NOTE: I'm trying to get back into the swing of this after a long, long time away. My apologies for the delay, but life gets crazy sometimes and doesn't leave much room for the electives. I'm still working and hopefully as I plug along the quality will pick back up. I may edit this chapter later both for length and clarity.

Chapter 11

Over the next days Chiharu sat vigilantly on the top stair of Arago's old compound and stared in the direction of the ever growing spire. She held Jun's fractured yoroi ball with some reverence now; she knew beyond a shadow of doubt that he had been captured or worse and felt a deep sense of responsibility for it. She had flustered him, she had made him angry, and though she had never seen him truly irate she knew that if Jun was like any other person that she knew he would have made sloppy decisions under the influence of rage.

It was no consolation that the five troopers continued to work diligently to plan a daring rescue. Most nights they sat in quiet conversation around a meager fire well away from Chiharu's post, and almost never did they consult with her on anything. They were apparently overburdened, Chiharu reasoned, because they had run into so many unexpected situations: she had been waiting for them instead of Jun, she could not tell them where he had gone, and because Jun had relinquished his kanji orb to her they could no longer track him with any certainty.

She was fairly certain that the troopers did not like her.

Presently Chiharu rolled the orb between her palms, feeling its warmth against her skin as it pulsed its resonance with the others, and glanced occasionally at the fire below her. Predictably the five men sat around the blaze and though she knew that they were not enjoying their stay here she imagined that the company must be nice. Still, she would not join them, not by choice. She considered herself to be an outsider among people much stronger and more capable than she could ever be. If she joined them she would be a hindrance to their progress.

It was to her surprise, then, when next she glanced their way she saw one of the figures marching toward her, a solitary figure against the bright fire. She watched him until he sat beside her and folded his hands in his lap, though not once did he address the confused expression that Chiharu wore, and once he had settled he stared down at the fire just as she had been.

Chiharu recognized this one as Shin, a point to which she felt grateful as he seemed to be the most likable of the bunch, and as he sat there without the bulky blue armor he seemed significantly more human than he had before. He drew several long breaths before he looked at her, as though he was preparing for some long winded speech or to deliver some bad news.

"How are you holding up?" Shin said quietly.

"I don't think that I'm the one we should be worried about, do you?" Chiharu replied and at once she realized that her response had been slightly hotter than she had intended.

Shin sighed. "I understand you're upset. But the thing is that we can't necessarily worry about how Jun is doing. He's not here and the only way we can help him is if we find him. But you are here and you aren't used to this sort of excitement."

Chiharu was relieved that her outburst had not upset the warrior. The last thing she wanted at this point was to drive her newfound company away. "I'm holding up all right, I suppose. I mean, I was never hurt, just scared. Jun and I saw so many people die the day I got here; it didn't even phase Jun but I thought we were both done for."

"What do you mean?" Shin asked, surprised and confused by the admission. The troopers had indeed seen some questionable activity around the nether world but nothing they had witnessed had seemed to be in any way sinister. There had been, however, some talk amongst the warriors about how the black spire had come to rise again and some speculation as to whether or not the missing victims of the Tokyo Station explosion were a part of it.

"I mean that that spirit, Jun called it the Arbiter, he killed a bunch of people in front of us. The spirit man yelled at Jun for disobeying orders and then struck four men dead on the spot."

Shin sat for a moment and did not look Chiharu's way. The news was distressing for many reasons, least among them the fact that the innocent and apparently brainwashed men who had accompanied Jun in the attack on Nasté's home were now dead. Jun was not one to take lightly the deaths of others, not if there was anything that he could do to prevent it, so Chiharu's report of Jun's calm after the violent incident was more than slightly alarming.

And as Shin continued to think about the report he began to wonder if perhaps the need to be alone, the need to reflect or punish himself, was the reason that Jun had left Chiharu behind. It would not be a far stretch to call such a reaction within the bounds of Jun's character; he had been known to seek solitude after stressful events and had, on more than one occasion, placed more than the fair share of blame on himself for the suffering of others. Shin wondered if this was another of those occasions.

"We've decided to head to the spire tomorrow morning," Shin said at length. "But the problem is that we don't think that it would be safe or wise to bring Jun's yoroi orb anywhere near the place."

"You're not leaving me here," Chiharu protested. "I'm done being lonely and in distress."

Shin blew a long sigh and got to his feet, extended a hand to Chiharu, and turned his gaze on her sharply. "I knew you would say something like that," he said. "And I told the others the same thing. If it's the case that you refuse to stay here then you'll need to come join us down below; you can't go into a mission like this without a quick briefing."

Ϫ

The Arbiter of Souls stood upon a large outcropping of dark rock that afforded him a wide, sweeping view of the chasm below. He watched with smug satisfaction as his prized prisoner struggled against the flow of red-orange liquid pooled in a crater that spanned the length and width of the enormous space. And each time Jun cried out against his bonds the Arbiter's smile spread ever wider. His hold over the young warrior was growing stronger each day.

The pool was, the Arbiter believed, one of the very few things that Arago had gotten right during his short time as ruler of the nether realm. Rumors had always spread about this particular method of control and of its undeniable effectiveness on human subjects. The process was meant to drive the weak minded to submission or insanity and in almost all cases it worked. Between the frigid viscous fluid that pulled at the body and the constant wailing song of the white spirits circling above, many prisoners did not last more than a day. Those who did last, however, were treated to arcing electrical bolts that burned the body and numbed the mind in bursts of agony.

The Arbiter was taking no chances with Jun. He had proven resistant to every method of torture and control to which the Arbiter had submitted him. But Jun had also proven susceptible to hallucinations, to subtle suggestions and implantations of self-doubt, and so there was no reason not to employ the same tactic now, not when absolute submission was so close at hand.

So it was that Jun had been almost completely unaware of his surroundings for as long as he could remember. Though he could feel the icy water lapping against his chest and could feel long hot bolts of pain coursing through his body he could not see the prison in which he was being held captive and could not hear the Arbiter's baleful laughter as it rang down through the chasm. Instead, Jun was treated to nightmarish visions of death and destruction, and while the scenes varied in theme and intensity they all featured the five troopers, Chiharu, and Nasté in assorted degrees of distress.

As of late the visions had begun to shift, however, and the change was as disturbing as it was effective. In the beginning there had been death, pain, agony and despair all caused by the Arbiter and his minions. But now the visions suggested that the troopers were fighting amongst themselves in ways that were not altogether unbelievable.

What had started as a petty squabble in the scene before Jun's eyes had developed into a full blown battle with armor and weapons ringing out against the dark. The troopers fought each other as they might have fought Arago's warlords or a slew of youja foot soldiers, and if there had been a reason for the row Jun had long since forgotten what it was.

As the battle intensified it seemed to grow closer, as if the five troopers were seated atop a moving track, and before long Jun was close enough that he could reach out for them, call to them, and try to stop them from killing each other. He screamed at them until his voice went hoarse and when at last he fell silent the troopers fell back, stopped fighting one by one, and turned slowly to face him.

"Why are you doing this?" Jun cried. "Why won't you get me out of here?"

None of the warriors spoke as they stepped forward into shadows that Jun had not noticed until now. Instead they leveled their weapons and lowered their gazes as though they were looking through him, and as one form the five troopers moved toward him with looks of rage and hate that had previously been reserved for only the most foul of enemies. And as their blows fell against Jun's unprotected body the electric arcs jolted him in time, simulating pain as he might have felt had the weapons actually struck.

Jun reeled against the pain and cried out in uncertainty. He could not imagine why his friends would want to hurt him, could not imagine why they would leave him in the Arbiter's clutch. All that he could think of was that they were still angry at him for hitting Nasté and for not telling them about his initial hallucination. Jun decided that he would not fight back even if he had had the means by which to do so, because the troopers had every right to be upset, and at this point, maybe it was better to simply lay down.

So Jun accepted his punishment as quietly as he could until his body could withstand no more. Then he fell back against the cold liquid and knew nothing but the bitterness of self-hate and the understanding of complete betrayal.

Ϫ

The troopers rolled through the paths between structures in tight formation, cutting down youja foot soldiers and watching closely for any sign that Jun was not at their target location. The black spire was only a few kilometers away, though the route there was full of blind corners and tight spaces that slowed the group more than any wanted to admit.

At the center of it all struggled Chiharu, unused to such precise movements and preoccupied with the intelligence of her decision to come along. It was not the first time that she had had doubts about joining the troopers on the rescue; in fact, she had doubted her bold choice since she first spoke to Shin. But now it was too late, the plan was set in motion, and all Chiharu could do now was work to keep pace with the others.

They had decided at length to travel to the spire as a group. Once inside and after getting some idea of the structure, they would split into groups as necessary to search for their lost companion. The trooper named Toma had described the interior of the spire in some detail, explaining that the place—or at least what he had seen of it—was filled with long corridors, stairwells, and alternate paths that snaked away as far as one could see. Under such circumstances the group would certainly have to split.

"I can't guarantee that it's going to be the same place as it was last year. I mean, we completely destroyed the place. It could be that the Arbiter rebuilt the tower to be more difficult to navigate," Toma said as he huffed along.

"I'd be surprised if that wasn't the case," said Seiji, who then glanced nervously at Chiharu. He had yet to actively voice his dissatisfaction with Chiharu but she could tell how he felt by the look in his one visible eye.

The troopers seemed to have a certain degree of reservation about Chiharu, each feared for the safety of the party for his own personal reasons, but no one would ever say any of it out loud. Shin was the only member of the group that seemed comfortable with her. He walked close beside her, even considering his bulky armor and weapons, and any time someone made an off color remark he would offer a comforting smile to reassure her that she was indeed in the right place.

Shin knew that a split among the troopers was inevitable. They would have to break into groups and one of the groups would have to take Chiharu. He had been contemplating exactly how the split would work, however, if they would part in equal halves or if they would weigh the group with Chiharu. Either way Shin knew that he would have to accompany her, if only to keep the other troopers in line.

It was a long while before the group was at the base of the tower, peering down a long alley between buildings that was broken in even intervals by cross streets and side paths. Heavily armed and armored youja foot soldiers patrolled occasionally down the ways, apparently oblivious, and were the only sign of trouble that the group had seen since they arrived.

The soldiers were also the first confirmation that they were tracking Jun to the appropriate location.

"I'll go with the girl," Shin said suddenly, and the stationary group rounded on him at once. He breathed deeply and shrugged. "We need to get this worked out before we barrel in. Could be that we're met with difficulty from the get go and won't have much time for negotiations."

"I'll go as well," said Shu, and Chiharu struggled to withhold a groan of displeasure.

There was a long silence as Toma, Seiji, and Ryo eyed each other, but then Toma drew a deep breath and nodded.

"I'll go as well. It would not surprise me if we need a little protection for the unarmed—Seiji and Ryo can take care of themselves well enough. Plus if things get hairy the four of us can pair off," he explained.

Shin nodded curtly and started down the way with his hand resting comfortably on his weapon. He felt pleased with himself; the negotiations had gone as smoothly as he could have predicted and the outcome left him with plenty of protection for Chiharu, who Shin was not certain could protect herself. With his renewed confidence he strode, peeking quickly around corners and dodging the foot soldiers' paths, until at last the party reached the entrance to the spire.

Chiharu stepped up to Shin and stared at the gaping hole that served as the tower's entrance. "Are you sure this is okay?"

Shin shook his head and clapped her on the shoulder, his gaze locked on the spire as well. "Not even remotely."