Agh, sorry for the lag in updates. Bunch a' messes to clean up with roommates moving out and schedules re-organizing. But now I'm back, so there.
Daisuke curled up against the mirror behind him, eyes squeezed shut tightly. He was trying to keep the sickening, rocking feeling currently occupying his lower stomach from spreading to the rest of his body. So far he'd been successful. But no matter what he did, he couldn't get over the dreams he'd had the night before: Satoshi's face, reflected a thousand times. Satoshi, Satoshi, Satoshi. Was that all he ever dreamed about anymore?
Ugh, I'm tired.
"I'll bet. After leaving me to get home by myself. You bastard."
Aw, that's not fair, Dai. I stole the earring, didn't I? Could you have done that yourself?
Daisuke sighed through his nose. "No." his mind recalled vividly the memory of the night before: Satoshi in the rain, Krad's voice, his confusion. All of last night's meeting had been confusing. He forced all the images upon Dark's consciousness in rapid succession.
He felt Dark's surprise. Satoshi followed you last night?
"Yeah. I don't get it. It was like… he was trying to protect me, but then he told me that you and I are the 'trigger' for him transforming. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me."
Well. That's interesting. Dark's mind whizzed. Krad… maybe he didn't know Krad was going to try and manifest. But it sounds like Krad hasn't manifested yet, or there would have been a lot more to worry about.
"So what do we do?" Daisuke groaned into his hands. He was perched on a closed toilet seat, feeling completely horrendous. He thought he might throw up at any moment, and he wanted to be good and near a toilet when he did. They'd only just gotten to the hotel they were supposed to stay at, and they'd had to take a boat to get there. Boats always made him nauseous.
Dunno, kid. Just keep a sharp lookout.
"That's helpful," Daisuke said sarcastically. There was a banging on the bathroom door suddenly and some bumping noises. It sounded as if two elephants were forcing their way into the room. Daisuke leveraged himself against the wall, then to the door, and opened it to peek outside.
"Hey, Niwa! We're goin' to the beach!" Takeshi. Just the person he wanted to see. He gave another groan. His mother had given him a notice card to release to the police, and if he didn't do it by tonight then she'd probably be frantic.
He looked outside the door to see two of his classmates lugging all of Takeshi's suitcases into the room. He had quite a lot of them. Takeshi suddenly turned and barked out commands at them: "Subara, put that one on the left! Sakameshi, you retard, that's Daisuke's bed. Mine's over there." This complete, he grinned at Daisuke as if he were proud of himself. "So are you coming or not?" he asked.
"No," Daisuke said sadly, though he wanted nothing more than to spend time with Riku in a bikini. But that, he was sure, would cause him to transform, and he couldn't afford to blow his cover when he was so far from home. "I have to… do something."
"Right, like meet Riku for some quick action?" Takeshi said with a straight face. Dark burst out laughing inside Daisuke's mind, and Daisuke himself turned a very ungainly shade of red. As if we'd even gotten that far, he thought to himself. He didn't remember what he said in reply, he was so flustered, but Takeshi left, leaving Daisuke to change out of his clothes and into something lighter. The weather was hot here.
Ten minutes later Daisuke stood at the foot of an enormous iron pole, intricately decorated, with a small statue perched at the very top. It wasn't very high even though it was wide, only about ten feet tall or so, and he could feel Dark's irritation practically dripping from his voice. Emiko wants me to steal this? It's not even worth a warning note. Nobody would care about something so stupid out in the middle of nowhere.
"Well, we don't have a choice," Daisuke growled. "I'm gonna get ready." He was still slightly ticked off that he couldn't go to the beach with the rest of the class.
It felt as if an icy finger had trickled down his neck. "Did you feel that?" he asked, pausing dead on the spot. Dark shifted uneasily. I think we're being watched.
"Think it's the artwork?" Daisuke eyed the statue.
No. It's probably nothing.
Daisuke shrugged it off. Whatever it was, it would have to wait: he had a mission to complete.
Darkness had fallen now, and the stars were beginning to sparkle beautifully. He couldn't pay much attention to the scenery at the moment, though otherwise he would have found it fascinating. He focused on the small ball of fluff in his hands: "Hey, Wiz?" he called. He'd found the little creature napping just outside the door of the hotel in a bush, and prodded it to try and wake it up. Sleepily it stretched out both legs and then rose up with a shimmer, quickly becoming a pair of wings as Daisuke relinquished control of his body to Dark.
There. Feel that?
Another chill. "Something's definitely watching us. But that's all it's doing." Dark bent his head low and walked calmly out of the main pavilion and off towards the docksides, where the statue was. Nobody saw them, of course: nobody ever noticed Dark when he didn't want them to.
"This thing… it's like I can feel what's inside it, now that I'm actually looking at it," Dark said. "Can't you, Dai?"
Not really. To me it just feels like a--- he suddenly found himself being pushed back into the furthest recesses of Dark's mind, all contact between them cut off in a split second as a mental 'block' rose. Dark, the hell are you doing? He shouted angrily, to no reply.
There was someone standing at the edge of the dock. Dark half-turned, making no move at first. Daisuke couldn't tell what he was thinking anymore, and he didn't even recognize the figure until Dark spoke.
"Here to stop us, Hiwatari?"
Daisuke hadn't seen Satoshi much, and he'd assumed that the two of them would be keeping a low profile this far from home. But now he realized that that had been a possibly fatal mistake. The less chance there was of Daisuke receiving aid from his mother or grandfather, the more Satoshi would naturally want to try and capture him.
"No. I only want you."
Dark snickered, but the laughing came to an abrupt halt when Satoshi held up something in his hand: a small mirror, the depths of which were inky black and the rims adorned with silver trim. It was a beautiful thing, naturally, but Daisuke could feel the waves of power flowing from it without even trying.
"Now return." This was said in a completely stoic, uncaring tone.
There was a sudden violent twisting jerk, and Daisuke felt as if he were being torn completely in half down the middle. He screamed with the pain of it, clutching himself as if he didn't want to lose part of his body. Fire burned away at every inch of him, melting his skin, the muscle underneath, charring the bones---
---he was flung backwards and hit a wall. He was no longer watching from Dark's perspective; he was back in his own body. But how? No… Dark had gotten sucked into the mirror somehow. He was gone! There was a blurry vacancy inside him where the thief's presence had been.
The next few minutes were a blur. He knew he was slipping into unconsciousness. He felt a blissfully cool hand on his burning forehead. "I'm sorry," a voice whispered. "Satoshi…why here..?" he said weakly, trying to force his body to move. But no luck. Daisuke sagged against the pavestones, his eyelids fluttering. There was a sudden intake of air from Satoshi, and then some kind of snarling noise.
Wait a second, he knew that sound! It was Wiz.
Wiz launched himself at the figure before him, trying to sink his teeth into the figure's arm. The figure, however, merely batted the ball of fur away before he even got close enough to touch. Wiz sprawled off against the pole and sank down with a high-pitched shriek of pain.
"Again we meet." A hand passed into his narrow tunnel of vision, and his brain cleared, just a little, as he accepted the hand offered to him and was pulled to his feet shakily. His face was cut down one cheek and was bleeding, he knew, but he could only look up at this new person in complete and total wonder. He was like Dark, really, but not so much identical as alike in facial features. They had the same delicate bone structure. But his hair was bright, bright gold, so lustrous that it seemed as if it were really spun gold. Wasn't there a fairytale about spun gold…?
But his eyes. They were yellow, narrowed like a cat's, and completely devoid of feeling. These were the eyes Daisuke had seen the night before. He shuddered and tried to pull away from Krad's grip, but was drawn towards his warm body. He realized that an arm was encircling his neck and tightening with every second; slowly, like a snake squeezing the life out of its prey.
"And now you die."
Dark, where are you?
(I'm in the mirror! The earring, it sucked me in!)
For God's sake, help me! This is happening too fast!
"…Why…?" he asked, his teeth clenching as he tried to suck in as much air as he could. His lungs were being deprived, he knew, and soon his brain and heart would begin to die if he didn't get free. He struggled in Krad's grip, even though he knew it was futile. Those eyes left no room for negotiations. They did whatever the hell they wanted and didn't stop to think twice.
"My Tamer's in love with you. You're. In. My. Way." With each of the last words, Krad tightened his grip even more, clearly attempting to snap Daisuke's spinal column. A second passed in which Daisuke gave up all hope of living, a sickening red passing over his eyes, and then there was a burst of movement and Krad stumbled to the side, his hold relinquishing as he gave a feral snarl.
"Dark Mousy!" he shouted, and his fury was electric. Daisuke sucked in a deep breath, snatched the mirror out of Krad's other hand, and threw himself over the banister of the dock, into the water. "WIZ!" he shouted, hoping to God that the creature wasn't dead.
He hit the cold water with a shock and sank down. He couldn't swim up, not in this condition.
And sank.
Satoshi… why is he doing this to me?
Further…
I can't do this by myself! I'm going to die here! Panic overwhelmed him and his oxygen supply was running out quickly. The mirror in his hand grew unbearably hot and then cold again: though he'd thought nothing more could surprise him, he felt himself being lifted up, out of the water… flying, even.
Wait. Flying?
Wiz wasn't dead after all. The air actually tasted sweet as Daisuke rose up again, past Krad, who was looking into the water with a smug expression on his face. This smugness dropped off and was replaced with livid fury as he unleashed an attack at Daisuke. It missed, and Daisuke fluttered down to land on the top of the banister.
"Satoshi," he said, almost pleading, "I know you're in there. Tell me how to get Dark out of here."
Krad laughed.
"Satoshi! Damnit, come out!" A strain of terror entered his voice.
"He can't hear you." Krad's hand shot out and a bolt of energy hit Daisuke in the chest, sending him sailing over the railing once more. He coughed this time, and dragged himself to the surface. He'd been almost expecting to get hit again, and so he'd tucked in his head at the last moment and hadn't lost any air hitting the surface.
He clawed his way back to the surface of the water, gulped air, and then began to swim his way to shore. It wasn't very far, only a few yards, but Wiz was still attached to his back in wing form and the wings dragged in the water, serving only to pull him down further.
He crawled up on the shore and looked back to the dock. There was no sign of Krad. Maybe Satoshi had regained control? Please, God, let him be okay.
Daisuke's arms were beginning to numb a little from the cold, and he was soaked to the bone, but that was okay. He wasn't focusing on the cold or the wet right now so much as that he was fuckin' tired and if he didn't get somewhere safe soon then Krad might come back.
He began almost-limping towards the hotel, silently praying that Dark would be okay for a little while inside the mirror. He was a phantom, right? He could live outside Daisuke's body, he hoped.
Two hands forced him to stop as they clamped onto his waist. "Dark!" a high pitched voice said from behind him.
Riku! His heart ceased beating. When had she gotten down here? Had she seen him? Did she know who he was? Had she seen him transform…?
…And started again. No, only Risa. Not Riku at all.
"Dark!" she said again. "Please, I really want to tell you how I feel about you!"
Daisuke's wings dragged behind him, dripping water and flapping weakly as they tried to dry themselves. Poor Wiz. He must have been having a hell of a night. Daisuke regretfully shook Risa off, still not looking at her. She thinks I'm Dark—but I don't have time for this. She'll figure out who I am. And then, just as he had the day before after Riku had kissed him, he sprinted down the beach, leaving her behind, looking more shocked than ever. He wondered how she had gotten down onto the beach, anyhow.
As he rounded the corner and stopped to pause for breath, the blood rushed to his head, and he closed his eyes, leaning against a wall and pressing his tongue to the roof of his mouth determinedly. He wasn't going to die, not here. Though his arm hurt slightly, he knew it wasn't broken or busted, and he was only bleeding in a few places. His skin stung from the saltwater, and he was going to be one giant bruise in the morning, he was sure of it.
Everything closed in on him at once. It was like he was in a giant tunnel, and the exit was nothing more than a pinprick of light. He didn't want to die, he thought belatedly, his knees crumpling as the feeling of faintness landed on him.
I hope no-one finds me, he thought to himself. And then: I hope Dark's alive in there.
He tried to keep his vision from spiraling as it faded out, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't keep anything solid for long.
He felt a hand touching his face, and then someone lifting him.
I hope it isn't Krad, he thought before he went out.