Astral opened one eye as he saw Malachi approaching. He instinctively moved in front of him and Dmitri, even though it didn't do much good. Malachi leaned through Astral and started tapping Dmitri, "Oh Dmitri, Dmitri, wake up! Your sons came back to life but they weren't looking where they were going and fell off a cliff again," Malachi laughed.
As Dmitri very crossly woke up, Astral shook Dark Mist awake and whispered, "You have my full permission to dump a whole bucket full of rotten eggs on Malachi's head."
Dark Mist glared past Astral at Malachi, "What. The hell. Did. He. Do?" Dark Mist growled.
"I'm not repeating what he said since you would kill him," Astral said.
"Damn bastard," Dark Mist snarled.
"Try to control your temper," Astral reprimanded.
"Try to control my temper?!" Dark Mist rounded on Astral, "He's taunting Dad with our deaths! He bullied us in our past life! I think I have every right to at least maim him!"
"No, you don't," Astral said, "You're allowed to dump rotten eggs on his head but that's as far as I'm willing to let you go."
"You're not the boss of me!"
"I'm your older brother! Besides it would be a bad idea to kill him when he seems to be the only one who really knows where we're going. And he's our uncle," Astral said.
Dark Mist scowled, "First off, you're older by maybe three minutes! Second, why do we care where his little 'adventure' is going to? And third, I don't care if he's our uncle! Nobody, but nobody, is allowed to insult me or my family in that degree of disrespect without some form of retribution."
"Then just dump a barrel of eggs on his head! Don't kill him!" Astral begged.
"So if it's not fatal, just a very cruel prank, I can do it?" Dark Mist mused.
Astral, going against his common sense warning him and ignoring the alarm bells ringing in his head, said, "Yes, but nothing to really physically hurt him."
"Agreed," Dark Mist said with a snicker as he zoomed off. Astral turned back to Dmitri, who was currently trying to resist punching Malachi, who was still taunting him.
"Why, it's the middle of the day, Dmitri! Why are you being so lazy and sleeping? Maybe if you were more alert and watchful, you still might have your sons. And wife too. Anyone would think you'd have learned your lesson," Malachi mockingly admonished him. Astral glared at him inadvertently shifted into his darker form. He had retained the ability to do so after the Sargasso incident but didn't mostly because of the memories associated with it. However, when he was really really pissed off he would naturally shift into it. Last time he had to take this form, it was when Dark Mist was being particularly obnoxious and was throwing snowballs at Yuma in the middle of class along with one iceball. The number appeared like he was about to wet himself when Astral turned into his dark form and proceeded to try and strangle 96.
Needless to say, someone's blood was going to be spilled.
Astral grabbed a quill and wrote on the piece of paper that had been left lying out,
Enough! Malachi, shut up! Don't you have somewhere better to be?! Get going and try to do something useful for once!
As soon as he was finished writing this, he smacked Malachi with the quill and dropped it on the paper. Malachi and Dmitri looked down and read what Astral had written. Malachi's eyes widened and he said quickly, "Oh, of course! I'm sorry, I suppose I was wasting time. I'll go buy some more rations," with that, he hurried off. Dmitri stared from the paper to Malachi and back to the paper. A few seconds later, they heard a scream from the direction Malachi had just gone. In fact, they weren't even sure it was Malachi because the cry was so high pitched. They both hurried over to the sound of the scream when they both stopped and stared.
Malachi was drenched in some incredibly smelly liquid and had egg yolk running down his hair. Dmitri failed to stifle his laugh and even Astral had to smirk, then giggle when he turned back to his regular form a second later. And, of course, Dark Mist was hovering above Malachi and laughing his head off. Malachi, on the other hand was not so amused as he looked around snarling trying to find who had played the prank on him.
Dark Mist flew beside Astral and asked, "So, like my little revenge?"
Astral nodded, "It does fall within the parameters I set for you, so yes."
"I may have been mistaken, but were you in your demonic scary-as-hell mode again when you flew over here?" Dark Mist asked.
Astral sighed, "Malachi pissed me off."
"What did he do?"
"What do you think? Let's just say that the insults to Father finally made me snap."
Dark Mist's mouth turned into a furious snarl, "Damn that f*cker. I should've made him drink the sewer water too instead of just dumping it all on him."
Astral's eyes widened, "That... was SEWER WATER?!"
Dark Mist barely glanced at him, "Duh, what did you think it was?"
Astral took a deep breath, "Sebastian, you do know sewer water in medieval times was incredibly filthy, right? Because towns had crowded living conditions and there weren't sewage treatment plants, the "water" was mostly just urine, dissolved feces, and anything else people wanted to hurl away."
"Of course I knew that! Why else would I dump it on him?" Dark Mist said with an eye roll.
Astral's cheeks turned slightly greenish-blue. "And you wanted to make him drink it."
"Still do."
Astral put his head in his hands, "I do not know why I was expecting something different."
"Neither do I, Lucky, neither do I."
A tick mark appeared on Astral's forehead, "How many times do have I told you not to call me that?!"
Dark Mist shrugged, "I lost count."
They both abruptly stopped their bickering when they heard raised voices. Malachi and Dmitri somehow got into a fierce fight.
"I swear, I sadly had nothing to do with this! Though I bless the person who did!" Dmitri yelled.
Malachi was seething. "Watch your step. After all, Gareth is really all you have left, isn't he? Be a shame if he somehow didn't make it through his recent injury, wouldn't it?"
Astral had to seize Dark Mist while trying not to go demonic for the second time that day. Malachi was past the point of just getting on Astral's nerves, he was honest to God infuriating him and making him consider the pros and cons of committing homicide.
Dmitri narrowed his eyes, "If Gareth dies, I will kill you. I will happily commit murder if he dies on this adventure of yours."
"But he'll still be dead, won't he? That's the only thing stopping you from running for it or killing me right now. He's your dear older brother. The one who's always been in your life. Shame if he leaves you too. Nothing left to live for, right?" Malachi smirked with the air of one who was in complete control.
"He has five seconds to start running before I-" Dark Mist made a violent gesture with his hands miming ripping someone's head off their neck.
"As much as I am longing to see that, no. Unless he actually tries to kill Father or Gareth, we can't intervene. We still have to travel together. Like it or not Malachi is the only one who knows where we are going and we can't get our memories back if we don't find the other numbers. Malachi's plan is, unfortunately, the best we've got." Astral sighed.
"Maybe Dad knows where we're going. If he knows the exact plan," here Dark Mist adopted a mocking tone of voice resembling Malachi's, "we can just have an unfortunate little accident happen to dear Uncle Malachi. Shame if he just accidentally gets assaulted and tortured to death. It'd be a real shame. Real pity."
Astral rolled his eyes, hating that he wasn't completely against this plan.
Meanwhile, Dmitri and Malachi were still having their 'discussion', "You had better leave him alone-" Dmitri started.
"You know, it's funny, he says the same thing when I threaten you." Malachi smirked.
Dmitri trembled in rage, "You- you absolute horrendous monstrosity of a human- no, living being! You act as if family means nothing to you! As if love, kindness, and compassion are foreign concepts! Oh wait, I forgot who I was talking to for an instant, they ARE, aren't they?!"
Malachi looked mock wounded. "Why, big brother, I never knew you could be so harsh to your remaining family!"
Dmitri snarled, "Oh, well isn't THAT calling the kettle black. Just get out of my face. Didn't Astral tell you to shut up and do something useful for once in your life?! Because for once I'm agreeing with him."
"You told Malachi to do WHAT?!" Dark Mist said incredulously, looking impressed, "I am so proud!"
Astral buried his face in his hands, "I was demonic at the time and extremely pissed. I was not responsible for my actions."
Dark Mist captured him in a hug, "You have just shown me why I should look to my big brother Lucky as a role model. Because he sometimes goes crazy and acts scary as hell. It is in those moments that I should follow his example."
Astral groaned, "Please. Stop."
Dark Mist ignored him, "Yes, my big brother can sometimes be an excellent hero figure at times. Truly, telling someone to shut up and go do something useful for the first time in their life is the best representation of a good older sibling figure."
"You are only doing this to annoy me, aren't you?" Astral said.
Dark Mist released Astral from the hug and got him in a headlock, "It's the sacred honor of siblings duty, always try to piss your sibling or siblings the hell off as much as possible."
Astral glared at his twin as best he could. "I have heard of no such sacred duty."
"Sarcasm, Lucky, sarcasm," Dark Mist tsked.
Astral rolled his eyes and stopped fighting to get free as he watched Malachi's expression. The white-haired man's face was an odd, unattractive color of lavender, as if he had gone purple and paled at the same time. With a snarl, Malachi said, "I am aware of my orders from Astral and was just about to carry them out when this horrendous attack was placed upon me!"
Astral and Dark Mist stared in shock. "Did he just... say what I thought he said?" Dark Mist asked.
"If it had anything to do with orders from me then yes." Astral said, in equal if not greater astonishment.
Dark Mist turned to him, "When did you start telling him to take commands from you?"
"I didn't..." said Astral in bewilderment.
"So he's taking orders from Heil Astral now?" Dark Mist said, "Ooh! Can we make him dress up and act like a bunny?! Just take out a piece of paper, and write, Malachi, I order you to put on bunny ears and act exactly like a rabbit. It is of the utmost importance." Dark Mist looked positively elated at the idea.
Astral, noticing the positively psychopathic look in his brother's eyes, put a stop to his slightly sick fantasy. "No. Way."
"Come on! If he'll take orders from you-"
"NO! I still don't like the fact that he even WILL take orders from me. It honestly makes no sense!" Astral cried.
Dark Mist looked at Malachi's receding figure. "Remember how I kept having a bad feeling about him and was- well," Dark Mist looked like he was holding back a gag reflex, "Fine, AM scared of him? Maybe why he's taking orders from you might have to do with it. Again, repressed memories. Maybe we saw him do something beyond wrong and are now forever subconsciously scarred."
Astral frowned and nodded. He had to agree, Malachi was up to something. And if it involved him taking orders from him, Astral was feeling almost sick thinking about what it could be.