~ One, finger he broke. Two, the times he lets me eat. Three cuts on my stomach. Four, bruises on my face. Five, dark finger-shaped bruises on my neck. Six, times he's threatened to cut out my tongue. Seven, times I've considered suicide while lying here. Eight, the number of times I've lied to Hikaru over the phone. Nine, times I've blamed my brother for my current situation. Ten, times I've cried today. Eleven, times I replayedthat day in my mind. Twelve, the time it is now. Thirty, the minutes I will spend praying Hika can solve the riddle and keep me alive. Forty-Eight, hours since I was kidnapped. ~
"Across Death's toll and underneath the angel's haven three friends sit ever still, never moving. Wading through bloody waters life's at stake. Alone in the dark the prince's shadow descends." Kyoya reads looking over the smaller teen's shoulder at the paper. Hikaru runs a hand through his hair in frustration.
"What the hell does that mean?"The Hitachiin cries and looks at Kyoya. The older teen frowns.
"Honestly Hikaru, I have no clue." He sighs pulling out his phone.
"What are you doing?" Hikaru questioned watching his friend type in a number and hold the phone to his ear.
"Tamaki. Get the Host Club and meet us at Hartai's Café. "The dark haired boy ordered snapping his phone shut. " I believe we have somewhere to be Hikaru." He stated evenly.
"Wait so somebody took Kao-chan? "Hunny asked in a horrified tone squeezing his pink rabbit tightly. Mori looked down at his cousin and nodded with a frown.
"Who that heck would do something like this!" An enraged Haruhi exclaims. Tamaki for once was totally silent.
"Hikaru will you please repeat the riddle I think we'd better get going we only have twenty minutes now.
"Across Death's toll and underneath the angel's haven three friends sit ever still, never moving. Wading through bloody waters life's at stake. Alone in the dark the prince's shadow descends." After a few minutes of quiet deliberation Mori is surprisingly the first to speak.
"There is a bridge not far from here, called Death's Crossing." The normally silent boy states and Hunny's eyes flash in recognition.
"Oh, yeah! That's the toll bridge that we came over to get here isn't, Takashi?" The tiny blond inquired.
"There's a statue just before you reach it. It has three little children huddled under the wings of an angel." Haruhi jumps in.
"As I recall the river under that bridge is the Ginge. It get's it's name from the red soil that turns the water a dark red shade, almost identical to blood." Kyoya says as he finishes writing the other three's statements down. Hikaru frowns flagging down a taxi.
"What about the last part, prince's shadow alone in the dark?" Tamaki asks causing all eyes to fall on the tall blond. "It almost sounds like…"
"It's doesn't matter! If I don't get there soon it won't matter at all!" The redheaded teen snaps cutting off his friend. He shouts the address to the driver and jumps into the cab. 12: 18-The taxi is stuck in traffic. The teen opens the door and runs through the cars like a madman ignoring the warnings and angry threats coming from behind him.
A police officer grabs him as he tries to run across the bridge. "Hang on there youngling where do you think you're going? Get back in your car." The man tells him clasping his wrist tightly and Hikaru does the unthinkable…He hits him the scrawny boy punches the officer in the gut and tries to pull his hand free and when that fails he bites him causing the man to cry out. He drops the boys wrist clutching his own and knocks the Hikaru to the ground with stunning blow. Hikaru struggles to stand back up as a searing pain shoots through his head.
The elder Hitachiin boy grimaces holding his head with one hand and staggers across the bridge not noticing the horrified glances being thrown his direction. Before he realizes it he's clutching the angel statue and looking down into the river. The boy slides down the hill and wades out into the water as his vision begins to get blurry.
He stumbles falling to his knees and cries out in pain reaching to grip them. It is now that he realizes the reason this river is dangerous. Jagged rocks line the riverbed cutting into Hikaru's knees leaving deep gashes.12: 26-Hikaru struggles to wade underneath the bridge where a broken statue sits by itself. In the slight darkness he sees the crown and pushes himself toward it. A glow behind the marble prince cast a dark shadow across the water and a small box in at the base. Tearing from the water the teen wraps his fingers around the cardboard ripping it open. Inside is a card two words written on it.
Ring. Ring.
Farther down the riverbank at a worker's station a phone thrill breaks the near silence. Hikaru runs nearly screaming out in pain to the phone and on the 4th ring he holds the plastic up to his ear panting.
12:29-He is greeted with silence once more.
"I SOLVED IT! I SOLVED THE RIDDLE GIVE HIM BACK!"Hikaru screams into the receiver. "GIVE HIM BACK!"