Chapter 23 - In And Out Of Darkness

The sun had already risen quite far into the sky by the time Zyro and the others had arrived in Iwase the next morning.
They had gotten up rather early, but even then it was already fairly bright out - they had then all sat there and eaten a bit of what they had brought with them before setting off from their little camping spot, extinguishing the smoldering fire before they left and getting all of their things together. Zyro had glanced over at Madoka a few times that morning, noticing how the area around her eyes was still a bit red from a crying the previous night - he didn't doubt that Maru was able to notice, and probably Benkei and a few others as well, but none of them said anything about it, because there was no sense in asking what was wrong.
In all that had been occurring as of late, crying was one of the reasonable things any of them could do (save for Kira who remained as passive as ever), and nobody would really be able to question why if they did.
Especially in Madoka's case, since she had been one of the closest friends Gingka had had back when he was alive, and it was undoubtable that she had at least some form of love for him, whether romantic or platonic.
So if anybody else did notice - and there was no doubt that someone did - nobody said a thing about it, even if they were curious; the previous night, however, was just between Madoka and Zyro, and neither of them were keen to bring it up to each other either so that it may just be forgotten when (if) all of this could finally be over.

Iwase was actually rather small, to say the least.
Maru said her map clearly depicted so, and it was definitely right now that they were here - of course, while it was convenient in not having a huge city to look over with the very likelihood of never finding anything, it only gave them a limited amount of resources to look at, and chances were that this place didn't have anything to give them either.
However, with no other options for them after the burning and collapse of Sainen-ji Temple, they were definitely willing to try (or most of them were, at least).

"This place really is small." Ren commented as she looked around with her brown eyes, observing their surroundings of which, in truth, weren't that much.
"I told you there wasn't that much here." Maru said, her lavender eyes looking up towards the older girl for a moment, "Iwase is a really small town."

"Well, whatever..." Madoka said with a shrug, "It's the only option we have right now, so we might as well see if there's anything here."
Kite pushed his glasses up on his nose, the light of the sun reflecting off of them. "I'm going to go ahead and say," He began, "There isn't a very likely chance of that. A chance, but still..."

"Wonderful input." Kira muttered with a roll of the eye, but Kite chose to ignore him.
"Considering what happened yesterday," The data-obsessed blader continued, "I wouldn't be surprised if Alcorin's already one step ahead of us on it."
Ren looked over her shoulder at the spikey-haired brunette. "Maybe he hasn't gotten here yet; if there really isn't anything here, then I'm sure he won't even bother trying to come after us."

"Which won't exactly mean anything that good for us either way." Madoka concluded, giving Ren a thoughtful glance which she returned with a meek smile.
Zyro, listening to the conversation as Eight, Shinobu, and Kira were as well, sucked lightly on his upper lip before looking up towards the sky, glancing around with his eyes that the area they were walking through for any sign of that bird - so far, he couldn't see anything.
Shinobu glanced over at him, being the only one who really knew what Zyro was looking for at this time, but didn't say a word to him.
Instead, he took his eyes away from his best friend and instead looked towards the most part of the group. "We should probably find out exactly what's here before we start looking..." The light-haired blader suggested almost quietly, "That way we aren't just walking around aimlessly like before."
Most of the group, save for Kira and Shinobu himself, glanced back towards the Salamander Blader before looking away and sweatdropping.
"We really have been doing that, huh?..." Madoka muttered in slight embarrassment.
"Yes, you have." Kira said nonchalantly, earning a slight glare from Ren.
"If you knew, then why didn't you inform us about that?" She questioned, raising a blonde eyebrow, "Aren't you mainly here to scold us?"
Kira merely flicked his hand off to the side with a small tug at the corners of his purple-coated lips. "You all seemed pretty confident in your strategy, I didn't really see the point." The multicolor-haired boy explained with a small shrug, "Besides, it seemed to work for the most part, didn't it?"

Ren just looked at him for a few more moments before shaking her head and looking way. Really, there was no point in arguing with Kira - it wasn't like the Bahamoote blader really cared all that much. "Hey, do you know anything about Iwase, Kira?" Maru asked, looking back over her shoulder and turning her torso slightly to be able look at him.
Kira's one eye looked towards the small girl, looking at her for a moment before speaking. "I never even knew this place existed until now, I never came this far over." He said plainly.
"So, no, otherwise." Kite stated with a sigh at Kira's usual self - honestly, even with Maru he was difficult to work with.
"Might as well find out on our own, then." Benkei said with a small shrug. Madoka glanced over at her friend before looking down towards her assistant.
"Hey, Maru, can you open up your map for me?"
"Sure, Chief." The pink-haired girl said obediently before stopping in her tracks on the sidewalk to bring up the map in her bracelet.
All of them stopped walking as well and scooted over to the side so as to let other people who currently traveled along the sidelines of the road pass by without getting in their way. Bringing up the holographic screen, Maru used to fingers to zoom the screen in so that she could get a better understanding of their surroundings, scanning her lavender eyes over it a couple times before speaking.
"We're right here, by the Aoyagi district near the downtown area." The pinkette pointed to a certain spot on the map, "I don't know exactly where we could look for anything, but there is a small library over here."
She pointed to another part of the map which was the downtown area, indicating that it was a bit more to the north, "But not much else... All I really see on here is just a bunch of shops, stores, parks... And there's a hospital on the other side of town."

"We could ask around." Benkei suggested, "Maybe people around here are friendly."
Zyro looked over towards the Manager. "They usually are, in small places like this." The Ifraid Blader stated matter-of-factly, "I should know..."
Madoka, looking at the screen herself for a few moments, shrugged her shoulders. "Even if they aren't, it might as well be worth a try to get something out of this place." The shop-owner stated, "... I should also call Tsubasa later, and see how he's doing on his end."

"Chances are, he not doing that much better." Kite said flatly.
"Big bro has a point..." Eight said rather glumly, glancing up towards the older Unabara before looking back down.
"Who knows?" Ren questioned with a shrug, "At least we know we're probably on the right track, since Alcorin clearly doesn't want us to find him, after what happened back there." The blonde made a gesture with her head to behind her, which vaguely indicated she was talking about the Sainen-ji temple.
"Looks like someone's optimistic about that..." Kira muttered lowly, standing with one hand placed on his hip. Zyro, Shinobu, Kite, and Eight looked over towards the multicolor-haired blader for a moment at the remark before looking away again.
After all, it was just Kira being... Well, himself. And even though he wasn't being the most helpful at the moment (which all of them were able to notice), they knew perfectly well that he was just there to make sure they stayed grounded - and as of right now, he really didn'tneed to do anything to assure it.
"I guess..." Madoka said with a hint of uncertainty, getting up from her slight crouching position, "Well... Let's get to it. It could take awhile to find anything around here."
The rest of them agreed with this notion, despite the fact that they also might not find anything in Iwase. Regardless, they all set off on the sidewalk once again to pass the Aoyagi district, heading towards the downtown area...

"Kyoya's in the hospital?" Tsubasa repeated in questioning with shock in his voice, the sudden news that he was hearing over the phone from the TC Director's younger brother being something that he definitely wasn't expecting, especially after explaining everything to him just the day before.
"Yeah, he was admitted last night.." Answered the weary voice of Kakeru from the other side of the line, "The doctors said that he's stable, but he's under 24 hour watch."
Tsubasa furrowed his eyebrows and leaned forward in his office chair slightly, his original weariness (even after the fairly good sleep he had had the night before) forgotten as he focused on his concern over his apparently injured friend.
"I don't get it, what the hell happened?" The WBBA Director questioned.
"I don't know." Kakeru said with a sigh that showed he knew it wasn't helpful, "I didn't really see what happened, I just got there and he was being attacked by... Me. Like, not me, me, but..." A small breath of confusion and weariness escaped the Tategami's mouth, "Apparently, it was one of my co-workers, Mura, and she looked like me for some reason, and then she was her again, and... Look, I don't really know what was going on, but from the context of things, it sounds like it has something to do with your situation."
Tsuabsa had listened intently through Kakeru's flustered spiel, and he knew right away what it was.
It wasn't like he hadn't suspected it beforehand, but now this was more confirmation than he needed.
One of the workers of the TC seeming to mindlessly attack Kyoya, looking like Kakeru and then herself... From all the experience he had over the last couple months, he knew the answer.

Letting out a sigh, the silverette pinched the bridge of his nose in slight frustration. "Yeah, that sounds like it..." Tsuabsa said with sigh, "I didn't think something like this would happen so quickly after I just spoke to him yesterday..."

"You expected this would happen?" Kakeru questioned, confusion evident in his tone.
Tsubasa was silent for a moment, realizing that, perhaps, Kyoya hadn't told his younger brother the whole story and the consequences that he had himself had told the greenette would possibly follow.
Shaking his head slightly, the President of the WBBA leaned back in his chair, the weariness from earlier slowly returning to him.
"Not entirely, but I had a feeling..." The silverette explained, his golden eyes glancing towards the windows and door of his office, paranoia of the possible eyes watching him (he had never been able to really ignore the fact that that had indeed been a fact) making him slightly skittish, "Something like this happened to one of the other Legendary Bladers, Dynamis; I'm sure you've heard of him..."
"Yeah, I have." The younger Tategami responded almost immediately, "But he's... Dead, isn't he?" Tsubasa noticed how Kakerus's voice became slightly uneasy, "I heard about it from that other Legendary Blader, Tithi."
The WBBA Director sighed through his nose. "Yeah, he is..." The gold-eyed man answered almost reluctantly, "Alcorin got to him, too... I don't mean to scare you or anything, but Kyoya's lucky to be alive right now. With the way Alcorin works, I'm surprised he didn't just kill him right away..."

Kakeru was silent on the other end for a few moments, which made Tsubasa worried that he might have accidentally frightened off the other man.
It was only after several tension filled moments did Kakeru finally answer with a sigh, "Well, my brother's a bit too stubborn to let anyone have their way with him, in every sense of the word..." At this statement, Tsubasa smiled somberly.
"Yeah, I know." He replied, "I'm just glad he's okay, for now. At this point, there's really no telling what could happen, since we always seem to be one step behind..."

"Why would your guy even come after my brother?..." Kakeru asked in hushed tones, seemingly to not alert anyone that was nearby since the assistant had vaguely stated that he was at the hospital with Kyoya, "Other than the fact that he was trying to help you, why would he?... None of us were finding anything, and I have no idea if Kyoya did or not."
Tsubasa shook his head slightly, though he knew that Kakeru wouldn't seeing him doing the motion. "I don't think it really matters to him..." The Director said solemnly, "The same kind of thing happened to Dynamis after he revealed that he was getting involved in the whole thing..."

"Is he really that insane?" Kakeru questioned, bewilderment, "I mean, from what Kyoya told me, he sounds like a pretty smart person, even considering what he is... He wouldn't just kill people because they decided to try and help, would he?... Not that I'm trying to justify him or anything, but still, I don't really see any reason behind that..."
Tsubasa raised an eyebrow slightly, Kakeru's thoughts confusing him slightly since he had been thinking a slightly different way.
Presumably, Alcorin had previously wanted all of them - or at least Gingka - dead, supposedly because they were getting more involved in the situation than he wanted them too. He had apparently tried to kill Zyro, and had remained unsuccessful, and after he had actually killed Gingka and stuck around for a week so as to not raise any suspicion among them, he left and didn't even bother with them.
Perhaps because he had gotten what he wanted, and he didn't need to deal with them anymore?
Tsubasa furrowed eyebrows - that did make sense, but what Kakeru was wondering about did seem to have strong probability to it.
If Alcorin had really wanted them all dead, it more than likely would've already been done by now. However, it didn't really seem that he cared about them doing anything anymore now that he had killed the redhead they had been trying to save.
It was also evident with Dynamis's death, now that he thought about it... Maru had mentioned that her and Dynamis had managed to find something of use at the Mist Mountain Shrine - something which only Dynamis had known about at the time and which she was unable to bring back up due to almost everything on her laptop being erased by some unknown source.
Alcorin had only killed Dynamis then, and, though he had left the young girl to die in there, he really hadn't even bothered with her... Perhaps it wasn't just about Kyoya getting involved that had set off the psychopath, but about the TC Director finding out something that he didn't want anyone getting wind of.

"Director Otori?" Kakeru voiced from the other side of the line, knocking Tsubasa out of his thoughts and back into the real world, where they were fighting against a psychopath and another one of his friends was injured.
"Now that I think about it..." Tsubasa began almost absently, "Maybe it's not just about him getting involved with this."

"What do you mean?"

"It was the same kind of thing that happened with Dynamis, but I don't know much about..." The silverette explained, turning towards his desk, grabbing a pen out of one of his draws and scrawling a few things down, "I think there might of been something that Kyoya knew about that Alcorin didn't want him to know."

"You think my brother might of figured out something?" Kakeru questioned, his voice quiet but piqued with interest.
"Yeah." Tsubasa responded, "That, or he was on his way to finding out something that Alcorin didn't want anyone to know... Now that I'm going over it, it seems like it's actually been that way with us over here." Golden eyes scanned over the notes he was writing down, tapping his pen slightly on the paper as he though while simultaneously explaining his thoughts to the young Tategami, "Do you think you would be able to get anything out of Kyoya? Or at least see what he had on his computer?"

"U-um, sure." Kakeru said, sounding slightly confused about the whole thing but still wishing to help, "I can't guarantee anything, but I could try..."

"Great." Tsubasa said in gratitude, letting a hint of a smile come onto his lips, "I appreciate the help, Kakeru. Be safe."

"You too, Director." With those parting words, Kakeru hung up the phone from the other line, and Tsubasa did the same.
A heavy sigh escaped the man as he took in everything that had happened and had been discussed in that short time, all of it sinking in and making him feel slightly more rejuvenated. It definitely wasn't a good thing that Kyoya was hurt - and the silverette partially blamed himself for that - but this was definitely a lot more information than he had gotten in awhile.
If Alcorin had gone after Kyoya, then that should mean was something that he hadn't wanted Kyoya, or anybody, to know.
While it definitely didn't have good consequences on the other's part, it most likely meant that there was something that could help them.
If Kakeru could indeed find out anything, than that could be a major break for all of them. That thought in mind, Tsubasa knew he had some work to do of his own.
Golden eyes scanned over the contents of what he had written once more before taking the paper, folding it somewhat unevenly, and tucking it into his shirt pocket.

With most things said and done, Tsubasa got up out of his chair and left his office, new-found motivation coming upon him now that he knew that there was definitely something Alcorin didn't want them, let alone just Kyoya, to know.
There was work to be done, and he was planning on doing it the right way...

After several hours of rest on Takanosuke's part, both he and Sakyo had eaten and left Omitama to head out for Ishioka.
They had left only when Sakyo had been sure that Takanosuke was well rested enough to be able to walk the distance, which had been roughly at about 7:00 in the evening, when the sky was darkening but still with the light of the sun illuminating the world for just a little longer.
Takanosuke appreciated that the Dragoon Blader was so concerned about it, and kept saying that it wasn't that necessary since he was fine - Sakyo listened to that, of course, but it didn't stop him from being sure.
The two of them had followed the road through the night, taking it fairly slow since they were both keeping sure that the blonde's health didn't deteriorate any more than it had been, which the Griffin Blader didn't really object too. (He just said it was just tiring walking such distances at such a fast pace, but Sakyo suspected otherwise) It had been a fairly long walk, and by the time they had actually made it to the small area of Ishioka it was almost 6:00 in the morning.
The two of them were mostly exhausted by them (although Takanosuke was the only one of them who really showed it), and had settled down at a small area that could almost be called a park to rest. Because it had still been dark out, both of were left waiting several hours before the sky began to finally light up and the sun began to rise; Takanosuke had gotten a bit of sleep in that time, while Sakyo seemed to have stayed awake with no problem - however the white-and-red-haired blader could it, Takanosuke knew he might never know.
It was only when the sun was finally rising over the short buildings and people were out and about either in their cars on the sidewalk did the two of them leave the small park area.
Considering how small Ishioka was (barely even fit to be called that much of a town, really) both of them had agreed that they shouldn't focus on trying to find somewhere to stay for the night until later - Sakyo had pointed out that the small town probably didn't have a hotel, seeing as how small it was.

Takanosuke knew that meant they were likely going to be left sleeping outside again, but he could deal with it.
As of now, the two of them walked along the sidewalk, the sun having since risen a bit higher into the sky and making people come out of their homes and do their day's work.
"Where do you think we should look around here, Sakyo?" Takanosuke questioned, absently looking at his surroundings, trying to pinpoint if he could recognize anything from those blurry images that his brain had given him - they had already passed the sign that showed they were going into Ishioka, so that was crossed off the list.
Sakyo didn't answer at first, but after a few moments finally spoke, "I'm not sure. This town is small, so there's not too much we can expect."
Takanosuke knew this was true, and he expected that maybe Sakyo wouldn't have a plan right away. Ishioka was a small place, and why exactly something had been telling him to come here via visions was beyond him; even so, there was the possibility that something could be there, even if the chances weren't very high.
"What do you think we should do?" Sakyo asked unexpectedly, causing Takanosuke to look up suddenly towards the older blader, seeing cold red eyes fixated on him.

The blonde swallowed thickly, not expecting Sakyo - of all people - to ask him what they were going to do.
He was the one who followed Sakyo around, looking up to him as a idol to partially walk in the footsteps of, the one who could help him get even stronger than he already was with his Griffin... However, considering that he had been the one to suggest that they should come to Ishioka in the first place, Sakyo was probably expecting him to have a good reason for it; he did, although the reasoning of 'my visions that I inherited from my grandmother' was a little far-fetched no matter how people looked at it.
It took a moment for the Griffin Blader to finally remember that Sakyo was looking at him silently, supposedly waiting for what he would say in response to the question; it took several more moments before Takanosuke finally answered, looking forward with his held slightly tilted downward.
"I don't know..." He said pathetically, "I mean, I saw some things that seemed to say coming here was a good idea, but... I don't know."

Sakyo's gaze remained pinned on the younger blader for a moment before looking forward once more; Takanosuke had explained to him about what his 'foresight' had possibly been showing him before they had left Omitama.
Even while he still found a little hard to believe, he was willing to trust the blonde's intuition that what his 'visions' were telling him were genuine.
Things sure were getting weird, to say the least... And as far as he had been able to notice, the smaller boy wasn't having a very good reaction to those visions that he kept having, whatnot with the fainting and the bleeding noses.
However, as long as they were away from Metal Bey City, the elder knew there really wasn't much he could do for the blonde other than make sure he got plenty of rest and didn't over-exert himself, whether mentally or psychically.
"We have awhile to figure it out." Sakyo said fairly stoically, his voice firm, "Take your time."

Takanosuke glanced up towards the Dragoon Blader briefly in surprise before lowering his gaze back in front of him. "Okay..." He responded quietly, unsure of what to think of the response. He knew Sakyo was just being nice, but even still... Maybe it was a little irritable that he had driven them both there and not even he knew why.
The Griffin Blader shook his head slightly at the thought, getting a hold of himself and looking forward to watch where he was going along the sidewalk, though the thoughts of what exactly his visions were telling him did not allow his mind to rest peacefully.
There had be some logical solution to it; his grandmother - when she was still alive - had told him that the visions of Seers told them of events that were yet to come, whether a few minutes into the future or a few years.
So, possibly, it had to mean that something was about to happen, right?
Takanosuke's eyebrows furrowed, his eyes narrowing slightly in turn as he thought about it, the fact coming to him and confusing him slightly as he put two and two together.
That was about the only thing that made sense at the moment, considering the situation, so was there really a need to worry about it?

Takanosuke simply sighed, and looked back up from his gaze having wandered to the ground again - that was when his vision went blurry.

The blonde had no idea what had caused it, for his he had been able to see fine just a few seconds before until his vision suddenly swam, so suddenly that he stumbled slightly before feeling himself stop.
Automatically - as he had been doing several times before - he brought one of his hands up to his head, his vision swimming and making him feel slightly dizzy from the sight of everything suddenly becoming unbalanced.
Eyes twitching, the blonde saw black spots form in small parts of his vision, seeming to increase and the decrease in size as they appeared and then disappeared.
His heart pounded in his ears, unsure of what exactly was happening as he willed the dizziness and the blurring to stop, to not make him go through this again...

Then, just as soon as it had come to him, it went away.

The swimming blurriness stopped, the dizziness going along with it as his sight finally cleared and allowed him to see clearly once more.
Slowly did the Griffin Blader lower his hand from his head and look back up, glancing around with cerulean eyes in confusion as to what had just occurred.

"Takanosuke?" Came Sakyo's voice, his tone questioning with a hint of worry in it at noticing that the slightly younger blader had stopped and fallen behind just a bit.
The blonde looked up towards the elder of the two of them, seeing the redhead looking at him with a cold expression that was dusted with concern that only he could really notice - to anyone else, Sakyo's face would probably just look exactly the same as it usually did.
"Are you okay?" The red-and-white-haired blader asked, his voice rough but with that familiar tone of worry that only Takanosuke could really recognize.
"Um... Yeah." The younger of the two responded meekly, feeling slightly dumbfounded and confused about what had happened, even though it seemed have only been a spur of the moment thing for... Whatever reason.
Sakyo continued to look at him, almost as if watching him as closely as possible for any signs that he might collapse again - it was probably also a little weird that he was still just standing there after giving his answer.
But instead of walking back up beside the Dragoon Blader so that they could, supposedly, go and cross the street since they were coming up to a sidewalk a few feet away.

Sidewalk...

Takanosuke blinked a few times, the faint memory of what his vision had been showing him coming back to mind almost automatically.
The blonde glanced around briefly, looking at his surroundings, trying to see if anything looked familiar - this area might not even be relevant in any way, but he knew that he should probably check regardless.
He really didn't know why he hadn't thought of really paying attention to his visions before now, even though none of them seemed really relevant to anything. However, the ones that he had had the day before seemed to be.
Cerulean eyes scanned the area around him, looking at the street, which was lightly buzzing with cars going to and fro, the sidewalk littered with people but not enough for it to be crowded. He partially remembered that, but...

There had been something else...

A small building, or something of the sort, with a sign...

He hadn't been sure what it had said, but...

Takanosuke looked up, and gazed over to the other side of the street, diagonally across from where he and Sakyo were standing.
The Griffin Blader recognized the area in front of him almost immediately, the contents of what he had seen the day before finally taking shape.
It was indeed a small shop, with a sign that hung over the door to display the name - Ruri's Teacups.

Well, perhaps it was worth a shot, wasn't it?...

White lips silently cursed as he stalked his ways through the semi-dark halls and corridors of his domain, clearly not in the happiest state that he could be.
After his failure with Kyoya, who could really blame him?
If his damned younger brother had not shown his face, he would already be on a one way trip to the morgue, half of his bones crushed from the fall that he should've taken from that window. However, as displeased as he was with it, he knew what mistakes he had made.
He should've just killed him on the spot, rather than play with him, even though that would have been much less fun.
He had simply not counted on Kakeru showing up nor suspecting anything, and that had most certainly been his downfall in that situation.
But despite understanding what went wrong there, he was still very displeased with how that had turned out, a frown on his usually smiling lips and red eyes glowing faintly with their usual glow, but evidently outlined by quiet anger.

His footsteps echoed around him in an almost endless symphony as he made his way to his destination, the only other place he went in search of some sort of comfort - even if that comfort was brought on in a twisted way.
Eventually, as always, he found himself at the stairs that lead up into that great hall where he kept his dear brother; a body that was alive but clearly unresponsive. The moment he reached the top of the stairs, he felt the aura that filled most of the room, seeming to grow every time he came here, melting away the anger and filling him with a twisted joy that only someone in his shoes could fully understand.
But unlike before, where the aura had struck him and made him stop in his tracks, he continued forward, his movements slower now and his booted footsteps echoing softly in the chamber unlike they previously had.
Slowly, a small smile crept onto his lips, something that could've been sweet at one time, but was now nothing short of unsettling. His robes dragged and fluttered gently behind him as he walked to the other side of the room, walking perfectly in between the pillars that lined it and supposedly supported the stone roof above the two of them.

It wasn't long before the albino stood there in front of the other, who sat there lifelessly with no way to acknowledge that he was even there at all - but really, he couldn't really bring himself to care about that, just as long as he was here.
The aura that filled most of them was almost overpowering.
Weak, yes, but overwhelming all the same. A small giggle escaped from white lips, a sound that was filled with a terrifying joy that nobody would ever be able to forget once they heard it.
But of course, how could he expect any less in the state that he was in?

"I must admit, your friends certainly are quite bothersome." The albino said with distaste, knowing very well that Gingka could not hear him, but unable to bring himself to care, "Including those Legendary Bladers you're so associated with... They really don't know when to quit, now do they?..." Crimson red eyes narrowed, that accursed smile still in place as a part of his expression.
"They're quite like you, as I notice." He continued, "The problem is... They just don't know when enough is enough. And sooner or later... They all end up like little Dynamis did.. Of course, I suppose I can't really blame them." The white-haired psychopath knelt down slightly, balancing himself with one knee placed on the small space between the redhead's legs and his other foot placed on the ground behind him, "I suppose they do care about you, after all... But the thing is, they don't know you for your sins like I do. And if they were to pay to those... Well... You should know how they would react."
Alcorin lifted his left hand and placed it against the other's cheek, white skin just standing out against the fair complexion that had always been Gingka's.
His thumb gently caressed the skin, a small chuckle sounding from his throat as he looked at his only flesh and blood with a love that was reasonable, yet unforgivable all the same.

"I've waited too long to be here with you, brother dear... I won't let anyone jeopardize it again..." The last word was hissed out in clear displeasure at the thought, that smile disappearing from his face for a moment before returning.
"No matter which one of you I have..." The albino began, pressing his lips against Gingka's cloth-covered forehead briefly, "...I love you all the same."
Gingka gave no reaction, his half-lidded golden-brown eyes staring forehead blankly, as though no soul had inhabited his body for a long time - but of course, Alcorin expected no less.
With that, Alcorin stood, the thoughts of his failures of killing Kyoya gone from his mind at the moment, and leaving him with nothing but the sickening love he had for the redhead in front of him.
However, he did not move from where he stood, looking down at the fading exterior of his sibling with a solemn expression.

He knew he was there.

Through the stifling aura that filled the room, Alcorin knew that he was there...

A presence that he barely recognized, that stood there, watching him with eyes so like his own...

He wasn't entirely sure how long he had been there, but he was definitely there.

There, but not whole - so dearly incomplete, yet still with a individual form.

For many moments, the albino simply stood there, feeling him standing just a few feet behind himself, watching him silently, with an aura that would have brought fear into the heart of any normal human being - but Alcorin was not human.
Not entirely, at least.
A small chuckle sounded from his throat, the psychopath slowly shaking his head and making his white hair move slightly along with him before the sound coming from him developed into that unholy giggle that never ceased to make its way into the head's of others.
Eventually, a small laugh escaped him, and he brought a hand up to his mouth in response as though to muffle it, but he did no such thing.
His laughter - almost like that of a child's - continued on for what could have been moments or hours before it slowly died down.
Taking a small breath in, the albino smiled almost sweetly, his eyes training themselves forward with their demonic glow before he finally spoke.

"I suppose it's amusing to you..." He said, red orbs sweeping off to the side as though to look over his shoulder, "Isn't it?" There was no answer, for he never got one from either of them - but he didn't expect one, anyway.