Bond of the Soul by Child of the Faeries
Okay, that last chapter turned out a LITTLE bit too Mimato for even me... and it wasn't even supposed to be Mimato!!! Mimi is.... never mind, I can't say that or it'll give everything away!! Anyways, this is ch.4.... the arrival of the cyber thieves.... enjoy!!!!
They barely talked as they continued down the road, Ken hurrying to keep up with Yamato's grueling pace. "Can I ask a question?" Ken asked timidly when they stopped for a break.
Yamato poured a glass of water over his head, the crystal beads sliding down his skin. "What do you want to know?" He bent down, untying his shoe.
"What.... what was it that killed you?" Ken asked hesitantly, fearing Yamato's rage. Instead a wave of calmness curled around him.
"Just a boy that was confused," Yamato said, a small smile on his face. "He didn't mean harm."
"Didn't mean harm? He killed you," Ken said in horror, a backlash of fear in his eyes. Yamato looked up and sighed.
"It was his magic that killed me," he muttered, finishing his shoe. "He was completely incapable to stop it."
Ken frowned, wiping the sweat from his face. "Maybe magic should be killed." Yamato's head rose quickly, and his penetrating gaze fell upon Ken.
"Is that what you really think?" he whispered, a forlorn look in his eyes. Ken nodded.
"It would prevent a lot of trouble that those horrid creatures of magic produce. Everyone would be better off."
"People...creatures, as you call them, would die. Is it right to kill living, breathing people?" Yamato questioned, his tranquil eyes never moving.
"Yes," Ken said without a second thought. "If they are endangering the lives of other people, or could endanger lives, then I believe that they must be removed. We must look out for the good of all the people."
Yamato's eyes didn't betray his feelings, and his thoughts were cloaked from Ken. "You will make a wonderful soldier," Yamato whispered. "Massah will be proud."
The day melted into night and night into day. The two lost track of time as they traveled. Several times they had to stop, Ken breathing heavily while Yamato gazed over the endless sea of grass with indifference. Ken struggled to catch his breath and they were off again, miles behind them before Ken would fall to the ground again from exhaustion.
Yamato never showed any anger or bitterness while he waited for Ken, but when Ken looked at his friend's eyes he felt a great deal was being hidden inside their murky depths.
"What's that?" Yamato asked softly, his eyes staring at a distant speck against the expanse.
Ken hesitated before speaking. "That is Wynedel. " He paused, turning towards Yamato quickly. "But we do not want to go there."
"Why not?" Yamato said, a spark of challenge in his eyes. "Death has greeted my lips already once.... I don't fear meeting Death again."
"It is not of our world," Ken said bitterly, his face gone slack. "Wynedel is the technological wonder of our planet, and viciously brutal. Villainy and turmoil in at every step, street riots and gang killings increasing everyday. That is no place for two of Massah's soldiers," he said in earnestness. "We will be slaughtered immediately."
Yamato laughed, a small smile remaining on his face. "You put no faith in common men, Ken. When morality fails, there is always someone that will restore it. All you need to do is find that person." His eyes looked moody, and his side of the bond crackled with determination. He closed his eyes, as if drawing something in. "We will go to Wynedel."
"Yamato-"
"We must," Yamato mused, lowering his gaze. "I can't explain it..... but I fear that there is someone in Wynedel that needs our help."
"Who?" Ken pressed, his hand on Yamato's shoulder.
"Someone we must protect at all costs," Yamato muttered, grim conviction soaring from his eyes.
"Charming neighborhood," Yamato commented, watching as two children pried the floating axles off of a car parked outside the local bar. Cars rushed overhead, and every once and a while one crashed, sailing to a grinding thud on the pavement below.
Darkened pubs lined the street, men with shadowed faces flicking cigarettes on the ground as they entered. They watched as a woman whispered something into one man's ear while she slipped his wallet out of his pocket without his knowledge.
"I don't like it," Ken grumbled. "We're going to get ourselves into trouble over this..."
"Relax," Yamato said easily, walking down a darkened alleyway. "There's no one here that will-"
An arm slinked around Yamato, it's fluid fingers catching hold of his arm deftly. "Going somewhere?" a girl daunted, her eyes glowing red from the surrounding neon signs.
Yamato didn't reply, his elbow colliding against the girl's chest. She cried out in pain, and fell to the ground. Yamato pulled out his knife, it's silver blade dancing in the dimly lit ally. The girl brushed back a strand of her violet hair. "I'm not scared of your knife," the girl said bitterly, rising slowly to her feet. "You're no threat to me."
"You have no business bothering us," Ken said, retrieving his knife as well. "We are soldiers on a mission to Aliadon. Your quarrel is not with us."
"All of life is a game," the girl hissed, rising to her full height. "We are all merely pieces of the game......every single one of us has a part."
Ken was startled by movement behind him, a flash of maroon before he could taste blood in his mouth as his face embraced the concrete. Immediately the girl was at his side, his knife drawn above him in her graceful hand. "Don't think I won't kill you," she whispered, her voice growing venomous. "I was only thirteen when I committed my first murder, and I've learned a lot since then."
Anger filled Ken's mind, blinding him from everything and anything. "Such a bitter boy," the girl cooed, her lips only inches above Ken's face. "You will make such a wonderful addition to our team."
"What do you want with us?" Yamato asked, his eyes poised on the other person in the ally. The red-headed boy gave him a crooked smile, and pressed a button on his wrist.
"We've got them," he said softly. "We'll bring them in soon."
Rage roared from both Ken and Yamato's eyes, and their magic sizzled with raw energy. "You cannot hold us prisoners," Ken said angrily. "We are imperial soldiers! It's against the law!"
"My poor boy," the redhead said with a small shrug. "It's only against the law if you get caught." He gave a derisive laugh. Pressing another small button on his wrist, he caught Yamato in a beam of shimmering green light. Yamato gritted his teeth, the energy slicing through his skin. Curses streamed from his mouth.
"Give in. Let the light take you," the girl muttered softly. "It's the only way."
Yamato threw her an angry glare. "I will never give in to the likes of you," he said weakly, trying to hide the pain.
"You will," the man said, striking Yamato hard in the back of his head. Ken felt his heart fail as Yamato fell sharply to the ground.
"Don't try to resist," the girl whispered, her hand resting on his chest. "We need you."
The light fell upon Ken, pain and horror washing over him. He fought to stay conscious, but already he was slipping.
His hand fell to the ground, and the girl stood up, brushing away the traces of dirt. "I thought it would be harder," she said with a small laugh. "The way you spoke of them, I thought they were in the likeness of gods or something."
"Don't sneer at them, Miyako," the redhead said gravely. "We caught them by surprise, and even then, we won be default. They didn't want to hurt us."
"Shut up Koushiro and let's get them out of here," Miyako said, glancing nervously over her shoulder. "We wouldn't want..... anyone to find their bodies."
He gave a curt nod and lifted Yamato into the back of his motor scooter. Miyako did the same for Ken. Revving his engine, Koushiro threw Miyako a heart-tugging smile as he tore through the dark streets. "I love this kind of work."
Ken groggily opened his eyes, meeting the icy glare from the girl. She brushed back her violet hair and leaned over him, so close he could see the small circle of fear that danced in the back of her eyes.
He slowly tried to turn his head, looking over at Yamato. His eyes were closed, and for a moment Ken felt as though he was looking upon something surreal and inhuman, like an angel or one of the gods. Yamato looked at peace, even in this frightening place.
The walls and corners were shrouded in darkness, only tiny neon lights flickering from the endless rows of buttons and computers. Across the room Ken could see the red-haired boy typing furiously on his yellow computer, networking several things. His brow would furrow, and he would glance nervously over his shoulder once and awhile to see if anyone was watching him.
"What are you going to do with us?" Ken whispered, and the girl froze, her hands rigid at her side. When Ken turned his head to look at her, she slapped him hard.
"Shut up. I don't want to hear you speak again," she hissed angrily, and a sad sigh emitted from the shadows.
"Miyako.... don't treat him like that," the man's voice said softly, stepping from the shadows. His pale face was troubled as he pulled a white piece of cloth from his pocket and pressed it against one of the wounds on Ken's head.
"You're too soft, Jyou," she said with a sigh, turning away from him sharply. Jyou frowned.
"I'm sorry my friends hurt you so much," he said apologetically, applying a bit of antiseptic onto Ken's cuts. Ken gasped in pain, and Yamato slowly opened his eyes.
"What are you doing to my friend?" he asked, his tone bitter cold and angry. The man stood up, and walked over to Yamato's side.
"We mean you no harm," he said softly. "I wish this could have been different... but in times such as this, we had no choice." He gave Yamato a pale smile, and coughed violently, his whole body shaking. Wiping his mouth with a clean rag, Ken was shocked to see that it was stained red with blood from his mouth. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
"What's wrong with you?" Ken said harshly, and Jyou turned towards him, lowering his hands to his side wearily.
His voice was no one than a whisper. "I'm dying." His eyes met Ken's. "We're all dying."
"Are you the man?" Yamato whispered breathlessly, and Jyou's eyes were filled with confusion. "Are you the one that prayed to the gods for deliverance?"
Jyou's cheeks were stained crimson. "What are you talking about?" Ken could feel something coming from Yamato, a growing sense of understanding, of belief.
"Let us go," Yamato said gently, his eyes shining softly in the dim light. "We will help you, if you let us free." Ken didn't understand what was going on, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.
Jyou's face was filled with indecision. "Yamato-"
"Trust me," Yamato said with savage serenity in his voice. "I am Yamato Ishida from the Ashram of Mercy. No man is my equal."
"Such humility," Miyako sneered from where she stood leaning over Koushiro.
Yamato smiled. "I leave that to my partner here. He's humble enough for the two of us." Even Miyako's face couldn't hold back her small smile.
"What are you doing?" Ken whispered softly through the bond. Yamato's side seemed to be filled with a peculiar strain of music that lingered in his ears.
"They're okay," Yamato's voice murmured back. "But they need our help."
"What can we do?" Ken asked out loud, and Jyou gave him a startled look. Slowly he turned towards Ken, pulling up the sleeves of his long black shirt.
Sprawled across his wrist was the cursed black rose, identical to the tattoo that was branded into Ken's wrist. "This is killing us."
Ken's mind raced in fear. "What do you mean?" He blinked rapidly, his hands cold against his flesh.
Koushiro stood up, moving away from the computer. The blue triangle that was tattooed into his cheek glittering in the semidarkness. "This triangle is our brand, our mark. It shows that we are cyber-thieves. That's our profession. Pay us enough, and we can hack into anything and get you whatever you want." His face glowed with pride.
"We're good at it, too," Miyako said disdainfully." No one was better than us in all of Wynedel. It was the high-life for us....all the beer and drugs we could afford. Fancy vehicles and exclusive privileges. We had friends in distinguished positions...." She closed her eyes, remembering the days past. Yamato's eyes fell on her fading black pants and grimy rose-colored shirt, trailing up to her pale skin hidden behind her own blue tattoo. "Then we got caught."
"Got caught?" he asked, raising his golden eyebrow. Jyou sighed.
"It was a set-up from the beginning. We should have known it was too good to be true," he said, his voice frustrated.
"What happened?" Ken asked, barely able to breath.
"We took the job, and headed up to Tomichi. That's where we were supposed to meet this guy. All we had to do was steal a stupid disk from his house. No problem, especially for experts like us." Jyou lowered his head. "It all went bad after that. We got the disk....And after that is darkness."
"The next thing we knew, we were chained onto medical beds somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Doctors leaned over us, whispering things that we didn't understand. Finally they approached our beds, and dug their needles into us, drawing this on each of our wrists," Miyako said sadly, displaying her tattoo to Yamato.
"What is it?" he asked, clearly never have seen it before.
"People have nicknamed it the kiss of death," Koushiro said in a muted voice. "I think of it more as the Mark of the Devil. It identifies you as one with the DreamChasers, the Massahs that have turned to the darkness."
"How can it be killing you?" Ken whispered.
"We have secretly been working on a rebellion here in Wynedel," Jyou said, sitting on the ground. "At first, we didn't even notice. But as time went on, it was harder and harder to keep up with others, harder to stay awake. Finally Koushiro learned that a rare kind of cancer has started to grow inside of our bodies."
"It's not from a toxin that you might have come in contact with during some of your work?" Yamato questioned.
"If only it was," Jyou said sadly. "We haven't stolen anything for over half a year. It couldn't be that."
"Why would it strike you now?" Yamato asked, his mind thirsting for the answers.
"Because we are doing something good," Koushiro said simply. "Before, our work helped build chaos and violence, encouraging people to be brutal and savage." He paused. "I believe that there are nanocritters inside the ink that react in the form of a carcinogen when you go against the DreamChasers."
"So what, you three are just their pawns, unable to do anything against their will? Are you no better than slaves?" Ken said slowly, and Miyako's eyes flashed.
"We bow to no one," she seethed, and Jyou motioned to calm her.
"I don't know what the DreamChasers's agenda is, but they want to throw the world into chaos," Koushiro continued. "We're working on figuring out how exactly they are going to do that, but so far there are no leads." Ken's heart turn cold.
"They want to get rid off all magic," he breathed, his chest taunt.
Silence reigned in the room. "Who told you that?" Yamato asked in amazement.
"The sorceress-"
"A witch-woman?" Jyou said, suspicion in his voice. "Those with magic are not be trusted. I only trust those within my own technological world. At least I can tell when they lie."
Ken opened his mouth to speak again, but Yamato willed him to be silent. "What can we do to help you?" he asked softly.
Jyou's eyes flickered softly in the light. "Only you can help us, Yamato. Ken cannot."
"Why can't I?" Ken said, humiliated.
"Your blood is tainted," Jyou said indifferently. "Had we known that in the beginning, we never would have captured you. But it's too late now."
Ken's eyes began to burn with fury. Why was he always proved inferior to Yamato? Ken was the one born of noble blood. He was the one that wore white, symbolizing purity and honesty. Yamato wore rags.
Yamato closed his eyes, and Ken felt a cold stir in the back of his mind. "What do you need me to do?" Yamato whispered finally, and the cyber-thieves breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's simple, really," Miyako said, sitting on the cold ground. "We just need a bit of your blood."
"My blood?" Yamato said, shock dancing in his eyes. Koushiro sighed.
"I have determined that we are lacking a certain genetic element that could dispose of the cancer in our bodies. After finding the right genetic sequence, all I had to do was punch it through the computer and find a suitable match within our area."
"And you found that I matched?" Yamato said softly, and his face flickered briefly with disbelief.
"All of the soldiers from the Ashram of Mercy proved positive," Jyou whispered, his face lined. "But you two were closest. And no one would notice if you were gone."
Horror washed through their bond, and Ken felt Yamato pull back his dark thoughts, veiling them from Ken's eyes. "Release us," Yamato said gracefully, and Jyou stooped to unlatch the buckles and wires that held them down.
Rubbing his wrists angrily, Ken stared at the group of cyber-thieves. "When will you start to process?" Yamato said, leaning wearily against the wall.
"Not until tonight," Koushiro said with finality. "When the moon rises high in the sky."
"Why are you doing this?" Ken asked Yamato furiously. "You're going to get yourself killed, you know that."
"That would be a trick, getting killed twice in one month," Yamato said laconically, staring out the grimy windows to the dirty city below.
"What am I going to do without you?" Ken demanded. "I can't make it out there alone. I already lost you once, and I'm not about to lose you again, just to save some cyber-punk's lives."
Yamato shook his gorgeous head sadly. "You know so little about people, Ken. You don't trust anyone."
"And you are far too trusting," Ken shot back, anger in his eyes.
"Look at them," Yamato said, gently turning Ken's head to where the three sat. Miyako's forehead was beaded with sweat, and Jyou continued to gag up bloody coughs. "If I don't help them, they will die."
"But they are no one of importance," Ken almost screamed at his friend. "They mean nothing to us."
"How do you know that? What if one of them is destined to save all of us from destruction? How could you tell?"
Yamato's words stung Ken's soul. "I guess I can't," he admitted sullenly. "But I still think they are of no consequence to us."
"Right now, they do seem that way. But who knows how life changes people.... A little over a year again, you were a spoiled noblemen, and now look at you.... an orphan's best friend."
"That's different," Ken protested, and Yamato laid his hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Only in your eyes," Yamato murmured, rising slowly to his feet and walking over to the others.
Ken and Yamato had fallen asleep, their light snores lifting softly in the air. Koushiro looked out the broken window to the stars above. Slowly he rose his hand as if to touch the stars, to feel their burning intensity. "Is this right?" he mumbled. "Should we really be tampering with magic like this?"
Jyou sat up from the shadows, his body wracking with a silent cough. "What choice do we have?"
"I'm sure I could find some other way-"
"There is no other way," Jyou muttered. "You forget that I was raised with magic."
"Will this cure us?" Koushiro asked, lowering his fingers slowly.
"I don't know," Jyou replied softly. "We're cyber-thieves, not wizards. A number of things could go wrong."
"But you said that you have magic in your blood, and you can get it to work," Koushiro protested loudly, and Miyako stirred restlessly in her sleep.
"I said I could try. At worst, we could not be healed. Or turned into vampires."
Koushiro's fear filled the room. "What?"
"It's a possibility," Jyou said carelessly. "With magic, you never know."
"You really know nothing about magic, do you?" a voice spoke from the darkness, and both boys jumped.
Yamato came to their side gently. "Magic has to be given freely to work right. You can't force a person to risk their life for you."
Koushiro looked nervous. "What are you saying?"
"I will freely help you, to save your lives, because I believe in what you are doing," Yamato said in a muted voice. "The worlds are colliding, technological and magical, supernatural, and militaristic. Men are seeking for new gods, new idols to plunder under. This world is about to be ripped apart by civil war."
"Are you telling the truth?" Jyou asked nervously, and Yamato nodded sadly.
"These DreamChasers want to bring death to all that oppose them.... but we need to fight back. Fight the Future." Yamato lifted his eyes out the window and for a moment they seemed to glow. "Has the moon risen high enough in the sky?"
Koushiro looked up and nodded solemnly. He moved to wake Miyako, and Jyou brought out a knife made of pure gold.
A faint strain of fear ran through the back of Yamato's mind, remembering a similar gold knife so many years before.... Harshly he looked at the ground, clearing his mind. This was something he had to do.
In the corner all alone, Ken stirred, and opened his eyes sleepily. Seeing the others talking softly, he rose to join them. Suddenly he coughed, gasping as he spit onto the ground.
Slowly he lowered his eyes to the small puddle of blood that swirled at his feet, red blood dripping from his mouth and from his cursed scar.
Okay, that last chapter turned out a LITTLE bit too Mimato for even me... and it wasn't even supposed to be Mimato!!! Mimi is.... never mind, I can't say that or it'll give everything away!! Anyways, this is ch.4.... the arrival of the cyber thieves.... enjoy!!!!
They barely talked as they continued down the road, Ken hurrying to keep up with Yamato's grueling pace. "Can I ask a question?" Ken asked timidly when they stopped for a break.
Yamato poured a glass of water over his head, the crystal beads sliding down his skin. "What do you want to know?" He bent down, untying his shoe.
"What.... what was it that killed you?" Ken asked hesitantly, fearing Yamato's rage. Instead a wave of calmness curled around him.
"Just a boy that was confused," Yamato said, a small smile on his face. "He didn't mean harm."
"Didn't mean harm? He killed you," Ken said in horror, a backlash of fear in his eyes. Yamato looked up and sighed.
"It was his magic that killed me," he muttered, finishing his shoe. "He was completely incapable to stop it."
Ken frowned, wiping the sweat from his face. "Maybe magic should be killed." Yamato's head rose quickly, and his penetrating gaze fell upon Ken.
"Is that what you really think?" he whispered, a forlorn look in his eyes. Ken nodded.
"It would prevent a lot of trouble that those horrid creatures of magic produce. Everyone would be better off."
"People...creatures, as you call them, would die. Is it right to kill living, breathing people?" Yamato questioned, his tranquil eyes never moving.
"Yes," Ken said without a second thought. "If they are endangering the lives of other people, or could endanger lives, then I believe that they must be removed. We must look out for the good of all the people."
Yamato's eyes didn't betray his feelings, and his thoughts were cloaked from Ken. "You will make a wonderful soldier," Yamato whispered. "Massah will be proud."
The day melted into night and night into day. The two lost track of time as they traveled. Several times they had to stop, Ken breathing heavily while Yamato gazed over the endless sea of grass with indifference. Ken struggled to catch his breath and they were off again, miles behind them before Ken would fall to the ground again from exhaustion.
Yamato never showed any anger or bitterness while he waited for Ken, but when Ken looked at his friend's eyes he felt a great deal was being hidden inside their murky depths.
"What's that?" Yamato asked softly, his eyes staring at a distant speck against the expanse.
Ken hesitated before speaking. "That is Wynedel. " He paused, turning towards Yamato quickly. "But we do not want to go there."
"Why not?" Yamato said, a spark of challenge in his eyes. "Death has greeted my lips already once.... I don't fear meeting Death again."
"It is not of our world," Ken said bitterly, his face gone slack. "Wynedel is the technological wonder of our planet, and viciously brutal. Villainy and turmoil in at every step, street riots and gang killings increasing everyday. That is no place for two of Massah's soldiers," he said in earnestness. "We will be slaughtered immediately."
Yamato laughed, a small smile remaining on his face. "You put no faith in common men, Ken. When morality fails, there is always someone that will restore it. All you need to do is find that person." His eyes looked moody, and his side of the bond crackled with determination. He closed his eyes, as if drawing something in. "We will go to Wynedel."
"Yamato-"
"We must," Yamato mused, lowering his gaze. "I can't explain it..... but I fear that there is someone in Wynedel that needs our help."
"Who?" Ken pressed, his hand on Yamato's shoulder.
"Someone we must protect at all costs," Yamato muttered, grim conviction soaring from his eyes.
"Charming neighborhood," Yamato commented, watching as two children pried the floating axles off of a car parked outside the local bar. Cars rushed overhead, and every once and a while one crashed, sailing to a grinding thud on the pavement below.
Darkened pubs lined the street, men with shadowed faces flicking cigarettes on the ground as they entered. They watched as a woman whispered something into one man's ear while she slipped his wallet out of his pocket without his knowledge.
"I don't like it," Ken grumbled. "We're going to get ourselves into trouble over this..."
"Relax," Yamato said easily, walking down a darkened alleyway. "There's no one here that will-"
An arm slinked around Yamato, it's fluid fingers catching hold of his arm deftly. "Going somewhere?" a girl daunted, her eyes glowing red from the surrounding neon signs.
Yamato didn't reply, his elbow colliding against the girl's chest. She cried out in pain, and fell to the ground. Yamato pulled out his knife, it's silver blade dancing in the dimly lit ally. The girl brushed back a strand of her violet hair. "I'm not scared of your knife," the girl said bitterly, rising slowly to her feet. "You're no threat to me."
"You have no business bothering us," Ken said, retrieving his knife as well. "We are soldiers on a mission to Aliadon. Your quarrel is not with us."
"All of life is a game," the girl hissed, rising to her full height. "We are all merely pieces of the game......every single one of us has a part."
Ken was startled by movement behind him, a flash of maroon before he could taste blood in his mouth as his face embraced the concrete. Immediately the girl was at his side, his knife drawn above him in her graceful hand. "Don't think I won't kill you," she whispered, her voice growing venomous. "I was only thirteen when I committed my first murder, and I've learned a lot since then."
Anger filled Ken's mind, blinding him from everything and anything. "Such a bitter boy," the girl cooed, her lips only inches above Ken's face. "You will make such a wonderful addition to our team."
"What do you want with us?" Yamato asked, his eyes poised on the other person in the ally. The red-headed boy gave him a crooked smile, and pressed a button on his wrist.
"We've got them," he said softly. "We'll bring them in soon."
Rage roared from both Ken and Yamato's eyes, and their magic sizzled with raw energy. "You cannot hold us prisoners," Ken said angrily. "We are imperial soldiers! It's against the law!"
"My poor boy," the redhead said with a small shrug. "It's only against the law if you get caught." He gave a derisive laugh. Pressing another small button on his wrist, he caught Yamato in a beam of shimmering green light. Yamato gritted his teeth, the energy slicing through his skin. Curses streamed from his mouth.
"Give in. Let the light take you," the girl muttered softly. "It's the only way."
Yamato threw her an angry glare. "I will never give in to the likes of you," he said weakly, trying to hide the pain.
"You will," the man said, striking Yamato hard in the back of his head. Ken felt his heart fail as Yamato fell sharply to the ground.
"Don't try to resist," the girl whispered, her hand resting on his chest. "We need you."
The light fell upon Ken, pain and horror washing over him. He fought to stay conscious, but already he was slipping.
His hand fell to the ground, and the girl stood up, brushing away the traces of dirt. "I thought it would be harder," she said with a small laugh. "The way you spoke of them, I thought they were in the likeness of gods or something."
"Don't sneer at them, Miyako," the redhead said gravely. "We caught them by surprise, and even then, we won be default. They didn't want to hurt us."
"Shut up Koushiro and let's get them out of here," Miyako said, glancing nervously over her shoulder. "We wouldn't want..... anyone to find their bodies."
He gave a curt nod and lifted Yamato into the back of his motor scooter. Miyako did the same for Ken. Revving his engine, Koushiro threw Miyako a heart-tugging smile as he tore through the dark streets. "I love this kind of work."
Ken groggily opened his eyes, meeting the icy glare from the girl. She brushed back her violet hair and leaned over him, so close he could see the small circle of fear that danced in the back of her eyes.
He slowly tried to turn his head, looking over at Yamato. His eyes were closed, and for a moment Ken felt as though he was looking upon something surreal and inhuman, like an angel or one of the gods. Yamato looked at peace, even in this frightening place.
The walls and corners were shrouded in darkness, only tiny neon lights flickering from the endless rows of buttons and computers. Across the room Ken could see the red-haired boy typing furiously on his yellow computer, networking several things. His brow would furrow, and he would glance nervously over his shoulder once and awhile to see if anyone was watching him.
"What are you going to do with us?" Ken whispered, and the girl froze, her hands rigid at her side. When Ken turned his head to look at her, she slapped him hard.
"Shut up. I don't want to hear you speak again," she hissed angrily, and a sad sigh emitted from the shadows.
"Miyako.... don't treat him like that," the man's voice said softly, stepping from the shadows. His pale face was troubled as he pulled a white piece of cloth from his pocket and pressed it against one of the wounds on Ken's head.
"You're too soft, Jyou," she said with a sigh, turning away from him sharply. Jyou frowned.
"I'm sorry my friends hurt you so much," he said apologetically, applying a bit of antiseptic onto Ken's cuts. Ken gasped in pain, and Yamato slowly opened his eyes.
"What are you doing to my friend?" he asked, his tone bitter cold and angry. The man stood up, and walked over to Yamato's side.
"We mean you no harm," he said softly. "I wish this could have been different... but in times such as this, we had no choice." He gave Yamato a pale smile, and coughed violently, his whole body shaking. Wiping his mouth with a clean rag, Ken was shocked to see that it was stained red with blood from his mouth. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
"What's wrong with you?" Ken said harshly, and Jyou turned towards him, lowering his hands to his side wearily.
His voice was no one than a whisper. "I'm dying." His eyes met Ken's. "We're all dying."
"Are you the man?" Yamato whispered breathlessly, and Jyou's eyes were filled with confusion. "Are you the one that prayed to the gods for deliverance?"
Jyou's cheeks were stained crimson. "What are you talking about?" Ken could feel something coming from Yamato, a growing sense of understanding, of belief.
"Let us go," Yamato said gently, his eyes shining softly in the dim light. "We will help you, if you let us free." Ken didn't understand what was going on, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.
Jyou's face was filled with indecision. "Yamato-"
"Trust me," Yamato said with savage serenity in his voice. "I am Yamato Ishida from the Ashram of Mercy. No man is my equal."
"Such humility," Miyako sneered from where she stood leaning over Koushiro.
Yamato smiled. "I leave that to my partner here. He's humble enough for the two of us." Even Miyako's face couldn't hold back her small smile.
"What are you doing?" Ken whispered softly through the bond. Yamato's side seemed to be filled with a peculiar strain of music that lingered in his ears.
"They're okay," Yamato's voice murmured back. "But they need our help."
"What can we do?" Ken asked out loud, and Jyou gave him a startled look. Slowly he turned towards Ken, pulling up the sleeves of his long black shirt.
Sprawled across his wrist was the cursed black rose, identical to the tattoo that was branded into Ken's wrist. "This is killing us."
Ken's mind raced in fear. "What do you mean?" He blinked rapidly, his hands cold against his flesh.
Koushiro stood up, moving away from the computer. The blue triangle that was tattooed into his cheek glittering in the semidarkness. "This triangle is our brand, our mark. It shows that we are cyber-thieves. That's our profession. Pay us enough, and we can hack into anything and get you whatever you want." His face glowed with pride.
"We're good at it, too," Miyako said disdainfully." No one was better than us in all of Wynedel. It was the high-life for us....all the beer and drugs we could afford. Fancy vehicles and exclusive privileges. We had friends in distinguished positions...." She closed her eyes, remembering the days past. Yamato's eyes fell on her fading black pants and grimy rose-colored shirt, trailing up to her pale skin hidden behind her own blue tattoo. "Then we got caught."
"Got caught?" he asked, raising his golden eyebrow. Jyou sighed.
"It was a set-up from the beginning. We should have known it was too good to be true," he said, his voice frustrated.
"What happened?" Ken asked, barely able to breath.
"We took the job, and headed up to Tomichi. That's where we were supposed to meet this guy. All we had to do was steal a stupid disk from his house. No problem, especially for experts like us." Jyou lowered his head. "It all went bad after that. We got the disk....And after that is darkness."
"The next thing we knew, we were chained onto medical beds somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Doctors leaned over us, whispering things that we didn't understand. Finally they approached our beds, and dug their needles into us, drawing this on each of our wrists," Miyako said sadly, displaying her tattoo to Yamato.
"What is it?" he asked, clearly never have seen it before.
"People have nicknamed it the kiss of death," Koushiro said in a muted voice. "I think of it more as the Mark of the Devil. It identifies you as one with the DreamChasers, the Massahs that have turned to the darkness."
"How can it be killing you?" Ken whispered.
"We have secretly been working on a rebellion here in Wynedel," Jyou said, sitting on the ground. "At first, we didn't even notice. But as time went on, it was harder and harder to keep up with others, harder to stay awake. Finally Koushiro learned that a rare kind of cancer has started to grow inside of our bodies."
"It's not from a toxin that you might have come in contact with during some of your work?" Yamato questioned.
"If only it was," Jyou said sadly. "We haven't stolen anything for over half a year. It couldn't be that."
"Why would it strike you now?" Yamato asked, his mind thirsting for the answers.
"Because we are doing something good," Koushiro said simply. "Before, our work helped build chaos and violence, encouraging people to be brutal and savage." He paused. "I believe that there are nanocritters inside the ink that react in the form of a carcinogen when you go against the DreamChasers."
"So what, you three are just their pawns, unable to do anything against their will? Are you no better than slaves?" Ken said slowly, and Miyako's eyes flashed.
"We bow to no one," she seethed, and Jyou motioned to calm her.
"I don't know what the DreamChasers's agenda is, but they want to throw the world into chaos," Koushiro continued. "We're working on figuring out how exactly they are going to do that, but so far there are no leads." Ken's heart turn cold.
"They want to get rid off all magic," he breathed, his chest taunt.
Silence reigned in the room. "Who told you that?" Yamato asked in amazement.
"The sorceress-"
"A witch-woman?" Jyou said, suspicion in his voice. "Those with magic are not be trusted. I only trust those within my own technological world. At least I can tell when they lie."
Ken opened his mouth to speak again, but Yamato willed him to be silent. "What can we do to help you?" he asked softly.
Jyou's eyes flickered softly in the light. "Only you can help us, Yamato. Ken cannot."
"Why can't I?" Ken said, humiliated.
"Your blood is tainted," Jyou said indifferently. "Had we known that in the beginning, we never would have captured you. But it's too late now."
Ken's eyes began to burn with fury. Why was he always proved inferior to Yamato? Ken was the one born of noble blood. He was the one that wore white, symbolizing purity and honesty. Yamato wore rags.
Yamato closed his eyes, and Ken felt a cold stir in the back of his mind. "What do you need me to do?" Yamato whispered finally, and the cyber-thieves breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's simple, really," Miyako said, sitting on the cold ground. "We just need a bit of your blood."
"My blood?" Yamato said, shock dancing in his eyes. Koushiro sighed.
"I have determined that we are lacking a certain genetic element that could dispose of the cancer in our bodies. After finding the right genetic sequence, all I had to do was punch it through the computer and find a suitable match within our area."
"And you found that I matched?" Yamato said softly, and his face flickered briefly with disbelief.
"All of the soldiers from the Ashram of Mercy proved positive," Jyou whispered, his face lined. "But you two were closest. And no one would notice if you were gone."
Horror washed through their bond, and Ken felt Yamato pull back his dark thoughts, veiling them from Ken's eyes. "Release us," Yamato said gracefully, and Jyou stooped to unlatch the buckles and wires that held them down.
Rubbing his wrists angrily, Ken stared at the group of cyber-thieves. "When will you start to process?" Yamato said, leaning wearily against the wall.
"Not until tonight," Koushiro said with finality. "When the moon rises high in the sky."
"Why are you doing this?" Ken asked Yamato furiously. "You're going to get yourself killed, you know that."
"That would be a trick, getting killed twice in one month," Yamato said laconically, staring out the grimy windows to the dirty city below.
"What am I going to do without you?" Ken demanded. "I can't make it out there alone. I already lost you once, and I'm not about to lose you again, just to save some cyber-punk's lives."
Yamato shook his gorgeous head sadly. "You know so little about people, Ken. You don't trust anyone."
"And you are far too trusting," Ken shot back, anger in his eyes.
"Look at them," Yamato said, gently turning Ken's head to where the three sat. Miyako's forehead was beaded with sweat, and Jyou continued to gag up bloody coughs. "If I don't help them, they will die."
"But they are no one of importance," Ken almost screamed at his friend. "They mean nothing to us."
"How do you know that? What if one of them is destined to save all of us from destruction? How could you tell?"
Yamato's words stung Ken's soul. "I guess I can't," he admitted sullenly. "But I still think they are of no consequence to us."
"Right now, they do seem that way. But who knows how life changes people.... A little over a year again, you were a spoiled noblemen, and now look at you.... an orphan's best friend."
"That's different," Ken protested, and Yamato laid his hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Only in your eyes," Yamato murmured, rising slowly to his feet and walking over to the others.
Ken and Yamato had fallen asleep, their light snores lifting softly in the air. Koushiro looked out the broken window to the stars above. Slowly he rose his hand as if to touch the stars, to feel their burning intensity. "Is this right?" he mumbled. "Should we really be tampering with magic like this?"
Jyou sat up from the shadows, his body wracking with a silent cough. "What choice do we have?"
"I'm sure I could find some other way-"
"There is no other way," Jyou muttered. "You forget that I was raised with magic."
"Will this cure us?" Koushiro asked, lowering his fingers slowly.
"I don't know," Jyou replied softly. "We're cyber-thieves, not wizards. A number of things could go wrong."
"But you said that you have magic in your blood, and you can get it to work," Koushiro protested loudly, and Miyako stirred restlessly in her sleep.
"I said I could try. At worst, we could not be healed. Or turned into vampires."
Koushiro's fear filled the room. "What?"
"It's a possibility," Jyou said carelessly. "With magic, you never know."
"You really know nothing about magic, do you?" a voice spoke from the darkness, and both boys jumped.
Yamato came to their side gently. "Magic has to be given freely to work right. You can't force a person to risk their life for you."
Koushiro looked nervous. "What are you saying?"
"I will freely help you, to save your lives, because I believe in what you are doing," Yamato said in a muted voice. "The worlds are colliding, technological and magical, supernatural, and militaristic. Men are seeking for new gods, new idols to plunder under. This world is about to be ripped apart by civil war."
"Are you telling the truth?" Jyou asked nervously, and Yamato nodded sadly.
"These DreamChasers want to bring death to all that oppose them.... but we need to fight back. Fight the Future." Yamato lifted his eyes out the window and for a moment they seemed to glow. "Has the moon risen high enough in the sky?"
Koushiro looked up and nodded solemnly. He moved to wake Miyako, and Jyou brought out a knife made of pure gold.
A faint strain of fear ran through the back of Yamato's mind, remembering a similar gold knife so many years before.... Harshly he looked at the ground, clearing his mind. This was something he had to do.
In the corner all alone, Ken stirred, and opened his eyes sleepily. Seeing the others talking softly, he rose to join them. Suddenly he coughed, gasping as he spit onto the ground.
Slowly he lowered his eyes to the small puddle of blood that swirled at his feet, red blood dripping from his mouth and from his cursed scar.