Chapter 7
Author's Note: Thank you to all of my reviewers! I'm really happy to hear that you are enjoying this story. I hope that this chapter, too, manages to satisfy all of you! Please review and enjoy!
Daisuke groaned in frustration. Satoshi had made it look so easy. Granted, Satoshi's was already activated but Daisuke just couldn't understand the requirements of activating his own mirror. He had been trying to do as Satoshi instructed for the last who-knew-how-long but there was still no sign of results. The mirror stayed as dark as it had always been.
Satoshi was frowning at him.
"Try again," he said.
Daisuke sighed and closed his eyes to concentrate. The whole process was simple enough: hold the mirror, concentrate on the mirror and imagine a picture forming. The problem was the emotion needed to create the picture: hate.
Daisuke knew that it didn't have to be hate for Dark but that didn't make the process much easier. Daisuke just wasn't a person who felt hatred often. Sure, he knew disappointment, fear, hopelessness, annoyance, regret, ect. But hate was not there on the list.
Daisuke just couldn't think of a point where he had felt hatred towards anyone or anything. He had tried Dark, Krad, his teachers, his parents, the police, Risa and even the people who had put him in this situation but he just didn't feel enough negative emotion towards any of them. Daisuke couldn't think of anyone who was left.
Daisuke didn't even try to quieten his mind. If he didn't figure out some way to activate the mirror, Risa, Satoshi, Dark, Krad and an untold number of other innocents would suffer or even die. And it would all be his fault. He was so useless. So very useless. Everyone was going to die because of his own inability to hate. What kind of useless person existed like that? Daisuke was about ready to give up when it hit him. The only person that Daisuke hadn't tried yet, and the most likely to be a recipient of his hate, was himself.
Daisuke concentrated all of his negative feelings towards himself and imagined a picture coming across the blank face of the mirror. Something clicked. Daisuke opened his eyes to see the blackness that had coated the screen of the mirror slowly peeling back to reveal a moving picture. After an untold amount of time, Daisuke had finally activated his mirror. And there was Dark.
Dark and Krad must have been quite separated for Dark was still untouched and alone. He had been tied and gagged but otherwise, he seemed to be fine. His cell seemed to be the same as the one Krad had been left in. The angel appeared to be disorientated but not yet frightened. Daisuke was sure that Dark would have been spieling cocky lines of dialogue to the door had the gag not impeded speech.
As it was, the angel was taking in his surroundings. Daisuke could see nimble fingers working at the rope that trussed his limbs and was surprised that Dark had not yet managed to slip free of his bonds. The Phantom Thief should have had more than enough time considering all of the practice he had had. Daisuke had seen Dark slip out of state-of-the-art handcuffs in seconds before so why was the rope such a problem?
Dark appeared to give up on the rope as he started wriggling towards the walls. Daisuke suddenly realised how strange it was to be looking at the angel without being locked away inside his own mind. Dark had always seemed like a separate being with his own body even before they had been separated but now they couldn't hear each other's thoughts and there was none of that ever present presence that Dark had always offered. It was strange.
Satoshi must have seen the strange look on Daisuke's face for he laid a comforting hand on Daisuke's shoulder.
"You'll get used to it," he said.
Daisuke nodded and both of them jumped as the door to Dark's cell banged open.
The faceless man entered and Dark's body immediately tensed up. The man slammed the door shut behind him and grabbed Dark, yanking the angel into the air. Daisuke was amazed at how strong the man was but his awe was softened by the man's throwing of his friend. Dark slammed into the wall and slid down to the ground. Blood drizzled from a small cut just below Dark's hairline and the faceless man advanced again.
While Dark was dazed from the blow to his head, the faceless man stretched Dark out on the ground and bought out a nail. Dark's hands were already neatly on top of one another and the rope held them in place, ready to be skewered. At the sight of the nail, Dark's senses returned and he began to buck and fight against the faceless man's weight. Out came the hammer. Dark's struggles intensified but it was too late.
The faceless man positioned the nail above Dark's hands. He used the same arm to hold Dark's wrenching arms down as the other arm bought up the hammer. Dark was saying something but it was muffled by the gag. His whole body was revolting against the faceless man now but the man was too strong. There was nothing Dark could do. Daisuke saw Dark's eyes widen as the hammer fell.
Daisuke turned away as the hammer hit the nail but his ears couldn't miss Dark's scream. It was the loudest sound that Daisuke had ever heard in his life and that was saying something considering Dark's normal noise level. He could hear the seemingly harmless 'tap tap' of the hammer against the nail as the faceless man drove it all the way through flesh and bone and into cement.
Dark was sobbing. It was the first time that Daisuke could remember hearing Dark cry. At each 'tap', Dark let out a cry that had Daisuke on the verge of throwing up and the heaving breaths that came after it were heart rending. Daisuke was crying now too. He couldn't bring himself to look at the mirror. It had been bad enough seeing Krad in such pain but hearing Dark, who was almost undeniably the closest thing to a brother that Daisuke had, screaming wordlessly was hell.
At last, the metallic sound of the hammer and the nail stopped and Satoshi spoke.
"He's gone."
Daisuke turned around and forced himself to look into the mirror. Dark's eyes were closed. There were still tears on his face but the rest of his face was expressionless.
"He passed out half way through," Satoshi explained.
Daisuke nodded, almost grateful for the fact. He swallowed deeply, trying to keep his food down. He wasn't sure how many more episodes like that he would be able to take. More concerning was the other question: how many more would Dark and Krad be able to take?
