"Don't allow others to control who you become. Write your own story."
Fast. It's all too fast. Everything. It's too fast ... Too fast!
Reika turned back and forth, her mind darting from area to area, her eyes flashing person to person. A headache began to build in between her brows, and the deafening sounds of the world around her momentarily stunned her. Unable to control herself, her hands lifted to her ears, trembling the entire way.
"Stop ... Stop ... Everyone stop ... The fighting ... It's too ... Too much ..."
Fingers curling over the tops of her ears, her knees began to tremble. Images darted before her eyes - images that only she could see. Images that no one else could view. Only her.
Images that were evil.
Her heart thundered in her chest, her lips pressing firmly together, and just as the glimpses threatened to overwhelm her sanity, they disappeared. The sudden absence caused her to feel an odd emptiness in her chest.
As she straightened, Reika's brown eyes flashed.
"Angelo."
The person in question froze, the sound of his name being uttered from her lips stunning him and rooting him in place.
"Enough."
After several tense minutes - which ticked by rather slowly - of pressurized staring between the young woman and man, he slowly straightened and relaxed his fists. A toss of his head allowed his hair to fall back from his face, revealing a slightly disconcerting smirk on his lips.
"Ah ... It's about time, Daímonas," he said softly. His voice held a musical lilt that could entice even the most stubborn of people.
It was also the first time that the boy had uttered a word around any member of DA.
Reika's expression neglected to change. Instead, she ran her fingers through her hair, which seemed to lengthen itself on its own. By the time she had finished running her fingers through it and had tossed it to the side, it was nearly to her knees in length.
"What is the point of this senseless fighting, Angelo? Your war is with me, not them."
That only brought forth a loud, echoing laugh from the boy's lips. It was a laugh that could chill ice, and even she felt goosebumps scatter across her flesh.
"That may be true, but it's quite enjoyable playing with them. They are toys after all. Is that not why you made the decision to venture to the forbidden place ...."
"... Dear sister?"
Her lips tightened and an instant Reika was toe-to-toe with Angel, the skirt of her nightgown fluttering in the breeze. Her face had changed along with her hair, giving her cheekbones a slightly more angular look and her chin a bit more of a point.
"That is none of your concern, Angelo! My business is my own, just as yours is yours, and it shall always remain so! Blood relation or not, what I do is nothing for you to worry about! In fact, I would prefer you to not be a part of my life at all!"
A dark look passed over Angel's face. "It is not your right to tell me what I can and cannot do. Besides ... Are you truly willing to go against His orders?" he growled out, his hand clenching at his side.
Reika's eyes narrowed and her own hands copied his, her teeth clenching together.
"To Hell with Him! He hasn't the right to treat living creatures as though they are simply pawns - including us! We have a right to our own freedom, and he should not be allowed to use us in such a manner!"
The angered expression remained on Angel's face, which only gave a slightly more menacing appearance to the smirk that crossed his lips at her statement.
"Is that why you created this place? So that you could be free? Because you could never possibly be free. Do you honestly believe that any of the people here would want to be around you if they knew what you are - and if they knew that you are the reason for their being here?"
Reika flinched at that, her eyes narrowing further, which pulled a sinister chuckle from Angel's lips.
"That's what I thought, Daímonas. Now, enough of your silly games - it is due time for us to return home," Angel said, chastising her as though she were simply a child who needed guidance. His hand moved towards her arm, his fingers curling around it. In an instant she had grabbed his wrist and flipped him, her movement nothing but a blur to those who watched. Paying no heed to the shouts of her comrades, Reika brought her leg up, driving her knee into Angel's abdomen. He let out a grunt of pain as a loud snapping sound echoed through the air, undoubtedly belonging to the breaking of several ribs. Instead of that hindering him, however, he was on her in an instant, his hand gripping her arm in a bruising grasp. He yanked hard, the sound of her shoulder dislocating sickening as it snapped, and just before she hit the ground, she pushed off with her feet, using the arm that he held her with as a base. Her legs shot up and wrapped around his neck in an unbreakable grasp. A twist of her body brought him to the ground, her arms quickly moving to wind around his legs and hold them up so as to disable his attempts to get free. She used her thighs to push his face further into the dirt and grass, digging his mouth into it.
"Eat shit, Angelo!"
In a flash of blinding white light he was gone, leaving Reika kneeling awkwardly on the ground with her arms up and over the back of her head. Several moments passed before she lowered them and pushed herself to her feet. The people surrounding the area where the fight had ensued were speechless, their eyes wide and uncertain as they stared at the mysterious person before them.
How much ... Did they hear ...?
Tilting her head to the side, she glanced at a nearby puddle, only then noticing the differences in her features. In fact, she was nearly unrecognizable. Her cheekbones were far more chiseled, her chestnut hair immensely longer, and her nose was noticeably more angular. Large, hazel-brown eyes shimmered in the moonlight and were framed with long, thick black lashes, giving her a smoky look, and her chin was obviously more pointed.
Stifling a sigh, she raised her arms and wrapped them around herself. There was no going back from all of this. The people in Death's Alliance would undoubtedly all discover the truth about her, and instead of focusing their rage on Angel, they would turn it onto her.
And she hadn't even known what - or who - she was until a mere few minutes ago.
Her head slowly rose, her eyes catching Tatsuya's beaten body on the ground. It took her a matter of seconds to close the distance between the two of them, and when she had, she looked down at him, not entirely sure what to say. Her mouth opened and closed several times, but finally she simply dropped to her knees. Her hands lifted, trembling, as though to touch him, but she quickly drew them back, visibly afraid of what his reaction might be. They folded together in her lap, her head slowly tilting downwards and casting several strands of hair to slightly hide her face.
"I'm ... I'm so sorry, Tatsuya-Senpai ..."
