Angels of Deception
"Well, Satoshi, what did you get?" asked Abel.
"Supplies."
"Supplies?"
"Yup."
Abel walked over to see Satoshi painting a strange picture of a man with wings. The man had purplish-hair and night-black wings, which seemed to envelop his figure entirely.
"What's this?"
"Kaito Dark."
"Kaito?"
"Means 'Phantom Thief'."
"Why did you get all these paints?"
"I was planning on making something. But I keep getting disturbed by a certain pain known most commonly as Abel Nightroad," hinted Satoshi.
"I'll leave you be then."
"Daisuke, could you switch with Dark for a few minutes?"
"So you can get his features on canvas properly?"
"Exactly," said Satoshi as Daisuke switched places.
"So how should I…?"
Satoshi handed him a sword, the tip facing downwards. He had Dark hold the sword at arm's length, and kept his arms looking like he was protecting someone as well as the sword. As soon as Satoshi finished that part, Dark and Daisuke swapped. Dark resumed his position, which Satoshi could see with his mind's eye. Daisuke's arms were folded much like that of an Egyptian mummy; Dark's arms were enveloping him with the sword held downwards, as if to protect Daisuke. Wiz's wings surrounded both Dark and Daisuke in a cocoon, which for some strange reason, left them both with a feeling of security. Dark's eyes held a look of understanding and compassion.
"One last touch and there! Daisuke, you wanna see the painting while it's drying?" asked Satoshi.
"Definitely!"
"Weird… I've never seen paint dry this fast…"
Daisuke approached the painting and touched the dry edge which sent a jolt racing across his spine.
"What was that?!" Daisuke exclaimed as he began to glow. Satoshi stood there, unfazed and unconcerned. His spell was taking effect like he planned.In the painting, Daisuke and Dark split and were each given their own separate bodies.
"What the hell! Satoshi, you have some serious explaining to do!" said Dark angrily as he stood.
"Relax Dark. I only placed both of you inside the painting itself. You can come out whenever you like. But it might be a good idea to create your own space while it's still drying. Otherwise it'll be harder than hell to make," said Satoshi with a small cup of water in his hand.
"Satoshi, what're you…?"
"I had to use water-based paint. Create your own realm while it's drying; this way you'll be connected yet still have some personal space."
Daisuke and Dark spent the better part of an hour creating their own room. Now they could have some privacy from one another, which Dark had never had before. He kinda liked it.
"We're ready to come out Satoshi," said Daisuke when they finished. Daisuke came out just in time for dinner.
"You'll have to do mine, Niwa. It's too hard for me to do a self-portrait, especially with Krad standing directly behind me."
"Okay. But I'll need to have the lights on," replied Daisuke. After they finished, the two went back to work. But Satoshi convinced Daisuke to leave the lights off; this turned out to be a good idea as Krad's wings lit up the room nicely. Daisuke carefully and slowly painted Krad and Satoshi.
Krad's wings enveloped them both; just like Wiz's wings had done for Dark. He also held a sword, though his had its tip pointed up, as if he were about to strike. It took only ten minutes before Satoshi gave up. He just couldn't handle having Krad standing behind him for so long.
"I give up. I can't stand Krad!" said Satoshi in defeat.
"I have an idea. Satoshi, can we switch alter-egos so you could do the painting?" said Daisuke.
"I get it. But who'll be MY stand-in?"
"Wiz. Wiz, can you turn into Satoshi?" said Daisuke. Wiz glowed and when the light went down, a perfect replica of Satoshi stood in his place.
"Kyu!" said Wiz/Satoshi.
Wiz had his arms crossed like Daisuke had done earlier; with one big difference. His eyes remained open; as if to stare into hell itself. Krad stood behind him, his wings surrounding both, a sword held at arms length prepared to strike at any moment. Though his arms held Wiz, it was clear that he couldn't care less about the creature. As Satoshi painted, the picture became more and more alive with each stroke.
When it was finished, both Krad and his tamer touched the painting and created their own domain. Krad's new room had open skies, a beautiful ocean that spread across the canvas to Satoshi's half. (Satoshi didn't mind this part.) His room held a large black mirror which he could use to scry or search for things in the real world. A large amber-colored crystal with a rectangular shape and pure white feathers lay next to the window, a blanket drawn across the crystal-bedding. Krad was reluctant to leave the painting, but forced himself to withdraw until morning.
Satoshi's domain mostly held things he considered precious; things Krad would never be able to destroy. One of the items was a framed picture of Daisuke and himself at a school carnival. It was old, yet Satoshi never allowed any harm to come to it. His bed was mostly a cot; that was what he usually slept on anyway. His window faced the ocean that had leaked through Krad's side through some unknown gap. Satoshi always enjoyed looking out to the ocean before bed, so he didn't care. His laptop and cell phone were at his side, though he left them next to the window. A large painting of him and his mother before she was murdered hung close to a sapphire crystal which held untold amounts of spell that were considered lost forever to the ravages of time. He almost didn't want to leave; he was finally in a place where Krad could no longer haunt him. But when he thought of Niwa, he forced himself to exit. Almost immediately, Krad was back inside his consciousness.
"Satoshi, when can we start to stay inside the paintings?" asked Daisuke.
"Sometime tomorrow after they're thoroughly dry," replied Satoshi. They went to bed, and fell asleep almost immediately after their heads touched the pillows.
Abel waited until they were asleep before entering the room. He carefully turned on the lights and held back a gasp. His eyes widened at the sight of the two paintings; one held the 'Kaito' that Satoshi mentioned, the other an angel with long golden-hair and liquid gold eyes which held no innocence or compassion. The black-winged angel held his sword downwards, as if to defend the child within his arms; the gold angel held his sword high, the boy who he was protecting staring into darkness which knew no end. Abel was confused. Angels who protected the innocent and pure hearts never had black wings or violet eyes! And the pure angels were always portrayed with compassionate eyes and defended the innocent from the depths of evil. Abel was about to touch the black-wings when he heard someone open the door.
"Couldn't wait to see what he was up to, could you?"
Abel spun around to come face-to-face with the golden angel himself.
"Who…who are you?" said Abel nervously.
"I am called many things. Some call me the Homicidal Blond; others refer to me as Koko-Yoko. But you may call me Krad."
"Why are you here?"
"My tamer created those paintings to free himself of his curse. Normally I'd put a stop to this, but his ingenious spell changed my mind. If you even dare to touch either of them, well… let's just say your fate wouldn't be a pleasant one."
Abel backed away slowly, Krad allowed him to leave unscathed. Abel walked slowly away from the door when he bumped into something…or someone.
"Terribly sorry!" said Abel with a nervous laugh.
"Eh, I didn't even notice you bumping into me," said the black-winged angel himself.
"Whaaa!" Abel yelped before he blacked out in shock. The black-winged angel carefully picked the frightened priest up and gently laid him down in his room. He covered him up and left the room noiselessly. He quietly cast a memory spell on the priest before going back to sleep himself.
Abel woke up the next morning with one hell of a headache. He couldn't figure out how he ended up in his bed, but he did know one thing; those paintings were anything but normal. He went to make breakfast only to see Daisuke had beaten him to the punch. Daisuke's cooking filled everyone up as they went about their day.
Satoshi had a certain ability that he used very rarely at all. He could recreate any artwork or painting after seeing it once. He put his talent to the test as he created duplicates of the two paintings. He made at least five copies of each and when he was finished he left to sell them in an art exhibit. He made quite a bit with the 'Dark' version. 'Krad' didn't sell as well, but he did manage to get rid of them. He came back with another armload of art supplies, though most of it was acrylic paints. At first, he was debating whether or not to repaint the original; in the end he decided to wait because he didn't have all the desired colors needed. He made more copies of the two paintings and then stopped at lunch.
"We're back!" said Abel as he entered the room.
"Figures…" muttered Satoshi.
"You've been busy since we were gone, weren't you," said Abel.
"I've made quite a bit at the art exhibit with these copies I made."
"I was wondering where you got the money came from to buy these expensive paints."
"They're not all that expensive. They each cost two yen per unit," said Satoshi with a shrug.
"Why did you get all these colors?" asked Abel confused.
"I'm going to go over the two original paintings with the acrylics to make it permanent. If I leave it as a water-based painting, a light rain storm could ruin it easily."
"I never thought of it that way."
"Can you repaint at least one of them? Which colors are you missing?"
"Blood Red and sky blue."
"I can get the sky blue easily," said Daisuke.
"How?"
"You need the sky blue for the eyes right? Well isn't your hair color sky blue?"
"I get what you're saying. Blood red is difficult to duplicate, especially the texture."
"So when do we start?"
"Start what?"
"Repainting the paintings," said Daisuke.
"I'll leave you two at it then," said Abel with a grin. He secretly thought 'Baby-sitting a couple of teens isn't as hard as I thought.'
Daisuke did the 'Dark' as Satoshi fixed the 'Krad'. When they got to the eyes and hair, Satoshi simply painted the acrylic on his, and then placed various lengths of his own hair to finish it. Dark bit his own thumb and used the blood to create the color for the eyes. The paintings quickly took form, and almost seemed to come alive. Soon the paintings were complete, and dry as well. Krad was pleased with the results, as was Dark. They immediately went into the painting which were completely dry, and stayed there for two days straight.
The next morning, Satoshi got up and got dressed without a hint of tiredness; that was highly unusual for him. Daisuke noticed this, and he grinned.
"Morning you two. I hope you're ready to go somewhere new for a little while," said Abel.
"What do you mean?"
"I just received another mission."
"In other words we get to see what it's like to be an AX agent."
"Yup."
"What do we need to bring?" asked Satoshi.
"Whatever you want to bring; within reason."
Satoshi packed the paintings, which for some reason became compact enough to bring. Daisuke brought the books Nightroad had bought him, as well as several pairs of clothes for the two of them. Soon, they were ready to go. Abel lead them to the train station, where another AX agent was waiting.
"Father Nightroad, are these the two boys you took in?"
"These are the boys," replied Abel cheerfully.
"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Sister Esther," said the woman.
"My name is Niwa Daisuke," said Niwa.
"I'm Hikari Satoshi," replied the teen.
"Well shall we be going?" said Abel nervously.
"So where exactly are we going?" asked Daisuke.
"We are heading to a country once known as Japan; apparently several Methuselah have been causing all sorts of trouble there," answered Abel.
"JAPAN?! Where at in Japan?" said Daisuke excitedly.
"Apparently it's somewhere in what was once the Tokyo district," said Abel.
"What're the odds…" murmured Hikari.
5 hours later, the train slowly came into the platform; Satoshi and Daisuke came out preparing for the worst.