Bittersweet Awakenings
Prologue

Rewritten: 6.13.03
Edited: 6.13.03 by Jessica (Broken Dissidence) Thanks!

Author’s Note: My story. My characters. Back off.

Reading Notes:

San- is a Japanese honorific suffix and it indicates respect. It also indicates that you are not familiar with the person. In this case, Zhou is just a polite brat. ;
Chan- is a term attached to the end of someone’s name that, in this case also, is commonly used as a sign of familiarity or affection.
Gomen Nasai- I’m sorry.
Oneesama- is a really polite way of saying big sister. Raine’s little sister really looks up to her so she calls her oneesama as opposed to oneechan. ;

Ah one more thing. I changed the names during the rewrite. You can read the old prologue in Bittersweet Awakenings: Old Version.

It took a great amount of effort on her part, but she managed to lift her arm towards the retreating figure. "Sanna, wait! How could you do this?" she said. The girl she halted had been walking out the door, and her curly brown pigtails bounced gaily on her shoulders. She stopped and looked back at the seven people on the ground, including the other girl with her black hair and piercing gray eyes. All seven teenagers on the ground were bruised up pretty badly, but did not seem to carry any fatal wounds. The only one conscious at the moment was the girl with her shoulder length coal colored hair and piercing gray eyes.

Sanna smiled as one would smile to a dear friend, winked, and said in a flippant tone," Because I can." She turned around without so much as a glance towards her old friends, and walked out as the lab doors closed. The girl on the ground looked bitterly towards the spot where Sanna had been, but it was pointless. She was practically blind at the moment; her vision blurred to the point that she could only make out blobs and colors.

“So it ends here.” She thought rather tiredly. “We're all going to die here on Christmas Eve.” She didn’t know why, but for that one moment, she felt a serene calm invade her mind. It was if she had already given up and accepted her fate to die. But then a new burst of cold fury suddenly surged through her body, and she cried out with the rage of betrayal.

Clenching her fists, she ignored the pain that shot down her arms as she struggled to pull herself to a sitting position. She dragged herself over to his body and touched his face. It was cold. Panic arising; she fumbled madly for his hand to check for a pulse. But there was none. “No…” a desperate plea came out of her mouth. “No…”

“This has to be a mistake,” she thought,” there’s no way he could be dead. There’s no way!” She pressed her ear against his chest. There wasn’t a heartbeat. Trembling, she moved her finger under his nose, but no air came out. She checked his pulse again, but still there was none. She choked back a sob as the inevitable truth hit her.

”He's dead,” she whispered incredulously, her voice rising to a wild shout at the end, “they're all dead. Now what do I do? What do I do?!” She pulled all their bodies together so that they were close, and heaved heavily at the physical strain on her body. The poison was getting to her, and soon, she too would be dead. She clung onto his body, desperately seeking what little comfort she could.

She began to cry brokenly at the prospect that she was the last one alive, and that they were all dead. It wasn’t fair! Why was she the last?! Why did she have to bear the weight of Sanna’s betrayal? Why did he have to die before her? Why on Christmas Eve?! WHY!? The pain in her chest welled up and became so great that she wished she could curl up and die right then as she sobbed and sobbed. The tears flowed, but the pain remained. And she was so angry. They would all die here, and Sanna would live. It wasn’t fair.

"Not now!" she suddenly cried out to the ceiling. She lowered her voice. “Not now… please…”

Someone coughed and she felt a glimmer of hope spark within herself. Could there be another survivor? A boy's voice spoke softly from her left. "What happened?"

"Zhou?" asked the girl. "Is that you?"

She let go of his body and reached out blindly, but did not meet anything. Frustrated, she brought her hands to face and began wiping at the tears furiously at an attempt to clear her eyes. She began to cry some more as hiccups made their way out of mouth. “Damn!” Hiccup. “Zhou? Where,” Hiccup. “are you?!” Someone gently pried her hands away from her face and she stared at the owner of the hands, though she could only she a blurry figure.

"Raine-san! What happened to your eyes?" he cried. His spiked crimson hair was messed up, and his deep, dark brown eyes looked at her glazed eyes with concern.

"I can't see." She hiccupped out. It was hard for her to talk amidst the hiccups.

"Oh my god." he said," That bitch. I'll kill her."

Raine giggled uncharacteristically. “Zhou.” Hiccup. “You don’t believe,” Hiccup. “…in God, silly.” Hiccup.

“Raine-san.” He said soothingly,” Calm down. Don’t panic.”

Raine giggled again and then hiccupped. “I’m not panicking.” Hiccup. “You are. I’m calm. Yup.” Hiccup. “I’m very calm. You’re the one who’s panicking. Yup.” Hiccup.

“Raine-san!” he said more firmly this time, and he put a little pressure on her wrists to emphasize his point.

Raine didn’t giggle this time. Her lip quivered as she said brokenly,” He’s dead.” Hiccup. “No pulse.” Hiccup. “I checked.” Hiccup. “I checked twice.” Hiccup. Sob. “No pulse!” Hiccup. “No heartbeat!” Hiccup. Sob. “Nothing!” Sob. “Nothing at all!” She tried to bury her face in her hands again, but forgot that Zhou was still holding onto her wrists.

Zhou didn’t say anything as he let go of her wrists and embraced her, albeit a bit awkwardly. It was not something he did often, but he knew she needed comforting. She sobbed and sobbed into his shoulder as he patted her gently on the back. Somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to say that everything would be all right. It just didn’t seem appropriate, especially after all that happened.

Zhou closed his eyes and continued patting her on the back until her sobs and hiccups subsided. They stayed like that for a few moments more before he called her by her nickname,” Ri-san, are you better now?”

Raine shook her head but said shakily,” We should leave.”

He began to nod in agreement, but caught himself. She couldn’t see. He said,” Yes, we should. But what should we do about the others?”

She trembled as she said,” We should get out of here first, and get medical help. Then we come back for the others and… and…” She couldn’t bring herself to say,’ and then we bury them.’ Because if she said that, it would be admitting that they were really dead, that they were…gone.

Zhou got up first and began to pull Raine up, but she began to cough violently. She clutched her hands at her throat as she began to hack up blood. Zhou stared in horror at the small pool of blood that formed from her coughing.

“Your lungs are damaged.” He said. “But how…” And his eyes widened in realization. “The poison!” And once again he cursed Sanna, but profanity was very uncommon and somehow very funny coming from his mouth.

Raine laughed and said,” Don’t use swear words Zhou. It doesn’t become you.” He scowled slightly. Raine felt it and laughed. “Don’t scowl. It doesn’t become you either.” And he stopped scowling rather sheepishly, amazed at her perception.

By now the coughs had stopped, so Zhou carefully picked Raine up in his arms and put her on one of the lab tables to lie down. She breathed short, shallow breaths quickly.

Zhou said,” Wait here, ok?” He squeezed her hand reassuringly. “I’m going to go see if I can open the door. Once we get out, we can go to Heilwig-sensei. Then we can go and find the others again. Just like we did the first time, ne?” Raine smiled, and nodded slightly to show that she had heard him.

Just as Zhou was about to let go of her hand, he fell over, his eyes wide open. Black blood began to ooze out of his mouth as he said softly,” Gomen nasai, Raine. I…”

“Zhou?” Raine said, her voice getting louder each time she called his name. “Zhou? Zhou? ZHOU?!” And then she knew when he didn’t answer that she was truly the last one alive now. She closed her eyes and tried to will away the familiar pain in her chest and the tightening of her throat. But it didn’t work. Tears began to stream down her face once more.

Now she waited silently for death to come when she heard a child singing “Silent Night”. The voice reminded her slightly of her younger sister. Somehow, that thought was reassuring, and she wasn’t so scared and lonely anymore. Softly she began to sing along. She regretted not being able to fulfill her promise of coming home for Christmas. The music faded away with the passing moments, and Raine had begun to fall into a deep slumber.

“I'm sorry,” she thought. ”I’m so sorry. I won’t be home for Christmas. In fact, I’ll never, ever get to go home again…ever.”

A little girl with short, thick black hair waited anxiously for her sister to come home. She paced back and forth between the fireplace and the Christmas tree constantly, unable to ignore that bad feeling niggling at her. “Nothing’s wrong.” She told herself surely. “Raine-oneesama is invincible!” Having reaffirmed her conviction, she went to stare out the window as the crystallized flakes drifted down in millions.

Her parents were worried, but they hid it from the girl. Their older daughter was over a couple hours late. They had just barely put their two year old son to sleep, when he was too exhausted to wait up any longer for his older sister. They had called the school several times earlier to no avail. There was no answer. Soon, they ushered the little girl into her room, promising her that her dear beloved oneesama would be home soon. She was just delayed a little. The disappointed girl grudgingly agreed to go bed but not before she heard the phone ring.

“Hello. Good evening,” said her mother. A pause. “Ah! Can you please wait while I turn on the phone speakers? I would like my husband to hear this too.” A click. Her mother put the phone back after she pushed the button. An earnest female voice began to talk in what she thought was a soothing manner.

“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Makino, I am the vice-principal of your daughter’s school. Her teacher-guardian at school says that she saw your daughter, Raine Makino, just moments before they were about to leave for the airport together. Her teacher-guardian ran after her, but was unable to keep up. That was five hours ago. We are still unable to locate her.”

The little girl gasped quietly in her room. Her sister was missing.

Mr. and Mrs. Makino stood there, stunned.

“H-hello? Mr. and Mrs. Makino? Are you still there?”

“Y-yes.” Answered Mrs. Makino.

“We are doing our best to find your daughter right now. Rest assured. If we cannot find her on the campus by tomorrow evening, we will get the police department involved. She will be found, no matter what, whether she is alive or…”

“Don’t you dare say what I think you’re going to say!” said Mr. Makino hissed angrily, but softly. “First, you have the nerve to tell us that one of your faculty members lost my daughter, and then you have the gall to tell us that she may possibly be dead through your incompetence! This is simply unacceptable. I want my daughter found, and I want her found soon! She will be found or else!”

“Mr. Mizuno,” the voice said rather nervously,” I-I understand that you are upset, b- but…”

Mrs. Makino interrupted. She said calmly and coolly,” We are MORE than upset, Ms. Vice-principal. Call us back when you have found our daughter.”

“B-but…” Click. Bleep. Bleep. Bleep.

Only after she had turned off the speaker for the phone did she rest against her husband’s shoulder and cry. Her husband tried his best to hold back his own tears so that he could be her support, but he failed miserably as teardrop after teardrop slid down his face. They were both surprised feel their younger daughter hug them with a solemn face void of tears.

“It’ll be okay mama, papa. Raine-oneesama is invincible! She’ll come home! I promise!”

Her parents smiled rather shakily and patted her on the head, calling her a good girl. She beamed.

“So don’t cry anymore okay?” she said cheerfully. Her parents assented and ushered her into her room for the second time. They returned to the living room, and began to wait for news.

Their eldest daughter was missing.

End prologue

If you notice the written date, this prologue was written last year. I have a lot of stories, and bits and pieces of stories on my computer. I’m finally feeling motivated enough to work on them again somewhat.

Read + Reviews more chapters.

And I've sort of gotten the hang of the html stuff to make it look the way I want but bah, it's so much work. I have to go back to my other stories to do this. XD