The Wing Room… my first foray into non-random OOC-ness…and maybe yaoi (if I get braver…) The chapter breaks are from Soul Meets Body by Death Cab for Cutie. Love the song...
DISCLAIMER: ...no...I...don't...own...DNAngel. Quit rubbing it in. If I did, Satoshi would actually exist...
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"Satoshi!!!" called Dark, galumphing up the stairs to his adoptive son's bedroom. He knocked. "You ready?"
The blunette replied in his soft baritone, "No… I'll be down in a bit."
"Okay," Dark replied, going back down to pack the suitcases into the truck.
Satoshi watched Dark from his window, wrestling bags into the trunk of their old Toyota. He turned his attention to the loose floorboard under his bed, which he carefully levered out and placed next to the hole it created. He stuck a finger into the hole…and felt it. The hard, pointy tip of what he'd been looking for.
He carefully drew it out, replaced the floorboard, checked Dark's downstairs progress, and regarded the object in his lap.
It was a silver cross, made to be on some sort of necklace, he guessed, because of the silver bail hanging from it. The ends of the cross were like arrows, pointy and very sharp- he'd cut his hand on the thing while putting it back in a hurry. Down the center was a black channel that made the whole thing look very sinister… Not the thing to let Dark catch sight of…Satoshi thought, again checking the progress of his father in the driveway. He was almost done.
He took out from his backpack a wooden case, made to hold the cross. He slotted it in with steady fingers, and it fitted perfectly. As usual- the pieces he made in wood shop were the best in the class. Dark was coming up the stairs now, Satoshi could sense it. He carefully placed the box in his bag, zipped it up, and opened the door.
"I'm ready." he said, a tad unnecessarily.
"Great! Let's go then," replied Dark, turning on his heel and going back down the stairs.
Satoshi cast a glance back at his house, which he'd be leaving for 3 long months to stay at Dark's brother's house. Krad had always scared Satoshi a little, but he was a kind man and only got mad at him when he tried to venture into what Krad called the "Wing Room".
He got into the car, squishing his backpack between his legs. Dark started the engine, put the truck in drive, and pulled out onto the winding country lane that lead to the highway. "You seem tense," Dark observed.
"I'm just…well…" Satoshi replied.
"Nervous? Scared? Bamboozled? Creeped out?"
"All of those. I'm just curious… can you tell me about the Wing Room?"
"Don't mention that around Krad," Dark said, his voice unusually harsh and commanding. "Promise me."
"Um… okay…" he promised, slightly confused.
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The drive was relatively short, seeing as Dark was a reckless driver who had tinkered with the engine, making their old truck able to do 120 without complaining. Satoshi anxiously held his bag through the entire trip, knowing that if Dark found his…creepy cross thing, he'd be finished.
They skidded to a stop in a cloud of dust. "We're here!" yelled Dark, slamming his door. "KRAD!!!"
The house's door opened slowly, and Krad ran out. He was a lithe, panther-like man with long, golden hair that he usually kept up in a ponytail, and piercing, almost yellow, green eyes. "Hey, bro," he replied, hugging Dark. "And Satoshi! How've you guys been?"
"Fine," answered Dark. "And you?"
"Great!" Krad chuckled, grabbing two of their bags from the back of the truck. "Good to see you all healthy and as great as ever. C'mon in."
They walked inside the blue house to a large living room with leather furniture and tiled floors. Beautiful pictures hung on the walls. "Wow…" Satoshi breathed. He'd forgotten how nice the house was.
"Alright, your rooms are up on the 2nd floor, to your left. Bathroom's between, kitchen's downstairs…you know the drill. Make yourselves comfy…" Krad instructed, and then went down to the kitchen to start making lunch.
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Satoshi lay down on his bed, fingering the cross. He couldn't understand why it captivated him like this for hours at a time, until someone broke the perplexed silence it made in his head. Whenever he held it, a shiver ran down his spine and a feeling of power coursed through his veins. "What are you?" he whispered to it. "Where do you come from? Who made you? Why?"
"Satoshi?" asked a hesitant voice on the other side of the door, snapping the blunette out of his reverie.
"Wha?" he said. How articulate, he thought.
"Um… Can I come in?" Satoshi opened the door and found himself face-to-face with a red-haired boy.
The boy was a little shorter than Satoshi, had red, spiky hair that stuck out in all directions, ruby eyes that acted like huge mirrors, a small piercing in one ear, and a thoroughly blushing face. "Uh… hi." he said, clearly embarrassed. "I'm Daisuke." He held out his hand to shake for a second, thought better of it, pulled it back, and stood there.
"Um…"
"Uh…"
"Oh! Satoshi!" yelled Krad, making both boys jump. "I forgot to tell you about Daisuke!"
"Uh… yes…?"
"He's my adopted son. So you guys should be suited to be friends…"
"Um…"
"It's okay if you're nervous. Just chat! I'll bring up some biscotti later." The blonde cheerfully walked down the staircase, whistling a happy tune.
"That was weird," said Daisuke, settling himself on the chair by the desk.
"Well, Krad can be weird." replied Satoshi.
"True…"
An exceedingly long awkward silence followed, during which the boys could hear Krad and Dark downstairs reminiscing over past escapades.
"This is awkward," finally ventured Daisuke.
"You said it."
"So…what do you want to do?"
"Anything besides 'chatting' and eating biscotti…"
"I second that."
"Hey…Daisuke?"
"Hm?"
"Can you keep a secret?"
"Well… yeah," said the red head, flustered. "Depends on what kind."
"I'll show you." offered Satoshi. He took the box out of his bag, where he'd hurriedly hidden it, and showed the cross to Daisuke.
"Wow." He breathed. "It's so…magical. Reminds me of knights and helpless princesses."
"Will you tell anyone?"
"Nah."
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Lunch was great, dinner was sumptuous, and Dark, health-conscious as ever, suggested that the four go for a walk "to help the digestion." So they set out down the tree-lined path that marked the fringe of Krad's property. "So here we have the stables," Krad gestured as he strode confidently down the path. "I've only got two horses currently, but you're all free to ride them…"
Satoshi lagged behind, fingering his cross. And then…an astonishing feeling thrummed through him. "What…what is this?" he whispered. Then the pain started.
A pair of pure white wings burst out of his back, scattering feathers everywhere. Satoshi ground his teeth against the agony and looked around for any witnesses. He heard Dark in the distance calling his name. "SAAATOSHIIII?!?"
"Dark! I'm just checking something back here. I'll…catch up to you later." the blunette yelled back.
"Okay…" replied Dark. The sounds of the group moved farther and farther away as Satoshi stood motionless in the bushes.
"Wings," he whispered to himself. "I've got… wings." Another wave of pain struck him and he cried out, but the sound was absorbed by the trees. His head ached, and he put his fingers to his temples to smother it like the sound of his pained cry. When he took his fingers away…he found them wrapped in tangled blonde hair. His breath caught in his throat. He looked frantically behind him and found that the white wings were still there, and so was a ponytail of the same golden locks. He took off his jacket and carefully attached the cross-thing to the ponytail.
The inlay glowed with renewed power and Satoshi felt something awaken inside him. Unbidden, his wings extended to their full size and soon Satoshi was flying high above the trees. "Wow…"
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By now, Daisuke was starting to get nervous. Satoshi had been gone for about an hour…and part of him felt a strong unease. "Dark?"
"Hm?"
"Satoshi…he's okay, right?"
"I think so. We'll start looking for him in a while…"
"Um… I'm gonna go to the stables. See you at the house."
"Okay…just BE CAREFUL!" Krad admonished as Daisuke dashed off.
"Phew…" he panted, leaning against the familiar red barn, listening to the horses nicker. He slid down the wall until he was seated on the ground, his spine against the warm building. "Satoshi…" he sighed, his narrow back shaking.
Black wings burst out of his back, showering him with ebony feathers. He gritted his teeth against the pain- he was used to it, he'd done this before- and felt below his wings for the blood that usually accompanied the arrival of the raven wings. Surprisingly, it wasn't there. Daisuke stood up, shook the remnants of the back of his t-shirt off of the feathers, ran a few paces, and took flight.
He settled into the familiar rhythm- up, down, his muscles straining against the overwhelming force of gravity that pulled against him. His mind went back to the first time he'd ever ventured into the Wing Room when Krad had been out with his friends- the initial shock, then as he read the book on the dais, he slowly had begun to realise that he had the gene that made him able to call the wings. The first time he'd ever tried, he was left panting on his bedroom floor with blood dripping down his spine. And he'd practiced from there. Now he was able to call them at will, and (more importantly) was able to extinguish them at a moment's notice.
He dismissed the memories and concentrated on the ground below, looking for Satoshi. No flecks of blue stood out in the dark-green forest. Daisuke swooped higher, frantically looking everywhere he could. His eyes fell on a white dot in the distance, moving rapidly towards him. "What the- Satoshi!" he yelled, flapping hard to catch up to him.
Satoshi's blue hair was soaked with sweat, his glasses hung crookedly on his nose, and his shirt was very close to ripping completely away. "Daisuke…how…how did this happen?"
"What's in your hand?" Daisuke asked, not answering Satoshi's question.
He slowly unclenched a bloody hand from around the silver cross that he'd shown Daisuke earlier. It seemed to be glowing with a new sinister light. "Here," he said, passing it to Daisuke. "It's horrible."
"It's Krad's," Daisuke found himself saying.
"What!?!"
"It's Krad's. It belongs in the Wing Room…"
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Two figures watched the mid-air exchange through a pair of binoculars. "Hm…" said the purple-haired one thoughtfully. "It seems that our inheritance has found the right hands…"
"Indeed…" The blonde one observed the pair for another minute, then sighed and said, "We have to open the Wing Room."
"It's time?" the other said, disbelief in his voice.
"The Cross of Averengne has been passed. You know that's what the prophesy says…"
"Of course. Let's go, then."
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