Media: Defeated Dan Sodo (right) and Reiki Sodo (left)

[This is a bit shorter then the previous chapters, but I did what I wanted]

"Let me go, you bastards!" I shrieked in Dan's ear.

Yet, his grip didn't surrender, even when I jerked my elbow and tried to nail him in the gut, or better yet, the neck.

Kimi was walking in front of me, her dark hair swaying side to side. I growled under my breath, and in response, she only tilted her head back to face me.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out, you know. Do you think it just happened to be that I knew where the Dark Nebula headquarters were?" She cooed. 

"How could you do this?!"

With that, she fully turned to face me, the soft look in her eyes now replaced by hardened fury.

"Perhaps because Dark Nebula offered me a home when my parents didn't have enough money to even supply themselves! I was cast aside, in the desert when Doji found me, and I've blossomed under his hands. I'm not the same little girl anymore..."

She clenched a fist. "I'm not that same little, helpless girl that my parents abandoned. Pain changed me. If you took a moment to walk in my shoes, for even a second, I'm sure that you would find it unbelievably hard and fall the first step!"

I could feel Reiki's fingernails digging into the underside of my arm, and jerked sideways, but he didn't let go.

"That's the thing about pain, isn't it...? It hates when it's being ignored, when you don't acknowledge it... it demands to be felt, no matter what... I survived because my pain was a fire that burned brighter then the misery in my body."

With that, she whipped back around, and kept walking.

What happened to the Kimi I had first battled?

What happened to the smile I saw as she battled along Hikaru, that first time I saw her use her Orso?

What happened to the girl who had been fooling around with a NERF gun before we came here?

What happened to Kimi Yasuhiro?

The hallway seemed to stretch endlessly, but Kimi turned a corner, leading us into a dimly-light room, where the only light was the soft glow from the multiple computers that were beyond the glass.

In the middle was a sleek silver pod, the purple symbol of the Dark Nebula blazing on the front of it.

Wires and cords of all kinds extended from it, some thick, some small, winding in tangles off into the darkness.

"What... what are you guys doing...?"

"You heard Doji, didn't you?"

Reiki's voice was cold, scathing even, but he avoided my gaze.  I caught a glimpse in his blue eyes- a sheen behind that iron wall.

... guilt?

"You're offering your life force to Doji," Dan responded, flicking his wrist at the pod. "That's all there is to it. You're going to slowly die."

"Fitting, really," Kimi commented. "You're an annoyance."

To my surprise, the twins let go of me, instead going to stand by the door. I inspected the red marks that they had left on my arms, then looked up to meet the Orso blader's gaze. "You're trusting me?"

"I can probably easily defeat you in a match, there's camera everywhere, and the Sodo's are standing by the door. I think there won't be any trouble."

"Kimi..."

Looking at her, looking at this young girl whose's scars show through more then anything else, looking at this girl who had been wrecked beyond repair just because of a choice her parents made, I felt guilty.

Guilty that I couldn't help her, guilty that I didn't notice all those fake smiles. Angry that I had fell for it, angry that I hadn't been able to help her with her inner demon.

"I'm sorry," I managed out. "I couldn't..."

"You couldn't what, Rixen? Do you think you could help me? Do you even think you can help yourself? You don't even know where your brother is, and soon enough, you'll spiral down a pit of pandemonium for it," Kimi snarled.

I shut up, reeling.

"The world owes me something in return! All this I've been through..." She looked up, pure disgust radiating off her. "Don't you think I deserve something, anything?!"

"The world doesn't owe you anything! It was here long before you were, so don't you think you owe it for existing?"

"Having a soft heart in a cruel world is weakness! So why do you even attempt to create connections?!" Volume rising, Kimi's hands clenched by her sides.

I dropped my head, staring at the ground.

"My brother always said... 'be soft for the sake of every hard heart, show them that every movement of your body that is gentle does not mean that you yourself are weak'. "

Kimi inhaled. Exhaled. She glared at me through her bangs, venom in both her words and eyes.

"... I don't want to exist. I just want to start over, but... one last sin before I go..."

How to do you save someone who's convinced they should burn?

Nails dug into my arm as Kimi moved with unnatural speed, seizing my forearm and yanking me towards the pod.

"You're going to pay for making it rain more on Doji and I..."

The grip tightened, and I swallowed, sandpaper in my throat making it ache.

Laughter.

Laughter from Kimi, whose's shoulders shook the tiniest bit, eyes closed.

"Lay your armor down, Tess Rixen... for beneath it, all you are is a coward."

My thoughts became choppy with fear.

A shove. I tripped. Metal digging into my back. Energy fizzling through the cords.

Kimi's grin as she kicked my legs over the edge of the pod.

Trapped. Enclosure.

My arms are pinned to the side, but Kimi didn't close the lid. Instead, a needle.

Another grin. She picked up my arm, and my thoughts broke as a spark of pain was lit.

Darkness.