Insanity of the Art

Chapter VIII:

Blood dripped down his back, the pain didn't ease one bit, his wings were gone, the men were gone, everyone had left the room with the exception of him. Sitting there, arms chained to the wall, he heard a door opening, "Come on Krad, it's your turn."

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The thief flew as fast as he could, he headed to the Hiwatari household, the security was amazingly low. He figured that if he were to head to the basement, that'd be where they'd keep the hunter. While heading down the stairs, the stench of blood hit him full impact. The feeling of nausea grew, he headed towards the cell, tampering with the lock, he swung the door open. And when the door opened, he was greeted with the sight of white feathers, tons of them, all dipped in blood.

Dark covered his mouth and nose with his hand, eyes widening at the sickening scene before him, oh gods no…Krad…please don't let this be what I think it is…he locked up the door and his eyes found a trail of blood leading down the hall. His eyes followed the trail which led up a set of stairs. Slowly recovering from shock, he followed it.

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There was a puddle of blood pooling below him. The wounds weren't closing for some reason. He was strapped onto that machine again, he knew what was going to happen. He watched the man smiling, twirling the ring on his finger, admiring it under the light, smiling sweetly, mockingly.

He would've struggled, or at least made an attempt to struggle, but he couldn't move a single muscle, each time he so much as twitch, where his wings once stood flared up with pain. His mind and body wanted to withdraw into unconsciousness, but he wouldn't allow it. Under normal circumstances, any normal person would've at least given the blonde a relief out of sympathy and let him sleep, but not Hiwatari Kei. "You know…" he said twirling the ring around again, "Red really does suit you Krad."

The hunter snarled, then the man adjusted his glasses and Krad could see his reflection off the lens. He looked terrible. His hair was matted with blood, clothes covered in red, and the same red splattered just about everywhere else. He coughed, cringing slightly from the pain in his back, "What do you want…?"

"Me? What do I want?" He laughed, "I want to have control over everything there is to control. And I plan on using you to get the artwork to do that for me. Yes, I will even have control over that precious thief of yours. As long as I have you, the thief and all the artwork around will listen to me and only me."

"You're insane…"

"Perhaps but at least I'm insane with power, I never would've thought the Hikari would create something like this," He gestured to the artwork that Krad was strapped to, "Or this," He held up the ring, "Both items conveniently used to restrain you. And just to think, I have them both right here, right now."

The blonde coughed up some more blood, gritting his teeth, he seethed, "I'll kill you…"

"You only wish, you should know that you don't have enough strength to do anything. And as long as I have this ring, you'll be under my control. Completely."

Krad growled and struggled against the restraint, when suddenly a voice came, time seemed to freeze, "Krad!"

The blonde turned slowly to see the last person he wanted to see, "No…what are you doing here? Get away you fool!"

Dark heard none of it, his eyes were wide with shock at the sight before him, the blonde strapped onto a machine of some sort, blood gathering around him. He looked so small in the absence of his white wings…absence of his wings…nausea began to grow inside him. They really did tear the blonde's wings off… "Gods…your wings…"

Krad blinked, "Forget about that! Get away from here!"

"Now isn't this sweet? You're trying to save your own worse enemy."

The thief's eyes narrowed into slits as he glared at the Hiwatari, anger and horror deflecting clearly off of them, "What have you done to him?"

"I've simply restrained him. Isn't that obvious?"

"You bastard!" Dark's anger filled his mind as he took a blast at the man, but he was prepared, with a snap of a finer, Krad was released and teleported. Right into the thief's blast. "Krad!"

The blonde spat out blood, floating a bit above the ground, he found the strength to look up with pleading eyes, "Leave…"

"What are you trying to tell me to do? To leave you here to get killed by this…this monster? I'm not leaving you! I'm not leaving you to die again!"

Krad gave him a questioning look, but was strapped back onto the piece of machine-like artwork, he shuddered at the impact. Amethyst eyes widened, he had seen it, the full measure of the bloody wounds on the angel's back, Kei gave a smirk, "Isn't this just ever so touching? He's forgotten his past thief, are you really going to have him remember everything you've done to him? All the pain you've put him through? Are you really willing to have him relive the pain all over again?"

Dark just stood there, staring at Krad, out of all times for his own memories to haunt him…not now…the Hiwatari gave a knowing smirk, "I didn't think so. Now thief step over here. You realize I can do everything I've just said a moment ago with a snap of a finger and put your little lover into his own personal hell."

Helpless, the thief obeyed and took a step towards the man but hesitated, he felt cornered yet unable to fight back, not with the wages in hand. Kei gave an annoyed growl and the artwork in his hand began to glow, Dark gave a startled jump when he heard a yelp and turned to Krad who was struggling blindly in his restraints, "N-no…Dark! Help! Where are you?"

Torn between heading to the blonde and obeying the one who had all the cards of the game, he bit his lip and glanced at the hunter who's eyes were fogged up but returning to a very, very familiar shade of gold. "Get over here thief!" The man snapped impatiently.

He yelped when a hand reached out and pulled him by the hair all while the blonde gave another yell, eyes narrowing, he gave a kick resulting in Kei getting knocked over while cursing. Immediately, seeing that the man had somewhat loosened his grip, he took a dive and began wrestling the Hiwatari, trying to pry the ring out of the man's hand.

After much battling and wrestling, Dark was finally able to get the ring from Kei, holding it tightly, he ran towards the blonde. One glance at the ring and he could already tell it was scarred beyond repairs, golden eyes watched him rather dully, "Dark? …is that you?"

Amethyst eyes looked up, that voice, that very voice that was filled withfamiliarity and warmth… "Krad! Just wait, I'll get you down in a minute!" He continued running until the Hiwatari's servants came staggering along and blocked his path. Dark growled under his breath and leapt out of the way as one charged at him.

By this time Kei had gotten to his feet and began reading from a book, the artwork that Krad was strapped to began to glow and golden light was being drawn towards it and into Krad who was writhing in pain. "That's right Krad, fall into Death's Embrace…" The man laughed.

Dark snapped his attention to the blonde, barely dodging a punch sent by one of the men. The blonde pulled at the chains, ignoring the burning sensation on his back, "M-make it stop!"

Soon the place was surrounded by spirits of artwork, their eyes all drained of sanity, the Hiwatari smirked, "If you wish to have your light restored to you, get the thief and I'll see to it that it's done."

So it was his fault…his fault that the artwork were unsealing themselves, his fault that Krad's wings were torn off, it was all his fault…the thief winced as he got knocked down by a very familiar entity. "Toki no Byoushin…"

Regaining his senses, the thief got to his feet and took a look at the blonde. Krad was breathing rather heavily and his body was glowing from in taking more energy than it could handle. Making up his mind on what to do, the thief began to charge full speed at Kei, fully aware that the artworks were following close behind. The narrow eyed man's eyes widened as Dark slammed into him and grabbed the book, then took off again. Flipping through the pages as he ran, he read one of the spells, then there was a thud. The angel was released and hit the ground.

Krad shakily got onto his knees, his mind was still fogged from everything that just happened, where was he? Both memories from past to present were all merging and swirling around in his head, a voice yelled out, a voice that had been there the whole time… "Krad! Here!" The thief tossed the ring, which landed in front of the blonde. Krad blinked, and stared at it, "I kept my promise! Whoa-shit."

The hunter picked up the ring and focused his vision, energy was overflowing in him again, he watched Dark jump around avoiding one blow after another. The thief hadn't changed much… "Da-" Something clamped onto his leg, golden eyes blinked and shot a glance at the Hiwatari, who had his fist slammed against a button on the wall. His eyes widened, just then, Dark stood in front of him, "Get out of the way!"

Giving the thief a shove with whatever energy he had left, he yelled something at the Hiwatari which caught all the artworks' attention. They all turned and headed straight for Kei, surrounded the man whose screams of agony was soon heard as he was devoured alive by the Hikari works, his men watched in horror as their boss was killed by pieces of insane artwork and scrambled out for their precious lives. Dark's eyes widened at the sight before him, turning back to Krad, his heart skipped a beat. Surrounding Krad and the artwork with Kei had called Death's Embrace, was a cube-like shield, separating him from the blonde.

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"Hiwatari-kun?"

The redhead knocked on the door, but upon receiving no answer, he frowned in anxiety. Looking up, he found an opened window and climbed through it. Where would Satoshi be? In his room, of course. Walking around the worn down building, it was clear that it hadn't been cleaned up from their last…visit. "Hiwatari-kun?"

Daisuke headed up to the bedroom, the bed was empty, "Are you there? Hiwatari-kun?" There was a groan, ruby eyes blinked, it was coming from the back room, he knocked on the door before opening it. There was Satoshi, sitting in a very peculiar chair, seemingly half asleep. "Hiwatari-kun!"

The blue haired boy looked up groggily, "Niwa? What are you doing here?"

"I…I came to make sure you're alright." The redhead couldn't help but blush at how strange that sounded when it came out of his mouth.

"To see whether I'm alright or not…why?" Blue eyes studied him closely, "Did something happen?"

Daisuke nodded, "The artwork, they're all unsealing themselves and I thought…I thought well…you might've been hurt…"

Satoshi shook his head, "I'm fine…this is probably my father's doing, he's been doing something to Krad ever since he split us up."

"So your dad's behind all this? Why?"

The blue haired boy gave a shrug, "He's a power hungry person, controlling a single piece of artwork would never be enough for him."

"…what do you mean control?"

"He controls Krad and I guess now he's using Krad to go and gain control of other artworks."

"Why's he doing all this?"

"Like I said he craves power."

Crimson eyes blinked, "Why do you sound so uncaring Hiwatari-kun? Don't you care whether your dad or Krad get hurt at all?"

Satoshi gave him a funny look before shrugging again, "Why should I? One's not my real father and used me to get Krad while the other's simply my curse who honestly, I thinkI'd be better off without him."

"Hidoi Hiwatari-kun…how can you be so indifferent about all this?"

Blue eyes blinked, Daisuke looked like he was ready to cry, "Niwa?"

"You know you'd be upset if something were to happen to either of them so why do you hide it? Suppressing all these feelings inside you isn't good for you! If you wanted to talk or anything there are people out there who'd be there for you! I'd be there! So why do you insist on keeping them inside? You're not the only one who's hurting from holding back all your feelings…"

Satoshi's eyes widened and took off his glasses, "Niwa…I'm sorry…"

The redhead looked up surprised, his fists loosened, "Hiwatari-kun…I care..."

I care for you so much...why can't you see that?

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Dark banged against the wall, inside was filled with debris and the blonde was no where to be seen. Soon beside him, were the artwork who watched as though expecting something to happen. A very familiar form stood next to him, "Towa? What the hell's going on?"

Towa's green eyes held a glint of sanity, much to the thief's relief, "The light's in there…with Death's Embrace. He can't escape."

There was scream, amethyst eyes narrowed as he tried to see what happened, through the dust and smoke he saw Krad, lifted up by no longer a machine but a shadow, the real spirit of Death's Embrace. The spirit was holding the hunter by the collar, a moment later, Krad was flung against the wall. As he slid down, he left two trails of blood behind him, right in front of Dark. Before the thief could say anything, an arm grabbed the blonde's throat and dragged him away.

Dark's stomach churned as blood began to decorate the walls and he stood outside, helpless once again. This is just like before…when they took Krad away from me…this is exactly like before! He couldn't shoot…not while Krad was in there, the chance of hitting the angel was too high and even if he were to shoot, he'd end up destroying the whole building…

Krad could hear the thief calling his name, he had shot a couple times only to find that with too much energy in him, he had no control over his magical abilities and it did no harm to the other entity. He was merely fighting a losing battle, he couldn't help but yelp as a blow was directed to his side, smashing him against the wall once more. He looked up, his breathing unsteady, the ring in his hand felt like it was going to crumble any moment now. "D-dark…"

The thief looked up from his despair only to barely see through the blood. There was Krad, hand against the wall, looking at him, everything from his hair to his clothes were matted in blood. His once bright golden eyes were beginning to glaze over, "Krad! Why? Why'd you have to go and face this thing by yourself…"

The blonde watched him sadly, "You'll be free when I'm gone…"

Because you could never be satisfied with me…just me…you want the world, and I can never give you any of it…your eyes show how much you long to be free. I can only slow you down, maybe when I'm gone you'll finally be able to do whatever you please without feeling guilt or anything…maybe you'll finally be satisfied.

Dark watched the hunter with tears in his eyes, "What are you talking about?"

"Dark…you can't hit them, they've split into two, I'll be the mark, when they both attack you can shot and destroy the whole time. If you miss one of them then it'll just come back."

"But you're-"

Krad spat more blood out of his mouth, "This is the only chance we'll get, if you shoot without having them in place one will get away somehow. Please Dark…"

"I…" He shook his head like a stubborn child, "I can't!"

The hunter was going to say more but was cut off when a blade sliced through him, he yelled in pain and turned around to blast one of the spirits, "You have to Dark-" Krad was cut off once again as he flew back from the impact of the hit.

"There has to be another way…"

"No matter which way you chose the light will die." Dark shot Towa a wary glance before turning back to the battlefield.

Krad clutched his stomach as he attempted to stand, please Dark…do me this one last favor…then he saw them, one charging towards him, blade in hand and he was pretty sure the other was behind. A moment later, he let out a gasp as two blades pierced through him, trapped between the two spirits' embrace, "Now Dark!"

Dark blinked back the tears and charged up, when he felt the blonde's light die off, he shot, "Krad!"

The blonde gave a little smile, thank you…the ring had slipped from his grasp and as it landed on the ground, it shattered.

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Nya

I finally updated this! Yay! It's been a bit too long but I kept forgetting what I was going to write :S I'm too forgetful...dum dum dum! Krad's dead! I'm sorry if this is sorta all over the place but yea...I'm not exactly the most organized I know :) There's this thing that's being passed around saying that authors/authoresses aren't supposed to respond to reviews...o.o I'm really not sure about that, but I'd rather not have my account or stories deleted from here...

So mucho sorrios, until this thing is cleared up or forgotten I'm going to have to leave out the responds :( Hopefully it's just a rumour...but on a brighter note if you want to email me or msn or aim me I'd be very mucho happy to XD I'll stop with the mucho-ness...my email's neko (underscore) ayame at hotmail dot com, (blast this site and the no website stuffies >.O) and my screenname's ayame0chan XD buhbye!