Chapter 10

AN: Double digits! …For a while there, I didn't think I'd make it. High school's been crazy, and any down time I've had I just use to try and unwind. If you're still sticking with me, thank you!

Disclaimer: I have researched many things in high school; however, I do not yet know how to buy ownership rights to DN Angel.

…

The guards shone their flashlights around for several minutes, but, being the idiots they were, they only directed the beams of light at the floor and the walls. After about ten minutes of futile searching in this way, I heard someone whisper that they should 'probably get out of here'. I saw one of the flashlight beams move briefly over the statue of the roses, and then heard a murmur of assent. The men departed, leaving me sitting in the museum's rafters.

I swooped down on silent wings, and quietly walked up to the statue. It seemed to capture the moonlight that touched it, and the roses looked as though they were glowing with silver light. If this wasn't the Silver Rose Hateshiganai had told me about, I would never find it.

"Gray," I whispered, "is that you?" The statue did nothing, of course. Even if Gray was actually in the artwork, she'd be in a state completely unfit to talk to anyone. An arrow through the heart could reduce most artworks to a state where they could barely hold onto their original forms: Gray must have taken this work as her own after it was made. I had to wonder who had made it, since Satoshi didn't have the skill of creating original artworks. At least, he hadn't the last time I had seen him.

The Silver Rose was encased in glass, which was almost certainly alarmed. I would have to move fast if I wanted to rescue Gray and get out without being caught. My heart (which was still a bit of a curiosity to me) was pounding in my chest, and I felt… strangely exhilarated. I could understand, suddenly, why Dark loved thieving so much.

I waited about two minutes, hoping the guards would be a good distance away from me and the rest of the gallery, before acting. Those two minutes, standing alone in the huge, open room, while I could sense the sun beginning its upward ascent, felt like eternity. 'Eternity.' The one word made me think of the girl- no, the woman, who was trapped in the artwork before me.

The first thing I did (and the most logical, I thought), was check around the glass casing, hoping to find any alarms or traps –I seemed to recall Satoshi thinking about how this was a work Dark would probably target soon, though when or how I had heard it seemed a bit beyond me. I found two wires, but this led me to my next problem –I had no idea how to deactivate the alarms.

I thought about using magic, but I was afraid anything beyond creating a few minor sparks might disrupt Gray's hold on the artwork. Since it wasn't created for her, no matter how much it resembled the rose on her grave, she would be constantly fighting against the being who truly could call it home. Now that I had found her, I was terrified to do anything that could even possibly harm her.

Finally, I steeled my resolve and drew back a white-gloved fist. "Alright Gray," I whispered, "I'll have you back to normal in no time." Not believing a word I said, I shattered the glass.

Satoshi's POV

Daisuke was gone. After the final door had opened (Krad's answer had been correct, the moment a shadow fell across the door it dissolved), Dark and I had been greeted with an empty room, with hardly enough height for Dark to stand. It was, at its longest side (the right) five feet across the floor, and tapered off like a pyramid, but sideways, as the ceiling stayed at the same height. It was empty; as barren as the desert.

"What is this place?" Dark asked quietly. I got the sense that he was talking to himself.

"The more important question is: Where's Daisuke?" I replied a moment later. We had the candle to investigate with, and the Rutile had begun glowing again. Together, these produced about as much light as a flashlight. One with dying batteries.

"I don't like it," Dark continued, ignoring me, "it's not right. It's not… safe." But he continued scanning the walls, looking carefully over each brick as though it might contain all of life's secrets. I sighed.

"Dark!" My shout snapped him to his senses, and he jumped. "We have to find Daisuke." His eyes widened ever so slightly.

"Yeah," he agreed readily, "yeah, right. Daisuke." He didn't sound very convinced though. We needed to get out of here. This was a place filled with darkness, and more than that. It seemed to be filled with everything that could distract a person. It seemed to want to hold us where we were and refuse to let us go. It terrified me.

"Come on," I said, grabbing his arm, "let's go. He's obviously not here."

"Wait," Dark replied, "even if Dai's not here, there's… there's something. I don't like it, and yet it feels like it's important. Like we'll need it." I sighed, but released him. Now he moved with a vague sense of purpose, running a hand over the far wall, examining the stones and looking at them with even more uncertainty than I felt.

"Dark, what are you looking for?" He seemed to have not heard me, and then, just when I was about to drag him away from the wall and out of the room, his hand went straight through one of the bricks.

"This," he said grimly, "now, give me just a minute." He began pulling more stones away from the hole he had found, and eventually I saw what he was thinking.

Because behind the wall lay something I had hoped to never see.

"The Crystal of the Yin and Yang," Dark muttered. "Emiko's going to flip when I show her this." Dark was staring at a huge piece of crystal, about the size and shape of a baseball, completely clear except for a large black spot in the center. I couldn't believe it myself. More Hikari works had been turning up since Gray and Lumi had come to our world than ever before, and I thought again of the Dragon Vase. I suppose you have forgotten about that, but no matter. Maybe the legend it held was really being fulfilled, with Gray at its center.

"Dark, don't touch it," I said. But the thief extraordinaire was already one step ahead of me, using magic to levitate the work towards him. This artwork had several interesting aspects –it did not have a human form, and it could tell secrets, but its most disturbing property was its ability to change a being's personality as soon as they touched it.

"Now," he said with a smirk, "we can leave, Creepy." I mentally cursed him, but was amazed that he'd been able to find such a strange artwork, and buried in a museum wall, no less! We might even be able to use it to our advantage.

But as I turned back toward the door, I saw something strange. An odd blue haze hung in the doorframe, turning the entire thing into a sort of movie screen. As I looked into it, I began to see a flickering light, like fire shining off crystal. Then I realized that was what I was seeing. A dog walked in front of the blue light, and Dark and I both recognized it instantly.

"Ryoushi," Dark said. "Satoshi, it's a portal." Without hesitation, and before I could fully register exactly what he had said, he shoved me through.

I felt as though I was falling for a lot longer than someone who was shoved through a doorframe should, and slower too. But when I finally hit the unforgiving floor of wherever I now was, I thought for sure that I'd dislocated my knee. Dark stepped through the blue light a moment later, the priceless artwork still hovering in front of him. I stood up slowly, looking around me, almost unable to believe what I was seeing. We were in a huge cavern, easily a mile high, and the walls… the walls were covered in beautiful clear crystal that seemed to flicker with some inner light, like flame.

"Dark!" The sudden exclamation seemed to shatter the peaceful silence I had almost begun to take for granted. I turned, and saw an emaciated figure with dull purple and black wings grinning at us. Her eyes, despite the shape her body was in, glittered with excitement.

"Lumi?" Dark very obviously couldn't believe what he saw. "My God Lumi, what happened to you?" The girl carelessly waved a hand in the air, and I noticed her arms were so thin you could see the bones in them.

"I'll be fine in a few hours," she said, "it was really the portals that did this, I'm getting much better at using magic… don't you think?" Then, glancing around, she asked, "Where's Krad?" Very sensibly, she conjured a set of three chairs, and sat down on the nearest one. Mura hopped onto her shoulder, and Fenga and Ryoushi curled up by her feet.

"Kyuu?" Even Wiz was there, which caught Dark off guard.

"How'd you manage to get Wiz here?" He asked in surprise.

"Same way I got you and Satoshi here, and Mura and Fenga," Lumi replied. "I used a portal." There was a long moment of silence, and she stroked Mura's head softly. "Now I have to know, because I can't See where he is… where's Krad?" She looked directly at me.

"I don't know," I said. "I –He was at the museum, and he helped Dark and I get through one of the doors that were there –"

"We'll tell you about that later," Dark cut in.

"– and after that, I didn't hear anything from him," I finished, ignoring Dark. Lumi, already seemingly regaining strength, nodded thoughtfully.

"You didn't find Daisuke though," she murmured, "and I know why." Wiz hopped over to Ryoushi, 'kyuued' at him, and then jumped onto Fenga's back. The ensuing chase between rabbit-thing and dog was rather hilarious, and we all paused to watch.

Finally, Wiz jumped onto Dark's head, and Ryoushi growled at him for a long moment before settling down again at his spot by Lumi's chair. We all turned our attention back to the thin, but no longer emaciated, Shining Violet. Her wings had already begun to shine again.

Lumi paused for a moment, almost as though she was hesitant to continue; then she went on. "Daisuke," she said slowly, "is Honoo no Namida's most prized possession right now. She wouldn't just leave him in hidden room, guarded only by riddles. No. She would keep him nearby, hidden. Right under our noses, if she could, just to make it more painful for us." She sighed, whispered something to Mura, and stood up. Her chair dissolved into nothingness.

"But why do you need to know where Krad is?" Dark asked. He sounded slightly offended. Lumi closed her eyes and cradled Mura against her before answering.

"Krad is a hunter; a tracker. He is especially adept at tracking you, Dark, and members of the Niwa family." In a moment, I saw where she was going with this. "I still am learning how to track, and in the state I'm in, if I push myself any more I'll die." Mura scrambled out of her grip and she was left hugging herself, her hands cupping her elbows, her wings folded loosely at her back. She went on.

"If anyone can figure out where Daisuke is, it's Krad." There was a moment of silence. Then, with a sudden chill, I realized where he was.

"Lumi," I said quietly, "Krad's not coming back." The girl looked at me, and I saw –no, I felt her eyes pierce my soul. Then she gasped.

"He found her," she whispered. "Satoshi, ask him to find Daisuke now. Order him, if you have to, just do it." Her eyes had taken on an intensity I had never seen before, and never saw again.

I opened my mouth to question her, but Dark spoke. "She's right. I don't like it, but we're not going to get any further in this without finding Dai, and we can't do that without Krad." I looked at Dark for a moment, almost unable to believe my ears, and then I felt something nudge my leg. It was Ryoushi, and for the first time, I heard his voice clearly.

'Find him,' he seemed to say, 'and this will all end.'

For some strange reason, the familiar's words filled me with a sense of peace. I closed my eyes, and let myself relax; let my mind call out for the being I had once called a curse.

…

AN: Well… you know what; I'm not going to say a thing about this chapter. I can't decide whether I like it or not. Let me know what you think!