Chronicles of Midnight

By Mistress Midnight

 

Chapter 2 - Midnight's Story

 

            I sighed. I didn't know where to start. Seiji must have sensed my distress and asked his question again.

            "Who are you?"

            I grinned. "Such a simple question, but it's still so complicated sometimes." I looked to each of the people standing around me, then began. "My name is Rae Holliday. No middle name due to my Dutch heritage. I'm 20 years old and a freshman in college. I was born and raised in Michigan in the States, and I moved here a year ago."

            "What was that thing?" Kento repeated his question as well, and added another one. "And why couldn't we fight the bitch… I mean, girl?"

            "Those were demons, pure and simple. From their abilities I would guess they were higher than the lower demons, but lesser than the generals. I'm guessing they were sent directly from the Master Demon itself. And the bitch, as you say, possessed your souls. You couldn't harm her even if you tried. Once I sent her back to her Master, your souls were returned to you."

            "What are you doing here?" Ryo asked.

            "I'm afraid that's a rather long story, much associated with Sai's question regarding Patrick," I said. "First, you will have to understand what drove me here to understand why I'm here. And for your question," I said to the little boy, "I'll be fine, after a day or two."

            "Is that a Ronin armour?" the girl repeated her question.

            "I'm not sure what a Ronin armour is, but most likely it's not." I started. "You see, the armour I wear was forged around 1 or 2 AD in what the present day calls the Netherlands. It has been passed from generation to generation since then. The armour itself draws its strength from the night itself. It pulls on everything from the embraces of lovers to the nitemares of children. It's neither good nor evil, but it is said to have a significant place in the destiny of the world. There's a legend about how when the night merges with the day, the world will be recreated by Midnight's design, and her soul will re-weave the fabric of fate."

            "Her?" Rowen raised an eyebrow.

            "That's one of the quirks about the Armour of Midnight," I explained. "The armour can only be summonded and worn by the first born daughter of a first born daughter and so on down my mother's side of the family."

            "What if the first born daughter passes away?" Sai inquired.

            "If she has a daughter, the ability to summon the armour is passed on to her," I answered. "But, if she dies before she has an heir, the Armour of Midnight ceases to exist, as does the tranquility of the night."

            Six faces looked to me in shock. After a moment, Kento spoke up.

            "So that means, if you die..."

            I nodded.

            "Then why do you fight?" Seiji inquired.

            "Because once I summoned the armour, I felt I had to do something," I said. "I was seeing people possessed by demons daily, and I knew that I could help them. But I never let anyone help me. I didn't want to happen to them what happened to... to…"

            Seiji, sensing my hesitation to finish, asked, "Why did you summon the armour in the first place?"

            I couldn't take it. Since I left the States, this had become a very touchy subject with me. It seemed like they were badgering me. I stood up and yelled my answer. "Because I had to save Patrick!" I stood there, and all the previous little sounds in the room fell silent. Seven pairs of eyes were locked on me, some in awe, some almost in fear, some in pity. I tried to be strong, but as the realization of my failure hit me, I shattered into tears. "I had to save Patrick," I whispered.

            "Shh..." Sai pulled me back to the couch, sat next to me and held me close, trying to dry my tears.

            "Tell us what happened to Patrick," Rowen said softly.

            "I... I can't remember exactly, but I know he's in a coma in the States," I sniffled. "And it's my fault he's there."

            "You can't remember because I have surpressed your memories of that night," a voice spoke from the stairs.

            Ryo turned. "Kayura. What are you doing here?"

            I turned and saw the woman Ryo called Kayura walking gracefully down the stairs. She wore a simple kimono and carried a staff with rings clanging at the end. Her face was soft, and her eyes were caring. For some reason, I felt like I knew her from somewhere…

            "I am here because of her," Kayura pointed to me with her staff. "She plays an important role in the fate of humanity."

            "So we've been told," Kento grumbled.

            "I sent you to find her for me, and you did well," Kayura continued.

            "What?" Rowen asked.

            "Find me?" I was confused by the woman's actions. Since she walked in - which I wasn't even sure she had done - she had been speaking in riddles.

            "Now, you will remember," Kayura raised her staff, accompanied by a soft clanging noise.

            I watched as five kanji appeared on the five boys' foreheads. The symbols seemed to be attached to a beam of light coming from Kayura's staff. I looked to the staff and found a light flowing to my forehead as well. I noticed Seiji looking at me, a puzzled look on his face.

            "Kayura, she has no kanji..." He pointed out.

            "That's because she isn't a Ronin... She is something entirely different," came the answer. "Now, I return to you all your memories of that night."

            I saw the night I summoned the Armour of Midnight in my head, as if it where happening right then and there. I saw the people involved, and I saw exactly what happened to Patrick.

            Unable to contain the pain, I screamed....

 

 

            I looked into the mirror. I had dyed my usually light brown hair black to match the black vinyl pants and coat I wore as part of my costume. My family and I had just moved into our new house, and my birthday was that day. We decided to celebrate them both with a costume party. True, it was the middle of January, but I was given the choice of what kind of party to have, and I never passed up a chance to dress up in a costume. I finished tucking my white shirt into my pants when there was a knock at my door.

            "Come in," I called, reaching for my blood-red lipstick.

            "Happy birthday Mouse," a familiar voice said behind me.

            "Patrick!" I turned and he took me into his embrace. I smiled slyly and asked, "Did you miss me?"

            "No, not at all," Patrick teased, kissing my forehead. He was dressed as, what else, a sailor. He had on a pair of khaki shorts, a white shirt, sandals, and a life preserver.

            "Didn't think so," I grinned. "How's it going down there?"

            "Everyone's waiting for the birthday girl. It's not everyday you turn 18," Patrick replied. "Are you ready?"

            "Just a minute," I said, turning back to the mirror. I applied my lipstick, put on my sunglasses, and picked up the vampire teeth that completed the costume. I put them in my mouth and grinned. "You better watch your neck, luv. I might bite."

            "I'm hoping for it," he returned, capturing my lips with his own.

            We went downstairs, and the house was packed. I found my Mum and step-father dressed as a southern belle and a southern gentleman. Looking across the rest of the crowd I found that I didn't know too many of the people there. Continuing my scan, it struck me as slightly odd when a boy with electric-blue eyes stood nearby, staring at me. As we walked towards the food table, I noticed another boy eating like the world was going to end tomorrow. He saw me and opened his mouth as if to say something, but he was stopped by the smaller boy's elbow connecting with his gut. I would have pursued the matter further, but I was being dragged to the make-shift dancefloor by my cousin Ann. Once there, Patrick and I danced, paying no attention to the violet-eyed boy or the blue-haired friend he was dancing with.

            Later that night, around quarter to midnight, Patrick and I were making our rounds, saying good-bye to everyone before we were to leave for a more private celebration. As I was hugging my Aunt Quinn, the electricity suddenly died. I looked outside, and the weather was becoming too warm for the snow to say on the ground. My gaze went to the left a little, and there, in my front yard, stood my father surrounded by a black glow. I stepped outside, followed by Patrick, for a better look.

            Once outside, I locked eyes with my father and knew that something was terribly wrong. A voice inside me told that he was possessed, and I was never one to argue with gut feelings. Without hesitation, my father raised his left hand and a line of dark energy, like a laser, headed straight for me. I was frozen; I didn't know what to do. Patrick, ever quick on his feet, stepped in front of me and took the blast. For a moment that seemed an eternity he hung in the air, then collapsed. I checked his pulse, and he wasn't dead... But he wasn't truly alive either.

            Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I let instinct take over. It was as if something else were guiding my hand as I slowly slit the palm of my hand with Patrick's pocket knife. I faintly heard the new grandfather clock in the house start to strike the hour of midnight. The second chime sounded, and I spoke the rhyme that all first born daughters were taught by their mothers in my family...

            "I am the child of the night, the sister of the moon, and mother of the stars. I am the Muse of Romance and goddess of darkness. I am the bringer of lunacy and the herald of dreams. I move like the shadow and strike like the blackness of the void. I am the Keeper of Midnight."

            By the twelfth chime I had finished, and I glanced back at the house, only to find the five boys that had been watching me all night standing there in rather colourful samurai armour. Looking back at my father, I felt a strange power inside me. Raising my still-bleeding hand to the night sky, I called out to the force that had been guiding me all night.

            "Midnight! As your Keeper I summon your power! Come to me, Armour of Midnight!"

            Darkness surrounded me, and I shut my eyes, reveling in the power around me. I basked in it, feeling it flow around and through me. Finally, I felt the energy start to ebb and opened my eyes. Looking down, I found I was no longer wearing my costume, but I was wearing form-fitting obsidean plate mail over. My feet were covered in black leather ankle boots, and my hair had reverted to its normal colour, styled in a tight bun with a single silver hairstick through it. I looked to my hands and saw the ebony gauntlets that covered my forearms from elbow to fist. At the ends of the gauntlets rested six-inch claws made of silver that reflected the light of the full moon beautifully.

            My father, recovered from the shock of my transformation, chose that moment to charge at me. My first reaction was to run and hide, but my instict told me to stand and fight. I didn't want to physically hurt him, even after all the pain he had caused me, but I couldn't find a way to get the claws off my forearms. I stood there, helpless as a child, staring at my hands.

            I heard a sound and looked up in time to see the food-vacuum from earlier take the blunt end of his staff and use it to flip my father over the both of us. He left my side as I went back to contemplating my hands. I turned to the sound behind me and found all five boys fighting my father. As much as I hated the man, I didn't want to see him die, and those weapons they used looked rather deadly.

            "Stop!" I cried.

            "What?" the boy in red asked.

            All of the participants in the battle froze. Once again, I let my instinct take over. It hadn't steered me wrong yet that night, and I wasn't about to start questioning it then. The boys parted from my father like the Red Sea, letting me get within a yard of the creature. I stared into my father's eyes and saw nothing. Words formed on my lips; words I had never thought would go together before. With a hopeful look in my eyes, I spoke them.

            "Midnight Revelation."

            Pure white light surrounded my father, and he screamed. Somehow, I knew that light should seperate the demon from my father, but when it died down, he was still there... and still possessed. I couldn't banish the demon. I had a choice: I could let him go and destroy everything in sight, or I could destroy him.

            I saw the moonlight gleaming off my claws, infusing them with power. A term came to my mind: Lunar Silver. Silver that has never seen the light of day, thus infused with all the powers of the night. If it were to be exposed to even the smallest amount of sunlight, it would lose all its power. Again, words came unbidden into my mind, and flowed off my lips.

            "Lunar Strike!"

            Raising my softly glowing claw slightly, I slashed downward through a punch, connecting with my father from throat to abdomen. His scream was uneartly, and the smoke that rose from the cuts I had caused made me gag. With a final, agonizing shriek, my father went up in smoke... literally.

            I turned to the five boys, who were standing there staring at me, and spoke. "Who are you? What are you doing here? What is that armour you're wearing?"

            "We could ask you the same thing," the boy in dark blue answered.

            Then, I looked past them and saw Patrick. He was still laying on the ground, but the glow of the blast he took no longer surrounded him.

            "Oh gods! Patrick!" I cried, running to him.

            I hit the ground beside him and checked for a pulse again. It was faint still, and I knew he wasn't going to wake up from his coma. Tears streamed down my cheeks, burning hot and full of anger, pain, and sorrow. As I sobbed I felt a hand fall onto my shoulder. Turning, ready to strike, I saw the boy in light blue armour standing behind me.

            "There's nothing we can do for him here. He needs medical attention," he said.

            I nodded and stood up, but a wave of dizziness washed over me, and I blacked out.

            When I came to, I was at a hospital. I looked around and saw Patrick on one of the beds, hooked up to many machines. I went to his side, feeling the tears starting again. I took his hand in my own, and kissed it.

            "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," I whispered between sobs. "I... I can't be here anymore... I bring pain to... to everyone around me. I can't be Midnight anymore... It only brings pain..." A revelation came to my mind. "I'm... I'm going Patrick... I'm going to the land of the rising sun... Maybe then midnight will never come... I'm so sorry... Forgive me..."

            I kissed his hand again and placed a final kiss on his lips. No one ever questioned a girl running out of the hospital in tears. I guess that happened a lot.

 

 

            I screamed. Tears washed down my face in torrents. I was back in the present, but that didn't matter. Patrick was still in a coma, and it was still my fault. Both Rowen and Sai had their arms around me, trying to comfort me, and, if I hadn't been in such pain, I would have made a comment about my placement between them.

            "Shh..." Sai hushed.

            "It'll be okay..." Rowen added.

            "No! It's not okay!" I screamed, thrashing in their grasps. "The man I love is as good as dead! And it's my fault! If we hadn't had that stupid party..." I returned to sobbing.

            "Midnight... Rae..." Kayura spoke, her soft voice having a calming affect on my nerves. "It's not your fault. Patrick chose to take that hit. He knew..."

            "He... what?" I asked, calming slightly.

            Kayura looked a little uncomfortable. "He knew what you were to become. He knew your place in the fate of the world. He knew that in order for you to do as your destiny asks, he had to take that hit."

            "He... knew...? And he still...?" I asked, words coming hard to me.

            "Yes," Kayura said.

            "No..." I whispered.

            Kayura nodded. I was shocked. I didn't know whether to be angry, sad, or otherwise.

            A knock at the door gave me the distraction I needed. Ryo answered it, and a man with long, sable hair and intense green eyes walked in, followed by a shorter woman with reddish-brown hair.

            "Tama, Sky, what brings you guys here?" Seiji asked.

            "There's something wrong," the man said.

            "Really, really wrong," the woman added.

            "Tama?" Ryo asked the man.

            "Something is causing people to forget things, just outta the blue," Tama replied.

            "And we mean forget everything. Name, age, family, past..." Sky, the girl, commented.

            "Past...?" I whispered, inaudible to everyone else.

            "We thought it might be something... unnatural... you know? Something you guys could handle," Tama smiled at Ryo, and I saw something more than friendship in that smile, but I held my tongue.

            "Kayura?" Rowen asked the small woman, who had taken a place beside me.

            "Sudden loss of memory?" Kayura asked.

            Tama and Sky nodded.

            "Mnemosyne," I spat.

            "Who?" the others, except Kayura, questioned.

            "Mnemosyne... goddess of memory..." Kayura answered. "She holds the memories of all, and determines what humans should forget, and what they should remember. She never did like her job, called it too stressful, said it would drive her to insanity someday."

            "And now, she's finally gone mad..." I said, ominously.

 

 

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