"Yuma, wake up. Yuma!"
"It's a Saturday, Astral. I don't have school today." Yuma muttered.
"YUMA!" Astral shouted.
Yuma blinked awake. "Huh?"
"I may not be able to see or hear him, but I think Astral's trying to remind you where you are and get you up." Malachi smiled.
Yuma jumped up. "Oh, right!"
Malachi laughed. "Come and get some breakfast. Your friend Vector found a bird nest so we are having eggs."
"Sweet! Kattobingu!" Yuma cheered. He ran over and Malachi handed him a wooden plate with a fried egg on it. Yuma quickly snarfed it down so Malachi gave him two more.
Astral looked at Dmitri again and saw him staring at Yuma with same look of pity he had gave him the night before. Astral frowned. Why did Dmitri keep staring at Yuma like that? While Astral puzzled over it, Dark Mist came up behind Astral and shoved him. Astral barely caught himself in time. He turned around and glared at Dark Mist. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"Annoying you." Dark Mist replied. Astral pointedly turned away from him and continued looking at Dmitri. "Are you STILL going on about him?! That's just sad." Astral gave no response except he clenched his fists. "If you keep this up, you're going to be a stalker."
"What's a stalker?" Astral asked.
Dark Mist sweatdropped. "Never mind." he muttered. Astral smiled. He fully knew what a stalker was because Yuma had described Vector as one when he first met him as Rei. But Dark Mist annoyed him to no end, so who said he couldn't at least have some fun with him?
"Morning, Yuma-kun! You're finally up, sleepyhead!" Vector grinned as he dragged a basket of berries over to the fire. "I got raspberries and strawberries!"
"How do you always get up so early?" Yuma asked as he helped himself to a handful of berries.
"I'm a morning person." Vector replied. He passed the berry basket around the campfire to everyone.
"We had better get going soon." Malachi said. They finished up their breakfast and started on the road. Malachi seemed to know where he was going and the others followed him.
"What's up with Dmitri? He seems to be a little dark." Vector asked Gareth.
Gareth bit his lip. "It's not really his fault, you know."
"Something bad happened to him, didn't it? I know all about how tragedies can mess you up." Vector said.
Gareth sighed, "Yeah, his wife was struck dead by lightning and then people started calling her a witch because of how she died. That wasn't true at all, you couldn't find a nicer woman for miles. Then, a few years later, his two sons were killed."
"He had kids?" Vector asked.
Gareth nodded. "Twins, both great kids. A little rowdy, but all children are."
"How did they die?" Vector asked.
"They were murdered. Please drop the subject and don't bring it up again. It's a prickly point among us, especially Dmitri." Gareth didn't say anything more no matter how much Vector pestered him.
Meanwhile, Malachi was asking Yuma some more questions. "Can Astral show himself to whoever he chooses to?"
Yuma shook his head. "No, some people can see him, others can't. If someone has been exposed to certain energies, they can usually see Astral."
"What about Dark Mist?" Malachi asked.
"He's a little different. If people have been exposed to certain energies, they can see him just like Astral but he can also show himself to some people who haven't. But he doesn't like to, at all." Yuma explained.
"Yuma! I am pleasantly surprised you are using words in a format far beyond your normal vocabulary!" Astral praised, or so he thought.
A red tick mark appeared on Yuma's head while Dark Mist and Vector smothered laughs. "HEY!" Yuma yelled.
Malachi started. "What is it, Yuma?"
"Nothing, Astral's just insulting my intelligence." Yuma said.
"And you're still best friends?" Malachi asked.
"Duh! Why wouldn't we be?" Yuma replied.
"No reason." Malachi replied and Astral got that funny feeling again. They kept riding on in silence for a while. After a while, Astral floated over to Dark Mist.
"Can you go into the key with me? I want to talk with you alone for a while." Astral requested.
"Really?! You're inviting ME into the key?! Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint the magical supreme deity that is the great Astral. Your wish is my command." Dark Mist mock bowed and went into the key with Astral following. "So what do you want to talk about, oh great one?"
Astral fought the urge to strangle him. "I'm still having that funny feeling around Malachi and Dmitri."
Dark Mist facepalmed, tilted his head up, and laughed. "You're STILL going on about that?!" He shook with laughter.
Astral frowned. "I invited you into the key to talk privately. I wouldn't do that if I didn't feel it was serious."
Dark Mist, with plenty of trouble, eventually sobered up. "Fine. So you're scared of Malachi. Big deal."
Astral blinked. "I said I had an odd feeling around Dmitri and Malachi. I never specified that I was scared of Malachi."
"Whatever." Dark Mist said quickly.
"I'm cautious and especially wary of him, but I don't feel any fear around him-" Astral stopped, "Wait, you DO have a strange feeling around them too. You're scared of Malachi?"
"NO! I am most certainly NOT afraid of that prissy!" Dark Mist cried.
"You are!" Astral gasped.
"Shut it, Astral!" Dark Mist snapped and floated away.
Astral watched him start to go. "I know I'm right, and though you won't admit it, you have the same suspicion. There's something off about them, but we have no choice but to accompany them."
Dark Mist stopped. "I SAID SHUT IT! I'M NOT AFRAID OF MALACHI! I DON'T HAVE ANY WEIRD FEELINGS ABOUT THEM! LEAVE ME ALONE!" he screamed.
"Dark Mist-" Astral started but Dark Mist had exited the key. Astral groaned. That number was so stubborn at times.
…...
"We'll be sleeping here tonight." Malachi announced.
"What?! Why are we stopping? It's not even dark yet!" Vector whined.
"Because it will take a while to set up camp and get extra food for rations tomorrow. We'll be out of this forest soon and into a grassland that has barely anything tasty or edible growing in it. If we don't store up, we'll be having grass for dinner tomorrow." Malachi explained.
"Okay!" Yuma cheered. He slid off the horse and started unloading the saddle bags. The others slid off the horses too.
"Can Dmitri help me look for food?" Vector asked.
"Sure, Vector." Malachi replied. Dmitri flashed an angry look at Malachi before yanking a basket out of a saddlebag and stalking off behind Vector.
As Vector and Dmitri picked berries from a bush they had found, Vector said hesitantly, "Gareth told me about what happened to your wife and sons. He told me not to bring it up but... well, you should at least talk to someone about it and I know how you feel better than most."
Dmitri froze. "It happened years ago. Drop it." his voice was clipped and harsh.
"My parents both died and for the longest time, I was brainwashed to think I killed them. I was a complete psycho for a very long time. I remembered what really happened eventually, but the damage to my soul was done. That's where my psycho episodes come from." Vector explained.
Dmitri looked down. "My wife, her name was Eva, she was the sweetest, most beautiful woman in the world. When she died, I wore only black for six whole months, I still wear some black on my clothes at all times. My sons were devastated. Luhke wouldn't come out of his room and drew his mother in his sketchbook. He and his brother were both good artists for their age. Sebastian would go for a run in the woods to burn off steam and when he heard anyone call his mother a witch, he would get physical very fast. We all moved on since that was what she would've wanted us to do."
"About four years later, Luhke and Sebastian were found dead at the bottom of a canyon. They were barely eleven. It was evident that they had been assaulted and pushed off the edge of the cliff. That time, I couldn't face the world for almost a year. No one could find the murderer." Dmitri placed his head in his hands. He suddenly sharply turned his head and glared at Vector. "There. Happy?! Now don't talk to me again." Vector nodded and went back to picking berries.
…...
As the company was eating dinner later, Vector pulled Yuma aside and told him what he had learned about Dmitri. "His kids died?" Yuma asked, shocked.
"Yep, he's still broken up about it. That's why he so cold and dark." Vector said.
"It must be awful, having your family die like that." Yuma said. Vector gave a slight cough. "Oops! I forgot for a second about your family! Wait, that came out wrong! What I meant was-"
Vector laughed. "I know what you mean, Yuma-kun!"
"Time to go to bed, boys! We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow! Lot's of traveling to do!" Malachi yelled.
Vector and Yuma each grabbed a blanket and snuggled under it. Yuma fell asleep quickly and Vector drifted off soon after. Astral came out of the key and looked down at Yuma. Dark Mist, by coincidence, came out of Vector's baria lapis. The number froze as he saw Astral and prepared to go back into the red gem.
"Wait." Astral said. "I won't say anything more about you having a feeling about Malachi and Dmitri."
Dark Mist crossed his arms. "Good."
"But... I'm worried we could be in danger around them. My suspicions are usually right about these kind of things." Astral glanced over at the sleeping men.
"Of course, the almighty being that is Astral the stick-up-the-ass can NEVER be wrong about ANYTHING at ALL." Dark Mist snorted.
"You agree with me though, it's not your nature to trust people." Astral said.
"You're right about that. But they're useful at the moment, so we stick with them." Dark Mist replied.
"I suppose we have no choice..." Astral sighed before going back into the key to retire for the night.