Chapter 20 - Numb

If insanity had not already come to him through the endless darkness and torment, then Gingka was at a loss.
If was not already crazy from seeing nothing but black, not already delusional from the everlasting silence that wouldn't even let him hear the infamous ringing that came with such painful nothing, than he wouldn't know what to think.
He had no idea how long he had been sitting there, in a world of nothing but darkness that was impossible to see through, chained down harshly with invisible restraints that would never let him go no matter how much he struggled.
Without the ticking of the former clock that had been the only thing he could rely on, he had no idea how long he had been here, how long he had been condemned to this torment that refused to leave him alone.

There was only the two of them - him and it.

And always it would leave him sitting there on his knees, pinned down in the abyss with no escape and no solution but to sit there limply, and wait.
Wait for it to come back and once more resume the touching, whispering... However long it was ever gone for, he could never know. How many times he had heard it crawling up behind him, felt it touch him with skin that made him want to scream from the sheer intensity that was almost painful, Gingka would never know. And that alone was enough to drive him crazy, if it was possible for him to lose his mind in this place of vast and empty darkness.
It could have been days, hours, years... Gingka would never know, because he had nothing that he could cling too.
Nothing to hold onto in the eternal silence, nothing to see but for the blurs that filled his eyes when he closed them, nothing to keep him sane... And then when he would least expect it, when he would be staring forward into nothingness or down into his lap, it would come back... And it would speak to him, break him, claw the remains of the unseen wings on his back, and give him the only source of touch - of feeling - that he could possibly get in his damned place.

And despite being the only thing that he could really feel in this accursed abyss, he hated everything about it...

It tormented him, touched him, whispered to him, set every nerve in his body aflame from the intensity of pressure that pulsated from skin as smooth as glass and as white as snow. He never wanted to come back, always praying silently that it would disappear, leave him alone,anything...
But it never did, and he knew that it was hopeless.
Even now, as he stared down at the edges of his knees, looking down to where he knelt on a floor that may have not even been there, he was condemned to sit there and wait for it to come back... And even though it was entirely futile, entirely pointless no matter how hard he tried, Gingka prayed to whatever god may be listening that it wouldn't.
His breath was soundless in this place, heard barely by his own ears as he breathed out in an a slightly uneven pattern, the fear and anxiety of the unknown keeping his body constantly tense - even so, he himself wasn't entirely able to feel the tension in his own body, barely able to feel himself breathing in and out unevenly.
All he was left with was nothing; nothing to feel; nothing to hear; nothing to see but himself in a world that was just... Nothing.

Slowly, hearing the chains dragging along with his movements, the redhead brought his arms up slowly. Both of his hands touched his forearms, even though there wasn't that much sensation to go along with it - all of his nerves may as well be dead by now from the sheer intensity of burning pressure that seeped into his skin whenever it touched him.
But even so, it was a relief to even feel the slightest bit of touch - of actual skin-to-skin contact - that didn't burn into his nerves endlessly.
Slowly, he inched his fingertips up to his elbows, letting the palms of his gloved hands lay against his forearms.
Gingka let out a shaky breath, hearing the unseen chains that bound his wrists shifting with their metallic clanging - or maybe there were no chains, and he was just hearing things from the insanity he had been drive into far too long ago... Or maybe not... Gingka chose not to care as he savored the small bit of sensation that he got from touching his own skin, and not having some other entity touching him and igniting all of his sense of feeling in a burning ache.

In this place, wherever the hell it was, there was only him, and it...

Whatever it really was..

Still did he breath unevenly, his breaths quiet through his nose as he knelt there, silently hugging himself with little feeling to cling too.
In the everlasting darkness, in a silence so deep that it could drive anybody insane within hours, this was all he had; rubbing his hands up and down his forearms for some need of sensation, to feel something at least somewhat familiar that wasn't those accursed hands colored white.
He just needed to feel something, even though it was faint. But from the nerves under his skin having been numbed from pressure they weren't likely supposed to feel, it wasn't a enough.
He could hear the chains clinking as he rubbed his forearms, even if it was just his imagination, the sound unsettling yet ringing in his ears as some of the only bit of sound there was in this darkness.
His golden-brown eyes continued to stare down at the edges of the knees, the darkness below and around and above making the color of his jeans seem brighter in contrast to everything though he shouldn't be able to see even himself in darkness so thick... But all he did was sit there and stare blankly as though in a trance, still rubbing his arms to at least try and gain more feeling than he was getting.

It just didn't seem to be enough, it all felt numb...

It was all far too numb...

Gingka narrowed his eyes, a look of discomfort on his face at this realization, but he kept rubbing his forearms, his fingertips seeming to put more pressure down the longer it continued, just wanting to feel something than this dull sensation caused by the damned intensity of that thing's touch.
Maybe this was his breaking point... Realizing that there was nothing to be felt other than dull sensation and intense pressure.
But that couldn't just be it... It couldn't... He was trapped here, had been for what felt like an eternity, feeling nothing by that burning sensation beneath the skin that wasn't quite painful as it was overwhelming.
That couldn't just be all he was left to feel, stuck here and chained down with something else that made it clear it was far more superior than he was.
Gingka hardly noticed when his nails starting grazing against the skin of his arms, creating an ever faint stinging sensation that still didn't offer him any comfort...

Let me feel something...

He was hardly able to notice as his nails continued scratching against the skin of his forearms, leaving the long abrasions of irritation that came with it - but he wasn't able to feel the burn of it..
It was a bad idea to continue with the scratching and the dull aches, but he just needed to feel something... Something that was more just this faint feeling, and something that was far less than an overwhelming pressure pulsating through his skin.
Gingka closed his eyes tightly, that image appearing before his blocked eyesight again. It was still blurry, he could barely see anything, but he could make out the shapes. There was no comfort there, because he knew very well what he was staring at, even if it was disoriented figures from unfocused eyesight.
The redhead shook his head slightly, opening his eyes again to the world of darkness that he was forever condemned to, hearing the chains around his wrists shake and rattle as he continued scratching at his forearms, the skin where he had repeatedly dragged his nails across beginning to wear down threaten to break if pressured anymore.
But Gingka found himself barely able to care, as it was barely anything for him to feel from the way his nerves and brain refused to register anything more than what he was already feeling - just faint contact, muted aches of what he should normally be feeling.
It just wasn't enough... Gingka was barely able to feel it as his nails scratched harder against the skin of his forearms, the still wearing down and thinning and threatening to break to allow the blood to start seeping through...

But didn't happen as something reached around and grabbed both of his wrists, the texture, of whatever it may be, as smooth as glass and immediately sending waves of intensity into his skin wherever it touched.
Both of his hands were pulled apart, one being forced down to his side and the other being brought back beside his head, the shock of the sudden pressure coursing through whatever part of his skin it was touching leaving him frozen and wide-eyed. He had not been paying attention to hear the soft rustling that indicated it was coming back, he had not been caring about it seconds before because it had foolishly become the last thing on his mind...
The only thing that came from behind him was the feeling of it pressing up against his back, and then chuckling softly.

"Now, now..." It said calmly, a hint of amusement dancing in its voice as he felt it bring its mouth up beside his ear, "We don't want you hurting yourself, now do we?..." Gingka breathed shakily through his nose, feeling the tears brim on the edges of his eyelashes from the fear and overwhelming sensation, but unwillingly to let them fall.
Another soft chuckle sounded from just beside his ear before he felt it pull his arm back slightly more, its breath moving away from his ear.
The redhead automatically froze when he felt that familiar feeling of something wet and slick against his skin, starting at the bottom and going up one of the several abrasions he had created on his forearm - almost as if to make it all better, despite the pressure that pulsated through his arm all the same.
Gingka didn't dare make a sound, but stared out into the darkness that was the only other thing he could see, trying not to let the tears slid down his cheeks but failing miserably...

From the way things had been going, none of them had expected things to really go downhill as fast as they had.
For Zyro and the others, things had actually been going pretty smoothly in their search for wherever that deranged sociopath could be, getting their clues and following the road to wherever they believed they would be able to gather any information.
Naively, they had believed that this time would simply be the same. Heading down the main road had gone alright in the early morning, the sun rising higher in the sky as time passed and brought them closer to their destination.
They really didn't need to rely on Kira for directions, but he had at least been of some in finding their way; everything had actually been going pretty okay before they saw the sirens. Most of them had been confused as to why there were police cars and firetrucks in the area around the Sainen-ji temple, confused upon the crowd of bystanders and onlookers that had gathered around, confused by the news crew that was up somewhere near the front of the crowd.

But all questions were soon answered when they saw the scene for themselves and heard the words of the news reporter from the back - the Sainen-ji temple had collapsed, and from the sounds of it there were no known survivors.

To say the least, it wasn't what any of them had been expecting. Dust still rose into the air from the rubble, thin columns of smoke floating up into the air from the few fires that had been created in the collapse, clouding the sky above with a smoky haze.
As obviously stated, everyone in the temple at the time was now dead - and the 9 of them were left without hope for more answers.
Even with the shock and the sudden realization that they now had nothing to go on, nobody really said anything. Madoka and Maru had sat down near the side of the road, both of them staring rather blankly towards the scene that dozens upon dozens of onlookers were staring at.
Kira was leaning against a nearby telephone pole, looking rather indifferent towards the whole situation - of course, he wasn't really the one who cared all that much about what happened, as it didn't break him up as much to see that their only available source of information was now gone and destroyed in some freak accident. The others were either sitting down or standing, other than Benkei, who had sat down near the side of the ride beside Madoka and Maru, there to assure them and himself that it and they were alright.
All was silent but for the constant passing of cars, concerned bickering, and the words being spoken by the female news reporter near the front of the crowd. For what seemed like forever, none of them said a thing - a few of them, like Zyro, Madoka, and Maru, stared either absently forward or at the ground.
Ren picked silently at her nails to keep herself occupied, Eight shifted from one foot to the other constantly while staying at his older brother's side, Shinobu played with the purple necklace strung around his neck in absent worry and concern for the situation.
Zyro sat there silently, forlorn blue eyes staring absently towards the sight of destruction, as did Maru and Madoka, although the young mechanic took her lavender eyes away to look down at her scarring knees.

Kira, though gazing towards the ruined temple in solemn silence, glanced over towards them all a few times with the shadow of a scowl on his face. Sure, they were upset, he could get that (not truly, since he felt relatively nothing towards this other than the surprise that the old building had actually come down upon itself), but was there really a reason to just sit there in silence and stare at it?

Obviously not.

But here they were, just sitting there in shocked and broken silence that honestly disgusted silence.
"And just when I get the kid to stop sulking over everything..." He thought to himself with an inner, irritated sigh. Even with the disgust at their sulking behavior, the multicolor-haired blader said anything.
He allowed them all to just stare at the large pile of rubble that had once been their destination, that had formally been their one source of hope for learning anything, to hopefully getting closer to the ruthless demi-god that they were chasing after.
Now it was gone, and, though there had been the shock and the small bit of panicking and denial at the first discovery of this, they all just continued to sit there and stare; nobody bothered to break the tension.
Already, it was nearly mid-day, which meant that they had all been standing and sitting here for a couple hours, at least. Shaking his head, Kira simply turned his one-eyed gaze back towards the scene of ruin, arms and legs crossed as they had been earlier that morning before they had left Kasama.
It took at least ten or fifteen more moments of silence before anyone said anything - and that, surprisingly enough, was Zyro.
Ren was the one to notice and glance over at the ginger-ravenette as he slowly shook his head, his eyes distant yet still questioning from what she could see.

Voice barely above a whisper, yet still somehow loud enough for all of them him, Zyro spoke, "This can't be a coincidence.."

Most eyes turned towards him, and Kira even raised an eyebrow at him with a solemn expression, somewhat impressed (and graciously relieved) that the emotionally damaged had actually decided to speak up.
"What?" Shinobu questioned, staring towards Zyro with slightly wider eyes than usual, confusion at what exactly the Fire Blader had said and was saying. In response, Zyro turned to his head to look back towards most of them as most eyes turned towards him.
"I said it can't be a coincidence that this place collapsed." The Iraid blader said more clearly.
"Not a coincidence?..." Eight questioned quietly, trying to work over this thought in his own mind.
"Yeah." The dual-haired blader continued, "I thought over it a bit... There's no way this place could just fall apart overnight after we figured out that we were supposed to come here, right?"

"Well, things still 'just happen', right?" Maru questioned, taking the other result of this situation into consideration.
"Not with that psychopath, they don't." Ren replied with a scowl that went towards nobody.
Kite, glasses reflecting the light of the sun, brought his hand up to his chin in thought. "It does make a bit of sense, though..." The teen-aged scientist said thoughtfully, "Considering the situation, there had to have been a way that Alcorin found out about us planning to come here... And considering all that he can do, the probability that he's able to watch us pretty high... And most importantly, if he actually did bring down the temple, than that likely means he really doesn't want us to find him."

"Which gives us all the more reason to keep trying, right?" Benkei suggested, standing up from his seat beside both Maru and Madoka.
"Yeah, but what are we gonna do now?" Ren questioned, "We don't really have any other place to look for answers..."
Madoka hummed briefly, looking down towards her feet with a troubled look on her face as she thought to herself. "I don't know..." The blue-eyed shop owner said with a sigh tracing her words, "I don't know exactly where else we could go.."

"I'll look!" Maru announced with a small smile, lifting her wrist up and bringing up the holographic screen that protruded from the silver bracelet on her arm, swiping her fingers just above the screen in her usual way of connecting with it.
In the meanwhile, Ren brought a finger up to her chin and tapped it there, staring absently towards the dry grass she was sitting on with thought. "I didn't think Alcorin would actually be watching us this whole time.." The blonde said with a slightly troubled expression, "That just means he could be anywhere, right now..."

"Yeah, but how?" Shinobu questioned, having finally ceased in playing with the necklace strung around his neck, "Last time, he obviously did it with cameras, so..." The light-haired blader's words trailed off, and his red-clothed shoulders gave a light shrug.

None of them were entirely sure what to make of it, with the fact that - considering he had likely brought the temple down with those freakish powers he had - Alcorin had very likely been watching them the entire time somehow.
There wasn't really a way that he could actually do that, was there? Sure, he had those powers that he inherited from his father, but even so... How could have known where they were the entire time every step of the way?
If he was able to watch them, know where they were going next, know what exactly they were discovering along their way, then he was still one step ahead of them.
And he could, therefore, be anywhere.

"Here we go!" Maru exclaimed, gaining the attention of the other 8, "The nearest place is Iwase, with is down the road to the West... And then there's Sakuragawa, which is over the mountains." The pink-haired mechanic one small finger towards the mountains over in the not-so-far-off distance.
Madoka leaned over a bit to get a better look at the screen Maru was holding up, a few strands of her brown hair brushing against the top of the young girl's head.
"Well, neither of those places are exactly close..." The blue-eyed woman speculated, "But we might as well give them a shot to see if we can find anything..." A small chuckle escaped Kira's throat.

"Wow, you all actually can think of things when you want too.." The multicolor-haired blader said with a small smirk playing at the edges of his purple lips.
Nobody really paid him any mind other than a slightly sour look from Shinobu - which was to be expected between the two of them - and a slight roll of the eyes from Ren. Even with his remark, Kira would only ever partially admit to himself that he was actually impressed - mainly because Zyro had been the one to speak first in context to the whole situation.
"Well, Iwase looks closer.." Benkei said as he peered over Maru's shoulder, pointing at the location on the map that stated the name of the town that seemed to be similar to size to Kasama.
"Yeah, I guess." Madoka said thoughtfully, her eyes scanning the screen intently as she thought over in her mind their next plan of action, "We might as well head in that direction. We don't really have anywhere else we could go for answers..." After these words, the brunette stood up and briefly stretched before looking towards the younger bladers, "Any of you up for walking?"

"No, but I'll do it." Ren said with a shrug and got up off the ground, an action followed by Zyro. Kira, knowing full well where they were headed and that they were leaving, pushed his body away from the telephone pull he had previously been leaning against to stand upright, one of his hands placed on his hips as he watched the rest of them gather their bearings.
As they got themselves together and slung the very few bags they brought over their shoulders, nobody in the crowd in front of them noticed.
Nobody paid any attention to the 9 at the back as they stretched and then headed off down the road, their pace slow with walking but determined nonetheless.
Everyone else's attention was focused on the ruins of what had once been the Sainen-ji temple, the shock and confusion still evident throughout the crowd at this unforeseen event - all except for one.

A woman, who had been there for a fair amount of time, was the only one that took notice to the departure of the few people at the back, her head turning to look back over her shoulder and watching briefly as they walked away with red eyes that were hidden by sunglasses...

Booted footsteps echoed throughout the hallow, stone corridors, their movement brisk yet still with that calm and serene feature that always seemed to be there.
The hem of white robe dragged lightly on the ground behind the albino and doing very little to weigh him down. A solemn look made itself known on the sociopath's face, red eyes gazing through the darkness and glowing in a feline-like aspect.
Though seeing the light and actually being on the outside of this domain was refreshing, he liked it here all the more.
He had been so dearly close to those who were chasing after him, and he had previously been able to feel the slight rush of adrenaline it caused from how close they were... He could have finished them off right there if he had dearly wanted to, but now that that temple was gone and they had no where to find any information on where he could be, he had no need too.
Still... Seeing their broken faces had been a lovely sight, even if the way they had picked up not to long after made him scowl.
But even so, he had not simply been there, disguised as an ordinary woman simply concerned as to what had occurred, to watch the hope flee from their delicate souls...
He, too, had been curious on the temple's destruction.

For it had not been him who had done so.

He had not been present at the apparent time of collapse and destruction to do so, and it definitely could not have just happened by chance.
Alcorin, for one, did not believe in coincidences or luck, and it was more than unlikely that some higher god than that of himself and what his father had been had decided to sympathize with him - that was enough to make him laugh.
Yet for whatever reason the Sainen-ji temple had come down, it had aided him all the more in keeping those damned pests away from his brother and himself, so why even bother caring as to why such a thing had happened?
Still, the thought danced around in his head as he made his way through the darkness, the stench and aura of inhuman power - that mainly came from him in this form that made him far more complete than before - strong and yet unable to bother him, hollow footsteps echoing endlessly throughout the silence and emptiness.
It really was such a peculiar thing to have happened, now wasn't it?...

Finally, after winding his way through the maze of stone rooms and halls that he had come to memorize in his constant walking and pacing of thought, the albino came once more to the set of stairs that lead up into the hall where his dearest brother lay unmoving.
As he always had... And yet something felt slightly off this time, for whatever reason.
However, the sociopathic albino chose to ignore it despite the feeling of heaviness it cast on the room from this far away, making his way up the stairs like he had dozens of times before in his visits to his brother.
Robes dragging behind him lightly on the stairs, other thoughts still clouding his head in confusion and curiosity, Alcorin ascended once more into the room that contained the almost lifeless body of his brother.

And when he came to the top of the stairs, he felt it.

It came at him all at once, and nearly sent up stumbling back if he hadn't had his feet planted squarely on the stone floor.
He recognized this feeling, even though it almost felt entirely stranger to him - but he knew it, and it filled him with some sort of sickening joy all the more.
A very audible giggle escaped his lips, sounding like something that, at one time, could've been so sweet yet now was nothing short of malicious and terrifying. The aura that took over most of the room was almost overwhelming, stretching out as far as it could as if for some hope to touching something other than stone walls and pillars.
It was weak, yes, but compelling all the same; Alcorin couldn't help but laugh as he took a few more steps into the vast hall.
The thoughts of what had happened to the Sainen-ji Temple, the confusion that had flooded his head from such a strange occurrence, the sight of Zyro Kurogane and his other little friends being so broken and hopeless, all faded away as he stood there.
Because in one moment alone, he had the answers that no one else could get.
Staring with glowing red eyes across the room to the opposite of where he stood, his the sound of his haunting giggles still clinging to edge of his voice, Alcorin gazed upon the exterior of his dear brother, which was already beginning to fade... Just like it had with he himself.

"So I see..." Alcorin said clearly while something between a smirk and smile played on his lips, "Getting into a bit of mischief, are we, dear brother?"

As always, there was no response. But Alcorin knew that at least one of them was listening...

The cameras turned to static, the tiny microphones hidden between the small cracks and crevices of his room turned up to the highest pitch, the lights shut off and flooding the space in darkness, he continued to watch everything.
While he watched everything else, he assured that they could never watch him, and they had never thought anything about it.
He knew they didn't, because they had never questioned it.

Of course, why would they, when he was in this condition of immobility from his irreversible weakness?

After all, there was no way they could stop him from doing so anyway - he practically controlled everything, and every time he shut the lights off, and cut off the surveillance systems so cleverly placed throughout his room, there were no hopes of turning them back on until he allowed it.
A soft breath escaped from his lips, making him sound thoroughly exhausted even though he had not moved an inch, his blue eyes gazing at the screen in front of him in silent observance.
The light from it shone on the sickly tone of his skin, his shoulders rising and falling with his breathing in an uneasy rhythm that he wasn't able to help.
But despite his difficult breathing and chronic drowsiness that he always ignored, he continued to watch the holographic screen projected without a source in front of him, his eyes staring almost blankly at the contents it showed him through his own will.
His blue eyes, half-lidded with barely enough strength to keep them fully opened all the time, moved only the slightest bit whenever his vision shifted upon the screen.

In this darkness, where no one else was able to see or hear him, where they had never questioned the repeated processing of him shutting everything off, he was able to watch them all.
He saw everything, when he most wanted to. And as always, he would observe constantly as it all played out.
For he had only one other thing that was worth living for, and that was to assure that they didn't get to him... Even before he had ever agreed to help when asked no more than 2 months, all he had wanted to do was protect him...
If he couldn't protect one of them, then at least he could try and keep them from the other.
Another tired breath escaped his mouth, his breathing deep with great exhaustion that would seem unreasonable upon first glance, blue eyes - now having dulled from their color in the gradual process of reverting back to their original form - gazing tired at the screen before him. Watching every movement, hearing every word, seeing every other thing that went on.

Unusually long hair poured down over the sides off the chair that he was always found in, his bangs doing little to obstruct his sight as he gazed at the projected screen with half-lidded eyes. In the silence that flooded the living space which had forever been his room, he heard the footsteps approaching from down the hallway.
Almost immediately, the lights turned back on, the screen disappeared, the cameras were reverted back from static, and the microphones were turned down.
Then he sat there, tired and weak, waiting for the inevitable sound and sight of the door to his room sliding open, where he would be greeted by a face that he could not stand anymore, unlike when he had been far younger. But it didn't matter... Because nothing else mattered to him than assuring that they never found that of which they lost all too long ago.