Chapter 18 - Fading Dreams

Almost at once, Zyro knew he was dreaming.

It took him a moment, but he recognized this setting better than ever.

He was on the sidewalk, entirely dressed and entirely dry, facing the street - but it wasn't Metal Bey City, he could say that for certain.

It was the city they were already in, Kasama. The rain fell hard down from the sky onto the misty streets, making the dim noises of dripping and splashing, but - as always - nothing hit him.
The cars drove by quickly, their windows fogged over and their exteriors colorless, and they didn't make a single sound as they raged on past him, just like he remembered... Zyro turned his head to look down the street, seeing the street lights blinking only yellow, unable to turn any other color as though they had all decided to malfunction at once in this unfortunate weather.
The caws and squawks of crows echoed against the soft sound of rain all around him, the ravens mixed in with their throaty calls of mourning and anguish.
These dreams were always the same, and he remembered them all as clear as day from the time he was a child up until 3 weeks ago, when he had given Zyro a final warning of Gingka's oncoming demise. The rain, the cars, the lights, the birds, it was always the same; now, there was only one other thing that would make it all complete.
Zyro blinked once, a calm look on his face even though he knew what these dreams always implied as he turned to face down the sidewalk - as always, he was there.
The same boy, dressed entirely in black clothing suited for the rain, covering all of his body and most of his face, making it impossible to see his eyes.
The shadows that covered him were amplified by the black umbrella he held up over his head with both of his hands, making him seem slightly smaller than he actually was - but either way, he was still small.

"Zyro..." The other boy greeted, his voice soft and barely above a whisper, one of the sweetest sounds that made the dual-haired blader remember all the times before when they met here.
"Hi..." Zyro greeted in return with a small smile on his face, something that the other boy did not return in his natural stoic nature that made Zyro feel a bit better.
A moment later, the smile faded from Zyro's face, his expression growing sorrowful as he brought back up all the times that he had these dreams, and what had always happened right after.
"Something bad is going to happen, right?" It was hardly even a question anymore, but Zyro asked it regardless.
The other did not answer at first, shifting slightly and lowering his head in the slightest bit to indicate his unseen eyes were cast towards the ground. "Zyro..." The black-clothed boy said softly, looking up, though his features were eternally invisible, "You can feel it... Can't you?..."
Zyro's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, but he didn't ask questions against his old childhood friend.
"Feel what?" The Fire Blader asked, the rain that dripped onto the ground around them seeming to mute itself out.
"Why you're not giving up..." The dream-projected adolescent said absently, his voice as soft as a mouse as it had always been, "You should know.."

Zyro looked at the other boy for a moment, glancing towards the rain-soaked pavement for a few moments as he tried to decipher the words that his old friend spoke.
He could feel the other's unseen gaze upon him, and looked back up towards the shadows that covered most of his face - no matter how hard he ever tried, he could never see through that stoic, dream-induced darkness.
"You can feel it..." The other said softly, "He's fading..." Zyro stood there for several moments in confusion, staring at the boy that he had been some form of friends with throughout half of his life so far.

What was he trying to say?...

What did he mean?...

He only ever had these dreams when something bad was about to happen to someone, or too a number of people...

How could things possibly get any worse for them than it already was in their current situation, back in the waking world?
There was a silence between them that seemed to last centuries, a silence that Zyro had always been comfortable with as a child when they would hold hands and walk down the never-ending sidewalk, no words needed to communicate between them.
The silence was all around them, except for the soft tip-tap of rain and the light croaks of ravens and crows.
The other's lithe and pale fingers shifted on the umbrella he was holding, and then something happened that had never happened before throughout the many times the dual-haired blader had had this dream.

The black umbrella dropped to the ground.

A soft gasp escaped Zyro's lips, staring in shock at the black device that kept one dry in the rain, and then looked up towards the boy that he had known forever.
All the other did was stand there, his hands now at his sides and his face still covered by the eternal shadows cast by the black hood of his raincoat.

The silence remained.

Mouth opened in the slightest bit, the other boy slowly reached out towards him with his left hand, suddenly seeming so far away as he reached out for him without words.
Something about this made Zyro's stomach drop, which he wasn't sure was even really impossible in a dream.
As if upon instinct, he began to reach out in response to take his childhood friend's hand - but they never did touch.

Zyro gasped sharply as he opened his eyes, finding himself staring up at the ceiling of the hotel room, eyes wide and breath held in the sudden shock of being so wide awake in an instant.
The world came back to him quickly, the vivid sight of his dream world gone from his sight and replaced with the reality that he had been in before falling asleep much earlier in the night.
Slowly, the dual-haired boy let out the breath he was holding once the tight ache in his chest had begun to form, trying to steady his breathing as he quickly sat up in the bed and took a look at his surroundings.
Everything was almost exactly as it was when they had all gone to bed to ready themselves for tomorrow, when they would hopefully be moving on their next objective in their search for that indigo-haired psychopath.

Slowly, Zyro's breathing calmed down, letting his slightly tense muscles relax as he took it all in once more.
The only light that filled the room was from the window, the moonlight pouring in through the translucent blinds and filling the room with a soft light that gave the Fire Blader enough to cling on to.
The walls were where they should be... They weren't any closer, even if darkness always made everything seem smaller.
Huffing softly, Zyro slumped over slightly, his brows furrowing together at the ache in his back caused by the stiffness of sleep, pushing part of his bangs out of his face and feeling the light layer of sweat that he was covered in.
He was then that he noticed how hot it actually was.

But of course, it was summer, so why wouldn't it be near stifling?

The ceiling fan was whirring around on high, making it at least slightly cooler for the 4 of them that currently occupied the small room; himself, Kira, Shinobu, and Benkei.
The Ifraid Blader's blue eyes looked over to the right side of the room, gazing at the bed that both Shinobu and Benkei were currently occupying.
The latter had taken up half of the bed on one side, while the much smaller male looked like he was going to fall off the edge of the mattress nearest himself with the slightest movement. He almost laughed at that, but then turned to look over at Kira, who had reluctantly shared the same bed with him again.
The pastel-haired boy wasn't even under the blankets, but rather on top of them with his side still fully made, and was still fully clothed in his usual wear other than the removal of his belt and his boots.
His head also wasn't on the pillow either, but the Bahamoote Blader seemed to be sleeping soundly just the way he was, facing away from the emotionally damaged boy and well at the edge of the mattress.

Now that Zyro recalled looking at Kira before he himself had fallen asleep yesterday (given that it was currently 1:34 in the morning) the slightly older boy may as well have not moved an inch all night.
All of them were still okay... Nothing bad had happened, or at least not yet.
Taking his eyes away from the other boy on the opposite side of the bed, Zyro looked down towards his knees with a solemn look on his face, tons of thoughts racing through his head at a mile a minute.

He breathed softly, perfectly recalling the dream that he had spent his lifetime having, that had only even meant one thing when the vivid image of rain and birds and cars appeared before his eyes...

Something was going to happen to one of them, if not all of them...

Or perhaps not even to anyone in their group of 9, instead to somebody else that they may be close to, to people that they - maybe - didn't even know...
But the chances of the latter were slim to none, considering all that had happened in merely 3 weeks.
But the way it had played out this time had been different than ever before...
3 weeks ago, it had been different than when he had been a kid, before the Nemesis Crisis when he had been 8 years and met with his dream-projected childhood friend for what he had always thought to be the last time.
They had not held hands in silence, they had not listened to the rain as they walked down a never-ending sidewalk; they had spoken, and that was when Zyro had been told the truth of Gingka's condition.

But this time, it was far more different than it had ever been. The other had never dropped the umbrella, it had always been firmly in his grasp with one or both hands, and he had never reached out to Zyro as he had this time.
Never seeming so strained, never seeming so desperate...
The Fire Blader let out a shaky sigh and shook his head, bringing one of his hands up to his damp forehead and moving his bangs out of the way.
Confusion filled his very being, tearing at him and frustrating him endlessly as he tried to make sense of all... But he couldn't.

"You can feel it... Can't you?..."

Feel what, exactly?...

"Why you're not giving up..."

Those words meant something, he knew that all too well after having countless dreams that were always the same...

"You can feel it... He's fading..."

In the ringing silence of the room, Zyro sat there for what felt like hours, lost entirely in his own thoughts...

It was late, and Kite couldn't sleep.

It felt like he had been laying there, staring up at the ceiling with one arm around his little brother, for hours - in fact, he probably had; he didn't bother to look at the clock.
Many thoughts clouded his knowledge filled brain, constant wonders and doubts racing through his head as he stared up at the blurry ceiling (he had taken his glasses off to sleep more comfortably).
Thoughts on what was going to happen once this was all over, how they were going to get to and defeat the deranged sociopath so that it could be over, how all of it had even happened in the first place.
He kept thinking about these things quite a bit, but they didn't tend to keep him up at night like this...
The few times that he had been kept up at night about any of this was when he had nearly lost Eight on their way to confront Alcorin; thinking about that one moment didn't fail to make him feel sick to his stomach every time it crossed his mind.

Eight was fine, and that was all that mattered.

When they had admitted "Gingka" to the hospital not long after the battle that had been the redhead's real fate, Kite had taken his little brother to get an X-Ray.
He had been fine, despite the impact that he had made on the flat of his head from when they were battling a brainwashed Ren.
But the doctor had said that his brother was just walking away with a bruised head; along killer headache that had started effecting the small blunette not long after he had woken up from his state of unconsciousness.
He was glad for that, but it brought him back to all that had occurred in almost 2 months.

Considering they would all be heading back to school some time during mid-to-late September, everything seemed to have happened so fast.
However they were going to end this was definitely something that could never predict.
He wasn't sure why that was bothering him, why it was keeping him awake and making him stare up absently at the hotel room ceiling in constant thought; it was likely all the stress with what had been happening, whatnot with Zyro, and Eight, as well as the revelation of Gingka's death which had greatly shocked all of them.
None of them would've thought that all of this would take place so quickly after they had defeated the DNA.

How could so much just happen so fast?
Kite chuckled softly to himself, staring up towards the ceiling with half-lidded blue eyes.

"Shit happens..." Kite reasoned in his head, "Crazy shit..."

Chaos theory, as they called it.

The brunette scientist had looked in on said theory many times, taking quite an interest in it and the butterfly effect; however, he always chose to stick to his logic and data for his success.
Of course, maybe the theory could come into play with the thought that Alcorin was, for a fact, the son of Nemesis; it wasn't everyday something like that just came out.
Either way, wherever supposed demi-god was, they would hopefully find out his location soon enough; Zyro and Kira had told all of them of what they had found, telling them that the priests at the Sainen-ji Temple would likely know more about those shrines and temples built to the God Of Destruction.
They planned to leave in the morning after they all got something to eat - from the sounds of it, the place wasn't that far away.
Kite sighed softly, looking down towards his little brother who was sleeping soundly against him, curled up into himself in a way that he himself just couldn't help smiling to.

"You were lucky, Eight..." Kite said in his thought to no one but himself, "You came out okay.." As gently as possible, the data-obsessed blader turned over onto his side, making sure not to disrupt his younger brother's slumber as he did so and adjusting his arm a bit from underneath the Orochi Blader. Quietly pulling the pillow down towards him to lay his head on, the older Unabara brother sighed through his nose as he looked with forlorn eyes upon the much smaller male.
"I won't let anything happen to you..." He thought in his mind, moving part of Eight's blue fringe out of his face for him with his free hand,"I promise... I won't let him hurt you again.."
With his younger brother's soft breathing and peaceful face as a lullaby, Kite slowly lulled himself to sleep, shooing away the previous thoughts that had kept him occupied for the probable hours he had lain there in silence...

With permission from the Director to leave for the night, Sichiro, who had finished all that he had needed to do that day, and packed up what little things he needed to bring back to his apartment with him, walked out of the building through the front way.
The raven bid farewells to a few of his co-workers on the lower levels before exiting the building, passing by several others who were getting ready to leave for the night and return to their homes for some well-deserved rest after long hours of work.
Ayano had informed him - before he had left the upper floors - that she would be heading back home as well shortly; also that the Director was allowing her to have the day off tomorrow, to which she sounded greatly relieved about.
All Sichiro did was a give a smile and a 'good for you' before departing onto the lower levels of the building.
Now, he walked along the sidewalk, carrying with him only a briefcase that contained no more than a few papers and supplies that he sometimes had the need to bring.

His long hair swayed gently behind him with his movements, picking up on the small breeze that came with the slightly cooler night air and making his bangs caress his pale forehead and cheeks.

The night did little to comfort him, however, as he walked along the sidewalk uneasily, a bone-chilling feeling slowly crawling down his spine as the silence rang in his ears. Very few cars passed on the streets, and there were few people to cross paths with on the sidewalk considering the hour.
All there was was him and silence, the sound of parties and teens and traffic stops far off in the distance as he turned the corner down one street with stiff movements.
He shouldn't be worrying - he took this route every time he headed back to his home from the WBBA headquarters, and in all the time that he had done so, not one thing had taken place that would obstruct his way home.
Construction and the like was the only exception. The grey-eyed man sighed shakily, breathing in through his nose calmly as he tried to keep his composure and not break into a run from the fear of what lurked in the dark.

Sichiro knew very well that it was foolish to worry over something so pointless, that everything was fine, that they were all back in a city miles away where he didn't have to worry about them as long as it stayed that way.
But he had every reason to worry, from what he had done back there on sheer impulse, from the emotions that came back from that day (Don't let them know, don't let them find out, don't let them know it was her...) and made him react automatically.
He would be damned if they didn't already know...
But maybe they wouldn't know, since he had been only one really watching...
They could be watching him for all he knew, with how advanced their technology was from the amount of 'research' and the 'experimenting' they did.

Sichiro's heart pounded in his ears, not giving him any peace as he walked briskly down the sidewalk, getting ever nearer to his residence where there would be no one watching him, where he would safe from the prying eyes suspicious looks.
Or at least for awhile, until the morning came where he would once again go through his routine of getting ready for the day ahead.

"Come on, calm down..." The raven told himself silently, "It's fine, you'll be fine... They won't know about him, about either of them. It'll be fine..."

It didn't matter how many times he told himself that, however.
As much as he thought about it, as much as he told himself over and over again that nothing bad was going to happen to any of them, he couldn't really convince himself that it was true.
"Just keep calm, you're almost there..." He chided to himself, throwing a lock of black hair back over his shoulder and trying to appear nonchalant about it.
Every further step he took contradicted his fast-beating heart even at his brisk pace, hurrying up to the crosswalk in order to get to the other side of the street before the light turned green again.

"They're not watching you..." Sichiro thought to himself, hearing the sound of his own thoughts in his head and knowing full well he didn't fully believe that, "You're fine... It's all gonna be fine.."
The apartment building he lived in was just a block up the street; he could see that just under half of the side of the building he could see still had the lights on, implying that people were still awake.
The thought of walking into his apartment, turning all of the lights on and closing his curtains, isolating himself inside, was almost overwhelming.
Nobody would be there to see him, nobody would be watching him, nobody would be there to bother him and make him believe that he was being watched more than he already did.

They weren't watching him... He knew that very well couldn't...

But he could.

They had him, and the thought that they would still be able to use him for this purpose did not do anything to ease the goosebumps on his arms or lower the hairs on the back of his neck.

That's right...

They had him...

The steel-eyed raven's fears had never really be able to get to him that often, as he had learned to always be well in control of himself in tense situations (such as the ones that had occurred lately), but the fear he had felt when they were there, when he learned he had to go there, had somehow gotten the better of him.
Maybe now it did the same, since he couldn't remember when he had started running, when the apartment building had gotten so close in such a short amount of time.
He tried to tell himself to stop, to stop running and make himself seem more suspicious to everyone else than he very likely already did - but his body wasn't listening to him.

Everything passed by faster than it previously had, his legs carrying him to the one place he knew (hoped) he would be safe from watchful and prying eyes.
He pulled open one of the glass double doors and hurried inside before it was even fully open, hurrying down the halls without even a second glance at the janitor who looked at him strangely as he ran past with a solemnly terrified look on his face.

Sichiro couldn't bring himself to care about anything else as he hurried up the stairwell to the 3rd floor of the building, skipping several stairs on the way up and grabbing at the railing as if to pull himself upward as he continued his quick ascent.
From years of a routine in coming home from work, some form of instinct pulled his body automatically through the door to the 3rd floor hallway, hurrying down it at a somewhat slower pace of ragged breaths and wide eyes.
Approaching the door to his apartment - marked 3-12 - the long-haired man took his keys out of his pocket, his fingers automatically finding the key to unlock his apartment. Hurriedly, he did just that.
Opening the door he practically threw his briefcase inside before it was fully open, running inside and using the backside of his body to slam it shut behind him.
The sound rang heavily through his dark apartment for a moment before it faded, leaving in the frightening silence with nothing but his ragged breathing.

Sichiro's long hair hung over his face, his pupils dilated slightly as he stared down at the carpeted floor of his home in delayed shock.
His hands shook as his palms pressed against the door, his body still in the same position from slamming the door shut which - for some reason - almost seemed like hours ago. Everything had gone by so fast, it all seemed like it had been years, when it had been maybe 5 minutes since he had started running hysterically in the first place.
Entire frame shaking from the aftershock of quick events, Sichiro took the hand closest to the door handle and turned the lock on it, hearing a satisfying click as what little defense he had clicked into place.

Inwardly, Sichiro cursed at himself for his behavior... For letting the fears that he had always been able to keep relatively at bay get the better of him and send him into a fit of hysteria and panic like they used to when he was far younger.
All because of the one thing that he had kept at bay for years, that he had hardly even thought about in years until now...
The raven let out a hard sigh, trying to regain the composure he had lost altogether for a few minutes as best he could, leaning back against the door frame for support.
It was meaningless, entirely meaningless and stupid. There was no reason to get worked up over nothing, they were all miles away from here and there was no way they could actually be watching him... But of course, they absolutely could be.

"Dammit..." Sichiro cursed quietly, tucking a few strands of long hair behind his ears, before pushing himself away from the door.
His ragged breathing had calmed itself, coming out now in more even pants from exhaustion; his legs ached slightly, which he probably guessed from running all the way up here so fast with no chance of stopping himself.
Swallowing hard, the steel-eyed raven knelt down to pick up the briefcase he had thrown on the floor, and then reached over to flick on the hall light in order to brighten the interior of the apartment. Maybe, at least for a little while, he could actually at least somewhat safe in a home that now felt quite unwelcoming...

Usually, when things didn't go his way, Alcorin was quite less than happy.
He had never liked it when things didn't turn out the way he expected them to, but he was always able to twist it around to make it go his way.
That was what he had done back in Metal Bey City, when Ren had lost her battle, when Kira had decided to help them out, when that Legendary Blader - Dynamis, he believed - had shown up and taken Maru to find answers.
He had been able to deal with the Guardian just fine, and hadn't even bothered to do anything with the girl, considering she would not likely be able to get out.
Only, she had, but he had taken care of the information she had found himself as well, leaving her in a sorrowful state of disappointment.

Yes, he could indeed make it all go his way by bending their path to his will.

That, of course, was what he thought about now as he made his way down the stone stairs from the balcony that gave him such a view of the land, knowing exactly how much progress both groups had made.
Takanosuke and Sakyo were now travelling by night, and Zyro and the others had seemingly gained other information that would lead them further along from their current stop in Kasama.
The albino knew how close they were getting, and it was a bit too close for his comfort... He would have to do something about that.

With almost silent steps, the sociopath made his way through the many corridors and rooms and halls that consisted of this place that reeked with darkness and power.
He had practically memorized the place, knew its tricks, knew its faults, and he had no problem getting around.
After all, there was only really one other place he had even spent his time. Robes dragging loosely behind him, the albino soon found himself at the stairs that lead up into a grand hall he had been in so many times before.

"They won't find him..." He thought to himself, climbing the stairs and allowing his robes to drag along behind him, which pulled his arms back slightly because of the sleeves, "Even ifthey ever do... They won't take him from me.. They won't ever leave.."

Footsteps echoing in the vast hall, eyes illuminating the darkness in a cat-like way, white hair brushing ever so slightly against equally as white skin, Alcorin made his way over to his catatonic brother.
Half-lidded eyes staring at nothing, body limp and simply sitting there without a conscious to occupy the empty shell that he was left as, Gingka was all he had. A small chuckle escaped his throat through close lips, a small smile making its way onto his face with that sick joy that coursed through him.
Walking up to him, their feet practically side by side with the closeness, Alcorin looked at his brother with crimson eyes filled with that sickening love, that twisted joy he felt whenever he thought about the fact that, once more, they were together.

"Your friends are coming, dear brother..." Alcorin said to the catatonic redhead, knowing full well that he wasn't capable of hearing him, "I know how that would make you feel, if you were awake.. But you aren't... And I won't let them get to you.."
Narrowing crimson eyes, the albino placed his right hand upon Gingka's left, his fingers partially intertwining with the unresponsive's bladers at an awkward angle.
Almost immediately, the son of Nemesis felt that jolt rush through his skin, practically setting nerves on fire for a brief moment before it disappeared and faded into that hypnotic wavelength wavelength.
Through parted lips escaped a giggle that always struck fear into those who heard from the accursed voice it belonged to.
There was nothing had made either of them more whole than this.

"I've waited far too long for you to be taken away from me, Gingka..." The albino said softly, his voice echoing through the silent and empty cavern, "It doesn't matter to me if you care about what happens to dear little Zyro... Because I don't.."
Slowly, Alcorin slipped his off of Gingka's, his fingertips brushing against the skin of the other's fingers like the feet of a spider; skin that - at least halfway up his arm - matched his perfectly...
A small chuckle escaped him once more, and with nothing more to say to his unresponsive brother, he turned and walked away. The only room he had for love in his blackened heart was for Gingka, and nothing else.
All he had said about his long deceased father to the rest of them was just hallow praise with no real meaning - but being the gullible humans they were, why wouldn't they believe it?

Zyro and his little friends, despite being far away from him with no knowledge of where he was yet, were getting rather to close for his liking.
He would take care of them... He would break them, as he had already broke them, and they would break themselves in turn with the guilt and anguish.

As for Takanosuke and Sakyo, he would definitely handle them if they truly did become more trouble than they were worth.
Treading down the steps like he had come up them - silently, carefully, robes dragging lightly behind him -, Alcorin simply couldn't help it as he the fingertips of his right hand brushed against the palm of it.
There, he felt the slightest rise of skin that was almost completely unnoticeable; where the slightest off-white remnants of a scar lay since birth.