Title: Malice in Darkness
A/N: Yay!! Finally gotten chapter 3 written… hope you guys like this…
Chapter 3-Meeting
'What the hell happened?'
'I dunno sensei. The whole school was suddenly blanketed with darkness like ten minutes ago… then… then…' here the student paused.
Maki stared at the teachers who now were standing at the entrance of the cafeteria a little suspiciously. He ran his hand through his hair nervously.
If they don't know what happened, how will they know how it did?
But it wasn't that which made fear slide though him. It wasn't even close to it. He didn't care how on Earth the thing happened, but… his gaze fell on Takotah sensei…
Jin… where are you? Why on Earth do I feel so worried about you?
The boy who was talking to the principle was now looking a little apprehensive. He was a third-year, and Maki absently recalled that he was in the same class as he was. The boy looked around at his friends for support, eyes shining.
'Well?' the principle asked.
'Then, suddenly… green light sorta filled the whole place. It was not just a light… it was different… there was something else… like a different element in it. It made the cafeteria… I dunno… peaceful?' one of his friends tried to explain it, hesitating for he could not find the words to actually explain the whole thing.
'Yeah! And after that, the light just… disappeared. It didn't fade away, it was just… replaced with the normal daylight,' the first guy spoke up again.
'Demo… where were you all, sensei? Didn't you see the light? If you didn't, then why are you all here?' a freshman asked, a little rudely. The teachers, caught off-guard looked a little…
Shy? Maki asked himself, totally surprised, and for the first time since the appearance of the light, his mind left Jin and roamed around, pondering on why the teachers were looking shy. And then, it hit him. He understood at once. It was so clear, as if there were bright red neon signs on top of their heads, saying 'I was scared, what did you expect me to do?'
You guys only came to the cafeteria because you knew that we would be here. You came here because you didn't want to be alone, right? Maki shot to them, in his mind of course, though he did wish to say it aloud. The amount of bitterness that his thoughts contained shocked him. But at least that explained the reason as to why they appeared here so fast. It was barely ten seconds after daylight appeared again before the first teacher made their appearance.
Jin!
A voice seemed to roar in his brain, chasing all other thoughts away. Maki flinched a little, wondering just what the heck was wrong with him at the moment.
Why? Why am I so worried about him?
Maki stood up, trying to shake off the feeling.
I'll prove that there is nothing to worry. I'm just being stupid!
The whole cafeteria, the whole quiet cafeteria's attention was on Maki. Maki frowned a little, but dismissed all other irrelevant thoughts.
'Do any of you have friends that aren't in the cafeteria now?' Maki asked, his eyes darting, trying to see everyone at once. No one, not one person lifted their hands, they just looked around, not searching, but just looking. Kiyota and Mutoh who were beside him started fidgeting nervously.
'Not one? Not one of your classmates is out there?' he asked again. A ripple of whispers broke through the silent crowd. Then several voices said…
'Jin. Soichiro Jin.'
He's the only one. He's the only one not in the cafeteria! So much for relieving my fear! Maki thought sarcastically, biting his lips at the same time. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Kiyota and Mutoh standing up beside him. They darted out of the cafeteria, no doubt in search for Jin. He followed their suit.
'Jin! Jin-san!' Kiyota's voice floated up to Maki. Following their own instincts, they all headed straight for the gym. They just knew that Jin was in the basketball court, and though it didn't take a wizard to know that, the knowledge for some reason scared… terrified him.
Maki turned around the last corner, and caught sight of Jin. An unconscious Jin lying on the floor, outside the gym, eyes shut tight… his right hand balled into a fist… and from that fist….
Oh my! OH MY GOODNESS!!!! The light! The green LIGHT!!
* * * * * * * *
Everyone blinked at the bright sunlight that was flooding into the cafeteria. The once silent cafeteria was now filled with whispers and shouts.
'What was that?' Kogure asked, not directing his question to anyone in particular. Heck, he wasn't even all that curious for the answer, it just seemed right for him to have asked due to the situation. He felt, for some reason, worried… and that had chased all the curiosity away.
'Hanamichi? Hanamichi? Where IS he?' Yohei asked, nervous for practically no reason. He was aware of the noise that had suddenly… burst from the silent cafeteria. When the light appeared, the cafeteria had been so… silent, so peaceful. The light was so… tranquil, and now that it's gone and the noise had returned to full blast, Yohei felt some illogical fear for Sakuragi trying to pry its way into his heart.
What's wrong with me? He can take care of himself! Yohei scolded himself, looking around, feeling, for the first time, claustrophobic in the school's cafeteria.
Why do I feel so… cramp up? Is it possible that everyone is in the cafeteria? Why???
And suddenly Yohei was sure of it. Everyone was in the cafeteria. Everyone… except, Sakuragi… and maybe…
'AHHHHHHHH!!! RUKAWA!!!!!'
Yohei turned towards the entrance of the cafeteria, where the scream came from. He knew who was screaming… it was obviously a fanatic fan of that Kitsune, as Sakuragi called him… but it didn't contain the usual awe it used to. This voice contained… fear and worry for their beloved RU-KA-WA. And that very tone sent icy waves of fear cascading down his back.
'Ah. Sakuragi-kun, Rukawa-kun…' Yasuda, one of their team members said in shock. Yohei stood up, dread filling him from head to toe, trying to find a suitable place to settle in, and it finally decided on the pit of his stomach. He craned his neck, trying to get the floor of entrance into his line of view, which was nearly an impossible task considering the amount of people, mostly girls, crowding there, but finally succeeded.
Yohei's breath caught in his throat.
Flashback, around five minutes ago…
Yohei fidgeted a little, but didn't make a sound.
No need to add to the noise pollution, Yohei thought incoherently, but totally logically. Girls were screaming their head's off in the dark. Boys were whooping, somehow enjoying the company of the darkness. Yohei could swear that he even heard a girl screaming 'Hentai!' He wondered how they could all be so… unguarded, so happy-like. As for him, he felt evil intentions, desires, swirling in the cafeteria, settling on some of them… mostly boys…
The darkness… it invited the evil? Or was it here because of it?? Damn! Why do I feel so fearful?
Then, suddenly, silence filled… no it didn't fill the cafeteria, it crept into it. It crept in so subtly, that Yohei was hardly aware of the descending silence. As to why it was it was suddenly quiet, he had practically no thoughts on it… yet. He was too amazed at the ability of the students to shut up.
But after several seconds savoring the silence, he started having thoughts on it, and the reason became obvious almost immediately. It was the light, the faint purple glow that was lighting up the whole place… and following it, the blue glow. Somehow… somehow, he could distinctly see both lights. Distinctly. They didn't overlap each other, they didn't swallow each other. In fact, they seemed to harmonize… and yet…
The lights enveloped all of them, pulling them, tugging them, and filling them with wonder, peace and serenity. He felt the light, the tranquility replacing the darkness and the evil intentions. Then, suddenly, abruptly, the light was just replaced with the harsh, glaring daylight, and the peace disappeared in a wink.
End of flashback…
Two tall freshmen lay on the ground, almost on top of each other, a little farther up the aisle that was leading away from the cafeteria. One was a red-head, another, a raven black-haired…
Sakuragi and Rukawa
But the worst thing was… their right hand. From Sakuragi's a faint and mellow purple glow shone through, shone out. Blue, clear blue and peaceful light was emitted from Rukawa's
What…?
Yohei continued staring at the two rivals on the floor, fear roaring in his head.
* * * * * * * *
Hanagata!
That was the only thing on his mind the whole time, ever since the light was somehow cut off, and it was still in his mind now, that the light had um… reappeared. Fujima raked his hair back, worried to death for his friend… and yet, together with the worry, he couldn't shake off the feeling, the terrible evil feeling that had found its way into his mind when that… voice had spoken.
Ancestral evil? What the hell is that?
The whole cafeteria had been as silent as… a library, or a rock, or whatever the simile was, when the soft, malevolent-filled voice… intruded into the cafeteria.
Intruded.
A shiver crawled up his spine. There was no other word for it… it had, in a way intruded into the cafeteria. Nobody had invited it… the same way nobody had invited the darkness…
Hanagata!!!!
Fear and horror encased Fujima as his mind returned to his friend, Hanagata. He was acting weirdly, very weirdly today, so Fujima was not going to tell himself that his fear was baseless. Anyway, Fujima had the right to worry. He had no idea why Hanagata was acting the way he was… and right now, he was getting more worried at the thought of him. He stood up, catching almost the whole cafeteria by surprise. Gasps could be heard, and even Hasegawa flinched at his sudden movement.
'Hanagata,' Fujima mouthed to Hasegawa, who merely nodded, and followed him out, thousand of eyes tailing them. Fujima's heart skipped a beat as he stepped out of the cafeteria.
I can practically hear it in my ears… What the hell is wrong in here?
Again, Fujima flicked his hair back, a nervous reaction.
Unconsciously, Fujima crossed his fingers, heading towards the nearest toilet. As he reached the final turn, he broke into cold sweat, and ran his hand through his hair yet again.
Finally, he reached, and turned… and he saw Hanagata on the floor, knocked out. Fear filled him, cold and black… and yet, he wasn't surprised. There was worry, but no elements of shock at the sight in front of him. It was as if he had expected this to happen. Behind him, he heard Hasegawa gasp.
'Toru… TORU!' he heard someone shouting. He had half a mind to tell the person to shut up, but his mind was too busy racing back, racing five minutes back, recalling the voice, malice-filled voice that had done the whispering…'Ancestral evil.'
Did the ancestral evil really get him?
Matte! What is wrong with me? There is no such thing as the ancestral evil, and if there is, what on Earth is it? Why would it want to get Hanagata? Another part, a more logical part of him intervened. And yet, Fujima found that for once, he couldn't listen to the logical part of him. He couldn't afford to listen…
Suddenly, Fujima realized that someone was shaking him, had been, in fact, for a long time already. Fujima tried to clear his mind as he turned to face the person who was holding him in such a strong, firm grip.
',,, hold of yourself, and stop that screaming, he isn't dead.' Fujima blinked, and shut his mouth after catching the last part of the principle's 'speech', realizing a little too late that it was him who had been screaming. He had already attracted almost the whole school with his scream.
What is the ancestral evil? What happened to Hanagata?
Then, another scarier thought intruded into his mind…
Was Hanagata the only one out of the cafeteria? Was he… alone?
* * * * * * * *
Rukawa stood up shakily, rubbing his eyes, but the image didn't disappear. The light was still there… the magical, magnificent white light.
Image?... it's real… and yet again, this place is empty…
Or so he thought, until his eyes fell on…
'Jin-san? Sakuragi?' Rukawa muttered hesitantly when he saw two of them beside him, on their backs.
'Rukawa?' Jin sat up, surprised. Turning to Sakuragi,
'Both of you were in the dream last night too… why… what?' Jin muttered, noticing the surrounding. Contrary to yesterday, they weren't surrounded with darkness. This time, they were surrounded with white light. And he wasn't alone too, like he was yesterday, the other two were here.
What the heck? I don't understand anything!
He looked down on his hands, and noticed the ring was on his finger, emitting a green glow that just… faded away into white light.
'What on Earth?' Jin muttered in soft wonder. He was now on his feet, but Sakuragi was still sitting down, staring at the vast… emptiness around him. And yet, unlike last night, he didn't feel empty on the inside.
The light. It's because of the light!
'Err… Sakuragi-kun, do you want to stay there until…'
'AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!' Jin froze. Rukawa, who was dozing off suddenly looked up.
'Ha-na-ga-ta?' Sakuragi asked, disbelievingly, articulating every syllabus. He was sure… for some reason he couldn't explain, he knew.
'Honto?' Jin asked, wide-eyes. And then, looking at the vast emptiness, Jin realized that their light did not cover the whole place. It just lighted up a patch where they were…
Was someone out there? Someone feeling the emptiness that we felt yesterday?
But Jin knew that it was more than just feeling the emptiness. There was the evil… and yet, that wouldn't have made Hanagata-sempai scream like that, if it was Hanagata… but he did not disbelieve Sakuragi.
Rukawa took a deep breath, all sleepiness blown out of him. And for once, he was worried, worried for Hanagata. Without the light, out there, which was where he assumed Hanagata was… Rukawa sustained a shudder.
It must be terrible.
* * * * * * * *
'You're dead, Hanagata,' a child's sing-song voice pierced through him. It was so clear, so soft… and so innocently evil. He could feel shudders coursing through his body. He looked around trying to find the source of the voice… and stopped a second later, realizing that it was impossible to see anything in the infinite darkness.
Hanagata felt a cold thread of terror sliding down his back.
It's so cold… and hostile… Where the heck am I?
'I'll get you…' again, the childish sing-song voice. Although it was not loud, Hanagata flinched, skating up to the brink of panic, but not quite over the edge yet. He pushed his glasses up the sweating bridge of his nose. Though it was cold, he was sweating like mad.
Then, suddenly a thought crossed his mind.
I am alone, No one can help me… Alone in the dark.
'That's right,' the voice again.
Now, he was threatening to cross the edge, the brink into panic. He bit his lips, hard drawing blood.
What irony. I used to always want to be left alone… and I was the one who preferred night to day, desired to sleep without any lights what-so-ever…
A laugh escaped his lips. A laugh, not out of lightheartedness, but out of fear, a laugh, which was uttered only to relieve some of the pain and fear he was trying to hide.
Anyway… alone or not, it doesn't hurt to try.
He hesitated, and then let out a scream. A scream filled with fear of… fear for…
A voice? Am I scared of an innocent childlike voice?
'Don't try it, Toru-chan,' the voice said with mock sympathy and closeness.
'You're alone… and even if you're not, who on Earth in the right mind would help you? Nobody wants too, face it ne Toru-chan?'
No, I'm not scared of it, I'm terrified. Damn it! Why is it so cold, and filled with hate? What is its damn problem?
Where is it?
Hanagata stopped screaming, suddenly, pondering on that question. He wasn't sure he even wanted to know the answer… but he had to know… not out of curiosity, which was of course the last thing on his mind right now. It was something else… but he had to know.
It was so cold in here, so cold and dark… like the voice. Cold, hostile… black not only with darkness, but also infinite hate and inhumanity… but where… what was it?
What can it do to me?
Now Hanagata really did cross the brink, into a world of panic. His heart hammered in his chest as he looked around wildly, and yet, no matter what, no matter how he squinted, all that surrounded him was darkness so deep and intense, that he felt choked.
Shit! Where the hell is it??!
'I'm all around you…'
Hanagata felt his heart stop pumping blood and oxygen to the rest of his system. He tried, forced himself to gulp in mouthfuls of air, but failed. Something was pressing down on him… and even though he was alone, or at least so he thought, he felt a strong wave of claustrophobic overcome him.
His mind, having given up on trying to force him to breath, just called out helplessly for help. Just before he lost all consciousness, he saw, or at least thought he saw white light… and with it, three figures that looked oddly familiar.
Jin? Rukawa? Sakuragi?
'Those seeking for help shall find it, if they believe in the friends they have… and if they are strong enough. They shall find it, if they have a will and purpose to need that help.'
Now, that voice is peaceful… appeasing.
By now, his heart had managed to continue pumping, but…
Faintly, he felt more than heard the other voice, the childlike and mocking voice shrink away… fleeing away…
Then, he fainted, hardly remembering anything… only wishing that Fujima was here, as he always was beside him…
* * * * * * * *
At the exact same moment Hanagata's body hit the ground, Koshino tripped and fell.
A/N: So, what do you think about it? *grins* you know what to do, right? Okay, I really don't mind flames, do feel free to criticize and condemn (but don't make it sound so bad lar… I just want to know my mistakes). Well, ja-ne, minna-san