His
Reflection(6)
written by Sycia
Decision:
With lightning fast reflexes, Kula slipped the dreaded note under her
blanket.
K’ smiled to
himself slightly and said to her, “I could come over to get that. You’re in
no condition to do a thing about it.”
Kula certainly
didn’t want him to do that. She obediently handed the note over, knowing K’ mean what he
said.
K’ read the
note dispassionately. He never expected Kula to be threatened with the safety of
her close companions, by that damned NESTS cartel. This struck him like a bolt
of lightning, now that he knew of Kula’s plight.
Kula looked
away from K’, then buried her head in the blanket. K’ heard the muffled sobs
she was trying hard to conceal. He was at a sudden loss for words. He now
understood her pain and hardships, as well as the reason behind it all; and this
understanding came to K’ like a landslide. He was a person who never expressed
himself well (or at least, from what he could remember). How now would he deal
with Kula so upset?
It seemed
forever for K’, before the crying girl lifted her head from the sheets. Her
eyes were red and swollen, with a pale tear-stained face and quivering blue
lips.
She looked into
empty space, breathing heavily with drooped shoulders. K’ decided to break the
deafening silence.
“What now?”
Kula blinked
and shook her head in despair. She looked down and whispered, “They’re
dead.”
“?”
“Foxy,
Diana…”
K’ looked at
the note again.
“They’re
dead because I failed. I failed to bring you to NESTS.” Kula said plainly,
without any trace of emotion in her voice.
“…”
“Candy was
gone. And now Foxy and Diana are dead too. All my friends are gone. I might as
well join them!” Kula began the sentence in a hoarse whisper, eventually
escalating into a rage-filled yell.
“Kill me!
K’, kill me now! I don’t have anything to live for anymore!” Kula tried
throwing her blanket off, turning delirious. Clambering down from the bed, the
girl somehow managed to stand with the bedside table for support.
She then began
screaming hysterically. All the racket drew the attention of a few nurses, one
of whom quickly brought some sedatives over quickly.
K’ gave the
nurses a nod and approached the hollering Kula slowly. He rushed for her at an
abrupt instance and flipped her up, back onto the bed, holding her down.
This got the
crazed girl into a fit of uncontrollable fury. She kicked, she flailed, she
shrieked and swore. Two other nurses rushed over to help K’ restrain Kula,
while the third got the sedatives ready for injection. Then, to K’s horror,
Kula’s blond hair suddenly turned white.
Kula’s wrath
knew no boundaries now. The wild power within her broke loose and turned the
entire room into a giant freezer. Thick ice caved onto the walls of the room and
expanded inwards, threatening to crush all of them.
“Hurry up!”
K’ urged the nurse holding the injection needle. Any much longer and they
would be frozen stiff.
The nurse
stumbled to Kula’s struggling figure, slipping a little because of the
ice-covered floor. She quickly injected the sedatives into Kula and stood back.
Kula’s
yelling stopped and her flailing ceased slowly. Her hair’s color returned and
the ice around them began to melt.
K’ released
the now-stoned Kula, getting hounded by a million questions from the nurses
about the icy phenomenon. He couldn’t be bothered to answer their inquires,
waving them off. He just told them to arrange for Kula to be transferred to a
drier room.
* * *
“Must have
been devastating for her.” Maxima commented the next morning. He had come to
see how Kula and K’ were doing. The latter had told him everything, as well as
shown Maxima that note.
“So what do
you intend to do now?” Maxima asked, looking at the Kula, still asleep. The
doctors had given her heavier sedatives during the night.
“I don’t
know. Maybe try to keep her from killing herself.” K’ fiddled with the note.
“Fair enough.
But how?”
K’ raised an
eyebrow at Maxima’s question, “I’ll give her a reason to live.”
“And what
reason might that be?”
K’ sneered a
bit, “Need you ask?”
Maxima got what
K’ meant and nodded in agreement, “Do you think she’ll join us?”
“If she
doesn’t, at least we won’t remain as her most-hated enemy…”
* * *
Kula was
sobbing when she woke. She vaguely remembered herself going nuts after reading
the note from NESTS, and K’ restraining her. Now she spotted him standing at
the doorway, keeping a constant vigil over her.
It was almost
embarrassing.
K’ noticed
Kula’s open eyes, “Feeling better?”
“No.”
“Still
thinking of killing yourself?” He asked, walking over.
“Maybe.”
“You aren’t
going to solve anything by doing that.”
“Well what do
you want me to do?! My friends are all dead! Because of you! Because you brought
me here!” Kula exclaimed.
K’ have her a
stone-cold glare and balked at her, “Look, NESTS had threatened you in the
first place. And I didn’t know that. Even if I did, I wouldn’t allow you to
bring me in to them either. Because I am a person who lives for himself. I
won’t allow others to control my life anymore.”
“Kula made an
irritated sound, “So? They’re still dead. Nothing you say will bring them
back.”
“Don’t tell
me you’re going to spend your time here wallowing in self-pity?” K’ folded
his arms.
Kula couldn’t
think of anything to retort to that comment.
“If you want
to find something you can live for, start with yourself.” K’ said gently,
surprising Kula who felt her hair stand on end upon hearing the sentence.
“Then after
that, you can think about taking revenge on NESTS…” K’ continued.
Kula blinked
uneasily. So far, the thought of going against NESTS had never crossed her mind.
But now, K’ had pushed a mental button and she growled, “NESTS…”
“Even though
destroying NESTS will not bring your friends back, think of it as a sort of
judgment for them.” K’ said with feeling. After all, he genuinely felt for
her since he himself had a similar experience.
Kula reckoned
all those sounded rather fair and logical, even if it did come from the mouth of
her ‘arch-enemy’. But why was he telling her all this?
“Why are
you…?” She started to ask.
“Because we
all have a common enemy,” Came another voice. Maxima came up from behind K’,
“and that is NESTS.”
K’ nodded.
Kula got what they were getting at, “If you two think I won’t come after you
again, you’re wrong. NESTS will pay for what they’ve done to my friends, but
its because of you two that this all happened!”
Maxima shook
his head and whispered to K’, “She still hates us.”
K’ shrugged
it off. And Maxima addressed Kula again, “Until NESTS is truly eradicated, all
of us will constantly be hunted down.”
“Unless I go
back.” Kula uttered haughtily.
“Oh? And what
will you do when you go back there? Continue being their lapdog with no life of
your own?” K’ scolded her.
Kula stopped
short of rebutting K’s rebuking. She knew what he said was quite true. So she
simply pouted.
“Stubborn as
ever,” Maxima teased, “You won’t fare any better than us, you know. NESTS
gave you your ice abilities. They know how to deal with you. You could join us.
We’ve got nothing against you.”
“But she’s
holding a grudge for us both, or just me.” K’ looked at Kula, expecting an
answer.
The girl was in
deep thought now; she knew the terrifying power NESTS had. Once they found out
that she had turned against them, they could and would send out someone to deal
with her effectively. This kind of sounded like K’s situation… On the other
hand, she was quite unwilling to team up with Maxima and K’. They had been her
foes for so long, it seemed too incredible that she should even be in the same
room with them right now. But then again, they had only become her foes because
NESTS made it so.
But
still…
They were
willing to forget what she did to them in order to band together against NESTS.
Now that NESTS had nothing more to threaten her with, Kula could go against them
all she wanted, to the sake of her own life, only her life.
“So?
What’ll it be?” Maxima asked.
Kula looked up at the two of them at new eyes and said in a dangerous tone, “When do we start?”
Part 7 coming up...