A/N: I'd like to thank all the gorgeous people who reviewed the last chapter, and I really hope you enjoy reading this chapter. I really need to write more often and stop letting Phoenix Wright take over my soul. But... then again, Phoenix Wright ownzors. ;)


Chapter 33: Darkness

"What the…?" Hwoarang's voice echoes around the room as he grabs the door handle, wrenching on it. It doesn't budge, and I'm just starting towards him to help when I hear slow footsteps coming from the darkened corridor behind me.

I turn around slowly, eyes straining to see through the darkness. The footsteps get closer, and Hwoarang's by my side, having abandoned the door for now.

"Do you hear…?" I trail off. I can just about see the outline of someone's small frame, and before I can digest this information, the newcomer falls to their knees, just near enough to the light for me to make out their face. It's a woman with her hair in a long braid, and she reminds me of the girl with the headdress from the tournament.

"Hey!" I hurry over, catching her before she collapses. "Are you okay?"

"I… I'm still… alive…" she breathes, opening her eyes to look at me.

"What happened?"

"My pendant…"

"Did you lose it?"

"It's the key…"

Okay. She's not making sense. I turn to Hwoarang expectantly, but he looks as clueless as me.

"What's your name?" I ask her, though it really doesn't matter.

"Michelle, but I have to - "

She stops suddenly, gasping in horror, her eyes focused on something behind us. I turn, standing up, and my blood turns to ice. I can feel a sort of paralysis set in as my eyes take in the thing that's standing in front of the temple doors.

"What the fuck is this?" Hwoarang asks lowly. I can pick up a slight waver in his voice, and that scares me almost more than that thing does.

Thing… Creature… I can't think of any other way to describe it. It looks human, but the sheer… power that radiates from it is enough to tell me it's anything but.

"What... Who…?"

Toshin.

I let out a squeak of surprise. The thing never moves its lips, but I can hear its voice in my head, clear as day. How can that be possible…?

It is immaterial.

Its eyes burn crimson in the gloom, and suddenly there's a crushing pressure around my throat. I stare into its gleaming eyes in confusion, my brain trying to make sense of the fact that it's now in front of me and I didn't even see it lunge towards me, didn't even hear its footsteps as it moved. How could it be possible, if I didn't see it? My vision's going blurry and somewhere far away I can hear my own strangled gasps for air, and I desperately want to grab its wrist, sink my fingernails into its hand, draw blood and pry myself free, but somehow I can hardly summon the energy to struggle. It's as though Toshin's very touch is draining the life out of me.

"Xiao!"

I can just make out the sound of Hwoarang's voice, a second later the sound of an impact, and then the hand around my neck is gone. I crumple to my hands and knees, feeling like I'm about to cough my insides up and gasping for breath at the same time, limbs trembling with the simple task of holding my body upright.

"Xiao, run!"

I look up angrily, still with enough energy to get annoyed at him playing the hero, but the protest dies on my lips as I see the fear in his eyes. And somehow I know that it's not fear for himself, his life, his safety. It's fear for me.

Toshin has recovered, and it draws itself to its full height, eyes narrowed.

Very well. You wish to be the first, do you?

"All talk, are you?" Hwoarang snaps. "Come on."

"D-Don't let it touch you!" I choke, getting shakily to my feet. I stumble towards Michelle, grabbing her wrist and pulling her with me down the corridor. There's a sharp turn to the left, and I can see the glimmer of glass windows in the next chamber. My legs can hardly support me. That chamber is as good a place as any to stop and rest. I just hope Hwoarang doesn't…

No. He'll be fine. He's Hwoarang.

The windows allow me a glimpse of the sky outside, and the stars are still twinkling merrily above as I help Michelle over to a wall so she has something to support her.

"You… You're going to leave him?" She asks, in just the kind of accusatory tone that I expected.

I look away.

"I'd just end up in the way." You don't believe that.

"You think he's strong enough by himself?"

"He's stronger than me." But alone...?

"Does that mean you can't help?" I want to... but...

I turn to her, trying my best to keep the tears at bay.

"You saw what happened! I'm hardly fit to fight a Mokujin! Besides…" I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment until I'm sure I won't cry, then open them again. "He told me to run. He doesn't want me in any danger."

And then a memory springs into my head.

I'm fourteen again, stomping across the playing field at school to find my favourite spot, the place I go to when I need to sulk, because Ayumi made fun of my pigtails and the shape of my eyes. But when I turn the corner, there's a red headed boy sitting on the wall, long legs stretched out, and a cigarette halfway to his mouth. His hair's shorter than it is now, about an inch about his chin, messy and spiky and held out of his face by his biker goggles. I stop dead as his eyes meet mine, looking from him to the cigarette and back again.

"I'm not gonna put it out on you, if that's what you think."

I've seen him before, mostly doing something he shouldn't be, or getting a lecture from one of the form teachers a few years above me. Definitely trouble. And I don't really fancy getting made fun of again today. I stumble backwards, turn around, mutter an apology and start walking back towards school.

"Hey, kid. Where do you think you're going? You don't have to go just 'cause I'm here, y'know."

Kid. Another thing Ayumi likes to focus on. "Xiao looks like she still bottle feeds!" "Hey, Xiao, do you think you'll ever need a bra?"

"I'm not a kid!"

He laughs. "You sure look like one to me. How old're you? Ten? Eleven?"

"I'm fourteen!"

"Why are you crying?"

My hands fly to my face immediately, and I roughly wipe the tears away.

"I'm not!"

"O-kay."

He takes another drag on the cigarette, and I look down at the floor.

"How come… How come it's never good enough?"

"What isn't?"

"What I do. It's never right. There's always something that isn't good enough."

"I know." I look up in surprise. "I know what you mean."

"Xiaoyu?" Michelle's looking at me, concerned. "Are you okay?"

I don't answer. I'm too busy clambering to my feet and focusing my energies on running back down the corridor, the way we came, without my legs collapsing from under me. Ever since that day when I first became friends with Hwoarang, he's always looked out for me. I can't leave him to face Toshin by himself. Why did I ever think that I could?