Chapter 1 - Now Is The Time

Zyro ran.

He didn't know where too, but he didn't care.

He ran away from the place of where he had figured out the truth, his vision entirely blurry as he aimlessly ran to who-knows-where, fleeing from the darkness that had corrupted the memory that that place had held.
His breathing was heavy.
Whether it was from running for who-knows-how-long or from the pure shock of the realization he had come across in those few moments just a few minutes ago, he had no idea - more honestly, he didn't even care.
He just wanted to be anywhere else except for the place where he and Gingka had first met.
Where he had gone to just to remember everything before all of this, only to have those memories torn away from him by the psychopath they had believed to have defeated.
But in their blindness, and their naivety, their gullibility, they had failed to realize the truth.
Of course, how would anybody realize that their worst enemy had been shape-shifted to look like their best friend and hero? It had been in that split moment of realization had everything finally made sense for Zyro, at least in the time span of the last week since they had supposedly defeated Alcorin.
Gingka's behavior, the way he had seemed so distant throughout the week, the reason why he was leaving... He had said all of those things to him. He had said he was proud of him, that he was sorry, that he was able to hear him while in his never-ending sleep that they had unwittingly made eternal; and now that Zyro knew the truth, all those words now mercilessly dug through his skin to the bone, unwillingly opening up his mind to agonizingly soak in the painful reality that they had let become reality in the first place.

Alcorin had even said it himself before 'Gingka' had arrived.
He was able to shape-shift into anybody or anything, and he was even able to shift others that he decided the fate for - and the only thing that didn't change was the eyes.
Those damned eyes that he had believed were Gingka's, that he had believed were his friend's and that it was all finally going to be alright after what felt like an eternity of fighting.
Zyro had seen something missing in Gingka's eyes when he stood beside him, had thought it strange at first and yet had foolishly brushed it off in the blind belief that there was nothing wrong.
When in reality, everything had been wrong.
For the time that they had battled Alcorin, his voice didn't shake their spirits as it had previously - and Gingka's touch throughout the week had not been as hypnotic and strange as it had been when he was dying...
In fact, Gingka's voice had been the one to send shivers down their spines, the one to dig down deep into the cores and try to get hold of something, but strangely backing away.
Zyro now deemed himself a fool for not realizing it all sooner. They had all been too blinded by their belief to realize that they destroyed Gingka instead of Alcorin, not taking the experience they now had and learning from it, not looking outside the box like they should've been the whole time.
Even if Gingka had woken up at all, he would've never had the strength to get down there so fast.
Alcorin had played them for fools.
They had been nothing more than mere puppets to him, and they had blindly played his game the way that he had wanted them too. And they - no, he - had realized all to late that they had lost, benefiting to Alcorin's cause and just giving him his way freely.

There was now no way that anything was going to be alright after this... Everything they had fought for, almost and actually died for, had all been in vain because they were too stupid to realize the truth and listen to the instinct that had formed from the past month.
He had promised Gingka, had forced himself not to give in to the temptation of sleep because he knew that he had to keep that promise, and he had failed him.
Even worse was the fact that he had helped their worst enemy kill him, and that enemy now appeared in the form of their best friend and hero.

When Zyro finally managed to open his eyes, he was at the waterline.
It was the place that Gingka had taken him so long ago to gaze at the stars while he was dying, where they bonded over astronomy and Zyro had fallen asleep from exhaustion as Gingka explained a bunch of things about the stars and constellations.
Zyro stared out across the water with eyes just as blue, breathing hard from the running he had done as he tried to flee the darkness that had consumed the place where he and Gingka had first met.
However, the water no longer seemed as blue as it once had been, with the seagulls flying overhead in hopes of getting a catch, the waves splashing against the wall that blocked them from the rest of the city and the sidewalk only a few feet up, the sun reflecting over the ripples that decorated the surface.
The world that they lived in, once filled with color and life and innocence, had faded to grey from the wages of the war that they had been thrust into in the blink of an eye. Nothing was ever going to be the same after this...
Especially not for Zyro as everything just tore through him all at once, making him barely able to stand the ache that flared in his chest as he closed his eyes tightly and gripped the railing with what appeared to be a grip harder than the iron it was made of.

"I'll be waiting..."

Those words burned into his mind like the way farmers marked cattle, dancing around with little knives in each non-existent had and graving them against his consciousness as he was inevitably forced to soak in the truth that lay before him.
He didn't want to, but he was unable to deny it.
Everything just suddenly becoming so clear to him that he felt like breaking down on the spot.
There was never too many people down by the shoreline, so what would it matter if he fell to his knees and cried away the endless tears he held in into the grass of which now seemed so dull to him.
With his free hand did Zyro violently wipe at his eyes, forcing down the tears that he still somehow managed to keep in despite knowing that it definitely wasn't good for his mental health.
Of course, he was pretty sure they were all having a few mental issues right now with everything that had happened - Maru still getting over her trauma with Dynamis, Ren still recovering from being under Alcorin's influence, Madoka from having one of her best friends almost dying; everything had seemed to go back to the way it was, everything would seem normal again, despite most of them definitely needing some therapy from a professional psychiatrist.
But this was never going to be okay... Zyro knew he had to tell the others, but how? How do you just tell your friends that the man they all fought to save as actually dead while the psychopath they resented lived on in his form?

Goddammit... Dammit... Dammit!..

"You really have weird ways of letting out your emotions, don't you?" Zyro opened his now red eyes, sore from rubbing them so hard to make sure the tears stayed down, startled by the voice that had come from nearby yet immediately being able to recognize it - if he had 'helped' you for over a week while putting everything on the line with his teammates, anyone would be able to recognize it.
Slowly did Zyro look over, the tears dotting his eyelashes as they fought against him in his frustration and anxiety from knowing he had failed, blue eyes looking into the face that adorned only one of the color of liquid gold, partially covered by pastel hair.
Kira Hayama, someone Zyro knew wasn't exactly that fond of him despite all of his precious actions a week ago, shifted slightly with his stance and placed his hand on his hip in a rather feminine way that just seemed to suit him more than anything now.
"Why do you seem so down all of a sudden?" The Bahamoote Blader questioned, tilting his head back in the slightest bit as he eyed the other blader.

Zyro didn't answer.

His bloodshot eyes simply stared at Kira, his body shaking as he still unconsciously gripped the railing in something that was perhaps stronger than the metal itself, looking like he was maybe trying to find the proper words to say and even still not knowing how to say them.
It was only then did a feeling of pain and cold shoot up his arm from his hand and resting in his shoulder, the ginger-ravenette grimacing before loosening hi grip on the railing that he had had such a strong hold on - where his fingers had been now was a small indent that he himself could not believe he had created.
Maybe if you were angry enough it was possible, but... Kira tilted his head, furrowing one eyebrow inward since it was the only one he had or was visible, seeing the strange behavior that Zyro was now sporting of which even he knew wasn't like him.
Zyro breathed hard, evidently forcing down the tears that tried to make their way out of him from the anxiety that built up, stressing him out almost to the point of crying of which he had promised himself he wouldn't do.

Zyro sucked in a breath of which almost released a sob that he was unwillingly let out, still feeling the burning sensation of failure fill his body to the brim with the realization that he had come across only a few minutes prior that now felt like hours, this entire thing seeming to have taken an eternity all for it just to be thrown back in their faces.
The Fire Blader bit his lip almost hard enough to draw blood, which he forced himself not to do since he had done it twice last week and almost 3 times, struggling to find the words as his arm ached with the tension that had been roughly put on it from gripping the railing so hard.
He couldn't put anything into words.
He could barely even think let alone even try to speak as he desperately fought to get everything together and not breakdown in front of the person that he knew would loathe him for it and never let him hear the end of it for a few days.
Only after several minutes of uncomfortable silence between the two - at least on Zyro's end - was Zyro finally able to utter something without breaking down in front of the other.

"I need to talk to you about something..." The ginger-ravenette said hurriedly before violently whipping at his eyes again, absolutely refusing to let the tears fall and release the pressure that was building up inside him from anxiety and frustration.
Kira raised his one eyebrow, his stance having changed a bit seeing as how he had shifted his weight onto his opposite foot as he watched the slow process of the Fire Blader getting himself to speak - he had seen the content look on his face throughout the week, how relieved and at peace he seemed now that Gingka was okay and everything would soon be able to go back to normal.
Then he just so happened to stumble upon him in this state, watching him as he nearly broke down from some sort of pressure that had been put on his shoulders and causing him to nearly fall to his knees with the tears landing on his red pants and the pavement beneath of him; Kira didn't know a lot about these things since he wasn't truly able to understand it to much from his sadism, but even he knew something was wrong.
And whatever it was, it was probably no where near anything that he could think up in his mind out of wonder...

Unless he forgot to set his alarm clock, Takanosuke never slept in.

And when he forgot to set it, he slept in way past what anybody usually slept in, even for the summer.
Today just happened to be one of those days, where his father had left early to get his job and knowing full well that his son could take care of himself - he didn't control when Takanosuke woke up, unlike when he was little and he'd wake the child from his sleep with a gentle shake of his shoulder.
He had told his son directly that he was old enough to get up on his own now and had to be responsible; Takanosuke didn't argue against his father, taking the liberty of buying himself an alarm clock that even told the temperature in his room as well as the date and month.
He had to constantly remind himself not to forget to set it every night for the morning, seeing as how he always slept like a log for at least 9 or so hours depending on what time he went to sleep at. But often, his body and mind wouldn't listen to the constant orders he gave them to wake up at the limit of 9 hours, they always betrayed him and made him sleep longer for mental health reasons.
Takanosuke himself could never really complain either, since it made him feel better than waking up on the command of his alarm clock did - not that he was a morning person, anyway.

But the dreams he was cursed by did not make it anything not to argue about as he unconsciously gripped at the covers with his fingers as his blond curls spread out messily underneath him, his bangs sticking to his forehead with the sweat that had formed from the amount of twisting and turning he was doing.
His lips were brought up in a small frown as his fingers held the blankets in a death grip that looked like it could tear the fabric apart if he tried hard enough - under his lips, his teeth were gritted together, writhing silently before the sights that he saw before his closed eyes as his mind took great displeasure in this and tried to wake him up.
There was no serenity behind closed eyes that were squeezed shut, terrors that could never picture purely yet remained solid in his mind as day flashing before his cerulean eyes that stared at nothing but his eyelids that begged to be opened.

Darkness... A closed in space that didn't bother him with other people surrounding him.. Barely able to see the mostly smoothed out walls that were barely illuminated at all from the dark they stood in..

Wake up..

Wake up..

His mind screamed at him as he tossed onto his side, bringing his legs up as if to wrap himself into a ball only to recoil from that position and stretch out, his feet fighting against the sheets as they stretched along with him.

A tall building upon many others, one that he had seen before but couldn't place... A helicopter?.. Something heading towards it..

Blond curls spread across the pillow, damp with sweat as his bangs stuck to his forehead from the heat of the summer and twisting around so much.

Pure white figures, across from each other in a world that nearly blended in with them entirely.. Black and white as it seemed everything stood, mixed colors around him of the many people that had gathered to see.. Beings with no pigmentation except for eyes...

A weak cry escaped Takanosuke's lips as his eyes snapped open from shock, breathing hard as he clutched the blankets in his hands while facing up towards the ceiling, a position he unwillingly moved into while he was sleeping.
Shallow breaths came in and out through his lips, his chest rising up and down at a slow pace as he slowly recovered from the nightmares that he would have believed were reality if he wasn't awake and staring at his light brown ceiling right now.
Propping himself up on his pillow with tense muscles, Takanosuke glanced over at his alarm clock on the bedside table that he had forgotten to set the previous night.

11:03am.

With a sigh did the blond fall back limply into his bed, finally relaxing as the tension from the nightmare passed and the light of day was finally seen.
"I don't wanna get up.." Takanosuke whined to nobody, even though he knew he had to get out of bed at some point, especially considering the time he had slept in till.
Groaning with annoyance of leaving the warmth of his bed - even though it could become unbearable in the summer - did the blond sit up and rub his eyes, groaning from the ache in his limbs as he swung his legs over the bed and stood up.
A big yawn escaped him as he made his way out of his room and down the stairs towards the first floor of where he would make himself a classic breakfast of toast and orange juice.
Yet somehow, his nightmares still seemed to stick solidly in his mind even as he plugged in the toaster...

Kira had listened to Zyro, remaining quiet as he shakily said his words in a way that sounded like he was desperately forcing himself to say the words that he had no time to think about, all of it spilling out of his lips in a way that sounded like he was just thinking as he spoke, not even paying any mind to his words as he just explained all that he had come to realize only a few minutes ago as it seemed.
Kira watched Zyro's expression, watching as the tears came to his eyes and threatened to spill over the edges of his eyelashes before he forced them down or wiped them away, keeping them in as he definitely didn't want to cry in front of him of all people - Kira likely wouldn't even care if he did or not.
He was a sadist, that much was clear.
He enjoyed the physical and emotional suffering of others, which brought great pleasure to his sickening self - but within the week of which everything had went down in, things had appeared to have changed.
He suddenly didn't get that twisted joy from seeing Zyro almost breaking down in front of him, letting all of his emotions build up in a wall that would soon come crumbling down.

Now... It almost made him feel sick to his stomach.

Zyro had changed.
That much was clear.
The look in his eyes had changed, the way he held himself seemed to have changed... He was relatively the same as he had been before the whole thing with Alcorin went down, but Kira could see the difference.
And he wasn't sure whether he liked that or not.
When Zyro had finished, Kira didn't say anything at first - he gathered all that he had heard from the other blader as they sat on the grass in front of the water that had always seemed more grey than blue to him, and established everything that Zyro believed - no, not believed... It was evident that this was not just something made up from his imagination out of anxiety of the Legendary Blader leaving Metal Bey.

"So what does this mean, exactly?" The Bahamoote Blader asked, leaning forward a bit to get a better of Zyro's face as he forced his unbearable emotions deep down into himself.
"I-I don't know..." Zyro said, biting back a sob that tried to escape him as he slowly bottled up all of his fears and worries and screams, "I p-promised Gingka and I..."
Zyro bit his lip for a moment, breathing in shakily through his nose as he tried to speak without failing on his words - though Kira felt generous enough to wait for him.
"A-Alcorin's alive.. Because o-of m-me.." The Fire Blader uttered out, taking in a breath of which he shakily let out as he mainly put his hands in his hair to occupy himself, "I'm such an idiot..."

Kira scoffed silently, turning away from the other a bit but with his one eye still firmly on him.
"Do you actually think blaming yourself is going to get you anywhere, Zyro?" He asked, and did not expect a response from the Fire Blader until he got one.
"I know, you've said it before..." Zyro retorted, his voice shaky as he tried to speak and sustain himself, "Crying doesn't get me anywhere... I-I know..." He sniffed, rubbing at his already bloodshot and sore eyes as he tried not to let the tears fall, even though a couple had managed to slip past this barrier and slide down his cheeks.
"Hmm.." Kira hummed, looking down at the grass for a moment before his eye made its' way back to Zyro - looks like Zyro did learn from all the scolding he had given him, though this time it may not exactly be a good thing from how much he was keeping in.

"Well, Alcorin's apparently alive..." Kira said slowly, making sure he got everything down right while keeping his eye on Zyro, "Gingka is, rightfully, dead in Alcorin's place.. Alcorin took the form of Gingka for a week and fooled us all... So, what are you going to do about that?"
Zyro didn't respond right away, glancing over at the other blader with bloodshot blue eyes that did not look fitting to him.
"He said he'd be waiting..." Zyro said solemnly, finding it a bit easier to keep his tears in and speak, "Just like before.."

"And what do you think that means?" Kira questioned, watching as Zyro looked over at him before looking away, "He wanted you to find him the first time, Zyro... Who ever said that he didn't want you to find him now?.."
Zyro tried to make sense of this through his slightly blurred haze, not knowing what to make out of all of it.
Evidently, "Gingka" had said it to him to rub it in his face that they had failed, they were not the victors in this game that he himself had set up and commanded them to do his bidding, everything working out exactly as it had to for him.

"Catch me if you can, Zyro..."

Those words suddenly came to mind.

If he could... If he could...

Anything that bastard ever said was mainly to make a mockery of everything they had ever stood for, even letting them having a few precious days to think that everything was alright, that it was finally over to rub it in their faces that he had won.
But as those words that he had heard before they had ventured down into what Alcorin's domain had been came into his head, Zyro began to believe that maybe those words weren't just to mock them.
Of course, in Alcorin's head they had very well only been that, but it could mean something else entirely.
"Now tell me, Zyro..." Kira said, catching Zyro's eyes with his only one, gold eye gleaming with a solemn expression, "What are you going to do now?"
Zyro bit the inside of his lip, forcing down the tear that tried to escape him from the anxiety that still remained. He didn't answer right away, sitting there as he heard the waves solemnly splashing against the barrier that kept them down below.
Kira just looked at him, narrowing his one eye of which he knew Zyro could feel from the sheer aura that he let off, before finally answering in a tone that made him seem like a different person.
"Go after him..." Zyro responded softly, his bloodshot eyes staring out blankly towards the ocean that had once been so colorful with its' divine blues and reflective surface that was now changed like himself.
"Hmph.." Kira grunted, closing his eye with a small smirk on his face, "Is that so?... Then I guess I won't be the one to stop you, exactly.. But will you tell your friends about it, is the question.."

With his only eyebrow raised, Kira watched as the other blader shifted slightly, looking away to hide the tears in his eyes as Kira's questions only seemed to stress him out more, but his feelings were unknown.
The ginger-ravenette breathed out shakily as he gently tugged at a few locks of his hair with his left hand just to keep busy so that he wouldn't break down in front of Kira of all people - what was he supposed to say, exactly?
Why was Kira always so difficult with him?
Of course, Kira had been the one to keep him together throughout the entire week that Gingka had been in a coma before his death that they had let happened and caused; he wasn't exactly helpful in all terms, but he had been willing enough to keep the grounded for as long as possible and necessary, even if he claimed that he didn't even want to really 'help' at all.

"I don't know..." Was all that Zyro could bring himself to say, since he really didn't know what he was going to do.
To go after "Gingka" was easier said than done, as he wouldn't even know where to begin looking for him at all.
Considering the number of powers that Alcorin had, he could take the appearance of anyone, and he could even be on the other side of the world with apparent ability to teleport.
But Zyro was willing to take his chances. Kira huffed out a breath while glancing up towards the sky of which of partially clouded with the sun peeking out from behind the clouds.
"Well, I guess I can give you a word of advice..." The pastel-haired blader said, looking at his nails absently as he spoke, "You've fought this hard for what you've believed was right... Why stop now at all times?.. Besides, it's interesting to see how much you've changed since that kid I only wanted to see in pain..."
Zyro didn't say anything to that, yet heard Kira's words fine while understanding where he was coming from - he honestly hadn't liked Kira at first, either, none of them had considering he was part of the DNA.
Lifting a hand to his eyes, Zyro whipped at his eyes again, having a bit of a headache from the tears that he forced down as something pulled at his throat with an intensity that he was just able to handle.
Kira almost felt guilt for seeing him in that state, but immediately brushed it off without hesitation as he moved to stand up.

"Well, I guess I'll leave you to that." Kira said as he stood up, stretching a bit to relieve his limbs before flicking his wrist off to the side, "I'm quite good at secrets, so you don't have to worry about me telling anybody. Whatever you do is your decision."
Zyro looked up slowly as he heard Kira depart, not having to look to know that he was walking down the rest of the grassy hill towards the sidewalk by the waterline that he had been staring at absently with bloodshot eyes that stung from rubbing them so much.

"Kira..." Zyro called out absently, looking over to the Bahamoote Blader of who stopped walking
when he reached the sidewalk before glancing down at him with a questionable expression.
The Fire Blader wasn't even sure he should say anything at first, perhaps just cutting it to a simple thank you for helping them or a goodbye for the temporary - temporary? - departure.
But what came out of his mouth was far different than what he had been thinking in his mind.

"Would you help?" Zyro asked, almost catching Kira off guard as his one eye visibly widened before sighing and turning around.
"Depends..." He began, placing a hand on his hip, "Do I still have to return that favor?.."

This almost brought a smile to Zyro's lips - almost...

He always made sure they were never watching him when he watched others.
He would cause the surveillance systems of his room to go to static or shut off with no hopes of turning back on until he allowed them, assuring that any microphones that were placed among the belongings he had were at a high-frequency to block anything he ever said or the noises that came from the things and people he watched.
Of course, they all dismissed it as him finding some sort of fun with his immobility in his current state that left him irreversibly weak.
It had indeed been that for awhile, until he found a new use for this ability that he had when the voices started in the back of his head - he had believed himself to finally be going insane from the years that he had spent in the white confines of the prison he was born in, that something had gone wrong in the tests that they still ran with him despite his condition that caused him to begin hearing things he shouldn't of.

But it didn't take long for him to establish that it wasn't schizophrenia, but something entirely different that felt rather okay on his standards; now, he shut off the lights, the cameras, and the microphones for entirely different reasons, watching as a holographic screen was brought up in front of him and allowed him to see what he wanted.
His head rested to the side slightly, not finding the energy to lift it up so he could sit up straight of which he always had a hard time doing.
A soft breath escaped him as eyes, that had once been a nice blue color and now a faded color as they began to return to the way they once were, observed the screen in front of him blankly, knowing full well that nobody else could see what he saw as he was now completely on his own with no eyes surrounding him.

Another soft breath escaped him as he sat there limply, a sickly tone to his skin as he observed silently.
Narrowing blue eyes slightly, he said nothing as he watched, knowing full well that there may be nothing for him to control or help with this time.
The voice in the back of his head was growing weaker, fainter to the point where he could barely hear it as that presence he felt so familiar with began to fade.
It was fading... And all of it was just beginning.

"Please... Don't abandon him... Don't abandon..."