Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing and no one except Nevaeh. And she's not too happy about it.

Nevaeh: You're right. I'm not.

Me: Help…

…

Alright, look. I don't know why I said what I did, so don't ask. But this man (who my shocked mind had now decided looked quite like Krad Hikari)… this man just felt familiar. And the words slipped out. He sighed.

"Good that you recognize me," he said, "It saves me a lot of explaining. And you had the sense to bring that." He nodded toward my wrist, and I touched the cuff. "That's good. Now, follow me, Satoshi-sama will be getting worried…" He jumped out of the tree, his wings spreading slightly to slow his descent, and began walking. Satoshi-sama? There was no way this man was actually Krad. This was just an elaborate dream. Or maybe my pills had been expired and I was having some sort of full-blown hallucination.

"Why should I follow you?" I asked. "Let me go home!" Although I knew my mom would have a heart attack when she saw my hair, I wanted to go home. This was all too surreal; in fact, I almost pinched myself, stopping only because, if this was a dream, I wouldn't think of pausing to do so. And if this was a hallucination, it wouldn't do me any good.

The man didn't answer, but continued walking. And once again, I felt that odd, tugging sensation in my gut. I swore and stumbled after him, taking a last look behind me. I saw nothing but the dirt road I had walked on, and the tree. That tree… I didn't know it then, but that tree was the starting point of the rest of my life… and the ending one. So I stumbled after this man –my father –wondering what in the world would happen to me.

…

After about twenty minutes, I found the last bits of strength in my legs and jogged up to my father. (I'd never call him 'dad'.) "You never told me where we're going," I stated. He nodded. "So… are you planning on it?" A shake of the head this time.

"They thought you were schizophrenic," he said instead. I nodded. "You aren't." Before I could ask him what he meant by that, he continued. "You've got my temperament. I suppose your room was a mess?" I shook my head.

"It was the voices that got me the diagnosis." This elicited a laugh from the golden haired man. He didn't explain it, but pressed onwards, muttering something else about 'Satoshi-sama'. I felt like I was going to collapse. I was so tired… But no. I had to keep going. I wouldn't show any sign of weakness. But I felt like I was going to split in two. I was light-headed and dizzy, and barely stumbling along. Every inch of my body ached, especially my back, and there was a burning feeling in the center of my chest, right where my ribcage began to separate. It was, I realized a few seconds later, my necklace; my watch. The cuff on my arm was cool, as was the red stone set in the silver disk. Why was that? But the spots in front of my eyes did not allow me a chance to look at it before my vision finally went black.

…

When I woke up, I was laying on my stomach on a couch. I pushed myself up onto my elbows, ignoring the bolts of pain that shot through my back as I did so, and then upright. I crossed my legs and leaned my elbows onto my knees. My now bright red hair fell into my eyes and I blew it away impatiently. The first thing I noticed was what I was wearing. I could still feel the fabric of my school uniform against my skin, but I was wearing what looked like a long, black robe over it. I uncrossed my legs and stood up, deciding then and there that I would find my 'father' and beat the truth out of him. Of course, my legs didn't feel like agreeing with my brain, and quickly gave out.

"Milady!" I caught myself before my face hit the floor, and, leaning on my hands, I looked around for whoever had just spoken.

"Who's there?" I asked. There were several beats of silence, and then I saw a shadow move to my left. It was a giant black dog with glowing red eyes. A chain hung around its neck and leather cuffs attached to more broken chains were on its front legs. I barely bit back a scream. It appeared to be a Great Dane, and its voice, though deep, was very gentle and concerned when it spoke next.

"It is I, milady," the dog said. "My name is Goth." He turned his head into the shadows and seemed to disappear for a moment before holding out my watch pendant to me. "You can use this as a crutch, milady."

"That's a watch," I said dumbly. This was too weird. But Goth shoved the watch into my hand anyway, and then nudged my fingers around it. Almost instantly, it began to glow and burn, and then seemed to shift. A moment later, I realized that the watch wasn't doing anything, but the scythe charm – the charm on the back was growing. It took less than thirty seconds, and I was holding a long scythe. It was plain black, made of a metal I knew at a glance I had never seen before. The blade, towering at least six feet above the floor, was long and silver and sharp. It glinted in the dim light.

"No milady," Goth said quietly, "That is your scythe. Look at your wings." My heart skipped a beat and I thought again about the pain (now much subsided) in my back. Then I reached my left hand (the one that wasn't holding the scythe) behind my back and touched something leathery. There was a point right at the joint of the wing, like a bat's claw. I imagined them spreading slightly. Nothing happened.

"Goth, how do I get them to work?" I asked. He walked over to me, and I noticed that his ears stood straight up, like a jackal's, and he wore a black collar studded with sharp-looking silver points. He walked behind me and leapt up on the couch.

And then he bit me. I yelped and tried to pull away, smacking him across the face with one of the dark brown leather wings. "Like that," he said, not sounding the least bit stunned or hurt. I examined the bite mark on my shoulder, but it wasn't there. "Milady, I could not hurt you if I wanted to," he said. "What you felt was a bite, but it healed immediately." I nodded and touched the spot again. There wasn't even a bit of pain. I ruffled my wings, now able to move them at will.

"Thanks Goth," I said. "Now let's figure out where the others are." He nodded his head, his eyes still glowing red. I looked around, taking in my surroundings a bit more. I could see everything in perfect detail, as though there was a floodlight shining over the whole room, driving the shadows away. I blinked, and I swear I could see through my eyelids. I later learned that I was doing just that.

Leaning heavily on my scythe, I walked out of the room. Goth walked right with me, never ahead or behind me. I wasn't quite sure where we were going, but I let instinct be my guide. This was one crazy hallucination, for sure, and I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next.

"Milady?" Goth said quietly. I glanced down at him. "Milady, this is no hallucination." I absentmindedly stroked one of his ears, not thinking about how he had known my thoughts.

"It has to be," I whispered. "It has to be." What else could it be? At the time, I had no idea what was and what wasn't; I only had the basest idea as to where and what I then was: a confused girl with demon wings and bright red hair. One who was very much out of her element, with no way to return home. One who was very scared.

I turned a corner, and heard voices. One was heavily accented, the other quite cold. They seemed to be arguing, and I listened.

"Krad," the colder voice was saying, "I don't know how this happened, but you absolutely cannot let her find out about her past! If she does…"

"If she does, Satoshi-sama," Krad's voice cut in, "You will never have to worry about me again. Or that idiot, Dark. He has gone to find his own daughter as well."

"The daughters of the Black Wings," Satoshi's voice muttered. "I can't believe it. How the hell can the two of you…?" I could almost picture him shaking his head. "Never mind. I don't think I want to know." I heard Krad laugh, and decided I had heard enough. I followed the laughter to a small dining room, where the two sat. Satoshi had short, ice-blue hair and eyes, just as he had in DN Angel. I began to worry even more for my mental health. A cold cup of coffee sat in front of him. Don't ask me how I knew it was cold.

Without waiting for either of them to acknowledge me, I said, "The two of you really owe me some answers." Satoshi jumped, and Krad glanced at me. "Yeah. Explain the wings and the hellhound and I might not kill you." Goth stepped into the room, but he wasn't the same dog. In fact, he didn't even appear to be the same creature. He was a creature that held only the barest traces of being a canine, made of nothing but shadow, with eyes like glowing red coals and teeth like sharpened ivory.

"Well," Satoshi said dryly, "You certainly have your father's temperament." I don't know where the dagger came from, but when I saw it, it was pinned in Satoshi's shoulder. As he gasped in pain (had he screamed? I couldn't remember) I laughed gently, and Goth walked back over to me and settled around my ankles, taking on his more canine appearance.

"Nevaeh," Krad snapped. I blinked, and looked around me. "You really must learn to control your temper. We are hunters, but we do not hurt him," he nodded towards Satoshi, "Or, as much as I hate to say it, the Niwa family. There are rules here as well." He walked over to Satoshi and pulled the blade out of his shoulder. "At least it's not poisoned," he said, "I should have figured this would happen." He was certainly talking to himself, but suddenly he turned to me. "You want answers?" I nodded. "That can be arranged. Sit down."

"I'll pass," I said without any inflection, even though my legs were still sore from walking and my back still throbbed from my wings. Krad shrugged and sat back down, leaving Satoshi to go bandage the stab wound I'd given him.

"I have visited your world from time to time," Krad began. "Yes, our worlds are connected. You walked the space between your world and this one yesterday, which would have been impossible if I had not been pulling you through with magic."

"Painful magic," I cut in, but Krad ignored me.

"I met your mother sixteen years ago, during my last trip to your world." I blinked, taking in the information without comment. "I had never really cared for humans before then. In fact, if you want to know, I had only ever felt fond of the Hikari's, for no reason other than they are my creators, before I met your mother." I could believe that. He didn't seem like a particularly friendly being. "She was… enchanting. I don't know how else to describe the way I felt for her." I remembered my mom telling me the same thing, how she had been so enchanted by him. It was rather painful to think about.

"So what happened then?" I asked, curious but not wanting to know at the same time. "Why did you leave?" I had hated growing up without a dad. I'd always ask mom about him, even when I was old enough to realize that it hurt her to talk about him. I just wanted to know.

"Dakota… she was carefree, happy…" Krad trailed off for a moment, and it struck me, only then, that he had looked like he was in his late twenties in all the pictures I had of him from home. Here, he couldn't have been older than nineteen, and wearing white robes with wings and a cross to match! "I don't know what she saw in me. But I was… drawn; I suppose you could say, to her. We were both artists; she a sculptor, myself a painter, and we met at an art show."

"How long did you stay in my world when you…" I paused, trying to find the right word, "visited?"

"Months," Krad said, "I would visit between tamers; I had something of my own form in that world." I leaned on my scythe, suddenly wary as to what he would say next. "When I met her, she was brushing her hair out of her eyes at a New York exhibit, and was trying to maneuver a piece through a hallway that was crowded with tables and people. I offered to help her, and she accepted gratefully. From there, things just…"

"Clicked?" I asked quietly, sliding to the ground and sitting with my legs crossed. He nodded.

"Things clicked," he agreed. "We were married a few months later, and you were born a year after that."

"You left us before I was born," I said.

"Yes." He wouldn't look at me.

"Why?" I had to ask, I had to know, I was suddenly going crazy. Krad did not meet my gaze.

"Satoshi was born," he said quietly, at last. "I couldn't have stayed it I had wanted to." I wanted to cry.

"Did you want to stay?" I asked, afraid of the answer.

But an answer didn't come. Krad's silence had a horrible finality.

...

AN: And so ends another chapter. Wow, it's been a long break, hasn't it? I hope you enjoyed!