Hello again. I apologize for the short and somewhat bland chapter that I just posted. I really didn't have time to continue the chapter, and if I had, it would have been very long. So, I made it a chapter, added a fun bit about ignorant Americans, threw in a strange episode of existentialism, and "voila!" Anyway, thank you for the reviews. In the future, you can say nice things about my writing, but could you also be critical and give at least one thing that I could work on? I hope that isn't too much to ask. I'm just working on becoming a better writer...In any case, on with the show!
White Wings for Dark Angels, A D.N.Angel story:
Chapter Four: Only Very Boring People Crash Museum Parties
For light's greatest weapon is its piercing gaze...
"Here we are, Mr., erm, Dai-suck-eee Niwa. The Los Angeles Foreign Arts Musuem." The chauffer had learned from the start of his job that his customers always wanted their names pronounced right. But that was easy, because none of them were from Korea, or wherever the heck this kid was from. Still, the boy's mother had paid the chauffer handsomely for the job, so he did his best. The kid had tried to help him out, but his accent was so heavy that he had barely understood any of it. Finally the kid had just repeated his name slowly, and after a few times, the chauffer thought he was getting better.
Daisuke sighed, shook his head, and got out of the limo. After telling the man how to pronounce his name correctly twenty times, the idiot still hadn't got it. Still, he had taken Daisuke to the museum, so at least--if anything--he was a capable driver. The man bowed his head and held out his white-gloved hand. Daisuke didn't know what the man was expecting, so he slapped the hand like the driver was giving him a high-five and walked inside, listening to the man curse him in English as he left. American people were so angry. Daisuke thought they needed to relax a little bit, and find their inner zen.
He walked through the glass door--opened by another man in uniform with white gloves--and was promptly blocked by four men in expensive gray suits and black sunglasses, with earbuds connected to walkie-talkies in their pockets. "Excuse me, young sir. There are no children allowed in the museum tonight."
"Check the list," Daisuke said with Dark's voice. "I'll be on it. Daisuke Niwa."
The man with the list looked at Daisuke skeptically, then checked the list. He apparently didn't have to look far. His eyes immediately widened, and he whispered something to his comrade on the left. Then, turning back to Daisuke with a thin smile on his face, he said, "Right this way, Mr. Niwa."
Daisuke bowed and followed the usher in the door, then stopped and stared in wonder.
The main atrium was a grand, circular room lit with an enormous chandelier that dangled down from the vaulted ceiling. It looked like a twisted candle that had little candles sprouting from it, and it blazed with warm light. The floor was made of marble tile, the same tile that the giant pillars that held up the domed ceiling were made from. Scarlet curtains were bound to the sides of the windows, and there were splashes of gold everywhere you looked.
Daisuke's eyes--and Dark's, for that matter--were, however, resting on the platform in the center of the room. For there, in a clear glass case, was held the object of their mission: The Staff of Stars.
It was probably the most gorgeous thing Daisuke had ever seen. It was made of gold, with a long handle shaped like a pillar. Resting on top of the staff was an immense phoenix, wings outstretched as it screamed to the gods. Above the screaming phoenix were seven sapphires, which--to a normal person--would seem to be simply hanging in the air. Through Dark's eyes, however, Daisuke saw that many tiny threads of gold were wrapped around them to create a magnificent illusion. "It's...beautiful, Dark."
Yeah, he said casually, it's pretty. But it probably has some insane security.
Daisuke stepped forward and began to nonchalantly push his way through the throng of people, all the while taking quick looks at the staff and its surroundings. Okay, Dark, he said. There are at least twenty security cameras arond the thing. I would guess that the pedestal it sits on is a weight-detecting platform, and it'll trigger an alarm if there's the slightest difference in weight. That would probably send the whole museum into lockdown. As he continued to get closer, he also noticed a large number of people with earpieces wired and hanging down their necks, just like the security people at the entrance. And there's got to be fifty guards surrounding it.
Relax, kiddo, Dark said, and laughed. Somehow, Daisuke knew, he was smiling fiendishly. And, for the first time in a while, Daisuke actually cared to know why.
"Honey!" Daisuke whirled around to see his mother, a crystal flute of champagne in hand, clattering toward him in ridiculously high heels. She reached down to hug him and nearly fell over, if Daisuke's thief reflexes hadn't deftly righted her. "I'm so glad you could make it," she whispered in his ear. "Wait for the speech to begin, dear. That's when they're expecting you."
A look of horror and embarrasment simultaneously crossed Daisuke's face, and he whispered, "Who's expecting me, Mom?"
She laughed, looked up, and raised her glass to someone in the second-floor gallery. "Mr. Hiwatari and Mr. Saehara, of course. Whoever else would you expect to attempt to catch the legendary Phantom Thief Dark!"
Daisuke turned around slowly, looked up, and saw Satoshi Hiwatari. The young man was leaning over the balcony, his glasses glittering in the candlelight, and he was dressed in sharp white suit, which matched his hair. Suddenly, his eyes met Daisuke's, and their penetrating blue depths shocked Dark into action.
Hey buddy, whatever we have to do, we have to do it now. Grab the thing in your pocket and look at it. Quick!
Daisuke frantically dug around in his pockets. Finally, his nimble fingers touched plastic, and he pulled the thing out, flipped it over, and glanced at it in amazed dismay.
It was Risa. Beautiful Risa, her long hair glittering in the summer sun. Her eyes shimmering with perpetual happiness...Daisuke wondered where his mom had gotten the picture...He knew he had felt this way before, but her wasn't sure when that could have been...His blood was hot, and then suddenly he knew. Dark was taking over.
In an instant, the room was blanketed in utter darkness, courtesy of Dark's innate magical abilities. Leaping upward and flipping over the guards that were running around the stage like chickens with their heads cut off, Dark landed on the glass case. Without thinking, he touched the glass.
It shattered into a million tiny pieces, which fell to the ground amid a cacophony of alarms and shouts. Dark could hear the guards climbing onto the stage. He could hear them clicking the safeties off their guns. Could hear them releasing the hammer. Could hear them warning him.
Then, suddenly, a voice resounded from everywhere, all at once. It was the clear, calm, cool voice of Satoshi. "Do not shoot at him! This is an order from the captain, for both your safety and his! Shooting in the dark, you are more likely to hit your comrades than you are to hit him. He does, after all, have some of the most amazing innate reflexes this world has ever seen."
Dark could hear the guards murmuring in confusion. He is right, you know, he said flamboyantly. I am the most terrible thief of all, the winged terror that will visit you in your nightmares for as long as you live. I am Dark, the Phantom Thief!
"You may be overdoing it a little, Dark," Satoshi said flatly, clearly annoyed. "You should not be so quick to boast."
"No, you should not!" Another voice crackled over the PA system in the museum, and it was unfortunately the absurd voice of Inspector Saehara. You could almost tell that, wherever he was, his fat little face was grinning ear to ear in triumph. "For, finally, I have managed to capture the legendary Phantom Thief Dark!"
At this ridiculous statement, Dark laughed hysterically. Now who's overdoing it, Mr. Hiwatari? I believe your friend the inspector has grown a bit too big for his already considerably large britches!"
"What!" Inspector Saehara was livid, not only because he had just been insulted, but because he had no idea why he was insulted. After all, the word 'britches' is not usually considered standard Japanese, not to mention English.
"Why you, you son of a--"
"Inspector? If I may?" Satoshi spoke softly, but still firmly, and soon all that could be heard was the mumbling of voices over the intercom. Dark was quite enjoying the little game he was playing, knowing that at any time he could grab the Staff and exit the museum through the glass skylight, and knowing that Satoshi knew it too.
Finally, the Inspector came back over the intercom, cleared his throat, and said, "Dark, we know that you are here to steal the Staff of Stars."
Well, Inspector, what an impressive deduction! At least we know you can read now, something I personally thought you incapable of doing.
"Dark..." Inspector Saehara's voice was tense with rage, and Dark was loving every minute of it. "Listen, and listen well. Youmay not be concerned with the welfare of other people, but tonight you will have to be. Because, if you take the Staff of Stars from its pedestal, the chandelier hanging above you will fall to the ground. It will obviously kill many people. I doubt that even you would be able to avoid being sliced by that glass monstrosity. Your only choice is to turn yourself in."
"Dark!" Daisuke's voice yelled inside his head, and Dark winced. "We can't let all these people get hurt just for a stupid staff. We should turn ourselves in. Satoshi cares about us. He won't kill us."
Dark thought about Daisuke's words for a moment, then whispered, You are right, Satoshi cares about us. But that care also turns him into Krad, who wants nothing more than to destroy both of us. ...I think I know a way to do it, so no one gets hurt.
"But you heard the inspector," Daisuke whispered shrilly. "There's no way out of the trap, is there?"
As if in answer to Daisuke's question, Dark simply looked up.
The sky was suddenly alight with the moon's glow, as if the Gods had suddenly lifted the blanket of clouds to guide their wayward thief. Daisuke saw in that instant what Dark was planning, saw the central, uninterrupted cylinder that was in the center of the chandelier.
"Okay, I see your pointBut how are we supposed to protect all the people around us. They'll still be killed when it falls on them!"
To answer this question, Dark whistled. Out of nowhere, Dark felt Wiz land in his arms, nibble him gently on the finger. Yeah, yeah, I love you too, little buddy. Now help me get us out of here.
"Kyuuu," Wiz replied, and obidently latched himself between Dark's shoulder blades. Then, Dark sprang into action.
Even if the clouds had again pulled back to reveal the moon's glory, no one in the museum could have seen it.As Dark reached down and grabbed the Staff of Stars in his strong hands, Wiz transformed himself into Dark's enormous black wings. With two powerful flaps, they were hovering in the air. Dark heard the creak from above, he knew what was coming next. Wiz, he yelled, clear the people away from us!
If Wiz answered, Dark couldn't hear it over the clinking of glass as the chandelier began to plummet. But he felt Wiz make one immense shove with the wings, and heard several grunts as people flew backward and sprawled out on the hard tile floor. Then, just as Dark had planned and Wiz had understood, the wings pulled themselves in and twisted around, allowing the chandelier to fall past them, and allowing thief and creature to escape into the night by shattering the glass dome.