her again.
Arietta smiled at Shizuka gratefully and took the shirt. "Arigatou, Shizu-chan!" she said cheerfully, giving the girl a light kiss on the cheek. "I'll just run to my... Lizzy's... Room and grab some other clothes too. Be back in a second!" Ari left the room and jogged down the hall to the room she shared with Robin, changing quickly into a pair of dark blue cargo pants, black boots, and the shirt Shizu had lent her. She packed her other belongings and moved out of the room, stopping again in the hallway to erase her name from the register and write in Arietta Lee on the line next to Shizuka's name. Then she continued down the hall and opened the door, putting her things next to Erin's bed. "Guess I'm living in here now," she said happily, smiling at Shizuka with a satisfied expression on her face.
'.... An incomplete love.' |
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:46 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:04 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:23 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:43 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:59 pm
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