Chapter Twelve

Illumination

A/N-

New Hampshire winter weather isn't very beneficial to chapter updates, nor is decrepit, old laptops that tend to wipe your flash drives. This chapter isn't long as my other ones and it doesn't contain too much action, but it does explain a few things.

Sorry for the bad cliffhanger I left off in the last chapter... I hope the ending to this update makes up for it!

By the way, I think Silva is an awesome character. I don't hate him at all, despite the way I characterize him here as…

I do not own Hiroyuki Takei's Shaman King or any song by Nickelback.


ooOOooOOoo

Yoh stared, dumbfounded, at the pompadour-shorting shaman before him. His headache only made the inconceivable worse. At first, he couldn't believe his ears. The Patch were going to execute Hao? That was outrageous! He didn't do anything wrong!

Ryu must have noticed the aghast expression on Yoh's face. The older shaman winced and mumbled, "….Chief, he did kill you. The 'hell training' thing, remember?"

"What do we do now?" Yoh began in a slight panic."Did Silva say when it would happen? When did he leave? What time is it now?"

Yoh heard the shoji door slowly open behind him. He turned his pounding head around to see Anna standing fully dressed in the doorway, a packed bag in one hand. She looked at him with a rather annoyed expression on her face.

"Why aren't you dressed yet?" she asked nonchalantly. "The plane leaves in two hours."

"What?" he asked, confused. His head was still aching from last night and left him a bit slower than normal.

The blond itako threw the backpack at him, which he deftly caught. "I'm not going anywhere. The family is staying here with me for now. You're going to America to fix this mess."

ooOOooOOoo

Hao screamed in absolute outrage as he was tossed with all the care of a football into a dark cell-like enclosure within the deep confines of the Patch village. His body was bound in impenetrable oversoul cables, rendering his arms and legs useless against his taller, more muscular Patch descendant. He landed flat on his stomach with a dull 'thump' on the hard stone floor. It hurt like hell, but he wasn't about to give his captor the satisfaction of hearing him in pain. His only triumph was catching a glimpse of the dark purple blotch around Silva's cold eyes and his ripped earlobe as the shaman slammed close the heavy metal door. When it finally locked shut, the small enclosure was flooded in near complete darkness. A small window at the top of the gate allowed the dim light, or what there was of it, to enter the room.

A few moments later, the bonds surrounding his body were released. The sudden change in pressure to his limbs, although appreciated, was excruciating. Hao hissed as his cramped shoulders and knees went slack against the cold ground. He couldn't see his skin very well, but he knew there would be bruises forming.

The all-consuming rage that had taken over his mind had barely diminished over the course of the past several hours. He'd had plenty of time to try to calm himself down, but being taken from his home in a fury hadn't helped.

He couldn't see straight, not that it would matter too much now in the pitch black. The ex-shaman was shaking with raw emotion, gritting his teeth and hissing in blind fury. Hao spat and punched the ground in senselessness. He didn't know what else to do.

"Will you calm the fuck down?" growled an annoyed, slightly accented voice. For all he knew, it all could have been in his head. It probably was. "You sound like a rattlesnake that's been stepped on."

"Shut the fuck up!" he screeched back. "I didn't ask for your input!"

The voice sounded amused. "Pissy as always, aren't you?"

Hao snapped and started screaming again. "Stop talking to me!"

"Fine, be a prick," the voice challenged, sighing. "Sooner or later you'll calm down and see how childish you'r---."

"I'm not a fucking child!"

The voice sighed melodramatically. "I've had it with you and your foul language."

"Look who's talki---!" he derided angrily before the wind was knocked out of him and he was shoved into the cold, hard floor. Someone had barreled into his left side from the back of the cell. His face was pressed into the ground as a strong had held his wrists together while another pressed into the small of his back. Hao shrieked in indignation before he thrashed violently. The being above him was thrown off balance but quickly righted itself before he could get really get away. The correction had come a second too late, for his clenched right fist made forced contact with the person's cheekbone as it grabbed his left hand.

The hard blow elicited a pained yelp from the person above him. Hao took his chance and tried to back out of its reach before he was hit in a full-body tackle. He hissed and rolled around, kicking wildly as the person on top of him tried to pin him down. As he pulled his arm back to try to strike the person in the head again, a strong punch to the gut hit him dead-on. He gasped as the wind was forced out of his lungs. It hurt more than it should have.

"Stop this…nonsense," the feminine voice above him said between heavy gasps for air. "You're too stupid…to fight in the dark without an…oversoul and no sense of control over your own mind. Left your stomach…wide open, you buffoon. It's only been a month and a half. Can't even keep…my request to take it easy, can you?"

"Get off of me!" he demanded, spitting mad.

She grabbed him by the throat and held him down, her fingers squeezing his windpipe. It wasn't hard enough to actually choke him, but it was certainly uncomfortable enough to get his attention. "Calm down," she annunciated slowly into his ear. "You're acting like a child who can't get his way. I can understand that you're angry for being thrown into here, but fighting isn't getting going to get us anywhere."

"You started it!"

She slapped him across the face, ignoring the truth behind his statement. He winced slightly, hoping that she didn't see it in the pitch black. The bitch-slap stung like one of Anna's specialties.

"See? There you go again. I'm not your mother, but I'll be glad to teach you some manners. Now, sit up and calm down. No need to punch your own cell-mate."

The pressure was released from his neck a moment later. He rubbed his throat and glared up at the doctor above him. Hao slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position once he felt the rest of her weight completely removed from him. Despite his severe dislike of being tackled, he felt as if a small hole had been punctured at the bottom of his anger reserves. His rage was fading, slowly.

"Better?" the Irish woman sighed. She had moved to sit before him. If he looked closely enough, he could see the outline of her silhouette. "You're not going to have another hissy fit?"

"Fuck you," the ex-shaman hissed. "I didn't ask to be thrown in here."

"From what I've heard, you did. Throw a fit the size of California and expect not to gain attention? Attack Yoh and Silva? You're smarter than that, Hao."

His eyes narrowed dangerously. "I couldn't help it."

She snorted, laughing," Yeah, right. I'm more likely to believe that shrimp have suddenly gained the ability to sport metal limbs than that attempt at an excuse. I know you can do better."

He gritted his teeth and fell silent.

Clancy sighed. "You screwed up pretty bad. Murdered five people? Why on Great Spirit's green Earth did you do that when you knew it would get you killed?"

"They asked for it," he mumbled half to himself.

"Of course," she barked sarcastically," all the humans you killed asked for salvation into the afterlife."

"They did. Well, at least Yoh."

"Why would he ask for that?" the Irish doctor snorted. "I know you like killing, but him? After he saved you from dying, twice?"

"He wanted to be able to control one of the five elemental spirits," he explained slowly. He felt the heavy fog of his blind fury finally leave him, leaving a puddle of the usual negative emotions in its place. "So, I sent him to hell. The other four wanted to be able to do the same. Naturally, I complied."

She fell silent.

Something about her sudden speechlessness caught him off guard. She, in his little experience with her, wasn't prone to being surprised by much. He even thought she had said she was some sort of a clairvoyant at one point. Something like this certainly would have made itself apparent to her.

"What are you thinking?" Hao asked warily.

"…Why I'm in here."

He hadn't actually given that a thought. "Which is?"

She seemed to shake her head, for he heard the light swish of her hair in the near silence. "That's not all too important…well, it kind of is…but can I do something first before I explain that?"

"…Fine," the ex-shaman replied, cautious. "What do you want?"

He heard her get to her feet. "Stand up, please. I need the light of this window."

There really wasn't too much ambiance coming in through the tiny pane, but he could see her hand a bit better as she pointed to it. Hao carefully eased himself up onto his feet and moved closer to the hole.

"What do you want to see?" he asked.

"If only you were taller…," she mused, looking down at him. Hao frowned at her reference to his height. He could just make out the amusement in her blue eyes beside the window. A few things about her face had changed since they had last met, though. Her cheekbones were more prominent as if she hadn't eaten well in a while. Her skin was rather pale and her eyes were encircled in dark rings. Hao wondered how long she'd been in here.

Huffing, Hao did his best to raise his stature by standing on his toes. Once he did this, her hands cupped his cheeks. He twitched slightly at the contact, but cast it aside. The curious look in her eyes was more of a pressing matter than fussing about being touched by a woman.

She searched every inch of his face for something he didn't know. Her eyes carefully scrutinized everything; his eyes, nose, cheeks, lips, and skin. It didn't take her very long to find whatever it was. The doctor slowly began to grin with an unknown triumph before letting her hands fall back to her sides.

Flashing her white teeth, she asked nonchalantly, "How long have you been this transparent?"

The realization hit him hard. He hadn't been able to place the odd quality of his skin before, but now he knew what it was…he still had no idea what it meant.

Dr. Clancy noticed the recognition in his eyes. "How long?

"I'm not sure," he mumbled, disappointed.

"You weren't like this when I last saw you, although you were kind of pale then. I thought it was because you hadn't been out in the sun and all the stress you'd been through."

His eyes narrowed in confusion. "What does it mean? I've never heard of someone going transparent when they're alive."

"People don't…," she mused. Hao could hear almost hear the smile creep onto her face. "That's what makes your case so interesting."

"My case?"

She ignored his blatant question in light of her own. "Have you been injured since I last saw you?"

Hao thought about it for a moment. "My shoulder was dislocated at one point and I've been nearly castrated by Anna's foot."

"How long did it take for your shoulder to heal?"

"Not more than a day," he relented. "Why?"

"Actually," the woman sighed unhappily, "I'm not sure why that's happened. Rapid healing isn't normal without the help of shamanic influence, as you know quite well. I would have thought the opposite to tell you the truth. It must be a side-effect."

He didn't like the sound of that, but he hid his slight trepidation by questioning her coldly. "A side-effect of what, exactly?"

Hao saw her teeth flash in the gloom again. Her smiles were rather odd, almost creepy. "You haven't figured it out yet?"

"Figured what out?"

She sighed and disappeared toward the back of the room. He heard her lower herself to the ground against the stone wall. "I only had to look at you to confirm my suspicions. If you haven't figured it out on your own, which you obviously haven't, you're gonna want to sit down for this. It'll probably come as quite a shock to you."

Hao felt like he'd been shut out of his own life. There had never been people who knew something about him that he didn't already know. It was unsettling for him. Slowly, and quite warily, yet at the same time almost excited, he followed her back into the pitch black of the cell. Hao easily found the back wall and slid down to lean against it.

"Does this have anything to do with your imprisonment?" he ventured quietly after she hadn't said anything for a long moment.

"It has everything to do with it," she sighed. He heard the back of her head thump against the hard stone. "I'm in here because I figured it out before the Patch did. They didn't want me to tell you when they got wind of what I had discovered, so they threw me in here before I could come to Japan and tell you myself. They would have had a bloody field day if I had managed to get to you two weeks ago. Actually," Kathleen mused to herself," I'm surprised Silva threw you in here when he knew I'd talk to you about it."

"What did you discover about me?" he asked a bit coldly. "Are you sure it's something I don't already know?"

Her tone sounded amused and slightly sad at the same time. "Trust me, if you knew, you'd still be rolling around on the ground in screaming ball of fury. You'd be beyond pissed to know that they'd gone and locked you up, of all people."

"Continue," he urged her bitterly.

"Well, you remember that Goldva mentioned that the Great Spirit had been acting up, correct?"

"I overheard Silva say that a few weeks ago."

"Well, at least you know that much," she sighed in relief. "It's been uneasy, sort of like it's anxious or upset. Why do you think that it would be doing that?"

"An imbalance in nature, I suppose," he muttered. "Human interference, perhaps. They've done more harm to the Earth in the past few decades than ever before in the history of the planet."

"That's true, too," she admitted. "But what about severe weather changes?"

"I guess so, but it would have to be very drastic."

He could hear the laughter in her voice. "How has the weather been in Funbari Hill?"

"Rain and thunderstorms, mostly. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"And the surrounding countries? What about China?"

"I've heard of… bad earthquakes, fires, and…blizzards. Come to think of it, it was the middle of summer when I went back to Japan and it was freezing when I got off the plane."

"What were you feeling when you got off the plane?"

"Excuse me?" he growled, looking at her in the darkness. "How was I 'feeling?'"

"Yeah, emotion-wise," the Irish woman affirmed seriously. "Happy? Probably not. Anxious? No. Cold, perhaps?"

He blinked as the connection slowly came to him. "Cold, yes. I wasn't thrilled with going back to my brother's accommodations. I felt…bitter."

"How were you at the time of the earthquake?"

"Pissed," he sighed. Hao leaned his head against the cold, slightly damp stone.
"I had a migraine after I got into an argument with Anna."

"And the torrential downpour I heard about the night before I called you?"

Hao didn't answer right away. He didn't really want to despite her gentle tone at the last question. "I…," he began quietly. It was hard to actually get the words to come out of his throat. "…I was……crying."

"Yeah."

"So the rapidly changing weather is somehow tied to my emotions?" he asked, slowly getting the strength back in his voice. But by the way he thought this conversation was leading, he was beginning to think that he might loose it again.

"Your emotions are partly tied to the Great Spirit," she explained, "which is unhappy, and is causing the bad weather conditions depending upon how you feel. Only your emotions are magnified as they pass through it."

"Why would the Great Spirit be unhappy? I only stole it for my own power. Why are my emotions attached to it?"

"You know perfectly why, buffoon," she nearly hissed. "You're not that stupid. Use that Mensa-level brain of yours for once."

Hao groaned in frustration.

The doctor poked him in the shoulder. "Ah… You don't want to sound like an idiot for thinking it, right? Too good to be true for you?"

"No…"

"Then say it."

Hao did nothing. He didn't want to give her the satisfaction that she was right.

"Suit yourself," she chided. Hao heard her back slide against the wall as she reclined into a somewhat comfortable position. "I'll leave you to your own. Talk to me when you come up with something."

"…"

"You know you want to say it. It'll feel good after going so long without hope."

His anger button pulsed obnoxiously. "Shut up."

"No. Just say it."

"Do you want to fight again?" he threatened.

"You know I'd just kick your ass again," the woman laughed lightly. "This is getting off topic. Why won't you just come out and say it?"

"Because I'm not the Shaman King," he ground out miserably. "Is that what you wanted me to say?"

"Yes, I did want you to say that," she mocked sweetly. Her voice almost shook with suppressed laughter. "But you right. You're not the king."

" That's it?" Hao hissed, enraged. "You've been leading me around to get me to say that? No surprise that I didn't have a clue about, not even a jibe? There's nothing that you wanted me to figure out? There's nothing? That's all you wanted to tell me?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Do you get some kind of sick, twisted pleasure out of making me…," he struggled angrily for the right word,"…desperate?"

"No, not really. I'm just trying to make a point."

"Which is what, exactly?"

"My point is that you're not the king. At least, not right now."

Hao ground his teeth together. "That's overstating the obvious, again."

"You were for about five minutes."

"Yes," the ex-shaman admitted, wincing inwardly. "I was."

"But the king can't be a living being. He must be dead in order to truly become a god."

"That never was much of an issue. Dying, anyway," the long-haired teenager reminisced, forgetting the conversation for a moment. "It's not so bad."

"Are you getting my gist, though?"

"That I would have died?"

"Yes. You would have either bled to death from the fight had your twin not saved you or your heart would have stopped beating from the Great Spirit's influence."

Hao's eyebrows narrowed. "I'm clearly still living, though." He turned to the doctor beside him despite the complete lack of light. "If that's true, I should be dead. Why am I alive?"

"I'm not entirely sure to tell you the truth," she sighed. "I don't know at all. The only thing I do know is that your powers were severed from you when Yoh sliced your chest open and I don't even know how or why that happened. That, maybe, stopped the Great Spirit's influence from killing you right there and then. Quite an oddly coincidental interruption.

"But you're still dying," She muttered. "Technically, we all are, but you're slowly being pulled into the afterlife by the Great Spirit at a much faster rate than the rest of us. It couldn't be completely stopped from taking you back.

"The Great Spirit isn't content," Kathleen said solemnly," because it's king was taken away from it. It wants you back at any cost. It's slowly draining the life out of you to do just that. That's why, I'm guessing, you're starting to turn translucent. So as soon as you're dead, you're king. Your powers should return as well, but that's just a guess. Simple as that. Cruel, but simple."

Hao's eyes suddenly sparked in the dim with an unusual inner flame until they ignited and burned with an inferno that had been suppressed for far too long.

"I don't know about you, Hao," the Irish doctor laughed bitterly," but I'm pretty sure that the Patch weren't thinking too well when they sentenced you to death."

If the light had been better in the dark cavern, the Irish doctor would have seen a decidedly wicked grin slowly creep across his face.

ooOOooOOoo


It feels so good to tie loose ends together like that!

Props go to 'Angel of 513' for the 'tantrum the size of California' metaphor. It was in his review and I really liked it...

Shrimp with metal limbs? Come on, that's absurd! *Is shanked with an automail arm weapon*

Till next time,

SemperMemor