Chapter 5 - Still Here

Takanosuke gazed out across the water as he leaned against the railing of the shoreline, the cries of the gulls filling his ears with the waves splashing against the wall echoing behind them.
The sun reflected off the surface of the water, giving light to the depths below that were a dark and black abyss filled with nothingness and awaiting for the next casualty to fall down into the darkness where it would slowly suffocate them.
The metal was naturally cold against his fingertips that just barely touched it from the way they were crossed, his cerulean eyes staring blankly as he remained lost in his thoughts instead of truly in the reality that he stood in.
He knew that Sakyo was near him, but he decided to pay him no mind as his thoughts swam through his head, unable to focus on anything else except for what happened yesterday with Ren. She had explained everything to them.
Explained that things weren't over with Alcorin, that everything they had fought for was for naught and that he was still out there somewhere, watching, waiting, walking freely with the fact in his head that he had won the battle that they had fought to win.
They had both listened to every word that Ren spoke, seeing the urgency in her face and feeling her sincerity through the way that she said her words, finished her sentences, the way her eyes darted this way and that as some sort add to a hand gesture.
But in the end, both of them had completely turned them down and bailed on the whole idea of going after him. Well, Sakyo had been the one to make the call, and Takanosuke had simply agreed with him and said that they wanted nothing more to do with a psychopath that was descended from something that wasn't remotely human.

Of course, he could imagine how the rest of them were taking it - he hadn't really know Gingka himself, but he was able to tell that the redhead had meant something to them; he was a legend, a hero that had saved them all from a supposedly inevitable fate that the God of Destruction had lain out before them.
It was terrible to think that everything that they had all fought for was for nothing in the end, that they had all been made fools of by the very man they had thought they destroyed for good.
He and Sakyo had barely even known about Alcorin and they had already been absolutely done with his carefree attitude that came from insanity; how the others were, having dealt with it for a week already, was probably an entirely different story.
They had likely already gone after him, had already split town in hopes that they would find him somewhere, wherever he was.
Out of the two of them, Takanosuke was the one who regretted bailing on them the most - he could understand why Sakyo wouldn't want anything else to do with him, but Zyro and the others were their teammates in a tournament that had been postponed for a very long time now; two weeks, to be more accurate.
It was probably too late by now to have second thoughts, but Takanosuke couldn't help but wonder if he had gone against Sakyo's word and suggested that they help out, that they help take down the psychopath that killed the man who was a hero and dear friend to the rest of their teammates, as well as those of the WBBA.
But now they were left here, with nothing more to do but to wait for the tournament to start back up, if it was even going to do so now that the others were probably going to go after the deity that they likely loathed more than anything.
But, as they both stood and sort of relaxed by the waterline, Takanosuke couldn't help but have the regrets weighing him down that they weren't there to help.

"Takanosuke." Said blonde jumped as he heard his name being called, jumping out through the window of his thoughts and landing right back into reality that stood around him with no holes or gaps in its' blanket of wholeness.
Takanosuke turned slightly, looking towards the source of the voice that had spoken his name and predictably finding himself staring into the crimson red eyes of Sakyo, who stood there watching him as if he had been doing it for hours on end, even though they both hadn't been there for very long.
"Oh, uh, Sakyo.." Takanosuke said, stumbling on his words as he failed to meet the eyes of the one that he most considered a friend, "Uh.. How long were you there?.. Um... Sorry.."
Sakyo raised an eyebrow as he saw Takanosuke's behavior, noticing how distant he seemed, the slight anxiety in his voice laced with guilt or regret.
"What's on your mind?" He asked gruffly, causing Takanosuke to glance up at him a bit with his wide cerulean eyes, the redhead watching him carefully as he saw him scratch the back of his neck and turn away a bit.
"N-nothing much, just..." The blonde began, sighing softly as he troubled himself with what exactly he was supposed to say now that all words had been said, "Well, uh... About yesterday.. With, uh, Ren, I guess..."

"What about it?" Sakyo questioned, his voice and face stern but still patient nonetheless with the only person that really considered a friend.
"I just, well.." Takanosuke seemed hesitant to say anything, unsure of how to start explaining or what he should say - of course, he wasn't to much of a fast thinker with words, even if his time in the Cyclone Stadium could say otherwise, "I.. Just kind of feel like we shouldn't have said no to her, I guess... I mean, well, they're our teammates and stuff, I so I think we should've helped... But.."
Sakyo said nothing, looking at his friend with the eye that wasn't covered by his hair, waiting patiently for him to continue with the cold look that he always had on his face, as if it had permanently frozen there somehow.
Of course, everyone he knew had grown used to it, and nobody ever questioned why he always seemed so hardened - simply because he was.
"N-nevermind..." Takanosuke sighed, shaking his head as his shoulders slumped, "It doesn't matter... I was just thinking that we should've..." The blonde's voice trailed off and he shook his head, not bothering to make eye contact with Sakyo as he knew that there was never any sense in arguing with him.
"What do you think?" Sakyo asked, seeming to urge him into continuing what he was going to say. Cerulean eyes glanced up towards red ones, seeming to think about whether or not he should say anything or not before finally giving in and looking up towards his friend.

"I just..." He began once more, trying not to lose his wit, "I think that we should've helped them out.. We did the first time, I guess, so... Like, the guy was crazy, so I get why you wouldn't want to go after someone like him. But Zyro and the others are our teammates, aren't they?"
Sakyo looked at him for a moment, seeming to study his expression as well as listen carefully to his voice and his words, as if testing something.
The Dragoon Blader hummed softly for a moment, before simply nodding his head and looking away slightly.
"So you're thinking we should go after him ourselves?" Sakyo asked suddenly, catching Takanosuke off guard with the question that he hadn't expected Sakyo to ask - but from the look in his eyes, it was evident that he was being serious.
"Well, uh..." The blond began, scratching the small of his neck, "Kind of... I mean, from what Ren was saying it sounds like they would've probably left already, but... I was kind of thinking about it.."
Sakyo turned his head more towards his friend, one eyebrow raised as he looked him dead in the eye, crimson meeting cerulean and making it as if nothing else existed but the two of them as they prepared to make what would probably be the biggest decision of their lives.

"Well?" Sakyo questioned, "Should we go look for him?"...

Director Hideyoshi of the Tokyo WBBA pushed his glasses up on his nose as he gazed out the windows in the hallways of the building, admiring the view that he was given even though they didn't surpass some of the buildings, unlike the Metal Bey City WBBA building did, from what he had heard of it.
He had never been to any of the other WBBAs in Japan, as none of them were relatively connected with each other and they all tended to like their private space - if anyone ever went over to another WBBA headquarters, it was one of the workers and assistants of the Directors, but never them themselves.
They spoke to each other, corresponded through video and message, but meeting face to face was not something that they relatively agreed to, unless on very important terms.
He had been told earlier that day that a couple of the WBBA workers, named Ayano Kagome and Sichiro Yamauchi, would be coming to Tokyo for some profiling and a few other business matters, courtesy of the Director of the Metal Bey City WBBA, Tsubasa Otori.
The Director himself had messaged him through the screen in his office, both of them taking their time in establishing what would be happening and who Tsubasa was sending, before Hideyoshi had agreed to the terms and said he would await their arrival.
Whenever that would be, he had no idea, but he made sure that several people that worked under his order would keep a lookout for one of the other city's helicopters.
Surely with the two of them in Tokyo, as he knew Ayano had been several times, things were bound to be interesting.
Especially since she was being accompanied by someone other than just herself...

"Director." Spoke a hardened, female voice from behind him, causing the man to slowly turn around as he recognized the voice well as one of his closest assistants.
"Ah, Naomi.." The man greeted with a welcoming smile, his hands behind his back as he turned to face his assistant, "It's good to see you.. I suggest you have something for me?" Naomi nodded, her hard features never changing as she flipped through a few papers on the clipboard that she was holding.
"Two Metal Bey WBBA workers are being sent here for profiling?" The brunette questioned, glancing up at him with her dull green eyes that seemed so cold.
"Yes, that is correct." Hideyoshi answered, adjusting his glasses on his nose slightly.
"Including all of our staff?" Naomi clarified, "Simple medical and DNA records, with short background checks?" Hideyoshi hummed in a way that said 'yes', knowing full well what Naomi was getting at with her suspicions of these other WBBA workers. Almost as expected, the assistant raised an eyebrow and set the papers back down, smoothing them out as she held her clipboard to her.
"They obviously will not be profiling all of our staff.." Hideyoshi clarified for his assistant, "Especially not those in the AETL.. Nobody knows what goes on in there, and I prefer to keep it that way, Naomi."

"As do the rest of us, Director." Naomi said in agreement, her expression still tight and hardened as the Director nodded and chuckled deeply.
"Well, it won't matter.." The man said in an almost carefree tone, "Neither of them will ever know the difference.. Either way..." His dark-eyed gaze went out towards the window again, looking towards the sky and watching as the clouds gently rolled over the sun, "It'll be quite nice to see him again."
With that, Hideyoshi simply nodded towards his assistant, assuring Naomi that she was free to go. All she did was oblige and stalk down the long hallway towards her other duties...

Time passed on through the day as Zyro, Madoka, and the others all made their way through the forest, being sure to stay relatively close to main road as to not lose themselves in the wilderness that was around them, and using Maru's map for help and guidance in their journey towards Mito.
However long they had been walking for was unknown, but the setting sun almost touching the peak of one of the tallest mountains they could see told them that it was roughly around or past dinner time; Maru soon confirmed that it was around 6:30, since her bracelet also apparently doubled as a watch of some sort.
They had been going on for hours, and were now about over 10 miles away from Metal Bey City, which was surprising as it seemed they hadn't walked all that much.
Though it now definitely seemed reasonable as most of them were getting tired, especially Maru and Eight who probably weren't used to this much walking at their ages; Zyro was beginning to get aches in his legs as well, though he wasn't entirely sure it was from exhaustion of walking...

Kira was the one who seemed to have the longest endurance, closely followed by both Madoka and Benkei who had plenty of time for long hikes when they were trying to the save the world and training for any upcoming tournaments.
Even so, those three were being to grow a bit tired as well, though Kira was the one who refused to show it at all.
"How long have we been walking for?" Ren asked as they continued on, her ankles and calves aching as they continued on, the aches very slowly intensifying and nearly going numb as they continued on, eyeing the golden rays that just danced upon the color-changing sky.
Maru, yawning a bit, opened the map on her bracelet once more, checking both the time and where they were by now.
"A few hours.." The pinkette answered, "We're still a long ways away from Mito, but closer than we were before.." Kira rolled his eyes at this 'new' information that they were given, though he said nothing as he just silently judged a few of them inside his head.
"You think we should settle down for the night?" Madoka questioned, looking at the rest of them and coming to a halt of which they all followed suite in, some of them sighing in relief to finally stop after walking for so long.

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired.." Benkei said, wiping his forehead as he looked up towards the sky, as if it were about to rain.
"I say amen.." Shinobu agreed, slouching a bit and sighing from exhaustion.
Soon, all of them were able to agree to the idea of setting up camp for the night, even while Kira said nothing and simply went along with what the rest of them had decided to do.
As they managed to get a small fire going and set up a small camp that would be nothing but dust by morning, it got considerably darker as the sun began to disappear behind the mountains, the woods darkening around them and making them mostly circle around the fire for both light and warmth in the darkness that would soon surround them entirely.
Madoka and Maru both sat together near the fire, the pinkette huddling close to her teacher as the cold nipped at the edges of her skin, Shinobu leaned against a rather large rock that just happened to be laying around in the area they decided to use, Ren was simply using her backpack as a pillow as she lay on her side, still awake as she rested up and stared into the flames.
Benkei was simply sitting with his bag beside him, which was the same with Zyro and Kite, while Eight leaned against his older brother.
Kira was the one who was seated away from them, leaning against the back of a tree that wasn't to far away, yet close enough so that the light a bit of the warmth could still reach even though he didn't really seem to care for it.
The sun had now disappeared behind the mountains, with a thin line of gold, pink, and orange decorating the tops of them of which would soon be consumed in darkness as well as the stars began to peek out from hiding, the moon standing out among all of them as the superior as they all sat around the fire.

"I've never been out in the wilderness before.." Ren commented, now laying on her back with her head on her backpack and her hands together on her stomach, turning her head to look at her a few of them with her brown eyes illuminated by the flames, "What about you guys?" Kite shrugged, looking Ren's way before down towards his little brother.
"Me and Eight used to go camping with our parents when our older sister used to live with us." The brunette explained, petting the hair of the dozing boy leaning against him, "The farthest we've probably been is a few campgrounds, as far as I can remember."
Madoka chuckled softly at that, looking over towards Ren slightly along with Maru.
"Well, I practically went everywhere with Gingka and the others when we were younger.." She said, "I'd be lying to say I haven't traveled a lot, especially during the whole Nemesis Crisis.. We kind of went across several countries for that one."

"And I went all over the place with Kyoya!" Benkei announced, a grin spreading across his face, "We went through deserts, forests, you name it!" Maru giggled happily at that, the Manager's big grin somehow always being able to brighten her spirits, as well as the rest of them - save for Kira who was just silently listening from where he was.
Maru, seeming to perk up at something, glanced over her shoulder towards Kira, who was simply leaning against the trunk of a tree where the roots were positioned in a way that made it seem like it could make a comfortable resting spot.
"What about you, Kira?" She asked, gaining the pastel-haired blader's attention as he opened his one eye and glanced over towards the group, where several eyes - including Maru's - were placed upon him.
Shinobu was looking at him with an expression in light green orbs that seemed to be daring him to say something mean back to the pinkette, while a couple others just seemed to wary of what he would say - if he would say anything.
Sighing through his nose, the Bahamoote blader simply shrugged his shoulders and closed his one eye again.
"Been there, done that..." He answered flatly, "Nothing much.." That answer seemed to satisfy Maru enough as she said nothing more to him; she knew what he was like, so she didn't press him to go into any sort of detail since it would likely annoy him.
Smiling a bit, Madoka then glanced over towards Zyro, who had barely said a word as he sat silently with his hands wrapped in front of his legs, a blank look on his face as he stared into the flames with eyes that matched the sky in mid-day.

The brunette's eyes softened as she looked at Zyro, sitting there in a silence that was not accustomed to his usual personality and spark as she had noticed in the time she had known him; though it was good to see him joking a bit earlier with a smile on his face, she could see that he was desperately trying to regain that spark he had always had.
She wasn't stupid, she knew when something was wrong with her friends and people she cared about - she could see the tears that brimmed his eyes on the inside, the scars that this had left on him in such little time that it was absolutely disgusting to think about.
Even so, she said nothing as she looked back towards the flames, leaving the ginger-ravenette to himself and his healing that would only heal the wounds on the delicate surface and small layer underneath.
Looking back towards Maru, Madoka say the pinkette looking at her with curiosity and concern, but she simply smiled and pet her hair a bit to assure that she was okay.
Maru smiled back and gave a big yawn, signaling her tiredness of which Madoka could definitely understand from how long of a day it had been, and from yesterday's events.
Madoka simply smiled at this and looked up towards the rest of them who sat around the fire.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but me and Maru are gonna hit the hay." She stated, patting Maru's head as it was apparent that she was getting sleepy.
"Yeah, I'm getting tired too.." Ren said before a yawn followed, fighting to keep her eyes opened as she stared up at the sky while still laying on her back.
"Eight's already asleep." Kite said with a small laugh lacing the edges of his voice as he gestured down to his little brother, who was snoozing away with a peaceful look on his face while seemingly content on using his big brother as a pillow.
"We've got a lot of walking to do tomorrow anyway.." Benkei said, stretching his arms and legs a bit to release some of the stress and stiffness that had formed in his joints.
"Should we leave the fire going?" Ren questioned, raising an eyebrow at the flames as she situated herself into a comfortable position.

"Yeah, it gets pretty cold out here.." Madoka said and Maru situated themselves as well, making sure that they were well near the fire as to not catch a chill.
"It's, like, 78 degrees out here." Shinobu stated, raising an eyebrow as he too got ready to fall asleep for the night, "And it's summer, I don't see what we need it going for."

"Just leave it as a nightlight or something.." Kira said irritably, watching them all from where he was.
If he hadn't been a bit tired, Shinobu might've argued with the Bahamoote blader.
Though no words were exchanged between the two of them as they both had a brief stare-off before Kira closed his one eye and Shinobu settled down for the night.
Zyro was the only one left awake, almost forgotten by the others as he sat wordlessly, staring into the flames of the fire they had made as if they would give him the answers to everything. How long he had been doing so for, he had lost track of.
"Zyro?" Said Fire Blader snapped out of his trance-like state, jumping slightly as he looked over to the source of the voice near the opposite side of where he was sitting. Kite looked at him with a hint of concern in his blue eyes, taking his glasses off for the night and putting them in his coat pocket, "You going to sleep?" Zyro hummed softly, something that was barely audible before shaking his head.

"Not yet.." He said softly in a voice that just above a whisper, loud enough to reach Kite's ears as it seemed he almost had difficultly in talking as if he was reteach himself how.
Kite simply nodded, wordlessly narrowing his eyes towards his friend as he heard the deadness in Zyro's voice.
The flame that made up his soul had been subdued.
It was probably nothing more than a few mere cinders by now that were desperately trying to spark light again, trying dearly to burst into the roaring flames that had always made up the spark in Zyro's spirit.
It should never had come to this... Kite said nothing as he lay with his brother, leaving Zyro the only one really awake besides Kira who still remained the outsider from them all.
Zyro, his eyes warm from staring into the burning cinders in the center of them all, looked up towards the night sky, the stars littering a black construction paper background with a large spot of white paint that made the moon, the large rock standing out among everything and illuminating the night.
Constellations hid from sight, blending in with their comrades that existed as simple dots in the sky waiting to discovered and named - it was one of those clear nights, when you could almost see all the way to other galaxies if you looked hard enough, when all constellations were present for a gathering to look down on the world that loved them so.

A shiver coursed through Zyro's backside, his blue eyes tearing away from the sight that brought back the memories he had had with Gingka when they had gone star-gazing that one time; when Zyro hadn't understood why he had brought him along, only to realize a few weeks later that he wanted to make something memorable with Zyro to die with him, so that he could remember.
Now, looking up at the star patterns in the sky didn't help his aching soul, didn't heal the scars that remained forever present on his heart, didn't relight the spark within him that had always given him the drive to do anything.
Now, it simply broke him even more.

Wherever Alcorin was, they would find him.

They would find him and make him pay for all the pain that he had put them through, for everything he had done in his miserable life to ruin and break down others simply to have his way.
Finding him was definitely easier said than done, and Zyro knew that all to well from their first battle with him underneath the WBBA building.
All Zyro could do was stare into the flames in front of him, catching Kira looking at him with his one eye out of the corner of his line of vision, but paying him no mind as his thoughts did not allow him to rest.
Kira was the one who took the time to look at the ginger-ravenette, see the weariness in his face and in his soul that was suffering from the emotional and mental abuse that was pounded onto him.
He should be enjoying that... He should be able to look at Zyro, see the silent pain on his face, and feel a tingle run up his spine, lick his purple lips as that familiar desire would come and tell him to inflict even more such pain upon them for his own sick pleasure.
But that wasn't there. Not this time, not since they had thought they had finished everything with Alcorin and everything would be fine yet again.
He would look at Zyro - no, all of them - and see the damaged spirits that they kept suppressed and hidden by masks they had created from the part of them had was made up of nothing but lies, and he wouldn't be able to feel that same sadistic joy he had once been able to ever since he was young. And with Zyro, it almost made him sick.
With heaviness in the air around them, thick with whispers and screams from long ago, Kira shook his head silently and looked away...

The only sound that echoed off the smooth stone walls in the insufferable silence was the slow tapping of his now thigh-high boots as they touched the ground, his white robes dragging and fluttering along behind him as he walked down the darkened halls that his eyes had well adjusted to in the dim lighting.
Few torches were lit, but there were enough to give whoever walked the halls a guide for their sight. Yet even so, Alcorin needed no such thing as the light that the torches provided, for he had grown accustomed to the darkness that his eyes automatically seemed to adjust to the brightness he was given.
This was his domain; more so than that hidden area under the WBBA building had been, more than anywhere else he had ever been in this world had.
For here, the power that flowed through his entire body was present in the air, the aura of darkness and destruction still lingering from whom it was dedicated to, from those who had worshiped the god that he was created from as flesh and blood.

As he came to a more widened area, as he climbed stairs that spread far out, he knew that he had won. He had always known that he would win - they always played exactly as he planned, everything always going exactly how he wanted it to until the very end where he would be triumphant.
Alcorin had only ever been after one thing. No matter what he had said, what he had told them, there was only one thing that he had fought so hard to get, one thing that he had done all of this for. The feeling was indescribable as he realized that he had him... That what was taken from him so very long ago was finally his once more as he reached the top of the stairs and felt his blackened heart beat against his chest.
His footsteps echoed in the frightening as he made his way across the very large room that may have been some great hall, passing perfectly in between the pillars that lined the room, as if holding up the ceiling that wouldn't likely cave in.
A solemn look on his flawless features as he drew nearer to that of who sat on the stone-carved throne at the very end of the room, engravings covering the walls that were so delicately carved by those from long ago, white robes upon even whiter skin fluttering around him in a truer form than that he had taken before.

Only after what seemed like an eternity did he stop walking, standing many meters away from the one person that he had done all of this for, that he had wanted more than anything in the world to finally have back after so many years of separation because of... No, that did not matter anymore, for all that truly mattered was what was here, finally.
He was unresponsive, eyes open yet not even really there - but he was breathing, alive, here with him. Alcorin could care less what kind of state he was in as long as he had him; because nobody would ever separate them again.
Red eyes looked towards the only thing that he really had left, the one thing that he had wanted so badly and finally had after all the efforts he had made - they were two very different people, as was evident the years of separation had done, but they were very much the same.
Alcorin's crimson eyes stood out upon his white skin, white clothes, white hair; a form more true than the one that he had maintained after birth, more natural than the human skin of light olive and eyes of golden-brown that matched another's almost perfectly.
And now, that little child that he had repressed for all these years would no longer be able try and ruin everything for him, for there was no possible way that he could come back now that he had full dominance and control.
Alcorin tilted his head in the slightest bit, a soft breath escaping his white lips as he gazed upon the only that he loved - the only thing that he could ever love.

"My dearest brother..." Alcorin spoke, his face blank yet full with the sick affection that coursed through him, "This is not how I wanted us to meet..."

With the grace of a swam and the invisible nature of a ghost, Alcorin turned and left his only brother alone in the state of unresponsiveness that he could forever be in.
He was not met with any words in response, but he found that he was fine with that, as he did not need words or anything in response - he just needed him.
Despite all that he himself had done, he loved him.
Sickeningly, sinfully, truthfully, genuinely, he loved him. He loved him in a way that one should not feel about their brother, but in a way that was pure, untainted, and true, just like the form that he alone took.
There was no room in his twisted, black heart for anything else but him, because he loved everything about him.

His red hair... His golden-brown eyes... And the tattered, white scarf which resembled the wings that he had clipped...

Alright, before anyone asks... Yes. That did just happen. That was just a plot twist, and I just did that, simply because I can, and also plot. *evil laughter in the distance*

Anyway, now that we've gotten to this point in the storyline, things are definitely gonna take a turn. Because you know how I explained in the ending of Gingka's Deceit that Gingka was dead? Yeah, I kind of lied about that for the sake of this story. Because, really, like I'm gonna give away any spoilers...

Well, now that we have that covered, I'll let all of you go on to ponder on how exactly Gingka and Alcorin are related as brothers, but it seems we got a lot of explainin' to do once this is almost over. Tata for now~! And see you all in the next chapter.