A/N: Off to bed but this is done so here you are. Thank you to my reviews, lovely followers, friends, and everyone else. School starts in the morning so... yeah. Let me know what you think!
14.
It was winter, three days after the New Year, and she had to be out in the damn snow. Akari trudged on, avoiding slips on ice and idiots driving through the slush. She cursed under her breath and hurried on. She loved Kiriha sometimes, loathed him others, and wished he had chosen a better day to drop in and tell them all about the issues in the Digital World that he was aware of. Preferably one where he actually bothered to send a car. But whatever, at least she could force him to on the way back.
She dodged into an alley to catch her breath and take a shortcut when the air suddenly seemed to warp, twisting from frost and chill to a muggy sky constantly on the verge of the setting sun. Sweat trickled down her forehead and Akari tugged at her scarf. The air was rippling without sound, and she swore that some things were screaming. She took a cautious step forward and then another, seeing now a red and yellow orb that could have been the sun in another explosion of dust. Dread coiled in her stomach and, ignoring the heat, she started to walk faster.
Then a hand grabbed hers and pulled her forward. "You shouldn't be here," Taiki said as he ran ahead of her. "Come on."
"Should you be here?" she managed to ask, keeping one hand on her hat.
He shrugged. "'Here' is relative for me, you need to get out of this world. It will eat you."
"It?"
Taiki laughed. "Time." He kept moving. "i guess he didn't show up, huh? The other player?" The red light twinkled like a nearby star.
"Never saw him."
Taiki sighed as they ran. "That's probably for the best. He's confusing about things just to be a creep."
Akari snorted. "And you'd know about that."
"Learned from the master," Taiki said dryly. Then he paused, and sighed. "i'm just trying to keep you all safe."
"Trying to kill us was safe?"
Taiki shrugged and lifted out his Xros Loader. "I didn't say I meant your life, did I now?" A bright light erupted into the sky and he threw her into it. "You don't have much time to wait, don't worry. Everyone has a role to play in what could be the last round."
She didn't have time to ask what would it mean if it wasn't because she was suddenly back in the freezing cold and almost falling into the snow if Nene and Yuu hadn't each managed to grab an arm and pull her up.
"I'm going to kill him one of these days," she muttered.
Yuu flinched. "I hope you don't mean me."
Akari managed to laugh. "Don't spout cryptic crap and you'll be fine, Yuu-kun."
Yuu flushed. "I'll certainly try my best to avoid that."