Access had been waiting for Angel to come home for a day… a week… a year… and soon, he realized that she was never coming back.
Alone at fourteen, he was forced to grow into an adult and take care of his brother's son. He never once thought of going back to the orphanage for any reason.
He left his naïve, mischievous nature behind for the most part, struggling to survive. He never cried for his losses.
He lived this way for many years, raising Alaric with no one's help.
Occasionally, he went to Angel's altar and asked a god he had long ago abandoned one question.
"Why?"
Fourteen years passed, and Alaric Niwa never knew the truth behind his parents. All he knew was that they died when he was young.
He was raised as a phantom thief by his Uncle Access, learning from him the art of magic and thievery. Many years before, the cave full of Hikari arts had been found and emptied, and now, the arts were loose in the world once more for him to steal.
Access had grown to be a handsome young man, the splitting image of his brother, and the likely mirror of him had he been alive to grow to that age. Eventually his will to cause trouble had returned to him, and he became Dark once more.
However, they had no idea what was in store for them when Alaric turned fourteen.
On his birthday, a pain entered his chest that night as he dreamed of the girl he liked. He was simply getting a little rest before his heist.
When he opened his eyes, he was no longer "Alaric", but a tall, lithe young man with purple hair.
Access stared in shock when his nephew came to him in the middle of the night, screaming in confusion.
"Emil…!"
Confusion marred his new face. Access took a moment to compose himself, and when he realized that it was not his brother, sat himself down to figure out the problem.
He put his hand on "Alaric's" forehead, honing the abilities he had learned from his elder brother. "Why did you change like this?"
"I… I don't know." Alaric admitted. His voice was still cracking from puberty, immature and nervous. "I was having a dream and then there was this pain… and I woke up like this."
"What was the dream about?" He asked seriously.
"Um… well…" Alaric blushed furiously. He thought about the subject of the dream and his face became as red as the color of his hair.
"Alaric… it wasn't about that girl again, was it…?" Access lifted an eyebrow.
The boy's face was deep maroon. Access sighed, watching as his nephew stutter incomprehensibly. He frowned when he suddenly stopped, staring blankly ahead.
"Alaric?"
The transformed young man's crimson gaze shifted. The dark orbs suddenly looked more serious as he stood up.
His voice was deeper and far more mature. "My name is Dark."
Access stared incredulously. "Dark? But…"
"Kyuu!" With scampered up, nuzzling the purple-haired man's leg.
He looked down. "…Hi there, little guy. You… look familiar…" He picked up the small white rabbit, petting him.
"…Dark, right? Where did you come from?" Access asked slowly, his gaze unmoving.
"The black mirror, Kokuyoku." Dark answered simply. "Black Wings. That Hikari's art."
Hikari art? Then… he's… an art come to life? No… that's not it….
"…Where is Alaric?" Access asked in worry.
"He's screaming at me in my head. Hey, do you know why I'm in his body?" Dark asked, looking up at him. "He's bugging me about it. It's kind of annoying."
"Um, well…" Access frowned, "I don't know much, but I think you're a Hikari art that manifested by possessing him."
"Yeah, I figured that, but why did I possess him?"
Access thought hard, his face contorting in concentration. "…What do you remember?" He asked after a while.
"Huh? What's that got to do with anything?" Dark gave him a look.
"Just answer the question." Access sighed a bit. If I'm right, then…
"Well… from the moment I woke up, I remember fighting this white winged guy. I think he named himself… Krad." Dark said thoughtfully.
"Krad? White wings? Why were you fighting him? Wait, named himself? Did you name yourself too?" Access asked endlessly.
"Hey, shut up for a sec. I don't know why we were fighting, but we were… 'born' in the same 'world'. All I know is that he hates me… and something about being incomplete without me. I have no idea." Dark said, shrugging, "I have… black wings. And… I didn't name myself. We used to call each other Kokuyoku… but about a year after we were 'born'… this… girl came. I had never seen anyone but Krad before, but I thought… she knew something about me. And when I asked her who I was… she told me my name was Dark."
"…What was her name?" Access asked, suddenly anxious. Dark looked… sad. Distantly so, but he still looked sad, as if he was sorry for something. The purple-haired thief gave the answer Access dreaded most.
"Angel."
His breath hitched. Ange… Sis…
"What… what happened to her?" The older looking man asked hesitantly.
"She… disappeared." Dark looked down, as if ashamed. "Do you… know her?"
Access frowned. This was what he feared the most. With kyuu'ed sadly, putting his small paws on Dark's chest and touching his nose to Dark's.
"Is Alaric listening?"
"Eh? Um, yeah, he's kind of confused up there…"
"Then this is the truth he's always wanted to hear." Access took a deep breath, leaning forward and folding his hands on the table, his face serious in all ways, "Kaitou Dark was the name my brother and I shared when we were young. Later on, my sister, Angel, became the third member of Dark."
"And…? What does that have to do with…"
"Do you know who Hikari is?"
Dark was silent for a while. "…No. I hear the others talk about him, though. He is our creator. That's all I know about him."
"Yes… And he is the man whom we have been investigating for over twenty years." Access nodded, "Angel was our scout. She talked to him often… and she found out that his aim in life was to give up his to his art. And he had done it. The proof is in the art we have in our vault. They are alive. We don't know how to reverse it. But anyway… for a while, we were stumped, trying to figure out what deal he made with the Devil to gain his technique. But now, I think I understand. Hey, Krad's eyes were gold, right?" He inquired. If his theory was right, then his eyes had to be the same…
"Yeah… but… what do you understand?" Dark inquired. He was now thoroughly confused.
"You cannot give a life… without some sort of equivalent exchange. For every baby that is born, somewhere in the world, an old man dies." Access sounded far wiser than his age, "It works the same for Hikari's arts. To give them life, Hikari must have been taking ghosts left on the world and letting their vengeful spirits become living monsters."
"So you're saying…"
"Emil."
Dark blinked. "Emil?"
"That was my brother's name. He… vanished over fourteen years ago." The redhead said solemnly.
"…I…"
The man across from him nodded. "The Kokuyoku was the artwork Hikari was working on before he disappeared as well. I have no doubt that something happened that night… that caused his soul, and my brother's, to warp into that one work of art… and become you, Dark, and the other 'you', Krad."
"Okay… then… how does Angel tie into this? And why do I now possess this kid?"
"Well… I don't know why you possessed Alaric… yet. However, Angel…" Alaric looked down, becoming sad, "She was Emil's wife of one day. She… disappeared trying to find him."
Dark looked remorseful. He knew what had happened to her. Suddenly he realized where he had seen With before. The small creature had been with Angel.
"You were the last person to see her. I don't know what happened to her… and I will not ask. Maybe she's still out there, looking for 'Emil', but… now you stand here, among the other half of the Kaitou Dark of the past, and within the Kaitou Dark of the future." Access stared into the familiar violet eyes whose soul was lost and broken in pieces, scattered among the shattered Niwa family.
"What will you do now?"
"…I was meant to be a thief, wasn't I? Dark is supposed to steal those Hikari arts and put their souls to rest? That's a great purpose." Dark mused, leaning back and staring up at the ceiling, deep in thought. He didn't want to meet the other man's crimson irises. "I can figure out a way to seal them, why not. After all, I do carry the means to 'cancel out' my other half. I have no doubt that I can figure out that formula and apply it to others as well."
"Good. Then, there's one last thing." Access stood up, towering over the eternally young spirit. "The only reason a spirit would flee its haunting ground… is because there's something there to free it, or because the item its soul was attached to was moved. I think in your case, where you are a 'living art'…"
"Living monster." Dark corrected, "That's what you said earlier."
"Right, whatever. The point is… in your case, something chased you out. Was it Krad?"
"….Yeah. He went somewhere too, a while ago. I don't know where." Dark said.
The skeleton that hides in my world…. Why does it haunt me? Can the dead be haunted? The thief thought, I ran away a long time ago… because of that.
"Then… maybe you ran to the next best vessel. If it's not your art… it's probably the closest living relative." Access theorized, crossing his arms.
"Hm? Wouldn't that be you then, whatever your name is? Not your son?"
Access frowned, but went with it. "My name is Access Niwa. The boy you are possessing is Alaric Niwa." He said a bit late, "And by 'closest', I meant in age, or physique."
Actually, I meant that he's your freaking son, Emil. He thought, But maybe it's best if I don't tell you yet. For now… Alaric, play along. He knew that his nephew knew when to act.
"Right. Fine then, nice to meet you, Access." Dark said, almost sincerely. "I guess I'm… the one true Kaitou Dark, huh?"
I am… indeed, a 'living monster'.
That night, while Alaric stayed up and thought about what he had learned, trying to let it all sink in, Dark fell asleep and dreamed of a past from long ago, almost forgotten but suddenly revived.
They would later learn that the reason Alaric had inherited Dark at fourteen was because Dark's trigger in the boy's DNA was love. It was because he had, in the beginning, seen Angel's tears.
As his past returned to him, his cries of pain would overwhelm him for a long time, realizing what he had done to his one true beloved person.
His screams of mourning would haunt his son and drive him mad. And then the girl that he loved would discover his secret. She would soothe his mind and his heart, and the one true Kaitou Dark would disappear once more for a whole generation.
Access was getting older and getting sadder, but he knew that there were so many things yet to be discovered. He visited his family's grave, packed up the shack, and took Alaric away from Germany with his future niece-in-law. He was going to raise him in Japan, like Emil and Angel had always wanted… because now, he knew for sure that they were no longer alive.
And it was there in Japan that they found their home in the humble little seaside town of Azumano.
…Which also happened to house the prestige art family that went by the name of Hikari.
Set on discovering their secrets, he discovered the other half of the secret of Dark and Krad.
Krad also possessed the young Hikari who was making his name in Japan.
The Kokuyoku had manifested itself within the Hikari as Krad, and within the Niwa, it became the curse of Dark.
He discovered this when he saw his grandson bear Dark as well.
In their separate states, they dwelled within the two families as the curse that would last generations.
Eventually, Dark and Krad forgot about "Emil" and "Hikari", blocked out from their memories. Soon, as their descendants began to discover the secrets of the black-winged angel and the white-winged devil that tried to cause order and chaos, over time, the two spirits evolved into the "other selves" of the boys they possessed.
And their never-ending war continued.