The Big Question

It was cold. That was the first thing Amu registered. As she felt a faint tingling all over her body, she tried to sit up, only to groan in pain when the whole world seemed to spin.

"I wouldn't recommend doing that. It would be best if you just took it easy for a little while." The voice was cold and seemed to make Amu shake in her black boots. Clutching her pounding head, the teen tried to recall what had happened.

Where am I? She asked herself glancing around carefully. From what she could see, she was in a warehouse of some kind. There were wooden crates all over the large room she was in and when she tried to move forward, she realized her hands were tied to a metal pole.

"Don't worry." The voice spoke, as if trying to sooth a child. "If all goes well we won't need you that long. Of course, that's assuming they don't want you for personal reasons as well as business." Coughing slightly Amu looked around herself frantically. Where were Ran, Miki, and Su?

"Ran? Miki? Su? Where are you guys?" She whispered hoarsely, trying desperately to find her captor. Then, she discovered a small speaker mounted on the cold stone wall. They weren't in the room with her. Damn. Where are they? And what happened? I was just walking home from Nageiko's house. Then, the next thing I know I wake up here. Just how long have I been here?

As if the person could hear her thoughts, the man spoke in his high-pitched mouse like voice. "You've been here about a week. You got injections for nutrition hence the reason you'er still alive." Amu felt a pang of panic. Her parents! How could they know where she was? They must be worried sick! And Ami, and the others! They'd all be miserable and frantic with worry about what happened to her! "Where are your Guardian Charas?" the man hissed. "What do you know about the organization of Easter? And, most importantly, I need you to tell me everything you know about Ikuto Tsukiyomi."

Ikuto was annoyed. At himself, the city, and Amu. He was getting to the point where he was going to have to go back and ask Tadase what had happened. Biting back a snarl at the thought, Ikuto propped himself against the wall of a shed. This conveniently resided on the roof of the tallest building in the city. Ugh. This was getting him nowhere.

Groaning slightly, Ikuto pushed himself off the wall and began to jump from roof to roof using a Chara change. "Well Yoru, looks like it's time to pay the Kiddy King a visit."

"Now now Amu, you need to learn to cooperate better. I'm sure your fellow Guardians would want you to do the same. You must be such a handful at home and school." Amu gritted her teeth and said nothing. She lay on the hard floor of the warehouse, still tied to the pole. Her whole body felt numb, and her eyes watered in pain.

"I'll never tell anything to the likes of you." Amu hissed through her teeth as she tried yet again to break free.

"My dear, you will. Whether you want to or not." The man's voice suggested that he was steadily losing patience. Amu hadn't even seen a shadow of her captor since she'd woken up. "Now, let's see what's inside that little head of yours!" Amu threw up the barricades of her mind that kept her from screaming when she was in pain.

"Why me?" She spit out angrily. "Why ME? I haven't done anything wrong! I've done my job as a Guardian, as the Joker! I've been good to my friends; all I wanted was to be my would-be-self. So I ask you this. WHY are you torturing ME?"

The cold laughter that followed sent shivers of fear up her spine. He was MOCKING her!

"You will tell me the weaknesses and tactics of the Guardians and Ikuto Tsukiyomi."

Each stressed word sent waves of agony through Amu's body. She could feel the walls around her mind crumbling. This hurt. A lot. With a last shriek of either pain or defiance, she succumbed to the sea of darkness and drifted gratefully towards unconsciousness.

"Hey everybody!" Yaya's voice fell on deaf ears. Nageiko and Kukaui were going over a map of the city carefully, while Rima was checking messages on her phone, flicking so fast there was no way she was actually reading them. Tadase was gazing up through the glass dome of the "Royal Garden". The neatly kept grounds were covered in tons of different exotic flowers. Tadase picked one flower, a small violet and twirled its stem in between his fingers. Self-hatred directed his thoughts as he stared into space. Kukuai-the former "Jack's Chair" was pointing animatedly at a spot on the map, seemingly arguing with Nageiko about something. All this, was what welcomed Ikuto as he slipped through the hole in the top of the dome and landed on a wall. No one seemed to notice, not even Tadase.

"Any messages Rima?" Nageiko asked hopefully. The small girl shook her head, kneeling sadly on her chair making her look even more doll-like. For once, she didn't have it in her to argue with Nageiko. Deciding to see how far he could get without detection, Ikuto trotted up silently to where the two "Jacks" had gone back to disputing over the map. Standing right behind Kukuai, Ikuto pointed to a spot in the center of the city.

"Have you tried there?" He asked calmly.

The commotion that had been taking place, immediately gave way to silence as the Guardians all looked up to see the new arrival.

"Ikuto-niisan!" Tadase jumped from his chair and stared in astonishment at the boy with the violin strapped to his back. "What are you doing here?"

Giving his close friend a strange look, Ikuto gave the group a once over. Nageiko was looking right back at him, with curious dark eyes. Yaya was turning red in the face because she'd thought she'd trained enough that she would have noticed Ikuto before everyone else. Kukuai was smiling like a maniac but his light brown eyes were still sad as if he really did miss the training he'd given the "Joker". Rima eyed Ikuto suspiciously and Tadase's eyes, though had gleams of curiosity, also were filled to the brim with worry. It was clear he was going out of his mind looking for Amu.

Seeming to ignore the reaction to his arrival, Ikuto pointed yet again at the map.

"Like I said; have you checked there yet?"

"Yes, we also checked these places." Nageiko gestured to several other places on the map, including the building site where Ikuto had first met Amu, and the park where upon various incidences had occurred. The Guardians seemed to welcome any chance of finding they're missing companion. One more searcher would only help the cause right? Especially if that searcher knew the city streets as well as Ikuto did.

"Why are you here?"

"How can you help?"

"Have you seen her?"

Ikuto was bombarded by questions before he could blink. The last one was so quiet, he almost missed it entirely.

"How did you know she was gone?" As soon as she spoke the words, Rima looked up from the glass table in front of her and into Ikuto's sapphire eyes. "How did you know? Do you know where she is? What are you here for?" The cold glare of her eyes shocked Ikuto. He hadn't realized the tiny teen could put so much force and anger into a few sentences.

"I saw an interview on TV, no, and to help look." He smirked slightly. Rima just continued to glare.

"What do you plan to do to help? Search like everyone else? Hasn't it occurred to you that the reason she's gone is because of you?" This shocked Ikuto. His eyes widened in surprise.

"What?"

"It's. You're. Fault." She spoke punctuating each word with a glare. "Did you think she wouldn't miss you?" Ikuto stared.

Why would she miss me? I mean yeah, I comfort her from time to time. And yes she likes it when I play the violin, but MISS me? I haven't been gone THAT long have I?