DISCLAIMERS: I don't own DNAngel, or anything else. Understood? I'm sur you do... and, no, I don't own my brain either. It owns me.
WARNINGS: Uh... evil to such well-loved characters.
--- Darkened Heart ---
--- 4 ---
Complete silence blanketed the entire area, surrounding the two people in the single room. Besides the aura Daisuke could feel being emitted from the paintings and various artworks, it almost seemed that the entire world had gone still: died, before reality had descended upon them. Something about the thought made him sick and he wanted to run, to escape from whoever it was. But it was clear that his body was refusing to listen to him and he remained frozen on the spot, unable to make a sound.
The person clearly hesitated for a moment, before taking a pace forward. Because of the sudden appearance of even brighter light glaring into his eyes, the redhead couldn't get his eyes to adjust and merely kept silent.
"What are you doing here?" asked the person in a low voice.
"Wha--?" the word left Daisuke's throat before he even knew he was doing so, and, suddenly getting the feel of his legs, stumbled back a bit, while the person continued to advance on him. In the back of his mind something told him to run and hide from whoever it was, but still his body wouldn't function properly and he could only just move.
"I thought that you wouldn't be up until at least the afternoon."
"Eh?" at this, he stopped and waited for his eyes to adjust properly. The person stopped as well, as the redhead fell silent, but remained confused, if not apprehensive. The glare that had been affecting his eyes dimmed back and allowed him to take in the other person's features.
The person was a boy, not much older than him, Daisuke guessed, although he was considerably taller and had light blue hair and cold azure eyes, which were covered by the glasses he wore. His clothes were also different from the people who lived there as well, he noticed, and seemed fairly modern and plain, like it had been for him before he was forced to run away from the chains of society: after their deaths and the loss of everything.
"Are you alright? Niwa Daisuke-kun," the boy asked, his voice changing into a less intimidating tone as the redhead merely stared in silence.
"Ah..." he started hesitantly, "Um... I..." (Who...?)
"Hiwatari-kun?" Akane appeared from the door that Daisuke had used to enter, "I thought I heard you entering, but when you didn't arrive at the meeting, I was beginning to wonder what had... Ah, are you already better, Niwa-kun?"
"Akane-san!" Daisuke spun around to see the girl, who had just entered the scene.
"Takada, I thought you were at the meeting," the blue-haired boy stated coolly, but she shrugged it off without too much trouble before joining the still surprised redhead.
"Farea agreed on setting up another illusion to get me out of that stuffy room," she explained, "He hates it too, but unless we get another one to put up an illusion of him, I don't think it will be happening anytime soon. And you're late."
"I have my reasons."
"So you've met Niwa-kun in person?" Akane nodded towards Daisuke before turning back to the other, "Niwa-kun, this is Hiwatari Satoshi-kun. He's the one that found you and brought you here. He rarely comes, even for meetings, so this is a bit of a surprise."
"Ah... Ah! Sorry!" Daisuke bowed, blushing at the sudden realisation, "I didn't know that you were... uhm... thanks for everything..."
"It's okay," because the redhead couldn't see his face, Satoshi smiled slightly, but his voice remained neutral and unemotional, "You have been through a lot, though, haven't you? After the revelation of your power, your family and leaving your friends, as well as--"
"Did you hear something about his cousin?" Akane raised an eyebrow, and Daisuke jerked his head up instantly.
"Did you hear about Dark?" he asked and the blue-haired boy shrugged slightly before replying.
"There has been no trace of him since you escaped that night," he said evenly, not looking at the distressed yet curious redhead, "He has either fled completely, in hiding, or dead."
"Dark... he wouldn't die..." Daisuke whispered, his eyes suddenly coming to life, "I just know he wouldn't."
"But Niwa-kun, why were you here in the first place?" questioned Akane, only then just taking in all the details of their first meeting, "You were supposed to stay in your room until we were certain you were fully recovered." The redhead looked at the floor for a moment, hesitant on answering, but it was obvious that neither of the two would let him off lightly.
"Uhm... I was just... I just wanted to go for a walk, since... everyone was at the meeting and... no one was explaining what was in it, so..." he mumbled with a large number of uncertain spaces where it wasn't necessary, "And I just ended up here..."
"And you managed to come here, from your room, without anyone showing you the way?" asked Satoshi, walking over to join them and Daisuke swallowed nervously – not sure of the consequences – and nodded. He failed to notice the nod that passed between the blue-haired boy and Akane and only looked up when he felt a hand placed on his shoulder. His amber eyes met with cool azure ones, which, beneath the icy exterior, seemed to hold an inner comforting interior.
"Are you sure you came here on your own?" Satoshi asked slowly, almost like he was talking to a small confused child.
"Of course," answered Daisuke and heard Akane sigh.
"Niwa-kun, when was the first time you noticed something strange within you?" she inquired softly, "The first time you found yourself as an individual from others."
"I only knew about what was inside of me when I turned thirteen," he replied, confused with her strange attitude, "And that was about a little over a year back."
"But that wasn't the first time you noticed the... power in you," stated Satoshi, still looking down at the smaller boy.
"... I was attacked by a weird monster when I was seven," Daisuke mumbled, voice barely above a whisper, "I can't remember what happened exactly, but I think that was the first..."
"No wonder," the blue-haired boy said, although more to himself than to anyone else.
"Why? Is something wrong?" perplexed, he could only stare questioningly at the two, but they merely shook their heads as a reply.
"Niwa-kun, I think you should just stay in your room for a while," Akane suggested, still in a softer voice than usual, "I know that you probably have more questions than you should have, but... we'll talk about it later, okay?"
"..."
"We can talk about it later," Satoshi repeated firmly, and Daisuke finally nodded, "I'll take you back to your room and then I'll go to the meeting."
Akane gave her own nod of approval before leaving the two boys on their own, and the redhead allowed himself to be partly dragged back to his room, his mind in complete turmoil, confusion and doubt, rolling together into one big feeling to utter disorder.
(Is there something about me that I need to know?) he wondered, (And... what's so special about me, anyway? And Dark, where is he...)
(Don't worry about your cousin,) the voice in his head persisted, (He'll be back sooner than you think.)
(And how do you know that?) asked the redhead.
(Because I'm you.)
(What?)
He was greeted with silence once more and only came back to life when Satoshi opened the door to his room. Once the blue-haired boy was gone from sound and sight, Daisuke sat on his bed, unable to relax.
(I need to find out what's going on...) he thought.
--
As Satoshi left the redhead, he couldn't help but notice the power within the smaller boy: something that was strong, powerful and uncontrollable...
"Hiwatari-san, everyone is waiting for you," Elena said pointedly as she saw him approach. He nodded in acknowledgement before entering the room that she was standing by.
It was a small box-shaped enclosure with a circular table in the center and seats surrounded it, occupied by a number of people – males and females – and they all turned as he came in. Leah smiled at him and waved, while the others seemed more mutinous and his mind tugged faintly that something wasn't right. Satoshi bowed courteously at Celes, who was sitting up front, and she returned the gesture curtly.
"Might I inquire to what is going on?" he asked as he took a seat, away from the others.
"Well, we're talking about Dark, the cousin to Niwa Daisuke," Kain explained from the opposite end of the table, "Seems like you know a bit about the matter, don't you, Hiwatari? Since you found Niwa in the first place..."
"It was purely coincidental," Satoshi corrected him smoothly, "And what do you know about this Dark? Do we know about his origins and bloodlines?"
"Not enough to work by," Zeike said, "Farea hasn't left this hideout since last week. So we can't get anymore than what we have."
"Which is?" the blue-haired boy asked impatiently.
"As much as you know," Zeike shrugged, "He's being chased as well, since Niwa is, and he vanished the same night you found him. It seems that he holds a pretty good knowledge on the city he lives in since he lost the people chasing him pretty easily without resorting to something more drastic."
"... So there was no trace of him?" Satoshi asked.
Akane stared blankly at the people around her before speaking up, "Despite this, we have to remember the real reason why we're all here: to fight the evil that's approaching us. Raine, has there been any other reports on this thriving darkness?"
Raine, who was a younger girl stood up and cleared her throat importantly; "There have been many small disturbances, followed by a large path of destruction, but Ryu and I don't think that the Darkness won't be around for a while. We can keep our hopes up, but--"
"-- But we can't get too calm," Ryu, Raine's twin, finished, "It's unpredictable, and I think the number of monsters appearing has increased considerably over the past few months."
"So what are we to do?" asked Celes, "We are still not strong enough to fight the evil on our own, and with so many against the power we hold..."
"We'll find a way," Akane cut in, "Now, I'm leaving Kain with the preparations. Hiwatari-kun and I need to supervise the transferring of the elemental powers. When they're free you never know what will happen next."
"... Very well," the Priestess seemed fairly disappointed with the younger girl's decision, but knew better than to go against it: Akane and Satoshi, along with Kain, were the three who had begun to entire deal with the helping of supernatural powers and held the most power over the others. Despite this, they rarely acted so and gave fair ground all the time unless they had to step in, which was a rare case.
The entire meeting dispersed without another word amongst themselves until they had left the room. Celes gave the last two members pointed looks before she swept gracefully away into the swallowing corridors. Akane heaved a sigh and Satoshi frowned at her.
"We both know that the twins take care of the elemental balance," he said curtly, "Celes isn't going to believe that."
"Of course," she agreed vaguely as she closed the door after a brief glance outside to make sure that no one was there, "But when Niwa-kun managed to find a way into that room, without any sort of assistance... you felt it too, right?"
"Yes," the blue-haired boy replied, "It was nothing that I had felt before. Is this what we are really looking for? Clearly he has enough problems to deal with as it is."
"He's lost everyone he cares for," Akane pursed her lips, "And we need to make sure as well. You're right, Hiwatari-kun, we can't help him with his mental problems, but if you really did hear of news about Dark..."
"Even living outside of this place I don't get enough information," Satoshi cut in, "But there have been certain reports about that particular one... He could be closer than you think."
"Do you have to speak in riddles as well?" she huffed, "Clearly Niwa-kun wants an explanation and we both know that he was drawn to that room from the power within him, since no one can go there in the first try, save yourself. And that other one..."
"Are you coming or not?"
"Sure, I'm not complaining."
Arguing among themselves had become second nature to the two, since they knew each other from the age of twelve. The joint power of Akane's spells and Satoshi's intelligence, the two had found more depth about their world and the 'gates' that were split.
The blue-haired boy went ahead, as they lapsed into silence, their own minds moving at their own pace to try and find out what they really wanted. Once they arrived at Daisuke's door, Leah, who was clearly out of breath, interrupted them both.
"Akane... Satoshi..." she panted, "We just got... a report... we found... monsters clearing section T12... attacking someone... you have to..."
Satoshi took charge instantly, "See if you can get the Hit Squad into the area and we'll be there."
Leah nodded before dashing off again, and he turned as he heard the door squeak open. He didn't bother to turn; "He's not there."
"Hiwatari-kun..." Akane drawled, with a hint of impatience in her voice, "I'm suspecting that you know the reason behind this?"
"If you want an explanation, then stop asking questions," Satoshi replied, "And we need to return to that room. Niwa's already there."
"And that's what annoys me about you," she muttered, more to herself than anyone else as she followed after the blue-haired boy once more, "You keep too much to yourself."
--
The redhead was crouching, staring deeply into the hues and shades of the picture and completely marveled by its beauty. Unable to find the answers to his questions, Daisuke had returned to the room, which seemed to be bathed in warmth and comfort. He sighed.
(Why won't anyone tell me what's going on?) he asked himself, (Why won't they tell me anything? Is there something about me that they're... scared of?)
His memory of the people who chased him resurfaced for a moment and he shuddered.
(I can't think about that,) he thought, (But I need someone to answer my questions.)
The picture he was staring into seemed to be fairly old fashioned, which red and brown overwhelmed the other colours and Daisuke could feel the warmth and power inside of it. He didn't know if it was possible that the paintings were alive, but he was beyond caring.
"A power that cannot be controlled..." he said softly.
"True," replied another voice and the redhead fell over in surprise.
"Wha-?!"
"You can feel the power in them?" Satoshi asked as he stood behind Daisuke. The smaller boy swallowed nervously and nodded.
"Is that... is that a problem?" he managed to ask without stumbling over his words. He heard Akane cluck her tongue as she bent over him for a moment.
"You removed your bandages," she said.
"Um..." Daisuke blinked. It was only then that he remembered that he had indeed removed the bandages that had been constricting his movement ever since the time he'd woken up completely recovered.
"I guess you're fine then," Akane couldn't help but smile at the obviously confused redhead, but it faded almost at once as Satoshi inclined his head, "But that's besides the point. Were you drawn to this room yet again?"
"'Drawn'...?" he shook his head, "I was just a bit impatient sitting alone and this room reminds me of home quite a lot... my family used to paint pictures like these... and I can feel the same power in them as well."
"Yes, the Niwa clan were one of the few who could do such a thing," Satoshi muttered under his breath.
"What?" Daisuke asked instantly.
"Nothing."
"But we just got a report on a monster attack," Akane slipped in, her eyes narrowing, "And we want you to come with us. You'll have to change, of course. Undergo a bit of undercover work so that no one can identify you."
"Eh? Monster attack?" the redhead repeated in a perplexed tone.
"You have encountered one once," Satoshi nodded, "They used to be a rare occurrence, but it seems that something between the different lines of worlds is broken, so we have to deal with these mutations of nature."
"...?" his mind not working, Daisuke could only blink innocently and stare at the other two.
"We'll explain it all later," the blue-haired boy finally decided to say after a moment of silence, "Now come on; I'm sure we can find something to fit you."
"I'll meet you at the entrance, then" Akane called before she moved off towards another room, "Try not to take too long, or we're bound to face the losing side, if not the dangerous clash between them, if you don't remember."
Satoshi merely nodded curtly at her words before getting up, hauling Daisuke with him in the process, "It won't be long."
She returned the single gesture and disappeared into the other room close by, muttering to herself in a low voice so that no one could understand her.
"Hiwatari-kun," as he found himself dragged once more, the smaller boy couldn't help but question Satoshi, "Why do I have to go? I mean... if this is a monster raid of some sort... isn't it a bit dangerous for me? I could get in the way or something..."
"You possess a power stronger than most," replied the taller boy coolly, "And the monsters seem to be getting stronger each time we encounter them, so it makes it harder for us to deal with them.
"You've fought them before?"
"Yes. Since the time life was created, darkness has been a part of it, as we all know," Satoshi couldn't help but shake his head slightly before continuing to speak. By this time Daisuke was clinging to his every word, "But there is definitely a reason for you coming with us, of course:
"The monsters are attacking someone, and we may need your help."
----
Yah, and now it's getting interesting, isn't it? Ah... what a life we live in... I'm having fun making everyone confused, are you having fun being confused??? Anyway, we're getting to more interesting parts (I think) so let's just see what we have here...
-- Reviewer Replies!
-Staryday: Let's just say that I have a soft spot for them... plus it saves me from making more names and descriptions and special abilities and all. Guess I'm a bit lazy. And sorry that it wasn't Dark, but three guesses what next! Still need to find a way to put Krad in there though... I guess I didn't really think of him when I started this, but... he'll be there. I can't leave him behind or he'll kill me. So many death threats... thanks for the review! And uh... a cookie? What type do you want?
-Clarence Hikari: Glad you liked it! Don't know where I got the idea, but it's there! Uhm... you can have this little plush thingy... don't know what it is... thanks for the review!