I'm but
a poor lost kitten.
Search:
is my fate.
-Grell Sutcliff (Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji)
(\/) Somewhere in Russia (\/)
Keith looked around at the various fields of wild-flowers, a scowl on his face. It was no-wonder how that Chan Lee girl had gotten lost—this section of the country was a maze! Then add that to the unfamiliar language and culture, and Keith felt WAY out of his element.
And he hated not being in control of things.
He didn't know what he was doing; he really didn't.
'I should have just stayed back there, and let Dan worry about his little friends,' he thought to himself.
But then again…if one of the Brawlers would have got injured going after Shun and his little girlfriend, Mira would have been devastated—and Keith believed she really didn't deserve any more sadness.
And then there was the fact that he didn't trust Shun. Or the girl, really.
She HAD been Masquerade after all.
Keith swatted at the flowers, trying to knock them down so he would be able to see over them. He only succeeded in getting pollen up his nose, and sneezing a rather uncomfortable sneeze, which only made his frustration grow further.
"So help me Shun...if you and that girl are dead by the time I find you, I will kill you."
(\/) Marucho's lab (\/)
It was very late at night, and HQ was mostly dark-cepting for Marucho's lab, of course.
The second-youngest boy in the Brawlers was indeed still awake for multiple reasons:
1: One of his long-time team-mates (friends?) had disappeared the previous night, supposedly in search of another long-time friend.
2: Said other friend was supposedly in danger, along with everyone else on the team, and everyone they had ever been involved with.
3: Several people that fell under the category "ever been involved with" weren't responding to his repeated calls and emails.
4: He had to secure safe-houses and supplies for whenever the people decided to respond.
And lastly...
5: There is an intergalactic war brewing, and they are right smack-dab in the middle of it.
All of those things concerned Marucho to the point that he couldn't even think of sleeping-he felt there was far too much to be done in such a short amount of time, to be bothered with trying (in vain) to sleep.
So here Marucho had sat for hours, constantly checking his email and phone, as well as monitoring cosmic readings.
It was far too much stress to be laid upon one person.
Marucho rubbed his eyes, before drinking the last bit of coffee in the cup next to his computer. By then, it was cold, and all the goop had settled at the bottom, creating a rather vile taste and texture. Marucho nearly choked.
In all truth, he hated coffee. It was disgusting, and the only purpose (he felt) to drink the junk was to wake you up.
He had started drinking it years ago, when he was but eight years old. Even then, his parents had stressed him out, with their constant speeches about how he could always do better, when it came to school. He was always thrust into the best universities with the best teachers with the best-test scores; of course the work was ridiculously hard. His parents didn't really care that he had no free-time to be a kid, or that he was so stressed out that he was loosing hair-no, they wanted him to do good in school so he could do good in college so he could do good, when he finally took over the family business.
Marucho had felt himself falling apart. Honestly, if it wasn't for Alice, Dan, Shun, and all the other Brawlers, he would have surely wasted away, and maybe even died.
They had literally saved his life.
Marucho smiled at the thought, as his eyes slid closed...
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
"Shuuuuut uuuuup..." Marucho groaned, groping around for his alarm clock. However, the only thing his hand came in contact with was a pile of snacks, and a pile of tech-junk.
His eyes opened slowly, and he was even more sluggish when he sat up; he had slept awkwardly, with his head on his keyboard, thus making his neck very sore. He brought up a hand to check his hair, only to find that it was in disarray as well.
Beep.
Marucho suddenly felt awake, as he remembered the sound that had woke him up.
His fingers flew across the keyboard, checking the various screens that were up.
He discovered the source of the beep, when he opened up the maps and charts, that were keeping track of the cosmic readings. There had been a sudden spike on the chart, signalling that there had been a major disruption in terms of dimensional travel.
He brought up the map, to see where the opening had originated from, and where it had led-perhaps it had been an accidental tube, one that had spontaneously popped up, and not an assigned worm-hole, that had a straightforward, direct route from one place to another.
He was sincerely hoping for the former, because the last thing he needed was to worry about another issue with the universe.
Unfortunately, though, it was a wormhole-a very obvious one that originated in Vestal.
Marucho closed his eyes briefly, feeling a migraine working its way into a knot behind his eyes. This was really going to put a damper on the morning.
However, when he opened his eyes, he noticed that the wormhole lead no where. Literally no where. It just faded out, into nothingness.
Marucho briefly wondered if whomever was traveling via the wormhole was using a cloaking device of some sort, before he shook that of, thinking it impossible.
'But then how did it just disappear? There's nothing even remotely around that area...' he thought, as he swiveled the map around to see if he missed something.
Nothing.
(\/) Near HQ (\/)
"Are you sure Marucho's house is around here? 'Cause all I see is...like, trees..."
"That's what he said in his email."
"Then Chan got us lost-ow!"
"How is it MY fault?!"
"For one, you've got the worst sense of direction ever."
"Joe! I thought you were on my side!"
"No way, Chan! Bros before-OWWW!"
"Don't you even THINK about finishing that sentence."
Billy glared at Joe, who was smirking triumphantly at him. Chan, however, was giving the hat-wearing teen a glare that could only be rivaled by Shun.
"Besides, I am on nobody's side," Joe said evenly, as he swatted a bug away.
Chan and Billy both started sulking. The three of them had taken a car as far as they could go, before having to walk through the dense forest on foot. It was rather eerie at night, but at least the sun wasn't up; that would have made the bugs that would fly at them every once in a while into swarms of unbearable annoyances.
In the distance, a howl was heard. The group-whether they were conscious of the fact or not-moved closer together, and resumed talking.
"Seriously. Why would he build a secret headquarters in the middle of the woods?"
"The answer is in the question," Chan replied shortly. She had a horrible temper; she could never be around someone for any long amount of time, lest they get on her nerves. Granted, Joe she could stand. But Billy...let's just say, that after about five minutes of being in the car with him was five minutes too long.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Joe felt his girlfriend's anger growing. He quickly intervened. "She means that he built the secret headquarters in the middle of the woods so it would remain a secret."
"But WHY the woods?!"
"I don't know...I'm not Marucho," Joe replied.
"But-"
"Billy," Joe interrupted. "Stop asking stupid questions. And Chan..." The girl gave him a glare. "Stop giving cryptic answers."
"I wasn't even talking," she muttered.
They walked in silence for a bit longer, before Billy said, "Alright, where is this place?! I mean, this is MARUCHO! This has to be one big-ass HQ, what with all the money he has."
Joe and Chan ignored him, as he continued talking. "Why did he contact us all, anyway?"
"The email didn't say..." Joe would be lying if he said he wasn't curious...In fact, he was extremely curious.
'Why did he call us all here? All his message gave was the coordinates of HQ, saying we needed to get there fast. I hope nothing bad happened...' At the thought of one of his old friends being hurt, he hastened his step. Chan and Billy sped up as well, both of them shooting him confused and worried looks.
"What's wrong?" Billy asked. Joe shook his head, maintaining his pace.
Chan suddenly grabbed ahold of his arm, stopping him. Joe looked at her, waiting for her to talk.
"Your pulse is really fast...When was the last time you ate?"
Joe didn't really know, which was rather odd. His illness required him to take care with his diet. "Um..."
She pulled off her backpack, immediately thrusting a bar into his hand. "Eat that whole thing before you take another step."
"Chan..." Joe sighed. He hated being singled out like this. His illness prevented him from doing many things, most especially from being a normal kid; he had to miss out on so much...
But he liked to pretend. Being around Billy and Chan helped him pretend. But him, sitting here eating while they just stood by and watched...it was humiliating and made him feel like a freak that needed special treatment.
After what felt like an eternity, he finished the nutrition bar (it had tasted like sawdust sprinkled onto cardboard), he stood and continued walking.
"Joe?" He didn't answer.
"Joe, please stop." He turned abruptly to face them.
"What?"
Chan and Billy both shifted. The later was the first to speak up: "You know I care about you, right? As a bro, that is."
Joe nodded slightly.
Chan stepped forward, kissing him. It wasn't a peck, though it wasn't a full-on make-out session. It was nice.
"And you KNOW I love you. All of you." Joe smiled slightly, as he hugged her.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, before Billy cleared his throat and said, "I kinda feel like the third-wheel here...Unless you guys are up for a manage-a-trois, then I'm game-OWWW! Stop hitting me!"
Chan looked disgusted, whereas Joe looked amused. "I doubt Julie would enjoy us having a threesome, Billy."
Billy stuck out his tongue, crossing his arms. "You guys are no fun."
Joe laughed as he and Chan walked forward. However, they stopped, when they could see a large building through a gap in some trees.
Billy jogged to catch up. When he saw what they were looking at, he yelped. "How in the HELL does he keep this place SECRET?!"
A/N I KNOW it's been a while! I'm soooo sooorry. However, I plan to be updating more soon. One of the reasons I had a hard time doing this chapter was Keith's part. Even though it's so short, it took FOREVER! However, I believed you guys needed some comedic relief, so I threw in the part about Billy, Chan Lee, and Joe. XD
Thank you everyone for the reviews and favorites and follows! I believe I replied to everyone with an account...but I don't remember.
Who do you want to see more of?
Anyway, please review!
