Part Summary: Post-Sun Rise/Road Trip, pre-Sun Set. Days after Dean & Aline left Sam & Cas behind at the docks, a worried Dean makes a phone call.

A/N: Hey! So, it's been a while, particularly with this series.

Since this takes place between "Sun Rise" & "Sun Set," consider it called "Dusk." I know. I'm a genius. I got inspired to do this while writing the first chapter of "Sun Set." (believe me, I'm currently working on it. I just got sucked into Undertale, Danganronpa, and Fire Emblem).

Title comes from "Kami-iro Awase" by Binaria from Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy Despair Arc (it's the opening). The title is the English translation, according to the Danganronpa Wikia. Enjoy!

It had been days since Dean and Aline left Sam and Cas on that rainy dock, and the duo had been pushing themselves harder than ever before to find Gadreel, Aline moreso than Dean.

And he noticed. Boy, did he notice.

He also kept seeing those eight shadows whenever she talked about the angel, her eyes shifting to that same shade of light red he'd seen in that version of the future Zachariah'd shown him.

(the only difference being that her pupils had morphed into slits.)

And those shadows worried Dean, but he never said anything to her. He knew that was the mistake they both made before, not saying anything to Sam about Gadreel was the reason they were far from Sam and Cas, after all.

He'd even caught a glimpse of a mark on her forearm as she was changing into her pajamas, but she quickly covered it up before he could get a closer look.

One night, he'd thought about what was coming next for them in Amaterasu's memories, only to realize that he couldn't think of what bosses were coming. It was only thanks to the fact that he was Waka (in Aline's version, at least) that he knew what was coming next, but, now...

...he knew nothing except what town they were headed to next.

That was why, in the quiet of their shared motel room, Dean's finger hovered over the call button.

He was sitting at the table, staring at his phone. Aline's closed laptop was a few inches away from him (she'd been looking for signs of Gadreel in different news articles).

Aline was asleep (he knew she didn't want to drag them through the muck, so she would've ripped the phone right out of his hand, and he'd probably see those red eyes aimed at him). It was the most peaceful he'd seen her since finding out about Sam being Issun, and that felt like years instead of a month ago.

Before he lost his resolve, Dean hit the green button. It felt like hours rather than a few minutes before he heard Sam's voice.

"Dean?"

He looked down at the table. "Hey, Sammy," he replied. His voice was lowered, and he glanced over at Aline to make sure she was still sleeping. "Look...I'm not calling to talk about what me and Aline did. We both know the two of us'd make the same choice if we went back."

"...I know." Sam's voice was quiet as well. "I get it. It just...hurt that you two lied to me."

Dean clenched his hand into a fist. We had to, he told himself. To protect him. "Like I said, that's not why I called." He looked over at the sleeping brunette. "It's about Aline."

"Is she okay?" He heard the sound of two chairs creaking, guessing Sam put him on speaker and Cas was listening in.

"Yeah. Yeah, she's okay, but..." He ran his hand down his face. "At first I thought I was just imagining this back in the Moon Cave, but..."

"Wait, back up... What are you talking about, Dean?"

Dean took a deep breath. "You know how, when we go back into Amaterasu's memories, I sometimes am not there and you two run into me someplace else, like in Agata Forest or in Taka Pass? When I'm Waka?"

"Yeah."

"Well, after...you know what happened, I ran into her at the Moon Cave. You know how that went, right? I mean..."

"Yeah. I remember watching her play it. 'The moon came out,' right?"

"That's right. Then one of Orochi's heads came out and grabbed Kushi, and I saw her snarl at it. She looked like she wanted to kill him right there."

"You mean...like back in the Tsuta Ruins with the Spider Queen?"

He had to think about that. "...Kinda sorta. But there are other things. Like I said, I thought I was just seein' things, but I'm seein' 'em more and more now."

"What things?" Cas inquired, solidifying Dean's theory about him being on speakerphone.

Before answering, he stood up and walked outside, quietly shutting the door behind him.

"She's asleep, isn't she?"

"...Yeah, she is, Cas. I wouldn't have called, but I've seen them God knows however many times, and that proves that I'm not going crazy."

"Well, you are pretty crazy, Dean," Sam joked, attempting to lighten the mood.

Dean chuckled. "Bitch."

"Jerk. So, when have you been seeing...whatever it is you're seeing?"

"They've been showing up when she's mad. Like 'I wanna kill you' mad. As for what they are...I don't know exactly what they are, but they're shadows. There are at least eight of them."

"Eight shadows?" Sam said thoughtfully. "I remember seeing them at the end of her fight with the Spider Queen. I told her about them before we met up with you in Taka Pass, but I guess she forgot about them."

"That's not all. Her eyes turn red."

"I remember seeing that too. Do you think the fight with the Spider Queen was the catalyst for it?"

Dean thought about it for a minute. Could Spider Queen have been the trigger? But then the image of that mark flashed in his brain.

"No. What's after Orochi?"

"Ryoshima Coast and Sei-An City. Why?"

"I mean, what bosses?"

"...I can't think of their names for some reason. I can picture them in my head."

"So it's not just me then." He looked through the window, barely seeing Aline through the curtains. "I can think of only one reason why."

"What is it?"

"There was this...black shadow that came out of Orochi's body. I couldn't understand what it was saying, but Aline could. Whatever that thing wanted, she agreed to it. Then it grabbed her arm, and this strange mark appeared on her arm when it flew away."

"Do you know what language it was speaking in?" Cas inquired.

"It wasn't one that I recognized. It just sounded like nonsense."

"Did you ask her about the mark?"

"Course I did! And she said not to worry about it, but she kept grabbing it during the festival, mostly when Mr. Bamboo talked about his daughter and Sakuya talked about going to the city."

"Did you get a good look at it?" Sam asked.

"Just a couple quick ones. It looked like some sort of kanji."

"Could you send me a picture of it? Maybe I could translate it, find out if it's good or bad."

"You mean if it's like her demigod mark."

"Pretty much."

That was when Dean hesitated. He wanted to find out what exactly the mark meant, but Aline clearly didn't want anyone to see it or worry about it. If she did want him to see it, she would've showed it to him. "I won't promise you anything, Sam. If I can get a picture of it, I will."

The three of them said their goodbyes, and Dean hung up the phone before heading back inside and laying down.

What did you get yourself into, Ally?

A/N: Originally, this was just going to be Dean talking to Sam and Cas about the shadows and Aline's eye shifting abilities. But I decided to do some author powers and have them not remember the bosses.

Dean and Sam usually know what bosses are coming next. Sam only knew because he and Kevin watched Aline play through the game more times than he can count, and Dean only knew because of the fact that he's Waka. They just don't know how she beats them.

BUT Aline's mark is preventing them from saying the bosses names out loud. As to why... it might be because of the Ryoshima Coast boss.

Anyway, hope you liked this one (three pages, and it's mostly dialogue between Team Free Will), and I'll see you in the next fic! DFTBA!