Subject Zero: CONFIDENTIAL (Short Stories)

The Eclipse (2)

Part Two (final): Beware the Friendly Stranger

Monday, August 12, 1985
Felicity Field, Mirror World

Third Person's POV
Moments ago, Alio had passed all the trees, and was astounded to find a large field of black carnation flowers, with blood red centers.

With the dim purple light in the sky shining down on them, it gave them a gentle glow. Alio was mesmerized. He'd never seen so many flowers in one place, and definitely didn't expect to see so many in a world like this.

He felt safe, like nothing could get him here. Being here instantly made him forget his troubles.

But he was too distracted to notice a tall, cloaked figure, lingering behind him.

Alio felt safe, up until he felt a chill behind him, the air had suddenly become colder than it was before.

Suddenly the figure behind him says in a very light, angelic tone, "You smell very delicious."

Alio instantly yelped and flinched, stepping into the field to help himself feel protected. He turned to look at the figure.

It was a man, but Alio couldn't tell at first. The man was levitating above the ground, wearing a black cloak that covered his entire body. He had a dark scarf around his neck, and the hood on his cloak was covering his head. But his mask is part of what caught Alio's attention. The man's mask was similar to Joker's — it was white, covered his entire face, and had large oval eyes carved in it, but had a frown instead of a smile. There was even a line of black diamond shapes engraved on the left side of his mask.

Earlier when Alio heard branches break as soon as he first approached the flowers, he assumed it was monsters running off after following him. He thought the flowers would protect him from the monsters, but one is floating right in front of him. I need to go. I need to go, were the thoughts that repeated in his head.

So instead of holding Tui's backpack, he quickly hung the straps over his shoulders and started running as fast as he could along the outline of the field. He eventually rushed into the forest, hoping the man wouldn't see him. He didn't want to look back, because he knew if he did, he'd most likely trip or bump into something, causing him to fall and the man would try to hurt him — that is, if the man was chasing him. He wasn't. He was only floating where he was before.

But when Alio couldn't see him anymore, he thought he'd gotten far away from the cloaked man. He hid behind a tree to catch his breath. But he soon enough started feeling like he was being stared at again. He tried to shake it off.

Then, to his surprise, the man peeked his head out from behind the same tree. "Hello, there, again-!"

Alio flinched badly and scooted away. The man was too close now- if he tried to run, he'd be done for. He was panicking, "Please don't eat me! I'm too young to die! I've barely even started my junior year! I haven't even given this snowglobe to Zero yet-" He gasped. "I HAVEN'T EVEN KISSED 50 PEOPLE YET- Oh, dear God, don't eat me, please-!"

The man was confused and just levitated next to him. "Eat you? I wouldn't eat you, even if you had a coating of chocolate on you, with whipped cream, sprinkles, and a cherry on top."

Alio blinked. He was perplexed already, and even more so when hearing those words. "What?"

     "It is your despair that I desire," the man said in a soft tone. "You have been experiencing great pain. What has you so down?"

Alio was just caught off guard at this point. "Umm..."

     "Oh! Don't tell me... You've been experiencing issues with your family for the recent few months, and they still haven't forgiven you... You've been feeling left out due to someone you've recently met... You feel that you may not be able to get into any higher educational schools after next year due to slacking off too often in the past... Aaand... You're afraid that the friend you arrived here with may not be able to find and help you. You are lost."

He looked at the man, surprised. "...How did you know all that?"

The man then says, "I just know. It is what I do. The Hidden helped me understand. I can help you get rid of these feelings, if that's what you want."

Alio seemed very hesitant. "...I mean... Does it hurt?"

The man then reached out his hand, which had no skin on it. It was just bone. "It does not hurt, I guarantee..."

For a split second, Alio felt like his soul was being ripped from his body. But just after a quick moment, he felt normal — no, not normal, but happier. The man was right, it didn't hurt. When Alio looked at him, he saw that his mask now had a smile on it.

The man asked in a distorted, more chilling voice than before, "So how do you feel?"

Alio was too glad to even acknowledge the change in the man's voice. He smiled, standing back up. "Great... Really great! Gee, thanks, man! What's your name?"

The man replied, "Uprising."

     "Ooh, that's sick. I'm Alio."

The man, Uprising, hid his arm back under his cloak, and stared down at Alio. "That's a unique name, especially for a human."

Alio turned around once he heard a familiar voice call out, "Alio!"

It was Tui. She rushed up to him. "Are you okay??"

Alio nodded, unable to stop smiling. "Yeah! I'm great! Amazing, actually! I was just hanging out with my new pal Uprising-" When he turned to look at Uprising, he was gone. Alio blinked and looked back at Tui. "Well, anyway..."

Tui just blinks, confused, since she didn't see him with anyone else. "Oohkay, well, we really need to go."

He then noticed something on her hands. "Is that blood-?"

     "Yes. The man from the market is not going to bother you anymore," Tui said in a calm tone. "But we should go, we can't risk you being here any longer."

Alio just shrugged it off and nodded again. "All right- Oh, hey, do you think we can go to Joker's?"

     "Why...?"

     "I don't know. I've just got a really good feeling about Joker and Mizuki, y'know? I feel like it's the place to be right now. You know what I mean?"

Tui stared at him. "No..."

     "Well, okay."

Feeling very confused, Tui just walked away, and was followed by a very lucky-feeling Alio.

{ End of The Eclipse }

"Hey, I've noticed you've been pretty sad lately. Wanna talk about it?"