So Much Better

The redheaded female stood there, frozen in her path as the darkness that clouded over the figure vanished, leaving the thin body of Kaja behind. The other looked at her, blue eyes glowing in the light of the moon unnaturally. Her expression twitched from a grimace to a sick smile at the sight of Akane. 

Akane’s golden eyes widened at the realization that her friend had shed so much blood. She could sense the confusion coming from the other girls, Xenia and Kashi, behind her. Her shaking hand finally came out of its paralysis to rise up, wiping a liquid from the corner of her mouth. 

Looking down at her hand, she couldn’t ignore the rusty red that streaked across her palm. Her eyes then traveled from the sight to the blue-haired female, who only chuckled softly in her spot before them. After a rare hesitation, Akane opened her mouth to speak. “Why would you do this, Kaja?” 

A laugh, twisted and not at all like Kaja, erupted from her. “You’re one to talk, aren’t you, Akane? Don’t tell me that you’re getting soft… Especially after everything you’ve done.” The girl’s actions were almost too liquid as she wiped a tear from her eye after laughing. “What a headline! The morally gray Akane Himura attempts to redeem herself after making a few friends! Honestly, how adorable!”

Akane shook her head hard, trying to shake away from the hurtful words. The fact that those words came from her best friend’s mouth only made the wound deeper. Though as much as she wanted to run away, she knew she had to face this head-on, like she always did. “Kaja. I’m sorry if I hurt you. But what you’re doing to these people; it’s not right. You need to stop this now!”

A heavy scoff came from the other, her pale fist raising in the air for her index finger to play with a small wisp of darkness. She was nonchalant, which made Akane deny even more that this was actually Kaja. “Like you care. Your ability is literally fear itself- and you’re not even ashamed to use it! You use it as a tactic to get what you want.”

Akane opened her mouth but Kaja stepped forward, no fear in her glare. “And for what? To get back at your parents for neglecting you? You live a privileged life. At least your father cares to write. At least your mother put you in her will.” 

The redhead flinched at this, swallowing down the urge to throw up at this barrage of truths. She wasn’t angry at the venom that Kaja spat at her, not even regretting telling her about her parents. She deserved this.

“If you wanted to put me down… Why now? Here?” Akane shook her head, feeling a daze of questions pour into her head. “Why hurt so many innocent people just to get to me?” She couldn’t bear to look up for a moment, terrified of the silence. She could only hear Kashi’s labored breath from the punch earlier, as well as Xenia’s soft curses. 

“Okay. So now you’re judging me for hurting people? You do that on a daily basis!” Kaja’s voice raised with the accusation, and suddenly a cry erupted from Akane. “But you’re better than me!” 

The devastation was apparent despite the shaking of her voice. Tears welled in her eyes, but she couldn’t stop it. “I’ve been an asshole, and I deserve everything you throw at me… But why would you- the person who’s been nothing but kind- do this?” The salty tears were now pouring down Akane’s cheeks as her face twisted with despair. 

She just couldn’t understand this. People had gotten hurt, and some were even hospitalized. Was this really all because she was a horrible person? Or was Kaja just a secret sociopath? She couldn’t believe either one- Kaja would never do such a thing…

“You are so much better than this…” Akane shook her head softly, ready to give up. She stared at Kaja’s feet, only to notice that the girl had taken a step back. Lifting her head slowly, she realized that Kaja’s whole body was shaking. It was almost as if Kaja was being held up by strings and being jerked about like a puppet. 

Tears had begun to stream now Kaja’s cheeks as well, but her face was emotionless, and her eyes were empty. The girl’s shaking hands slowly raised and caught the tears, looking down at them with an atmosphere of confusion, yet no expression. 

“You’ll never be content.” A whisper echoed throughout the street where the four females stood, surrounded by a shadowy mist that was suddenly receding. Akane hadn’t seen Kaja’s mouth move, but she had heard a voice similar to the female’s. Looking behind herself, she saw nothing but her friends.

The redhead then turned back to Kaja, who had started to deflate faintly. She stepped forward, lifting her own shaking hand up to the other, who flinched at the movement. “Leave me be.” Again, the voice uttered, yet there was no movement from the girl’s mouth. 

Akane swayed, but moved closer with each small step that she made, until they were somewhat eye to eye. Kaja’s eyes had dimmed excessively compared to the few minutes before, all life seemed to have drained from her.

“You’re not her… So who are you..?” Akane detected an ember of anger within herself as she muttered those words, finally reaching up and placing a hand on the girl’s cheek, her vision blurring and pulling away until she blinked, finding herself in front of the familiar mirror. 

Observing her surroundings, the girl found that this area was red and misty. When she took a step towards the mirror, she only went deeper, feeling wetness engulf her body. This hadn’t happened to Akane before, especially not with Kaja’s mind. Standing before the mirror, at last, she looked into it and saw someone she only just remembered.

Long, stringy dark blue hair and a sickly thin body, a person she hadn’t seen for years. Atolsha Gemin, a girl she had once bullied back in junior high. Questions started to run through Akane’s mind, but she shuddered them away, instead raising her hand up to the reflection and going through the mirror. 

She found herself in a joggled and weak body, shaking as she took step by step through the memories of dark fears. There was the fear of rejection, there was the fear of insects, but she eventually met the last fear. One of which she recognized from another perspective. 

It was a group of moments through Atolsha’s eyes of a younger version of Akane herself. Belittling, punching, kicking… They were terrible memories that the redhead had attempted to block out. Apparently, Atolsha hadn’t. It was then that she felt herself receding from this plane of existence, so she closed her eyes to allow the transportation back. 

Akane’s body jerked with her consciousness back in its rightful place. After blinking to calm herself from the memories she had seen, the female caught sight of Kaja’s body falling forward. In a panic, Akane moved and caught her, looking into Kaja’s dim eyes that fell closed a moment after. 

She looked towards her friends before her, and they made moves to come forward, the three of them surrounding Kaja. “Kaja. Kaja, come on, sweetheart.” Akane shook the baby blue haired female in an attempt to wake her, but she was unresponsive. 

“You’re pathetic, Akane.” Atolsha’s hushed voice whispered into their ears, and the female in question whipped her head around and slapped at the other. Her hand met nothing as Atolsha’s apparition dissolved in thin air, only coming back a few feet farther away. 

“Just stop already! You’re no better than me if you continue hurting people!” Akane screamed out at her, the girl seeming to hesitate at the words. Though it wasn’t long before a sneer broke out on the sickly girl’s face. “You just don’t want to lose the one person that “understood” you. You don’t care about anyone else but yourself.” 

Akane clenched her fists and gave Kaja to Xenia to hold before standing up behind the group and in front of Atolsha. “This is between you and me. It always has been. So just do it, hurt me instead.” 

She breathed out and took a stance, holding out her arms. The other female before her almost looked shocked, but it was quickly replaced by a twisted grin. “Fine. Your life for hers. Deal?” 

Akane looked over at Kaja’s limp body, as well as her silent friends who looked as if they might object to Akane’s decision. But her mind was made up, and she turned back to Atolsha. “Fine.”

The other female laughed brightly, pulling an object from the pocket of her hoodie. Akane knew it was a pocket knife by the sound alone, the hard ‘click’ of the metal. She bit her lip and watched Atolsha as she started to walk up to her. 

“Goodbye, Akane.” Atolsha held up her weapon, and Akane closed her eyes, not wanting to even perceive her own death. “I hope knowing that your friend won’t come back makes you rest easy!”

Akane’s eyes shot open and she lunged with a shriek. The other’s body dissolved from underneath her before the redhead could hit her with a punch, the sound of bones cracking against the concrete loud enough to be heard by her friends. 

A crooked laugh came from all around her, shaking her ears as she couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from. She smacked at the next ghostly form she saw, but the apparitions only multiplied. Akane screamed and punched at each one that came in front of her, anger making her blind to any and all sounds and sights. 

In return, the real Atolsha would slash at her with the knife, disappear, then slash again from another angle. Akane had started bleeding badly and was losing her adrenaline, eventually tripping herself as she lunged at one of the apparitions, falling onto her side.

A foot pushed her onto her back and she groaned in pain, trying to get up despite the boot on her chest holding her down. “Are you ready for death, Akane?” Atolsha snickered as Akane tried pushing her boot off of her body, but she was much too weak to try. She could feel the blood around herself on the ground, but as she looked at Kaja and her friends helplessly, she felt a small wave of peace surround her. 

“Memento Mori, Akane Himura.” And thus, Akane shut her eyes and waited. But nothing happened. No sound, no flash of light… Was she dead? Opening her eyes, she saw Atolsha frozen above her, half crouched and holding the knife in her hand. 

She turned her head slightly to see another familiar face. Tora had grabbed Atolsha by the neck, twisting her limbs to her liking. She was the puppet master after all. “Memento Mori this.” Tora said in her usual grace, but in a swift and ungraceful motion, she punched the other female in the stomach and let go of her neck. 

Akane smiled and laughed quietly at this, watching Atolsha stumble back as sirens began to surround them. Police sirens? She thought, but her mind was hazy, and her vision was beginning to blur. The last thing she perceived was Kashi and Xenia’s voices yelling out.