Welcome to Gaia! ::

Pt 1

As far as anyone can remember, there have always been two families that kept on arguing. Little do they know of the cause for these fights. Their mission in this world has been similar but oh so different in many ways. The men, usually seven brothers, represent the fearful emotions in this world. This includes emotions such as doubt, fear, hate, selfishness, greed... The ones to represent feelings like trust, hope, love and other positive emotions were women, also seven siblings. Those two families never mixed, it was against their rules. Should they decide to do so, their powers and their task would have been stripped from them. At least that’s what many generations had believed thus far. The mutual mission of the families was to keep the emotional balance in the world. There were times when the emotions the brothers ruled over were at reign, but the positive feelings soon caught up to them and even surpassed them. This constant wave of changes had lasted for centuries… until things started to change.
Indeed...


Why am I running again? The enemy is fast, I can barely save my skin from his evil clutches but yet I don’t understand why I keep on running. I jump up these walls without even noticing that I’m able to do so in my dreams. Hide… that’s my main thought when sleeping. He’s here again… RUN!

“Wake up sleepyhead and say hello to the morning. Here at the WSUP radio, we hope you have a bright and sunny day.”
A girls hand reached for the clock radio, the button uttered a silent ‘click’ as its button was pushed. The girl sat up and soon left her warm nest which was a pile that consisted of a blanket and a pillow. It seemed as if she had not been scared by her dream. “Ah, that’s right, it WAS a dream!” She said to herself and stretched. It was still quite early, about 6 am. She, however, didn’t feel the need to take things slow as she prepared herself breakfast, got dressed and left her apartment to head towards her new school. Because of the recent moving she didn’t have friends to go to school with, so the school road was just a long and cold road to a place she might not feel comfortable in. But she didn’t have time for complaining, she had to make sure she would get to school on time, being late on her first day there would be just horrible. Then she suddenly sensed something weird, stopped and realized that she wasn’t on the way to school anymore. She looked around and saw a red brick wall that stood proudly before her and high wooden fences that were blocking the way out on the other sides. She couldn’t see a way out of this place, it was all a bit unusual, and that scared her a lot. Then it started to get darker and darker by the second, a cold fog started to appear out of nowhere. The state of things didn’t look good, she was very afraid now. It was even worse that she felt like she knew the place. Didn’t it turn out like this in her dreams every night? After a few seconds in this cold and dark place, she fell down on her knees, the wet and muddy ground crawling up her legs. As she noticed that, she tried to stand up, but she was hopelessly stuck. Her body didn’t seem as feather light as it did when she was running away in her sleep. She then took her head in her hands and cried out in fear.

“No!… What is happening to me!! I’m not asleep anymore, leave me alone!”
She could barely move, but then as she heard a cars signal, she looked around carefully and was stunned when she saw that she was sitting in the centre of a street, holding down the traffic. She quickly stood up, still shivering, and continued to run towards the school. The school wasn’t that far anymore, because she could see more and more students walking along the same path. Good, this felt a lot more safe, she felt that she could manage to hide easier in the crowd of students who all wore the same outfit as she did. After crossing a few more roads she could see the big and pale schoolhouse. Just a few hundred meters before the school building, she stopped, looked at the school and sighed.

“Well, this is my new school. A totally new adventure to live through.” She said to herself as to adjust herself for the new surroundings. She walked into the big schoolhouse, looked around shyly and then looked up the classroom where she would be having her first lesson. She entered the classroom and then stood in the back of it. As expected, she wasn’t late, and in the matter of the fact she was the first one to come. She then had nothing to do except waiting for the lesson to begin. She passed the time by observing the birch trees sway in the wind just outside the windows. It was autumn and every plant outside proved the fact. When all of the students had arrived, the teacher, who had arrived some time earlier, walked to the front of the class.

“We have a new student from now on.” The teacher said as she pointed at her, the same girl about whom the story is.

“Akiie Mikomi, please come here and tell us a bit about yourself.”
Akiie nodded and slowly walked to the front of the class. She then turned around to reveal her forest green eyes. She looked around shyly and smiled slightly.

”Hello, I am Akiie Mikomi, I just moved to this town. I’m glad to make your acquaintance. I’m 17 years old and I like discovering new things.” She said while trying to summarize the being that was her. As if there was much to tell anyways.

“Ok, thank you Akiie.” The teacher said and then looked at the classroom full of students.

“Do you have any questions for our new classmate?”
A hand rose from the back of the class.

“Yes, what do you want to ask?” the teacher asked. A boy with blonde hair stood up and prepared the question.

“Akiie do you have a boyfriend?” he then finally asked.
Akiie blushed, and said no.

“Thank you for the important question!” The teacher added and gave a glare at the over insolent young man.

“Now, Akiie, go and sit down there, there is a free seat for you. Shall we go on with our lesson now?” She said as her calm, rational mood returned. Akiie walked towards the empty seat, still blushing out of embarrassment. Then the teacher took out the English workbook and said, “Now, who has done their homework?” Akiie, of course didn’t know anything about the homework the teacher was talking about. She stared at her table, listening to the teacher for the most of the time she spent in that classroom. When the lesson had ended Akiie picked her things back together and went to the hallway, where she accidentally bumped into a boy.

“Uh, sorry, I didn’t see you.” she said.

“I get bumped into a lot,” the boy replied while grinning, “What’s your name, I don’t remember to have seen you here before.”

“My name is Akiie Mikomi, and I’m new to this school.” Akiie answered with a shy and silent voice as she looked up again.

“Just as I thought, ” the boy smiled. ”I knew I hadn’t seen a such beauty here before.”
Akiie was surprised of the reaction of the boy she had bumped into. She blinked a few times and then blushed again. Was it really as she was told? Were all boys so straight forward? It wasn’t the first time she had been called pretty or beautiful, but each time it only had brought her trouble. In one form or the other.

“What's going on in here?” a girl asked when she leaned herself on the boys shoulders. “Kanki, I thought we were supposed to meet at my class?”

“I’m sorry that I held him back.” Akiie said and bowed to show that she was sorry. “He has a girlfriend, thank goodness. An unusual name he has, Kanki… Kanki… it sounds familiar… Oh stop it Akiie, you’re just making it up!” She couldn’t help but to think to herself and blush.

“Don’t worry Akiie, Mikana doesn’t mind,” Kanki said and turned to the girl who was still leaning on his shoulder “…do you?”

“No, but now we are leaving!” Mikana said strictly. Kanki shouted waved while being dragged away by Mikana.

“I guess we’ll meet again.” She thought and blushed a bit again. The next lesson was about to start and Akiie walked to her locker, opened it and for her surprise felt that a cold wind was blowing out of it. She looked deeper inside of it confused, because the locker didn’t seem to have a back wall. This was rather unusual since she was sure there had been one before. Some kind of unfamiliar force pulled her towards the locker and she soon felt as if she had been sucked into it.

“Not this again…” Akiie sighed as she noticed that there was no way out of the dark foggy place. It seems as is someone has closed the door behind her. She was lying on the floor now.

“Just a dream… IT will go away soon.” She reassured herself and closed her eyes. “Now, I’ll wake up, and I’ll be in the hallway again.” She said to herself and slowly opened her eyes. No change. She stood up carefully as she had accepted the fact that this was for real. Akiie looked around and saw a door on the horizon. She walked towards it, but just as she had touched the doorknob, she heard something.

“Excuse me, are you alright?” a girls voice asked.

“What is going on in here?” Akiie asked herself and then she felt someone shaking her hand. She looked at the direction where she thought the person would be and suddenly she found herself in front of her locker again. Akiie looked into her locker once again just to see, that it was back to normal now. She then turned towards the girl who had shook her hand. The person was the girl who used the locker right next to hers. She looked worried…

”Are you alright? Should I take you to the nurse?” The girl then asked and closed her locker door.
Akiie, still a bit confused about what had just happened, smiled and said,

“I’m alright. I think I was daydreaming. It happens quite often.”

“What do you see in your dreams?” The girl and asked as she turned towards her once again. “You seemed so distant, as if your soul would have been captured.” She added and soon laughed at her own weird comment. Akiie hesitated to reply, but then she explained silently.

“I see a dark place, it feels so strange and cold. And it always feels as if I’m being imprisoned.” She said as she took out her textbooks and stacked them on her other hand. The other girl looked at her locker, even more worried now.

“It must be horrible. I cant imagine the fear you feel… I myself get scared by the littlest things.” She said and then shivered slightly because just thinking of the horrible things she had imagined made her tremble of fear.

“It’s not that bad. As long as I remind myself that they’re only dreams, they cant hurt me one bit.” Akiie said to break the gloomy atmosphere that had arisen around the two young girls. She even smiled.

“Just dreams? Does it really work?” The girl asked as she looked at Akiies’ unusually unfitting smile. It was obvious it wasn’t really that easy for her. She decided to give Akiie a break and forget the topic they had been taking about. “My name is Harika, I know you from the first lesson, I sit in the seat next to yours.” She then said to introduce herself.

“Oh, I’m sorry but I didn’t notice you at all in the classroom earlier. My mind was off on it’s weird tracks again.” Akiie apologized while looking at Harika. She had short red hair with black streaks, brown eyes and a warm smile.

“I don’t mind. You really looked nervous in there, it’s no wonder you didn’t notice anything around you.” Harika answered and laughed slightly once more. Akiie soon also smiled. There was no sign left of the previously gloomy atmosphere.

Pt 3
Akiie returned to telling her story.

“The doctor took my info card and turned to leave again.

”I’ll take these papers to the secretary, We’ll put the right name there.” He said and was off in a moment. The nurse pulled a chair closer to my bed and sat down.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to keep you company for a while.” She said and smiled at me.

“I… don’t mind…. I guess,” I replied and laid back on the pillow. “Miss…?” I said silently and turned my head to look at her.

“My name is Marianne, you can call me by my name Akiie.” She said with a silent giggle. “What did you wish for?” she then asked and leaned closer to my bed.

“Miss Marianne… do you know… how I got… here?” I asked.

“Well… I wasn’t there when you were brought in, but I heard your story from the main nurse later when I was assigned to keep watch over you.” Marianne replied and leaned back on the chair. “Do you want me to tell you what I was told?” she asked.

“Yes, please do… I want to know more about myself.” I replied and prepared myself to listen to her.

“Well…I heard that some young people found you on the street not far from the hospital. One of them carried you here on his back and made a fuss in the reception. Can you imagine that?” she said and giggled softly but soon stopped her laughter. She realized that she might have been a bit rude. “As much as I was told you didn’t have any other injuries besides the burn. But as you didn’t wake up after a while and since after a few tries to bring you back to consciousness had failed, the doctor decided to keep you in here until you did wake up.”

“Somebody carried me here?” I asked surprised. I felt thankful for the mysterious person, who ever he was. “Did… he leave me here alone?” I then asked silently, kind of not wanting to hear the answer. Marianne looked at me again.

“He stayed in the reception hall for the whole time you were being treated. They asked him a bunch of questions which he by the way couldn’t answer because he had never met you before.” Marianne sighed. “He was asked to give them his contact info but he said that he didn’t have anything to do with you and what ever kind of accident that had happened to you. I actually saw him leave after the doctor told him that you hadn’t woken up.”

“He did leave me here alone…”

“No he didn’t,” Marianne murmured. “He has been checking up on you from time to time. One day I spotted him outside in front of your rooms door, peeking in. I invited him in, but he didn’t want to come… He sure was shy.” I cheered up a little at that comment. He didn’t abandon me although I was a stranger. It seemed as if I was living in a good world after all. Marianne kept me company every day from that day on. On some days they would run some tests or let me exercise a little. I was moved to an other room, one with less machinery in it. One day the mysterious helper came to check up on me again but couldn’t find me in my room. Marianne dragged him to my new room and we met for the first time. He was older than me… He at least looked like that. The age I was given by Marianne was about 16 or so, but she wasn’t sure of her guesses accuracy. He on the other hand looked like a young adult, tall and fit. He introduced himself to me as Hiroto Rikuto.

“Thank you for your help Hiroto.” I said to thank him but he wouldn’t even look at me. He kept on staring out of the window.

“It’s common knowledge to help the hurt you know. There’s no special need for you to thank me,” he then said without even blinking. I smiled, he was shy just as Marianne had told me before... I remembered the whole story she had told me that evening.

“There is a need to thank you,” I insisted. “After all, you came to look after me.” I added self confidently. Hiroto gave the nurse a short glare, he probably thought it was not nice that she had told me about his visits.

“Well, don’t think you’re something special now, ” he snapped silently. He soon regretted saying that, I could see it in his face. He finally turned towards me. After receiving a glare, Marianna thought it was best for her to leave us alone, so she left.

“I know I’m nothing special…” I said and stared at my hands, they were cramped together nervously. I did not know how to behave myself around men, the one I was used to was Marianna. Hiroto walked closer to me and looked straight at me.

“Sorry. I did not mean it like that.” He apologised and slightly leaned on the bed. “I guess I never expected to see you awake.” He then said and stared out again.

“Did I sleep for that long then?” I asked surprised. I didn’t know for how long I was unconscious, no one had told me yet. He turned his gaze right back at me so suddenly, that I was a little stunned.

“You were in a coma for months…” He explained shortly. “They said that people rarely wake up from such a thing.”

“For months?” I gasped and looked at my wrist. The burn mark had healed, but wouldn’t it take less than a month for such a thing to heal up? “I… I didn’t know. I’m sorry.” Hiroto saw me examine my wrist and looked at it too.

“The burn wound still hurts?” he asked.

“No, it’s just an itchy scar,” I replied and showed him the scar that looked as if I had been branded with my own name.

“Your name is Akiie?” he asked to make sure he had understood right. I nodded.

“That’s what me and the others think.” I said and pulled my hand back to my other hand. “I didn’t remember my own name when I woke up.” Hiroto sat on my bed after hearing that. Surely, it was quite a shocker.

“You have amnesia?” he inquired silently, trying not to seem rude. I had to nod once more, he was right, I had lost all my memories.

“I guess it was just meant to be like this,” I shrugged. “Marianna has been very nice to me. We’ve spoken about a lot of things, even though she does most of the talking.” I smiled. I was really treated good in the hospital. Hiroto turned away again, he seemed a little upset.

“You shouldn’t accept things as they are,” he scolded me again. “You know you’ll have to leave this place soon, there is no such thing as a free stay in the hospital for people who are cured.” He looked back at me and added, “You better try to remember everything you can about who you are, so that you can return to your family.” Just as he had said that, my attentive doctor came to see me.

“Good day Akiie.” He said before he had noticed the guest. “A friend?” he asked as he became aware of Hiotos presence.

“Good day Doctor! This is Hiroto, he was the one who brought me to the hospital.” I replied.

“Aah, I see.” He replied and smiled. “Thank you for saving our princess,” he then added with a silent chuckle. Hiroto didn’t reply to that.

“When is she being kicked out?” Hiroto then asked bluntly. The doctor was dumb-founded by his question for a while.

“Kicked out you say?” he replied more seriously. He looked worried. “Well to be honest… The head doctor is already trying to make us sign you out. But we still don’t know anything about your family or friends, we notified the police about you, but no one has recognized you yet. So far the only ones you know are me, nurse Marianna and this fellow here. Bluntly, things don’t look too good for you right now Akiie.”

“I’m... so sorry,” I apologized, I had made them worry about me so much that it was unbearable.

“Akiie.” Hiroto said and looked at me. “I’ll take you in…If you don’t mind living with total strangers for a while.” He then offered. The doctor was surprised.

“Take her in?” he asked.

“Yes, my mother owns a little hotel, she wont mind lending me one room for Akiies sake. And Akiie can work there too if she wants to.” Hiroto explained. I was overwhelmed. I did not expect such kindness from someone whom I had known for less than a day. I got out of bed and walked slowly to where Hiroto was standing.

“Thank you!” I said with tears in my eyes. Really. Such kindness. Such care. Hiroto blushed slightly and told me to get back to bed.

“You don’t have any normal clothes, do you?” he then asked. I looked at the doctor, he shook his head and so I knew the answer.

“No, I don’t. I’ve been wearing this kind of clothes all the time.” I said. This caused Hiroto to utter a silent sigh.

“I’ll have to ask my sister for some of her clothes. I’m pretty sure you’re about her size,” he said and stood up. “I’ll be back tomorrow with the clothes. I’ll take you with me then.” He added and looked at the doctor coldly. “Is that ok with you Doc?”

“Yes, I’ll make sure everything will be ok until then,” the doctor replied with a hint of stubbornness in his voice. Hiroto left and the doctor came closer to me. “Big day tomorrow,” he commented and checked my pulse once again. He uttered a silent sigh, “Indeed, you’re as fit as a fiddle now.” He turned away and started to leave but as he got to the door, he looked back at me and said, “Best of luck to you princess. Don’t let anyone out there hurt you again. I wont be here tomorrow when you’re going ‘home’, so it’s good bye for us.” I stood up on my bed slightly as I heard that.

“thank you doctor, for everything! I’m really thankful!” I said and bowed deeply as he left my room. “

Pt 5
Akiie looked up at Harika who had gone through a sudden change of mind.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” she asked and pulled away a little. Harika smiled.

“How hard can it be. I mean, you’ve dealt with this for about a year now, right?” she then replied and let Akiie go completely. Akiie looked to the little coffee table next to them.

“I might be wrong, but it seems like they have gotten a tad worse. ” Akiie admitted silently.

“Worse? What do you mean?” Harika asked and tired to look into Akiies eyes.

“I…. don’t have to be asleep anymore to see the nightmare,” she explained. “The first time I had the nightmare while being awake I almost caused a traffic jam.”

“You mean you just stood there… on the road. Like you did in front of your locker that day?” Harika asked and straightened her back.

“Well… not exactly.” Akiie answered. “The first time I fell on my knees, so I was sitting on the road. I did not hear the other people rush past me but a louder noise woke me up.” Harika put her hand on Akiies shoulder.

“I’ll wake you up again when I see you in a daydreaming state. It’s a promise,” she said earnestly and stood up. She reached for the cup of tea.

“We let the tea get cold…” she commented and put the cup back on the table. Akiie suddenly woke up from her hazy state and jumped up.

“I’ll make us some fresh tea,” she offered and took both of the mugs to the kitchen.

“Don’t bother making tea for me,” Harika said and took her school bag from the couch. “I have to go back home,” she explained. Akiie put down the package with the tea bags and turned back to her guest.

“I’m sorry…” she said and held her hands together in front of her. She felt guilty. She had laid such a burden on her best friend.

“Aah!” Harika scolded her. “Don’t apologize! I said I would do my best, don’t make me regret promising you what I did.” With that said she smiled at Akiie again. Akiie, she was being too serious.

“Ok,” Akiie agreed with a smile. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow then…” she added as she sent Harika off.

“You bet you will see me there!” Harika cheered and ran off.
Harika had promised to take care of Akiie and Akiie had promised herself, that she would not run anymore. It was only fair so, she reasoned. The two girls worked hard to lead a normal life, almost no one noticed that there was actually something wrong with the two.
Time passed…
The dreams got more frequent and every time it had gotten worse. It is a Friday afternoon and Akiie and Harika are on the roof of the school. Akiie stood a few meters away from Harika, who was holding on to the fence that surrounded the platform.

”The dreams are going to become true. I know it. And it is going to happen soon,“ Harika said silently. She looked depressed. “I said I would take care of myself… but I just cant. I don’t have the strength.”

“Don’t say things like that, I won’t let you give up!” Akiie shouted. “I know it’s hard, I have the same dreams, remember? We just need to resist the dreams for a while longer...” Akiie walked to Harika, who now looked at Akiie with tears in her eyes.

“I won’t give up if you don’t give up on me! I’m not as strong as you are.” She sobbed.

“We are strong together! You know we will survive if we stick together,” Akiie said and took Harikas hands into her hands.

“Promise me that you’ll be there for me when it happens… no matter what,” Harika pleaded. Akiie did her best to keep her eyes dry. She was hurting her. It was obvious that Harika was suffering.

“I promise… no matter what happens, I’ll be there,” Akiie then promised. The school bell rang; they had to return to their class. Akiie helped Harika clean off the tears and they went back inside. Everything seemed normal until in the middle of the lesson the time stopped and the only things that could move were Akiie and Harika.

“What is going on?” Akiie asked and looked around. Everything was so… grey.

“The dream, the same thing happened in my dream!” Harika shouted while crying out of fear. Akiie ran to Harikas side.

“Don’t worry, I’m here.” She comforted her. Then it got even darker in the classroom and a cold wind blew a fog cloud through the class. The strange fog made Akiie and Harika fall asleep, they collapsed on the floor, neither of them could move. A black hooded man entered the classroom. He placed his scared hands on the heads of the girls. Akiie woke up a few moments later- she was laying on the floor of the school hallway. She was thoroughly confused; she knew that she had just been in the literature lesson. Akiie then looked around in the hope of finding Harika lying next to her but she wasn’t there. She then stood up and started to walk along the hallway, increasing the speed, as she got more and more worried about her best friend. Akiie ended up running around in the time-frozen school.

“Harika!! Where are you!?!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

“Akiie… Akiie...” a silent voice whispered. Akiie stopped to look around, she wanted to find out who was calling her, but when she had seized to move, the floor turned into sand and swallowed her. When she came to consciousness she was laying on a shore, the sand and the sea was black. Akiie stood up and looked at herself, she was covered with scratches from the fall and her clothes were ripped in some places.

“Akiie” a girls voice said, “come and meet your fate…” Akiie was startled, she was very scared, but she still followed the voice, hoping to find Harika next to the person calling for her. She walked for a whole hour, and then collapsed on the sand. The weird path seemed to suck out the strength of the person who walks along it.

“I can’t come closer,” she said to the voice. Akiie looked towards the place, where she thought the voice came from, and added, “I cant save her, am I right?”

“No, you cant save me” the voice responded and then a persons silhouette became visible. Akiie looked at the person to see who it was and for her surprise it was Harika. Akiie took her last strength together and stood up to run to her

“Harika you’re alright!!” she cried. “I thought I lost you… I’m so happy I finally found you!” she hugged her. Harika pushed Akiie away from her.

“Happy you found me? You silly thing,” Harika said, grinned and then added, “You should be afraid of me, because I’m going to eliminate you for my master!” Harika raised her hand and a black sword appeared into it. Akiie finally realized that there was something wrong with Harika.

“You cant be Harika!” Akiie shouted at the girl. But she soon begun to doubt in her own words. “If you’re not Harika! Who are you then?” she asked as she tried to get some distance between herself and the person who looked like her best friend. Harika, or the person who seemed to be Harika, pointed the sword at Akiie, with that move her school uniform was transformed into a black armour and her hair turned white. Her formerly brown eyes were filled with a dark shadow. There was no light remaining in her black eyes.

“You know who I am, I’m Harika, your best friend in the whole wide world,” she replied and started to laugh. Akiie shook her head in disbelief. It could not be true, she wouldn’t accept it. “Didn’t you find it strikingly odd that I had done so well up until just now?” Harika asked and let her swords tip touch the black sand on the ground. “Are you really that stupid?”

“I… believe in Harika. But you… you are not her!” Akiie said with a shaky voice and backed up some more.

“That hurt,” Harika commented with a grin and walked after her. “I do this all for your own good and you wont even recognize me and my effort.” Akiie winced at the remark.

“For my own good you say?” Akiie answered to the statement. “How does my death benefit me?” she then asked. Harika laughed once more.

“You’re right, there isn’t much you can get out of dying, but it sure would make things easier for all of us,” she then agreed. “But my master will benefit greatly when there is no trace left of you. And that makes it all worth a while.” Harika announced with a big smile.

“Your master. He is some kind of an evil person, isn’t he?” Akiie asked and tried to retreat once more. If she had confidence in something then it was the ability to run away from nightmares like this.

Pt 7

The unfortunate event that had taken place in Akiies school had caused a ruckus in the home of the seven sisters.

“Did you just feel that!?” one of the sisters asked as she ran to the living room, where her sisters were already contemplating about what they should do. Two were sitting at the table, wildly augmenting and the third one stared out the window all by herself.

“That must have been the power of Hope.” Recca, one of the said sisters, reasoned.

“That means Akiie is still alive! We need to find out where she is!” Monique added in a persuasive tone. The only sister who wasn’t in the bunch talking loudly, was Azure, the oldest sister. But as Monique had made her opinion known, she couldn’t stay away any longer.

”But how do we do that?” Azure asked as she walked to her sisters with her arms crossed on her chest.

“Look, we already know the area we need to search trough is only a few blocks around the school called Haite high.” Recca said to reply to the question asked.

“Did you send someone to look for her already?” Azure asked again.

“Yes, I sent Marice and Airka out just a few minutes ago.” Recca replied as Azure turned around to head out of the room almost not waiting for a response.

“Let me know if she is found, I want to be the first one to talk to her.” Azure said and left the room. She passed Selara, who had been left out of the conversation for obvious reasons. She didn’t say much. The search for Akiie had been unsuccessful until Airka entered her room.

“Recca, I think we found her!” Airka reported to her sister.

“Thank you, you can come home now,” Recca said with a relieved smile on her face. She then went to Azure, told her the news and just after Recca left Azure teleported herself into Akiies room.
Earlier that evening Akiie had been crying in the corner of her room. She couldn’t face the reality that Harika was dead, she had been her best friend. The poor girl hadn’t eaten anything proper since the accident in the school, she was depressed, her eyes were red from the crying and she was tired. But she couldn’t sleep, she had to fight against her eyes and her mind, telling them not to fall to the exhaustion. Every time she had closed her eyes before she had seen the hooded man holding his glowing blood red hand out towards her. But now, Akiie was so exhausted that she didn’t care if she saw the nightmare again, she just wanted to sleep. Soon, her swollen eyes were closed and she had fallen into a fragile state of sleep. Only a few moments later the first visitor had come and left her room. Then Azure arrived. She stood in front of her for a minute but then she went closer to the sleeping girl to take a look at her soul. A mirror like surface appeared in between the two and Azure soon poked her head through it. It didn’t take her long before she had entered the realm of Akiies soul. She could feel the pain Akiie had recently lived through and the despair she had been feeling since. While she was looking around in Akiies soul the scenery suddenly changed and Azure found herself deeper in her soul than she had aver been. She could see Hope hiding deep inside Akiie. She was just sitting there with a face full of love and caring.

“I will save her from the pain!” Hope suddenly said, “I wont let Harika down!” Azure was stunned by Hopes strong will. There was no further proof needed, and this was why she left Akiies soul. Azure then slightly touched Akiies forehead with her finger and Akiie woke up.

“Who are you?” Akiie asked when she had opened her eyes and saw Azure standing before her. She tried to move back but as she was already in a corner, there wasn’t anywhere to run to. Fear filled her mind once again.

”Don’t worry, I wont hurt you,” Azure said and smiled. She squatted down in front of Akiie and explained, “We have been searching for you, for a long time now. We almost gave up, thinking that you were really gone for real, but finally you have awoken.” Akiie was confused to tears and the feeling of fear freaked her out.

“What do you mean awoken? Do you have something to do with the nightmares?” Akiie started to cry again, but managed to add “Was Harikas death connected to you too?” Azure put her hands on Akiies shoulders, trying to comfort her. Akiie shook her hands off while trembling from fear.

“Hope, we had nothing to do with the dreams. On the contrary, we would have saved you from the torture if we had known you were here all along.” Azure said confidently. She had to make her believe in her. No matter what.

“Why do you call me Hope! I am Akiie!” Akiie shouted trough the tears that slipped down her face, glowing when they hit the ground. Azure started to explain once again. “Dream.. it’s a dream…” Akiie chanted to herself with her silent shivering voice.

“Akiie, you are Hope! The dreams and the way you have been living since the day you were separated from us, have made you forget who you really are!” Azure said and took Akiies hands. She then added, “I’ll make you see who you are!” With that said, she transported them to the mirror of Reality. It had a white border with a golden symbol on the upper side. “Go on and look what the mirror shows.” She suggested and led Akiie towards it. Akiie was confused, she still felt the need to run away, but she still walked towards the mirror. She expected to see herself, just the way she was. But instead she saw an image of a girl who looked just like her. The girl seemed to glow and she was wearing a really unusual outfit. She leaned on the mirror, not believing her eyes, but then she suddenly remembered.

“It really is me! I remember now! I looked like this when the hooded man had the control over Harika and when…when…” she said and a river of tears flowed down her face “when Harika was… killed.” She kneeled down in front of the mirror, her hands still leaning up against the mirror and cried harder than ever before. Azure walked to Akiie and asked her to stand up and to look into the mirror once again. With a lot of effort, Akiie did as she was asked. Once the tears had stopped distorting everything she looked at, Akiie saw an image of a woman standing beside her, the woman had long blond hair and a white dress, and she also glowed, just like Hope. Akiie turned around to look at Azure and asked, “Who is she?” Azure then suddenly started to glow and her appearance changed to the same as the woman in the mirror.

“This is my true form, I am Truth, your sister,” she answered with a reassuring voice. Akiie didn’t know what to say. She had been all alone up until now. Should she really trust that woman. Doubts filled her mind.

“You… are my sister? But how?” she asked carefully. Azure turned Akiie towards the mirror again and images of five more beautiful ladies appeared.

“There are seven of us,” Azure begun to explain and pointed at the mirror “You are the youngest, Hope, I am Truth, these are Love, Intuition, Inspiration, Trust and Help.” Akiie stood silently for a second trying her best to grasp everything she had seen and heard. She couldn’t help but to feel some kind of a sympathy towards everyone she had seen in the mirror. Maybe, just maybe her family had actually found her. Most of the fear she had felt earlier had disappeared. This. This was a good dream. Even if it was real.

“Where are they?” Akiie asked and turned away from the mirror once more. Azure smiled and hugged her little sister.

“They all are waiting at our home. Do you want to go there?” she then asked and let Akiie go.

“I…” Akiie begun to answer but hesitated to continue. She blushed lightly. “How can I face them. I don’t even know them.” She then added with embarrassment. Azure gently stroke her head.

“Don’t worry. They understand.” She reassured her. “They will be overjoyed to see you again.” Akiie looked up at the slightly taller female.

“Someone, waiting for me?” Akiie thought to herself and a warm feeling filled her heart. This didn’t feel wrong. “Lets… Lets go home.” Akiie whispered.

“Let’s go.” Azure repeated and teleported them to the front door of their home. Akiie needed a moment to notice, that she had arrived at a new location. “Open the door once you’re ready.” Azure said and stepped away from Akiie, making sure she didn’t feel pressured. Akiie hesitated but her curiosity got the control over her. Soon, she was standing very close to the front door, her hand on the doorknob. After softly pressing down the handle, the door started to open up. In a few moments, Akiie was standing in front of an opened door, visible to all of her sisters.

“Akiie!” the sisters cheered when they first saw Akiie standing in the doorway. They all stood up and ran to her to welcome her home.

“Calm down! Don’t’ be so loud, you’re making her feel uncomfortable!” Azure said while looking at her sisters.

“No, it’s ok,” Akiie commented and turned towards her newly found sisters “I’m so happy that I have finally found out who I am and where I belong to.” She said with a smile on her face. No one had expected such a speech from their little sister. It touched them to tears. Everyone got closer to Akiie and gave her a group hug.

“It’s so good to have you back sweetie,” Marice said as tears glistened in her eyes.

“We missed you so much!” Recca and Monique sighed in chorus. Airka and Selara just silently smiled and held Akiie close. Azure joined her sisters and smiled sweetly at Akiie. She was home, at last!

“Come, let’s go in…” She then said and led everyone in. She closed the door again and was the last person to arrive in the living room, where a huge sitting area was already covered by her sisters.

“Akiie, how have you been?” Marice asked. She sounded really worried.

“Have you had any problems up until now?” Airka then asked. Akiie didn’t know which question to answer first.

“Hey! Stop asking questions.” Recca hissed displeased. She calmed down and added. “Just let her tell us what she has been up to.”

“Good idea,” Azure agreed and sat down on the couch. Akiie blushed lightly and begun to tell her story. Everyone observed her closely as she was speaking. She had to fight against tears, because she had remembered everything that she had tried so hard to forget, to leave behind. The confusion, pain, loss… But when Akiie was almost done with telling them what had happened in school earlier that day, she couldn’t hold her tears back any more. She trembled, trying to pull her act together again, but the tears controlled her. She desperately tried to clean her face of tears so that she could continue, but that didn’t go too well because every wiped off tear was soon replaced by a fresh one. Everyone leaned closer to her. Selara and Marice, the two who were sitting right next to Akiie, took her hands.

“It’s all ok. Calm down,” Marice comforted her little sister and squeezed her hand tightly. Akiie sobbed for a few more seconds and then stayed silent.

“Who was the hooded man?” Akiie then asked with her tear torn voice and looked at Azure who seemed to be the right one to answer the question.

“It’s better if you go out and breathe some fresh air for a while. After you’ve had some time to calm down, come back here and we’ll tell you everything you want to know.” Azure offered and stood up. “We wont be going anywhere, so it’s ok, trust me.” She added with a smile. Akiie hesitated a bit, but then agreed with the offer. She really needed to calm down a little. Just a few seconds after leaving her newly found home, she felt cold rain falling on her head, arms and shoulders. She didn’t have an umbrella and she even didn’t want one, she just let the rain pour on her face. After standing there for at least ten minutes she decided to go to her favourite park, the one where she used to hang out with her friend. She didn’t know why she wanted to go there, it just seemed like that there was someone in the park who was waiting for her. Surprisingly it didn’t take her long to get there and she did not get lost on the way even once. Akiie walked straight towards the bench, where she used to sit and watch the clouds slide over the sky. She sat down without thinking and started to stare into the sky. The clouds started to fade away and the rain stopped. As soon as the sky turned sunset orange a flash of light blinded Akiie. That made her turn away her head. When she finally got her eyesight back everything was covered by some kind of a shadow. She heard laughter, it was coming from the right. Akiie felt like she needed to know what or who was laughing and looked to her right. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw herself, sitting next to Harika, laughing happily. After a few moments of observing this serene happiness, she thought that everything was back to the way it was before those strange happenings, but then the images of herself and Harika started to fade away and an other sound, which was coming from the left, attracted her attention. She couldn’t decide what to do.

“Should I look what it is, or should I stay here?” she asked herself. But then the bench started to shake beneath her and she instinctively stood up. “I get the message!” she whispered to the sky and with that she slowly started to move towards the source of the sound. Just after a few steps she started to see something. It was a boy, fighting with a girl. The boy wore a long black coat and the girl … she had long brown hair... and a light lavender outfit. “Wait a second!?!” Akiie thought “That’s me, in my Hope form.” Shortly after realizing that, a wave of energy almost blew Akiie down from her feet. When she looked at what was going on, she saw that she was on the ground and the boy was walking towards her. Akiie was almost sure the boy was going to hurt her, but instead he helped her up.

“That was a good training, you are getting better at this.” He commented with a smile.

“Well, I had a great teacher” the other Akiie said, put her arms around him and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

“What is going on? Who is He?” Akiie thought when she saw them standing there. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, she instantly turned around, and before she could say anything she found herself standing face to face with the boy she had just seen training with her. “Who are you?” she asked.

“You don’t recognize me?” the boy asked surprised “You don’t remember what happened before you started to live a life of a normal school girl?” he enquired. Akiie looked away.

“No, I can’t remember. I just found out who I really am, I don’t know almost anything about my past.” She replies silently. Why she felt so embarrassed to admit that was not clear to her. She cautiously turned back to look at the boy and blushed lightly.

“It’s ok,” the boy replied and looked into Akiies eyes again. “I didn’t remember who I was too, but after we met at the school, on your first day there, I suddenly remembered everything.” He admitted and shortly after he had said that his hair changed colour and Akiie recognized him.

“You are Kanki! But when did we…” she gasped.

“You mean when we were together?” Kanki asked. Akiie nodded. “It wasn’t that long ago, just over a year and a half has passed since we were separated from each other.” He responded and then asked, “Your sisters found you, didn’t they?” Akiie placed her hands together in front of her nervously.

“Yes, I met them all today. They are going to tell me all about my past when I go back to them.” Akiie replied.

“Ok, then it’s better if I won’t tell you anything more now,” Kanki added and took a step back. He then saw Akiies surprised face and said, “I am sure you’ll find it easier to believe your own sisters. But for now, I’m going and you should go home too.” With that said, he disappeared and so did the shadow which just had covered the whole park.

Pt 9

They had spent a few days together, playing with the kitten, training him. And on other days they didn’t meet face to face at all. On those days Akiie would still go to the park with her kitten and Kanki would observe her from his tree. She wasn’t aware of that and each time he had not come to join her she had felt more and more lonely, despite the playful kitten. On a quite stormy autumn evening Akiie was sitting on the bench once again, wearing nothing but a simple leaf green sweater and khaki jeans. In these earthy tones her natural green eyes and brown hair stood out especially well. Cloud, the white kitten looked like a handful of fresh snow on Akiies lap. Since it was autumn, the leaves had started to fall from the trees, making them easier to see through. Akiie had never looked at the tree where Kanki had spent his days, but then on this autumn day her attention was directed to that tree. As the falling leaves drifted past, Cloud begun to chase after them. Soon, he ended up under Kankis’ tree.

“Meow?” Cloud meowed up to him. Kanki had kept his eyes on Akiie the whole time, so Cloud surprised him.

“Cloud! Shh!” he whispered to the kitten as silently as possible. Kanki didn’t want to be found in the tree. Not yet. But there are things one can not control. The kitten didn’t budge and kept on meowing.

“What’s wrong little one?” Akiie asked and stood up from the bench to go and get her kitten. Kanki shifted nervously in the tree, trying to remain unnoticed. Akiie squatted down next to Cloud and looked at him irresolutely. Since the cat didn’t turn his gaze away from something that was above them, Akiie decided to see what he had found. A thin layer of golden yellow leaves and a few branches separated Kanki and Akiie from each other. Akiie didn’t notice him at first, but then her eyes caught him as he shifted once again. “Kanki?” she asked silently, still not believing her eyes. Kanki laid back on the branch he was sitting on. He had been noticed. There was nothing to worry about anymore…But why he hadn’t just disappeared from the tree seemed to be a mystery for him. After all, he was able to disappear without catching attention. “What are you doing there?” Akiie asked again and shoved the leaves away from her view.

“I’m doing nothing really…” Kanki answered slightly nervously. If Akiie would find out he had been there every day, would she hate him? Akiie got slightly worried.

“Are you hiding from someone?” she asked and let the leaves return to their place. She looked around to see if she had attracted attention to herself and Kanki.

“I’m not hiding…” Kanki said as he tousled his hair and sighed. He then stood up on the branch and jumped down to the ground. The white kitten meowed again. Akiie picked him up and stood there, right opposite to Kanki.

“It’s ok if you were hiding…” Akiie started to say.

“I wasn’t hiding from you!” Kanki cut her off. Akiie blushed.

“I didn’t think you were hiding from me…” she admitted. “I thought you had run into some trouble…” she added. Kanki looked at her.

‘She really doesn’t think too highly of herself…’ Kanki thought to himself as he had seen the shy side of her that he had seen before. “Don’t sell yourself short.” Kanki said an turned away. Akiie looked at him surprised and confused. “I wasn’t sitting in the tree to hide from you. That’s true. But I have been sitting there because of you,” he admitted.

“Because of me?” Akiie asked silently. She didn’t quite understand what he had meant by that.

“Do you remember the day when a dog chased a cat to your bench?” Kanki asked from her. Akiie nodded. “Since that day, I have seen you here every single day. Sitting all by yourself on the same bench. Just opposite this tree,” he continued. “I guess you caught my attention then. I never planned to actually go and talk with you. But on that rainy day, do you remember?”

“Yes. I do…” Akiie said and nodded.

“You looked so helpless that I just couldn’t stay away.” Kanki then said. “What were you thinking? Sitting in the rain like that.” Akiie knew why, but she couldn’t tell him that she never got ill. No matter how wet and cold she was. “Anyways, I have been watching over you ever since.” Kanki explained. Akiie didn’t know what to say. She could say that she didn’t need any protection, but that would sound weird and impolite.

“Thank you…” Akiie then silently said and blushed. Kanki turned back towards her and caught her blushing.

“Why are you blushing?” Kanki asked. Akiie looked at him and blushed even harder.

“I haven’t been watched over like that before… It sounds comforting,” she replied and stroke her kitten.

“The way you act so carelessly, someone has to look after you,” Kanki said bluntly.

“Carelessly?” Akiie asked surprised.

“Well, yes. You seem not to care about what happens to you.” Kanki explained. He was the one to talk. He wasn’t taking care of himself either. Still running around in the outfit which resembled a school uniform. Not the most suited outfit for the season.

“I do care… ” Akiie tried to argue back.

“Let’s forget this…” Kanki suggested and walked away from the tree. A strong gust of wind blew his way and a dozen yellow leaves followed him to the bench. He didn’t want to make her upset nor to hurt her with his words. But somehow he couldn’t control his mouth. Akiie stood under the tree for a while and just looked at her white kitten.

“Meow?” the white fur ball meowed and turned his head towards Kanki. It was obvious that the little kitten had gotten fond of the boy. Akiie went after him.

“I’m sorry I am so troublesome,” she apologized as she stood right behind him. “I am not used to communicating with other people, so I never know how to act.” Akiie then added. Kanki turned around as he had heard that.

“You are not a troublesome person…” Kanki replied to her apology. “Forgive me for my words, I don’t know how to interact with others either. That’s why I have been sitting in that tree all day long every day,” he then admitted. He sat down on the bench. “Somehow I always manage to get into some trouble when I just walk around in town,” Kanki explained silently.

“You’ve been up there every day?” Akiie asked and sat down next to him. She placed the kitten between herself and him. Kanki nodded. “You don’t go to school then?” Akiie kept on asking.

“No, I don’t…” Kanki replied and looked at Akiie. He wanted to see her reaction to what he had said. He was hoping to find out more about that girl.

“Home schooled?” Akiie suggested.

“You could say so,” Kanki agreed. “You?” he then asked.

“I think you could say I was home schooled also,” Akiie replied with a little smile. “I think I understand why you want to spend so much time out now,” she then added.

“You do?” Kanki asked.

“When one is trapped between the walls of their home it is only natural to want to get out. I come out because I need a change. Something to do,” Akiie explained calmly. Kanki smiled. They were the same. He had never expected to find anyone who would understand what he was going through, even if he’s case was a bit different.

“You got it absolutely right,” Kanki commented with a smile. Cloud crawled up his thigh and settled down on his lap. Kanki begun to feel like he could feel free around Akiie. Like there was nothing that he had to worry about when he was next to her.

“It’s not much fun just sitting around though,” Akiie then admitted as she looked at what Cloud was up to. Kanki laughed.

“Indeed, it’s not,” he agreed willingly. “But what else could one do when there is no-one to spend time with,” he reasoned. He reached below the bench and pulled up a straw. Kanki swung it around in front of Cloud, trying to make the kitten play with him. But the kitten didn’t react. The smell of rain was in the air.

“He’s sleepy…” Akiie pointed out to him.

“Yea.. I kind of noticed that,” Kanki laughed silently. “Must be the weather,” he added and looked up to the sky. There were a few darker clouds drifting past on a smoke grey background. “Looks kind of wet up there.”

“I guess it does,” Akiie said as she looked up as well. Cloud stretched and yawned on Kankis lap.
“There is rain in the clouds,
There is rain on the ground
There is water here,
And all around…

I cant see your face, it faded away...
When the golden trees begun to sway...”
Akiie sung while gazing into the mysterious grey sky. Kanki turned his head immediately as she had begun singing. Akiies voice was silent but powerful, sweet yet harsh. He had never heard anyone sing like that before.

“Akiie, that was beautiful,” Kanki complimented silently when she had stopped singing. He didn’t take his eyes off her for a while. Akiie looked back down and blushed lightly. She had never sung when there was someone else around before. “Did you write the song yourself?” Kanki then asked.

“I did,” Akiie replied with a smile. She was quite happy because it seemed like Kanki had liked it. “It’s just the beginning of a song actually,” Akiie explained softly. ”It is still an unfinished song.”

“But it sounded very good. Even though it was a bit sad…” Kanki said and looked back at Cloud. The cats ears twitched. Akiie looked at Kanki surprised.

“Sad?” she asked. She didn’t know exactly what this song was about yet. Akiie always let her heart speak when she sung a song for the first time.

“Well. There is this feeling of sad longing in the lyrics. In the ‘I cant see your face’ part especially,” Kanki explained his thoughts. He couldn’t understand why the words spoke to him so. “But I guess the song wont be as sad once you finish it…” he then added hopefully. Kanki really didn’t like to see her in a unhappy mood, for some reason.

“I guess you’ll have to tell me what it tells you when it’s ready,” Akiie said with a smile. She didn’t want to succumb to the gloomy weather. Rain clouds were gathering above their heads.

“You’ll sing the song for me once more?” Kanki inquired. He was already waiting to hear the rest of the song, but he knew rushing things would ruin it.

“Yep,” Akiie replied and nodded cheerfully. “I don’t know when it’s going to happen, but I promise I’ll let you hear it,” she promised.

“Thank you,” Kanki replied cheerfully again. He carefully picked Cloud up from his lap and placed the sleepy cat on Akiies lap instead. “I’m sorry, but I have to leave for today,” he apologized and stood up.

“Do you really have to go?” Akiie asked. She was a little disappointed because he was leaving her behind again.

“Sorry, my family is very strict about curfews,” Kanki explained and laughed. He didn’t hope that she would understand what his family was like. After all, his family was one of a kind. Akiie smiled at him.

“I’ll see you again tomorrow?” she replied hopefully. Kanki rubbed the behind of his head.

“If a war doesn’t begin tomorrow. Sure, I’ll come here again,” he replied half joking. They both laughed. “Well, I’m off,” Kanki then said and went to his tree for a moment. Then when he had gotten his bag he turned around and added, “Don’t sit in the rain again, ok?”

“Ok,” Akiie promised and waved to Kanki as he left. When he had gotten out of her sight, Kanki quickly teleported himself to his room. He sighed and laid down on his bed.

“I’ve had it!” a loud male voice shouted from the other room. “How long are we going to have to put up with those stupid sisters!” he added even more furiously.

“Calm down Korin, everything in it’s own time. Alright?” an even deeper male voice said.

“Ognus, you always say that. Isn’t it about the time to finally get rid of them?” Korin asked his older brother. He was pacing back and forth anxiously.

“Soon…” Ognus simply replied. Kanki turned the other side. Such displays of displease were not new to him, so he didn’t take it seriously. He just wanted to fall asleep and wake up in the morning so that he could go and surprise Akiie with an idea he had though of earlier. A wonderful day was awaiting him and he couldn’t wait for it to begin.

Pt 11
“Like I wouldn’t notice the sparkle in your eyes,” Marice winked and said. She then stood up, put her right hand on Akiies left shoulder and asked “How was it then? Who is he, is he nice?” Akiie looked at Marice, she had the curious face of a little child. Akiie blushed. Marice always had been the one to know what was going on in her heart.

”His name is Kanki, we met in the park I visit daily,” Akiie explained. “At first, he didn’t even come to talk to me but one day he came over when it was pouring down… I thought I had been alone so he surprised me.” She sat down on the floor in front of her closet and fiddled with her fingers until Cloud came out of her closet and crawled up her thigh onto Akiies lap.

“Ooh! A kitten!” Marices eyes began to shine as she noticed the little white cat. “Since, when have you had him?” she inquired curiously as she tried to lure Cloud to come to her. Akiie laughed a bit, Marice was so funny when she was curious.

“He walked to me one day,” Akiie explained as her heart started to beat faster again. “Kanki had gotten him for me. He said he thought I needed a little warm companion for my cloud gazing days.” She gently petted Clouds head as memories of the past weeks flew through her mind.

“Ooh, someone is falling in love!” Marice danced around in the room.

“I am not…” Akiie tried to argue back immediately while staring at Marice ungratefully. She was dumbfounded. Couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence. ‘I couldn’t be really…’ Akiie thought to herself as she placed her free hand on her cheek, where Kanki had kissed her earlier.

“Ok then,” Marice noted as she stopped moving around in the room. It was obvious to her what the state of things was. “Go to bed, dream about something beautiful, see you in the morning!” Marice then announced and walked out of the room leaving Akiie sitting on the floor. Akiie slowly got up to change her clothes and go to bed, she couldn’t fall asleep, her heart was pounding so fast and loud when she thought about Kanki. Cloud had taken in his usual spot right next to Akiies pillow but even he couldn’t sleep when Akiie kept on looking at him. His owner softly brushed her fingers through the kittens’ fur. Clouds eyes narrowed as he begun to purr loudly.

“I wonder how it got this way.” Akiie whispered to her little pet. “How didn’t I notice this until now,” she asked the sleepy kitten. Cloud yawned widely, his back rose as he stretched before he walked to Akiies neck, where he made a new nest for himself. Clouds little, soft and warm body managed to help Akiie fall asleep. Kanki arrived at his house; just minutes after Akiie had fallen into her nightly slumber. He didn’t want to end the beautiful night that fast and that’s why he had walked home instead of teleporting himself there. He looked at his home with disgust.

“Why must I be one of them? I don’t belong here, I’d rather be a human and spend my life with Akiie.” Kanki thought to himself before entering the house. After having just walked into his room he said, “I was out finishing some things I had to do,” to the brother he saw waiting in his room.

“Good, you never rest from doing your job,” Ognus praised his little brother. “Get to bed now; you’ll need all your strength in the fight tomorrow.” Ognus set to leave the room, but Kanki stopped him before he could leave.

“Wait. Tomorrow?” he asked as he clenched his hand around Ognuses arm. A slight smirk appeared on Ognuses face.

“You weren’t here when Korin came back from one of his walks,” he explained with a satisfied expression. “You will be happy to hear this; we found out the sisters whereabouts,” he bragged.

“You did?” Kanki asked with a slightly too surprised voice. Who would have thought they would find them. And on such an unsuitable time.

“It was a matter of time. With Korin acting like he was,” Ongus reasoned, trying to ignore how naïve Kanki had just sounded. “That’s why we never stopped him.” Kanki turned to face his bother with nothing but one thing on his mind; how to make them change the date of the attack. His mind was set.

“So, you’re sure we’re going tomorrow?” he asked seriously. Ognus looked at his youngest brother.

“Why. Not a good time for you?” he pried. Kanki turned away with a bitter face.

“No actually I have plans for tomorrow,” he snapped quite arrogantly. “Cant we reschedule?” Ognus brushed Kankis hand off his arm.

“Little brother, you can reschedule,” Ognus said rather coldly. “You know as good as the others. This is what we’ve been waiting for.” He gave Kanki a slight glare but he knew that it was just his playful side that made him request what he had just asked for. Well, that’s what he thought to know at least. “Don’t worry about your plans,” he then commented. “You’ll have time for them afterwards.” Kankis brother walked out of the room. With having accomplished nothing he had wanted, Kanki laid on his bed disappointedly.

“This is just typical of them” he thought as he clenched his fist around the bed sheets. “Guess I can’t do much about it,” Kanki cursed himself for not being incisive enough. “Akiie, I wish things would be different…” he thought over and over again while he had closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep. A few hours later the sun was already shining brightly in the morning sky. Nothing could have suggested what was coming up later that day. Kanki resentfully opened his eyes, the black ceiling never seemed to be so depressing, the dark wallpaper was just as his brothers wanted it to be, dark, blackish red, with a symbol of his dark self on the wall, remembering him, that he is one of the bad guys. He raised his hand towards the ceiling, tightened his fist slowly and said “I’d leave this place, only if I could. Akiie, I hope you can make me feel like a normal boy.” Soon after that Martus knocked on the door.

“You really need to change your habits bro,” he complained, “We can’t even wake you up when you keep making that darn bubble around your room.” Kanki glared at the door for a moment before standing up. He opened the door enough to show that he was indeed awake.

“Well I could do that,” Kanki admitted, “But it would totally be bad for me if you run into my room when ever you feel like it.” Martus just smirked.

“Sorry bout that, “ he said while running his hand through his long sleek hair. “Well, you’re awake, get ready, we’re going soon.” Martus said and left with a sour expression. He couldn’t help but to think that his brother was still mad about that incident a few years back. “Who could have guessed he didn’t like stuff like that…” he murmured to himself. “I would have rejoiced if I would have gotten a present like that.”

“Admit it, no one but you likes those vile creatures,” Weng commented from the hallway.

“They’re not vile at all!” Martus protested loudly. “Snakes are as elegant as a pet can be.” He said with determination. Weng couldn’t help but to roll his eyes.

“Whatever you say,” He said and leaned on the wall. “But don’t you even try to sneak some in our rooms like you did to Kanki.” He glared at his brother. “Not all of us have been given the power to get a good night sleep like he has.”

“Wake up sleepyhead!” Marice said, while trying to wake up Akiie who was still under her blanket fast asleep.

“Uh! What? Do I have to get up already?” Akiie yawned as she stat up laying the covers aside. She stretched once and asked, “Is it certain they are going to attack us today? I have a place I must be at.”

“Nothing is certain my dear, nothing,” Marice said as she walked out of Akiies room. She turned around and winked. “I’m sure you’ll make it to the park in time,” she said cheerfully and left. Since there was nothing better to do for the time being, Akiie put on her day clothes and went to the others.

“Good morning,” she said when she had entered the living room. Everyone seemed to be in quite a foul mood that morning. Azure stood up and looked at Akiie.

“We. Might have to move somewhere else,” she announced abruptly. Akiie felt a little bit confused at first but then she realized what kind of position they were in. If the brother who was lurking outside their house had noticed something, and IF they had decided to come face them in a fight after all these years, surely there would be trouble involved. Furthermore, they had an advantage over the sisters. The moment of surprise.

“They sure like to be in the offensive mode…”Akiie sighed and sat down on the couch. “We’re nothing but sitting ducks to them now.” Recca, Monique and Airka looked at Akiie with a sorrowful face.

“If we could do something against that, we would…” Selara said trying to find an excuse. Akiies head rose as she looked at her sisters.

“What do you mean if we could?” she asked. “Do you mean we’re really
going to stay here just to wait for them?” Akiie inquired bitterly and stood up once again.

“But sweetie…” Marice tried to calm Akiie down.

“It makes sense, doesn’t it?” Akiie rambled. “We get out of here, far enough so no one will see us. No one around us will get hurt. We can do that, cant we?” She took a deep breath and swallowed hard. “We at least. Have to make sure we will have a home to come back to.” She said before she turned away decisively to face the window. None of the sisters had experienced Akiie as fired up as she was at that moment so they were kind of lost.

“We’ll leave right away,” Azure said and turned to leave the house. “If we must face them, then we’ll face them. No way around that,” she admitted sadly. But then, in a fired up kind of way, she added, “We will be meeting them on a neutral ground.” Azue smiled. “Where no one will be hurt because of us.” Everyone stood up immediately and prepared to leave their home behind for the time being. But just as they had reached an uninhabited area, they got a nasty surprise.

“I don’t think that running will be helpful for you right now,” Darus commented as the brothers gathered around the sisters one by one.

“You know, the powers you just used,” Solito cleverly pointed out. ”They’re damn easy to track down.”

“And what’s most important,” Ognus said as he reached the oldest sister. “This time you’re going to die!” he whispered in her ear loudly enough that everyone could hear it.

“Don’t get us wrong now,” Azure said and transformed into Truth. “We weren’t going to hide.” Soon all the seven sisters, Hope, Truth, Love, Help, Intuition, Inspiration and Trust were standing in front of the brothers.

“So, you’re showing us your offensive side at last?” Ognus mocked the sisters. Kanki just stayed in the furthest point possible for the time being. He couldn’t help but to think this all was pointless and utterly stupid. His brothers should have known that there hasn’t been a successful fight in years. The sisters were tough. They always managed to come out on the top.

“Let’s just get it over with,” Kanki hissed as he walked closer to the group of young women.

“Here we go boys!” Ognus shouted as he begun the first actual attack against the sisters. He targeted the oldest sister, the other brothers just randomly chose their opponents. The ones who didn’t like the situation the most were Akiie and Kanki. Since they had agreed to meet in the park on that day they were both quite absent minded. Staying alive was good enough for them. Just so that Kanki could go see Akiie, and Akiie could go see Kanki. That was all that mattered.

Pt 13

“What’s happening?” Akiie asked when she noticed the unnatural change in their surroundings.

“Please, don’t be afraid, I’ll explain everything…” Kanki said as he tried to force his weakened body to stand up. Akiie couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She didn’t know if she should help Kanki or if it would be better to keep away from him. She knew she wanted to rush over to him in her heart, but she couldn’t move. She just kept on looking at Kanki with eyes full of doubt and fear. When Kanki was completely standing up he drew a symbol on his forehead with his left hands forefinger. After doing that his body started to glow in a dark red colour. As soon as the glow disappeared, Kanki no longer looked like he did before; his hair and clothes were changed.

“You are the doubt brother? “ Akiie gasped and automatically backed away from him. She felt deceived now that she knew who he was. Kanki was even more shocked as he heard her say something totally different from what he had expected. “Why must you be one of them?” Akiie asked silently with regret.

“How did you know, that I’m one of the brothers?” Kanki asked as he tried to walk closer to Akiie. He then stopped and looked at her with eyes as sad as he was for revealing his identity. “I’m sorry I’m one of them. I wish I wasn’t. The thing I want most is to be a normal human like you,” Kanki explained. “I just want to be a normal human and share my life with a normal girl like you…” he repeated as to convince her. Akiie had stood on one spot for the whole time, but now it was her turn to go to Kanki.

“I want to be a normal human too,” Akiie admitted silently. She then transformed into her Hope form and added, “But I’m afraid we can’t be normal.” Kankis eyes grew wide as he recognised who Akiie was.

“Hope…” Kanki sighed. He should have recognised her earlier. “I knew you looked too much alike,” he said as Akiie stopped right in front of him.

“I’m so sorry Kanki,” Akiie said as she held her hand close to where Recca had hurt him earlier.

“Don’t be sorry Akiie, it wasn’t your fault, ” Kanki said as he covered his wound with his hand again.

“You have to take it easy Kanki,” Akiie said and supported Kanki who was clearly exhausted. “Let’s go to the bench,” she then suggested as she saw him clenching his fist. Kanki nodded and they then set off to find the nearest bench. Akiie sat down first once they had found one. Then she helped Kanki to lay on the bench, placing his head on her lap. Kanki then continued their earlier conversation.

“I’m actually glad it happened…” he admitted silently.

“You’re glad?” Akiie asked with astonishment. She looked at his face now, not knowing how surprised her expression was.

“I’m very glad,” Kanki said earnestly. “I’m glad we don’t have to hide ourselves from each other anymore,” he added with a faint smile. Akiie understood what he meant immediately. She smiled.

“It’s indeed a relief,” she agreed willingly but then she glanced at Kankis wounded side again. “I just find it sad that you had to get hurt for this to come out,” Akiie sighed with regret.

“It can’t be helped,” Kanki commented quite cheerfully considering how much pain he had to suppress. “We were both determined to act like normal humans when we were together.”

“We both did very well, didn’t we?” Akiie mused. “I never even thought that you could be someone like me.”

“Even though I used my powers when I was with you,” Kanki admitted.

“You did? When?” Akiie inquired curiously. She couldn’t remember anything that should have warned her about Kankis hidden identity. Kanki smiled as he realised that Akiie was unable to point out when that had happened.

“In the amusement park,” he pointed out. “I thought it could be a bit loud for you, so I muffled the sounds of the park just a bit.” Akiie laughed silently at that remark.

“Thank you for being so considerate, but I think it would have been fine without your interference also,” she teased her companion a little. “I had a great time nonetheless,” Akiie said and blushed lightly.

“I’m glad you did,” Kanki said and looked up to Akiie. “I enjoyed every minute I spent with you…” he confessed seriously. Akiie blushed harder now. “Every second that passes while I’m with you eases the stinging pain in my side,” Kanki said and closed his eyes. Akiie carefully stroke his hair trying hard not to disturb him. She looked up in the sky. There should have been a few early stars up there by the time, but Kankis shield prevented them from shining down upon them. Tears started to fall from Akiies eyes as everything that had taken place that day all hit her at once. The battle, the wound, the revelations. ”Please, don’t be sad,” Kanki said as he opened his eyes. Akiie looked down at Kanki, he had her tears on his forehead.

“I’m sorry I woke you up.” Akiie said and smiled sweetly as she put her hand on his chest. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yes, I’m feeling much better being here with you. I wish we could stay here like this forever,” Kanki answered and put his hand on Akiies hand, which was still on his chest.

“Do you think our families will never stop fighting?” Akiie asked and looked at the ground in front of the bench. “We’ll never be able to live like normal people, will we?” Kanki pulled her gaze back to his face.

“I’m sure we can make them stop the fighting. We just have to show them it is useless to keep on wasting their energy on hatred.” Kanki reasoned.

“But how are we going to do that?” Akiie asked silently, not exactly believing it could work.

“We’ll have to make them listen to us. We have to show them what we have in mind,” Kanki replied as he looked deep into Akiies eyes. “What do you think; are your sisters worried about you yet? It is getting really late.”

“Time doesn’t mean anything to me while we’re together,” Akiie replied, looking into Kankis eyes. Kanki pressed his hand gently around Akiies hand, keeping it safely in his gentle grasp. They sat there, with no noises disturbing their peace for a while more. The black leaves of the dark trees were totally still as there was no air movement in Kankis black bubble. Suddenly a warm wind blew past Akiie and the sounds of the city returned. She looked down at Kanki surprised.

“We must go back home now,” he said solemnly. “We mustn’t give them reasons for hunting each other down.”

“You’re right.” Akiie agreed against her will and helped Kanki to stand up. “Be careful when you get home,” she scolded him. “Don’t do anything that might make your condition worse.”

“Don’t worry, I wont,” Kanki promised with a small smile on his face.

“I hope the wounds are going to heal fast,” Akiie said and blushed. “I’ll be waiting here in the park for you,” she vowed looking deep into Kankis eyes. “Every single day...” Kanki smiled and wrapped his arms softly around her.

“I love you Akiie.” Kanki said silently into her ear and then teleported himself to his room.

“I love you too…” Akiie whispered into the warm summer wind.