"Aomi! What are you doing?" Eden cried not wanting to believe his eyes. But Aomi didn't answer. Instead the knife came down and Eden froze unable to move to stop the blade from ripping into his heart. As he felt the tip of the blade touch his chest the entire scene melted away before him and he realized that he was no longer in bed but in some alleyway with Aomi curled up at his feet. He took in a couple of deep breaths and put his hand to his chest relieved that there was no knife there. He then bent down to help Aomi up.
"Are you okay?" Aomi asked him looking up as she felt Eden put his arms around her to help her up.
"Yes, what about you?" Eden said pulling her to her feet.
Aomi could only nod. "I could see the two of us. I was watching from above." She finally managed to explain. It had taken all her will power to pull herself back into her own body and stop the dream like fantasy. Fatigue from the exertion of getting back into her body began to weigh her down and her knees buckled. Eden caught her before she fell back to the ground.
"Aomi, the bracelet, where is it?" Eden asked not waiting for an answer as he checked her wrists. He found it on her left and tried to slip it off but it didn't budge. The bracelet was embedded into Aomi's skin. He tried to take it off again but it was no use.
"How did..." but he was cut off by someone yelling Aomi's name. The two of them looked toward the entrance of the alleyway and saw Rio standing there.
"Rio!" Aomi exclaimed surprised to see her brother. Then she remembered she was with Eden. She looked back and forth between the two. She saw the dislike and mistrust in their eyes as they stared at each other.
"Aomi, let's go," Rio said sternly beckoning her to him with his hand.
"Rio, I can explain," Aomi started to say as Rio began to walk toward her and Eden when she didn't come along with him as he had wanted.
"I said, let's go," Rio told her again pulling her roughly away from Eden by her arm.
"Rio, calm down," Aomi said surprised at how rough he was being.
"Shut up," he told her as turned to Eden. "Stay away from her, you should know better than to get near anyone with that creature you hold inside you."
The words cut Eden deep but he didn't let it show when he responded, "And you think Dark is any different."
"Just stay away from her," Rio demanded turning away and pulling Aomi after him.
"Rio, stop, you're hurting me," Aomi exclaimed as his fingers dug deeper in her arm. "And who are you to tell people who they can or can not see," she added angry with him for getting in her personal business.
"You should have told Rio you didn't need him to pick you up. You couldn't wait until I was gone, could you?" He asked looking her in the eye. Aomi gasped when she realized who it was.
"Dark!" She said under her breath. She didn't know he could take over Rio's body like this if he wanted.
"And of all people, you had to choose him," he continued looking away from her. She could hear the anger and hurt in his voice. She knew she should feel guilty but she didn't. Instead, she was a little amused by his jealousy.
"You have no right to be jealous," Aomi soothed in a cool tone. "You don't own me. And if I choose to sleep with Eden and not you, that's my choice. He was a better lover than you would have been."
Dark, turned around to look at Aomi through Rio's eyes, not believing what he had just heard her say. He couldn't speak, he could only stare, and he realized it wasn't Aomi, it was that stranger he had briefly glimpsed the other night that was looking at him now.
"Let me go," she demanded and placed her hand on his and ripped it away from her arm. As Aomi stood there, still clutching his hand, he felt the build up of power and quickly transformed back into his body to protect Rio from it. He was just in time because just as he did so he was thrown back into a pile of empty boxes that were stacked up against the wall of a building.
The force of the blow wasn't enough to hurt Dark but he was amazed by the fact that Aomi was able to produce such power. He pulled himself out of the boxes and stared at her in shock.
"Aomi, how did..." Dark started to say before Aomi interrupted him.
"Aomi doesn't exist anymore," she told him icily. "And neither will the two of you when I've reached my full power," she added as she turned from Dark and ran out of the alley.
"Aomi!" Dark called out trying to reach for her before she got away but she was too fast. He heard feet pounding the pavement behind him and he turned around to see Eden coming towards him. As Eden got closer Dark saw him pull his arm back with his fist clenched tight and didn't react in time to avoid the punch. Dark fell to the ground and Eden was soon on top of him clenching his shirt and ready to hit him again. Dark stopped him by grabbing onto his wrist and kicked Eden off.
"It was you that gave her that bracelet, wasn't it?" Eden growled breathing heavily as he sat on the ground.
"So," Dark responded, not understanding what Eden was getting at. "What of it?"
"That's just like you, never thinking about the consequences of your actions. Did you even check to make sure that bracelet wasn't a piece of Hikari artwork?" Eden yelled.
"If you're family didn't make such dangerous art, this would never have happened," Dark shot back.
Dark! Rio yelled out even louder than he had been for the last minute in order to get Dark's attention.
"What?" Dark yelled back at him out loud.
My sister, have you forgotten about her? Rio cried exasperated.
"Oh, yeah," Dark said sheepishly.
"What is it? Rio upset that you haven't gone after Aomi yet," Eden said sarcastically.
"Shut up," Dark told him as he ran to the street with Eden following close behind him. They looked up and down the street but she was already gone.
"Where would she go and what's the deal with this bracelet?" Dark asked worried for Aomi.
"I'm not sure. All I know is that it was made by an artist for his lover, she was his muse, and it was broken during an argument between the two," Eden answered wishing he did know more.
"I'll fly above and look for her. Why don't you see if you can find out anything more about that bracelet?" Dark suggested hesitantly. He wasn't sure if Eden would be willing to take any orders from him.
"Yeah, sure," Eden agreed for Aomi's sake. He was scared for her and of what she could be capable of that they didn't even know about yet. "Just don't make yourself so obvious up there."
"I am the Phantom Thief, Dark. I'm sure I can manage," Dark smirked.
"You don't need to impress me," Eden muttered watching as Dark took off down the alley.
