Chapter 21 - Fail To Understand

Tsubasa had always been a pretty reasonable person, whether inside or outside of his work.
He could see the reasonable outcomes in bad situations, and see the reasonable bad consequence of something good.
Of course, even with his reasonable thinking, it didn't stop him from breaking that pattern and having a bit of hope that things would out better - that was how it had been during the Nemesis Crisis, when everything seemed to be at a loss before Gingka had managed to pull everyone together to defeat the deceased god.
But this time, cornered by Kyoya with no way to escape, and no excuse good enough that could wave an undeniable truth like that off, Tsubasa knew that there was no way he could hide the truth from the Leone Blader. And now, Kyoya knew everything, because the only resort Tsubasa had had was to reveal everything that had occurred in the last few weeks to the Legendary Blader.
Kyoya was shocked, to say the least.
Tsubasa had expected him to be, from the lengthy explanation that he had given the CEO about Gingka falling into a coma, about Alcorin, about all that had happened in the span of a week, how Dynamis's death fit into it all (as that had been the key element that the green-haired man had come to him about), and the deaths of both Hikaru and Gingka of which they had not been able to predict.

Throughout the entirety of the explanation he had been given, Kyoya had interrupted few times and listened in almost disbelieving silence.
Tsubasa, while his mouth had been moving, had watched his old friend as he explained everything, a sense of dread planting itself in the pit of his stomach from the simple fact and thought that he was telling him all of this.
Yet despite thee dreaded feeling that he had, the silverette could feel a slight weight being lifted off of his shoulders, because he was actually telling someone. It wasn't just something that you could tell anyone, even from the psychological damage that most of them had been through - a therapist may as well sign any of them off as crazy and send them straight to the psychiatric ward.
Even despite the events of 7 years ago, nobody would just believe them right off the bat - unless, of course, they had endured the whole ordeal with Nemesis for themselves, as Kyoya knowingly had. When all had finally been said and done, both Directors stood and sat there in silence.
Kyoya had one hand brought up his mouth as though it thought (Tsubasa wouldn't doubt that he was thinking it all over), his light blue eyes gazing absently forward somewhere near the bottom of the screen as he thought over every aspect of what exactly Tsubasa had just explained to him.
The silverette himself had taken to sitting in his chair awhile ago, turned a bit to the side with one of his arms lain out on the edge of his desk, awaiting Kyoya's final reaction from all of this. Now that he had gone through everything, reflected on all that had happened in the last few weeks, he realized just how tired he actually was.
All that was really keeping him awake and at least somewhat alert at this point was all the caffeinated coffee he'd been drinking, which didn't exactly do much to aid 5 hours of sleep - if he was even getting that.
But the gold-eyed Director shoved the thought aside as the man on the other side of the screen finally spoke.

"Goddammit..." Kyoya cursed irritably, taking his hand away from his mouth and placing both limbs on his desk, a look of frustrated confusion and irritation on his face, his lion-like eyes making their way up to Tsubasa's face, "Why the hell didn't you tell me this sooner, Tsubasa? Hell- why didn't you tell anyone about this sooner?!"

"You think anyone would've believed it?" The silverette retorted in protest, "Even if I told one of our friends who went through the Nemesis Crisis, do you think it would've made anything better? Besides, you know what happened to Dynamis once he got involved.."
Kyoya snorted softly, leaning back in his chair, his long green hair pouring loosely over his shoulders. "Yeah, and I also saw how Tithi was doing." Said the Leone Blader in response, "Kid's grown up, but he's obviously not taking well to how Dynamis ended up..."
There was a brief moment of silence between the two of them before Kyoya spoke once again, his face and voice seeming to have calmed down a bit, and he sighed heavily.

"I always knew that idiot would get himself killed one day..." Kyoya said, his voice almost thoughtful as he went back through the memories of his rival that he had still never beaten after 8 years.
Tsubasa allowed a small yet sad smile to come to his lips at that statement.
"I'm pretty sure we all knew he would somehow from how reckless he was..." The silver-haired man said with the small remnants of a hallow laugh in his voice, "I just didn't actually think it would happen like this.."

"Who would?" Kyoya questioned, "No one exactly expects the kid of Nemesis to suddenly show up with vengeance towards you." From the green-haired Director's tone of voice, it sounded he was still finding all of it hard to believe.
Tsubasa didn't blame him - finding out about Gingka's death from Zyro had been something that none of them had wanted to believe at first. Kyoya opened his eyes after closing them briefly, a thoughtful look on his sharp features as he appeared to once more be thinking over something.
"Just how the hell did this all happen?" The oldest Tategami asked, "And where exactly are Madoka and all of them after this?" Tsubasa sighed through his nose - he knew he was probably going to have to explain this as well.
"They're... Not here." The gold-eyed CEO said reluctantly, "They went after him.."

"They went after him?" Kyoya repeated in disbelief - for him, this day had just been full of surprises, "Why the hell would they do that when you all know who and what he is?" Tsubasa sighed and shook his head slight, resting one of his arms on that of the chair and propping his head up with his hand.
"Zyro was determined too go after him." The President of the WBBA responded tiredly, "So everyone else decided to as well. They haven't run into any trouble, as far as I know, but they seem to be at least getting somewhere..." Kyoya simply shook his head, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back in his office chair.
"Revenge, huh?..." The greenette said bitterly, "..I guess I don't really blame any of you, after what you've said that he did.."
At this statement, Tsubasa shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure what all of their motives are for going after him, but I know Zyro's is not for revenge..." The silverette said, his golden gaze downwards a bit before looking back up, "He just doesn't want any more people getting hurt." Kyoya opened his eyes from having previously closed them, staring at the other CEO for a moment before chuckling softly.
"Well, whatever you say." Kyoya said with a small smirk, "But still... After all you said this guy's done, I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them do want to get back at him."

"I know..." Tsubasa said with a sigh, taking to sitting up properly in his chair, "I've been trying to help find anything that could lead them to him, but so far I haven't been able to find to much of everything. At this point, there isn't to much that I can do." Kyoya grunted slightly, as though trying to stifle an amused laugh.
"Well, I guess you can't really find much of anything on someone who isn't even human..." The green-haired man said with a small bit of amusement, falling silent for a few moments before speaking again, "I may not know much of anything about what all of you have been doing these past few weeks, but I guess I can try and see what I can dig up."
Tsubasa's eyes widened, the golden orbs immediately going to the screen in front of him in shock at this sudden offer. "You're..." He began, "..Going to help?... Are you even sure that's a good idea, Kyoya? Dynamis tried to help us once, and look where that got him." Kyoya simply rolled his eyes at the reminder, knowing full well about what had happened to the Guardian, even if no one was completely sure what happened there.
"Yeah, well that was Dynamis." The blue-eyed Director said rather dismissively, "He didn't expect to get killed while helping out, so at least I'll know what it is I'm in for. Besides..." A serious look took to Kyoya's scarred face, frightening blue eyes gazing into the screen and seeming to hold the other man in a type of eye-lock, "Might as well make it up to Hagane about not settling our score." Tsubasa couldn't help but smile at that.
"Whatever you say." He said calmly, opening his eyes after closing him and looking to the Leone Blader on the other side of the screen, "Just be careful. You never know who might be keeping an eye on you." Kyoya seemed to stifle a laugh, before simply nodding.

"Sure." He said in agreement, the deal between them seeming to settle, "And get some sleep, you look terrible." Before he had time to answer, the connection cut out and Kyoya was gone, ending their long-distance conversation on a single note.
Whether that note would ever be continued or not, Tsubasa had no idea, taking into consideration what exactly Alcorin was capable of and what had happened to the last friend that had tried to help them out in any way possible.
Tsubasa sighed through his nose - the only thing he could do now was wait and see if Kyoya would ever get back to him with anything. The silverette knew that the Leone Blader could handle himself, which was most certain from the way he had tamed the tornadoes that made up all of his power, which was able to give him at least a small form of comfort, but it wasn't enough.
Kyoya was devious, clever, and most certainly powerful in the power given to him by the star fragment, but Alcorin was basically a god, even if in the shape of a human.
Whatever the next move from here was, from any of them, all Tsubasa was able to do was wait and see...

It was around mid-day, and Takanosuke would be lying if he said he wasn't tired. It had been a long walk during the night, and although he was still pretty alert and able to focus, the journey from Ibaraki to Omitama had worn him out.
Whatever had happened earlier in the morning with his head definitely hadn't helped either. Sakyo seemed to be keeping a careful on him, from the frequent glances that would direct themselves towards him every now and then, even more than Sakyo ever really did look at him - at this, the blonde assured the slightly elder blader that he was fine.
Sakyo had accepted that, but it didn't stop him from glancing at him every once in awhile.
Even now, as both of them sat in Omitama's small library, skimming through some books that sounded like they could be any sort of help, Takanosuke did all he could to ward off the need for sleep for just a little bit longer.
He at least wanted to help as much as he could, since he had been the one to suggest that they go after Alcorin at all - and so far, all he had done was follow Sakyo and get weird headaches that couldn't possibly be from heat stroke.
So the blonde sat there, looking absently down the page of the book that was open in front of him that had sounded at least half helpful, warding off sleep with whatever willpower he could manage when he found that his focus was wandering.
He was only barely managed to actually focus on the page, but he was at least get parts of it, which didn't seem to be all helpful in... Whatever it was they were actually looking for to find this guy.

How exactly did one take to finding someone that wasn't even human, anyway?

Somewhere near him, Sakyo leaned against the bookshelf that they had gotten a couple of the books around them from, holding the volume that he had in one hand while flipping the pages with the other. Every now and then, Takanosuke could feel that haunting feeling of someone staring at him, even if only briefly, and he knew very well that it was Sakyo.
The red-and-white-haired blader hadn't said anything, as he most commonly wouldn't, but he could see very well that the young blonde was getting tired.
However, unless the Griffin Blader actually admitted or said that he was too tired to keep sitting there, or simply fell asleep on the book that his forehead was almost touching, he wouldn't try to force him to head back to the hotel they had found nearby earlier in the morning so he could rest.
So, instead, he just stood there, leaning against the end of the bookshelf and skimming over the pages in the books, keeping one eye out for anything that could possibly seem helpful to them, and the other on the tired blonde that he was greatly worried about from earlier's little 'episode'. For however long they were at the library, neither of them really kept track of, whether it be minutes or hours.
Takanosuke still refused his consciousness the bliss of sleep, tiredly turning the page of the book again that he could barely remember half of. His head hurt a bit, that was probably just from how tired he was, and very likely amplified by the crazy headache that he gotten earlier in the morning.
Sighing heavily, the cerulean-eyed boy propped his head up with one of his hands while balancing his elbow on the table, keeping his blue orbs on the page that he was finding harder to focus on as time went on.
Maybe he should just head back to the hotel and get some rest... It's not like it would be unreasonable, seeing as how the two of them had been walking all night. Before he was able to make up his mind through his drowsy haze, he heard footsteps from somewhere behind him, and saw the empty chair beside him being pulled back before someone sat down in it - it was Sakyo, he realized after a few moments.
The older blader soundlessly placed the book he had supposedly been reading down on the table in front of him, his hand placed on the cover as he looked towards the blonde.

"Are you tired?" Sakyo asked bluntly, looking at the Griffin Blader with that normally cold look in his eyes that seemed to just barely allow a bit of concern to caress them.
"A bit." The Griffin said tiredly, but shook his head and propped it back up on his hand again after taking it off, "I'm okay though."
Sakyo clearly wasn't convinced, and Takanosuke knew that it took more than that to convince the Dragoon Blader of anything. "I can handle things from here." The dual-haired blader said gruffly, "You should go and rest back at the hotel, you're tired." Obviously he was tired, anyone could see that. But from being around the older blader for so long, the blonde knew that he was saying that he was more tired than he was letting on - which he definitely was.
Takanosuke sighed through his nose, and simply shook his head. "I'm okay..." The blonde said wearily, which he knew wasn't going to fool Sakyo at all, but it was at least worth a shot at being persistent and not just bending to everything he said.
At first, Sakyo said nothing, and there was the sound of rustling fabric as he appeared to reach into his pocket and look for something before pulling it out.
"Here." The white-and-red-haired blader said gruffly, holding something out to the younger of the two of them.
Curious and confused for a moment, Takanosuke turned his cerulean eyes towards the thin, almost flat object that Sakyo held between two of his fingers - their hotel room key card. Before the Griffin Blader had time to say anything, Sakyo spoke, "Take this, go back, and rest. I'll ask the front desk to let me in when I come back."

For several moments, Takanosuke just looked at object, before silently taking it in submission - after all, there was no reason in really arguing with the older blader, seeing as how he was just looking out for him even if he did act rather cold.
"Okay." The cerulean-eyed blader said softly, looking at the small card for a moment before standing up along with Sakyo in near unison.
"I'll be here for awhile to see if I can find anything." Said Sakyo, is voice cold, as always, "Until then, you get some sleep."

"Okay.." Takanosuke said once more, suddenly feeling more tired than he previously had. All Sakyo did was nod after getting confirmation from the younger that he would do as he said, before he walked off towards the bookshelf again to the section they had gotten their previous books from.
With really no other option, Takanosuke simply heeded Sakyo's words and headed back over to the hotel that was, basically, just across the street, getting back into their room with little difficulty other than inserting the card wrong at first.
The third time, he managed to get it right and was finally granted entrance into the hotel room that he and Sakyo were currently sharing, his head aching dully in his tired state that did not want to seem to calm down.
It was only more aggravating from the number of headaches that he had been having as of late. Rubbing his left temple slightly, Takanosuke closed the door behind him and began making his way over to the bed closest to the doorway, lazily pulling his shoes off so as to not get the bedding or the carpet too dirty.
With a yawn, the blonde began to make his way over to the bed, one hand resting and dragging loosely across the bedding as he made his way up towards the pillows.

It was only when the Griffin Blader managed to sit down on the edge of the bed and bring at least one of his legs up onto it did his headache seem to worsen - far beyond the intensity that it had originally been at.

Abruptly, Takanosuke cried out in pain, bringing his hands up to his head upon pure instinct as his head pounded hard, almost as though it was willing to break his skull if given the chance.
The drowsiness that had originally almost had him sleep-walking had nearly faded away through the sharp pain that ran through his head, his eyes squeezed shut with tears brimming at the edges of his eyelashes.
His head pounded without resolution, the feeling almost unbearable compared to how it had been earlier that day with the mere discomfort, barely able to think through it as he silently prayed for it to stop...
He just wanted to stop, why wouldn't it stop?!

Flat land and trees surrounding houses from as far as he could see... The mountains in the distance far closer than they originally had been..

The blonde shook his head, willing the pain to go away as images forced their way into the front of his eyelids, just like they had done yesterday.

A large sign.. There was a name on it, a title... What did it say?...

There probably wasn't a doubt that his nose was bleeding again... He could feel the metallic liquid slowly slide down from his nose to his upper lip, falling onto his tongue and filling his mouth with the dull taste of metal that did nothing to ease the relentless pounding.

In the middle of town, surrounded by buildings and cars... Looking towards something on the other side of the street, a shop, perhaps. What did it say?...

Then, all at once, the pounding stopped.

His head ached now, yes, but the intense pain that had been smashing itself against the inside of his skull had ceased and left him dizzy, tired, aching, and confused.
The blonde blearily opened his eyes, his vision swimming as he panted from holding his breath for so long under the influence of continuous pain. Taking his hands away from his blonde curls, Takanosuke slowly lifted a hand to the area between his nose and his mouth and wiped away at something there, bringing his hand back to look at the crimson liquid that seemed to be unwilling to stay in him for very long whenever his head started aching like this.
He should clean his face, so that it would dry and crust over in a filthy mess.
But he was tired... Since when was he this tired?...
Before any other thoughts could cross his mind, Takanosuke fell back into the bed without the strength to keep holding his body up, feeling himself slowly slipping away.
The last thought that came to mind was what that sign (Too blurry to see, almost there...) had actually said...

Ishioka.

That was it...

From the moment they had left the site of the now ruined Sainen-ji Temple, all of them knew that something definitely wasn't right.
They had managed to come to a possible conclusion that Alcorin was the one behind it, since his powers - of which he had undoubtedly inherited from Nemesis - could do things quite beyond their comprehension, as they had very well learned back in Metal Bey City.
They had also all managed to possibly figure out that, somehow, Alcorin was observing them from somewhere, just as he had before in Metal Bey City with all those cameras that the WBBA just happened to have lying around.
How, exactly, he was doing so was beyond them - which was enough to make a few of them somewhat sketchy. It was the thought of how that ran through their minds every now and then as they continued along the road side, cars buzzing past every now and again to head to and fro. The sky - usually wide open and as blue as it could be with summer weather - was now slightly clouded over, making the world seem slightly darker than it really was; it wasn't like it mattered to their sight on it anyway.
Madoka and Maru were, as usual, at the front and leading the group with Maru's map showing them the way, the rest of them following without much complaint at walking the distance it would take to get to Iwase - how long, exactly, they had no real idea.
The most they could really do was keep walking and wait until they got there, which could take hours or a day, but they would do it.
And despite the objective of getting from one destination to the other - albeit blindly -, some of them - like Ren, or Zyro, or even Maru - were unable to shake the fact that Alcorin had been watching them. And probably still was.

Though how was unknown to them, so they couldn't do anything about it. As they continued on their path to their new-found destination, some of them bickered quietly with each other on subjects that either related to what they weer doing or not at all, probably just to clear the tension that seemed to repeatedly build up in the situations they were getting in.
Ren was up and chatting calmly along with Benkei, Kite and Eight were bickering with each other in their own brotherly way as usual, Madoka and Maru were up at the front of the group, discussing who-knows-what, while the rest of them were fairly quiet.
Kira, of course, didn't bother talking to anyone, and just followed along without a word as they all made their way through the valley towards Iwase.
Shinobu walked with Zyro near the back of the group, the two of them hardly talking but passing a few words between each other every now and then about the whole situation, the thought of Alcorin watching them from somewhere - like he might even be doing as they spoke - quite unsettling for both of them, as it was for the others.

"I guess we should have expected it, at least..." Shinobu said with a sigh, shaking his head slightly, "I just don't get how he would know we were coming after him."
Zyro looked towards the ground, remembering Kira's exact words from several nights ago before they had ever left Metal Bey City. "He wanted us to find him the first time, right?.." The dual-haired blader questioned absently, his blue-eyed gaze glancing over towards his best friend, "He probably did this time too..."
Shinobu hummed briefly, taking this thought into account. "Manipulative bastard, I'll give him that." The light-haired boy muttered bitterly, and Zyro knew very wel that Shinobu didn't swear too much - in all that they had been through, however, no one would really blame him, "I can't imagine what else he probably has up his sleeves for us..."

"I'd rather not think about it, really..." Zyro said quietly, and didn't miss the small glance that came his way from the other boy beside him.
As much as he probably would've wanted to, Shinobu said nothing towards that statement except for a barely audible, "Yeah, I know..." Zyro heard him, and, in turn, said nothing in reponse.
It really was a wonder about what exactly was going on through Alcorin's head, now that they knew that he had more than likely been watching them since they had come to Kasama - probably even before that, when they had first left Metal Bey City.
Somehow, the sociopathtic bastard always seemed to be at least one step ahead of them, if not a few more. Zyro narrowed his eyes slightly at the ground, thinking bitterly to himself about the whole situation that was now set before them.

Honestly, had they really expected things to be so easy without Alcorin somehow interfering?

Had they actually thought that he wouldn't know they might be coming after him, after rubbing it in his face of the foolish and unwitting mistake they had made?

The Ifraid Blader had no idea what went on in that head of his, but whatever it was, it was definitely twisted in the way that he did things.
Just how was he keeping track of where they were, what they learned? He was either following them physically, or watching them through some other means that was his powers were more than likely capable of helping with.
At this point, just about anything was possible when it came to the psychopath. And the possible answer to that question came with a single sound that he had heard repeatedly out of the majority of his childhood.

The croak of a raven.
And the moment the hollow sound reached his ears, Zyro knew the answer.

...Zyro looked up towards from where he had heard the familiar noise, his eyes landing upon the fence that separated them from the outside area of the cafe. A raven. Perched on the top of the wood, black standing out upon white, feathers the same color as most of his hair...

He had never thought anything of the bird that he had seen back in Mito, staring at him blankly in an unnatural way that he had never thought much of in the state of depression he had been in. Staring at him with dead, blank eyes, that had - as he now remembered - matched Ren's almost exactly back when Alcorin had taken control of her as well.
At this thought, Zyro glanced his blue eyes upwards, looking both left and right with little movement of his head, before he saw it.
Just perched on the power lines, silent, unmoving, watching... And suddenly, Zyro felt very pressed down on.

"Zyro?" Shinobu voiced, noticing the rather absent look on his friend's face, "Are you okay?"

Said blader shook himself out of his absent-minded state and glanced over at his friend, then at the ground slightly as though thinking something over as quickly as possible, before looking straight forward again.
"Shinobu.." The raven-redhead said quietly, almost secretly, making the light-haired boy blink once and raise an eyebrow before Zyro spoke again, "...I think I might know how Alcorin's been watching us.."
The Salamander Blader's eyes widened at this statement, completely at a loss for words at this sudden revelation from the Ifraid Blader. "What?" Shinobu questioned, his brows furrowed in a confused expression, "How?.. W-why?"

Quickly and quietly, Zyro shushed him, his eyes - as blue as a sky even if a little duller - looking somewhere off upwards, only concerning the light-haired blonde further.
"I think he's using a bird.." Zyro said, not taking his eyes off of somewhere up above, which made Shinobu follow his gaze up towards the power lines above their heads, lining the road they walked beside.
There, indeed, was a bird - a raven, in fact; perched on the power lines like a lot of birds tended to do, its head turned towards them in a rather peculiar way...

"I remember seeing it back in Mito, it was the same one..." Zyro went on, Shinobu's eyes glancing back towards him before looking back at the bird on the power lines, "He said he could control anything with a conscious, right?"
Both boys looked at each other, unspoken words exchanged between them with simple eye contact as they both pieced the pieces together at the same time.
Really, it did make sense. Alcorin could very clearly control humans to his leisure - who said that he wasn't able to control animals the same way? Most of them were weak-minded, and none would put up a fight.
And, really, who would suspect a bird, of all creatures, to be the eyes and ears of a psychopath? Shinobu knew as well as Zyro that was it was definitely more likely than any other possibility. With nothing but silent words, the two looked away from each other, Zyro's eyes flashing up towards the winged creature on the power lines one last time out of confirmation (paranoia?...) that it was still watching before facing forward once more and heading along with the group.
It probably wasn't a good idea to share this new revelation with the rest of them at the moment, while Alcorin's little messenger was still watching them - if they did that, he would most certainly find out that they knew and things could take a turn for the worse, more so than already had in the messed up situation they were in.
With nothing left to do or discuss, they all continued on towards their destination without high hopes...

As it turned out, Iwase was definitely a bit farther than they thought it would be. Night had fallen and they had all made camp a little ways into the valley's dense wilderness, Maru's map indicating that the town they were headed for shouldn't be too much farther and a short walk come morning.
Just as they had several days ago, the 9 of them had managed to build a fire for themselves that did nothing for the mild night air, the sky above them only partially blocked out by the trees that surrounded them and the nocturnal wildlife sounding all around them.
Both Zyro and Shinobu had remained silent about their suspicion of the bird that was following them the entire time, both still deeming it unsafe to do such a thing in the knowledge that it was watching, listening, doing all that Alcorin wasn't entirely there to do.
It was quite the frightening thought to the both of them, to think they constantly had eyes on them, even if they were the simple eyes of an animal (Could it even be considered that anymore?).
But, nonetheless, they were as silent and secretive about it as possible, carrying on through the day until night had finally overtaken the sky and drenched them all in the darkness that was cast aside by the fire they had going.
With the rations they had packed they all had a fair share to eat, nobody really saying anything except for discussion between one or two of them - in Kira's case, he wasn't saying anything at all, and simply sat near the fire while looking rather uncomfortable (No, that can't be it...) and bitter about being almost huddled near them.
Seemingly, he didn't like being close to people whether physically or no - or at least not them, anyway.
The sky was clear, the stars and the moon almost directly above their heads, a slight chill in the air that was able to easily be ignored by the lit warmth they were surrounding.

As the night slowly went on, one end of the sky just a faint dark blue as the sun gradually retreated, all of them - save Kira - conversed with each other in simple small talk, doing their best to keep their minds off the day's conflicting events.
Zyro and Shinobu sat around with Ren, Kite, and Eight, all 5 of them huddled together on one side of the tamed blaze and talking about this and that with each other, trying as much as they could not to let any of today's - or the past week's - events sneak into the conversation, even if they sometimes did unintentionally.
However, none of them really paid any mind as they laughed tensely and spoke uneasily.
Both Maru and Benkei were sitting a little ways away, their conversation barely heard by any of them, but they were clearly able to see they were staying a bit more optimistic than the rest of them - Benkei was going on merrily about something or another while Maru simply had an expression that could express the sarcastic tone of 'really?'.
Zyro glanced over at the two of them smiled slightly, a tug at the corners of his mouth as the voices of his friends went on around him.
While all of them were undoubtedly bothered by everything that had taken place as of late, it almost felt odd to try and act like everything was normal.

It felt good, of course, to momentarily forget about all the pain and anguish and just joke around like they used to, but it wasn't the same as it once been.
Nothing was fine anymore, not really, no matter how much they could pretend and no matter how long they did.

And it was strange, how Maru - out of all of them - managed to remain strong enough to stand on her own two feet and shove all the difficulties they faced aside to deal with what they had at hand, while he took to sulking around in the corner over his own guilt.
Zyro would never understand how she was able to, when she had been one of the most damaged out of all of them with her involvement of all that had happened over the past month and a half. It was evident that Madoka was proud of her, while the brunette herself was struggling to keep herself standing after all they'd been through.
Thoughts wandering to that topic made the Fire Blader realize that Madoka wasn't sitting with any of them - she wasn't even anywhere around the fire they had made. Looking around briefly, Zyro moved to get to his feet, drawing the attention of a few of his friends.

"Zyro?" Ren questioned, looking at the now-standing blader questionably.

"I'll be right back." Zyro said simply, taking a moment to look at the woods surrounding them before heading off in the direction that he deemed most likely Madoka would go, which was in the opposite direction of the side of the fire where no one was sitting - it seemed to work in the movies, so why not?
He was only about a dozen meters into the surrounding forest when he spotted the brunette, seated down on the grass with her knees partially brought up him to her chest, most of her cast in dim shadows while the light from the moon and stars above just barely illuminated her with what light made it through the pine needles of the trees around. The light of the fire partially shone on her back, but didn't do much good from the distance.

"Hey Madoka.." Zyro said quietly, coming over to sit down beside the woman. Madoka jumped slightly at suddenly hearing a voice from behind her, but relaxed just as quickly when she saw who it was that sat down beside her.
"Oh, hey Zyro." The shop-owner said with a small smile.
"What are you doing here?" The dual-haired boy asked, concern in his voice as he watched the elder. Madoka simply shook her head with a smile that was weighed with... Anguish, guilt? He couldn't quite tell.
"Nothing, really.." She said, half dismissively, "I just came to think, is all... I haven't been getting all too much time too, lately." Turquoise eyes drifted away from the young blader, eyelids coming down halfway and looking seemingly towards her feet.

Zyro remained silent as he waited for her to start talking again.

"It's just crazy..." The blue-eyed woman said forlornly, "With all that's been happening, I mean." Zyro felt a small pang in his heart, and he understood, silently looking down towards his own feet.
"Yeah..." He agreed, unsure of what exactly there was to say to the woman beside him. But Madoka seemed willing to keep talking, and not leave both of them in awkward and tense silence.
"You think you know a person well enough to see right through them..." She reflected, her voice sounding slightly distant, "I thought I kind of new Gingka almost inside out, but I guess not... Now look where we are.." Zyro knew well what she was talking about.
It was a thought that most of them probably didn't think about (and which Kira definitely didn't think about), but still more than likely bothered a few of them.
Not seeing through Gingka's act over the first three weeks of their crazy ordeal with Alcorin, not being able to understand fully what was happening to him and just pushing it aside as no bigger deal than a cold.
"I mean..." The brunette continued on, sounding somewhat more distressed, "We all knew something was wrong with him, and... We just ignored it, and he ignored it, and..." She let out a shaky sigh through her nose, shaking her head a bit, "We could've done something, I know we could've, if we just... J-just realized what was going on with him, he might be okay.."

Zyro bit his lip, his chest tightening uncomfortably in the grief that was almost overwhelming, filling every one of Madoka's words as she spoke. Tears were starting to brim on the corners of his lashes, but she did whatever she could to hold them in - Zyro, in turn, bit down his own.
"I just don't get it." The brunette said with a tired sigh, looking up to look almost sightlessly towards the trees in front and around them, almost as if they held the answers, "First he's here, and now he's dead, just because Alcorin couldn't get over the death of Nemesis... I didn't even think about him still watching us until earlier. I just don't understand..."
The blue-eyed shop owner shook her head again and put her forehead in he hands, looking down in the dark shadows of her lap.
Zyro licked his dry lips, one thought coming to mind through all that Madoka kept saying. He shouldn't say anything - sometimes it was better not too, when it came to comfort.
But still... It probably wouldn't bring any comfort to Madoka - he knew it wouldn't, it had brought none to him or any of them that knew about it - but she had the right to know.

Shakily, took a deep breath in through his nose, and exhaled. "He knew..." Zyro said quietly, words that only he and Madoka were allowed to hear.

"W-what?" She questioned, raising her head off of her hands and looking at the boy in confusion. Zyro bit the inside of his lip briefly before continuing, since there was no taking back words.

"Gingka..." The Fire Blader continued, unable to meet Madoka's eyes, "He, uh... B-before the tournament started a couple months ago, he, uh... He talked to me, and he said t-that..." Zyro licked his lips, his chest tightening as his heart pounded against his rib cage, "He said that... T-that the next time someone, like, came after us, he... That he wouldn't.. W-wouldn't be there..." Madoka's eyes widened, staring at Zyro at this sudden revelation that she had never heard of before now.
Zyro, biting the inside of his bottom lip, looking slightly over towards the woman beside him, still not daring to make eye contact as he continued on in a shaky voice.
"He knew..." He said again, "..That he was dying, I mean... At least, I-I'm pretty sure he did... And, uh.. I think he knew... About Alcorin, too... Before any of us did." Zyro almost felt like an elephant was standing on his chest, barely able to breath as his heart beat rapidly in the anxiety that formed upon this conversation.
It was definitely not a form of comfort, not at all, but he knew that Madoka should know. She had the right to, as one of the deceased blader's best friends.
It probably wouldn't bring her any comfort, but it was the one thing that he could think of to say at a time like this. Slowly, and reluctantly, did Zyro look up towards Madoka, who stared at him with wide turquoise eyes that were outlined by anguish.
The Ifraid Blader had half-expected the former mechanic to break down crying, or just look away with a blank look at the thought that Gingka had lied to them the entire time - something that he would more than be able to sympathize with.

Instead, the woman simply shook her head, a forlorn look in her now half-closed eyes, turning her head away slightly placing her forehead in one of her hands.
"That idiot..." She murmured bitterly, which the blue-eyed boy had heard say in regard to the redhead many times when he had been alive. "...He could have told us about that..." She carried on, disbelief and grief in her voice, "He knew the entire time, and he could've told us, but he didn't..."

"I think he wanted too..." Zyro began, his chest feeling heavy with the same grief that Madoka probably felt, "But... I think he didn't know how too, after not saying anything for a long time..." Of course, Zyro didn't know that sure.
What he had heard from "Gingka" back in Metal Bey City almost a week ago had been Alcorin's words, which evidently held no form of truth behind them except to get under his skin. None of the had any remote idea of Gingka's motives for keeping his situation a secret, and it could very well be that he didn't want to tell them in the first place.
It didn't really matter, though, did it? The Legend had not lived to tell them his reasoning.
Madoka looked over at him slightly, tears just visibly threatening to run down her face as she processed all of the things she had suddenly been told.
"I guess..." She said with a wavering sigh, one tear falling from her lashes on its own. The brunette appeared to bite her lip for a moment, before speaking once more, her voice more filled with tears than even her eyes.

"..But I don't care if he lied..." Madoka said, shaking her head, "I just wish things were different..." Zyro was unable to say anything to that as the blue-eyed woman half-doubled over and cried silently, small whimpers that she visibly muffled escaping her as she fought against her sorrow.
Fisting one of his hands in the fabric of his jacket, Zyro looked away, his body shaking as he too felt the tears willing themselves to come out and show themselves - but, as he kept doing, he forced them down, wedging his bottom lip between his teeth.
Now really wasn't the time the cry - not for him, anyway.
But Madoka, even after the countless tears she had shed during the time when Gingka had still been comatose, clearly needed this small bit of time to just let a bit of the pressure out.
After learning that lives had been lost that day because of them in their search for Alcorin, it was a bit more than appropriate to be rather gloomy. The mere thought of it made Zyro's stomach churn, made him feel sick and uncomfortable.
This is what Alcorin would do to keep them away from him, and that by itself was highly disturbing. With there being no words that could be said, Zyro simply sat there, letting Madoka cry and keeping it just a secret between the two of them until the morning.