Chapter 7

A Nightmare's End, A Journey's Beginning

The sound of joyful laughter and happy conversations echoed throughout the hall of the old hospital. The four residents of the room were talking about the arrangement of the future moving that would be taking place. Three out of the four of them were energetic and were constantly brainstorming and planning it, but the fourth participant wasn't so eager to join in. All he did was silently nod as he watched as someone took over the leader role of his life and led him to somewhere else.

Black hated this feeling. He could perfectly handle when something unexpected happened in their everyday life – but that could be because he was in control, and no one else. He'd always find a solution, get out of trouble and save the day or just procrastinate the inevitable bad ending. And what was he doing now? He bowed his head to a greater authority, and with clenched teeth, he let him lead his life. He accepted the deal, but that doesn't mean he liked it. Not even for one bit.

But for them – especially now – it would be the best choice. Just like mister Fujimura had said himself.

And so, he was leaning against the headboard of the bed, careful, not to open any wounds that were patched up and silently watched and listened as the three occupants of the room talked about their future. The topic at hand was the accommodation – according to all the information Fujimura provided, they would live in a flat, just the three of them. Sawada already made preparations for his own accommodation and would sometimes check up on them. To him, this still sounded gay. Even so, Black knew the officer would not be "home" so much. In Treasure Town, he spent 90% of his time in the office doing paperworks and such. Changing towns wouldn't change his lifestyle. He blinked.

"… and White, you should attend pre-school first." Fujimura's voice rang in Black's ears as he finally turned his attention from his depression to the conversation. The older man sounded serious and Sawada looked neutral. White on the other hand seemed to focus on Fujimura with all his might.

"What's a pre-school?" he asked and scratched his chin while deep in thought, "I already can countta ten!"

"In order for you to get into school, you must learn more. Don't worry, in pre-school, they will teach you everything." Fujimura smiled. White considered the idea and as simple minded he was, he nodded. The older man noticing how the darker half of the siblings is quiet, turned to him – much to his annoyance, which he showed by sighing – and started questioning him too,

"Black, you've been awfully quiet since you signed the forms." He whispered and searched the boy's – now one of his adopted "sons'" face "I thought you agreed with this."

To his concerned voice, White turned his own little attention to his brother.

Black let his eyes rest a little. He was still sore from the freshly patched up wounds and he had a little energy left to argue. Too much shit has been happening to them lately.

"I didn't say I disagree." He began in a raspy voice as it was long hours ago since he used his vocal cords. He opened his eyes tiredly, "It's just that I'm not overall happy with the situation. It bothers me. That's all. And as a matter of fact, I'm tired aswell. Not to be rude or anything it's just… It has been a long day." White stood up and started towards an unknown destination in the room. Sawada looked on with interest as the little boy got around the bed and proceeded towards the window.

Fujimura nodded, ignoring White's mysterious walking, "Alright. I'm going to make some arrangements then. The doctor says a few more days and you can leave the hospital. He says your wounds were not that deep. But he insists you take it easy for weeks."

Black was about to agree with the officer when suddenly a harsh wind almost literally slapped him in the face, making his overgrown hair slap against his eyes aswell. Surprised, both Black and Fujimura tore their eyes to the window only to see White grinning his mad grin and was facing towards the now fully opened window. If the sudden wind wasn't enough to startle the residents of the room, he yelled out to the world to hear,

"Air, air makes everyone feel bettterrr!" he squealed in his high-pitched voice and grinned, watching the reaction of the older people of the room. Black grumbled as he tried to make his hair stop slapping into his eyes, while the two adults stood up. This time Sawada took the parental role,

"White, close the window. Black's gonna catch a cold if this draft keeps up." With a pout White obeyed and then trotted back to his brother's bed who now finished moving his hair out of his face with an annoyed and tired look. "You two should rest up a little."

"Agreed." Fujimura said as he stood calmly and watched as Black rather awkwardly got under the covers and prepared to do as Sawada suggested, "Judging by the speed of your recovering Black, we'll move out in three days. Will that be enough time?"

"Fine by me." He replied nonchalantly "I don't have many stuff to move from the car. Aside from my staff and-"

"Now hold on a second." Fujimura interrupted, "No weapons, remember? Society has rules you know. And if you want to start a new life, you have to pay attention to the-"

"Alright, alright." Just like months before, Black got annoyed with him at the very same part of the sentence. This time, however, he couldn't kick anything out from his mouth. "I got it."

"I could help while Black sleeps!" White chirped and bounced next to the officers with a smile. "I'm not sleepy at all." To that, all of them looked at Black with a questioning look who shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure. That's fine by me. I'll rest up, recover soon and then we can go." It was such an alien feeling to him. Leave this town… And live somewhere else? He still didn't get used to this idea. But to White, he immediately adapted to the new atmosphere. Secretly he was jealous of this ability of his. How the hell did he do this?

The soon to be last rays of the sun gently peeked in and bathed the four residents of the room. White grinned and patted Black's healthy hand, "I'll be back when you wake up! We'll pack everything out of the car!" To that, he gave his younger sibling a warm smile.

"Alright. I'll try to recover soon." White grinned in reply. Wishing him a speedy recovery, all three visitors of the boy left. As soon as he was alone in the room, he couldn't help but feel a little vulnerable. He ducked under the covers, but he couldn't escape the sinister feeling he felt – that something is definitely wrong.

The journey to the boys' car was not a long ride, but while doing so, it got dark. Along the way, White kept singing random songs he thought up just in that exact moment and time, much to the officers' amusement (more likely Sawada's amusement as he was paying more attention to the kid rather than the driving Fujimura). As they couldn't really park underneath the bridge, they stopped the patrol car not so far from the humble, yet poor home. As soon as the engine stopped rumbling, White like a rocket, shot out from the car and sped off towards the previous home of theirs.

Since Sawada hasn't seen the home when it was not damaged, it was only Fujimura who gasped at the state the place was in. His eyes remained on the pile of metal and wood. It seemed like the "furniture" the children built out of everything they could collect over the years was destroyed with one hit. Even so, visiting this place at nighttime gave it a sinister, cold and abandoned feeling. His observation didn't go unnoticed by White, who gave his newly-adopted-father a ghost of a smile,

"The alien came here and threw Black against our balcony." He walked up to the car slowly, "But that alien" he reached out for the handle "is burned." He encircled his fingers around it.

His eyes shot open, wide awake now. He didn't know why he woke up, he just awoke. As he looked around, he saw it was already dark, and judging by the dim lights, the nurses had retired for the night. Everything was silent, and dark.

With a groan, he sat up and felt for his hair. He didn't have a mirror, but he could imagine his hair looked like a messed up crow-nest now. Right now the pure white blankets now seemed to be sewn out of darkness aswell. Rubbing his eyes in a bored way, he looked around. Why the hell did he wake up? Once again, that weird feeling in his stomach started to rise, making him feel sick. Great, did he catch flu or something…?

It was then when he heard calm, steady and slow footsteps. It echoed in the darkness, and it made all the hairs on the boy's body stand up.

"What a nice photo. I've never thought you guys have a something like this." Sawada said as he saw the photo of the baby siblings, which was now in White's hand. Fujimura was inspecting the remains of the "furniture". It turned out Black had packed everything in the sack, except the photo.

"Black hoped to return." White whispered as he gazed at the old photo of theirs. He didn't remember how or when this photo was taken, or how Black got it. He remembered the first time when his brother showed this to him.

They were still very young, but Black was getting better at stealing money, and smaller stuff. But he couldn't do it with his brother's help, so he always had to leave him there in the car. But of course, the younger brother either always got scared or bored when his brother left for hours.

One day, when he was about to go on a mission again, White was especially sad. That day was his 8th birthday and knew Black would go out for especially long to look for a birthday present for him. They were sitting inside the car and White was trying to hold back his tears when his brother turned around to search his backpack. The birthday-boy thought his older brother was looking for something edible or something he could use as a weapon on this special mission.

With a gentle smile, he got something out of the backpack, but hid it behind him. White gave him a questioning gaze, and for an answer, Black revealed the photo to his little brother.

"Don't cry, White. We are always going to be together."

White still didn't know how to react. It touched him deeply and silently watched as his brother put the photo on the mirror, above them.

"I'll put it here, so whenever you feel lonely, you can look up and see us together. You won't be lonely anymore."

With a teary grin, White hugged Black and kept sobbing into his shirt.

To him, this was the best birthday ever.

Later that day, Black returned with a big blue-bear-head shaped hat. Up until this day, that hat is his most treasured treasure.

If Black wanted to leave this photo behind, that would only confirm he'd always wanted to return to Treasure Town. And in his little mind, White promised to him, that when they get older they would return.

Sawada was staring at the boy who was lost in his own world. Seeing White this focused made him a little uneasy. Suddenly an idea popped in his head.

"Hey, White, do you want to see my friend and me when we were youngsters?" he asked with a smile. To that, the boy immediately grinned and nodded. Sawada reached for his pocket, only to find it empty.

"Curses!" he swore when he finally accepted the fact, that he lost what he was looking for, "I think I lost my wallet!"

"Maybe you left it at the hospital?" Fujimura suggested as he was gazing at the dead fish, "When was the last time you used it?"

"You are right! I left it at the hospital, on Black's table. Um…" Sawada trailed off, but Fujimura nodded towards him,

"You can take the car. The hospital's open all night long. And it's not that late yet. We'll walk with White to the police station." White grinned and immediately ran to Fujimura, while Sawada walked up to the car.

"Alright, I'll return the car as fast as I can!" he waved and grabbed the handle.

Black's pulse seemed to beat rapidly as the calm footsteps got closer. Every part of him screamed to hide, to get away as far as possible, because a threat is coming and that's why he couldn't sleep. With shaking limbs and as quietly as possible, he got out of the bed. He couldn't leave the room by its exit because then, he would be bumping into the unwanted guest. So, he gently rolled and tucked the blankets and pillows in a human shape.

As he did so, the footsteps grew even closer, and his pulse was skyrocketing. Fear clutched him as he now shivered with cold. His wounds were not aching now, as his adrenaline kicked in and stroked the pain away.

The person was really close now. Not getting any better idea, he quickly ducked and crawled under the bed, not minding the filth underneath. His teeth chittered, and he was shaking.

The footsteps stopped at his room's threshold. From his cover, he could see that the person was an adult – his feet were big and was wearing black boots. But… something was wrong with the boots. He couldn't quite see it, but as he feared, the owner of the shoes stepped over his threshold and walked towards his bed.

As the silence-shattering calm feet neared, he saw what was wrong with the boots – they were burned. But who the hell wears burnt boots?

Shhhhllliiiick.

The sound of a metallic weapon unsheathed resonated in Black's ears.

White once again looked around and noticed something odd. As he was walking around, White couldn't shake a weird feeling off of him. His adopted-father took no hesitation to question him.

"What's wrong, White?"

White turned to him, slightly shivering, "I'm scared." He whimpered and hugged himself, startling Fujimura, "I'm so scared and so alone…"

Shit. Holy shit.

That thing that entered Black's room was the same monster that chased them for the first time. The same monster, that White took care of by burning it. But that… thing survived and was now thirsting for revenge. He curled up into a ball and shook more violently. The boots were right next to him now. He heard some shifting and then felt an unimaginable strong force hitting from above violently and several times – that monster was stabbing the sheets mercilessly. All Black could do was curl himself tighter and whimper soundlessly as he jerked every time the knife embedded itself into the sheets. He clutched his head and buried his face into his knees, praying the monster would leave soon.

The alien let out an angry unearthly hiss, as he began to tear the bed apart – it seems like he had noticed he was exacting his revenge on something fluffy.

Black hoped that after his unsuccessful mission, the alien would take his leave, but to his utter horror, the creature decided to take his anger out on the bed. Black couldn't get smaller, or run away – all he could do was stay put and hope that thing will be satisfied.

The bed was stabbed more violently than before and then came something unexpected happened – the madman simply grabbed the whole furniture, and threw it sideways, tearing the cover over Black's head off.

Two beams of light lit the side of the hospital, as a police car gently parked in the parking lot. The young officer swiftly opened the door and got out of the car.

Black couldn't even move, or scream – he felt himself being lifted up by his throat and the familiar iron-like-vice-grip cutting him off from his oxygen support. Just like months before, he was thrown against the wall, the remaining air knocked out of him. He managed to catch a glimpse of his captor and he immediately memorized the face forever in his mind – the monster's whole was burned to the raw flesh, it's eyes were blood red, and huge gashes distorted it's face. The bloodthirst in his eyes was the most fearsome pair of orbs the boy had ever seen.

Sawada entered the hospital building, and shoved his hands in his pockets and proceeded towards Black's room. This part of the hospital was empty, because this was the kid's part, and not many children were bed-ridden or seriously hurt at the moment.

A pair of distant footsteps echoed throughout the hospital's hall. This hit the monster by surprise and for a moment, he eased up his grip on Black's throat, who immediately grabbed the opportunity to let out a pitiful squeak that resembled a "help" calling. To that, the monster shoved his throat more against the wall, silencing him.

"Help me…" whimpered White as Fujimura tried to hug him, to keep him calm.

"White…? Where does it hurt?" he asked, now getting really confused. This was just like a few weeks ago, when White threw a huge tantrum about Black losing screws.

White kept clutching his throat.

"Black?" Sawada called out loudly, surprised to hear the boy's voice. Not to mention, the boy sounded quite miserable. He hastened his footsteps and hurried to the room. What the heck happened to him now?

Black could feel the world distorting around him. That bastard was suffocating him fast! He then caught a glimpse of something shiny in front of him. Great. Now that bastard raised the sword preparing to gut him out. Is this how he going to die? But he was just offered to live a new life… he didn't want to die yet.

White… Where are you…?

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" White screamed and suddenly began thrashing sideways, completely throwing Fujimura off guard. The little boy began rampaging in the pile that used to store their clothes and even went against the car, "I DIDN'T COME THIS FAR TO DIE!"

"White, no one wants to hurt you!" Fujimura was really scared now. What on earth happened to the boy? He walked up to the boy and forcefully hugged him.

"WHITE! WHERE ARE YOU, WHITE?" the little boy screamed, then he began letting out the same scream-squeaky-piercing wails as he did a few weeks ago as he was thrashing sideways in the old man's arms.

The world started to darken around him. He could barely see spots and he decided to accept his fate. He closed his eyes and waited for the piercing impact.

It was then, in his distorted world he heard storming footsteps, a surprised yell then an ear piercing bang shrilled the silence. Moments later, he fell to the ground (again, like months ago), he suddenly could breathe, and his vision started to focus again. He then heard something big fall somewhere around him, as if someone let a big rucksack of potatoes fall to it's side.

And then he heard someone call on his name. It echoed in his ears, as he felt someone gently grab him by the shoulders. His mind was getting cleaner as moments passed.

"Black? Oh God, Black, can you hear me?" Sawada, his mind told him. All the boy could let out was a gurgling groan.

"I know what you want to ask. I shot the bastard in the head. He's not going to be a problem anymore. Keep this a secret from your adopted dad though. I promised not to carry a pistol with me, he forbid me to do so." The boy let out a relaxing sigh and closed his eyes.

"Seems like your old bed is useless now, huh?" another, several pair of footsteps followed and a concerned, shocked voice rang,

"What on earth happened here? The police? Here? What the…"

Black couldn't really understand what was going on anymore. He slipped into unconsciousness, as the shock suddenly got to him and shut down his system.

When he woke up some time later, he found himself being carried. He then slipped into sleep again, and when he for the last time that night awoke, he felt he is in a bed again – only this time, when he opened his eyes to scan around a little, he found himself in a children's bedroom, full of toys and animal hats… when he confirmed that, he nodded his head into sleep again.