The Shadow Master trembled as he sank to his knees beside the shivering form.
"Taka?" he breathed.
Golden eyes cracked open and Tatsumi gasped softly as he looked into the well-known eyes that had a strange vertical slit now instead of a round pupil. But whatever had happened to Watari's eyes, they still reflected something Tatsumi was familiar with.
Pain.
He cupped the pale face gently. "Taka," he murmured. "What have you done, you idiot?"
The blond moaned and the eyes slid shut, the lithe form trembling more.
Tatsumi heard and even sensed the others coming after him and his shadows hissed to life again, forming a black wall around him and Watari.
Suddenly the amber eyes snapped open again and Watari blinked once, twice, almost sleepily. The vertical slits were still there.
"Taka," Tatsumi whispered.
The sandy brows dipped into a puzzled frown. "Seii?"
The voice was weak, hoarse, slightly wavering.
Tatsumi knew he was smiling a very stupid smile. "Yes."
Watari blinked more, like trying to clear his sight. "Why are you here?"
"Because you were idiotic enough to come here alone, without protection."
Tatsumi looked into the eyes of the man he loved so deeply and he found a sliver of something he had never seen there before. That sliver grew and manifested the moment Watari took in the others behind the wall of shadows.
"We need to go," he murmured and tried to get up.
It was a brief attempt because he fell back almost immediately, moaning slightly.
"Calm down, Yutaka. You went through a lot..."
Watari shook his head, almost panting with the effort to get up. "No. Need to go. Now!"
He made it to a standing position but fell half against his lover. Tatsumi sighed. Watari could be so stubborn...
His lover fumbled with something in his pocket and Tatsumi frowned at the small bottle of pills.
"Taka?"
"It's to help with the pain," was the answer. "Like a pain-killer."
He swallowed several of the greenish-white pills.
"You're hurt," Watari suddenly murmured, looking and sounding mystified.
A quizzical hand tried to touch the long cut in Tatsumi's face. The Shadow Master took it gently, pushing it away.
"I'm fine, Taka. Really."
Those strange eyes raked over his bloodied, cut and bruised form, saw the numerous injuries, the torn clothes.
"They... they tried to stop you. Oh..."
"I'm fine. I'm more worried about you."
Watari smiled faintly. "Don't be."
Blue eyes reflected misgiving, but the blond's next attempt to stand on his own staved off another argument. Watari gritted his teeth and the tremors increased, but he wasn't collapsing.
"Drop the shadows," he whispered.
"Taka."
"Drop them."
Tatsumi frowned, but he did as his lover requested. Four pairs of eyes glared at Tatsumi, but he refused to react to them.
"Watari," Fuki began.
"I don't have time for that," was the cold reply and Watari pushed past the young woman.
Where he suddenly took the energy from, Tatsumi had no idea. He marveled at how fluidly Watari moved, as if he hadn't just been close to breaking.
"Watari!" she called.
Kei stepped in his way. "You leaving again? Just like that?"
Tatsumi felt himself tense, but the blond just looked at the much bigger man with such a quiet authority, it shadowed even Tatsumi's innate power to make the most hard-headed of employee quiver in fear.
"Yes, I am. Just like that, Kei. Just like then."
Kei bared his teeth in a silent snarl, but he didn't move when Watari passed him. Tatsumi followed, impressed, confused and even a little fearful.
"Taka?" he inquired when they hurried down the corridor that led away from Mother.
"No time, Seii. Not now. I know where Terazuma is and we have to hurry."
"He's in Limbo?" the Shadow Master hazarded a guess.
"Yes."
"How do you want to get him out of there? Not by another wormhole!"
Watari grinned almost manically. "No. By sheer force."
But not even that smile could hide the pain in Watari's strange eyes, the way he was fighting his breakdown with whatever he had as reserves inside him. Tatsumi just stayed with him, ready.
° ° °
Making contact with Meifu hadn't been easy. Tsuzuki was nowhere to be found. Neither Tatsumi nor Watari could go there just like that, but in the end they had tracked down Wakaba and she had opened the Suzaku Gate, sending the Tengus through with Watari.
The scientist had been to this realm only a few times in is existence as a shinigami and it was an incredible and awe-inspiring place. 003 had been left at home in Meifu with Tatsumi. The pills were working, keeping his body blessedly but unaccustomedly numb. He had had to swallow a few more just before entering the Gate and Watari knew he would pay for this later.
Finding the shikigami best suited for the task had been easier, though. His entrance had been detected and he was already expected by the impressive, battle-ready form of Suzaku herself.
"I know where Terazuma is," Watari blurted urgently. "I need to see Rikugo or Taimo, or even better, both! They can help us get him out!"
Suzaku's eyes widened and she unceremoniously grabbed his arm, pulling him along.
° ° °
Rikugo listened to the shinigami's detailed explanation, which was brief, to the point, and without any unnecessary fleshing out. Watari's face was a serious mask, his amber eyes steady. There was something strange about his expression, though. Something so intense, so unlike anything Rikugo had ever seen in any shinigami, even Tsuzuki, and it made him uneasy. Then there was the fact that Watari appeared to be in some sort of pain. That he was taking some kind of medication didn't really help either with that perception.
"The Mother computer found his location?" Rikugo repeated what Watari had told him.
"Yes. I know you have questions and I'll answer them afterwards. Right now we have to get him out. He's in Limbo and every minute he spends in there, he's taking one step closer to oblivion."
There was a soft rumbling sound from behind him and Watari glanced briefly at the towering form of Sohryu, but he wasn't swayed, nor did he show much fear.
Rikugo nodded. "I understand the urgency, but we have to send someone through to grab Terazuma and return him into the realms. Limbo is a dangerous, deadly space. One misstep and he will die. They both will die."
"I'll go," Sohryu growled.
"You will not!" Rikugo shot back.
Auras flared and Watari's eyebrows shot up.
"You will stay here!" the astrologer growled, facing off against the Protector of the East. "You are our leader, the representative of the Emperor. You can't head off into what might be your death!"
"I might die every time Tsuzuki calls me, too!"
"That is different!"
"How so?"
Rikugo's eyes were sparking with fury. "This isn't a fight against a devil or a demon or magic. This is Limbo, Sohryu!"
"And it's Terazuma!"
"I know that!" The power level rose and Watari edged carefully away from the two dragons.
"Good," a new voice said quietly. "Since you do, I'm going."
Three pairs of eyes fell on Touda, who was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, smiling coldly.
"Touda..." Sohryu began.
"Don't even start with me," the hell serpent interrupted him and pushed away from his place. "I'm going and that's final. If I have to beat it into your thick skull, so be it. Rikugo is right. You know it, I know it." Golden eyes were hard and unyielding as the former First General held Sohryu's furious look. "I'm going,"
Sohryu hissed softly, bristling more. It was two against one, but even those odds would not stop the Protector should he truly answer the challenge spoken by both Rikugo and Touda.
"Sohryu," Touda repeated, voice softening. "We both know how you feel. We both have people we love dearly and who we would want to save. But you are needed here and you need to exercise the right to delegate, despite your personal feelings. Let me go."
Sohryu stared at him, then finally deflated a little. "I hate this," he whispered.
"I know," the serpent repeated. "But I will get him out of there. I promise." A small smile creased the thin lips.
Sohryu just nodded. "Okay."
With that he stepped aside and the power levels in the room dropped immediately. Rikugo briefly closed his eyes in relief, then looked at Watari, who had watched the match from a respectful distance.
"Let's do this," he only said.
° ° °
Rikugo was a powerful Earth shikigami; a dragon on top of it. Born centuries ago, taught by no other but the Protector of the North, Genbu, he was a teacher, an astrologer, and a warrior. Even now that he had lost so much of this power due to the decision to cut off his hair, to take his aura down and undo what decades, even centuries of growth had gathered in strength, he was an opponent to be reckoned with. Not just because he was a Divine Commander; he was one of Tsuzuki's shikigami and his master's psychic power gave him an extra edge.
He also possessed a unique talent. Born with six instead of two eyes, the two additional sets gave him a special sight. Two eyes were directly above his onyx ones, right on the forehead, and they were a deep red, reptilian, with a slit pupil. The second set was in the palms of his hands and were rarely used for a scan.
Rikugo's Sight was special, able to penetrate a mind right down to the soul, to See into another being and discover the truth. He never used it without permission unless it was either an emergency or as a defense. Rikugo had high morals and his ethics forbade him to invade someone's privacy.
Now he would attempt to Look somewhere else. Not into a soul but right through the natural barrier around GensouKai and into the fabric of space where the other realms existed in their separate bubbles.
Rikugo inhaled deeply and concentrated. The plan was very simple. He would Look and locate Terazuma, then place a beacon into the fabric of the realm. Taimo would then fling his considerable magic at that beacon and pierce through. The faceless shikigami would have to uphold that flow of energy while Rikugo would latch onto the rip and hold it open by force.
It sounded easy.
It was far from it.
Rikugo felt Taimo's power rise with his own, so very different but still with the same strength. The astrologer opened his other eyes, piercing through the fabric of reality and Looking into Limbo. He flung a spear head of power toward the barrier and Taimo's energy followed it. The moment the spear head struck the barrier and was about to dissolve, Taimo's power hit head-on and sizzled across the fabric.
There was a ripping sound and suddenly there was an opening. Rikugo let his power rise more, grabbed the edges, kept it open, and Taimo piggy-backed his own onto Rikugo's energy, supplying him with more strength.
"Touda, now!" the astrologer shouted, already starting to feel the strain.
He barely saw the black streak of lightning that jumped into the rip.
Taimo gave an exclamation of surprise and suddenly the power surge from the magician was cut off, and Rikugo felt the reality rip snap back into his face. He was slammed back by its impact and landed on the ground, briefly stunned. Someone touched him and he felt a strong aura, radiating concern, and when he opened his eyes, he looked into the pale face of Sohryu.
"Rikugo?" the dragon asked softly.
"I'm fine," he murmured.
Lately, there had been few times when that had been true. Sohryu helped him to his feet and the intense eyes examined him. Rikugo gave him a brief smile that had never been more real. Too much had happened between them in the last years, too much had changed, and their relationship had changed profoundly with it.
"Taimo?" he asked.
The magician was already on his feet, his face as invisible as always, a black hole in the cowl. Kochin was at his side and the two were talking softly. Rikugo opened his other eyes and Looked at the spot where Touda had disappeared through.
"Rikugo?"
He detected a faint tremor in Sohryu's voice, the worry coming through the façade again, and he turned back to the dragon.
"He got him," he only said.
Sohryu's relief was almost palpable.
°
Touda had had little time to think about the incredible pressure, the emptiness, the darkness, and the cold. He had only concentrated on getting into Limbo, on grabbing the motionless human form protected by a thin layer of almost dissolved energy, and breaking through the other side with the momentum that had carried him through Limbo. He was in his serpent form, which was most likely the only reason why he had survived this stunt, and when he crashed into Meifu, he literally tore apart what he encountered.
Thankfully it was a remote spot, but there was still a building.
A palace.
The Palace of the Candles.
Why he had come out here was anyone's guess, but the second the muscular coils of the hell serpent came to rest, protectively wrapped around his precious cargo, Touda felt the power of the Candles.
Maybe it was because he had been here before.
Maybe he had recognized the power signature.
Maybe it was pure chance.
Anyway, he lay in the wide and high entrance hall, bricks and mortar and precious tapestries raining down on him; sometimes an occasional tile shattered close by.
Touda was breathing hard, his wings quivered with the cold of Limbo, his feathers were frosted over, his eyes closed. He felt Terazuma in his coils, felt his life force, felt his weak aura, but he couldn't move.
"Touda?"
One yellow eye cracked open, exhaustion racing through him.
Ryu was there, unmasked, staring at him in shock and horror. Another tile crashed down and nearly hit the master of the Palace. Ryu almost impatiently waved one hand and there was a shift in the building as it tried to heal the damage.
"What...?" the Count stammered.
"Tera...zuma..." Touda murmured and tried to move his coils. They slid heavily apart, stiff and inflexible, it was almost painful.
"Enma's name!" Ryu whispered and quickly climbed over the scaly barrier to the limp, unconscious shinigami.
Touda just lay there, watching, regenerating. A faint smile crossed his features.
He had made it.
Yellow eyes closed tiredly.
He had - made it.
tbc...