Derek stood in a prison of zooming trains, standing on his little circle of space provided to him. I can't move… if I do I'll get crushed by these trains… I need a way out. He looked around and so no difference in what he usually saw, nothing but blackness and empty space just waiting, beckoning to be filled in. All right, this can't be healthy for the balance of life, but… Derek put in all the energy he needed for his technique.
He stored it in his body, his arms, his legs, even his neck. Time to get these damn trains out of here! Derek released it all, crying out as he did to the blackness without horizon, amazing shadows wrapping around him in a dome, creating a sight for him no different than what he saw when he entered the dark realm of evil spirits. The shadow dome pushed away the zooming trains, kicking them away in different directions with force full of hate, and inside the dome, Derek heard and remained silent.
He sighed and muttered under his breath. His breathing echoed back to him in the hollow hemisphere. I need a way to get out of here. If I don't… I'll go crazy in this place. His legs felt tired from running and he wished he could just feel something, see something, do anything human again and just lay down, but he couldn't. His desires would not be granted to him until he had completed this challenge.
"You thought you could hide?" Hibiyomi's voice appeared behind him, the sound bouncing off the circular, caped walls. Derek widened his eyes in surprise. No way! He found me even in here? He turned around and sensed a presence. This isn't good! "You're not getting away this time," Hibiyomi whispered so close to him.
Just as Derek was about to run off, Hibiyomi grabbed him by the stomach and held him close, the Council directly behind him. He caused both of them to fall backward, falling through the floor and entering a new realm. Derek hoped it would be earth, but he found something so much worse than being in the Darkness.
As soon as they exited, the two people found themselves midair in this thick, hot , surrounding area with a wide lava stream below, the bubbling red liquid glowing with demonic presence, the cragged stone reflecting the evil light it shone. The screams of despaired spirits filled the underworld hell, the agonized cries for help intertwined together and echoed through the evil black walls.
Derek was still held in Hibiyomi's tight grasp, and felt himself begin to fall headfirst into the lava, his expression locked in a state of fear. The bubbling river seemed to creep closer and closer, the underground red hell ready to take any spirit that came in its way. The hot air thickened around Hibiyomi and Derek as they sped down, and crashed into the lava.
Derek closed his eyes at the last moment, trying to delete it all away, trying to somehow get rid of it all. He shut his eyes tightly, preparing for the hot lava to melt away his skin, to eat at his soul, and waited. Suddenly, he felt the fuming, hot air disappear and the deviant bubbling of the scorching, red hot lava leave the scene. He heard no more evil, demonic spirits screaming in anguish and suffering.
He reopened his eyes, hoping he would find the real world around him, but again his anticipations failed him. He opened his eyes wide to find nothing but darkness again surrounding him, the feeling of Hibiyomi's tight grip of an arm still with him, surrounding him. He felt like they were in midair, even thought they could not see anything, even though they had returned to the Darkness, the realm where dark souls traveled on their way to earth or hell. The panic calmed but still continued to rush in his blood, the scared, tight knot in his chest resisting to be swallowed. For some reason, he was happy that they were back in the Darkness.
Wait a minute… he thought as he continued to get the feeling of floating downward. We…we came from the ceiling? There's a ceiling?! He asked himself wildly his face structure going wacky with twitching eyebrows and giant, dilated eyes that stretched out like an alien. Enough, he thought, shaking out of his current surprised condition. Time to get back to the real world, he said, resuming his hopes.
Derek put out his arm, as if trying to hold on to something above that he couldn't reach. His arm immediately was mended into a shadow limb, a sort of claw if you will. The shadow arm rushed past, and kept going until Derek felt something solid. Got it! Derek thought with confidence. This time, I'm getting out of here! He pulled himself out of Hibiyomi's hold and clung tightly to the solid object he felt.
He zoomed upward, and soon found himself back in the real world, in the cave where the battle had begun. The darkness was familiar, but the feeling of cold, wrapping air and the sound of dripping water calmed him and made him glad, his body finally able to experience these things again. He activated his Sight technique, and allowed him to see in the dark with reverse colors, his eyes demonic neon red.
Derek waited in the reverse colored world, waiting for Hibiyomi to come back up. Soon, his expectations came true and Hibiyomi rose from the cave floors in front of Derek, who sat up, just waiting comfortable in the unstable, dark cave. Through Derek's eyes, Hibiyomi came up with whiteness spilled all over him, his pupils almost completely engulfed in whiteness, hints of gray still remaining. They interlocked icy, mysterious stares.
"That took too long," was all he said. "You need to get better somewhere along the line." Hibiyomi looked down on him, literally and figuratively speaking. His pale, piercing eyes struck through Derek's like a sword versus a muffin.
Derek looked down, giving up the shady staring contest. He said nothing, and just sighed, backing up against the wall.
PoVS
"See? Kakori is strong isn't he?" Jeremy made conversation as he patched up the wounds on Dylan. He had taken care of most of the other Minor's wounds and the Council members were chatting about something Jeremy couldn't hear since they were in their little corner in the room.
"Yeah, next time I need to be more careful," Dylan answered back as Jeremy put alcohol on a small square cloth and dabbed a wound with it, then placed a band-aid on it.
"Well, you'll grow pretty strong, I know it," Jeremy said, putting away the supplies except the bandages back into the case that he seemed to carry everywhere ever since Shihou gave it to him. He placed the items in with care, the large room brightly lit with ceiling lights, which was surprising to see.
"Ha, really?" Dylan asked as he stood up from his place on the chair, exercising his arms to see if they were okay to use.
Meanwhile in the corner as Jeremy and Dylan caught up, the Council members sat at a small table in the corner of the room that was facing the door that led outside. A few stood around the others, and a few of them were seated at the table respectively.
"Their power…" Tsukansu said in awe, looking hard at the door in wonder, his voice low and trance like.
"Yeah…" Kanadou agreed, mumbling. He watched Mark, the Earth Minor as he chatted with the other ones. That was a smart plan you had back there, he thought in his mind, a bit proud that his Minor Counterpart was amazingly strong for just a beginner in his powers. "It's amazing, isn't it?" he mumbled again.
"Aside from that, it's not supposed to be that way," Shihou said, stating the facts immediately, as if there were nothing else to it.
"Could this be…?" Kakori croaked through a tired voice, sitting against the orange plaster wall, the stick in his mouth being moved playfully. "White Cloak's doing?" he laid against the wall, looking careless and bored.
The surrounding area was filled with the chatting of surrounding Minors when the door suddenly burst open with a loud bang against the wall, and everyone immediately turned their heads, their attentions being caught.
Setting sunlight poured into the room and brightened the scene to a small scale even more. At the doorway stood Raikettei, the Lightning Council with Rick, the Lightning Minor's arm around his neck, his body weak and tired from fighting. "A little help here," Raikettei pleaded as he took one step into the room and almost collapsed doing so.
A few Minors got up right away to help him, rushing to their feet in order to help.
"Rick!" Marissa shouted from her place on the red sofa chair, getting up immediately to help him into the room, seeing his body in such a weak condition. "Are you okay?" she asked, trying her best to carry his heavy body.
Rick blinked, even struggling to close his eyes. "Yeah, I'll be all right," he said, looking around the room to find the other Minors watching them. "When did you get back?" he asked in his weak, raspy voice, his eyes still friendly and knowing, as if his body was completely healed.
"I was the first one to finish," Marissa said with pride. "It's not hard to believe though, right?" she boasted even more, smiling and smirking with conceit, still carrying Rick with another Minor by his side.
"Heh," Rick muttered silently. He smiled a tiny smirk with his closed lips, his body feeling heavier and heavier by the second, and his lips struggling to move. "Still trying to…get rid of the pride problem, I see," he rasped out as Marissa helped him onto the floor.
Her eyes immediately went down with guilt. "Sorry, I… I didn't realize it," she said as she turned her head to the side, her cheeks showing a bit of blush.
Rick looked wide-eyed in a caring way, and then said reassuringly, "Its okay, you can work on it later."
Marissa turned back to look at him with a smile. "Is that so?" she said as she reached for the healing ointment on the desk by the sofa chairs, and bending down to treat his wounds.
"Lightning Minor?" Hanabikai asked, crossing his arms against the wall, standing straight up. His voice was as strong and powerful as ever.
"Yeah," Raikettei walked up to join the other councils, his steady, soft steps clicking against the plaster floors. "It took him a while, but he got the hang of controlling lightning." Raikettei's appearance was unique out of all the councils. For starters, he was bald, and had eyes that always seemed to be narrowed, that looked friendly but not too friendly. He had a trace of orange-yellow that outlined his eyes naturally, and gave him just a look that worked for him and only him. "By the way," he continued. "Who else is still out there?"
"Hyomaru, Hibiyomi, Shintenmaru, and Kazeshi are still out there," Dirondo said in her graceful, soft voice.
"Um…" Jeremy walked up to Eric, the Council resuming their talk, none of the Minors nor Jeremy noticing anything they were doing. Eric looked at Jeremy with a questioning look, as if to ask, can-I-help-you? "Do you need to… um," Jeremy seemed nervous. He stammered here and there, messing up this word and that. "bandage your burn marks? I mean… Hanabikai's fires can be pretty intense, so…"
"Ehhh? Jeremy-san, are you talking about me over there?" Hanabikai's voice popped in from the background at the sound of his name.
"Oh, no, no, no!" Jeremy pleaded, smiling nervously with his hands motioning in the air wildly, trying to get some of his energy out, the roll of bandages in his band dropping to the floor.
He turned around to find Eric pick them up. "It's okay," Eric told Jeremy in his strong, assuring voice. "I'll do it myself," he said kindly. He wrapped the bandages around one arm, and then bit it off to disband his arm and the roll of bandages. Then he did the same with the other arm. He gave the roll back to Jeremy with wandering eyes and Jeremy gladly accepted and walked away nervously. "Thanks," Eric muttered, then turned back to stare into space.
Why do I feel so nervous around this guy? Is there something wrong with me? Jeremy thought. "Jeremy," he heard his name being called. He saw the councils looking at him with their differential stares, trying to call upon him.
"Hm?" Jeremy asked, walking up to them, his height not even comparing to theirs, even when they sat down.
"How is Teresa?" Shihou asked, bending down to Jeremy's height and giving a friendly smile, something you would rarely see on her.
"She's doing okay, I guess. She's in one of the resting rooms, sleeping. From what I saw, a lot of her skin was ripped in different places. Just what did Minoa do with her?" Jeremy replied in his high voice, turning to find Minoa, but couldn't find her anywhere. "Where is Minoa anyway?" he asked, his stare wondering.
"She's resting as well. She was a little tired, too from that fight. It took some out of her," Tsukansu informed in his normal, mystifying voice. "She's not as hurt as much; she just needs to meditate is all."
"Wow, I guess that's what you get from the Mind Element, huh?" Jeremy said, his voice drifting off in wonder.
"Jeremy," Kakori stated bluntly, his eyes still half closed in boredom.
"Hm?" Jeremy mumbled in reply.
"I think you should restock on supplies. You should head to the stock room for supplies. You need to get as many as you can because I'm pretty sure that you're running out in that bag Shihou gave you, right? Just get anything you want," Kakori mumbled out his words halfheartedly, his eyelids feeling heavier and heavier, and then finally closing to a peaceful rest.
"Oh… okay," Jeremy replied just as halfheartedly, not realizing that running out of supplies for treating wounds was such a big deal to them. He started to head for the dim hallway when he suddenly had the urge to ask them something before he left. He couldn't wait for the question to be answered. "Um… I have a question," he stated from his place at the hallway entrance nervously.
A few of them looked back at him as a sign of acknowledgement. "Well, lately, I've been getting these headaches, and…they've been really intense, so…?" he asked, even more nervous now.
"I think there's medicine for that in the supply room," Tsukansu replied, interrupting even before Jeremy got a chance to finish his sentence. Then, Tsukansu turned back to face the other councils, taking his icy stare away from Jeremy.
"Oh…Okay," Jeremy said, walking away, feeling more surprised than hurt. His footsteps began pacing away in the darkness and Tsukansu listened carefully as they faded away with every single click. When they became far enough, he sighed and closed his eyes, trying to relax himself.
"Why did you have to be so rude to Jeremy-san?" Dirondo asked.
"We can't let him no anything yet," Tsukansu mumbled, reopening his eyes to reveal another icy, unthawing stare. "He has to think that everything is normal so far with him. On the other hand, if he's really experiencing the headaches that we think he is then…" Tsukansu gulped in the middle of his sentencing, not having the nerve to continue.
Everyone agreed solemnly and put the same kind of sad, glassy stare Tsukansu demonstrated.