Secrets Revealed {Maven}

[Nicolette]

The walk from the lobby door to the elevator had been too short. The ride on the elevator to the second floor had been too short. The walk from the elevator to the dorm room had been too short. And now, as Sven unlocked the door and the two walked inside, her heart felt like it was going to explode.

The second they walked into the house, she turned around to Sven and spoke. "I'll be right back." She left no room for protest as she dashed to her bedroom. She locked her door behind her and walked to her desk. She took her time to take her contacts out, slipping her glasses on for the time being. She then walked to her closet, her eyes scanning over the items inside. Green orbs soon fell on a chest at the bottom of the closet, locked carefully with a key.

With a sigh, she walked back to her desk and climbed on top of her desk, looking on one of her top shelves to find a jewelry box. She pulled it toward her and opened the top, reaching inside. She pulled a small compartment in the box and it revealed a little silver key. She took it and hopped off her desk, walking back to her closet and unlocking the chest inside. She opened it and pulled out a few items before shutting it back tight, locking it.

She placed the key on the desk and threw the items on the bed. From there, she proceeded to strip herself down to nothing. She picked up the first item: a pair of black panties. She pulled them up her legs and let them rest on her hips. She had bought them recently (when she had been pretending to be a male, she had simply told the clerk that 'he' needed them for 'his' sister since she was too busy to go shopping). Next came a simple black bra, which hugged her small breasts comfortably.

Next, she picked up a t-shirt. It wasn't like the usual ones in her closet, though. It was a Radiance t-shirt, but in a woman's size. She pulled it over her head and adjusted it on her body. It hugged against her chest and came down to cover her hips and cover her panties. The last item she picked up was a simple pair of jeans, which she pulled up to rest at her hips, beneath the t-shirt.

She looked at herself in the mirror and moved her hair over her forehead and around her. She fluffed her bangs a little and ran her fingers through her hair before she adjusted her glasses and turned around, walking back to her bedroom door. She paused, her hand on the doorknob. She was scared... She had tried to take all the time she could to change, but she knew that she couldn't wait any longer.

There was no more hiding this...

She walked out of her room, shutting her light off and shutting the door behind her. She looked about the room, looking for Sven as she swallowed hard, slowly walking forward into the living room area.

[Faye]

Time just seemed to pass them by as they walked to the elevator and went up, he wished there was some kind of music in the elevator like that did in the movies. However, he wasn't quite so sure about the type of music they used, it seemed to make things funny and ruin the mood dramatically. As they reached their dormitory, Sven fished out the keys to unlock the door which he pushed open and let Matthew in first.

Just as Sven went to protest to Matthew heading off, he stopped, because a) she had already run off b) she was probably going to go change. Pretty reasonable. He sighed a bit and took a seat on the couch, not wanting to turn the television on but he did turn the light on before he sat down. No use sitting in the dark...

Sven shot up from his sitting position as he heard Matthew's door open and he spun around, his red eyes falling upon a very cute and beautiful girl. Sure she had the same hair but for some reason he liked her more as herself... "Y..you.. look..." He paused, "Uh... before we get into this, can I... Can I know your real name...?" He'd rather not call her Matthew at this stage.

[Nicolette]

The girl nodded as she stepped further into the living room, taking a seat at the other end of the couch slowly and carefully. She pushed her glasses up and swallowed hard before clearing her throat and taking a deep breath. She brought her eyes up to lock with Sven's as she opened her mouth to speak.

"My birth name is Katherine Serenity Friedrich. However, when I moved to America, I took on the name Katherine Fletcher... And then, I moved on to the name Matthew Spencer Fletcher about a year before I began to attend The T'zenshin Institute. You may call me whichever name you see fit..."

Might as well give details on what names she went by. She swallowed hard before she decided to speak again.

"Although... There is one other name I have gone by... Though... Since I left Germany, I left the name behind, for reasons I am still unsure of..." She looked down at her lap, a depressing feeling taking over her chest as it clenched again.

[Faye]

Katherine... such a pretty name and suited her, too. Sven had taken his seat again on the couch and was looking at her intently, he wanted to figure everything out about her, there was so much more mystery dancing around her now that all of this had been thrown out in the open. It put him to shame in that department for sure. At least in his eyes. A lot of people at school (especially the girls) fell in love with him because he was such a puzzle. Not that he ever thought like that.

"I'll call you Katt... Is that alright?" He said, trying his best to muster up even a simple smile. Though something else about what she said intrigued him, another name? "What other name was that...?" He asked, curiosity lacing his voice and peeking out through the glint in his blood red eyes. "After you answer that, I'll answer a question for you, sound fair?" Seemed fair to him, it would give them both a break from revealing secrets kept hidden inside for so long.. Especially for Katt.

[Nicolette]

As Sven asked if he could call her Katt, Katherine couldn't help but let a little smile slip on her lips as she gave a nod. How ironic it was how he turned into a cat and he wished to call her 'Katt'. It was rather amusing. But she hid her smile for the moment as she looked back up at the man across from her, her breath catching for a moment.

"You must promise to never speak a word of this... For a reason that I will explain later..." She took a deep breath and she looked up at Sven, looking him straight in the eye.

"They called me Anima... I was once a singer for an idol band in Germany." Her voice was a soft, shaky almost-whisper.

She wanted to register his reaction before she asked the question that was on her mind.

[Faye]

Sven saw a smile creep onto Katt's lips and couldn't help but smile back although his faded not long after she hid her own. At least the mood was lightening up a little than it was before. He scooted a little closer to her and looked at her in the eyes as she revealed that she was.. That she was Anima!? WHAT!?

Sh...She... She was the sweet and delicate voice that beat into his ears with enchanting lyrics and a beautiful voice to go with it. She was his favourite member of Radiance. He had hooked up with Anima in the boy's bathroom! Sven was shocked, but not in a bad way. "Y..You're Anima!?" Was all he could blurt out, he was so shocked yet it made sense. He looked away from her, blinking a few times as he let it sink in. "W..wow, that's... actually kinda cool..." He said, more so to himself than Katt.

[Nicolette]

Katherine's eyes widened a little at his reaction and her cheeks warmed up a little at his last comment. She turned to look away for a moment, clearing her throat and pushing her glasses up again (more out of habit, than anything else). She glanced at the man next to her again.

"I-I suppose..." She said with a small smile before running her fingers through her hair. She took a deep breath and let it out before she spoke again. "Well, I suppose it's my turn now..." She paused for another moment, trying to think of a way to word her question.

"What did you mean... when you said you'd be stuck a cat forever?" She asked, her eyes full of curiosity. She really wanted to know.

[Faye]

Wow... really? Anima... One of the vocals in his favourite band was sitting next to him, had told him she loved him and lived with him for like three months! It was so overwhelming. He ran both his hands through his hair and thought about coffee for a moment, oh he was dying for a cup right about now...

But Katt had asked a very important question. His red eyes glanced at her and he forgot about the coffee and his mind spiralled out. He blinked and tried to keep himself in tact. "Remember when I turned into a cat when I got frustrated that time?" He asked rhetorically, he knew Katt would remember. "Well it's like that, if... if I love, like true love, somebody I will turn into a cat and I won't turn back until I get over it and I don't see myself getting over something I truly love," He sighed deeply, it was kind of selfish of him to think like that, really. "And I don't want to have to go through that, I mean, if I 'fell' in love with you, I wouldn't want to be a cat, I'd want to hold you and everything like that," He explained, near tears once again.

"While we're on the subject, I may as well tell you the rest of it as well," He swallowed, deciding to finish off the cat side then move onto the crow. "It's not only frustration and love, if I feel fear I'll turn into a cat as well. If I feel jealousy or grief then I'll turn into a crow and I'm surprised I'm not a crow at the moment, I'm so jealous of my father..." The last bit wasn't quite planned to come out, he would... probably have to explain it to Katt soon.

[Nicolette]

Katherine could see how this was affecting Sven emotionally. She could hear the distress in his voice and she bit her lip for a moment, debating on her mind of what to do. She finally settled for reaching out a slender hand, gently taking his larger hand in hers. She squeezed it a little as he spoke and she looked up at him, confusion still in her eyes.

"And why do you envy your father...?" She asked softly before swallowing hard. "And... you can ask me another question in return, since you shared much more than I did...."

[Faye]

A slight feeling of comfort came to him as Katt held his hand, he gently squeezed hers back and looked up at her, his eyes glistening from the light reflecting off the tears that he held so tightly in them. But he slowly let go and went into the kitchen, flicking the kettle on, he needed a nice, hot cup of coffee to help calm his nerves a little. He reached for a mug and placed two teaspoons of coffee and three sugars into the cup and went and got the milk.

"I envy my father because he doesn't have to put up with crap like this, he is able to express himself and love my mother," He replied, pouring milk into the mug about a quarter of the way up. He thought for a moment, about Katt's second sentence, what would he ask her...? There were a few things he wanted to know. "Why.. Why did you disguise yourself as a guy?" He asked, gingerly, he wanted to know, though he wasn't completely angry about the lie, it brought them together...

[Nicolette]

As Sven got up, Katherine stood as well, but she went to the window by the television. She had placed a new pack of cigarettes there that morning, so she took one out of the box. She looked around for a moment before she jogged to her bedroom. She stood outside the room while listening to Sven and when he asked his question, she went into her bedroom, reaching into the pants on the floor and taking out her lighter before she came back into the room.

She lit her cigarette halfway through the room and once she was by the window, she blew the smoke out the window. She was quiet for a moment, thinking over his question. How was she entirely supposed to answer that question when she, herself, didn't know the answer.

"I... I'm not sure..." She said softly. She took a long drag of her cigarette before slowly blowing it out. "When I left Germany, I went to live with my aunt in New York. My memory is really fuzzy... I don't remember why I left Germany, but I believe it was about two years ago... I moved to New York in America and lived with Aunt Hillary.

"I don't know why she did it, but Aunt Hillary told me it would be best if I wasn't Katherine anymore. She said it was dangerous... She wouldn't tell me the reason... I figured it was because I had once been an idol singer and she was afraid of people stalking me... But... something tells me it's much, much worse..."

She shut her eyes as she inhaled more cigarette smoke. With every inhalation, she was sacrificing her ability to sing well. She didn't care anymore.

"Every time I try to remember... My head hurts so bad. It's as if... there's a block, preventing me from remembering something that happened two years ago..."

[Faye]

They both seem to have an addiction of some sort, they both had to rely on something to calm them down so they didn't go insane. Katt's was smoking and Sven's was drinking coffee. Both not good for them but neither of them seemed to give a damn at any point. Sven stirred the hot water into the milk, mixing the ingredients together thoroughly to make a perfect coffee blend. He placed the teaspoon into the sink and listened to Katt talk. So she had no idea why she became a boy? Well that was understandable if she didn't remember... Especially she couldn't. "Sounds frustrating..." He replied, feeling weird about using the word frustrated like that.

"I'm sure it'll come to you someday... hopefully," He said, trying to reassure Katt that everything would be okay. With his cup in his hand he wandered on over to the windowsill where she leaned, smoking that filthy cigarette and placed a warm hand on her back and stood close to her, not seeming to mind the smell of smoke.

[Nicolette]

Katherine took a long drag of her cigarette, leaning her arm against the window sill and leaning her body against her arm as she looked outside. There wasn't much of a view, but it still was nice to look outside. She shut her eyes and took another drag of her cigarette, letting out a shaky breath as she blew it out. She felt Sven's hand on her back and she could feel the tears coming to her eyes again.

"Radiance... They won't tell me what happened, but I can't even ask them right now... Nymph's in the hospital and there's a chance that she might be dying right now." Her voice was choked up and her cigarette fell into her ashtray, her fingers too weak to support it. She leaned her forehead against the side of the window sill. "No one will tell me why I left Germany. No one told me why I stopped singing..." She let out a choked sob and whispered her last sentence.

"No one will tell me why Nickolaus disappeared..."

[Faye]

Sven could feel her pain seeping out of her with every word that she spoke, it was heart breaking for him to watch and listen to, he didn't want Katt to cry or feel any of this emotion that she was feeling, he wanted her to be happy... To see that lovely smile spread across her lips before all of this stuff happened. "Katt.." He spoke her name softly, bringing his arms to gently wrap around her middle and pull her close again his body.

"I'm here for you..." He whispered gently in her ear, there wasn't much else he could say, he would never be able to tell her it was going to be okay, he didn't know who this Nickolaus guy was nor did he know how Nymph was going to be. But, he was going to be there for her for as long as she wanted him.

[Nicolette]

Katherine reached up and took her glasses off, placing them on the window sill, before she gripped Sven's shirt and buried her face in his chest as he held her close. She felt safe in his arms, shaking and crying. She felt weak for showing this side of her, but holding back her pain and sorrow for so long was eating away at her and she couldn't hold it in any longer.

Soon, her sobs turned into sniffles and she brought her hands to wipe at her eyes, sniffling and looking up at Sven's blurry face. She couldn't see him very well, but his eyes still stood out and she found herself gazing into them.

"I...I'm so sorry..." She said softly as she reached to the window sill, reaching for the glasses. "I... I just...." She suddenly paused and her expression turned desperate. "Please keep my secret... My secret that I'm a female, my secret that I am Anima... Please... There's a reason I took on the persona of Matthew Fletcher, and even if I don't know what it is... I know it was serious... So... Please..."

She brought her hands to grip his shirt, forgetting her glasses for a moment, as she gazed up at the red color she saw. "Please keep my secret..."