AN: Thank you to all who voted, the results are in! 7-continue, 0-end
Very one sided and it looks like the story is going to be longer!
Tsuki Aizawa: Thank you for the review, it was fun to read. As for the pairing question, I didn't intend for this story to have a pairing but I've been considering it lately, pairings always make the story more exciting. The only thing I'm unsure about is the readers who don't like yaoi pairings and would hate this story if I made it one.
Karoku watched Gareki with a calculating gaze, waiting patiently for an answer. He wasn't worried or in a hurry, after all, he controlled the time that past in this world compared to the outside world. If he wished, years could pass in here while only minutes passed in the outside.
'Damn it! Come on, move!' Gareki strained his body to move as he tried to resist the control Karoku had on his body. Looking into the blue haired man's eyes, Gareki knew he was serious with his threat. There was no lie detectable in his gaze nor was there any bluff evident in his facial features.
'Move!' The muscles in his arm were beginning to shake with exhaustion but he could see the slight shift of his arm as it began to move where he wanted it to.
"Your answer, Gareki?" Karoku asked.
'Move!' Gareki could feel his hand tighten around the gun and his finger pressed firmer onto the trigger. His entire body became lighter as he could now move freely. Keeping as still as possible to make it appear that he still couldn't move, a smirk made it's way to his lips.
"You want my answer?" Gareki replied. "Well, I've already given it to you." At the last part Gareki swung the gun toward Karoku and fired.
Karoku couldn't stop the look of surprise the flashed across his face as the bullet moved expeditiously toward him. He was able to move at the last second, the bullet missing the vital spot it had been aimed for, but instead embedding itself into his left shoulder.
Karoku stumbled slightly at the sudden pain that erupted from his shoulder when he had tried to move his arm. How was he able to break free of his bind without him even knowing about it?! The hand that belonged to the arm that wasn't injured was pressed firmly over the open wound to stop the blood loss.
The momentary loss of concentration caused his grip on his world to weaken to the point that it's stability was now in a critical state. The area around them, that was once a perfectly realistic environment, now became a shimmering and distorted field of colors that was threatening to succumb to blackness.
Gareki glanced around him at the collapsing world; this would be the ideal time to try and escape this prison. While Karoku was currently occupied with keeping the world together, Gareki closed his eyes and began to concentrate. He had absolutely no idea what he was concentrating on, but he figured it was a good way to start. He knew that he had powers similar to Karoku and he always made these worlds using his mind so his should be used in a similar way.
Keeping his eyes closed, Gareki thought about pushing a hole through the barriers of the world around him and into the outside world. Opening his eyes, he found that his efforts yielded to no result and he was still standing in the same place he had been moments earlier. He closed his eyes again and this time drew on his inner strength until he could feel a tightening in his chest. Instead of pushing outwards with his mind, he pushed outwards with the strength he had gathered, releasing all the built up pressure at once.
He opened his eyes and saw a portal of light before him, much like the one Karoku had created the first time they had met.
'This has got to be it,' he thought. Taking one last look at the Kafka captain that was kneeling on the ground in pain and concentrating on his crumbling world, Gareki stepped through his portal. He did not, however, miss the look from Karoku that told him this would not be the last time they would see each other. 'Fine by me.'
Slice Slice Yogi continued to destroy the varuga that were attacking him, Nai and Tsukumo. The moment the three of them had reached the park they were swarmed by varuga from every direction, almost as if they were protecting something. As far as Yogi could tell, they were only in the park area, but he had no way of knowing how the rest of the city was fairing.
Tsukumo was currently protecting Nai while Yogi had ventured a little ways from the group to look for any sign of their missing friend. He didn't have much time to look because for every one varuga he destroyed it seemed like two more took it's place.
Yogi was about to call to Tsukumo and tell her that they should temporarily retreat to get some more back up, when a blinding white light filled his vision. He flung his arm across his face to block out the light so fast that he nearly dropped his sword in the sea of varuga. Glancing behind him, he saw that Nai and Tsukumo were doing the same thing.
It was only a moment until the light faded and the three Circus members were able to unshield their eyes. Yogi looked down to where the light had once been and saw only the raven haired teen standing in it's spot. Gareki was wearing the same surprised look as the rest of them, but became even more surprised when he noticed the Kafka army around him.
The varuga only stayed stunned for a moment before resuming their attacks on the Circus members. Gareki was able to dodge the first few attacks before one of the varuga rammed into his side and sent him flying further from the group. He continued to skid across the ground until his back collided with the base of a tree.
Stars danced across his vision as he tried to clear the fog from his mind. Somewhere off in the distance he could hear the blond shouting for him but the words were lost the surrounding noise.
The moment his vision cleared he noticed Yogi was fighting to get to him and was shouting a warning. Gareki looked to his right and saw a varuga coming straight for him, mouth open and ready to devour him. He instinctively reached for his gun but the pocket was empty. Gareki would have face-palmed if he had time to; he had been holding his gun when he left Karoku's world and lost it when he had been hit by the varuga.
The varuga was decreasing the distance to him alarmingly fast and the only thing Gareki could do was throw his hands up to protect his head. Gareki's whole body tensed as he waited for the inevitable impact, this was going to hurt.
Seconds ticked by and nothing seemed to be happening. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to see that there were no varuga coming for him nor were there any within a ten meter radius of him. Gareki began to push himself up, only to collapse when blinding pain shot up his back. 'Damn, must have hit that tree harder than I thought.'
The nearby varuga saw the movement and rushed to attack the injured Circus member. Gareki lifted his hand, focusing on the tightening in his chest and releasing it. In a flash of light the surrounding varuga once again disappeared. A smirk made it's way to his lips, 'Huh, so that's how it works.'
Gareki was easily able to keep the varuga away until the blond could come to help him. Yogi glanced curiously at his friend once he was next to him, how was he able to destroy that many varuga? He shook his head to refocus on the task at hand, there was time for questions later, right now he needed to focus on protecting his friends. Although he was starting to tire from the relentless fighting, he refused to give in, especially when he was needed.
Yogi was about to rush forward to meet the oncoming varuga when a hand shot out of nowhere and blocked his path. He blinked a few times to make sure the hand was really there before looking up at it's owner. Hirato stood confidently in front of the two fighters, easily fending off the varuga that tried to attack them.
"Yogi," Hirato said, "why don't you take the others and head back to the ship, I can finish cleaning up here."
"Right away!" Yogi replied turning to the teen. Just as he kneeled down to help him up, Gareki suddenly clutched his head is agony.
"Ugh..." Gareki's head felt as if it were splitting open and anything he did only served to make it worse. Even opening his eyes cause the pain to double. He pressed his hands to the side of his head, hoping to lessen the pain. 'What's going on?'
Yogi became startled at his friends sudden actions. He knew he had to bring him to Akari quickly so he picked him up bridal style, being careful not to put too much pressure on his back, and headed over to where Tsukumo and Nai were.
"Hey! I can walk on my own!" Gareki yelled at the blond through the pain, feeling a bit embarrassed at being carried.
"But Gareki, you're hurt and you shouldn't push yourself," Yogi replied uncertainly, still holding onto him. "Besides, you won't be able to make it to the ship on your own, you don't have a Circus I.D."Gareki stopped struggling, he knew Yogi was right, but he still didn't like it.
Yogi flew over to Tsukumo and motioned that they were to return to the ship. She nodded quickly before picking up Nai and following him.
Hirato watched from the ground as his subordinates flew into the ship. He then took off his top hat, successfully summoning his four banshees. "Now it's my turn."
Gareki was currently lying on a hospital bed aboard the second ship, unable to sleep because of the throbbing pain coming from his head. The lights around him were dimmed and the windows had to curtains drawn to minimize the light. Akari had examined him a few hours ago and told him that there was nothing permanently wrong with him. His headache was caused because he overused his powers, especially since they had never been used before. His back was fine as well, there will just be some heavy bruising.
Although he had been given pain medication, his headache refused to lighten so he remained in the hospital in case it became worse. Gareki groaned and rolled over onto his side, even the dimmed lights still hurt. 'What have I gotten myself into?'