Author's Note: No, this fiction doesn't have heavy romance. Or Shounen Ai or whatever. I personally don't have a very good intuition about that sort of thing. So... yeah. Oh, I don't own D.N.Angel, by-the-way.

Stage One: A Plead to the Beyond

Oh man, I'm going to be late again...! Daisuke Niwa dashed out of the front door of his home, a buttered piece on toast in his mouth. It had been a little over three months since Dark had sealed himself and Krad into the Black Wings. Three months since his life returned to normal. Three months since he got his 'Holy Maiden'. Yup, everything was pretty much going how life should. No mom-set traps, no going out in the middle of the night to steal art... no annoying voices in the back of his head...

It was taking him longer to adjust to this life than he thought it would. Absentmindedly, he leaped over a stack of crates in the road. "Hey, Daisuke!" the shopkeeper called. "Aren't you running late?"

"That's why I'm in a hurry!" the red-haired boy called back, not stopping to look at the man. In fact, he was in so much of a hurry that as soon as he rounded the corner... BAM! Without time to so much as stop, Daisuke had run into a darkly dress woman. She looked ready to go to a funeral if it wasn't for the blindfold covering her eyes. They had fallen in completely different directions(much to Daisuke's relieve), him falling backwards onto his rear while she sprawled out on her side. "Sorry, I didn't see you." the boy apologized, helping her up.

The woman nodded. "It is quiet alright. I know you are likely in a hurry, but please stay a moment." Even without sight, she could sense his hesitation. "Do not worry, I will not take much of your time." With that, she reached under her long, flowing black hair, untying the knot that held up her blindfold. The black fabric slid from her face lightly, revealing piercing dark blue eyes. She stared at him for a moment before saying to him in a hushed tone, "I see the echoes of another within you. One that is no longer there."

Echoes of another that wasn't there? Did she mean Dark? Daisuke shifted nervously under her gaze, at which she smiled. "I really need to get going now. Bye." With that, he dashed off, determined not to be late to school. The woman stared off after him before replacing the blindfold.

"That boy... Could he really had been...?"

Pop Quiz! What does 'nothing' look like?

Surprizingly, it looks like an awful lot of nothing. And, to this extent, it annoyed Kaitou Dark to no end. He had sealed many a work of art in his four hundred some-odd years of existence, and yet he was not quite prepared for how empty it was being sealed himself. As he had expected, Krad and himself did not return to being one entity for all time, which only served to entertain Dark, as he could patronize his opposite.

Seeing as there was no sun nor moon nor wind or even stars by which he could at least try to keep track of time, he wasn't all to sure how far into eternity they were into. It could have been a day, or it could have been a year. And for some reason, the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to laugh. As a matter of fact, this is how his counter-part found him. "So... Have you finally lost you're mind, Dark Mousy? If so, I'd gladly put you out of your misery." Krad said with open contempt. The whole being sealed thing pleased him about as much as it did Dark. Actually, it could be speculated that he hated it more than he hated Dark even.

Recovering quickly from his laughter, Dark looked to the blonde. "And why not do that now, hm? Oh, right, it's because you can't." he taunted. Truth be told, being the one who created the seal, Dark was the only one able to use magic in this place where nothing existed. And so Krad's threats were rendered harmless. "And you wouldn't kill me until I let us out of here, so..." The purple-haired angel turned away, drifting away in the endless expanse on non-existence. He really didn't feel like dealing with Krad at the moment. Of course, he would have to sooner or later. "May as well enjoy the peace and quiet while I can."

Night had fallen upon the city by the time the black robed woman arrived at her destination. The Chuuou Art Museum, Built atop a hill on the island in the centre of the city, it had once been the resting place of many of the Hikari family artworks. But only one concerned her and the three other figures in black that walked up behind her. "The three of us know what we need to do. We are counting on you, Mea, to speak for us." the blindfolded woman said, turning to the one figure that had their hood up. Mea nodded, walking forward toward the entrance. The door was locked, as should be expected at this late hour. With a wave of her hand, a white glow engulfed it. A small click echoed in the heavy air, and the large doors opened silently.

Once inside the musky building, the four walked to where the Black Wings was held. The black mirror that contained the art piece, which was covered with a grey cloth and chained to the ground, seemed to look down upon them as if to strike fear into their hearts. A cold silence filled the air as the four of them bowed, and the one addressed as Mea stepped toward the sealed mirror. The other three gathered around her in a triangle shape, clasping their hands together as if in prayer. With an unearthly voice, Mea began her spell...

"Spirits of the Black Wings, come forth to the border of existence. Defy that which is set and show yourselves to me! Dark! Krad! Have our souls meet on the edges of the endless planes!"

By the time she uttered the last word, her consciousness had already left her body.

x x x x x

The feeling was both gradual and sudden. The feeling of being pulled out of the non-existence that they resided in. The first thing Dark and Krad saw was color. Okay, so it was really black, which is not a real color, but it was better than the nothingness they had been in. The deep blackness slowly faded to a dank grey, which was just bright enough to tell that it was neither black nor white. Next thing the two angels saw was chains. A wall of interwoven chains that blocked the way to existence. Beyond it they could see the museum that the Black Wings was displayed in. There were four figures, but everything beyond the mirror the Hikari's had seal the Black Wings in was blurred.

One of the four blurred figures seemed to disappear from where they stood in the middle of the group, appearing in front of the wall of chains. They bowed their head in respect, then removed the hood covering their face. Their hair was pure white, skin a ghostly pale and looked at them with clouded lite blue eyes. "Spirits of the Black Wings, I am Mea of the Seal." she said, her voice crystal clear, yet otherworldly. "I hope you do not take my calling you to this place, the Seal's Edge, badly."

Krad frowned at the girl. "I do hope you have a reason for dragging us here." he stated sharply. He did not enjoy seeing the reality that he would probably never get to go to again. "I was rather busy thinking."

"I assume you are Krad, then." There was a smile on Mea's face that remained even after she sighed. "You will not make this decision easy."

"What decision?" Dark asked.

Mea glanced to the black winged man with a sad look in her eyes. She knew he would not like this. "To release you two from the Black Wings." She watched silently as the two mens expressions changed. Krad's to look of increasing curiosity, and Dark's to frowning suspicion. "Understand why I am doing this before you judge my decision." The air seemed to get heavier as she took a calming breath. "I am sure you both are aware of the fact that you are borne from the entity known as Kokuyoku. And I assume that you know what would happen should the Black Wings awake. But I assure you. If the two of you remain sealed within Black Wings, what Dark sealed you to prevent will come to pass. The very nature of the art will force you two to become Kokuyoku, as it seeks to become that which it once was. And when that happens, the magic it contains will become so strong... it will break both the magical seal and the physical seal keeping it from wreaking havoc on the world.

"At that point, I doubt either of you, regardless of which becomes the true Kokuyoku, would be able to control the Hikari's living art. And you would have to bear the weight of an empty existence after that." The girl paused there, letting her words sink into their minds. She could see them weighing what she said against their own motives. After a moment, when they seemed to have yet reached a decision, she went on to say, "So I shall release you and advert that fate... And take your places within the seal."

That caught Dark's attention from his thoughts. "And have you replace us in the void we exist in? No, that is not something I am willing to do."

"I am sorry, Kaitou Dark, but that decision is not yours to make. I do not need you to break the seal on the Black Wings in order for me to do this." In an off note, more to herself, she added to her defiant statement, "However that would make it easier." Before she could continue, Mea of the Seal cringed, taking in a pained gasp. "It will have to wait for tomorrow. I lack enough energy now." she strained, grasping at her chest. That was all Krad need to hear to turn and leave, a twisted smile on his face. Displeased with the situation he was forced into, Dark went to follow. "Dark, please keep in mind that if I could, I would gladly keep Krad sealed within the Black Wings to keep him from the world." With a forced nod, he glided off into the non-existence, not watching as the girl faded from the Seals Edge.

x x x x x

The spell faded as the meeting at the Seal's Edge ended on a bittersweet note, and Mea collapsed to the ground in the centre of the triangle formed by her black robed companions. Quickly, they helped her up, the two strongest, who were most likely men, having her wrap an arm around their necks, carefully bringing her outside as the blindfolded woman followed behind. "Tomorrow..."

Tomorrow they would exist again.