/ Ryougas POV/

It was Saturday and today Ryouga wanted to meet Yuma at his place to duel and then he wanted to help him learn, which usually ends in disaster anyway. He went to the library in the morning to borrow a few books, the adapted language was especially for idiots. That's why he had hardly paid attention to whether Durbe or anyone else wanted to come with him this morning, but he had to admit that when he looked back he hadn't seen anyone. Then when he walked on unnoticed, it's also quite strange that when he walked through the city, it seemed almost humanly empty. the only thing that happened is when on the way through the streets a boy ran into him and it wasn't anyone he knew. He thought it might be a fan who likes an autograph like it has been lately thanks to all the tournaments he and Yuma have done. But it turned out that the child, when he looked up, had fear in his eyes but also admiration at the same time and then, after a bow, he quickly ran away to his mother who was waiting around a corner. Ryouga thought it was weird but at the same time he couldn't bring himself to mention that second feeling and let it go and didn't bother with it any further.

When he saw and entered the library he found Durbe lost in one of the books in front of him. Ryouga immediately walked over to him and greeted him, but to his confusion he didn't get an answer only a short blank look before Durbe continued to ignore him and even walked away from him. Well that seemed very strange to him so he went after it and yelled "Wait Durbe!" But the gray-haired boy said in a gruff "Go away!" and walked away so that Ryouga lost sight of him. Okay that wasn't normal Durbe would never hiss at him like that. What's wrong with his loyal friend?

When he immediately thought about his sister and the other Barians, he began to worry for a moment. Especially if the thought he had just briefly should apply even in a small way. He took a deep breath and ruffled his hair but quickly let go and pulled out his cell phone when he heard it ring, it was Rio. Relief washed over him. Rio told him on the phone that something was wrong where she was, he should come to the Arclights quickly, she would be waiting for him there. When he arrived at the place he saw IV holding Rio's hand, it's funny and you can't miss the sword on its scabbard and also the way he's dressed, it wasn't like he usually knew from IV. "Ah Ryouga how good you are here. Listen to what IV has to say!"

IV released Rio's hand and positioned himself in front of the siblings and spoke at a 90 bend. "My lord, as I told the lady, the rebels have roamed all of Heartland and are on the observation. We are also in the process of taking down the city's Raudi's, but there are too many. And we couldn't catch them mingled with the people so that it becomes even more difficult to catch them."

"Rebels?" Ryouga whispered questioningly so that only his sister heard, who said nothing and always kept her cold gaze. "As the leader and our leader of the rebels, I ask what is our next course of action?" "Leader of the rebels?" Rio and Ryouga said at the same time, only louder so that IV heard it too, but didn't mention it. Ryouga and Rio looked at each other, then Ryouga armed himself and said "Ehhh IV, keep me posted on that and find the rest of the missing Raudis I'll take care of it then."

"As you command" and IV disappeared, or wanted it "My leaders before I forget, the principel warned if you ignored more Lessons so it weould be usefull to keep or Reputation that the both of you goes to the Soulbreak Academy! AH! And if you have any questions, I'm sorry but I don't know much personally either." They both looked at each other suspiciously and then at IV at the same time. "Hey uhh IV, can you at least render us your services and accompany us to the academy to give us protection.""As you command," he said loyally. And so the three of them made their way to the Academy and IV took the lead as it was his duty, so he didn't hear much of their conversation either.

"Rio?"

"Yes Brother?"

"I don't like any of this!"

"Me neither. Something is definitely not right, everyone is behaving so...strangely differently... it wonders me that we both are acting normal" he looked with sad eyes down and noticed, like his sister, the glowing Item by Ryougas side.

"Hopefully someone else is still in their right mind than just the three of us. Hey Rio did you have seen something weird before" said the appering voice, that was nobody else as Astral. Both siblings were shocked for a moment and to their shame they had to admit that they had totally forgotten him, but they recovered quickly and Rio answered "No not really, Astral. Although I have to say that I saw, or should I say experienced, something funny as soon as I got up. It's strange in itself but I can't quite put my finger on what it is or how it happened." Ryouga also delivered his reply "Yes, I feel the same way at the moment." Astral considered the options and came up with the result "I think it would be best if we played along for a while until we knew more about our situation." "Yea! IV said we are leaders of the Rebells right? Maybe if we go the way and use that we find that what we need!" "Maybe. But at first I would rather say we need to find or friends. I saw before you call me Durbe and it was kind of weird so I kind of worry a bit for the others." "yea lets try that. It sounds better then nothing!"

They walked two hours and approached the place. As the trio at the academy, the jury saw no difference at first glance. Well, soon everything was normal. "Wait her!" IV hissed softly. "Be careful when you enter!" Even when entering the building, almost everything looked normal. It was the little things that made the difference. The building had apparently gotten a darker touch and everything seemed darker from the inside as well. A lot was even demolished, as if students had simply demolished things on a whim and no teacher had done anything.

Ryouga exchanged a measured look with Rio. "Let's go slowly," he recommended. Rio joined right behind him and IV took up a position behind her. A few moments later they realized why it seemed so eerily quiet. "There's no one here," Rio said. "Maybe not here, but someone must be somewhere. Maybe they're hiding, that wouldn't be the first time!" IV's reflexes kicked in when he heard something and pulled out his knife. "Over here!" he called and crept over there. Rio and Ryouga moved to him on one another and listened. But they saw nothing until they felt something slam against them behind them. Ryouga noticed when he turned around and came to that he had lost something, since the sound of the metal was floating through the air, it was just further proof. When he looked up he saw it was Mizael, looking the same as ever. Ryouga was glad to see someone he knew...or so he thought for the first moment when he saw IV looking at him with hate the way Misael was looking at them all emotionlessly, chase the joy. IV immediately pulled out his knife when he noticed the person in front of him and aimed it at the blond "Don't come too close! What do you want Raudi" Misael was hardly interested in what he said and let out a "tch". With a hateful expression on his face, he walked past them and straightened his hair. Both parties remained unperturbed by each other's actions, as if they were used to such confrontations. "Get out of my way, idiot!" His eyes still remembered the gold necklace on the floor, which briefly caught his attention and quickly disappeared."What was that?"They both looked at IV, who kept his knife in position and only replied "We'd better hurry!"IV led the way, but Rio easily held him back, Ryouga at the same time snatched back the pendant and kept it back in his pocket."IV!"she said with a strong and cold look."What was that?"They both, actually three, looked at IV, who kept his knife in position and only replied "We'd better hurry!"IV looked to the side and went ahead, they had to the end of their walk, they ended up at the Academy's cafeteria to get some food for the siblings and for IV to ask about scanned the location and maintained had to admit they really didn't know any of the people even any of which he could think he might have here were only strangers to them and so they felt like they were both the strangers three IV, he and Rio took a table and ate in the meantime.

They almost missed seeing Durbe when he came in late. Durbe sat all alone with his book...or almost with a silver haired blue keeping him company. "Wait isn't that V. What's he doing by Dur..." he didn't manage to finish his sentence as he was interrupted by the school bell. The duo of silver-haairs had to, of course, as they walked past them and saw in detail how Durbe was absorbed in a book and completely ignored them, although you could tell that he was wary of them. The funny thing that they saw V for the first time with a pair of glasses he wore and not Durbe. Minutes later, Ryouga and his sister went to the appropriate class and didn't understand why IV didn't come with them but had to wait outside the door. When they sat down, they still didn't see a teacher, and on top of that, none of Ryouga's and Rio's original friends were in sight. Ryouga frowned but mentally hoped to be a little more positive 'Apparently there on other courses...or I hope so. Oww if this continues... oh I hope it won't continue like this...oh I need to talk to everyone...urgently. Something is wrong!' who also quickly became sad and thus dropped his head on the table. He himself would even go so far as to think, if even the always late Yuma doesn't show up and Tori, who was always on time, isn't there, which is weird, the whole thing would now cause him even more grief. His head lingered on the table until he felt his sister nudge him to wake up. When he straightened up and wanted to turn his attention to the teacher, he met the eyes of the grey-haired boy "Durbe!" he murmured. He hadn't even noticed him earlier when he walked in with his sister. He moved his head a little more upright and he began to recognize the familiar face of a redheaded girl. The teacher was clearly known to the siblings: a red-haired girl and a stern demeanor who looks like she's about to scold someone... 'Wait a minute, isn't that Akari, Yuma's big sister? But what...why is she the teacher here? I mean history class fits her all too well, no question, but still...' He wasn't paying attention and continued to drift into his thoughts, undertaking all sorts of theories to chew through. He even went so far as to question his current existence, but he always came around when his sister 'lovingly' elbowed him in the ribs to keep him awake. From what he heard he had to say it was also very informative but the feeling of being watched from somewhere in the class annoyed him. And he knew that it is definitely not Astral.

00000000

After class he would go to the school library to find information about all things student and school history. His sister wasn't there because she decided to go to the base with IV to do some research. Ryouga had the problem that he didn't even know what he was looking for, he could only count on luck that the source came close by chance. He leafed through and flipped through all the books at his disposal like a madman, but he found that there wasn't much of value. In fact, it almost tired him as he kept reading useless lines. He even got to the point of cursing out loud in the halls. Normally there was always a librarian who would come up to you and tell you to shut up because no noise is allowed in libraries. But there was nothing like that here. But what was, was that a boy next to him did his thing and gave him the advice in a bored tone: "If you're going to make noise in a recognized place of peace, then do it discreetly and with a topic that's more known for freaks out and not because of pipifax! " Ryouga stops and doesn't take long to recognize the voice. It was the same guy. It was actually V. "Y-Yea I'll take that suggestion thanks! And thanks...uhh...? And you are?" Ryouga was nervous, he often didn't know how to react and that made him itch under his skin. He hated feeling weak. It didn't bother him that the Arclight looked at him silently instead of just saying a word to settle the matter "Hmmmm I've never seen you here before...but I remember being told about you...Nasch ...wasn't it?! Leader of the rebels, loved and at the same time feared by normal people. One of the 3 great territorial lords." "Yea thats me, Nash. Nice you heard from me hehe." Ryouga got even more nervous with every second "Hmmmmm and what are you doing here and especially so late?" V said questioningly, which ended up being no reprimand of an emotion with him. Ryouga sighed 'Maybe he knows something...I mean that's definitely worth a try' "I'm looking for something to hold student information, like the yearbook or something! If not, I could use some help with my history paper as well you know! hehe!" Ryouga tried to joke, but apparently it didn't affect the other very much. V closed his cold eyes, opened them and said "Follow me I'll show you where to find it!" V led him to the reception desk and positioned himself behind it to get a dark blue book from one of the drawers, which he unlocked with a key and handed it to Ryouga. "Here is all the information you mentioned that you want to know! I can usually be reached here after school until the evening if anything needs to be done. So have a good day!" said V as he handed it to him and walked on. Ryouga flipped a page and a few more until he reached the side of the students. In fact, in the pictures he saw at least Miza, Gilag, Alit, Vector, Durbe and even him and his sister in the current student category. As he leafed through, he saw at least Anna, V and IV appear among those who had long since made their exit. But when he finished the book he realized that even here he was missing 4 of his friends. And when he looked at other school documents as well, if they had access to them, there were no traces of the other 4 either. "Hmm, that's strange, how can it be that they don't appear anywhere and not only that, but there aren't any on the network information about their existence!" he could despair, but he always tried to cover it up with...hope...which is sometimes more difficult. Ryouga wanted to put the book back on the desk where V got it from but saw something suspicious lying there that said 'acquisition' "Eh what is that? It's not addressed to anyone and it seems to be of importance." Ryouga frowned and made a decision..

/ Rio's POV/

After class, she headed towards the base with IV. IV led her as she was not well versed in this area. She and her brother had agreed that it was wise to look for clues in two places and not just one where there was a good chance of not finding anything. And since both of your characters were known in the rebel compartment, it gives you options for exploration. They went through a couple of junctions and suddenly they heard some noise. They followed the noise and found Gilag. He was in the rebel compartment surrounded by several girls. At Rio's request, she hid with IV and eavesdropped, as much as she may initially distrust many things, Rio was beginning to think it reasonable given the situation. Rio was pleased, but there was also suspicion in her as she thought and saw about the new versions of her friends.

After a little more flirtation of the girls with Gilag, she heard someone new coming, and the person's footsteps getting heavier. As she looked at the person she immediately went into defensive mode as she was still aware of the previous encounter with Mizael. His voice immediately spoke to the other "Can you stop what you are doing! The undertaker will be here any minute and I don't want my partner in crime to make such a show of it." Gilag just rolled his eyes and at the same time was he annoyed and sent the girls away. She listened carefully as Misael and Gilag talked. "Tch...I'm going. When Tila arrives tell him I lost interest" and with that stomped Mizael away. They learned a few things that they would not have thought. "So Gilag and Mizael are Raudi's here. But what's going on here?" she whispered to IV.

They decided to follow Misael. However, he knew they were there as he had a sixth sense for stuff like that and called them out angrily. When they showed up, they wanted to make a speech to convince him, but it was a failure. After the speech he just rolled his eyes as if he didn't care but a sly smile appeared on his lips "And what's the pay?". And then she offered him a deal: his help for whatever he wanted. He only agreed so he could keep his calm in front of everyone. So he told them what he knew about Gilag and they also asked him about Tila. He laughed...yes he knew the guy...they had at least acted together for a while but he didn't tell much more. As they talked, Gilag reappeared behind them, only this time with a brown-haired boy. They quickly hid when Mizael gave them a menacing look to signal them to leave. But they also hid themselves so that they could continue to listen. "Hi Misael, long time no see!", the brown-haired greeted him. Misael said nothing and just asked emotionlessly "What do you want?" "Well, I was sent by the royal family to ask you for a special task," the brown-haired explained. Misael declined and the conversation continued.

After a while, the brown haired boy disappeared and left Gilag with Mizael. From the other side, Rio reappeared with IV and immediately called her brother and said they would meet at the base. Ryouga had mentioned on the phone that he and Astral were on their way and had news he wanted to share, but he was also trying to get V to go with them. And if he says yes he would try to ask if V could ask for Durbe. That would mean that IV took everyone to the rebel hideout, which was empty while the mission was on. When Rio and IV arrived with Miza and Gilag, just in fact they both stuck together being partners and in their own way, Ryouga and the other two were already at the base 10 minutes later. It was clear that when the deal was done, what were basically missing in the end: Alit, III, Kaito, Tori, Vector and Yuma. You already have almost half of it. And then what? What else needs to be done? They had to rely on the fact that if they found the others they would discover the key with them.

They gathered at headquarters and Rio immediately began taking command. Mizael wrung his hands slightly nervously when Rio and IV asked him about Alit's background. But he kept his mouth shut, he didn't manage to tell the truth. After a while, however, Gilag decided to do the best he could for him. "Well Tila or Alit as he is also known is a rebel like Miza," he admitted, showing it. "He helped us gather information about the Barians, but he didn't want others to know because the client didn't approve of it, so he started working underground. And we helped him." Rio and Ryouga frowned. "Why would he hide that?" "Miza, he..." Gilag started to explain and hesitantly looked at Miza, who wore a dark expression. "...he worked on the side of the Barians and he betrayed Alit. But after Alit disappeared, Miza turned away." The two nodded understandingly. "And where do you think Alit is now? ... Misael?" asked Rio. "I don't know," Mizael replied regretfully.

Rio and Ryouga now questioned all 5 of them, Gilag, Mizael, V, IV, and Durbe. They were asked about the remaining members who obviously had to exist, first about where III was but the Arclight brothers said they had never heard of him. They only had another younger brother, but they never knew him personally as he had been missing. Then they asked about Kaito, but no one knew him or what he used for explanations. Then Tori, but also nothing. Then they even asked about Vector, although Misael's face sank a bit. So someone knew something about him, at least something. Before he got to the last one, they continued to talk about Vector, but only about 2 details that would make them forget the rest about Yuma. Vector...a street child? And shy? That was... now that he mentioned the shy part, it reminded him of two days ago, the day after the wish dream, when Vector behaved strangely... was this already a sign of the current situation and have all the others already changed their behavior inwardly during the course of the day without anyone noticing it right away? But the people here didn't know much more. Only that he hadn't shown up in a long time.

Through the conversation, it reminded V of something he had to do with Durbe's. That's why V said that he has to go to school to prepare something for a certain family's visit tomorrow. While it also reminded V that Ryouga wanted to share something: that they found a letter from someone with the initials Y.T / A.T.v.B addressed to Undertaker. Rio didn't really ask and just raised an eyebrow in curiosity. They didn't know what she thought of it, except maybe skepticism. The only thing she felt was that they needed to come up with a plan of how to proceed, whether everyone wanted it or not, she and Ryouga needed every single one of them here. Now she felt like her brother Ryouga, not this uneasiness, but also they both felt concern.