* SeVeN * Game

A Chapter by Allison

Games in the mind.

I absolutely did not expect this. "We-were you with him when he did that?"
"No, I told him I'll have none of that," he replied still with his calm voice, but looking me in the eyes.
"But you said his commands were gruesome. So what gruesome things did you do?"
"The gruesome things I had to do wasn't killing. Well, I have killed people...but they weren't tortured or anything...besides they deserved to be killed, " Koki was saying in thought. "Anyway! I was to capture and put innocent people into these chamber things that hypnotized them so they would listen to my father's orders. I hated watching them go through it, so I always handed them off to my father's henchmen. Now his henchmen! They are the big buff guys. My father made some thing where bullets don't penetrate far into their skin. So best way to kill them is to slice their throats."
"The henchmen have their own minds, right?" I asked a bit confused.
"Yeah, they can wander off and do whatever, but they have to listen to my father's orders to get paid," he confirmed. "Oh, yeah! Remember Elias?"
"Elias?" I questioned back with a tilt to my head. "Oh, right! The pimp! Haha!"
"Yeah, he's really a Ruler. I know that much. But I do wonder why he had a bear trap to his leg. He didn't have to get injured. Well, he's an idiot," Koki said, obviously going through his thoughts.
"You actually know him?"
"Yeah, he was always around. My father always said he added the humor to the place. Elias is in charge of the money matters for the Rulers. That's why he looks like a pimp."
Right then, we heard Shylo groan and remembered, "Ummm, you better go back before we wake anyone."
"Right, well goodnight," he said, got up and walked back into his room.
I heard a large thump, and then Tai shouting "Ow!"
Then I heard muffled speech from Koki, "Stop hogging the whole bed."

In the morning, I woke up to Tai complaining.
"Apparently, Mr. New Guy here thinks he has to take up so much space!" he was saying.
"I didn't need a lot of space. You acted like you had to stretch every direction," Koki said calmly.
"Well, you're just big!"
"Big?! We're the same size!" Koki said with a small chuckle.
"Why are you guys arguing in my room?" I said sleepily.
"I came to wake you up, of course," Tai answered, smiling.
"Um, thanks, I guess."
"Okay! Let's get going!" Kei ran in, holding his weapons.
"Is our plan to go to the Rin Wind still?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.
"Of course, why would we switch?" Kei said, sitting on the bed and poking my face.
"Ah, I'm too sleepy to think."
"Well, what do you think of a nice breakfast?" Koki said with a smirk.
"Yum!" I said, jumping up from bed.

We went downstairs to eat our breakfast. Afterwords, Shylo told me to go back to the room and get something so I would stop yawning. I was looking at the beautiful hotel carpet and thinking of everything Koki told me. Still dazed, I ran into someone and almost fell backwards in shock, but a strong arm stopped me.
"Sorry, miss," the boy said with a beautiful accent that rang in my ears.
"No, I'm sorry. I should pay more attention," I replied with an embarrassed smile.
"It's okay," he said, smiling kindly, while his slightly spiked blond and brown bangs made his expression look childish. "You look familiar . . . where have I seen you before?"
"You've seen me before?"
"Ah! That's it! You were in the newspaper. You are the famous Taryn Mitchell and your twin brother Tai Mitchell. The children of the rich and powerful Luna and Charles Mitchell," he said cheerfully as though he answered a hard question.
"Yeah, but why was I in the newspaper?" I asked, skipping the point of him saying my parents' names aloud.
"It was about how you and your brother are on some mission to avenge your parents."
"That's part of the mission, but the real mission is to save the world from the evil Rulers," I said with a bit of anger.
"Oh right, that, too!" he said, ignoring my attitude and smiling like a child.
"Well, you know my name. What's yours?"
"I'm Dan. There's no Daniel, just Dan."
His accent made it sound like "dad" to me, so I chuckled a bit, "Ok-OH! I almost forgot to get Shylo's device!" I remembered and ran to the room quickly. I grabbed her device and opened the door to see Dan waiting.
"I'd like to meet your friends, if you don't mind," he said with a questioning expression.
"Sure let's go."

We went back to the dining area, and everyone was chatting lightly. I saw Koki watching me approach. Instantly, his face went to anger, he stood up quickly and rushed over toward me. I was confused, but then I remembered Dan was behind me. I watched Koki's eyes glaring at Dan. Then he quickly pulled me behind him and said quietly but sternly, "What are you doing here?"
Dan stared bewildered, but looked over at Kei and the rest then back to Koki. "Koki? You are with them?"
"While we're at it, where's your parents?" Koki said furiously.
Dan was baffled completely, "What?"
"Or perhaps you want to join us in defeating all the Rulers?" Koki motioned toward us.
"I mean no harm, and I don't call for death either. If you plan to persuade my parents out of their evil I will gladly tell you where they are. But if you intend to kill them, I'll have no information given," Dan said after thought.
"You're parents are not too involved being Rulers then?" I asked slowly.
"They are not. They were forced really. They don't even do bad. But they are just not powerful enough to overcome Sir Ohayashi and his men."
"Okay, we can try, I guess," I replied, thinking through outcomes.
Kei pulled me to look at him, "You can trust he's not putting us into a trap?"
"I-"
"He's right, I have never met his parents. So they might actually be evil," Koki butted in.
"But-"
"You could be risking everything," Kei said, looking at me sternly.
"Can-"
"One little mistake-" Koki started, but I interrupted this time.
"You could be evil for all I know! It's not hard to lie and I would know!" I shouted, and everyone stared at me in shock.
"If I was evil, I wouldn't be trying to stop you," Koki said, looking down.
"What do you mean? You would know it's not hard to lie?" Tai asked calmly.
"I-uhhh . . . " I looked down with embarrassment.
"Have you been lying to us this whole time about something important?!" Shylo chimed in.
"No! I used to simply lie to people when I was younger, but I don't do it often anymore," I said, feeling the heat rush to my face.
"We don't know what's true from you anymore!" Tai shouted dramatically. "You could be lying this instant!"
Koki and Kei chuckled.
"Should we even trust her?" Tai whispered to Kei, looking at me with obviousness.
"Can we just go and see if this guy's lying or not?!" Shylo said, pushing through Kei and Koki. "I'm ready for adventure!"
"Yeah! Let's just go!" I said, grabbed Kei and Koki, and pushed them through the doors of the hotel with Shylo, Tai, and Dan following along.

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