Chapter 23

Flashback

Hikan's POV

Run, run run... I can't run anymore... it's too late for me... this is my grave...

I looked around the room I was in, all I could see was darkness, I couldn't move my legs or arms, my vision was blurry, my head hurts so much, the "thing" is in my head, it's trying to control me, it wants the power I have, I cannot let it win, I won't let it win...

"Shi...zu...ki?" I muttered, I got no answer back, was I alone again? No, i'm not alone, she's out there somewhere... I need to find her, but how could I escape?

A light appeared in the corner of the room, I opened my eyes and looked at myself, My arms were strapped down and so were my legs, I couldn't get free, then I heard footsteps approaching me, those footsteps were coming from someone who stepped in front of me, they started to remove their hood... of course it would be him,

"Na...ga...na..." I muttered, he smiled when I called his name,

"So, you still are yourself?" he said, what did he mean by "myself"?

"Wh...at?" I muttered again, I couldn't speak that well,

"Well, look at yourself," He said pulling a small mirror out of his pocket and holding it up to me, My left eye was covered by a bloody cloth and my face had a bunch of marks on it, they looked like scars, "You did put up a fight." Nagana said then he put the mirror on the ground, "I just wanted to get one last glimpse of my 'friend'." he also said,

"..." I couldn't say anything, so was this really going to be my grave, A dark room, all alone... it makes sense when you think about it.

"Don't worry, you'll be dead soon anyway." He said pulling out one of his daggers, "Bye." he said as he swung his dagger,

"GH!" I grunted as the dagger sunk into my chest, blood started to spill out, I heard Nagana laughing as he pulled the dagger out, I looked up at him and he had the biggest smile I ever seen from him, I started to move my hands, but I couldn't do anything since I was strapped to this damn thing,

"Well, have fun." he said waving goodbye, when the door closed the room started to light up, I was strapped to some machine and it was powering up, it made a bunch of noises, then I felt a sharp pain go through my back,

"GH! GAAAHH!" I yelled, the machine was fully activated and it was slowly killing me, the red aura appeared around me and my left eye started to hurt, this pain was the worst...

I was on the verge of death, my vision was blurry and I couldn't see anything, but I did hear a crash, it sounded like a window breaking, I heard a bunch of footsteps and yelling,

"Stop her!" A voice yelled,

"She's killing everyone!" another voice yelled, then I saw a blurry image of a body fly by my face, I saw red so I guess he was bleeding, followed by footsteps walking up to me, I saw the white hair and that's all I needed to know.

"..." I couldn't say anything, I saw an arrow charge up from her bow and she shot it above me, destroying part of the machine and the straps on my arms and legs loosened, I felt two arms wrap around and pull me off the machine, my head was laid on someone's lap, my vision started to clear a bit, and what I saw was Shizuki's face filled with tears, she had a bunch of markings on her arm and face, she then put her head down on my blood stained chest and cried,

"Hikan... *hic* I'm sorry... *hic*" she said while crying into my chest, I lifted my hand and started to pat her head, she raised her head and looked at me, her eyes were pink and puffy,

"So...rr...y." I said, I could barely get one word out, before my vision went black, I heard Shzuki yell my name one last time,

"HIKAN!"

End of Flashback


I woke up with Neptune still in my arms, she was still naked, I got out of bed and put my pants back on, I picked up Neptune's hoodie and bra and laid it beside her and patted her head,

"Hey, wake up." I said, she opened her eyes and looked a me,

"Meh... five more minutes..." she muttered before closing her eyes, I decided to let her sleep as I walked to the closet and opened it, I grabbed one of my red hoodies and put it on before going into the bathroom, I brushed my teeth and combed my hair down even though it wasn't going to matter anyway, my hair would end up messy again later,

I walked out of the bathroom and into the living room where I saw Shizuki reading the book I was reading yesterday, "Mornin Shizuki." I greeted before sitting on the couch next to her, she looked up from her book and smiled at me,

"Good Morning Hikan, did you sleep well?" She asked me,

"Yeah, how about you, I know the couch isn't exactly a bed." I replied, she shrugged her shoulders,

"It's fine, oh yeah, IF and Compa went out a little bit ago, they told me to tell you." she said, I put my hands behind my head and sighed, we're going to be leaving soon for Lowee, I can't believe this is almost over, one more fragment, then everything should be fine.

"Are you sure you want to come with us? We don't know how long this will be." I said, Shizuki nodded her head,

"I'm sure, it's only one more right? Then it should be easy." she told me, if she was certain about it.

"Alright, well I'm going to see if I can find IF and Compa, I'll see you later." I said getting off the couch, but Shizuki grabbed my arm,

"Wait! I... want you... to stay here with... me." she said quietly, I turned and looked at her, she was blushing and holding my arm with a tight grip,

"Alright, I'll stay." I said as I returned to my spot on the couch, I felt Shizuki wrap her arm around mine and she sat down next to me, I looked at her and she had her head on my shoulder, "Shizuki?" I also said and she looked at me,

"Hikan..." she said as we stared into each others eyes, our lips were just inches from each other, I started to move toward them, but I quickly pulled away when I heard the door open,

"We're home!" Compa said walking in with a bag of groceries, IF followed in with bags as well,

"Hikan and Nep up yet?" she asked, I walked into the kitchen and waved,

"I am, Neptune isn't." I said, IF sighed

"Figures, she likes to sleep in." IF stated and I chuckled a bit,

"Well, what's this stuff for?" I asked, Compa walked up to me,

"We decided we were going to stay in Leanbox for another day." Compa said, I scratched the back of my head,

"What for? I thought we were done here?" I said, IF started to put away some of the groceries,

"We just want to make sure you're alright, we don't want you passing out on us." IF explained, I felt fine, but it's always good to be safe.

"Thanks, I appreciate your concern for me." I said with a smile and both of them started blushing, I went ahead and helped with some of the groceries and I heard Neptune open the bedroom door, good thing she had her clothes on,

"*yawn* Hey everyone." she said with drowsy eyes, she rubbed her eyes before taking a seat by the table,

"How did you sleep?" I asked her and she gave me a thumbs up,

"Like a rock! I never slept that well in days!" she said and I laughed a bit,

"Really? going by how much you sleep, I thought that would be number twelve or thirteen." I said as I turned to face her, she laid her head on the table,

"Meh, we main characters need more sleep." she said, I put away the last of the groceries and sat down next to her,

"Sure, but you get more sleep than me, so I don't think you can say 'we' ya know." I replied, I definitely got this from her, I keep breaking the fourth wall,

I got up from my chair and went back to the living room, Shizuki was staring out the window, she didn't even turn her head when I walked in,

"Shizuki?" I said in a concerned tone, she turned and looked at me,

"Yes?" she replied, I walked up and sat next to her,

"You okay? you looked like you were in deep thought about something." I said and she shook her head,

"I'm fine Hikan, don't worry about me." She said, even if she says not too, I still worry about her, she's my friend, but I'll talk to her about it later, there was something I needed to do,

"Alright, but if you want to talk about it, come talk to me, alright?" I said and she nodded, I got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen, Neptune and Compa were discussing something,

"Nep-Nep, you can't have pudding everyday." Compa said, Neptune shook her head,

"What?! Yeah I can, I can live off eating pudding!" Neptune replied, IF was sitting in another chair with a hand on her forehead,

"Hey, I gotta head out for a sec." I said Neptune almost jumped out of her seat,

"I'll go with you!" she said getting out of her chair,

"No, I'll go alone this time, don't worry, I'll be back." I replied holding my hand up, Neptune sighed and looked at me,

"That's triggering an event flag you know..." She said, I walked up and patted her head,

"If it does, then more exciting content." I said as I walked to the door and opened it, I turned and waved, "see ya." I also said as I walked out of the house.


Shizuki's POV

I heard the door shut and I got up and walked out to the kitchen, Neptune and Compa were arguing something about pudding and IF saw me,

"Hey Shizuki." she greeted, I looked at her and smiled,

"Where's Hikan?" I asked her, she shrugged her shoulders

"He said he had to step out for a bit, he didn't say where he was going." oh no, he's not going "there" is he?

"Alright, I'll go find him." I said as I began to walk toward the door, Neptune jumped in front of me though.

"Nope! He said he's going alone!" she said, that's never good, whenever he says he's going somewhere alone, he always gets in trouble,

"Then we need to go find him!" I yelled causing everyone to jump, I never really yell that much in my life,

"Whoa! Calm down girl, what's the matter?" Neptune asked in a curious tone,

"Oh... sorry, I didn't mean to yell..." I said with a bow, IF gave me a smile,

"It's fine, no need to be so apologetic, what's wrong with Hikan?" She asked me, can I really tell them, I don't know if Hikan remembers his past, but if he does then he's going "there"

"Hikan might be going to another one of The Saviors hideouts." I stated, everyone's eyes grew in shock,

"What?! Why?!" IF said in confusion, I guess I'll need to spill the beans...

"If you don't know already, Hikan and I were part of them, The Saviors, Hikan joined them to survive and I joined a bit later after him, after I met him, we started working together, but after I found out what the saviors planned to do to him, I broke him out and we separated from each other, it was the whole incident with Neptune that we met each other again, only thing was he didn't remember who I was, but after meeting Nagana again, I think he remembers now and if he does, he will be going to that hideout." I explained, I hung my head in shame, I would understand if they would hate me now,

"If that's true, then we need to get going, Hikan's will be in danger if that's the case!" IF stated as she got up from her chair, I looked over at her and she was still smiling at me,

"Don't worry Shizuki, we know about Hikan's past, we'll help him with everything we got." IF said, I looked over at Neptune and Compa, they were both smiling at me and nodding,

"T-T-Thank you..." I muttered as IF patted my shoulder,

"Alright, I knew an event flag would pop up! Let's go save Hikan!" Neptune said pumping her fist in the air,

"Yeah!" we all said in unison...


?'s POV

Ha, so Hikan remembers now? That will make it easier for me, he seems to be heading to that place anyway, maybe I'll greet him there?

"No, don't do that." A voice said, oh it's "him" again,

"What do you want?" I asked the voice which caused it to laugh,

"Patience, we can't have you go and die, Hikan will kill any of us if we got in his way." the voice said,

"Are you saying that I'm too weak?" I said in an angered tone, making the voice laugh more,

"No, just stating the obvious granny." the voice said again, why does he call me that every time!

"I am not that old!" I yelled,

"It's an order from the big guy, we're supposed to remain low, but did you get that stone?" the voiced asked, I grinned a bit and pulled the stone out of my pocket,

"Does this answer your question?" I said holding the stone in the air,

"Good, just keep that with you, you should be able to do at least that I hope." the voice said in a sarcastic tone,

"Whatever, just get out of here, I'm still against the idea of working with you." I said and the voice laughed again, his laughing was really making me mad,

"Fine, don't fall asleep granny." the voice said, he's lucky he's in the state he's in right now, if I had it my way, he would be dead.

No time to complain now, I'm going back to Lowee...


A/N: I apologize about the short chapter, I kinda fell asleep writing this chapter, but I made it as interesting as I could, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all later!