So who wants to see the next victim? Anyone? Yes? Totally. Yaaay~

And by the way…no UsUk, but guess what this has instead?

/=+=/

Rizal woke up with a sharp pain to his shoulder, confused on what was going on. He stared at himself in the mirror, noticing in surprise that the mark on his shoulder was starting to glow a strange bright red. His muscles tensed (and not because he's not used to the color red).

"…shit."

/=+=/

The minute Rizal was out the door, he slammed headfirst into Ivan. He didn't seemed shocked at the fact that he encountered a whole blash of Filipino, but instead was pointing to his shoulder. The Russian seemed to realize what he was talking about, and rubbed where his glyph was.

"It was starting to ache when I woke up this morning…" He stated. "Do you think it means…?"

"Maybe…but I'm not really sure." Rizal turned his head. "But will it indicate who's the target?"

"I'm not sure…I only know that it activates when the Shadows are on the move."

"Very accurate." Rizal shook his head. "I should be able to track where the Shadow is with mine."

"Are you going to talk to Gilbert about this?"

"Maybe…if he's willing to come along."

"You should talk to him about it. He's still scared of me, da?"

"How do you know that?"

"Everyone's scared of me, Rizal. I'm not dumb enough to not notice it."

"Ah…"

/=+=/

Class had started around afterward, hence Rizal couldn't see Gilbert until lunch time. Odd enough, he was in the same location that he was in when Rizal explained everything on what was going on. Without even thinking he plopped down next to him, surprised that Gilbert didn't bother to say anything about the sudden appearance.

"You need to tell me something?" He asked.

"There's a chance that the Shadow that kidnapped you is going to strike again." Rizal said bluntly. "And we have no idea who the victim is."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. And since you've seen the other world, you have just about the same power that we have." He stated.

"What are you saying?"

"On the off chance that we need a third guy to save their ass-"

"I'm in."

"Hm?"

"What, are you thinking that you're gonna scare me with demons? I've seen my own, you know…a rather awesome one at that, but that's not the point! I know what I'm dealing with and I can handle it!"

"Says who?"

"Says AWESOME!"

Oh, great… "Well, at least I don't have to spin around about five different reasons why you have to join…"

"Don't worry about me, man. I'm too awesome to die in that hellhole."

"Awesome." He can not believe he said that. "All right, if that's the case…I want to teach you something."

"All right, shoot." He paused. "Is it perverted?"

"In your standards, no. In my standards…no. Anyway, remember when I talked about the glyph on your cheek?"

"Yeah, that thing. It comes and goes at will."

"I need you to will it out, and then try calling my name in your head. It's easier if you rub the glyph while you're doing it as well."

"…that sounds perverted."

"Your glyph is on your cheek. Mine's on my shoulder. Ivan's in his eyes. Tell me how that's perverted."

"Ah, so young…"

"?"

Gilbert didn't bother to go on and did as he was told: willing the glyph into being and then rubbing it with his finger. He noticed with surprise when Rizal took off his school jacket and revealed that his glyph was reacting to it, glowing a bright blue. For some reason, he stared at it.

"What the hell?"

"That's how me and Ivan keep in contact when we're separated. You just established a connection with me when you called me, noted here." Rizal pointed to his shoulder. "Basically, we do this to quickly gather together in case something comes up."

"And this works?"

"Ever since 1999."

"Huh…well that's a little stu-"

"Ahhhh…you're teaching him about our connection, da?"

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Oh…Ivan." Rizal shook his head. "Well, Gilbert must've been thinking of you when he called me…at least you established a connection with him…"

"I am not going to last…this is totally unawesome…"

"Which was about the same reason why I asked if you want to tag along."

"…I can totally survive this…kesesesesese…"

Rizal tilted his head and shook it when his senses spiked. Gilbert could immediately tell by the look in his eyes: flashing from a dark yellow to almost a bright gold, nearing the point of it being inhuman. And not like he was trying anything but…was his skin starting to turn a bit darker?

"Something's on the move."

"I'll be here with Gilbert." Ivan lifted his hand. "You can go investigate."

"WHY YOU?"

"Would you rather prefer Natalya?"

That shut everyone up. Though…being in this situation, Rizal would actually prefer Natalya with him right now.

He jumped to his feet and dashed forward, grateful that the hallway was empty because of lunchtime. The Shadow was quick-moving, perhaps noting of the man chasing after it, and swerved around until they finally reached the windows. Rizal felt the Shadow head outside, and he looked down to see that Antonio and Lovino were down there picking tomatoes.

…shit. I got distracted again.

"Yo, Rizal. You find the damn thing yet?"

He lifted his head up to see that Gilbert had chased him down, that annoying grin on his face. Rizal shook his head.

"Weren't you with Ivan?"

"He scared the crap out of me! I had to ditch!" He sighed. "So…where's the bitch?"

"It's nothing…false alarm. It was just an aura flux."

"Aura wha-? From who?"

"Him."

Gilbert looked down at where Rizal was pointing and found himself laughing so loud that the Filipino wondered why glass didn't shatter from the next building or two.

"From the idiot Italian guy, right?"

"No…from your friend there."

"Antonio? Really?"

"You, surprised? I thought you knew how much of a conquistador he was."

"I do, but…that's behind him now. Most of us don't conquer other people anymore."

"Well, when you lived in my shoes you can tell the difference in someone's thoughts." Rizal turned to him. "After three hundred years, I know everything about Antonio."

"You do…?"

"Yeah…that's why I can't ever forgive him for what he did to us…"

Gilbert blinked for a few minutes, his history running through his mind, when a shadow began to move. Gilbert and Rizal plastered themselves to the window as something from the tree moved toward Antonio and swarmed him. Gilbert froze and turned to Rizal in shock.

"You get down there. Any type of attack with that glyph of yours will force it back." Rizal turned to the window. "I'll call Ivan."

Gilbert said nothing, jumping out the window and punching the Shadow away. Rizal turned to see Ivan running toward him just as he heard a gasp from Antonio and the sound of a Shadow moving. Ivan and Rizal quickly jumped into the air and sliced through the Shadow, seeing it vanish into nothing.

"Shadow exterminated." Rizal licked his yo-yo.

"Are you all right, Antonio?" Gilbert looked at him.

"I'm fine." He answered. "What's going on?"

"Yeah, bastard!" Lovino spat. "What the fuck is going-?"

A Shadow shot out of the ground and grabbed Lovino's arms and legs, dragging him into the abyss. Antonio started to scream bloody murder as Ivan skipped toward the portal and slammed his hands on it. Sure enough, the portal stayed open and a bright purple light open below them. Antonio turned to all of them.

"What…what happened…?"

"A Shadow got Lovino." Rizal bit the string of his yo-yo. "Dragged him inside."

"And…and you're just going to stand there…?"

Rizal said nothing, standing there and staring at the portal that was before them…anything to make sure that he wasn't looking in the bastard's eyes. He said nothing and threw himself into the portal (much to Gilbert's dismay) and vanished into nothingness. Gilbert turned to Rizal.

"Rizal…!"

"We're going in and getting Lovino." He answered. "Don't worry."

"And Antonio…?"

"…if we see him, we'll get him too."

Gilbert didn't seem too thrilled about that but jumped in anyway. Rizal waited for a few minutes before walking forward, feeling a hand on his back. He turned his head and saw that Ivan was smiling.

"I'm glad that you're going through with this."

"Don't get me wrong. I don't give a crap about any of them. This is just because if I don't, a Shadow will be on the loose."

"Why do you blame Lovino? A son should never be blamed for what a father has done."

"Yeah…that's why I'm willing to go find Lovino."

"And Antonio?"

"…let's pray to God that we find him first."

"And if not?"

Rizal said nothing, instead finally jumping into the portal. Ivan shook his head and jumped in after him with another chuckle.

/=+=/

That's right…SPAMANO!