(Note: I apologize, but after looking at Singapore's education system, I've decided that things would be simpler if Kyra was 16, since the postsecondary stuff confuses me. Therefore, I've de-aged her by a year.)
Your local theater is an old place, having seen its glory days decades ago. It's usually passed over for newer ones, and as such, it has found its niche in showing movies that have already left the cinema circuit for a much cheaper price. This still hasn't made it very popular, but you don't mind — that just means you get less of a crowd and a better choice of seats.
You go there pretty often, though not as much as in primary school, and as such, the mostly-elderly moviegoers know you fairly well, as do the workers. You can hear them greeting you as you walk by, and you wave at them half-heartedly. To be honest, you don't really want to be here — you'd much rather be at home, in your room, poring over your crystal — but your mom has been stressed out for hours, constantly on the phone, and so your dad gently suggested that you get out of the house for a little while, so here you are.
The crystal still sits in your back pocket, and you reach back to make sure it's still there every once in a while.
Well, more like once or twice a minute.
Nobody can blame you, right? You've wanted this for four years. From the moment you found out about the crystals, you kept your eyes peeled, looking hard at every nook and cranny one could've fallen into. On one memorable occasion, you reached into the sewer after seeing what looked like one. It turned out to be an earring, and though the lady who'd dropped it thanked you profusely, your parents scolded you, your arm was all dirty, and you were left with nothing but disappointment.
You went to bed late that night, as you did many nights, praying for something to happen. You didn't know if anyone was up there, or who they were if they existed — unlike your father, you've never been particularly religious. Still, you stayed up past midnight begging for a chance.
Two days ago, you were given that chance.
It was a pretty average day, and the thought of becoming a Precure hadn't even brushed your mind, since you were so occupied with worrying about the English test. The test, however, turned out to be easier than you'd expected, and you walked home happy, humming David Bowie songs to yourself.
You'd expected the crystal to be laying on the ground somewhere, or perhaps floating down from the sky, but this one hit you on the top of your head as you walked. For a moment, you thought someone had thrown a rock at you, but when you looked around, there was no one there…and there was a perfectly round crystal at your feet.
The moment you picked it up, it felt so right in your hands, and you knew without a doubt that it was meant to be yours. Your heart was beating so fast; despite all those years of wanting to become a Precure, you felt so unprepared. Quickly, you shoved it into your jacket's front pocket, then hurried home and stayed in your room until dinner.
The crystal has been on your mind ever since. You've examined it many times, but you can't really tell much about it. You spent most of yesterday fantasizing about what your costume might look like; since the crystal was a very dark shade of blue, you know that'll be your costume's main color, but what about the rest? Honestly, you're very, very excited.
You're still not sure how to activate the crystal. You've tried wishing on it, tapping on it, thinking about the people you want to protect as you hold it, even putting it under your pillow while you sleep, but nothing has done the trick so far. Your best guess is that you need to actually be caught up in a Saiark attack, but you've never actually seen one in person; though your school holds Saiark drills all the time, the only time it was a real issue, the Saiark was several blocks away, and you just hid in the gym with the other students until it was defeated by the Precure trio who call themselves the Tiny Dancers.
Even so, things happen for a reason, right? You'll see a Saiark soon enough, and when you do —
"Kyra? Kyra? Hey, Earth to Kyra!"
A hand waves in front of your face, and you realize you're next in line to buy a ticket. Crap. You haven't even picked a movie yet!
The boy manning the ticket stand is easily recognizable as Ishaan. You and Ishaan were never really friends, but you were always on relatively good terms, and sometimes the two of you would work on homework together. He always got amazing grades in every subject, and everyone was expecting him to go on and do something great, and then…
And then his mom got sick, and since his dad had never been around, he dropped out of school to support her. You had no idea what he was up to these days, but you've seen him working several low-skill jobs near you, and now he's working here, apparently.
You neglect to bring any of this up as you buy your ticket. You hadn't actually decided on a movie, so you quickly pick one with an interesting-sounding title — anything to get away before things become even more awkward.
As you turn to leave, having gotten your ticket, Ishaan calls out to you.
"Hey, Kyra!"
You look over your shoulder at him, still fingering the crystal in your pocket. "Yeah?"
He hesitates for a moment, then asks, "How is Seniya doing?"
Clearly, he's asking because you were friends with Seniya's sister Mahsuri, but you haven't exchanged more than a handful of words with Seniya in years, and you're sure Ishaan knows this.
You shrug. "She's…fine. I don't really know. Sorry."
Ishaan's face is impassive. "That's okay. Enjoy the movie."
At this clear dismissal, you go off to buy some popcorn, wondering why he was even asking about Seniya. As far as you know, the two of them have never shared a conversation. Does he have a crush on her, the sort of crush where you don't talk to the girl but stare at her all the time? Maybe. Truthfully, you've never been able to tell what Ishaan is thinking, so you decide not to worry about it.
After buying a thing of popcorn and a drink, you enter the theater itself (the first one on the left, that is). As usual, there aren't many people there, so you have a wide variety of seats to pick from. You choose a seat in the middle row, near the left, and wait for the trailers to end.
As it turns out, you chose the wrong movie.
It's an action movie that must've absolutely bombed at the main cinemas; the dialogue is clumsy and delivered in the most overly dramatic way possible, the special effects are total crap, and the plot seems to consist of cliche after cliche. Eventually, you decide to entertain yourself by guessing the next line of dialogue after each is said, and you're usually pretty close.
You're so busy with your little game that when something nudges your leg, you don't notice at all. It takes two more nudges, then something resembling a headbutt, for you to realize that there's something under your seat.
You bend over, reaching under the chair, and almost let out a yelp when your hand brushes against fur. Did you just touch a rat? Damn, you knew this theater was old, but you thought it was clean…
You're still in that train of thought when two paws wrap around your hand, and before you can freak out, a squeaky voice whispers, "Calm down."
The voice is unmistakably that of a fairy.
Of course. Every Precure team (or solo Precure) is supposed to have at least one fairy helping them. It only makes sense for one to be sent to help you, now that you've found…
Suddenly, something clicks in your head.
"You were the one who threw the crystal at me, weren't you?" you ask quietly, now bent over all the way, so that you're looking upside-down under the seat.
You still can't make much of the fairy out, but she (you're pretty sure it's a she) definitely has the right silhouette, looking like some sort of cross between a panda and a ladybug. "Look, can we have this conversation somewhere else? It's too dark and crowded. Meet me in the bathroom, okay?"
"Right now?"
"Come on, do you really care about seeing the rest of this stupid movie?" Though you can't see the fairy's eyes, you get the feeling she's rolling them as she speaks.
"Okay, point taken," you whisper back, and slowly rise from your seat, trying to make as little noise as possible.
Still, any noise you could've made would be deafened by the pounding of your heart.
You're not sure how, but the fairy beats you to the bathroom.
She's sitting on the counter next to the sinks when you arrive, looking into the mirror with an unreadable expression. Now that it's bright, you can get a good look at her. She's about the size of a small-ish teddy bear, her eyes are wide and black, and she wears a black bow around one ear, but that's not what strikes you as odd.
What makes you worry is the fact that her little hair tuft, dress, and shell are all pink. Aren't fairies supposed to match their Precure in terms of colors? That's what you've always seen on the news. Shouldn't she have a dark blue shell, then? Then again, you don't really know if the color thing is a hard rule. Maybe it's just a coincidence…
…a coincidence that has occurred many, many times.
Whatever.
You shake the thought off as you approach the fairy. "So, um, did you throw the crystal at me?"
She turns, and you realize you probably should've opened with something better, like a greeting, or at least asked what her name was.
Luckily, she doesn't seem to mind. "I did. I've been watching you for a while; I felt the crystal resonate the moment I first saw you. I just had to wait until you were alone, and not inside a house with locked doors and windows."
Oh. You probably should've opened your window at some point. "Sorry," you say, scratching the back of your head. "I guess I should've thought of that."
The fairy shakes her head. "It's fine. Now, I assume you have questions."
"Yeah, hundreds."
She sighs, but she's smiling. "Well, I guess I can't blame you for that, but I can't tell you everything right now. How about we go to your house? Nobody will barge in on us there."
"Well," you answer, "my parents might, but it's still better than here."
The fairy nods. "Fair enough." Pointing to your popcorn bag, she adds, "Empty that out, and I can hide in it."
"Sure," you reply, though you're a bit sad to be dumping out perfectly good popcorn — the bag was still half full!
As you're throwing out the popcorn, you still have your head turned to look at the fairy. You can't believe how fast this is going; two days ago, you were still wishing for something, anything to happen, and now an actual fairy is talking to you!
"My name is Pitch, by the way," the fairy says after a moment of silence.
"I'm Ky—"
"You're Kyra Guo. Like I said, I've been watching you for a while."
For a moment, you picture this little fairy sneaking around your school, hiding in trash cans, peeping at you from behind corners, and you chuckle a bit. You finish dumping out the popcorn and walk back over to the counter, where Pitch is still sitting.
A small smirk lights up Pitch's face. "Hey, wanna see something cool?"
You nod; despite everything, you're still feeling a bit awkward around Pitch, and really, it's only natural — you've only just met her, after all. Maybe some icebreakers will help.
Pitch holds out one paw, and in a flash of hot pink light, some sort of metal tool appears. It's long and thin, branching out into two evenly-sized prongs about a quarter of the way up. Really, it almost looks like some kind of fork. You can't remember what it's called, but it's on the tip of your tongue —
"It's a tuning fork," Pitch explains right before you can remember the name, "and it's how I got my name. These things will resonate at a certain pitch, and they're used for tuning instruments. This one is special, though — it starts vibrating when a Saiark appears, and the closer the Saiark gets, the more it vibrates."
"C-Can I hold it for a minute?" you stammer, a bit awed by the magic brought up so casually right before your eyes. Pitch just straight-up summoned a magical item with a flick of her paw, and she's just a fairy. What will you be able to do?
"Of course!"
The moment you take the tuning fork, you can feel your heart start beating even harder. It doesn't feel any different from a normal object, but you're shaking, you must be, because —
Wait a minute.
You're not shaking. The tuning fork is.
And that means…
Your eyes lock with Pitch's, both of you wearing an almost identical expression — fear mixed with a bit of anticipation.
"I didn't think one would come this suddenly," Pitch murmurs, grabbing the tuning fork back from you. "I thought I'd have more time to explain the situation, but…"
You try to put on a smile, to hide the fact that you really have started to shake. "It's okay. I can do this."
(Can you? Can you really? You don't even know how to transform…)
Pitch looks uncertain, but she nods. "Okay. Do you have your —?"
You reach into your pocket and pull out the crystal, holding it up where Pitch can see it. "Yep."
You've heard the expression about someone's jaw dropping in shock before, but you always thought it was an exaggeration — until you see Pitch's expression, jaw dropped, eyes wide in an almost cartoonish shocked look. If the situation weren't so dire, you'd laugh.
"Why is it still a crystal?" she yelps. Seeing your confused look, she adds, "It should be a PreChan Mirror by now."
All of a sudden, you feel very cold, and you have a feeling it's not from the AC. "But you never told me how to activate it."
"Activate it? It should've transformed on its own, resonated with your feelings. It's been two days, so why hasn't it?" Pitch rounds on you, as if you have an explanation.
Wait… So all that time you spent wishing on it, thinking about your loved ones… Was that not good enough? Wasn't the crystal supposed to be yours?
…Did something go wrong? Were you wrongly chosen?
No, that can't be. You can't be this close, only to have your chance yanked away at the last minute. That would just be cruel.
But then why didn't it transform?
"Was there a mistake?" Pitch wonders out loud, a bit quieter. She's holding your crystal; when did that happen? "I thought you had the potential…"
You don't have the potential, do you?
Of course you don't. You're useless. You're not good at anything, you can't help anyone, can't save anyone.
You barely notice as you bend over, hands on your knees, fingernails digging into your legs to the point where it hurts. It's a good pain, though. It makes the world spin a little slower around your head.
"Kyra!"
How could you ever think you could be a hero? You always wish you could be like the book characters, but there's so much that they have and you lack. You're not special like they are. You're nothing.
You're vaguely aware of Pitch speaking, growing more and more frantic, but the world is spinning so fast, and you're so cold, and your breaths are getting faster and faster, and you just want everything to calm down —
"KYRA!"
The sudden scream, combined with Pitch grabbing your face, is what snaps you out of it. Startled, you stumble back, and your back hits the wall. The spinning seems to have stopped, at least mostly, so you can look Pitch in the eye.
"Kyra, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. This isn't your fault. We'll work something out together, okay?" Pitch's voice is softer now, more gentle, and you can feel your heartbeat slowing down a bit, no longer pounding way too fast.
This isn't your fault. When was the last time someone said that to you? The first responders, way back?
Did you even believe them?
"Right," you manage to croak out. Your throat feels dry, and you're trying hard to keep the memories from coming back and smothering you.
"Seriously, are you okay?" Pitch asks, putting a paw to your forehead.
You brush it off with a shaking hand. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just get anxious sometimes."
"To be honest, I don't really think you're okay," Pitch replies, "and we're going to talk about the anxiety later, but for now, we have to think of a plan. The Saiark is heading this way. It'll be here before long. I'm going to call for backup, but they might not arrive in time."
Slowly, you rise back to your full height. Pitch floats backward a bit, no longer touching you.
"I can do it," you say.
"But —"
"I can do it."
You have to.
When did you start thinking of yourself as a hero-to-be? This isn't about being a hero. It's about succeeding where you once failed.
"Look," Pitch says, "it's not that I don't think you have the potential, because you clearly do. I just think this might not be your battle. I mean, you just —"
Pitch suddenly cuts herself off, staring down at her paw, where the tuning fork is now vibrating twice as much.
"Two?"
As if on cue, you hear a scream, though you're not sure where it's coming from.
"The first one is just down the street," Pitch says, her voice shaking, "and now a second one has emerged pretty close by. Judging by the vibrations, I think it's somewhere to the east, down by the apartments."
There's a thudding sound, then the sound of something breaking, and the screams are getting louder.
If you let this continue, the destruction really will be your fault.
"I can do this," you repeat, holding your hand out. Your voice sounds surprisingly calm. "Just give me a chance."
For a moment, Pitch looks like she's going to refuse, but then she grits her teeth and drops the crystal in your palm. "Be careful, okay? Nothing reckless."
You're pretty sure that going anywhere near a Saiark is reckless, but you agree anyway.
Pitch gives you a tiny smile, then turns towards the mirror. "I'm going to get backup, and then I'll come find you. See you then, Kyra."
With that said, she jumps into the mirror, and as if it was just water, she slides right through it, leaving nothing but ripples which eventually still.
You grasp the crystal tightly, then rush off.
You can do this.
Which Saiark will you target first?
[] The one down the street
[] The one by the apartments
And there we have it! This feels rushed, even to me, but I've been having a string of bad days, both mentally and creatively, and so I felt like I had to get something out. I'll do better next chapter, with a better choice, too — one that has more context to it.
