Ch 12: What Kind of Rescue is This!?
Hey guys! Dawn here again to deliver you another wonderful chapter of A Thief and an Angel! There are some really important things coming up after this chapter so I thought I'd get you ready. I'll be posting another poll on my profile after the next chapter so make sure you go and vote because it means the difference between a sequel and no sequel for this fic! No the ending isn't coming soon I just want to have the poll up early because it seems to take a while to get good results on those things… And since its been a while since I actually posted my reviewers names I'm going to start up again so special thanks goes out again to Stormshadow13, Fireflower19, Naomi, , and Marium!OoO I forgot my best buddie!! Thankies Wolf from the moon you are my muse and I'm not sure how i could forget someone as awsome and amazing as you. You guys rock! And thank you to everyone who helped give me some ideas for this chapter! Without you I don't think it would ever have made it out of my mind.
Disclaimer: I don't own DN Angel if I did do you think I'd be sitting here making fanfiction? Nope I'd be writing a movie!!
Krad looked around him. The room was empty of people aside from him and it was the same tower Satoshi had first found himself in.
"No warm welcome? What kind of place is this?" Krad said jokingly to himself, and walked out of the room. He headed down a long flight of stairs and into a huge room.
"Satoshi!" Krad called out searching for him, his gaze went around the entire room as he looked for him.
The walls of the room were bare except for one exceptionally long window. The window opened out to a small area of green grass that was quickly engulfed by a huge forest. At the four corners of the room were doors identical to the one he had just come out of so Krad assumed that they all lead to towers.
Krad moved around the room searching for Satoshi, he examined every corner. When he was done he returned to the center of the room to look around again.
Suddenly a woman slowly appeared in front of him, "Where's Satoshi?" Krad asked her once she fully materialized.
"Wouldn't you like to know 'oh great Ice Demon.'" Aura said mockingly.
"Tell me where he is." Krad growled.
"Why don't we play a game!" Aura said clapping her hands together, "Every room you go into from here on will have a different game, if you can beat them all then you can have your tamer back, but if you can't manage to convince him to come back with you then you loose." She chirped.
"And what if I don't want to play your silly games?" Krad asked.
"Then you might as well go home now because that's the only way you're going to get your little Hikari back." Aura said, "Have fun." She said and waved to him. As she did she started to disappear.
"Wait! At least give me a hint as to where to find him!" Krad called at her.
"I don't think you need one, hunter." She said laughing as she faded completely out of sight.
"Yumi?" Daisuke asked turning to his friend, "What's going to happen if Krad can't get Satoshi back?"
"I don't know. " Yumi said.
"Satoshi will be trapped there." Shadow said materializing next to Yumi.
"You!" Yumi glared at her other half, "How could you do this?" she growled.
"Do what?" Shadow asked.
"How could you set up a trap for Satoshi?" Yumi burst out.
Daisuke backed away knowing it was a very bad idea to get mixed up in the fight that was about to come.
"This is why I haven't tried talking to you, I was hoping you would have cooled down by now." Shadow said.
"You were waiting for me to cool down?! How can I cool down! If Krad can't find Satoshi we'll never see him again!" Yumi snapped.
"I know Krad will find him, besides I had to do this, why can't you understand that?" Shadow asked.
"Because it puts both Satoshi and Krad in danger!" Yumi snapped, "I thought you cared about him!!"
"I do, much more than you now, but it's the only way for them to complete the quest and finally be free." Shadow said her eyes softened when she talked about Satoshi, she was extremely worried about him and the only thing keeping her from barging into the painting to get him was the fact that their quest revolved around Krad doing it alone.
"And risking Satoshi's life is going to do that? There has to have been some other way." Yumi snapped.
"There was no other way for us during our quest, don't you remember?" Shadow asked, "You risked your life as well as your freedom for me. It's the same for Satoshi and Krad."
"That was my choice! You didn't even give Satoshi choice in the matter!" Yumi snapped.
"Do you think he would have said no?" Shadow asked.
"No but that's beside the point." Yumi replied.
"Yumi, I understand you're worried, but have a little faith, do you think I would give them a task that's impossible? I want to see Satoshi again, even more than you do." Shadow asked.
"I do but it... its just that…" Yumi said softly as she tried to hold back tears, "I don't want it to end the same way it did for us, as a bittersweet victory." She said as the tears started falling. Their quest had been unlike any other and it had left its scars, both physically and emotionally.
"It won't." Shadow said, "I made sure not to make that mistake again."
Yumi looked at Shadow, "You better have." She said then wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
Daisuke realized it was ok again and moved closer, "Um Yumi? What was your quest?" he asked.
Yumi turned startled towards Daisuke, "Oh, um I'd rather not say if that's ok, its not the pleasantest of memories, maybe one day I'll tell you and Sato." She said.
Daisuke nodded, "Ok. I'll wait for that day then." He smiled.
"Mmmwha?" Satoshi mumbled as he sat up. He found himself in a bed in a small room.
The room was sparsely decorated with a small nightstand next to the bed and a tall lamp stood at the opposite end of the room. The walls were bare except for a blank painting on the right wall. Next to the painting was a small window that looked out into the forest. The door was opposite the bed and it had no handle.
He slid out of the bed and stood up looking around, "Where am I?" he asked out loud. He tried to remember how he had gotten to the room and where he was but all the memories kept slipping away. Suddenly he felt a pulse, it was like the entire world shifted for one second then it faded away.
He looked out the window and said, "Someone came here… It's someone I think I have to find." He said, "But who is it? And why do they feel so important?" he asked.
Satoshi started walking towards the door when it opened and Aura walked in.
"Aura!" he said surprised.
"What are you doing up little one?" she asked her voice laced with sweetness.
"I uh." Satoshi said but couldn't find a response.
"You should be resting." She said coming over to him.
"I can't, there's someone here, I have to…" Satoshi started to say but Aura cut him off.
"Don't worry about him, he has nothing to do with you." She said.
"No you're wrong, I feel like he's important somehow." Satoshi said. He had been trying all this time to figure out who the person was but the only person he seemed to remember was Aura…
"Of course he's important, everyone is important in some way." Aura laughed.
"No, he" Satoshi said then suddenly his head jerked up, he felt like someone called his name, "Krad!" he said with realization, "He's here! He came." As he said this Satoshi's memories started to return.
Aura glared slightly, why had that stupid angel had to have called Satoshi? Though she could use this to her advantage… She quickly changed her look back to one of kindness before Satoshi could notice.
"Why do you sound happy?" she asked.
Satoshi looked at her confused.
"He's the one that hurt you for so long, all he has ever done is cause you pain, so why are you happy he's here?" she asked, "He probably came to hurt you again." She said.
Suddenly the memories that were returning to Satoshi started to be all the ones of times when Krad had hurt him and not any of the good memories. He started to look worried.
"Its better if you stay here, I'll keep you safe all you have to do is rest." Aura said moving Satoshi back towards the bed.
Satoshi nodded and let himself be moved, Aura was right Krad was evil… right? He laid back down confused.
"Just rest when you wake up again everything will be sorted out." Aura whispered to him and kissed him lightly on the forehead.
Satoshi suddenly felt very drowsy and his eyes closed without a second thought.
"Now I can go take care of him." Aura said leaving the room.
(if any of you are wondering theses three scenes happen about the same time as each other, this one moves into the end of the first one…)
Krad scowled and looked around him, "If I were a creepy evil lady where would I hide a hostage?" he asked himself.
His eyes rested on the far door, "There." He smiled, "It would be in the room that's hardest to get to."
Krad headed purposefully toward the door but stopped when he spotted something glinting on the ground, he leaned down and picked it up. It looked like a golden piece of a puzzle.
"What is this?" he asked then shrugged, "It could come in handy, whatever it is." He put the piece in his pocket.
He headed through the door and up the flight of stairs, so far this was exactly the same as when he had come down from the first room, just opposite.
He exited out into a much larger room. The room seemed to be completely empty.
"Now what? I thought there was suppose to be some sort of game." He said.
"There is, I'm going to tell you the rules first." Aura's voice echoed through the room.
"Great now you're a disembodied voice, what else can you do?" Krad muttered.
If Aura heard his remark she chose to ignore it and started the explanation, "This room will be ever-changing, if you can reach the door at the end and touch the knob the game will be over, just remember even if it is an illusion the danger is real."
As soon as Aura's voice faded the room turned pitch black and Krad immediately fell into a fighting stance.
When the darkness faded and light returned Krad found himself standing at the edge of a cliff, across a wide expanse was another cliff and the door he was suppose to reach. Between the two cliffs was a wide rushing river at the bottom of a perilous fall.
"This will be easy, all I have to do is fly across." Krad said and went to flare his wings, then he realized his wings had disappeared, "Where? What?" he asked. 'This must be part of the game.' He thought then looked back down across the cliffs to figure out a way to get across.
Instead of there being an empty expanse there was now a rickety rope bridge connecting the two cliffs.
"I had better not take my eyes off this or it will probably disappear." He muttered and started to cross the bridge.
Krad had made it halfway across when he looked down, there was now solid ground underneath his feet and ahead of him was the door. All he had to do was cross over a pit of… plastic balls? Weren't those the things little kids played in?
Krad shrugged and headed into them. He waded his way almost to the end of the balls then started falling, everything had changed again. This time he was surrounded by four walls of rocks. He hurriedly grabbed onto one of the stones and started pulling himself up.
On his way up the wall he found a hole big enough for his hand to fit through. Against his better judgment he reached in and felt around for a minute. His hand touched something and he grabbed it. He pulled it out and examined it, it was another golden piece.
"These have to mean something…" he said, "I better keep a look out for them in all the rooms I enter." Then he made it the rest of the way up the wall.
When Krad pulled himself out of the hole he found himself at the door. He quickly touched the handle and the room flashed empty again.
He was standing in front of the door still and went through it. He entered into a small room with only one door. The door had no handle but the front of it had an indent in the shape of a triangle in it.
"What the?" Krad asked and reached out to touch the door. When he did he felt a familiar presence behind it. "Satoshi!" Krad said and started pushing on the door.
"You can't get in, not yet at least." Aura's voice came again, "You have to gather all the puzzle pieces." She said.
"You mean these?" Krad asked pulling out one of the pieces.
"Ah I see you found one! Yes I mean those, there are five pieces in all. Once you find them all come back here and put them in the indent then you can go in and try to convince your Tamer to come back with you." Aura said.
"Oh and don't worry about repeating games once you've beat a room you won't have to play the game again." Aura's voice said.
"Good to know." Krad muttered and left the room he headed back down to the room with the four doors. When he got in he found the room crisscrossed with lasers.
"Great, now I get to play phantom thief." Krad muttered.
He looked around and found that there was a large platform in the middle of the room. He ducked and weaved in and around the lasers to the center. When he got there he found a switch that turned off the lasers.
"I've already found the piece for this room, so I can just move on." He said then headed to the door next to the one he had just come out of.
After heading up the stairs he headed into the next room. There he found himself inside of a giant hedge maze.
"Really?" Krad asked.
"Aww do you not like mazes?" Aura's voice came tauntingly, "You could always just turn around and leave." She said.
"Not a chance." Krad muttered and started through the maze. There weren't any splits for a while and when he finally came up to the first one Krad stopped for a moment, "How am I going to mark my way if I make a mistake?" he wondered.
He tore off a twig from part of the bush and dragged it in the ground. When the mark didn't disappear he smiled and headed down the left fork.
He came up to another split and marked the ground with two lines, and headed to the left again. The next split had a single line marked into the ground so Krad took the left but instead of going left when he got to the two lines he went right.
He went around this way for a while and finally made it to the middle. When he started marking in the ground he found another piece of the puzzle buried. "Three down two to go." He said pocketing the piece.
After what seemed like ages Krad finally found himself at the end of the maze. When he exited it the room flashed and he found himself in a tiny room with only the door he had come from.
After going back down to the middle room again Krad chose the door directly opposite of the one he came out of. The room he reached after going up the stair case was empty except for a banana peel in the floor. Krad bent down and picked it up.
"What is this doing here?" he asked lifting it up close to his face to inspect it further.
The banana peel suddenly started to melt and emit a green gas. Krad dropped it fast but was a little too late and he accidentally breathed in some of the gas and passed out.
When he woke up he found himself in a cave. He stood up and looked around, the cave was spacious. The ground he was standing on seemed firm enough. He took a few steps forward and stopped. The solid ground suddenly changed into what looked like a web.
Krad pulled out a white feather and held it forward, it started to glow and the light revealed that most of the cave was covered in the webbing. It crisscrossed across the middle of the room making it look almost impassible.
Krad looked at it, "Don't tell me, the puzzle piece is in there." He said shaking his head, "Man this is going to be a pain in the…" he was cut off by a loud roar that suddenly sounded throughout the room.
Krad looked around him quickly and then looked up. When he did he spotted two red beady eyes looking down at him. "Uh oh." He said and started running across the web, it turns out it wasn't very sticky so he could run easily across, of course that means the monster could move across it easily too…
As soon as Krad started running the monster jumped down from the ceiling and flipped over and started chasing after Krad.
He turned to look at it the light from his feather revealed that it was a giant spider.
"Why did it have to be a giant spider? Why why why?" Krad said as he was running, "I'm getting chased by the one thing I've always hated and it just has to be giant." He said.(yes Krad is scared of spiders especially giant ones, I mean who wouldn't be sacred of a giant eight legged bug chasing you?)
He made it into the maze of webs halfway across the room and ran straight in. He had to push web away as he went in but he was hoping it would slow down the spider just a little.
He almost ran all the way through the web when he had to double back after seeing the next piece of the puzzle. He stopped and grabbed it out of the tangle of web it was stuck in.
When he stopped it gave the spider time to catch up with him. As Krad grabbed the piece the spider snapped down. Krad moved his hand just in time to keep it away from the spider.
Krad started to run off again but tripped in a clump of web he fell down and turned over on his back. The spider loomed over him with venom dripping from its fangs.
"Get away!!" Krad yelled and shot off a bolt of white magic at it. The magic sent the spider flying and Krad stood up untangling his leg from the webbing. "Why didn't I try that sooner?" he wondered and made his way out of the web and to the other end of the cave. Once he stepped back onto firm ground the room flashed and he found himself back in the one he had found the banana peel in.
Krad reached up and touched his hair, "Crap I still have webbing in it!" he muttered and started to remove the web from his hair, he finally got tired of pulling it and his hair and used his magic to remove it.
After he finished cleaning out his hair he headed down and back into the center room from there he went back into the room he had first found himself in when he came here, "This is the last room." He said.
"Good job, now are you ready for the game?" Aura's voice echoed through the room. As soon as her voice faded the room flashed again and Krad found himself holding a small gem, it looked extremely breakable.
"Here's your challenge, you have to keep that gem from breaking for five minutes starting now." Aura's voice said again.
Once Aura finished telling Krad the last game she waved her hand. The water that was hovering in front of her faded from the scene of Krad in her room and fell back down into the bowl under it.
"He's bound to find the last piece." She said, "He'll do anything to get his precious tamer back…" she mumbled and looked over at Satoshi who was fast asleep in the bed.
She moved away from the nightstand and closer to Satoshi. "Now all that's left to do is convince him that little Satoshi wants to stay." She gently brushed her hand against Satoshi's cheek, "And then I get to keep you all to myself." She whispered.
After a moment she shook his shoulder, "Satoshi, wake up."
He mumbled and turned over.
"Come on you need to wake up, I know its early and you need more time to sleep but I need you up." Aura said.
Satoshi mumbled again but this time he sat up, "Aura? What are you doing here?" he asked rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
"I need your help." She told him.
"Why, what for?" he asked.
"Do you remember earlier when I told you everything would be sorted out? Well there's been some complications and I'm going to need your help." She said.
"You mean getting rid of Krad?" Satoshi asked.
"Yes, I need to help convince him that you really want to stay here with me." Aura said.
"But Krad, he's here, that means…" Satoshi said, he was really confused, Aura kept saying awful things about Krad but for some reason Satoshi felt that he wasn't as bad as she made him out to be…
"Satoshi, Krad isn't here for any good reason, he's here to hurt you don't you remember?" she said placing her hand on his shoulder.
Satoshi hated it when she touched him, it just felt so wrong, and he never could think straight when she did it either, "That's what you keep saying but he hasn't yet." Satoshi said.
"That's because I've been keeping him away from you, but now he has the chance to get here and I can't stop him." Aura said.
Satoshi shook his head to try and clear his thoughts, "I uh.." he couldn't even think of an answer.
"Just relax, I'm here, all you have to do is answer me when I ask you a question when Krad comes ok?" Aura told him.
Satoshi just nodded his head.
Krad looked around, he was in a museum. "Ahh the irony." He said and started wandering around, "Five minutes shouldn't be too bad…"
"There he is! Get him!!" a voice bellowed from behind him. Krad turned and found a squad of police officers running towards him. He turned around and started running through the rooms.
After a while Krad realized he had outrun the police officers and he stopped panting. "Ok five minutes might be harder than I thought." He said.
He heard a squeak and turned to find a monkey sitting on one of the display cases.
"I don't even want to know…" Krad muttered.
The monkey jumped at him and grabbed the gem out of Krad's hands.
"Give that back!" Krad said and chased after the monkey. The monkey jumped through the room and made it to the window.
"Don't even think about it." Krad told the monkey.
The monkey just smiled at Krad and opened up the window. He held the gem out over the edge of the window.
'Why do I have a felling were very high up in this building?' Krad thought, "Don't." he told the monkey.
The monkey just nodded his head and then dropped the gem.
"No!!" Krad yelled and jumped out the window after it. He grabbed the gem in mid air and then found he had wings again, "Now they come back…" he muttered and pulled up out of his fall. He hovered in the air for a few seconds and then the room flashed again. He was now standing back in the original room holding the last piece of the puzzle instead of the gem.
Krad sighed and headed back to the middle room then he went to the one with the door.
When he reached the door he placed each piece of the puzzle into the indent. Once he finished it glowed and the door swung open.
Krad walked into the room and found Aura standing in the middle of the room Satoshi was standing in front of her and she had her arms wrapped around him possessively. His eyes were clouded and he jumped when Krad entered the room.
Krad glared at Aura, "Let him go." He growled.
"He's not going anywhere unless he decides to go back with you, and I don't think he's going to be making that decision anytime soon." Aura laughed.
"Satoshi." Krad said gently.
Satoshi flinched slightly at Krad's voice.
Krad seemed hurt by the flinch but continued, "I'm here to get you Satoshi, I want you to come home with me." He said.
"Why?" Satoshi asked.
"Because I care about you, you're like a little brother to me." Krad replied.
"He's lying Satoshi, all he wants to do is hurt you." Aura whispered.
"But, he… he came for me." Satoshi said, those words rung a bell in his head, "You said he wouldn't, you said he didn't care." He told Aura.
"I was wrong, he did come but he didn't come because he cares about you." Aura said.
"Now you're the one who's lying, of course I care about Satoshi." Krad said, "Satoshi don't listen to her, she only wants to keep you trapped here." He said.
"What about my friends." Satoshi said suddenly, images of Yumi and Daisuke had popped into his head while Krad and Aura were arguing.
"They miss you too, and their very worried about you." Krad said, "Daisuke, Yumi, Shadow, and even Dark want you back." He said.
"They do?" Satoshi asked, the cloud in his eyes was fading.
"Yes, they all tried to come here for you but they couldn't, and Yumi even tried to make me come." Krad answered.
Satoshi looked up at Aura, "They do care, you said they didn't." he said his memories were coming back and he was starting to think clearly again, was it because Krad was here?
"Satoshi." Aura started.
"No, don't just tell me lies, I want to go home." Satoshi said.
"You are home." Aura replied.
"No I want to go back to my real home, with Krad and all my friends." Satoshi said starting to struggle against Aura's grip his eyes had now completely cleared and he was able to think stright.
"You cant, you cant leave me." Aura said.
"You said I could, now let go of me." Satoshi said breaking her hold on him. He staggered forward into Krad who caught him gently.
"Thanks." Satoshi said looking up at Krad.
Krad smiled down and then looked back up at Aura.
She was seething with anger. Satoshi turned to look as well.
Aura started glowing a violent red color, "I will not let you leave me." She growled and hurled a bolt of red magic at Satoshi and Krad.
Krad countered hers with a bolt of his own magic. "Satoshi get behind me." He said.
Satoshi nodded and moved behind Krad.
Aura growled and shot off a volley of magical attacks at them. Krad countered them all easily and then shot off a bolt of lightning at her. Aura dodged it and suddenly started running towards them.
Satoshi pushed Krad out of the way as he moved away from her attack. She stopped a few steps away from them and turned to face them again.
Krad had formed a large ball of magic while she was running at them and now he shot it off at her. The orb of magic hit her dead on and there was a great flash. When it faded Aura was nowhere to be seen.
"I hope that's the last of her." Satoshi said.
"It s should be." Krad said, "There was enough magic in that blast to have beat even Dark."
Satoshi turned to face Krad, "I wasn't sure if you were going to come." He said.
"Neither was I, until I realized how much I actually missed you." Krad said.
"Well I'm glad you came." Satoshi said.
"I am too, I'd rather you be stuck with me than some possessively sadistic homicidal chick." Krad said.
"Well there's not much difference between the two." Satoshi joked.
Krad gave Satoshi his best 'hurt' look, "Ouch and after all I went through to save you this is how you repay me? Maybe I should just leave you here." He said.
"What kind of rescue was that anyway? I had to figure half of it out myself." Satoshi said.
Krad just looked at Satoshi, "You know I'm really considering leaving you behind." He said.
"Yumi and Shadow might end up killing you if you leave me." Satoshi said.
"There's a chance they won't." Krad replied.
"The question is; is that a chance your willing to take?" Satoshi asked.
Krad's eye twitched, "You have a point, lets figure out how to get out of here." He said.
"You don't know?" Satoshi asked.
"Cut me some slack, this is my first rescue ever, and it just happens to be my first trip inside a painting also." Krad said.
Satoshi sighed and looked around, the blank painting now had a scene of a kitchen on it.
"Hey Krad, look the paintings changed. Did you guys put Yumi's painting in a kitchen?" Satoshi said.
"Yes." Krad said and looked at the painting, "I guess we just go through that to get back." He said.
"I guess so." Satoshi said.
And that's the end! Yhay! Another chapter finished! I hope you guys liked it! Please tell me any and all thoughts on this chapter! I worked hard and want to know if it was good or a bust! Schools going to be starting next week for me so the updates might get a little further apart. I'm really sorry! But I'll try to get them out as fast as I can! I'm posting a poll along with the next chapter so keep an eye out for it! As always thanks for reading and R&R!!
~Dawn's out!