21

"MAY! RIKKU! JUN!"

Morrigan and I trekked on silently through the woods as we listened for a response. I cursed when I heard none.

It had gotten dark when we had returned from the hike with Mr. Ferguson's class. We had broken off into groups for the remainder of the walk. When we had gotten back to the campsite, I've noticed that Jun and May was missing, but had dismissed it, figuring that they had gone somewhere else for a while. It was when I came out of my cabin when I realized what was going on. Just outside of the faculty's cabin, I saw Jon holding up Mr. Ferguson by his shirt. Knowing Talbain, I knew he would catch my scent if I got close enough, but I didn't care. I had to find out why my biology teacher looked as if he were about to kill the earth science teacher. I moved closer hid behind a large oak tree to listen in on the conversation.

"How could you lose them?" Talbain growled. "You said that everyone was present and accounted for!"

"E-Everyone was…" Ferguson stammered. "O-Or so I th-thought."

"Or so you thought? You better pray that we find them…"

Talbain trailed off. I guessed that he sniffed me out.

"Eavesdropping Daisuke? C'mon you know better."

Sighing, I stepped out from my hiding place.

"So what's going on?" I asked. "And could you put Mr. Ferguson down? He looks as if he's about to piss his pants."

Talbain took one look at the teacher and dropped him. Ferguson stood up and straightened out his clothes.

"It's nothing that you should be concerned about Mr. Inoa," he said.

Bullshit

"Jun and May got lost in the woods," said Talbain. "And Rikku went off to go find them."

"By himself?" I asked incredulously. Is he out of his mind?

It was then that Ferguson looked at Talbain in disbelief.

"Mr. Talbain…?!" he hissed.

"Shut up, you!" Talbain snapped, and then looked towards me. "Ferguson and I were about to go look for the missing students."

"Let me go too," I said automatically.

Both teachers stared at me in astonishment when I said that. Talbain's face then grew stern.

"No, I can't afford you getting lost in there too," he answered.

"Then, what if I go with him?"

The three of us blinked for a moment. The last voice was familiar and it came from above us. We all looked up to see Morrigan sitting on the roof of the cabin, looking down at us with a smile on her face. Mr. Ferguson looked somewhat flustered while Talbain looked somewhat pissed.

"How long have you been up there?" he asked.

"The entire time," Morrigan replied.

Talbain then sighed in exasperation and shook his head.

"Fine," he conceded. "You go with Daisuke. Make sure nothing happens to him."

"Okay."

"What?!" Ferguson nearly yelled.

"Relax, Miss Aensland knows these woods as well as I do."

Morrigan then jumped down from the rooftop and landed in front of me.

"Alright Daisuke, let's go," she said.

"R-Right," I answered.

And that's pretty much how I ended up where I am now, walking through the dark woods while following closely behind Morrigan.

"Hey, Morrigan, do you really know these woods well," I asked without thinking.

Of course she did. Why else would Talbain pair me up with her?

"No actually."

Eh wha--?

"Wait, then how the hell are you leading me?"

The emerald haired girl stopped and turned towards me.

"I can sense 'souls' remember," she said. "Everything has one. As long I can feel some living being, I can never get lost."

That's a pretty useful trick to have, but…

"What if you can't sense anything?" I asked.

Morrigan turned away from me. It seemed like she didn't want to answer my question which was actually fine with me.

"…I'll die."

That stopped me cold. Now that I realized it, I didn't think that Morrigan could die, well except when Donovan attacked. However, I didn't think that she'd die from natural causes like simple passing away. It made me realize that not even Morrigan can live forever.

"C'mon, let's go," she said.

I wasn't sure on how much time went by. Maybe an hour or two went by and still no sign of our friends. It was discouraging but I wasn't about to give up. Morrigan didn't seem like she wanted to quit, but I had to be sure.

"Hey Morrigan, do you…want to head back?"

She suddenly stopped and looked at me confused.

"Of course not," she said immediately. "We still haven't found May, Jun, or Rikku yet…Do you want to head back?"

"No way," I answered defensively. "I was just think that you'd be tired…that's all."

Morrigan looked at me surprised at first, but then let a smile appear on her face.

"Daisuke, that's—"

I looked at her. Something caught her attention.

"What is it?"

"…a song…?"

I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Song?"

Suddenly, Morrigan started to run. I automatically took off after her. I soon found out that she was as quick on foot as she was in the air. I was beginning to lose her in the forest.

"Morrigan…Morrigan wait up!"

Unfortunately, she didn't comply, but only seemed to pull further away from me. Soon, I lost sight of her, but didn't stop running. I knew that she was still in front of me….somewhere. I soon found her again standing in front of a large iron fence. However, I wasn't able to say anything since I was out of breath from all the running. I decided to look around and saw that the iron fence led to an insanely gigantic castle.

How the hell did I miss that on the way here?

I was certain that I was the only one awake when we first rode into the camp grounds and judging by the size of the place, it was impossible not to see it. Yet, here I was seeing it for the first time. The castle had a haunting aura to it with the help of the unusual blood red moon.

"I didn't think it was possible," Morrigan suddenly said.

"I didn't think so either," I muttered, faintly aware that we were talking about two different things.

"There's a chance that Jun and May could be here."

I perked up at this.

"Morrigan, have you been here before?" I asked. "What is this place?"

Morrigan then turn towards me.

"Daisuke, welcome to Castle Zeltzereich."

Right when she had said that, the large iron gates suddenly parted and opened. Morrigan smirked as her eyes glowed violet.

"It seems that he is expecting us," she said.

I watched her as she entered through the gate and down the path which led to the castle. I didn't know who "he" exactly was, but I was certain that I was about to find out.

Heh heh, and so it begins.