After the commotion died down, Dark emerged from his hiding place and continued down the alley. He carefully peeked out from between the buildings to see the sun setting. He removed his white jacket knowing he would be harder to spot in the failing light. When he came out, he was behind most of the buildings and no one was out and about near him. He made his way back to the dried out river where he would find the bridge and Daisuke.
The ground ahead continued ahead for meters before it sloped downward into what used to be a shallow river. Dark scanned the area for threats and found a single couple walking slowly across the bridge as they talked. The thief limped as fast as he could to the slope's edge where he ducked and watched the couple for changes in behavior. The two continued their slow walk, oblivious to the accused murderer's close proximity. Dark held his hand over his mouth as he leaned forward and rolled down the slope, aggravating his wound. He waited for the new pain to subside before releasing his mouth and using his arms to pull himself to the opening under the bridge while staying low.
"Dark?" Daisuke asked when he heard rustling outside. Dark hushed him quietly. Daisuke lowered his voice before continuing, "did you lose them?" Dark nodded when he was within Daisuke's line of sight. When the younger boy noticed the difficulty he was having, he grabbed Dark's hand and pulled him under, "are you alright?"
Dark ignored him and made himself comfortable before grabbing Daisuke's backpack. "Tell me you have a handkerchief or something in here."
"What? Well, I…have a necktie."
"Good enough." He pulled the cloth out and began tying it around his thigh.
Daisuke started to protest, but stopped when he finally noticed the problem, "Dark! Why are you bleeding!?"
"Well, Daisuke," Dark replied after hushing him, "two trained men with guns and a car against me without magic or wings…do the math." He sighed angrily, "being human sucks."
"Maybe if we went home—"
"We can't, Daisuke. Don't you remember how that kid Engel went from 'hey, buddy, how's it going' to 'oh my god, the serial killer'? Krad controls the people in this world. He said he'd turn everything against us…my guess is they'd have a trap for us back home."
"Since when were you afraid of traps?"
"I'm not afraid! Just think reasonably…I'm injured and you're exhausted. It'd be completely idiotic to take a chance with your 'family'."
Dark and Daisuke sat in silence as they raced each other in the search for a new option. "I've been thinking," Daisuke began, breaking the silence, "Krad knows where we are, right? Then why didn't he send someone after me while you were gone?"
Dark thought about it then his face brightened, "maybe he doesn't."
"Doesn't what?"
"Doesn't know where we are. Don't you remember? He was talking about having to wait if we didn't find Engel. What if he can't see us…unless Engel can? Those police probably just got lucky when they spotted me. If Krad knew where we were and he was controlling them, there's no way I would've been able to escape with my injured leg."
"I guess that makes sense…but what does that mean for us?"
"It means Engel is Krad's link to this world…if we were to sever that link…"
Daisuke leapt to his feet, "you can't be serious!"
Dark grabbed the boy's shirt and yanked him back down, "shh!"
"I'm sorry," Daisuke apologized, "but you can't be serious. You're making it sound like…we're going to kill him." Daisuke waited for Dark to deny it…but he said nothing. "You…were serious."
"It's not like Engel's a real person," Dark stated in his defense.
"But…this world is so real! Just look at the blood on your leg. Can you really kill someone like that?"
"I can't," Dark admitted, "with this leg, if he were to fight back—"
"Dark!"
"Why do you have to be so naïve!? Think, Daisuke, THINK. Do you have a better idea?"
Daisuke began to speak, but stopped himself when he realized Dark's theory was the only one they had. "You just said you can't kill him…"
"That's right. I can't…but you can."
"No! You're asking too much!"
"Not so loud. Now, listen. It won't be too hard. I can distract him while you come up behind him and—"
"Don't ask me to do that, Dark! I can't."
Dark ignored his pleading, "we'll find a knife or, if we're lucky, a gun."
"No!"
Dark slapped Daisuke upside the head, "grow a pair, already! You can't go about life thinking everything will work out just fine as long as you're nice to everybody!"
"Easy for you to say," Daisuke mumbled, "you don't have to face the people you hurt every day."
"You will never see Engel after this. Once he's dead, this world will either fall apart and free us…or kill us in the process."
"But every time I see Krad, I'll—KILL US!?"
"Damnit, Daisuke! Do you want to alert every cop in the city?"
Daisuke lowered his voice again, "no, no! But…if we're just gonna die…!"
"There's a chance we won't."
"A chance!? What kind of chance?"
"I'd say 50-50."
"50-50!?"
"At LEAST."
"You're crazy!"
"And you're a spineless wimp!"
"I'm sick of you! You're so mean!"
"I could've—no, should've let you die!"
"I wish the police caught you!"
"I'm not listening to this shit!"
"And I'm not listening to you!" Daisuke kicked at Dark, who caught his foot. The younger boy tried to shake the thief off and accidentally hit his leg.
"GAH!" Dark shouted, grabbing his wound.
Daisuke gasped and moved back, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…"
"Oh, shut-up."
Daisuke watched and waited as Dark nursed his thigh. "Wow," he said at last, "I guess it's a good thing we don't see each other in the real world."
Dark stared at him momentarily before adding to his statement, "we'd probably kill each other." He chuckled quietly. Daisuke giggled back. Dark sighed and went back to business, "We can come up with a plan in the morning. Maybe we can think of something else."
"Yeah," Daisuke agreed. He looked around and listened, "I'm surprised no one heard us."
Dark shrugged, "if they did, it would have been your turn to get shot." He leaned against the tunnel wall and closed his eyes. Daisuke listened a few moments longer before following Dark's example.