Disclaimers: No, I don't own this. Only my characters and the entire strange, eerie and rather pointless concept.
Warnings: As it turns out, Dark and Krad are only FRIENDS, as well as the other two. There's a reason to this… so yeah. Oh, and the usual spelling and grammatical errors…
(Coughs) Ahem. UPDATE! And it's rather… horrible… but it is beginning to get somewhere… I just don't know where. Forgive me for bad writing?
000
"It's because of your stupidity that your magic is uncontrollable. If you thought before you acted, then this wouldn't be happening."
-- Satoshi Hiwatari
"Sometimes it's better not to ask why he does those sorts of things, you know? I had to learn that the hard way…"
-- Towa Shirube
--- Eleven: Spiral of Chaos (and Revelations…) ---
"You…" hissed Krad, eyes narrowed just slightly at the person before him, not knowing whether he should be oddly amused; or disgusted. But then again, both options were quite tempting to the blonde; as it was, he did neither, or if he was, then his face and body language didn't change a bit so it was hard to tell what he was thinking. If he was thinking anything in particular, anyway. Ur… yes. That clearly didn't make any sense, and he couldn't really give too much of a damn to care about it at all.
Smirking at the reaction – or lack thereof – Raine seemed completely unfazed at the fact that he was standing there in… well, wherever they were. "I never thought I would come face to face with the infamous Hikari-kun once more. After my dear brother-" she grimaced slightly at this "-introduced us, I must say that I never wanted to see you again. Such a weak-minded choice on his part…"
"What the hell are you talking about?" the blonde snapped, eyeing the guards around her warily; it was way too dangerous to be trying an escape already, but hey, you have to try. But there was something smug about her tone of voice as she said; like she knew something that he didn't and it was really beginning to irk him badly; and he hated not knowing what was going on. "And why are you here-" (wherever here was) "-in the first place? Does your family know?" Somehow, he really, really doubted it.
"I don't see why you should care about what my family know or not know," she retorted back, "But don't ever expect dear Dark to come to your rescue."
"…" Well, the little theory about the oldest Belcourt Sibling being nuts had just been proven and Krad didn't really know what else to say. Rush was shifting in his side of the cell, nervous about the fact that the blonde had taken the matter into his own hands, and that stepping in now was pretty much asking for torture. Or pain of death. Or something equally annoying.
"Weak people like your sort really do need to be terminated," Raine seemed to be enjoying the attempts to bait him, because of the guards all around her and ready to protect her. "But every single time you managed to get out of it without more than a scratch. How do you do it?"
This was definitely the side of Raine that he had never wanted to see; not that he knew much about her in the first place. Their only encounter had been precisely ten seconds long due to an accidental run-in while walking down the streets. Back then she merely seemed coldly indifferent – a bit like Satoshi, now that he thought about it – but now… well, it was obvious that she hated his guts to bits. Why? He had absolutely no idea.
"I manage," he replied, deciding to play fire with fire… or at least talk back, because people who did all the talking in conversations annoyed him. "And what makes you think that I need Dark to get out of this dump?" He could easily just blow up the wall beside him and go wherever he wanted, if he was willing it so. They either didn't know it, or didn't care.
"Because," she drawled, smirking once more, "you'd never be able to get back home from here. And then they'd either drag you back screaming, or leave you to rot as a corpse."
"Like that would ever happen." The killing or dragging back part, of course; like he was thinking, it was an easy escape.
But she still had a point there. This obviously wasn't home or the town or whatever, so it was only common sense to stay put… right? Well, Krad didn't want to think so, but now wasn't the time to express what he thought of his best friend's oldest sister and although he knew for a fact that he was capable of taking on all those currently in the well, what then? And why waste so much energy in the attempt?
He'd have to sleep on that one.
Anyway, back to looking at the smirking person whoseitmathingy, "So you're the one who sent those things after me? To drag me here merely to annoy the shit out of me by your presence?"
"Harsh, boy, and I have no idea on what you're talking about," Raine replied dismissively, flicking some hair out of the way, "although I must say I was most surprised to hear that you were here at all. I really do need to discuss this with my parents."
As she finished her sentence, she moved back towards the open steel door, clearly caught in her own thoughts and figures. The guards trailed out before her and the door slammed shut behind them; leaving an eerie echo in its wake.
"Her parents…?" he repeated, mostly to himself as the echoing finally stopped ringing in his ears. He had known for a long time that Dark's parents had been part of some crazy cult and stuff, but… was this the place they had moved to? The reason why they had abandoned all their children and left them to fend for themselves? Well, he knew they were insane (and not just because of how Dark turned out) and he didn't like it.
The blonde turned to face Rush, who was doing some breathing exercises for some reason. The encounter must've shaken him up rather badly… or something. Or he was bugged at the fact that Krad had been able to deal with it himself.
"So…" Krad started into the annoying silence that had fallen over them, "do you have any idea on what that was all about?"
The green-haired part-probably-elf scratched the back of his head, thinking, "Actually, no, not really. I didn't really expect her of all people to come calling… I thought it would be someone that I'd have to deal with personally. But you managed yourself pretty well, I must admit; most people are pretty freaked out by her, myself included."
The teen bit back a sarcastic comment at this, "Well then, what the hell am I supposed to do now? And I still can't work out as to why I'm here in the first place or whatever crazy reason they're doing this. When I find the people behind this, I'm going to have to pound them into a bloody pulp."
"Well, good luck on that, then," Rush fell silent for a moment, thinking, "I was kinda hoping that it'd be the guy who brought you here in the first place; you know, so I could ask questions and stuff, but I don't think he'll be around anytime soon. Ah well, I better go before someone notices my absence; cleaning duty." He grimaced, "Eat something and try to relax a bit. I'll be back soon and we can see what we can do about your situation."
"You sure don't act like you're in your twenties," commented Krad with a raised eyebrow. He watched the part-elf carefully, in case of double-dealings or false securities that led to traps, and then pain, and so forth. Rush smiled innocently at him as a reply and then waved slightly as he headed for the door.
"Can't blame you about it," he pointed briefly at the tray with food in case Krad couldn't see it or something, "You should at least know the reason behind why you're here. Well, later then."
Again, the door closed shut, but this time there was the distinct sound of bolts sliding into place and locking the blonde in. Not that he really cared at the moment, but whatever.
At this point, the most annoying factor that remained with him was that he was going to be stuck in his school uniform until who knew when. Something about that was very aggravating and he wasn't going to enjoy it one bit.
Glancing out of the thing that had been classified as a window, Krad wondered if Daisuke and Satoshi were okay, and how Dark was taking the news when he heard it. Damn, if only he knew how to get back already… this was just getting on his nerves now.
His attention was drawn back to reality as something magical seemed to vibe from his uniform front pocket. Confused, he stuck his hand in and pulled out the broach. Nice design, very powerful magic, but what the hell was it? Why had Dark given it to him and did the other guy know what it did? Because he sure didn't.
Would they even know where to look for him? What was the chance of him getting back alive?
Krad's head jerked up at the sound of a familiar voice; soft-spoken, timid, yet willing and ready for conversation if need be. He went over to the opposite side of his cell and rapped his knuckles lightly on the stone structure. It was quite thin; well, that would explain how he could hear anything at all. The voice had stopped abruptly at the sudden sound and he pressed an ear against it before speaking.
"Christina?"
000
Staring at his hands, Dark was wondering how much longer he would have to wait until something actually happened. Both Satoshi and Daisuke had been oddly silent after the rather sudden announcement and it was getting just that little disturbing and on his nerves.
"Hey, when was something like that so surprising that you couldn't say anything?" he finally snapped, not liking the silence at all.
The redhead glanced up from his staring-at-the-floor, somewhat apologetic, "I suppose you do have a point there. But… well, you know. It just seems so hard to take in that your own parents would be involved with such a case…" he frowned slightly at this, "Christina, perhaps, but Krad-kun? What did he ever do to them?"
"Wish I honestly knew," looking around his room, as if in hope of an answer, Dark searched for a form of speaking inspiration. Wait… where the hell did such a stupid thought enter his mind? "But Raine's been acting a lot… weirder than usual. And that's saying a lot, because she was always a bit odd in the end. I suppose my family and I'll have to tackle her on the subject ourselves."
"… Do you think," Satoshi started slowly, "that they know that Krad is capable of using magic? Or is he merely bait for Dark? To lure him into whatever messed up thoughts they've already got prepared."
Daisuke blinked at this, "Why would they want Dark-kun in the first place?"
"Don't know."
With a sigh, the purple-haired teen looked out the window and then to the clock that was sitting on his desk; "Fu… I mean, you two should be going home." Dragging both boys up by the wrists, he pushed them out of his room, "Don't want your parents worrying or something, right?"
The blunette raised an eyebrow at this, before Dark could close the door, "I would have thought that you'd want us to stay and plot and scheme on how to find Krad already."
"Hey, even I'm not that stupid," came the snorted reply, "we need to plan this carefully and all, so we'll start that tomorrow at school. Come early."
"I… see…"
"Bye, Dark-kun."
Once he was sure that the two had left his house and were on their way home, Dark slumped back against the wall and buried his head in his hands. The arrogant, ego-centric front he usually had on suddenly shattered and left him open for the world to see.
It was happening all over again and he hated it so much. Why was it that that always happened to him? It was just plain unfair, so incredibly insane, so… so annoying on his nerves. And it usually took a lot to get him annoyed at anything.
Naturally he was indignant about Christina – as that crossed the line – but taking Krad as well was like jumping over it with a pole and just that little bit too far. And they were going to pay for it.
"Dark? Are you sulking now?" Nina asked as she opened the door with some difficulty, arms laden with books, "Or is this about your boyfriend?"
"He's not my boyfriend," he replied, recovering slightly, "I don't get why you keep bringing that up… and what's with the books?"
"Reading material. I'm hoping that it'll actually be of use… for once," she grimaced at the thought of ploughing through so much but couldn't find any other way around it.
"Ah… whatever."
"Get some rest, Dark," Nina suggested, balancing the books in one arm as the other hit him over the head lightly, "the news about your boyfriend being taken must've been harsh."
"I told you, he'd not my boy--" Dark began, but she was already gone. He grumbled under his breath, unable to understand how or why Nina had managed to deduct their friendship into this matter. It was just that little bit insane, personally speaking. But then again, when she got an idea in her head, it stuck there for the rest of her life, so there was no point arguing against it.
He walked back over to his bed and lay back, thinking about what he knew. His parents were involved, Raine was involved, that stupid voice he kept hearing just had to be involved with this as well, right? In the end, it was just the same conclusion and it wasn't hard to work out the resolution; throttle the answers out of Raine and go get them back. Or, if the worse came to worse, he could resort to plan B: he didn't want to, but if it came to that in the end…
But Raine would be making herself scarce now, knowing that they would all suspect her. Family could be a cruel thing, and even if she was a pain in the neck sometimes…
Unclenching his fist, amethyst eyes gazed steadily at the small orb of amber he was holding before it all happened. He knew the connection between it and the broach he had given Krad, and, as it still glowed with life, there was the vague reassurance that Krad was still alive.
But for now, he would have to talk to a couple of people.
000
Watching his friend carefully as they walked down the street together, Daisuke bit his lip in an obvious worrying gesture. Okay, so Satoshi didn't say all that much and always seemed to be detached, but the redhead knew him better than that. And at the moment, the blunette was… very no himself. It was scary.
Shadows stretched out as the sun began to make its course below the horizon, occasionally being obscured by the buildings that towered over them. Very few sounds could be heard, aside from cars roaring in one direction or another, and the gentle – yet faint – hum of conversation between people as they wended their way home.
"Hiwatari-kun?" the redhead ventured softly.
Glancing over at him, Satoshi raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement, "Yeah?"
"Are you… okay?"
"Of course I am. Why?"
Averting his gaze quickly, Daisuke stared at the concrete footpath intently, like it would give him some form of inspiration that would really help matters. "No, you're not alright. I can just tell. And that's my reason; not to mention Dark-kun's really, really worried, but that's already in the clear."
The blunette smiled just slightly at his friend's observation and shook his head; "I guess you can say that I'm worried as well, then. I mean, being attacked and having a friend – no matter how loosely based – isn't the most enjoyable of experiences. But I'm sure it'll all work out in the end." If he was just trying to reassure the redhead or wishing to believe it himself, it was hard to tell.
"Aah… okay…" this seemed to cheer Daisuke up immensely and he returned to his entirely over-optimistic self once more. "I'm sure Dark-kun will know where to go to help Krad-kun and his sister. But I'll be so glad when this is all over."
"Yeah, I agree." The two reached a fork in the road; where they had to part ways. Sapphire eyes met those of ruby as Satoshi bid his friend good night. "Take care on your way home, okay? The last thing we need is more people to worry about."
Daisuke smiled at this, "I'll be fine. See you tomorrow, Satoshi-kun."
"Right," the blunette watched as the redhead walked off before turning away and proceeding to his own place of residence. Where the horrors of brother and sister loomed over them. In truth, he didn't want Daisuke to be on his own, but the redhead was very much capable of taking care of himself. And it seemed that the monsters had already taken their intended target.
But why Krad?
He scowled unconsciously, scaring a couple of innocent bystanders; this was definitely going to take a lot of research and guessing. But he had most of the material at home, so it was time to get to work.
000
Pressing a couple of random combinations on the phone, Dark was so intent on what he was doing to notice Aeka's appearance right over his shoulder. Frowning at this, his older sister coughed under her breath, just loud enough for him to hear her.
"Hey, do you have Towa's number on you, by any chance?" Dark asked, not showing any sort of sign of being surprised and she raised an eyebrow at the question.
"Why would you want to talk to Shirube?" knowing the silver-haired girl as her classmate, she was nonplussed. And how was it that Dark knew about her in the first place? They'd never met.
He shrugged nonchalantly at this, "Never mind, I've got it. Besides, I thought you were helping Nina with researching the case, weren't you?" This time, he glanced over his shoulder to meet her eye, "Though I doubt that it'll really help in the end, you know. Oh, hello?" He grimaced slightly half a second later; "What the hell are you doing over there?" he demanded into the phone.
Deciding that the wise decision was to leave Dark with his odd phone call, Aeka walked down to where the kitchen was located. Nina sat at the table, which was currently groaning under a large number of books; most of them so old that one couldn't even read the title of them on the spine. Taking a seat opposite, the short-haired teen picked up a leather-bound book and flicked through it.
"Magic again?" she asked skeptically, putting it down and grabbing another book to scan the pages, "I don't see why you're so freaking obsessed with this. Really, I don't."
Nina glanced over the top of her book she had in her hands. "You don't? Funny, I have a lot of reasons for such a case and you know it already. It's better to be safe than sorry." She shot her older sister a serene smile, "Not to mention they explain about rituals with exact detail, which you can't get in any other book, as far as I know."
"Oh yeah?" Aeka returned the book she'd grabbed at random and walked around the table to see what Nina was actually reading at the moment, "Let's see what you've got then…"
000
"So what the hell do you want?" snapped a male's voice on the other end of the phone and Dark rolled his eyes impatiently, only vaguely noting Aeka's leaving, "We don't have all day… night… whatever."
"You know, you still haven't answered my previous question, Argentine," the violet-haired teen shot back, "What, have you taken Towa's family hostage now and waiting to shoot down all the cops that come your way?"
"You've got an odd sense of humor, you know."
"Come on, I know it's true. You can tell me the truth."
"As if, bastard."
"Then did you ask Towa out and she rejected you with a pitchfork?"
"No."
"Then what's the reason? I've got a million theories floating in my head at the moment."
"God forbid it. Anyway, we're trying," there was a bite of impatience in the other's voice, "to finish a school assignment over here, if you really need to know. Damn medieval hierarchy is bugging the absolute hell out of me."
Dark stifled a snigger at this, "Aw… poor little Argentine," he said, voice laced with mock-pity, "But could I speak to Towa now? It's kinda urgent at the moment. Besides, why were you answering the phone in the first place?" He had to admit it was kind of suspicious.
"She was kicking the shit out of one of the other students who decided group work didn't involve them," Argentine muttered; "Wait, I think she's finished pounding them into a pulp, so I'll go get her."
There was the distinct sound of the phone being set on a solid surface, and the faint sounds of people arguing met the teen's ears as he waited. He then heard louder yelling and was taken by surprise when a cheery female's voice reached his ears rather unexpectedly.
"Hi Dark! What's with the honor of calling me after all these years?"
"We're at critical point," he replied grimly, before pouring out the entire story and their current situation. Towa's smile would have been wiped out at an instant, and he expected it as so. She was silent after this and Dark waited for a minute. "So?" he prompted.
"Oh, yeah, well," Towa seemed to pull herself together quickly, "I suppose we should've known this was going to happen eventually, right?"
"Yeah, but," with a groan, he leaned against the wall and stared at the wallpaper in front of him blankly, "why? I just don't get it anymore? They keep doing it, they keep hurting people, and they don't get anywhere."
"Don't worry. We'll get them back," she reassured him soothingly, "We'll meet you tomorrow at 13 hours, 'kay? I doubt anyone in your family'll be able to spit it out anyway. And stop staring at the wall like a deranged moron."
He agreed with her about the family, and wondered how she knew he was staring at the wall, "I'll have company with me this time, though."
"Oh? Is that really okay? It's dangerous."
"Don't worry," he smirked, imitating her voice just slightly, "Daisuke and Satoshi are well aware of the situation and know how to survive in this messed-up world. See you there."
He hung up and headed back towards his bedroom. Nina had a point; he was pretty tired now and the whole Krad-being-kidnapped-as-well-as-Christina's-disappearance revelation had jerked him around a lot. And it hurt like hell.
Moonlight streamed into his room, books untouched since the day before. His clothes had been thrown in a haphazard pile in one of the corners, but he couldn't have cared less about it. Dark flopped onto his bed, the door clicking shut behind him as he closed his eyes. He knew for a fact that Krad was well able to take care of himself, but he still couldn't help but feel just that bit worried about the blonde in the end.
Tomorrow was definitely going to be a long, tiring day, and there was the last of his conscience thoughts as Dark finally drifted off to sleep.
000
It was the annoying, if not thoroughly insistent, racket of birds singing as the early morning sun rose slowly and steadily - shedding it's light to welcome another day - that woke him up early. Of course, if it had been the same day, hen it would still be dark… or something.
Sitting up abruptly, the purple-haired teen stared out the window blankly, thoughts bouncing backwards and forwards rather pointlessly for many reasons that didn't seem to make all that much sense in the end; not that it really made much of a difference, of course.
There was a slight knock on his door and Aeka pushed it open, frowning to herself; "I was beginning to wonder when you were finally going to shut the sleeping talking up. And only to find you awake and in zombie mode."
"What? Why? Was I sleeping for more than one day?" he yawned, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to keep his eyes open; part him was strongly refusing to stay awake and, sadly, that part was his brain.
"No, but as I said, you were talking in your sleep… incredibly loudly," she replied stiffly, allowing herself entrance to his room, "most of it was just broken conversation that made no sense whatsoever, but you mentioned that Krad of yours a lot. So I, in particular, was worried about your psychological sanity. Nina thought it was kind of cute, being her."
He blinked at this, until his brain finally clicked into place, "What!"
Aeka shrugged, not the least disturbed with his reaction, "Not that it makes much of a difference in the end. But Raine never came back home and we haven't got any solid fact on this whole ritual thingy that they all seem to be involved with."
"Yeah… and?"
"You're still not going to talk about it?" her frown deepened at this and she crossed her arms, "We're not stupid, Dark. And we know that you know something very vital that could help us get Christina back before something horrible happens. So spit it out."
Having completely woken up at this point, Dark sat up and swung his legs around, regarding her thoughtfully, "You know the dangers of magic-wielding, don't you?"
She nodded shortly, "But that's not the poin--"
"Well, there's your answer. It's staring at you right in the face and you refuse to accept it as the horrid truth," snorting impatiently, he walked over, pulled his door open wide and ushered her out, "Look, leave the rest to me and those kids Raine told me never to trust. Make yourself useful by keeping an eye out for Raine. She's bound to walk in one day while I'm gone."
He closed the door in her surprised face and there was a moment of shocked silence before she began to hammer on his door rather loudly; the fact that it didn't break was a mystery to him but he didn't dwell on it for long.
Ignoring the shouting completely, he dumped a couple of things into his schoolbag, discarding all educational material in the process. Deciding that was all he needed, he climbed out the window, closed it and somehow managed to scale down the side of his house without breaking his neck.
Stretching, Dark made his way towards the school. He would have to do a little bit of his own look-around before the appointed time, as well as the fact that he now had to convince Daisuke and Satoshi to accompany him in something most definitely suicidal.
Ah well, that was just how life worked.
Now… there had to be a payphone somewhere…
000
Ring ring ring ring ring ring…
One part of Satoshi's brain told him it was the alarm clock and to throw it out the window, but the other noted that he didn't even use an alarm clock anymore, and even if he did, it was located in his bedroom and he was sitting in the living room.
Well, that wasn't exactly correct, seeing as he was now sprawled on the couch after reading too much and dropping off before he knew it so… well, what was the point of all this?
Ring ring ring ring ring…
Right, something had woken him up and was now bugging the hell out of him. Rubbing his eyes and pulling his glasses off, the blunette blinked blearily at nothing in particular as the something kept ringing.
It was a couple of seconds later that he worked out that it was the phone.
"Dammit…" he muttered, shoving his glasses back on, stumbling over to the hallway, and finally locating the machinery. He was about to throw it out the window, or at least into a wall, but as it came off the hook, he noticed Dark's voice.
"Anyone there? Hello--" yup, he was as annoying as ever.
"What?" Satoshi asked, stifling a yawn.
"I'm asking you and Daisuke to skip school, what else?" was the reply, in which he was now very, very confused, "Look, I've already called him and he's agreed, so just wait by the school gates. We have a lot to talk about."
Sapphire eyes shifted over to the coffee table located in the living room, which was strewn with papers everywhere, "Yes… we do have a lot to talk about. Okay, I'll be there."
"Great, thanks!"
There was a click as Dark hung up and Satoshi yawned. Great… they just never got a moment's peace… seriously.
000
I actually don't know where I wanted this to go. So it went on its own and I just typed. And this is the end result. Bleh…
Oh yes: Dark - denial, denial, denial XD
Hakudoshi-chan: lol, I didn't even think of that XD But then again, Rush is kinda like an old-ish man… uhm… elf-dude. I still have to work out his personality :P I can't believe I updated…
neko-nya: Poor review button from… four months back about XD wow, it's been that long? Well… I've done worse… I think… kidnap-ing-ness--! And then everyone is doomed XD
Koway Oceshia: Cliffy. Cliffy-running-off-ness. And we have yet to meet Dark's parents (dang, I knew I was missing something XO). I'd update sooner… but my brain doesn't like me… XD
Everto Angelus: She disappeared XP On with the story!... Kinda…
Makurayami Ookami: Hm… Krad's a strong-willed person (and probably just that tiny bit homicidal) and who wouldn't be annoyed?
Banzaiinu1: Thanks for the review (glomps) XD Glad you liked the rather-pointlessly-insane concept :) Hope you'll be back for more XD Although I am rather slow at updating… hrm…
eimiaj: At this point, I'm trying to make a bit more sense to everything I've already thrown in. And I think it's working… a bit. The pin's very… magical… (maybe I should add an explosive device to it? Nah…) Thanks for the review!