Kao led them all to the spot where the Disaster Knights had 'attacked and kidnaped Himeno.' Directly in front of Sasame's radio station.
"It was right here. So now what?" Kao asked, his arms crossed over his chest. He was bored, but the others probably took it as impatience to find Himeno, concern, or anything else when one of your friends has gone missing. Kao pursed his lips together to keep from laughing out loud at the word friends. There was no way that he would actually care for these people.
"You sure it was here?" Sasame asked, slightly suspicious. "I would have sensed something, or at least heard you."
Kao stiffened slightly. He hadn't thought of that yet, but luckily, he could think on his feet. "It was a little after sunset and we were heading back for dinner. You had probably left by that time." Sasame nodded, accepting his explanation and Kao let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.
"So, what exactly happened to you and Himeno here?" Kei asked, leaning against a lamppost next to the curb. "We're not really going to find her just looking around this area now are we?"
"As I said, we were heading back to the mansion for dinner when the seven knights jumped out on us. Four of them attacked me, three attacked Himeno. They pushed us apart so we couldn't help each other out. Himeno was doing pretty good on her own, but she was outnumbered. They knocked her out, and then backed down. The Seven Disaster Knights had just attacked me so we couldn't pre't. They were distracting me. After that..." Kao shrugged. "They vanished." Damn that sounded retarded.
"The Disaster Knights?" Go asked. "How do you know they're called the Disaster Knight?" Damn, he was good. They bought all that?
Kao snapped his fingers, as if he had just remembered something important. "Oh yeah. My mother created them when I was little. They're only purpose is to seek revenge on the Leafe Knights. They must have headed back to the palace."
"Palace?" Mannen asked, "what palace?"
Hayate totally ignored Mannen's comment as he stormed up to Kao, not touching him, but their faces were dangerously close. "You mean, you know where they've been the entire time?" Hayate growled, keeping his voice eerily calm. Somehow, Kao thought it would have been easier to deal with if he had been yelling.
"Sort of."
Hayate shook his head. "Not 'sort of'. It's either you did, or you didn't. Now which is it?"
"I like making my own choices thank you. I knew who they were, but it only occurred to me just now of where they are. I apologize for not thinking one-hundred percent as well as you'd like me to. I'm a little shaken up right now." He argued, glaring at Hayate. Daring him to stay in his face like that.
Sasame rested a hand on Hayate's shoulder and pulled him back gently. "None of us are thinking to the best of our abilities. Himeno has been taken from us and we want to get her back." He turned to Kao, his hand still resting on Hayate's shoulder to make sure he wouldn't jump the guy when everyone's backs were turned. "So, take us to it."
Kao looked everyone in the eye. "You sure you want to do this? It's probably a trap. Maybe we should think this through and try to come up with another plan."
"Of course it's a trap!" Go called. "But that doesn't matter. We have to find Himeno."
"Yeah," Shin agreed. "We want Himeno back!" Kao couldn't help but to smile at Shin's forwardness.
"All right, since you guys insist. But you can't go blaming me for any ambushes that might be waiting for us. Is that understood?" His tone took an unusual coldness to it and the others could only nod silently. Concentrating, Kao rested his hand on a wall next to the sidewalk. He breathed in deep to help himself think and the red brick shimmered, turning black in color and creating a portal. Still resting his hand above it, he bowed mockingly. "After you."
The Leafe Knights stepped through and Kao followed seconds later, sneering the entire way. The black tunnel they followed was endless, exactly like the one they had traveled when visiting the past. The only thing that kept them from thinking that they weren't traveling through time was the feeling was different. It didn't feel as if there conscious was being ripped from their bodies and their bodies following slowly after like it had last time. It just felt, normal. Like they were walking down a regular street.
Himeno's head shot up as she stood behind Irieka, the Disaster Knights in front of them. "The Leafe Knights approach Your Majesty." She spoke up. Her voice ringing around the chamber, bouncing off of the walls.
The Disaster Queen nodded. "So they do. Disaster Knights, Himeno. You know what to do." Wordlessly, they all vanished, leaving Galaxia to watch through a viewing portal she had created to reside in a mirror. The corners of her mouth rose slightly. "It has all gone as I had wished. You have done exceedingly well my Son. Your father would be proud."
He sensed them. Himeno and the Disaster Knights were ready. He concentrated again and the tunnel vanished from around them, leaving them in a large deserted building. Hayate whirled around on Kao.
"This isn't where we're supposed to be!" He snarled. Navy blue eyes glaring at him accusingly. "You've betrayed us Kao!"
"So it seems." Kao muttered, ignoring the anger in Hayate's voice. "But how can you betray someone, when you were never on their side to begin with?" He continued.
"You damn bastard!" Go shouted, his eyes burning with an unleashed desire to fry Kao to a crisp.
"You mean, Kao's a bad guy?" Shin whimpered, hiding behind Sasame. Hajime and Manned backed away from him as well. For some reason, a feeling of guilt hit Kao's heart hard. He squashed the feeling down. These idiots were nothing to him. They all deserved to be destroyed and no amount of guilt or any other weak emotion would stop him!
"How could you?" Mannen accused. "We trusted you!" He shouted.
Kao shrugged. "That's your problem isn't it? I never forced you to trust me. You made that mistake on your own."
"And a mistake we plan on fixing." Kei growled under his breath. Kao turned to smile at him, amused.
"Was that a threat?" He snorted. "Didn't sound thought through very well, and you might want to take in the fact that I have the upper hand here."
"What upper hand?" Sasame asked. Kao said nothing. He merely snapped his fingers and seven knights appeared, Himeno held tightly between two of them.
"Wouldn't want to hurt your dear Himeno now would you?" Kao taunted.
"Himeno!" Hajime cried, the others following his example. "Give her back to us!" Hajime shouted, forcing back frightened tears.
Kao chuckled. "As you wish it." And her jerked his head in Himeno's direction. Garu and Saraku held her arms, and with Kao's signal, they flung her forward. Hayate leapt up and caught her limp form in his arms.
"Himeno!" Hayate whispered urgently in her ear, shaking her slightly to try and wake her up. "Come on Himeno, it's me, Hayate. We've all come to bring you home."
Himeno's eyes snapped open and she sneered at him. "I am home." And with that, she braced her hands on Hayate's chest and shoved hard, leaping away from him to land at Kao's shoulder.
Kao looked at her as if he was proud of his little sister. His expression changed when he turned to the Leafe Knights. Hayate was straightening himself out; glaring at Kao as Kei and Go helped straighten him out.
"What did you do to her?" Sasame snarled, voice angrier than ever before. Everyone was taken aback. Even Himeno's eyes widened.
Kao smirked. "What have we done to her? Why, we've done nothing. Isn't that right Himeno?" He sneered, Himeno nodded her head in agreement. "I think it's more along the lines of what you have done, or rather what you haven't done." He shrugged. "Doesn't matter how she got this way. All that matters, is that I actually like her now."
"It was all just a joke to you." Kei called. "We were nothing but your play things."
Kao shrugged. "I like that way of looking at it. Much better than anything I could have come up with."
"You mean, you never liked us?" Shin asked, his eyes wide as he watched Kao's every move. Kao felt the need to squirm, but squashed the feeling down.
"Pretty much." He grumbled. Shin's eyes began to water. "Sorry kid. It's just the way things are.
Go rested a comforting hand on top of Shin's hat covered head. "Cut the crap Kao. What do you want?"
"I want what my mother wants. And she wants, revenge. Disaster Knights, proceed with the plan. Himeno and I, we've got a previous engagement." He ordered.
Hayate flew up, as if to attack them both.. "Himeno!" He shouted, "wait!" But before he could reach them, Haraku blocked his way.
"Unh, uh, uh, uh." He hissed, waving his finger in a scolding manner. "We've got a play date and I'm not about to let you reschedule."
Without another word, Kao took Himeno's hand and both of them vanished. Not a flash of light, or a shimmer in the air. Hayate reached out for them just as they did so, but Haraku attacked him.
"Don't you want to play with me?" He tormented. "And I've been waiting for such a long time. We all have." Haraku finished, jerking his head in the direction of the rest of his team. They all smirked, nodding in agreement.
Hayate's eyes narrowed as he scanned them all. From what he could tell, all of the Leafe Knights had a Disaster Knight counterfeit. They wouldn't be able to get through this without a fight. A fight he didn't have time for. His head snapped in the direction of Haraku as he started laughing.
"What the hell is so funny?" Hayate snarled. Wind began to gather around his clenched fists.
"Isn't it obvious?" Haraku snickered.
"If it was, would I be asking?"
Haraku shrugged. "You never know. Besides, it's polite to ask. Enough with the chit chat. We've got a whole hour to fill up and it's not going to be filled with unimportant explanation."
"Unimportant to you maybe." Go growled.
Garu answered this time. "Like he said, unimportant. Are we just going to stand around here doing nothing? I'm getting bored here and we have our orders!" He snapped. Without even a pause to nod and without an exchange of a word everyone leapt forward heading towards the knights that shared the same powers as they did.
Galaxia smiled as she watched the images through her mirror, Himeno on one side, Kao on the other. "So, it has finally begun. Tell me Himeno, how does it feel to watch your ex-knights fight for you?"
"Just had to add the "ex" didn't you mother." Kao said, his eyes trained on the image before him. His feet were planted shoulder-width apart and his arms were crossed behind his back. Galaxia turned to him, a smile still glued to her face.
"Well, what do you suggest I call them? They're not really her knights anymore are they?" Kao said nothing, but you could tell he agreed with her.
Himeno stepped forward. The light pink, dress she had been given bellowed out behind her. She wiped away the tears the threatened too poor from her eyes. Whether they were from pain or anger was unknown. "I'm fine. They mean nothing to me." Only Himeno knew that deep down, she was lying to herself. Sure, she was hurt. But she couldn't just hate them all of a sudden. She didn't work that way. She pushed the feeling aside. Maybe it hadn't happened overnight. She had felt shadowed by her role as Pretear ever since she had found out what the Pretear actually was.
"As they shouldn't. Why should people, who cause you pain mean something to you?" Galaxia asked. She rested a hand on Himeno's shoulder. "Come with me. I want to show you something. Kao, you can do as you wish."
"I'll come with you. Whatever you want to show Himeno sounds annoyingly interesting." Kao muttered.
Galaxia nodded. "Just don't get in the way." She led them both to a chamber that seemed extremely different from the rest. Himeno couldn't quite put her finger on it. It was colder, but warmer. More evil, but also more good. It made her thoughts spin around her head out of control. In front of her, the wall was encased in a thick layer of crystal like ice. She estimated it to be about seven feet thick.
She stepped forward, the shawl falling from her shoulders to her elbows. Kao was about to stop her, but Glaxia held an arm out in front of him. "I told you not to get in the way. Do you actually care what happens to this girl? Have you grown to care for her?" She hissed.
Kao shook his head. "No Your Majesty." And he stepped back, allowing Himeno to continue.
In the ice, Himeno saw a vision; a vision of Takako in a violet cloak. The figure of Hayate appeared behind her and then it all vanished. The next vision was of Takako trapped in the ice. She wore the dress she had worn when she was the Princess of Disaster and her hands were crossed over her heart. What surprised Himeno most was the fact that it was snowing inside of the ice.
Scared for her friend, Himeno rested her hands on the ice and Takako immediately turned into the Princess of Disaster. Takako's hair grew right before her very eyes and before Himeno could move, she found herself in the place of Takako. She was now inside of the ice prison. It limited her movement and she found it harder to breathe.
Kao and Glaxia watched as her pink dress melted away into a dark violet one. The sleeves were long, like a sorceresses's and the collar was high, much like a vampire's.
Just when Himeno thought she wouldn't be able to take it anymore, the ice shattered and fell in shards around her. She didn't fall. Instead, she seemed to float down, her head bowed. When her feet touched the ground, she raised her head slowly. Her eyes were no longer a gentle pink, but a hard, cold red. She didn't seem like Himeno anymore. She was the Princess of Disaster. The most powerful Princess of Disaster there had ever been. She met the eyes of Galaxia and both of them smiled evilly.
-Dark Knight, False Light-
Yay, another chapter done. I shall feel so proud when I finish the story. It will be my first posted one ever! Whoo-hoo! Thank you to my reviewers, you are so special. I also want to apologize about something I said last time. I made it sound like I didn't like this story at all, but I do. It just isn't much fun being in the middle of four different ones and it'll feel good to finally finish one. I actually know what I want to put in future chappies. I put a little scene in here that I hope you Pretear fans recognize. I'll tell you what it was next chapter. Feel free to guess. If you do, and you get it right, well, we'll see what happens. See you next time!