Hey people!

Sorry I've been laying off this story for so long. I wasn't really sure if I'd be doing another chapter for season two, but now, I've decided to do it anyways.

Thank you for you're continued support, I really appreciate it.

Have fun with the newest chapter :-)

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Silence enveloped Asakusa when Obi walked into company seven' s fire station. The news about captain Hague's death had stirred up the entire special Fire Force. No one knew who exactly was responsible. There had been absolutely no evidence left behind that might tell them which despicable individual had massacred the much admired old Captain like that.

How on earth was he going to tell his rookies about this? Sure, non of them had been particularly close to the fourth's Captain, but still… hearing about something like this? Shaking his head, The eight's Captain though back to the day Shinra had gone to visit Hague. This had of course ended in complete chaos, but after his Knight and Devil had come back that evening, he'd gotten the impression that Shinra seemed to have taken quite the liking to the old fireman.

He was also pretty sure he remembered the Devil talking about actually wanting to join company four after graduating. Of course the teen obviously didn't regret joining the eighth at all, but he seemed to have held a lot of respect for the old man, even before starting his life as an active fire soldier.

"Hey, this is Obi from the eighth, anybody home?" Loudly announcing his presence to the empty entrance of the seventh building, he simply stood there and waited. Now that his and Captain Shinmon's unit finally got along so well, he didn't want to risk their good relationship by something as simple as trespassing onto their territory without authorization.

After only a few seconds, he could hear a couple of small feet running towards him and before he could even blink, two small figures had crushed into him head first with just as much force as maybe a torpedo.

"Look Hina, it's the Gorilla man!"

"You're right Hika, I bet he's here to pick up the two corpses!"

Palling, he forced to two girls away from him. After everything that had happened today, he didn't take well to comments like this.

"What do you mean by corpses, are they alright?!"

Grinning, they just rushed out of the room, beckoning him to follow them.

"Hey, wait up you two!" A frown firmly plastered onto his face, he hurried after the sound of their giggling until he ended up in the area behind 7's HQ. But instead of his three rookies, he only found one. Tamaki was sitting on the porch and seemed to be in deep conversation with Lieutenant Kongro. Hikage and Hinata were no were to be found.

Approaching the pair, he waved as Kongro noticed his arrival.

"Ah, Captain Obi, you came to pick up your kids?"

"Yeah, gotta take them back home. Did their training go well?"

The other nodded, while Tamaki did so as well, albeit with a very thoughtful and kinda worried look on her face.

"So Tamaki, I guess you got in some practice at well?" Smiling at her, he hoped to get that not so happy expression off the girl's face.

"Yes Captain, Arthur, Kusakabe and I completed our training earlier, but…" There she stopped, a sad look crossing her face yet again.

"What's wrong?"

"Well Sir, we… we heard about Captain Hague…"

Oh, so that was it. Apparently his worries about how to approach the subject had been a wasted effort. Frowning, he took a closer look at her face. Was there something she wasn't telling him? Sure, being sad after receiving news like this was completely justified, but the worried frown she was currently displaying didn't really fit into the picture.

"Uhhm yeah, I didn't know you knew already…" How should he approach this? Asking the clearly distressed girl right out may be a bit… rough on her, but he needed to know what was going on.

"Is there anything else bothering you Tamaki? You look worried. Oh, and do you know where the boys are? I'd really like to go back to our station as soon as possible."

Twirling a strand of her dark hair around one of her fingers, the cat girl and Kongro exchanged a pretty meaningful look. "Sir, Kusakabe and Arthur are currently resting, but… well, something was pretty strange…"

He really didn't like waiting for answers any more then he had to. "So, what was it?"

"Just when they had succeeded with their training, Kusakabe started acting pretty weird, even more so then normally… He was mumbling something about blood and Captain Hague being dead before passing out… We thought he might just hallucinate from exhaustion, but a bit later, Someone called and informed Captain Shinmon about the fourth's Captain's death. "

"WHAT?! Why didn't you say so right from the start? Where is he now?" This really didn't sound good at all.

"He and Arthur were brought inside to rest for a bit. He woke up a while ago, but hasn't spoken since then at all, Not even when the Captain asked."

Now, Kongro had joined in on their conversation. "Beni wouldn't admit it, but I think he's pretty worried about the lad."

Obi nodded. He could imagine that pretty good.

"Captain?" Tamaki looked at him, sadness and worry shining bright in her amber eyes. "I'm really worried about Kusakabe, I've never seen him like this. He was just sitting there, staring into space…" He could clearly tell she was close to tears now.

Of course he was aware that Shinra and Tamaki were pretty close, even if they did their very best to not to be too obvious about it. He still remembered a certain picture Licht had shown him after they had returned from their expedition to the Chinese peninsula a while ago. Back then, he'd agreed with the scientist that it would make excellent material for black mail if it ever would be needed. Of course, Maki had been devastated to have missed out on seeing tow of her rookies cuddle like that in person.

Patting her head gently, he gave her a warm smile. "Don't worry too much Tamaki, I'm sure he'll be just fine." Turning to the other male, he continued, "Could you maybe show me where he and Arthur are? Id like to talk to the two of them."

"Sure, follow me." After getting up, Kongro lead the way and he and Tamaki followed. They went through a few dark hallways until they ended up in front of an open sliding door. Inside were his two trouble makers, as well as the seven's Captain, who was sitting in a corner, a frown on his face.

"Ah, Obi. I thought I might have heard you."

Nodding in acknowledgment, he took a look at the two teens he'd come to pick up. Arthur seemed relatively fine. Sure, the blond looked completely exhausted and was covered in scratches, dirt and bruises, but otherwise, nothing was out of the ordinary. He could make out the same worry in the teens blue eyes, he'd seen on Tamaki already. He didn't like it one bit. If Arthur was worried, things were serious.

Now then, he thought, on to the problem at hand.

Physically, the Devil seemed to be in a similar state to Arthur, but that wasn't what had everyone so concerned. The dark haired teen was sitting curled into a corner, face pale and his normally vibrant crimson eyes were staring dully ahead, seemingly looking at something, only he could see.

Unsure he bit his lip, completely at a loss about what to do next. Turning to Arthur, he asked: "So uhhm, how long has he been like this?"

The blond flinched. Apparently, he hadn't noticed his superior arriving just now. "Oh, Captain!"

"Hey, sorry to startle you like that. So, how long?"

Scratching his head, the Knight seemed to think about this for a moment. "Hm, I'm sure it has been a while already. After finishing with our training, we were both basically out of it for a bit, but when I came to again, he was like this already."

"And how long ago was this?"

"Maybe an hour or two Captain."

"Damn.." Why hadn't anybody thought it necessary to call him? If he'd known, he could have maybe prepared a bit. "Is there anything else I need to be aware of?" This question was directed at Captain Shinmon, who only shrugged, apparently deep in thought.

"Well, if you think it's interesting that your rookie seemingly has some kind of psychic ability…"

Sighing, he crouched down in front of his charge. "Shinra? Hey, are you okay? Can you hear me?"

No answer. Not that he had expected to get the full story right away, but he'd at least hoped to get some kind of response out of the kid!

He saw Arthur shake his head. "Captain, we tried already multiple times. We've even gone as far as slapping that idiot, but we still didn't get a reaction out of him." Beside him, Tamaki nodded in order to confirm, what the blond just had said.

"He's neither responding to physical contact, nor to verbal stimuli at all, that's why we're so worried." He could see a tear make it's way down Tamaki's pale cheek. "I just want him to go back to normal." The last part was almost to quiet to hear.

"Yeah Tamaki, I know. I have no idea what happened, but I want him back to his old self again soon as possibleas well. "

But how was he going to accomplish that? From the sound of it, the others had tried for possibly hours to get the Devil to snap out of whatever he'd managed to lose himself in. Was there even anything they could do for him besides taking the teen home and waiting for him to snap out of it on his own?

Of course, since this was Shinra they were talking about, this mess probably had something to do with his Adola Burst, but until the Devil started talking, they couldn't be sure.

Should he maybe call Captain Huang for this? But would she be able to do anything about this? After all, Shinra wasn't physically hurt. Shaking his head, he discarded the idea again. If this had indeed something to do with Adola, no one could do anything about it as long as they didn't posses an Adola Burst of their own. The only thing they could do right now was to continue doing, what Arthur and Tamaki had been doing up until now.

Sitting down next to Shinra, he put his arm around the teen's shoulders and started to quietly talk to him. The Devil's body seemed to be oddly cold.

"Hey, Captain Shinmon, do you have a blanket or something lying around here anywhere?"

Nodding, the destroyer of Asakusa got up and preceded to open the nearest closet, then pulled out a thick woolen blanket. He tossed it over to Obi before leaving the room.

Thankful, Obi took the offered piece of fabric and carefully wrapped it around the still motionless fire soldier he was currently cuddling.

"Shinra?" He tried again, this time while taking the teen's icy hands in his own and rubbing them forcefully in order to get them to warm up a bit. This really worried him. No third generation fire soldier should ever feel this cold to the touch! He was no medical expert or anything, but from his perspective, it looked like the teen was in some sort of shock.

Just when he thought about giving up though, a small movement caught his attention. It wasn't much and he didn't know if it was a good sign or not, but he was relieved it had happened anyways. With a very slow pace, The devil's eyes had closed, and then opened again.

Expectantly, he looked at his charge, hoping that maybe this was it and Shinra would finally stop acting like a statue. Thankfully, this seemed to be the case.

The teen's muscles, which had been uncomfortably tense up until now seemed to relax a bit and his posture got a little less rigid. Blinking again, Shinra finally seemed to recognize the room and the people around him, before he started shivering violently, clutching the blanked tightly around himself with one jerky movement.

"Thank god!" Tamaki looked like she was about to tackle the poor Devil into a hug, but thankfully, Arthur's next comment seemed to distract her from her plan.

"What the hell Devil! First you predict the future, and the you start acting all creepy! Don't you dare do this ever again!"

Well, Obi would definitely not have phrased it like this, but Arthur had basically covered everything that was going through his head right about now.

"You know Shinra, he isn't wrong about this…"

"C-Captain? When did you get here?" Obi didn't like how tiered his voice sounded, nor how shaky and unsteady Shinra seemed to be right now.

"I've only been here for about half an hour. Mind telling us what all this was about? You had us pretty worried there, acting like a statue for over two hours!"

Confusion was evident on the younger male's face. "Two hour's? I don't even remember getting inside…"

"That's because you passed out and Captain Shinmon had to carry you inside, Devil."

"Oh, okay, thanks Arthur…"

Well, now they definitely knew something was seriously wrong with their comrade. He was being nice to Arthur.

"Arthur, calm down, you were just as out of it and unable to get up on your own!" Tamaki didn't seem to take too well to the Knight picking on Shinra right now. In return, the knight only growled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like an insult, before sitting down and being quiet.

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Shinra still had no idea about what had actually happened, but at this point, he really didn't care either way.

He could still see the horrible image of Captain Hague, strung up and run through unbelievably often by his own weapons, rivulets of blood cascading down his destroyed and broken body, a look of pure agony etched onto his face, all while being surrounded by the black flames of Adola.

But had he really spaced out for over two hours? He didn't feel like it, that was for sure. Closing his eyes tightly, he tried to get rid of the pictures, that were still making up almost all of his thoughts. He needed to sop, otherwise, he would space out again completely, or worse, be pulled back into Adola again.

A hand on his shoulder made him flinch away instinctively. After all that had happened in his short life already, he just didn't react well to sudden and unexpected physical contact, even if it came from the people he trusted most in this world.

"Hey, you okay Shinra?" The kind brown eyes of his Captain looked at him, deep care and worry evident in their depths "You were spacing out again."

How was he supposed to answer that? He was so far from okay right now, he had no idea how to put in into words! The last time he'd seen anything even remotely as horrible as Captain Hague's death had been when he'd lost his family, or maybe when he'd sill been with Haijima…

He could do nothing to stop all those painful memories from resurfacing all at once right now. No matter how much he fought them and tried to push them away, they just kept coming. He could feel his body start to shake even more then it already had been just a minute ago. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to breath normally. He'd suffered through enough panic attacks to know what best to do to control, or avoid them. As long as he didn't loose control of his breathing he should be okay.

Okay, maybe not okay, but at least, he wouldn't pass out.

He could hear Arthur talking. Of course, the Knight knew what Shinra was doing right now from experience. After all he'd seen Shinra do this on multiple occasions during their time at the academy and still seemed to remember, what signs and behaviors to look out for when it came to Shinra and panic attacks.

Soon, he could feel someone positioning his body against their chest. Judging by the size of the other person, it could only be the Captain. The man was carefully holding him and simply let him feel the rhythm of his breathing. Instinctively, the Devil tried to match its pace and soon found himself calming down a bit.

He was still shaking and his memories were still running wild, but at least, he could breathe normally again and actually hear and see what was going on around him.

Arthur and Tamaki were kneeling in front of him. Both looked worried, but Arthur seemed more calm then cat girl right now.

"So, you back with us Devil?"

Shakily, he nodded. This simple movement seemed to put them at ease.

"Good, so then, mind telling us now what all this was about?"

Now, he could feel a hand on his head. "Just tell us what went down earlier Shinra, but take it nice and slow. If you feel like you need a break, tell us, alright?"

"Yes Captain." Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he started talking in a slow and even voice, while trying not to let what he was talking about get to him too much again. "Just when I managed to complete the task given to us by Captain Shinmon, I found myself back in Adola, and there…"

He could hear his voice shaking and bile rising in his throat as he again saw those pain filled, dead eyes staring at him… Swallowing thickly, he continued. "There I saw captain Hague. He was dead and in real bad shape and somehow I just knew that this was real and had actually happened in just that very moment… There was so much blood…" Shuddering, he stopped, hoping that this would be enough for now.

Dead silence enveloped the room for a few moments.

After what could have only been a minute, but really, it had felt more like ten, the Captain spoke.

"Okay, so what you're saying is, that you had an Adola link and basically witnessed Captain Hague's murder, is that right?"

"Yes Sir." He really didn't like how weak his voice sounded right now.

"Hm… I understand, but why were you… I don't even know how to put it… spaced out for so long after…?

He had to think about that one himself for a bit. "I'm not sure, but to me it only felt like a few minutes. I don't remember anything from that period of time, only the Captain…" Trailing off, he tried to remember anything else, some detail that might help them, but he came up empty. Of course, this may be due to the fact, that he'd been completely swallowed up by pat memories. But he really didn't feel the need to inform the others about this. They were worrying about him enough as it was right now, no need to add even more now, was there?

"Is there anything else we need to know?"

"I…" For a moment he was tempted to talk about what exactly he'd seen, but just thinking about the details made him want to scream, so he decided against going into more detail. "No Sir, I think that's all that's relevant."

"Good, thank you Shinra. I'll be outside for a bit. I'm, sure Captain Shinmom would like to have an explanation as well right about now." After getting up, their superior left the room.

Now, the three teens were alone. As soon as the door had been shut. Arthur took Obi's now vacated spot right next to Shinra. The blonds gaze was sharp as he seemed to try to take in any detail concerning Shinra's current state of mind.

"You sure you're good now?"

In any other situation, he would have never accepted the blond's kindness, but ever since the academy, Arthur had become one of only two people he trusted completely when he was feeling like this.

Shrugging, he nodded. "I'm okay for now, don't worry."

He could clearly see that Arthur wasn't really buying it. Tamaki neither. She'd been oddly silent for a while now, only watching and listening while trying to make sense of all that was going on with him right now.

"Well Devil, if you say so…"

He was grateful that Arthur didn't feel the need to dig any deeper for the time being. If he'd have to be completely honest and open up about how he felt right now, he'd probably break down crying and screaming until he passed out from sheer exhaustion, only to start over again once he'd woken up again.

In silence, the three teens sat on the floor, waiting for Captain Obi to return. Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long. Only after about fifteen minute, the door opened again, revealing their fearless leader.

"Well, everything's settled with the seventh and if you feel up to it any time soon, we can head home."

He wouldn't wait for an extra invitation. Shinra simply wanted to go home, maybe to his room or the roof and have some time to himself to think all of this over and file it away with all the other bad things he'd gone through already. After that, he'd definitely try to sleep. Of course, considering his luck, he would keep himself and Arthur awake with nightmares for most of the night.

Not for the first time, he was very grateful to have met the blond. It didn't matter how much they fought and argued. He knew he could count of his friend more then on anybody else, except maybe Ogun.

When they'd reached the entrance area, Lieutenant Kongro and Captain Shinmon, were already waiting for them to say their farewells.

Bowing to the two higher ranking men, he showed his respect and gratitude. "Thank you very much for your training Captain Shinmon, you've helped us out very much. Also, I really need to apologize for the inconvenience I have caused you earlier."

True to his nature however, the Captain simply dismissed this and bid them goodbye.

Once in their matchbox, he was finally able to calm down.

He'd be home soon, there was nothing he needed to worry about, at least for the rest of today. As the vehicle rolled out of Asakusa and towards their own HQ, The young Devil closed his eyes and tried his best to relish the fact that he'd gotten so much stronger during the last few days. He wouldn't take much longer to get to his brother and to defeat the white clad, he was sure about it.

Deciding to concentrate of the few good memories he still had of his dear little brother, he finally managed to get the picture of Captain Hague's mutilated body out of his head for the first time since seeing it.

Silently, he thanked his little angel. No matter how bad things were, having those treasured memories of his family, of Sho and his mother, no matter how few there were, always managed to get him out of whatever dark place his mind had managed to trap him in yet again.

When they reached Company Eight's fire station, he actually managed to smile a little bit.

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So then, another one done!

I really hope you enjoyed reading, please tell me what you think and leave me a review, I always enjoy reading them.

This was the last chapter for season two, so the next time I'll continue this story will be when season three is airing.

Tanks again, see you guys around

nahesa