Author's Note: Third chapter of Angel Cards is up at last! ; I'm sorry about the wait. I seem to jinx myself every time I promise faster updates. But really, I am trying to be better at updating on time. Right now, my biggest worry with this fic is that the chapters are sounding a little repetitive. I'm not the best at action scenes, so... yeah. And until I get more cards on the scene, the action scenes are going to seem a little rough. Sorry about that. Still! More cards shall come soon! With more twists and turns and everything else I have plotted out! And I shall laugh maniacally! AHEM- anyway, I want to thank everyone for their lovely reviews. They make my day!

Disclaimer: Amethyst Bubble does not own DN Angel.

The Angel Cards

Chapter Three- Card Three

By Amethyst Bubble

"You know, there weren't always two sets of cards."

She was standing in the shadows of a tall building. Daisuke could only see her outline. At least... he assumed the speaker was female. The voice didn't sound like that of a male, but really, could one ever completely tell from just a voice alone?

"Originally, there was only one set. 'Unity', it was called, if I remember correctly. It was a long time ago."

'Is she speaking to me?' Daisuke hazily wondered, squinting his eyes to try and see the figure better. 'If she is, why doesn't she come closer?'

"But then," The speaker paused. "... I'm sorry, I can't quite remember..."

'Remember what?' Daisuke wanted to ask, but he didn't seem able to move his lips. How strange. What was going on? Was this the effect of another card? Could the cards do things like this? And who was that girl?

"The cards had to be split into two sets. The Keeper and The Fallen."

So she was talking about the cards after all. Daisuke blinked. They hadn't always been two separate decks?

"There weren't so many candidates back then either. There have never been as many candidates as there are now. Four seems to be a rather large number, doesn't it? But after what happened last time, I suppose it's for the best. The more candidates there are, the more chance there is that at least one will survive to be the master of the cards." She sighed, "They were weak last time. That's why it happened. They weren't prepared. Do you think things will be different this time around?"

'Is she asking me?' Daisuke wondered. 'Should I answer her?'

He thought he saw her shake her head, "It'll be your own fault if you get killed." She said forcefully. Then she stepped out of the shadows.

"KYUU!"

Daisuke Niwa awoke to find his face full of fur. "With," He whined, plucking the white animal off of his head. "Do you really have to wake me up like this?" Huge red eyes stared back at him, unblinking. With a sigh, Daisuke placed With down on the covers. "Don't give me that look," He mumbled half-heartedly. He climbed out of bed with a bit of difficulty, seeing as he'd somehow managed to get his limbs tangled in the sheets during his dream.

After changing, Daisuke descended the stairs and walked into the kitchen, where Risa sat at the table, chewing a mouthful of her usual bread and jam.

"Where's Dark?" He asked, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

Risa swallowed and then shrugged, "I think he's still asleep."

Daisuke nodded blankly, "That makes sense. After all, we don't have school today, so he probably just wants to sleep in."

"Is he still upset about losing that card to the other captor?" Risa blinked, "But you were fine with... oh, what's his name?... Hiwatari, isn't it? You were fine with Hiwatari capturing Lock."

"Well, it's only fair," Daisuke raked a hand through his red hair, making it stick up even more then it usually did. "After all, I got the last two Keeper cards, didn't I?"

The two were discussing an event that had happened several days ago. A new set of cards, Chains and Lock, had appeared and caused a small amount of chaos. In the end, Krad had captured Chains and Satoshi had managed to seal Lock away. Dark was quite bitter about losing two cards in a row to the blond, but Daisuke didn't seem to mind that Satoshi had captured this one instead of him, which caused Dark to claim that his younger cousin was nuts.

"And mom? Where is she?" Daisuke asked.

"Costumes," Risa said flatly, taking another bite of her breakfast.

"Ah," Daisuke decided that he'd better start making his own breakfast then. Odds were his mother wasn't going to be down for a while. Settling for just toast with jam like Risa had, Daisuke pulled out a chair at the table and sat down. "Does that mean another card's on the loose?"

Risa blinked, pausing with toast midway to mouth, "You mean you can't sense it yet? That sort of electricity in the air?" Daisuke shook his head and she frowned, "I would've thought that you'd be able to recognize it by now. Guess not. Ah, well, never mind then. You'll catch on soon enough." She took another bite of her toast and her frown melted into a smile, "Ah, jam, my old friend... I've missed you so..." She hummed softly, though whether to herself or her breakfast, Daisuke couldn't tell.

The red-head was torn between looking at Risa like she was crazy and laughing when Dark stumbled into the room, looking quite disheveled.

Flopping down at the table in a heap, Dark mumbled, "Morning," before stealing Daisuke's orange juice.

"You look like you got run over by an elephant." Risa said, staring at Dark.

Peering over the rim of the glass, Dark gave Risa a smile that may or may not have been sarcastic in nature. "You're as charming and lovely as ever," He mumbled, making a move to gulp down the rest of Daisuke's juice, but the red-head snatched his glass back just in time.

"Thank you," Risa smiled brightly as Daisuke moved the rest of his breakfast out of his cousin's reach. Dark mumbled something inaudable, resting his head in his arms. "Why are you so out of it this morning, anyhow?" She asked, tilting her head to one side.

"It's because he usually gets a couple extra hours of sleep once he gets to school." Daisuke muttered, casting the purple haired teen a dirty look.

Dark raised his head enough to glare at Daisuke, "S'not it." He mumbled, leaning back and pressing a hand to his forehead. "This odd feeling kept me up until a couple hours ago... Dai, do we have coffee?"

"Oh!" Risa squealed, leaning forward, "That's the feeling! Dark, what you sensed was an approaching card!" She smiled brightly.

Daisuke got up to brew Dark's coffee, a little put out that his elder cousin had picked up on something before him.

"Oh, great, another damn card..." Dark hissed, cracking one wine colored eye open. "Anyway, I only went to sleep a couple hours ago and I had this odd dream... Can't remember what it was about, though." He frowned, "Kinda seemed important."

Daisuke paused. Hey, hadn't he been dreaming before With woke him up? Now that he thought about, he couldn't remember what he had dreamed about either. That was strange; he usually remembered his dreams.

"Well, anyway," Risa said as Daisuke returned to the table, setting a cup of instant coffee before Dark. "As soon as twilight hits, we'll be setting out to search for the card."

"Twilight?" Dark wrapped his hands around his coffee, "How do we know that those two bastards won't have gotten to it before us?"

"Dark," Daisuke frowned. "No language at the breakfast table," He teased lightly.

"Yes, mother..." Dark stuck his tongue out at Daisuke.

"AHEM," Risa cleared her throat loudly, trying to regain attention. "While we cannot assume that the other captors won't try and take the cards in broad daylight, my opinion is that they won't be stupid enough to do so. They're obviously smart and well-trained, so they'll probably wait for night fall as well. They don't want ordinary people to get wise to the cards."

"Makes sense," Daisuke said with a nod. "Hiwatari is pretty smart after all."

"You mean strange," Dark corrected, looking a bit more awake now that he had his coffee.

"Besides," Risa leaned back in her seat. "The card hasn't actually started doing anything yet, so it'd be pretty hard to track it down at this point. I can't even determine if it's from the Fallen or Keeper deck, not to mention what card it is."

The apartment was small and rather barren. A few pieces of furniture were scattered here and there in a seemingly random order. An ornamental sword hung on the wall, several talismans surrounding it. Satoshi sat in the middle of the living room with his laptop in his lap, typing away.

It was about five o'clock in the evening when Krad strode in, tying back his hair into its usual ponytail. He stopped in front of Satoshi and stared down at the younger boy.

"Fallen or Keeper?" He asked wearily.

Satoshi looked up from his laptop, blinking blue eyes from behind his glasses, "The card? Hmm, probably Fallen." He resumed his typing, "Has it started destroying things yet?"

Krad shrugged, "Don't think so."

There was a pause, neither boy saying anything. Finally, the click-clack of Satoshi's fingers on the keyboard subsided, though he did not look up.

"That girl, the one Niwa brings along on the captures..." He began, looking thoughtful, "Was she the guardian?"

"I assume so," Krad replied, taking a seat on the couch. "Either that, or Niwa's brought his girlfriend along for the ride." He shrugged, the look on his face stating that he couldn't care less.

"...No," Satoshi pushed his glasses up. "Niwa's not the type of person who would endanger a loved one like that. She has to be the guardian."

"You'd better hope so," Krad snorted.

Satoshi glared at the blond, "And what, pray tell, is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, I suppose," Krad idly picked up the remote and turned on the television. He flipped through channels for several minutes and Satoshi resumed his typing. Finally, something caught Krad's attention and he stopped channel surfing.

"There must be a movie being filmed here in Azumano," The newscaster, a smiling woman with too much makeup cheerily announced. "Just minutes ago, a strange, crystal-like substance was seen on the corner of..." She rattled off the directions and explained that the new horror film that was supposed to begin filming in a few weeks must be starting early.

 The newscaster, a smiling woman with too much makeup cheerily announced. She rattled off the directions and explained that the new horror film that was supposed to begin filming in a few weeks must be starting early.

Satoshi sighed, closing his laptop with a snap. "I suppose we should be going then."

Krad switched the TV off, having already memorized the address, "Yes, I suppose we should."

"Risa and I just saw the new card on the news," Daiki entered the room where Emiko was making the final adjustments on Dark's costume. Daisuke, who was all ready clad in his, sat on a chair nearby. "Luckily everyone seems to think that a movie is just being filmed. You'd better go capture it though, before it attracts too much attention."

"What card is it?" Dark twisted around to face the elderly man, before yelping. "Hey," He whined, glaring down at Emiko. "That hurt!"

"If you hadn't moved, I wouldn't have pricked you with the needle," Emiko muttered around a mouthful of pins.

"Pricked me? I think you just sewed my skin to the fabric!" Dark exclaimed.

"Don't be melodramatic, Dark," Daisuke said, walking over to his grandfather, "But really, what card is it?"

"It's Crystal," Risa waltzed in. "A Fallen card. It could be troublesome if we don't leave soon."

"One second," Emiko mumbled, fumbling with her needle. She made another quick stitch and then tied off the thread, "All done!" She announced with a smile. Dark visibly relaxed.

Several moments later, both captors and the guardian were walking down the darkening street, following a map that Daiki had drawn up.

"We're supposed to take a left here," Daisuke said, pointing down a dark alley.

"Creepy!" Risa announced, taking a step back, "Isn't there another way?"

"Aw, don't worry," Dark said as stepped into the alley. "This one's perfectly safe. It's the ones on the other side of town that you have to watch out for." He said with a sagely nod.

"...Great to know," Daisuke muttered as he followed his cousin, Risa tentatively stepping after him, looking around warily.

When they got to the end of the alley, Dark stopped still in his tracks. He seemed to be gazing ahead. Leaning around him, Daisuke realized why.

The entire square they had just walked into was covered in a light purple, crystalline substance. It had even started creeping up the bases of the lamp posts.

"Looks like ice," Dark murmured, leaning down and touching it lightly. "It's not cold though."

"Dark, don't touch it!" Risa advised, but she was too late. The crystal had all ready covered Dark's hand, trapping him.

"What the hell!" He yelled, trying to pull his hand away, "Aah, I'm stuck!" He tried again, but the crystal wouldn't budge. It was slowly circling its way up his arm, forming a vine-like pattern. Dark yelped, trying once again to escape.

"Dark!" Daisuke shouted, making a move as if to help his cousin, but Risa gripped his arm.

"You can't touch it!" She said, holding on to him tight, "If you do, it'll just get you!"

"You could have told us this before!" Dark yelled, watching the crystal approach his upper arm with wide eyes, "How the hell are we supposed to catch this thing!"

Suddenly, there was a cracking sound, smoke and flames erupting, pieces of the purple crystal flying helter skelter. The smoke and rubble cleared and Dark found himself free. He stumbled back quickly before Crystal could catch him again, collapsing in the alley and panting heavily.

"Hey!" He shouted, glaring across the Crystal covered square to the street on the other side, "You could have taken my arm off!" He pointed an incriminating finger at a figure whose outline was just appearing as the rubble cleared away, settling on the ground.

Krad lowered Explosion, "It was a risk I was willing to take." He said calmly, locking his gaze with Dark's. Dark growled low in his throat, getting to his feet and producing The Black Wings. Once he'd released the card, he took flight, hovering a good few yards above the ground. To his surprise, the crystal began to grow spikes, as if trying to reach him. Explosion took them out one by one.

Preparing another blast, Krad wondered why it hadn't all ready returned to card form. Hadn't he inflicted enough pain on it? No, as long as it could regenerate... He narrowed his eyes. Tricky, tricky...

"Hey, Dark!" Daisuke yelled, getting an idea.

"What is it?" Dark yelled back, swerving to avoid being hit with some flying debris. He wished Krad would watch where he aimed that card! Krad was probably trying to kill him, though. Dark scowled. It'd be just like that bastard to try and get rid of the competition and capture a card at the same time! Dark ignored the fact that he had only known Krad for a short while and exchanged very few words with him, therefore making it impossible for him to really know if anything was 'just like him'.

"Why don't you try and pierce it with some of the feathers from The Black Wings?" Daisuke shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth to make sure his cousin heard him. "It worked with Fairy's Flight, didn't it?"

"What kind of a plan is that?" Krad snorted, blasting another piece of Crystal away with Explosion.

Satoshi, who had been standing quietly in the shadows until now, murmured, "An interesting one." This was a Fallen card, not a Keeper, so there was really no need for him to get involved.

Dark thought about it for a moment. Well, without any other cards, it really was his only choice. Reaching up, he plucked a few feathers from his wings, wincing slightly. Taking aim, he threw them like darts. They landed in the form of a pentagram, each piercing Crystal. "Weird," Dark said. He had just thrown them randomly. How had they ended up in a pattern like that? Hell, he was out here capturing magic cards! He really shouldn't be calling anything 'weird' at the moment.

The pentagram began to glow, a soft purple light surrounding the feathers before it faded away. The Crystal began to recede, and finally a card fluttered to the ground, tinted black and purple. Dark landed quickly, snatching the card up, just in case Krad tried something. He grabbed the pen in his pocket and quickly signed his name, then took one of the feathers and used the edge to draw a drop of blood, pressing the wound against the card. "Gotcha," He hummed quietly to himself, grinning cockily, first at the card, then at Krad.

The other candidate clenched his teeth and narrowed his eyes, but said nothing, simply slipping Explosion back into the pocket of his trench coat.

"Hiwatari!" Daisuke called, racing across the now clear street.

"I don't get that kid," Dark muttered lowly, wondering why Daisuke was associating with the enemy.

Satoshi looked up, "Niwa?" He asked, seeming slightly confused.

Daisuke came to a halt in front of him, smiling up at the taller boy, "Are you all right?" He asked.

Satoshi blinked, "...Yes, I'm quite fine." He stated slowly, a bit confused with Daisuke's actions. A small smile made its way on to his lips. Daisuke was probably just one of those people who worried about others first and themselves second. "And you, are you all right?" He asked in return.

Daisuke nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine!" He grinned, "Some of the rubble came pretty close to hitting me, but I just used Shield to guard me and Risa." He waved a hand in the direction of the girl, who was busy celebrating the capture of a card for their side with Dark.

"The guardian, right?" Satoshi asked, adjusting his glasses. Daisuke nodded. "Interesting," Satoshi murmured, feeling a bit relieved, though there really wasn't any reason for him to be. "Krad should work on his aim, though."

"Satoshi," Krad barked, narrowing his golden eyes. "That's enough small talk. You can gossip all you like at school." He turned, striding down the street in a way that screamed annoyance.

"Well," Daisuke said as Satoshi began to walk away. "I guess I'll see you at school then!" He smiled brightly.

Satoshi paused before continuing on his way, "See you at school, Niwa." He said without turning around to look at Daisuke.

"Bye," The red-head called as he himself trotted back over to Dark and Risa.

The winter holidays were fast approaching. Specifically, Christmas.

Emiko had been rather extravagant with the decorations this year, hanging up wreaths and mistletoe. Dark and Daisuke took it upon themselves to take down the latter when the woman wasn't looking and then blame the lack of it on With. With himself was decorated with a little green bow tied around his neck. "To go with his eyes," Emiko had said. No one had argued, except With, who had 'kyuu'ed pitifully about it for several days, trying without any success to claw it off.

Risa was a bit confused as to what all the hype was about. Upon realizing that she didn't actually know what Christmas was, Dark had proclaimed her a poor, deprived child (to which she had huffily informed him that she was several hundreds of years his elder) and had taken it upon himself to show her the ropes of the holiday season.

Daisuke later had to inform her that it wasn't all about chubby men breaking and entering and enslaved reindeer.

In Daisuke's class, the upcoming holiday seemed to be the most important matter. Everyone was chattering about what their family usually did for Christmas and what they hoped to get and so on. Well, almost everyone.

Only half-listening to Takeshi, Daisuke propped his chin up on his hands and stared at Satoshi. The blue haired boy was simply writing in his notebook. His face was blank, without any expression but Daisuke could have sworn he looked lonely.

"Hey, Dai, what're you doing?" Takeshi asked as Daisuke rose from his seat.

Waving his friend off, Daisuke said, "I'll be back in a minute!"

Takeshi blinked and looked over at Masahiro, who shrugged in response.

Daisuke quickly crossed the distance between his desk and Satoshi's, stopping when he stood right by the other boy. "Good morning," He greeted cheerfully.

Satoshi put his pen down and looked up, "The same to you." He replied calmly.

"How have you been?" Daisuke asked, trying to find grounds for conversation.

Satoshi hesitated before replying, "I'm fine. A little tired, maybe. Krad kept me up half the night, raging about how Dark captured Crystal." He had to resist the urge to roll his eyes.

Daisuke laughed, "Yeah, Dark was like that when Krad captured Chains."

"They really can't stand each other, can they?" Despite all his efforts, Satoshi couldn't help the small smile that was spreading across his face.

"Oh, I don't know about that," Daisuke winked. Satoshi raised one eyebrow, a tiny amount of confusion in his blue eyes.

"Never mind," Daisuke shook his head, amusement evident in his voice. "So, uh, what are you doing for Christmas?" He changed the subject.

"Nothing." Satoshi flatly replied.

Daisuke leaned forward a bit, frowning slightly, "What do you mean, nothing?" He asked, staring the blue eyed boy down.

Satoshi blinked up at the red-head, "Nothing." He replied.

"You mean you and your family don't do anything at all?" Daisuke pressed.

"Well, it would be rather difficult if we did." Satoshi said, "I don't live with my family. Just Krad."

"Oh," Daisuke said slowly. He stared over the top of Satoshi's head, looking out the window.

"To us," Satoshi continued, "Christmas is just another day. I don't think we've ever done anything for it."

"Well," Daisuke took his gaze away from the window, looking at Satoshi once again. "Would you like to?"

Satoshi blinked twice, "...What do you mean?" He finally asked, adjusting his glasses.

"Come over to my house for Christmas! You and Krad both!" Daisuke said with a grin, "My family always makes a huge deal out of the holidays, and my mother always cooks way more food then we could ever eat! I'm sure she wouldn't mind if we had some guests. In fact," his grin grew wider, "she'd probably love it."

Satoshi simply stared at the other boy for a minute. "You're inviting me over for Christmas," He stated slowly, as if this was something that was impossible to comprehend.

"Yes," Daisuke nodded. "You don't have to decide if you want to come right away."

The bell rang and Daisuke turned to go back to his seat, "Just tell me when you do decide!" He said over his shoulder.

"Niwa," Satoshi called and Daisuke turned, staring at the other boy. "Krad and I accept." He said with a nod and a small smile.

Daisuke smiled back, taking his seat as Takeshi and Masahiro exchanged confused glances.

Daisuke wasn't quite sure how to break the news to Dark. He knew it wouldn't go over well, but he had to tell his cousin at some point. He contemplated this issue on their walk back from school.

"So, Dark," Daisuke finally spoke, deciding that it was now or never. "How are you getting along with Krad?"

"He's an evil, card-stealing bastard and I hate him."

Daisuke sighed. This was going to be tough. "Dark, I've got something to tell you that you're not going to like."

Dark's eyes narrowed slightly, "Daaaai..." He said slowly, "What did you do?"

The red-head laughed nervously, "I kind of invited Hiwatari over for Christmas. Krad too."

"What!" Dark all but shrieked, rounding on his cousin, "Why? Why Daisuke? Why have you committed this traitorous act?"

"I was being nice!" Daisuke protested, holding up his hands in defense. "Hiwatari said that he never did anything for Christmas! I felt bad for him!"

"That doesn't constitute inviting someone over! Especially someone who's hell bent on stealing the cards from us!"

Daisuke ran a hand through his hair, "I don't think Hiwatari is 'hell bent' on it, Dark." He pulled out his house key as they approached their destination.

Dark sighed, almost pouting, "Well, did you have to invite that other bastard over too?"

"Yes. Yes I did." Daisuke said flatly, walking up to the door and inserting the key.

Dark grumbled to himself as Daisuke called out a greeting, shutting the door behind them.

That's when the bamboo cage Emiko had rigged up fell, trapping them.

"Fantastic..."

Card Three- Captured

A shorter chapter then last time, but I'm pretty happy with it. The last two segments were a lot of fun to write. Heheh. What will happen at Christmas time, I wonder...? X3

On another note, I have an offer for anyone who'd like a GMail account. I currently have a ton of invites and practically no one to give them to. For details, see my DeviantART page, found in my bio. The journal entry is labeled GMail and it should be one or two back. Click Journal and you'll find it. If you want one, just leave a comment there (please do mention that you saw this note in Angel Cards so I have a vague idea of who you are). Or e-mail me about this at the address in my bio. Thanks!

Reviews are much appreciated.