I've decided to continue and write Shinzo stories for the entire album, Only by the Night by 'Kings of Leon'. The chapters will be in order of the track list so if you want to know what's next, just check the track list online. I also highly suggest you listen to each song during their respective chapter. I am writing each one, continuously listening to the song so that I can properly write based off the song's mood.

This first chapter is set after the English ending, after Mushra wakes on Enterra and sees the card (either the Guardian card or Lanancura's card, which I'm not sure of. If you know for sure, please tell me when you review.)

Favorites are nice but I love reviews more.

Disclaimer: I own neither the songs nor the show.

1. Closer

Rating: K
Genre: General / Journey
Character: Mushra

Eyes as blue as the sky stirred beneath tanned lids. The enterran's face scrunched for a moment, before the curtains of sleep were finally lifted. Slowly he opened his eyes to the night's pale light, staring up at the white full moon in wonder. It was high in the sky now; the only evidence of the day was a thin, dying ribbon of pink peeping behind the hills.

Mushra sat up on his branch, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and stretching his arms wide, his entire back cracking with the effort after being stiff for so long. It had been a long, hot day; even with the cover of the leaves, his face felt a bit raw from a light burn. It was cool now, and he thanked the breeze that soothed his face as he dropped from the tree onto the soft grass. His legs protested, still tired from yesterday's journey, and he grimaced, looking down at his hoverboard with a frown on his brows. He needed to get it fixed and soon. He was full of stamina, but with the lack of food and proper sleeping places, even he couldn't keep it up for long.

He stretched a bit longer, loosening his muscles for the long night's journey, and drank half of his canteen. He strapped his hoverboard to his back and his bag at his side before looking back at the moon. He knew what time it was (he had become accustomed to this nocturnal schedule) and quickly found the direction he was looking for. He made sure he had everything together and set off to the west.

He didn't know where they were, but he knew they were west. He would keep traveling that way until he could find some more clues about his lost friends. With a slight pang of sadness, he remembered one of the earlier weeks with her.

"Hey, uh, where is this Shinzo place anyway? I mean-" his words were cut off, though, with a simple answer.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's easy to find. It's in the west," she replied honestly.

He had scrunched his eyes up, not believing the simplicity of this endangered girl. He was surprised at how long she had lasted already.

"Oooh, West of where, Yakumo?" his question rang through the deserted ruins, though the human girl didn't seem to notice.

A small smile tugged at his lips from the memory, despite loss he felt. He broke into a run, the moon shining brightly at his back and a dark road ahead of him. As he stared ahead, he wondered if he ran fast enough, would he be swallowed by the dark mysteries ahead. He didn't know what awaited him, but he could feel it out there.

He couldn't believe it. He knew this place. He had been here with her . . . and them. It was a ghost town before, but now it was downright creepy. Old power lines from the human days were pulled down, the black cords lazing on the ground like snakes. The ground was bare and cracked, a few dried weeds poking through the dead earth. The moon's light bathed the abandoned town in a silky, ethereal light. A shiver ran down the teen's spine, and he had half a mind to go all the way around, giving the graveyard town a wide berth as he traveled on his path.

But he couldn't leave it like that, without even a glance. He decided that as it had many times, the night was just getting to him. He continued through the town with this in mind. He had to make sure, to see what had happened to this town they had encountered on their pilgrimage.

With slow, steady steps, Mushra entered the abandoned bar. It was the same place they had taken her that day she was sick and so extremely weak. A pang of guilt arose as he remembered how he had abandoned her for food, but it passed quickly enough. He walked over to the bar to see if there might be any type of rations lefts. As expected, there were none.

He looked around the entire place, and oddly enough it appeared just as they had left it. The window upstairs was still broken from the kidnapping, the tables overturned in the bar, and there was still that mark on the wall from the bug-enterran whose head he bashed through the paneling.

A breeze blew in from the open door, causing something to flutter in the corner of his vision. He went over to investigate and found the wanted poster for the 'Human Monster, Yakumo'. With a sigh, he tore away the title and words, leaving the picture, and folded it neatly into his pack.

She had taken everything from him: his mind, his soul, his life, his heart, his meaning. He didn't mind, though. It hurt, but he'd do it all again, showing no mercy to those who would hurt her, not this time. He knew that taking the picture meant that she still had a hold of him, even when she wasn't there anymore.

Taking one more look at the shell of a town, he couldn't believe how long it had been, even more so how much farther he had to go.

Deep inside, he could feel it coming closer.

Golden-orange feathers fluttered to the ground silently as he flexed them in the midnight air, the moon's pale light bathing them in mystery. Now a full grown man in his hyper form, he turned back to the house he was leaving. It more of a small hut than an actual building and this made him all the more grateful.

A family of dog-enterrans had taken him in, clothed him, fed him, and made him feel at home, not asking questions about his intentions or his strange sleep schedule. At the time, he had been a dirty, weary enterran with little food and carrying a hoverboard with a hopelessly busted battery pack. Their son had found him sleeping in the woods and for a month after he stayed there. He had fixed his hoverboard, gained his strength, and was able to see what he and his friends had protected.

He left a pouch of coins in the flower pot, knowing the mother would be up early in the morning tending to the yard. It was the least he could do for them.

He gathered up his things in a bag, hugging it close to his chest. Steadily flapping his wings, he rose into the air, his crystalline eyes pleading a silent goodbye to the small town he had come to call home. He knew he couldn't stay; he had to keep going.

He had heard something from a traveler that day about a cat that had a black hole for a stomach and a water-enterran he had won a blue cape from in a game of cards. Mushra was able to get a look at the cape and confirmed that it had belonged to his friend. He bought it from the traveler and as he flew over the dark ocean he found himself patting the side of the bag it was in, wrapped over Yakumo's picture.

He continued for miles over that icy black liquid, watching the reflection of the moon once it finally appeared ahead of him. The only sounds were the wind against the side of his fiery red helmet and he was grateful for his armor and the warmth provided by his hyper-form. With a small smile he wondered how long it would take to reach shore with this speed. As the moon steadily sank ahead of him, he caught a glimpse of ruins on the horizon. He could reach land by the morning, but he knew he'd have to wait another night till he came to the ruins.

He flew on, the winds changing around him, giving signs of a storm bubbling up from the sea. In the same sense, he felt that same feeling before rolling over inside of him. He knew it was coming closer.

Apparently his body decided it could skip a day's rest. Once he got to shore, he had landed and changed back, getting ready to sleep. Instead he ate through half of his rations and continued from there on his hoverboard until he was at the edge of the woods, the ruins just a stones throw away.

He moved out from beneath the thick foliage slowly, the midday light irritating his eyes as he looked around. He explored around for a bit before he made it to the top a hill littered with graves. It overlooked a destroyed town and he wondered for a moment if the graves were for all the townspeople.

Though, as his eyes traveled the makeshift graveyard of wooden crosses, something latched a hold of his heart and called out to him. Stepping off his board, he walked forward, following the strange tug that moved him until he came to a stop at one grave in particular. It was a tall wooden cross with a long piece of once-white fabric draped over it. The foot of the cross held no name plate (none of the graves did) but in its place sat a withered bouquet of The Enterran Flower of Hope and an old blonde doll with bright blue eyes.

He stood there for quite a while, the harsh sun beating down on his back, trying to gather his thoughts. He wondered if she thought of him wherever she was, if she asked where he was and how he slept . . . how he lived without his friends. By the time the sun was setting he had resolved to pray to her, asking her for her help in his journey still to come.

Before he left that night, Mushra added his own bouquet made of wild flowers from the forest and a marker to her grave. It was a wide, flat piece of stone, possibly from a building, in which he had burned the words "She lives on in each of us forever" into the surface. He gave a final goodbye and thank you before turning to the horizon, the black sky beckoning him forward.

He knew he still had a long ways to go, but whatever destiny awaited him, it was coming closer: forever closer.