salut et quoi de neuf (hi and what's new)! sorry it took so long...i had finals, meetings, make-ups, and small spurts of obsession over stuff (hehe, only the usual). anyways, here's the first part of the second case, and the titles translate to "the fear, the names, and the clock". um, i don't think i translated act one (the letter, the scar, the destiny) or act two (the gift, the girl, the way) - but now i just did. i'll try to be more consistant with that... read, review, and enjoy, s'il vous plaît!

Act Three: La Peur, Les Noms, La Pendule

3. La Peur

His breath fogged up the glass as he leaned his head against the police car window. Rain rhythmically pounded on the car, sending echoes of the noise through the soundless space. As he closed his eyes, he felt every nerve in his body begin to fall into a sleep-like state; but he wasn’t alarmed. Nothing felt as comforting as rest to him. It was a status that hung between life and death to him. Eternity was a better name for it…yet unlike eternity, it didn’t last forever. The world went on as soon as dawn came.

He was sure that he was asleep now. All around him was silent and tranquil, respecting his space. Not only that, but he was safe - from himself, from the world, from his destiny.

A single beam of a spotlight shined in the shadows of his resting mind. In an organized manner, an unusual amount of beetles crawled into the light, their numerous legs creating the slightest noise of scratching on the surface of the lit area. After a few seconds, the moving stopped. In the middle of the beam of light, one name was spelled in beetles: “Kizu”. Before he could react, another spotlight appeared next to the first, this time with a young boy lying under the light. And he wasn’t moving…

“AHH!” Kazuki screamed as he woke up, finding Arisu staring at him with a look of fear. “D-did you-”

“No,” Arisu cut in calmly. She leaned back in her seat. “You woke up on your own...but after quite a bit of tossing and turning.” Quietly, she watched Kazuki curse under his breath, holding the arm with the scar as if it were in pain. “Is it hurting now?”

He shook his head, glancing briefly at her. “Nah, I hit it on the door when…”

“Sorry,” Arisu muttered, returning her attention to outside the window. Her hands were folded together neatly…almost as if she were expecting something to happen at a specific time. After two seconds, she tapped her index fingers. When ten seconds passed, she tapped her thumbs. Kazuki continued to watch her time-tracking ritual, determined to break the code.

“No wonder you’re not itching to get out of here,” he began confidently. “There isn’t a murder out there - but another crime you’ve been watching that happens at the same time each night.”

Arisu turned to face him, and blinked in surprise. Somebody had actually cracked one of her subtle codes that she changed frequently. Her lips pulled into a dark yet sweet smirk. “But it is murder. Not one, Kizu, but several.”

Kazuki thought over her words for a few seconds. “Like…a secret society. .?”

“Tout à fait (exactly).” Arisu reached over for her seatbelt lock and released it.

He sighed in response. “Stop it with the French! You know I have no idea what you’re saying!”

“That’s why I use it,” she responded with a grin. After she was free from her seatbelt, she pulled a worn-out backpack out from under her seat. A pair of expensive-looking, polarized lens sunglasses were handed to Kazuki. “Wear these,” Arisu ordered, putting hers on.

Kazuki stared at the sunglasses in disgust. “Bijoux, are you serious? We’re going to look tacky wearing sunglasses without the sun in the sky,” he pointed out. As he read her poker-faced response, he reluctantly put them on. “Next time, I get to-”

His sentence was interrupted by the images of his dream flashing into his vision, and his irritated scar. This time, he could see the boy’s face clearer - and a tattoo of a beetle was visible on the side of his neck. He tucked the information neatly into his memory while he tackled a more pressing problem: his scar. The skin burned and he felt blood gather to the surface, almost as if the skin was being pulled apart. He knew that was ridiculous. It was covered and out of harm’s way. But his connection with death was open and exposed.

“H-hey?! Are you okay?” Bijoux reached over him to unlock his door and push the door open, allowing the pelting rain in. While she grabbed her backpack, she pushed him out. “Come on, we’ve got to go in,” she muttered, trying her hardest to continue on schedule while he was obviously in pain.

She led him to the curb, covered by the run-down building’s roof. His breathing was rushed, and he clutched his arm. Carefully, she pulled up his sweatshirt sleeve to get to the gauze covering the scar. Nervously, she swallowed, unsure of how much she would help.

“Sorry - please forgive me,” she whispered as she ripped about five centimeters of the bandage off of his skin. What she saw puzzled her…it appeared the same as always, but blood outlined the rough edges of the cut. In the end, it was one long, red “S”. Perplexed, she covered the scar again.

Whether or not it was of any assistance to him, she would never know. Yet his breathing became regulated, and he slumped over his knees. Bijoux observed wordlessly as she sat next to him on the sidewalk. So far, things weren’t going according to plan.

Once several minutes had passed, he stood up uneasily, spitting into the street as he did. “We go in…and look for beetles.” He pointed a finger at the cracked concrete door with a flickering light bulb suspended by a thin wire over the entrance.

The word “beetles” made Bijoux - a normally fearless girl - flinch.

3. Les Noms

They would have never been able to guess what was past the dim alleyway that they came in through. Unintentionally, they were trapped in a poorly lit, chilly concrete labyrinth; and Arisu was sure that she would have to face some severe consequences from her father…if they ever found a way out. She shivered, and tugged on her sweatshirt sleeves, trailing Kizu, who seemed to have some sense of direction.

“W-what…do you think this is?” Bijoux breathed out, her exhaled air becoming a cloud of steam released into the atmosphere.

Kizu took a step back, checking over his shoulder to find Bijoux examining the walls, with foreign inscriptions carved all over them. “Well, if we figured out that we’re after a secret society,” he began, wandering over to his left to trace over a few engravings, “then, I’d say that we’re in their hideout - but that’s just me.” As his finger grazed over the letters, a sharp point of concrete nicked him.

“Watch it!” Bijoux warned, grabbing his hand to inspect his diminutive wound. A small drop of blood that reflected the faint light around them glistened on his finger. “Do you even know what these are?” she asked in reference to the walls.

He shook his head in response. “Can you read this?” he questioned back, pointing to a line that seemed to be covered in a smear of faded red paint.

Bijoux leaned in, focusing her eyes on four names etched in the wall. “It says…Hisoki, Nara…Akane…oh my-” A hand flew over her mouth in shock. “Kazuki, your name is on here,” she murmured behind her hand. “Who are the others?”

Ignoring Bijoux’s warning, Kizu continued to trace the names. “Hisoki was my father. Nara was my mother…Akane was my guardian. As for why I’m here…” He faced her, his attitude unreadable. “Maybe this society has the answers Brigitte was talking about. Come on, let’s keep moving.” Without another word, he removed his touch from the wall.

“K-Kizu…” Like a shadow, she moved directly behind him to dive deeper into the maze. With each step further, the doubt accumulated within Bijoux, playing tricks on her mind. What would be at the end? Was there someone expecting them? If so, they could blame her for selfishly forcing Kizu into danger. When it all came down to it, the cause of many unfortunate events in her life could be traced back to her-

“Watch out!” Kizu warned, jumping back against the wall and pushing Bijoux into the wall in an attempt to protect her. “I’ll give you my apologies later,” he vowed in a hushed voice while gripping her wrist.

She shakily nodded, locking her nervous breath inside her chest and refusing to exhale. There, right in front of her eyes, an object of terror for her scuttled past. But, there wasn’t only one - there were hundreds moving in structured rows past them through the labyrinth. Her eyes practically doubled in size, catching every move the beetles made. Being so close to them made her skin crawl and her stomach turn upside down, but she refused to show any signs of weakness.

“We’re continuing,” Kizu announced, pressing up as close to the wall as he could. “Stay to the sides.”

Bijoux groaned, but obeyed, making sure to stay within a few meters of Kizu. When he turned, she reached her hand around the corner, just to assure herself that she wouldn’t be left behind. This was…surreal. Everything she encountered was not simply a game of “line up the clues”. Something larger than all she knew was behind this - something that was potentially a threat to both her’s and Kizu’s lives.

Abruptly, they came to a halt. Bijoux peeked around the corner at Kizu, and was taken aback at what she saw. The maze ended here - in what appeared to be a plain slab of concrete in the middle with multiple entrances and exits back into the maze. A spiral pattern was engraved on the top of the stone…but something else was covering the middle. And that was the boy Kizu had seen in his dream.

Kizu turned to face the wall, slamming his fist on it without a care of the jagged edges from the cut concrete. “Damn it…” he mumbled in a mix of frustration and agony. “Too late…”

Curiously, Bijoux brushed past him and took a few steps closer to the middle, noticing the only obvious source of light coming from above the platform. It’s breathtaking beam pulled in her attention, confusing her. After staring at the light bulb like a dazed bug, she shook her head, focusing on the victim next. When she knelt down to examine the boy’s still form, she gasped.

The words in ink next to the boy’s hand made her take a step back: “Come and get me…Kizu.”

3. La Pendule

“W-what do we do?” Bijoux stuttered out, trying to ignore the fact that Kizu had the victim slumped over his shoulder. His arms were bruised, his skin soft tan under the dirt covering him, and he was barely clothed. Compared to the other case files she had peeked at, this one was different. No, this one appeared to be from another world entirely.

“We get out.” The words echoed into the shadows, but Kizu stood tall, even with the extra weight on him. Contradicting his own order, he remained in the same spot, as if he were waiting for something.

“And…how do we do that?”

Kizu nodded to his right shoulder. “I’m waiting for him. It might take a while though - I don’t know how long he’s been here.”

“Oh.” Bijoux reached behind her to flip her sweatshirt hood over her head, ready to wander around if it ended up taking a few hours. “I hope he hurries up…it’s getting colder.”

Gripping the boy’s cold, limp arm tighter to prevent him from slipping, Kizu sighed. He had been unconscious before he had met Brigitte again…and what if he couldn’t contact the victim anyhow? So many mysteries and theories swirled within his head that he felt bothered when he was timidly poked in the back. “Quit it, Arisu,” he growled, annoyed that his concentration was being broken.

“Excuse me? I’m not doing anything?”

“Yes you are-” Kizu began to argue, spinning around to face her - but she was all the way over to his left, examining more of the names on the walls. “Oh…crap…”

Bijoux’s eyebrows were raised in confusion, and she stopped studying the engravings. “’Oh crap’ what?”

Kizu’s dull violet irises locked onto Bijoux’s bright emerald ones. “You weren’t close enough to touch me…” He reasoned aloud, adjusting the boy over his shoulder more comfortably. “But…he’s dead - I’m sure of it.”

“What did you say?” The voice was not nearly feminine enough to belong to Arisu Yokoi, yet not deep enough to be himself.

In an instant, Kizu’s jaw dropped. Apparently, it didn’t take as long as they had expected. Not only that, but the victim didn’t even know of his fate. They would have some explaining to do…

“Hey - put me down!” A better-dressed, translucent copy of the boy ordered from the middle of the concrete slab.

“Kizu…what’s going on?” Bijoux questioned when she noticed that he wasn’t talking to her anymore. “Is he here?”

The boy, who had hopped off of the stone, paused for a moment. “Whoa - Kizu? Show me the proof then, ‘cause I don’t take strangers carrying my body around lightly…”

“I can’t - I’m holding you,” Kizu reminded him, with irritation. “Besides, what’s so great about the name anyway?” He carefully slid the body off of his back, handing it to Bijoux, who closed her eyes while she took him into his arms.

The boy’s arrogance fell, watching Bijoux’s reaction to the transfer. “I knew it…they gave me up at last.” He sat down on the edge of the stone, holding his face in his hands. “I-I thought that they said I’d have more time.”

“Look, can’t you tell us the story?” Kizu prodded, becoming impatient. He walked over to sit down next to the boy.

He exhaled slowly, glancing over at Bijoux once more. “Kizu…is a tool of creation and destruction for us. With the rebirth of Kizu, the world has a chance to be saved, but if the powers are abused, he will be sentenced to an eternity of pain…”

“What kind of pain?” Kizu pushed his sleeves up, to the point where the bandage was visible.

“Even I’m not sure. But, our society has long awaited the rebirth of Kizu. Only a select few have the blood pure enough for the day.”

“For the day?” He echoed.

“Twenty-four hours. Now, show me that scar,” the kid demanded impatiently.

Kizu rolled his eyes, peeling back the gauze to reveal the long, blood-outlined “S” that marked his skin. As soon as the image registered in the boy’s mind, he scrambled to the floor, bowing. Slightly disturbed, Kizu looked up at Bijoux, who seemed to be having troubled holding the boy’s body. Cautiously, he placed the bandage back over the scar, and stood up to walk over to her.

“I’ll take him.”

Bijoux swallowed as she transferred the boy back over to him. “Thanks.” She shivered, and hugged herself for warmth. “It’s getting really cold now - we should go.”

“Hey, kid!” Kizu called over to the boy, who stopped bowing as soon as he was summoned.

“Hiroshi,” he corrected as he came to Kizu’s side.

“Whatever - do you know the way out?”

The boy’s transparent form nodded, then pointed to what seemed would be deeper into the labyrinth

random babble... okay, so i'm recently re-addicted to the Twilight series. i read the first book like 2 years ago...and was kind of intrigued - first of all, by the fact the author used first person, and secondly, by how the setting was set up. then, i heard about a movie possibility, and totally forgot about it (through the craziness of other things) until a week ago. and i found out that Robert Pattinson was cast as Edward...it used to really bother me, but now, it's not so bad, because i'm pretty sure the film will be really different from the book. but i'm trying to re-read the rest of the series before December as many times as i can to preserve my mental pic of Edward (by the way, i was rooting for Gaspard Ulliel). à plus et bisous (later and kisses)!