p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"strongA/N: Heyo, h/strongstrongere's the next chapter./strong/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"strongSorry this chapter is a bit messy because at this point in the song everything gets messy and dark and creepy and stuff and — yeah you get it. I'm using snippets from older chapters to illustrate the idea of 'something is TERRIBLY wrong' so cookies to those who spots the passages! *hint hint: some are in italics*/strong/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"strongThx to all those who replied!/strong/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"strong†Cracks in the Mask†VIII/strong/p
hr style="color: #000000; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Black./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Blackness everywhere./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Miku felt as though she was a slab of meat at the butcher's, chopped up then slapped onto each other then wrapped in a tight package./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"An extreme fatigue seeped all the way into her bones./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"emBathumpbahtumpbathump/em/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Her heart raced like a train derailed./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Snatches of memory slipped back into her mind./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Her lungs burnt, she needed to breathe but she couldn't – emis it because I have no head? /em– her body was heavier than a mountain, lifting her limp arm was a lost cause – emis it because I can't? /em– her ears rang a feedback loop – and she couldn't see couldn't hear couldn't move emcouldn't breathe –/em/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Oxygen seemed to flow in agonizingly slowly, and Miku could not pant, so shackled to her body she was./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"She tried to open her eyes, and saw only indigo. Taken aback, she blinked, trying to make sure her head was still on her neck. The nightmare – that was what it was, apparently, a mere figment of her imagination – was still vividly fresh in her mind./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Then indigo faded into violet, then lavender, purple, lilac, then heliotrope, mauve…/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"She blinked, and felt her lashes brush fabric./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Orange light seeped through the blindfold over her eyes – emoh right, Rin put it there/em – and she saw the bedroom again after what seemed like a lifetime. As she squinted out the gap, she saw pumpkin lanterns clustered in the room, and a shiver flitted down her spine./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Rin and Len were sitting side by side in a corner, murmuring to each other, smiles on their faces, eyes cloudy and dreamy. Their shadows dragged behind them on the wall, shivering in the candlelight. Miku let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Rin and Len was here. They're friends, not the murderous dual in her dream./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"em"Lantern shadows that grew at night unconsciously frightened me..."/em/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"emThose shadows…are...familiar... /emMiku blinked repeatedly at the deformed shadows behind the twins, thinking it was a trick of the light that they were so small./p
hr style="color: #000000; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"em"Kawaii~! I love them! Ne ne, kaasan, can they sleep with me?" Miku chirped to her mother, hugging the dolls tight and looking at her mother with shining eyes./em/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"em"Of course dear," Miku's mother rested a hand on her head affectionately./em/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"em"Yatta~!" Miku twirled, the dolls flopping a little in her arms./em/p
hr style="color: #000000; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"emHeh? Wait.../em Miku frowned internally, trying to recall what her mother looked like. But she couldn't. For the life of her, she couldn't. She can't seem to remember what was above the warmth on her head... all she could draw up wasem blurred and the person's face in the memory was smudged with a kind of see-through black substance. Interestingly enough, it had a splotch of aquamarine in the vague place of the/emem hair./em/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"emBa-thump. Ba-thump. Ba-thu-/em/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Miku jolted upright, almost leaping off the bed./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"The blindfold fell off./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""My my, you bad kid, how dare you wake up so early?" Len's voice floated overhead./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""If your blindfold comes off, then should I blind you instead?"/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Rin reached a hand to cover Miku's wide eyes./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Miku flinched./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"But Rin didn't do anything./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"She knelt in front of her on the bed, Len standing at the foot of it./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"She poked two fingers into Miku's cheek and pulled them upwards then did it to herself, grinning wider and wider./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Hey look, you're smiling, now isn't that the cutest sight?" said Rin./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"She stood up next to her brother, who was also smiling merrily. Their eyes were happy slits, hiding the cerulean irises./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""But you still wear lies, so let's go back to our play tonight~!" Len sang, arms spread open invitingly./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Miku started to relax, telling herself she's going to see her mother when she goes home, so it did not matter that she couldn't seem to remember. The feeling of uneasiness did not leave her emunlike the dream/em./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Rin waved a red rosette in front of Miku. She blinked, and focused on the present. But her mind kept wandering back to the two dolls, now that she's thought of them. There's a connection of some sort there, and Miku felt as though it was right in front of her, staring at her in the face, just waiting for her to latch onto it, maybe even laughing at her stupidity, at her blindness, at her —/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"There was a sharp pain in her chest and she looked down, once again dragged out of her thoughts./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Oopsie, sorry, Miku-chan," Rin apologised, pinning the rosette to her chest, above her heart./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"For a moment, the female doll flashed across Miku's eyes and overlapped with Rin./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"em"Ne~~, choutai~? Ahaha~~!"/em/p
hr style="color: #000000; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"strongSorry for the short chapter, but each chapter is so short its agonizing…/strong/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"strongSorry this chapter is a bit messy because at this point in the song everything gets messy and dark and creepy and stuff and — yeah you get it. I'm using snippets from older chapters to illustrate the idea of 'something is TERRIBLY wrong' so cookies to those who spots the passages! *hint hint: some are in italics*/strong/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"strongThx to all those who replied!/strong/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"strong†Cracks in the Mask†VIII/strong/p
hr style="color: #000000; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Black./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Blackness everywhere./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Miku felt as though she was a slab of meat at the butcher's, chopped up then slapped onto each other then wrapped in a tight package./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"An extreme fatigue seeped all the way into her bones./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"emBathumpbahtumpbathump/em/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Her heart raced like a train derailed./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Snatches of memory slipped back into her mind./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Her lungs burnt, she needed to breathe but she couldn't – emis it because I have no head? /em– her body was heavier than a mountain, lifting her limp arm was a lost cause – emis it because I can't? /em– her ears rang a feedback loop – and she couldn't see couldn't hear couldn't move emcouldn't breathe –/em/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Oxygen seemed to flow in agonizingly slowly, and Miku could not pant, so shackled to her body she was./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"She tried to open her eyes, and saw only indigo. Taken aback, she blinked, trying to make sure her head was still on her neck. The nightmare – that was what it was, apparently, a mere figment of her imagination – was still vividly fresh in her mind./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Then indigo faded into violet, then lavender, purple, lilac, then heliotrope, mauve…/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"She blinked, and felt her lashes brush fabric./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Orange light seeped through the blindfold over her eyes – emoh right, Rin put it there/em – and she saw the bedroom again after what seemed like a lifetime. As she squinted out the gap, she saw pumpkin lanterns clustered in the room, and a shiver flitted down her spine./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Rin and Len were sitting side by side in a corner, murmuring to each other, smiles on their faces, eyes cloudy and dreamy. Their shadows dragged behind them on the wall, shivering in the candlelight. Miku let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Rin and Len was here. They're friends, not the murderous dual in her dream./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"em"Lantern shadows that grew at night unconsciously frightened me..."/em/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"emThose shadows…are...familiar... /emMiku blinked repeatedly at the deformed shadows behind the twins, thinking it was a trick of the light that they were so small./p
hr style="color: #000000; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"em"Kawaii~! I love them! Ne ne, kaasan, can they sleep with me?" Miku chirped to her mother, hugging the dolls tight and looking at her mother with shining eyes./em/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"em"Of course dear," Miku's mother rested a hand on her head affectionately./em/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"em"Yatta~!" Miku twirled, the dolls flopping a little in her arms./em/p
hr style="color: #000000; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"emHeh? Wait.../em Miku frowned internally, trying to recall what her mother looked like. But she couldn't. For the life of her, she couldn't. She can't seem to remember what was above the warmth on her head... all she could draw up wasem blurred and the person's face in the memory was smudged with a kind of see-through black substance. Interestingly enough, it had a splotch of aquamarine in the vague place of the/emem hair./em/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"emBa-thump. Ba-thump. Ba-thu-/em/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Miku jolted upright, almost leaping off the bed./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"The blindfold fell off./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""My my, you bad kid, how dare you wake up so early?" Len's voice floated overhead./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""If your blindfold comes off, then should I blind you instead?"/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Rin reached a hand to cover Miku's wide eyes./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Miku flinched./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"But Rin didn't do anything./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"She knelt in front of her on the bed, Len standing at the foot of it./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"She poked two fingers into Miku's cheek and pulled them upwards then did it to herself, grinning wider and wider./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Hey look, you're smiling, now isn't that the cutest sight?" said Rin./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"She stood up next to her brother, who was also smiling merrily. Their eyes were happy slits, hiding the cerulean irises./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""But you still wear lies, so let's go back to our play tonight~!" Len sang, arms spread open invitingly./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Miku started to relax, telling herself she's going to see her mother when she goes home, so it did not matter that she couldn't seem to remember. The feeling of uneasiness did not leave her emunlike the dream/em./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Rin waved a red rosette in front of Miku. She blinked, and focused on the present. But her mind kept wandering back to the two dolls, now that she's thought of them. There's a connection of some sort there, and Miku felt as though it was right in front of her, staring at her in the face, just waiting for her to latch onto it, maybe even laughing at her stupidity, at her blindness, at her —/p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"There was a sharp pain in her chest and she looked down, once again dragged out of her thoughts./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Oopsie, sorry, Miku-chan," Rin apologised, pinning the rosette to her chest, above her heart./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"For a moment, the female doll flashed across Miku's eyes and overlapped with Rin./p
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"em"Ne~~, choutai~? Ahaha~~!"/em/p
hr style="color: #000000; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" noshade="noshade" size="1" /
p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"strongSorry for the short chapter, but each chapter is so short its agonizing…/strong/p