Things have to get worse before they get better! Good point, though, Lord Scribbles, you brought up something I was just puzzling over myself. I think I'll ask the two of you (reviewers).

Q: At this point in the story it could go either way; Riku could figure out who Daisuke is, or she could remain blissfully ignorant. What do you think, what should it be? Either way, though, this isn't quite the end of her part.

Chapter 7

The Power of the Silver Circlet

Krad pinned Daisuke to the window with one hand around his neck, nearly choking him. Daisuke began to gasp for breath.

"Stop, Krad!" Satoshi shouted, trying desperately to retake control, hammering mercilessly at Krad's defenses. But Krad's will was like iron, impenetrable beneath the onslaught, and he pushed Satoshi back, laughing.

"Go ahead and use up your energy," he replied. "Exhaust yourself. Then I'll get to stay this way longer." And finally, with a sinking feeling, Satoshi realized Krad was right, there was nothing he could to do but watch.


Daisuke was shaken and confused. His head hurt and he couldn't focus on anything but the painful grip around his neck. It was choking him.

"You have to think of Risa!" Dark yelled, trying to get through to the frightened fourteen-year-old.

"Do you know the power of the Silver Circlet?" Krad asked tauntingly, tightening his grip. But Daisuke was too dazed, too agitated to listen. "It can make people forget things. But you… you won't have anything to forget."

"Daisuke!" Dark said, desperate to stop the darkness that had started to steal Daisuke's vision. "Remember Risa! Think about kissing her!" There was no response from Daisuke. Dark was surprised. "Man, things are really bad when that doesn't get a rise out of him," he thought. Daisuke may have been too far gone to concentrate, his eyes wide and unfocused as he gasped for air, but as he started to lose consciousness he began to hallucinate. Riku, looking up at him from the ground, coming after him when the episode with Wiz had transformed him into Dark. Satoshi catching hold of his sleeve, waiting for him in front of the window. Emiko coming up the stairs with breakfast. And finally…

"Risa," he thought hazily. He remembered Risa… Risa earlier that day asking, "Daisuke, would you come with me?" He remembered seeing her through Dark's eyes as she stood in the dark on another night not so long ago and whispered, "I love you." It was enough. The darkness might have eaten him at that point but he was already changing.

Dark breathed a sigh of relief as he took back over. He never even gave a surprised Krad time to react, but twisted free of his grip, simultaneously sliding the Circlet from his wrist.

"You!" Krad snarled as he whirled to face Dark.

"Me!" Dark replied, grinning. He held the Circlet up in the air. "It's been a pleasure but I really must be going now." Krad leapt toward him but Dark danced out of reach and took off towards one of the exits. Now was not the time to confront his old enemy, Dark was worried about Daisuke. They raced down a long hallway until Dark turned abruptly into another room with a balcony. Seconds before Krad came running in after him, Dark threw himself off the balcony, caught the bottom of the rail, and swung himself under, where he clung, upside down, scarcely daring to breathe.

He heard footsteps as Krad came to a halt above him and looked around, cursing.


Krad stood with one hand clenched at his side as he looked out into the night, but there was no sign of Dark. The skies were as empty and hollow as ever.

"Phantom Thief, indeed…" he thought to himself. The wind momentarily picked up, blowing his hair awry. It had been a while since Satoshi had last tried to retake control and, worried by the silence, Krad cautiously checked to make sure his tamer wasn't up to something. But Satoshi was still worn out after using so much energy to try and retake control. He was resting, trying to conserve his strength. So, for the moment an uneasy peace prevailed. Krad sighed and stared out into the night. It was so… nice, not to have to fight for a few moments. He knew it wouldn't last forever. It was only a momentary respite. Soon enough Satoshi would try to retake control and eventually Dark would come again. But that wasn't now. For the moment life ceased to be a battle and everything was quiet. And quiet was something Krad never got much of.

For Krad, everything was about struggle; he struggled to exist every day, fighting his tamer every inch of the way. Life would never be for him what it was for Dark. Dark might have been content existing for a few minutes every night until some girl fell in love with his tamer, but Krad wasn't. He was a force that no amount of restraint could tame or force into acquiescence. Krad wasn't going to go quietly. He wanted to live…


It seemed to take forever for Krad to go away. Dark waited patiently. But after several minutes the footsteps finally disappeared back inside the room and Dark judged it safe to leave. He let go of the underside of the balcony and dropped, Wiz's wings opening to lift him away.

As he flew he turned his thoughts inward.

"Daisuke? Are you okay?" There was no reply, but if he concentrated he could just hear the soft sounds of Daisuke's breathing. Dark let him sleep, worried. First the nightmares and now Krad. And Daisuke had already been exhausted. Dark wished he knew what was going on.


Tora sat stock-still by the door, staring absently into the darkness opposite her. She'd meant to try for Dark but things had changed. There were two of them! Never had it occurred to her that there might be more than one. She grinned suddenly, more of a flash of teeth than a grin. It just meant twice as much fun. Imagine the shock when she turned them in, especially Satoshi, the commander! Not that she planned on letting anyone know who had captured them; fame meant little to Tora. What did she care what people thought of her? No, it was more the chase, the thrill, the knowledge that she had gotten revenge, in some small way, for what had happened to Kohana. An image of Kohana's mutilated body popped into her head and she immediately tried to focus on what she'd just seen to dispel it. Satoshi and Daisuke, that's what was important now. They might not have been murderers but they were thieves. She laughed, a deep ironic laugh. Oh, this was rich!


Riku walked slowly home. She thought she'd seen Daisuke but it couldn't be! There was no way Daisuke could have gotten in there. Unless… Riku shook her head. That was impossible. Dark just looked a lot like Daisuke. Yeah, that was it. She'd seen Dark but she'd been thinking about Daisuke so much lately (especially since Risa had gone over to his house earlier) that she'd mistaken the two. It had just been her imagination. Riku smiled, satisfied.


Like the night before, Daisuke's sleep was haunted…

There were lights on in the house. That's what he noticed first. The windows shown with a rosy glow, making little bright squares on the lawn and splashed like pale paint across the trees outside. Then he looked up, and up, and up, as the rest of the house seemed to loom into view. It was gigantic! Balconies jutted out from under windows and frosted French doors, their railings molded into twisting vines and budding flowers. Daisuke was standing at the beginning of the footpath, all the stones carefully cut and placed in swirling wind patterns, rows of small flowers lining the sides with intermittent stone urns all carefully twined with ivy. Tora sat on the stone steps, which were studded with gleaming rocks, in a rectangle of light. She grinned and the Staff of Dreams appeared beside her.

"I knew you'd come," she said. "You wouldn't leave it." Tora held the Staff up. It glittered in the light like a beacon guiding lost ships. Daisuke reached out, as if he could stretch the twenty feet between them and snatch it back. He had to get it! He didn't know why—it didn't matter. But it was imperative he get the Staff back; every instinct he had was screaming at him to get it. Or something bad was going to happen.

One hand out-stretched, he reached. A little further! It was so close!

"You want it?" Tora taunted him. She twirled it between her fingers and watched it glint. Daisuke clenched his teeth as he strained to cross the distance between them. His hand was shaking as he finally reached impossibly far and grasped it. Then all at once there was no distance between them at all. He was standing in front of her, as though they'd never been any further apart than a few inches. But then, just as Daisuke smiled in triumph and clutched the Staff to his chest exultantly, a dagger appeared in Tora's other hand and she stabbed him. Daisuke cried out and doubled over as blinding heat pierced his side.

The Staff clattered to the stone steps and rolled, making an odd tinkling noise as it hit. The glass end fractured. Daisuke tried to catch it, even as he clasped his side and hissed in pain. He'd failed again; he'd lost the Staff. He couldn't explain why that was so unbelievably important but it was. Tora's blade stabbed into his back as he tried to reach for it and he collapsed to the stone, screaming. Pain, incredible pain, lancing through his body. He couldn't think anymore. The Staff was just a few feet away. It was the only important thing. As his vision started to fade and Tora came for him again, he just had time to feebly reach out and try to grab the Staff. But it was like reaching through sand, everything was dragging at him, dragging him back. Reality seemed to shift to keep him from it. He struggled to reach the few more inches towards it, desperate, despairing. All was lost if he couldn't get it… What was lost? Daisuke didn't know anymore. As the blade came down one final time his vision finally faded into hollow oblivion.

And he woke having just knocked Wiz off the bed. The bunny-like creature was running around in circles on the floor crying 'Kyuu! Kyuu!' And in the back of his mind, Dark was saying, "Daisuke, what happened?"

"I'm sorry, Wiz," Daisuke said, scooping Wiz up in his arms. "It was an accident."

"What were you dreaming about?" Dark asked. Daisuke petted Wiz a little before replying.

"It was just a nightmare," Daisuke said.

"But a nightmare that's keeping you up." It was true. Daisuke yawned. He was dead tired but he couldn't sleep. "Were there any girls in it?"

"One, she tried to kill me." Dark winced.

"Killer women," he said solemnly. "That's a scary thought." Daisuke shook his head in amusement, curled back up on his side with Wiz next to his chest, and stared out at his room. It was dark. The moon shown in through his window and illuminated a bright patch on the floor. Just like in the dream. It was hours before he got back to sleep and even then, only to wake shaking once again.


To: Lord Scribbles. I'm glad you liked it. (smiling). I have to apologize, though (suddenly looking down at the floor in embarrassment), for what happens to your favorite character in chapter nine (even though that's two chapters away). Sorry, it couldn't be helped and it won't hurt him permanently, I promise!

To: Leonhart Zero. Thank you for reviewing. It's so nice to see your reviews and it means a lot to me. Perhaps the most awful thing in the world is to be terrible at the one thing you love most to do.

To: everyone previously mentioned. Fair warning: It's getting harder to update as homework increases along with the impending doom of Senior Projects. The point is, I'll probably have to stop updating as quickly. Oh, but on the bright side, Daisuke's little problem will be explained shortly. In chapter nine. Please be patient.

But I can't wait for April! The next book comes out! Along with the next four episodes, apparently.