Darkness, silence, it was a perfect night. There were no clouds, and the stars glowed like jewels. Chara remembered happier times, when she would walk around the parks on nights like this, but, tonight was definitely not one of those nights. The moonlight glittered against her silky white hair and her silver eyes glowed. A midnight black bow held her hair back, making it seem an intense white, like sun on new fallen snow. A silken black string around her wrist held a shimmering purple jewel that seemed to glow from within. Across her back was a wooden staff, hooked at one end, with a blade at the other. In the center of it was an odd looking crest made up of six circles, four of them were interconnecting, with one on each side, connected with a line. She wore a sleek black outfit with many pockets that did not even make a whispering noise as she walked. Her soft black shoes made no sound as she trod on the roof of the museum.
She took out a small card, and swiped it against the window, a red light on the security alarm turned green and then deactivated. Chara opened the window and silently dropped to the floor. She quietly walked through the museum, going through many exhibits before she found what she was looking for. A golden statue of a cat, dating back to ancient Egypt, sat in the middle of the room on a pedestal. She reached into her pockets, and drew out an old can; she carefully looked at the lasers that might alert others of her presence. Then she removed the staff from its’ harness on her back, and in one sleek movement, replaced the statue for the can. She drew a rope from another pocket, and within minutes was on her way back home.Chara bit her lip. Every time she stole, a new weight seemed to be in her heart, but she had to do this, she kept on telling herself. It was the only way… ‘Six more’ Chara thought to herself.Chara entered her small, grubby apartment, and quickly closed the door. She took the purple jewel around her wrist in her other hand and commanded “Crystal disguise, deactivate.” There was a flash of purple light, and Charas’ hair turned raven black, her eyes cobalt blue, and her skin tanned to look like someone who spent a lot of time in the sun.
“Mira, I’m back.” Chara called out, sticking the cat statue on a table near a small couch. A strawberry red kitten with milky white splotches came from behind a door and mewed. “Hello, Mira.” Chara said, picking up the kitten. Mira, if it was possible for a cat, looked a little concerned. Suddenly, Mira bolted behind the couch.
At that moment, a window slid open, and two hideous beasts walked into the main room. They had wide, gaping jaws, and blood red eyes, their bodies were covered in a thick dark fur, and long, yellow 3-inch claws came from their paw like hands and feet. They both wore red outfits with spikes and armor. “Do you have the item for our mistress?” One asked in a rasping voice.Chara picked up the cat she had just stolen. “Yes here it is. Be sure to tell Majo, your mistress, that I’ve kept track. I owe her six more items, and then she changes Mira back, and tell her, once she does, I’ll keep our other part of the bargain.”“You don’t really have a choice but to agree to our mistress’s terms, but we will deliver your message with this item to our mistress.” One creature said, while snatching the cat from Chara with an amazing firmness in its awkward grip. “We will see you again when you steal another item for our mistress, White Cat.” Then the two creatures left the way they had entered.“It’s okay now Mira, you can come out.” Chara called, looking behind the couch. Mira ran to Chara and leapt into her hands. “Just wait Mira, I’ll get six more items, and you’ll be back to normal. I promise I’ll get you back to normal.” Chara said, stroking the kitten.
Quietly, Chara set Mira down, and dressed in a long sleeved night shirt and long pants. After that, she hid her clothes underneath her dresser, along with her purple jewel and the black ribbon she used to hold her hair back. But she took out a small photo album before shoving the dresser back into place. She went back to the main room and unfolded her couch into a bed, placed blue covers on it, and slid into bed, sitting up to look at the photo album. Mira curled up on a pillow next to her. The first picture, was a picture of her, 15 years old, a 9 year old girl with strawberry red hair and the same blue eyes, and a man in his mid-30s with blond hair and brown eyes. Chara sighed sadly.
There was a picture behind this one. It was a picture she kept secret from everyone. It was a group shot, with 6 people in it. In the center, there was Chara, with her white hair and silver eyes, wearing a white turtleneck shirt with the same crest on her staff embroidered in over her heart, she also wore white pants, but she also had white cat ears and a white cat tail. Around her were others, wearing different costumes, but each one had the same crest right over the heart and a purple colored crystal.
Chara leaned back and closed her eyes, she remembered when she had been part of the Crystal Guardians, she longed to take her purple crystal, call out ‘Crystal Transformation’ and go through the change she had gone through so long ago. Now looking at the photo, she knew she missed everyone, Fox Fire, River, Forest, Ying yang, and Wing, she missed Wing most of all.But something had happened, and now, there was no way she could go back. She used her Crystal Guardians card to sneak into places to steal things, when it was meant to be used to protect; she knew that with what she was doing now, she would never be welcomed back there again. It was the only thing she could do, but she felt horrible. Everyone had been so nice to her, they had been such good friends. But now, she had deserted them. ‘Would they even understand why I’ve done things?’ Chara thought desperately. She knew they would, they had been her best friends, and they knew that Mira was her only family left. They would have understood, but she couldn’t tell anyone. Chara sighed, she pushed the picture back inside the album. She put the thin album underneath her pillow, and fell asleep.
The next morning, there was a story in the news about how the cat was stolen. Chara fixed herself breakfast, and made sure that Mira had food and water. Chara knew it was about time for another move. Every so often, Chara would move to another city, to throw off her old team mates. She knew they must be guessing what she was doing by now, but, at least they never knew where she was moving next. It was summer vacation now, which meant nothing to do except wait for Majos’ next demand.Chara’s memory brought her back to the day Majo had come. It was so unexpected. Chara and Mira had been living with Altair, a family friend who had adopted them when Charas’ parents had died. Chara had learned a few years ago that her parents used to be part of the Crystal Guardians, and after her powers had been awakened, decided to follow in their footsteps. Suddenly, those two monsters that came to collect what ever Chara had stolen had burst in through the door, and had killed Altair before they had time to even react. Chara had transformed, but she was quickly cornered. Majo was planning on turning her into a cat, but when the spell hit Mira instead, Majo made a deal, saying that if Chara stole 50 items for her, and gave up hero work, she would turn Mira back into a human, and leave her team mates alone. This was her family and friends Majo was talking about, Chara had to agree to Majos’ terms. That had been 4 months ago, and already, she was down to six items. Just six items and Mira would be her old self again. Chara just loitered around for the rest of the day, and caught up on her sleeping. After dinner, it was dark and the moon was out. But, it was still early enough, so Chara decided to take a walk around the park. She wished she had something to occupy her time, when her thoughts were free to wander they always turned back to the ones she wanted to forget. She thought about Wing, who was her best friend and crush back in the Crystal Guardians.
She had met Wing at school, his real name was Hosagi. They started talking about the swim team they were on, which was where they had met, and had become good friends. Chara wished she could go back to those days, but she couldn’t now or ever.
A cold breeze rustled through the trees, causing flurries of leaves to fall to the ground. Chara looked up, and saw a streak of purple across the sky. Only a few people could see this.
“Hello, my old friend.” Chara said, addressing the purple light, “I’m sorry that you’ve come back to see things take a turn for the worse like this.” It was this light, which had awakened her powers and her parents as well, so many years back. But, even though Chara had powers, they weren’t strong enough to break the spell Majo had cast on Mira. “You’re the one who got me into this mess, now how do I get out?!” She demanded to the silent light. Chara didn’t get any answer, but, she wasn’t expecting one anyway.What was she going to do? Chara had asked herself this millions of times, but she never got an answer. Chara guessed she would steal the rest of the items, and spend the rest of her life avoiding her old friends. She didn’t want to do that, but, she had to protect her friends, and, that was the only way she could. Silent tears fell down her cheeks. She wiped off her tears on the sleeve of her shirt, trying to get herself to stop crying.“I thought I might meet you here. You always did like to walk around at night.” A male voice said behind her.
Chara felt her face pale as she whirled around. Behind her was a boy with brown hair and hazel eyes.
“Hosagi!”
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