Chapter 2; Into a dark place

Genki was the first to wake up. He looked around himself groggily, seeing that he was in a pitch black cell, all alone. It was a small leaky space that was very cold. He shivered, the room was empty except of course for a small but filthy toilet and sink. Was he in prison? He gasped realizing that something was amiss.

"Senki! Where are you, Senki?"

He stumbled around the dark cell until he came to the bars that separated him from the cell next to him. It was dark and he could barely see anything but he could feel his brother's presence in the cell next to him. He put his arm through the narrow bars and found his brother's form on the floor. He shook his leg, the only part of the others body that he could reach.

"Senki, wake up, Senki!"

The other boy stirred and sat up in confusion. After a few moments his twin turned to the bars to look at him, though the dark revealed only little bits of the other to each of them.

"Genki, where are we?" He sounded afraid.

"It looks like some kind of prison." Genki replied.

"How do we get out? Who put us in hear?"

"I don't know." was Genki's answer to both questions.

"I'm scared."

"Don't worry, I'll think of something." Genki walked away from the bars, hearing his brother whine as he did so.

"I can't see you anymore. Don't go too far..."

"The cell is too small to go far even if I wanted to." Genki replied reaching around the north side of the cell till he found the lock. "Damn...if I only had something I could pick this with..."

"Genki....?"

"Senki, look around your cell for something that we could use to pick the lock."

"All right..."

They went to searching in the dark but found nothing, they were about to give up when foot steps sounded, coming towards them. There was a soft glow of a lantern accompanying them and the cells were let in a faint glow by it. The glow was enough to allow the twins to see each other, both noted with relief that the other was not hurt. The figure carrying the light was revealed, well, revealed was not quite the word, it was a tall figure wearing a cloak and a mask that hid it's entire body. The cloak was long and black, the mask covered the eyes and the head but not the mouth, the mouth appeared to be that of a young human man, silver hair escaped the metal mask in the back and fell down to his hips. Genki got a bad feeling looking at him, the same kind of feeling he got when he suspected somebody was a baddie in the days of the adventure. This guy had baddie written all over him.

"Ah. So the little lost lambs are finally awake. You've both been sleeping for three days. You only have eleven days left before your thirteen birthdays, but that should still be more then enough time..." His voice was handsome and young but very cold.

"What do you want!?" Genki demanded, trying to shield his brother from this man's view protectively, though he knew the action was altogether pointless.

"In dew time, little Genki." The man opened his cell and stepped inside. Genki drew back, his brother reached through the bars of his cell and gripped Genki by the arm frightened. Genki stared up at the man whom now stood directly in front of him.

"Come with me."

"No!" Genki swatted the man's out stretched hand away with his own. "Don't come near me!"

The man ignored his demand and plucked him from the ground and forced him to his feet. Senki lost his grip on his twin's hand and whimpered.

"Genki! Leave him alone, you-!!"

The man turned to Senki and nodded curtly as he held the squirming Genki in a tight grip. "You may call me Lord Deyarteb."

"What kind of stupid name is that!?" Genki retorted, getting back handed for his comment.

"Genki!" Senki exclaimed worried as he saw blood fly from his mouth and nose. He watched helplessly as his brother was drug away by Deyarteb. The eldest twin fell onto his knees crying softly as the area once again became pitch dark and he was left alone.

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Genki felt dizzy, all the energy he had used struggling against Deyarteb, to no avail, had taken a toll on his strength. He was sure though, had he been sickly or not his struggling would of ended up having the same outcome. Deyarteb had led him to a room at the very bottom of whatever building they were in, and now he stared up at the biggest monster he had ever saw in his life. It was HUGE and looked like something that would come out of a nightmare...and to think, all what he could see of it was it's head. It had gray scaley skin and was shaped somewhat like a cross between a pig and a wolf, it's mouth was huge but fortunately closed, or else Genki was sure he'd be seeing teeth five times bigger then his whole body inside of the giant mouth. Underneath it was a blood stained alter made of silver. It was positioned right under the creatures mouth, giving Genki a very bad feeling. In the alter their was a circle indentation and a golden mirror back was put inside of it, however their was only a small part of the mirror sat inside of the golden frame. Also just below the monster on a wall were at least sixty glowing purple stones, they looked something like Holly's magic stone yet not quite, they were impure looking...they looked...evil, as though glowing with tainted energy, however he felt a strange pull towards them as though drawn to them.

"Aren't they beautiful?" Deyarteb asked him as he noticed where he was looking.

".............."

"Giving me the silent treatment?" Deyarteb sounded amused before he pulled him roughly towards the alter, hitting his back against the hard silver, making him slid down the side of it weakly. "What a rude child you are."

"What do you want with my brother and I!?" Genki demanded.

"In dew time." The baddie stroked his cheek in a manner that made Genki feel sick. The man gestured towards the giant monster head.

"That creature there has no name, or maybe it did but it was forbidden to speak of it, let us just call it, Slaughterer."

"Why?"

"Because once I wake it up, it will slaughter everyone."

"Your sick!"

"Am I?" Deyarteb asked with a gentle smile. "Oh no, I'm not sick. My mentality is perfect."

"......"

"You should be thanking me Genki, you wanted to come back hear for nearly three years now. Your grief at being separated from your friends and this world has weaken your heart and body to the extent that your heart has given up on life. Slowly these feelings of betrayal and grief is killing you, making you so weak that in a few years it'll take too much energy for you to even breath." "You have no idea about my feelings!"

"I can see it all revealed in your eyes. Such immense sadness, such immense hate. You were used by your friends, used by this world, used by your brother..."

"My friends and brother never used me!"

"Selective memory." Deyarteb's voice softened as did his expression. "I know what it feels like to be betrayed."

Genki felt himself being lifted to his feet, and sat down on the alter where he backed away from the man frightened, but the baddie seized his wrist before he could move away and pulled him close, Deyarteb held one of those shining purple stones in his hand, holding it close to his chest. He could feel it's hot, angry heat.

"But together we can get what we want, revenge."

"I don't want-" Genki's eyes grew wide, his voice cutting off as he felt a tremendous pain flow through every ounce of his body as the man shoved the stone hard against his chest. Pain. That was the only thing that registered into his mind. He released a small choked yelp and fell back against the altar away from the baddies grip but the pain continued, his could see dark purple energy crackling around him. The pained seared throughout every limb, it was agony. He felt like this dark energy was going to ignite his frail human matter, eagerly and explosively as if he were the driest kindling, a wax coated wick. He screamed at the agony of it, for it was beyond all comprehension. Before him and below him and beneath him, the pain burned. The heat of the energy washing over him from the bed room window was tremendous. His flesh was being seared on every inch of his body, each one of a million nerve endings singing it's own song of pain. It went on and on. He could do nothing but scream, he thought that at any moment his very bones would ignite. He closed his eyes nervously, afraid that they would bubble shut with their own juices. The pain. It kept continuing and he did not remember anything but the agony even as finally slipped into unconsciousness.

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Senki was crying in his cell until he heard footsteps, he looked up hopefully, hoping to see Genki but instead he saw a boy around his own age looking back at him mournfully. The boy was tall, slender, pale skinned with short, thick black hair dressed all in white. He looked so sad...

"Who are you?" He asked the strange boy, wandering close to the bars that separated him from him. The boy was silent, but with a gentle touch of his hand the lock on the door released and the cell door opened. Nervously Senki stepped out and re-asked his question.

"Who are you?"

The silent boy opened his hand to reveal a beautiful shining white stone, and before Senki could even blink the boy grabbed his hand with the same hand that held the stone. Senki gasped as a vision filled his eyes.

FLASH

Two twin boys were standing together before a giant monster and an alter. They made a pinkie promise. The image changed to show the two boys in the same room, except one was laying on the alter. The image changed again and all he could see was blood. A mirror in a golden plate smashed into five pieces, and there was a betrayed agonized scream. Lots of blood. One the of twins were laughing insanely, covered in blood.

FLASH

Senki fell back with a short cry as the vision ended to find himself alone. There was no trace of the silent boy. He felt an odd energy pulsing in his hand that the boy had gripped and when he looked down at it he saw to his surprise that the glowing white stone had been embedded into his flesh. It glowed only faintly now, with a warm soft light. He stared down at it puzzled before he closed his hand and looked down at the steps that Deyarteb had taken Genki down.

"Genki, I'm coming." He whispered as he ran down the steps.

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Senki came to a sudden halt as he came to the room with the giant monster and the alter. At first scan it was empty but then he spotted his brother's limp figure laying on top of the alter, directly below the head of the giant monster.

"Genki!" He cried worriedly, rushing over to him. He rushed to his side, shaking him worriedly. "Wake up!"

Genki stirred and opened his eyes painfully, his hand gripped his chest. "S..Senki? Where's Deyarteb?"

"I don't know. What's wrong? What did he do to you?"

"My chest...I think he put something inside of me." Genki managed to whimper out. "It hurts..."

"Let me see." Senki pulled his brother's shirt up to inspect the wound with great concern, spotting a stone embedded into his brother's flesh, right where his heart was. It looked just like the stone embedded into his hand, except that it shimmered with a dark purple light. "There is this stone..."

"A stone?" "Yes, I got one almost like it, in my hand." Senki showed him. "But it doesn't hurt."

"Lucky."

"Come on Genki, let's get out of hear." Senki pressed, helping his twin get off the alter. The older twin wished that he wasn't wearing skates, it made it hard climbing all those steps, so he removed the skates and carried them in his hand as helped his weakened brother walk towards the steps.

Wait. The mirror.

Senki gasped hearing a voice in his head and turned around to see the silent boy pointing towards the golden mirror back and the small piece of mirror held in it. The boy vanished almost as soon as he saw him but the words rang long in his head. He did not think Genki heard him, his brother was barely conscious. He sat the younger twin down as he headed towards the mirror, removing it from the alter, tucking it under his arm before scurrying back over to his brother and the two of them made their way up the steps. They passed the prison area together as well as a few more floors without any trouble but still without finding any means of escape. They pushed open the next door and stepped inside. It was some kind of air port terminal. There was small, old styled planes in the room, and there was a opening in the far wall for the planes to fly through. It was so dark out, and windy. It was freezing, but...if they could use one of these planes... Senki took a worried glance at his brother, seeing that he was barely conscious.

"Genki hold on, we can use one of these planes."

'They are called...iron birds hear..." Genki managed to say.

"What?"

"Never mind." Genki tried to walk towards one of the nearby iron birds but almost collapsed. Senki approached him worriedly.

"Genki, are you ok?"

"I'm all right, I'm just tired..." Genki pushed himself to his feet and staggered over to one of the iron birds. "Come on Senki, lets get out of hear."

"Yes, but, do you know how to drive this thing?"

"Yes, I did before."

"When?"

"I'll tell you later, come on."

Senki jumped into the iron bird behind his brother who took the wheel, he frowned with uncertainly. "Um...Genki, are you sure your up to this?"

"I'm fine." Genki reassured but in truth he felt sicker then he had been in a long time. Still he was pretty sure that he would be able to in the very least fly the iron bird out of this place. He just had to get his illness under control after all-most of it was just physiological....wasn't it? Genki began to turn on the engine of the plane, checking the spirit capsule to see that it was plugged in properly and would not over heat. After making sure everything was ok he turned to Senki whom was looking pretty scared.

"Let's go."

"Ok."

"Not so fast."

The twins jumped as a female voice halted them, and a Silhouette (Pixie/Monol) stepped out of the dark in front of them. She looked like any normal Silhouette except that on her arm was a marking that looked as though burnt into her flesh. It looked like a cross, except that it was black and white. The black part was horizontal while the white laid across it vertically, the white looked as though it was trying to smother the black.

'Is this the symbol of these baddies?' Genki thought to himself, as the woman approached them.

"You aren't going to get away." She smirked holding a hand out towards them. The twins cried out as she struck the plane with a lightening attack.

"Genki!" Senki whom had not even the faintest clue of what was going on hung on to his brother tightly, tears were in his eyes as he squeezed them shut, afraid to open them.

"Hang on Senki!" Genki told him as he started the iron bird and took it down the run way. The silhouette cursed and chased after them hurling lighting attacks which rocked the plane and made his brother cry out.

"No escape!" The woman exclaimed and shot a lightening disk which missed the plane but hit it's intended target. Genki cried out painfully as it sliced the side of his neck, lucky it only hit the side, but it was still very bad. Senki's eyes widened as he felt something warm drip on him and he looked up to see his brother slouched over, bleeding from a very bad gash in the side of his neck.

"Genki!" He screamed terrified by the sight of his twins blood. He saw the woman ready herself to strike them again and he turned around feeling angry and not really understanding what he was doing until he did it, he gestured towards her with his hand that had the stone embedded in it. The stone flared to life, and a single strike of energy came out of it striking the woman in the stomach, whom fell back against one of the other iron birds with a cry, falling quickly unconscious as their plane took off.

"Genki!" Senki shook him, trying to wake him up. His younger twin brother did not wake, and before he knew it the iron bird was doing a tail spin downwards towards the ground.