Disclaimers: No, I don't own this. Only my characters and the entire strange, eerie concept. Oh, and all the spelling and grammatical errors you can find. I own them! … To some extent.
Warnings: Nothing short but slight coarse language, and if you really want Dark and Krad, as well as Daisuke and Satoshi to be pairings, fine, whatever. Not like I'll actually mention it. They're just good friends, really. AU.
Ha… I must be insane. No comment from me.
---
"To hate those who are not like you, to seek those who are just like you… only fools think of such things, but what can they do about it?
Why is it that you don't trust them? It is not like they are an alien species…
Dark, you know what you're doing."
-- Aeka, second oldest of the family.
"You can't escape the blood that you have, you cannot escape what the future has in store for you.
You can't keep running away from everything… you will have to face the truth."
-- Raine, oldest of the family.
--- Three: Family, Punishments, Blood is Blood ---
As expected, the interior of the house was as equally gloomy as the exterior and Dark muttered a few words under his breath. Slowly the lights flickered on – not the candles, that were usually used, but the actual lights that were stuck on the ceilings. These were the types of things that he did just to annoy the really religious of the family.
Christina was shivering, not wanting to face the consequences, yet not wanting to get on the wrong side of her older sisters - they had been the ones who had taken care of here since birth after their parents had left, and they were the only family she had. But, as a second thought, they were so intimidating, not to mention controlling, wanting her to do everything they told her to.
Nina bounced out of a room close by, looking fairly flustered when she greeted them. In the usual cheerful fashion, of course. "So, had a fun time? I see you found the light switch again; Raine's not going to be happy about that. What about the monsters? Are you hurt?" It was really weird, seeing her both flustered and cheerful at the same time – very unnerving.
"We're just fine." Dark smirked at her. "Did you think I was incapable of taking care of myself now?"
"Oh no, but now you have to face Raine and Karal…" she scratched the back of her head, "They weren't happy, and they won't be any happier knowing that you survived that without any injuries at all, so… I'll just take Christina now, shall I? Aeka knows what to do."
Knowing that what she was talking about was far from punishment, Dark nodded and Christina left. The dark-haired teen couldn't help but sigh at the thought of what kind of family he'd been placed into. They were just so damn…
"Sadistic freaks…" he muttered under his breath, as the lights seemed to glow faintly brighter as he continued on his way. It wasn't that long before he reached the main living room – or something – and it didn't surprise him to see Karal hiding under the table and Raine having pulled a dark hood over her face. He couldn't help but grin: it was time to bait Karal, just for the fun of it.
"What, scared of the lights now? Think they're gonna kill you?"
"This is none of your business, Dark…"
"I don't think whining will turn the lights off."
"It hurts, okay?! Turn them off Dark!"
"Like to see you try and make me."
"Meanie!
"You're the mean one!"
"…Sis! Tell him to stop!"
Raine sighed under her hood. "Dark… what did you do this time?"
He stretched his hands out, trying to look innocent, but failing miserably. Not that he really cared whether they believed him or not. "I didn't DO anything, Raine. It looks like the power bill bounced back."
"… But the wires have been cut," the oldest pointed out, and Dark shrugged, being the type of guy to come up with answers quickly. It was in his nature, especially when he was… well, that was for later use and Krad even had a book just to keep a record on what the teen did.
"It looks like they fixed it again. Man, those switches were really dusty, you know," he smirked, "What, you don't even like going outside that much anymore, Raine. What's wrong with a bit of light, might I ask?"
"Stop being so immature," she snapped; he had touched a nerve. "Karal, get out from under there immediately and turn the lights off!"
The girl scrambled out, cringing in the light, as she did what she was told. Of course, turning the lights off didn't mean finding the switch and flicking it – this involved the 'magical' powers they were supposed to have. Dark could have laughed out loud at that: they had no idea and no inkling on controlling such a force, and only a few could actually use it. Out of the entire family, he was the only one capable of using it, but they didn't need to know that.
Minutes ticked by and nothing happened, although it was getting considerably brighter in the room, courtesy of Dark's tweaking in the wires with his spell; Raine gave up after a while.
"You have some nerve," she said softly, "doing what you did. It's a pity that those monsters didn't teach you a lesson you sorely need. If you don't start abiding by the rules, I have no choice but to disown you of our family name."
"That's… the punishment?" Dark blinked.
"No--" drawled Karal, "You have to go to that place--"
"…?" Dark raised an eyebrow in question. "What place? Room, kitchen, dining room, I'm assuming the cellar…"
"Yeah, the cellar," Aeka appeared by the doorway, arms crossed as she leaned on the doorframe, "Looks like another monster-thing appeared in there, or something. It's not serious," she added in a whisper, "But if you want, I can make it look like you suffered serious damage so that they believe you got hurt."
"Eh, thanks."
"No problem." Despite the fact that they loved to argue most of the time and had yelling contests occasionally, blood was blood and Aeka and Dark sometimes worked together just for the sake of keeping the family somewhat together.
It was kind of pitiful, really, seeing that they had sunk into the lowest grade of human dignity and Karal wasn't helping anything, with her make-up and clothes and attitude… what they wouldn't do to shut her up once in a while: it would save them from the last resort of jumping out of the third storey window.
"That place---" said annoying girl began in a sing-song voice. Dark winced at the pitch and covered his ears, as did Aeka.
"I'm going! I'm going!" he yelled, trying to sound pathetic as he scampered off, Aeka behind him. Karal was still singing and they pulled out some earplugs, which they kept in stash for the most unbearable cases. Karal couldn't sing, and she would never be able to – that was the fact of life, not that it stopped her.
"Well, see you in a bit," Aeka mouthed and Dark nodded before approaching the little wooden door that led to the so-called cellar. Pushing it light with one finger, it swung open and hit the stone wall with a rather loud thud.
(Wow, this door really does need to be replaced…) whistled the dark-haired teen as he watched said door disintegrate onto the floor. (That is not normal…)
He shrugged it away before locating the switch to the cellar light and turning the lights on, allowing him to see what was inside. Full of cardboard boxes and other useless junk and schoolbooks that had reached their expired date, it was practically smothered in dust - Dark found it almost impossible to think that ANYTHING could actually live there.
But no, something was there, and… he gawked.
"Hey look!" he yelled to no one in particular, "Imps!"
Little green things holding tiny little trident-fork-like-things… that was, if they could describe what an imp looked like. It wasn't that surprising, actually, since there was the occasional strange thing entering the house once in a while.
Then again, the only people who could deal with it was Dark and Aeka – being the violent loud girl she was – so the others usually left it to them. And they kept a hold on certain other creatures to try and 'punish' those who didn't abide to the rules… in other words, Dark.
Walking down and watching the dust as it scattered around – with no way to escape – Dark went to meet said imps, who were chattering among themselves or something. Once he reached the landing, they looked up at him, being quite small and about a third his height.
"Hi there," he greeted them, "Whatcha doin' down here?"
"…" the imps exchanged looks and shrugged, "We live here now."
"Oh?" Dark inclined his head, trying to ignore the dust, "Well, why's that? You like the dust or something now?"
"Nah," snorted another one, poking Dark's ankle lightly with the fork-thing, "But your sister said we could live here, since no one comes in here at all."
"Ri—ght…" he blinked, "… Which one, exactly?"
"Christina."
"Aah… but how can you live here in the first place?"
"We just can. Mind your own business."
"Fine, I don't care. Say… what are you going to do about the door now?"
"We'll fix it… somehow. Just leave already. You're disturbing the dust."
"Alright already. I'm going, I'm going." Not wanting to stand around too long and knowing that imps can be hostile, Dark left, covering his nose so that he didn't sneeze out loud. Once he was back onto dust-free floor, he dragged himself down the hall and knocked on one of the doors, which opened a crack.
---
"You were arguing with them?" Aeka looked skeptical as she messed around with some strange putty stuff and red gel. "Sounds just like something you would do, Dark."
"Well, what did you want me to do?" Dark huffed, arms crossed as he sat on the floor. The two were in Aeka's room, which, besides being absolutely overruled by one too many papers and other ingredients due to her 'special effects' career – it was amazing that she gad been able to find room for both of them to sit down.
"Nothing, but arguing with them seems just a tad immature," she replied off-handedly as she frowned at the skin-coloured putty, "I think this is the right tone… what do you think, Dark?"
"Whatever, just hurry before someone comes or something."
"Right, well, let's see… if you were fighting imps, then it would be more on the legs and ankles… is it okay if I rip these a bit for effect?"
"What?!"
"Hey, how are you supposed to get into a fight with imps and have your clothes still in one piece?"
"But these are mine! If you do that, you have to pay for it!"
"Sure, but stop whining like a girl and let me get this done already."
"…"
---
Rain had made it's second appearance that night, while Dark was lying on his bed completely bored out of his mind. What homework he had was either done or stuffed in the inner depths of his bag to rot in the many years to come, and he wasn't in the mood anyway, after everything that had happened.
"Stupid family… stupid family…" he muttered under his breath, only referring to Karal and Raine. If they hadn't been so… eerie, then he might have thought otherwise. But no, they were the ones over the top, so it was his job to hate them as much as possible.
He wanted to leave the house – who didn't? – but where would he go then, he didn't know. He knew that he couldn't hang around his friend's houses too much, since their parents wouldn't take the option too lightly, and he didn't exactly have a job or the money to rent an apartment or even a single room to live in.
He could live on the streets, of course, but that would just be absurd, and there was no way he was doing that.
Not to mention that he had been suffering from what could only be referred to as hallucinations. No one else had heard that voice he had heard, so he had to be going crazy. Strange though, he didn't feel particularly crazy, so what was up with him? It was a question that would most likely never be answered.
Unless he came face-to-face with the thing/being that owned the creepy voice.
A light knock on his door jerked Dark out of his weird train of thoughts and he fell to the floor. Grumbling, he opened it a crack, since his room was the only one supplied with electricity now – Raine had seen to getting rid of the light in every room, but Dark had turned the lights on in his room anyway. It was Nina, peering back at him through said gap.
"What are you doing here?" he asked. "Don't you have homework to do or something?"
"Just checking in on you, that's all," came the airy reply. "Can I come in?"
"Why would you want to?" Dark muttered, but allowed her in anyway.
"Well… it's a bit… private, if you know what I mean. Come on, close that door already, you never know when Karal's spying on us." Nina's voice had lowered to a hushed whisper.
Closing the door, Dark sat on his bed while his sister took the seat, which was almost in as bad a shape as the cellar door. She looked outside the single window space which showed the other houses and sighed.
"Well, spit it out already," Dark said impatiently.
"It's about Raine…" Nina began, "I mean, you know that she's a total… well, that she's a bit too into this set religion, but I was wondering if you noticed anything else strange from her? She hasn't been acting right…"
"When was she acting right?" he snorted, arms crossed. "Ever since that time mum and dad left for their 'super belief' whatever, she's been acting all eerie and in control and being a total freak of a--"
"Exactly," she cut him of before he went into a long description of what he thought of their oldest sister. "But… after you and Christina left, she, well, it was only then that she warned us of the monsters. She wanted the two of you to…" she struggled for a moment, "learn the hard way."
"…" Dark was frowning now, "Wait. That attitude and those words… they're the same as…"
"What mother said before she left," Nina nodded, "Something's going on, Dark. I just thought you might want to know…"
"Hn… you don't have to tell me that something's going on," his mind wandered on the voice, "but I know what you mean."
"Right," standing up again, she left the room, "Good night."
"'Night."
The door snapped shut behind her and Dark switched the lights off.
Needless to say, he wasn't in the best of moods that night… and with Krad's condition at the time…
---
It took two days until the blonde was allowed to go back to school, and since he was the type of guy who got attention whether he wanted it or not, Dark had been hassled as to where he had been and what had happened.
Rubbing his eyes, Krad gave his friend a half muttered greeting, "Morning…"
"I'm assuming that your parents didn't want you out until you were completely recovered?" Dark half smiled and then slumped back on his desk, looking bored. "At least now people will just asking about you. What about me?"
"Hmph," taking his own seat, the blonde inclined his head as he watched Dark carefully, instantly noting that something was wrong.
But that would have to wait until they had some time alone, as the teacher entered the classroom. No doubt it was going to be a long, dragging, entirely useless and boring day.
---
"Krad-kun, welcome back!"
"You make it sound like he died or moved out of the country for a few years."
"… Satoshi-kun…"
Disturbed by the appearance of the two younger boys, Krad merely greeted them before turning back to Dark, who was now looked over the entire school grounds and giving the very definition to the word 'zombie'. Rather annoying to watch him that was as well, since Dark was the one who created almost all the noise.
"Dark-kun won't tell us what's going on," Daisuke muttered to the blonde, who had given them a questioning look, "He's been like that since the battle."
Krad nodded, half understanding, before approaching the dark-haired boy. "Dark?"
No answer. "Dark?"
Silence. "Hey, Dark!"
Still nothing. "…"
Krad did the only thing he could do: hit his friend over the head as hard as he could. This resulted to coming close to falling off the roof, but he didn't.
"Owwwww…" whined Dark, looking over his shoulder, "KRAD! What was that for…?"
"You were the one not answering," replied the blonde, glaring at his friend accusingly, "zoning out like that's not like you, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that something is wrong."
Dark pouted, "Well, you didn't have to hit me like that. It HURT."
"Get over it."
"… Oh," for the first time since the past two days, Dark noticed Daisuke and Satoshi, "Hey. Didn't see you guys coming."
"We've been here for the last ten minutes," Satoshi said.
"And you've been really spacing out," added Daisuke, looking concerned.
"Right…" Dark scratched the back of his head in a form of apology, "Sorry?"
"Never mind that," Krad cut in, "We just want to know what's making you so spaced out of late."
"Hm… how should I put this?" the dark-haired teen thought for a moment before counting the options off with his fingers, "Family, voices, religious freaks, imps living in the basement, blood tying all… need I say more?"
"…"
"Voices?" Daisuke asked amidst the silence, while both Krad and Satoshi just stared. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that time after the battle," explained Dark simply, "I think I'm going insane. Say, what's the chance of me moving out of my house and living?"
"Not a very high one," Satoshi replied, "You'd be left out on the streets to rot."
"Nice…"
"So your family's doing it again," Krad had his arms crossed and he was frowning, "is it about us again?"
"I don't think so," Dark blinked, "But it won't be long before we get forced into one of those cult things where you get locked in there forever and you can't escape, and there is no way that I'm going to be doing that."
More silence followed in its wake. Then Satoshi coughed a little to gain everyone's attention and began to speak. "About those monsters we encountered a while back. There isn't much information on them, but it may be a bit too serious to inform the authorities." The authorities were the few adults that dealt with and could deal with the occasional monster/different creature mishap.
"They're that bad?" Daisuke looked shocked. "I know that they were strong, but couldn't they--"
"Too strong."
"But if they keep coming, who's going to deal with it then?" asked Krad, arms crossed. "We just got lucky that time, and if they make more appearances, then we'll have to consider other options."
"That's what I'm trying to figure out at the moment." Satoshi looked annoyed at being disturbed occasionally. He was about to say more, but was cut short when a short boy with messy blonde hair burst through the closed door and had glasses that were too big for him. Panting, he looked up to see whom he had just run across.
"Ah… important meeting… usual classroom…" he panted. Such messages deserved to be shot and buried, never to be used again, but the four boys understood exactly what it meant. Dark was the first one to complain.
"Why do we have to have a meeting now? What's the point, really: I mean, very few people actually have the mind and power to actually use what they have and then that's pretty pointless and all--" He was cut short as Krad hit him over the head. "Ow…"
---
Eighteen years old and the so-called leader of the small group meeting, Melanie, tapped her foot impatiently as the door finally slid open to allow the last five 'members' to enter. Once they were seated – there were only about six or so more people there at the moment – she started off the 'meeting'. This meeting consisted of the few gifted students with magic or magic potential, and, really, there weren't that many people these days that possessed of controlled such a thing.
Either way, even those attending the meeting really couldn't use magic, but it was essential that they know how to deal with it in case the worse could happen. Every school had groups such as these, but magic was fading away in the blood of time and that was a problem.
The few that could use magic to its fullest extent were more in secret than anything, only talking about their gift away from prying eyes and ears. At the moment it was Dark, Krad, Daisuke, Satoshi and Akane Takada, who was currently reading a small book by the window. Any other people in their school that may have had that same position were either in hiding or denial.
"I would like to cover over last meetings topics," Melanie began, flipping open a notebook that she had fished out of her bag, "involving occasional abuse with the abilities you have (which wasn't much) and the mere presence of half-demons scaring you witless. So, what have we gained from this?"
The little nerd with the huge glasses – Kazuhiko or Kazu for short – had finally recovered from running around too much and spoke up, "We've been keeping an eye on the people who abuse their powers, and the half-demons who attend the school haven't done anything as of yet, so what was the point of worrying?"
"We don't know how dangerous they can be," Melanie replied frostily.
Kazu sighed, "Akane-san, can't you make her see sense?" he pleaded softly, not the type of guy to hold arguments for long.
"Kazu has a point, Melanie," cut short from her reading – whatever it was – she looked up, "Just because in the past our… type had a few problems with demons, it doesn't mean that they're really a bad sort. Don't you know that already?"
"Of course I do, but we can't let our guard down."
"That was over a hundred years ago, Mel. Let go of your history notes and forget it already. I mean, isn't one of you best friends and even your boyfriend part demon anyway? I've heard you two arguing about it."
"…"
"Demons who live in our time now have a chance of a normal life, so don't try and make it harder for them."
Being told off by a student four years younger, the leader looked slightly offended and was breathing somewhat heavily, "Very well, fine, next topic for today's meeting is…
Strange monster appearances and how we are to deal with such a cause. Reports have been made and it seems to be getting worse everyday…"
Dark jerked up, a horrible feeling twisting in his stomach.
This was not good, not good at all…
---
Uh… tired is all I can say. Yeesh, I have school next week so I'm sulking over that, so yeah. I'll see what I can do in the next few days…
Hakudoshi-chan: okay, I admit that Raine is a creep in many many ways, but as to her being evil… well, that's later into the story. Krad's got some sort of power… but the other's can't place it and the authorities don't know about it, you see, so it's inconclusive. Uh… makeout session? Oh, uh… right… (sweat drop) I don't think it takes a genius to work out that I have no sense of any type of romantic activity, so if you really want it, well… I'll jut leave in those pointless gaps where you can think whatever you want… You'll notice that every story I have put up, there really isn't much indication of pairings… except one. So I think you should understand that that type of writing isn't my forte. But… I'll… try? (laughs at what I just wrote) If you can help, sure, but I can't do it…
SpinningAvia: Well, that's why I don't want to use Mousy as a last name. it's not really a name at all, so yeah. What do you think I should use then? … Thanks for the review!
Okay, last thing. After this chapter and one other, I run into a road block. Okay, not exactly. It just means that I haven't been keeping up with my work, and it stinks, so yeah. And updates for ANY of the stories will be slow, so please please PLEASE bear with me, because I can't bear myself. Thank you.