Chapter 11: Fear
It was then that, at the worst time possible, Joel and the others arrived. Standing above the pit, they wouldn’t be able to see the leansídhe or its power, just Phantasia and the two girls. Only when Katrina developed the auragraphs she was now taking would they see what was really going on. Joel, ignorant of the danger and determined to save his girlfriend, was already scrambling down the collapsed masonry, ignoring the cuts and bruises he received along the way.
“Kaori! Kao, snap out of it!” he cried as he ran towards her. Phantasia wanted to stop him, but the darkness had seeped into her body and prevented her moving. Even her voice was just a pitiful whisper, drowned out by another, malicious tone that brought Joel to a trembling halt.
“Look at what you’ve gone and done,” said the fake Kaori, “You can’t protect either of them! Some boyfriend you are,”
“Kaori…” he stammered, now completely oblivious to the outside world, “I’m sorry, I don’t know…didn’t know…I’m useless, I know…”
The Kaori that shambled towards him was covered in her own blood, a thousand self-inflicted lacerations across her body. Joel tried to avert his eyes, but the leansídhe’s allure drew him in.
“Useless? Useless?” the fake-Kaori laughed, “Joel Gibson, you’re easily the worst boyfriend I’ve ever had. Yeah, you thought you were the first, didn’t you? As if you fell for that crap! It’s just been one bastard after another with me. I thought you were going to be different. I should’ve known. Look at what you’ve done to Shelley!”
“It-I didn’t-I couldn’t-she just…”
“Face it, you’re the reason we suffer!”
“SHUT UP!” screamed Phantasia. She didn’t care about the darkness eating away at her. She didn’t care if it killed her or if her wings burst to life for all to see. She couldn’t let it continue! With all the effort she could muster, she pushed aside the crushing forces keeping her in place and put herself between the fake-Kaori and Joel. She could feel the darkness slashing at and tearing into her ethereal body. With great effort, she faced the leansídhe’s deception.
“You’re just an illusion!”
The fake-Kaori glared with bloody eyes, then twisted into the form of Joel and turned to face Kaori, who was still locked in her trance.
“You know…” it began, but Phantasia was there once again. Though the black lightening tore at her, she reached into the darkness and took Kaori’s hand.
“Kaori, you know it’s not really true. Your heart doesn’t believe it, does it? You love Joel so much that you must be afraid of losing him, but don’t worry, that love just proves there light inside you!”
“Forget it, girl, you’re just an evil-”
“I told you to shut up.”
Again she stared down the shadow, and again its dark power sparked around her, but this time it was weaker. Then its form changed, but this time it took on the image of Shelley, dressed in the sort of elegant dress and corset Phantasia would have associated with Kaori and the Ravens.
“I thought love was supposed to make life special? But because of it, my life is in ruins.” the fake-Shelley looked at both Joel and Kaori, “What’s the point? I thought love was eternal light that would save me from the darkness, not condemn me to it…”
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