Chapter Ten — An Angel in a Monster's Lair

"'Tis now the very witching time of night,

When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out

Contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood

And do such bitter business as the day

Would quake to look on."

--from Shakespeare's tragedy 'Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'

------------------------------

She stepped down lightly from the air onto the cool surface of the sidewalk, the hem of her dress fluttering down about her ankles. Up above the moon bathed her in its glow, illuminating the quiet home waiting before her and its simple, waiting door. From inside the pulse of her beacon called.

"Yes," she answered back. "I'm coming."

-------------------------------

Satoshi swooped down and snatched the glass piece back up, pulling on Risa's hand as he went. "Come on! We haven't much time!" He darted into Daisuke's room and, unceremoniously, pushed Risa to the side. He placed the glass moon at the center of the floor where it continued to steadily glow in isolation.

She was already here, lurking in her shadows, finding her time to pounce. Satoshi had to act fast and destroy the beacon before she could find them. She was using the crescent as a tracking device; her only means of finding them. The minute the magic within it was sealed the scent would be broken and they'd become invisible to her again.

It was her magic that she used to see and feel and touch and hear. If her magic became obsolete then so would all her other senses.

He knelt down next to the glass piece and touched his index finger to the carpet next to it. I hope I can remember this, he thought to himself, and began to mutter the spell under his breath…

"Nunc lento "Now, this bell tolling

sonitu dicunt softly for another, says to me

Morieris…"Thou must die…"

A red light began to spill from his fingertips, staining the carpet that he touched and spreading like ink. Behind him Risa gasped.

Burrowing deep into his memory, Satoshi closed his eyes and tried to recall the diagram he was meant to create. It was one that was different from the others; one made especially for the Mystic's magic alone. But he had never been given a chance to use it, so he had filed it at the back of his mind, hoping for years that he'd never have to call it forth again.

There was supposed to be a seven point star….two suns and a moon…a chain with eight links…the Hikari family crest and the blood of the creator, shed by the hand of a Maiden…

Swiftly, and with a fluidity that of which came from his Hikari talent, Satoshi began to trace the diagram from his mind to the floor. He swept his arm left and right, twisted his wrist, connected every line and closed every seam. The star in the middle, the suns chained to the moon, the crest at the bottom and a sphere upon which the blood was to be spilt…

Quick and silent, that was his way. Envision the art to be made and then just make it. Don't think about it; don't try to recreate what it was you saw, just do it. Let the art be born, not bred. Each stroke must be different from the last. No two lines look exactly the same. On and on he went until the diagram filled almost all of Niwa's room. He came to the final point and pressed down, sealing the diagram and activating its magic. He straightened up to his feet and stepped back. The crescent moon lay at the center, with the blank, red circle waiting below it. He looked up to see Risa pressed against the wall, trying not to step on the glowing lines.

She was staring down at it all, her eyes wide and surprised, her hands clenched tightly to her chest and twisting amongst themselves.

"Hiwatari…Hiwa—how did you make…?" She was speechless.

He couldn't blame her. He, too, would be afraid of someone like him: someone muttering spells under their breath and drawing cryptic diagrams in glowing ink.

"Harada-san, please. I need you to come here."

She looked up at him, startled by his voice. "What? Why?"

Time was running out…he could hear The Mystic coming…

"Quickly, before it's too late!"

Risa jumped into motion and sidled past the drawing, making her way to Satoshi's side. "What should I do?" she asked. He looked down at her.

"Harada-san, this is a spell to seal the magic that is making the crescent piece glow. If we don't seal it now something terrible may happen." He waited for her laugh, to cry, to hit him in the shoulder and tell him he was crazy. He expected her to look at him in disgust, probably thinking he had gone mental or else was some sort of gothic, cult member, speaking of spells and magic and mysterious things.

What he didn't expect was for her to simply nod and reply, "Okay…what must I do?"

He blinked and hesitated, but just for a moment. "Come." He took her by the hands and led her into the circle, positioning her inside the blank circle with himself. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small shard of glass, the same shard he had found earlier in the day, before meeting the Harada sisters. It too glowed, although with less intensity than that of the moon. He handed it to her. "Take this and when I tell you to I need to you to cut my hand."

She had been staring at the sliver of glass in her hand before her head snapped up and she stared at him, mouth dropped open. "Cut you!" she cried. "Hiwatari, I can't do that! That's horrible!"

Hikari's white wings tear the world apart…

Satoshi grabbed Risa's shoulder and bore his eyes into hers, his patience, and fear, waning thin. "Harada, listen to me. If this ceremony isn't completed within the next thirty seconds something terrible will come for us; already has come for us. I don't want you to get hurt, do you understand? When I tell you to, you must do your part. Can you do that?"

She held his gaze for a split second and then nodded. He let her go. "But why me?" she quickly asked.

"Because," Satoshi took off his glasses and tucked them into his pocket. "You are a Maiden."

-----------------------

She walked upon the wooden floor of the living room, mist pooling wherever she stepped. The room was dark and empty, save for the pale glow of light coming from the top of the stairway.

She smiled.

--------------------------

He bowed his head and began to mutter once more. They were incoherent words; words of Latin that Risa could not understand. She just waited and faced him, one hand clinging desperately to the glass shard. He stood tall with hands spread downward, his palms facing the intricate diagram around them.

Risa had never seen Satoshi draw before; had never had the chance to watch him work. But seeing him now, drawing this beautiful creation …

Hiwatari was not one to show any semblance of emotion. She had known him for so long now, had shared the same classroom for years, and yet she could not conjure up one, single moment when he seemed…human. He had always been the class genius: smart and suave, private and silent, sitting in his corner reading his book while scores of girls admired him and giggled every time he looked up.

And all the time he had never seemed real.

But now…

Art was his passion. Risa could tell that from the moment he began creating the diagram. The way his arm moved in unison with his hand and fingers; the way his eyes closed, envisioning what he needed to make and than making it; the way his movements were so confident and graceful, as if he couldn't possibly make a single mistake. He seemed a completely different person in those few moments, someone unrelated to the cool, closed Satoshi Hiwatari she had grown up with.

He had seemed vulnerable and tangible and real.

Risa stared at the blue head bowed in front of her. This entire day, with all its events and occurrences, had begun to open a new door to her curiosity where one, solitary question rang loud in true in her mind: Who was Satoshi Hiwatari?

"Harada."

She blinked and stood up straighter, snapping out of her thoughts. "Yes?"

"Now."

He held out his hand and Risa held it with her own, staring down at his fingers. Long and slender, made for artistry. She held up the glass piece and placed its tip on his palm but hesitated. She looked up at him and he returned her gaze. He nodded.

"I'm sorry." She pressed down and pulled back, dragging the jagged edge across his skin and opening a wound in his palm, garnet blood pooling instantly. He turned his hand over and let the droplets fall to the floor where they splashed down and spread, filling the circle below them with an even bolder red than the ink. Risa kept from flinching, the feel of her cutting him making her skin crawl.

"Morieris," Satoshi said. "Soul of the art, Thou must die."

--------------------------

Daisuke skidded to a stop, his chest heaving with the effort to breathe. "TOWA!"

The Eternal Guide and brought them to the base of the cliff, the same cliff that carried the Harada mansion at its top. She had come to a halt right where the base began, her eyes now facing towards the ocean, her petite frame balancing on the rail that outlined the street, the only separation between the people and the crashing waves and jagged rocks below. She was leaning into the warm breeze, her arms spread out, wide and welcoming.

"Towa," Daisuke cried again. "Towa, what are you doing? You could fall!"

"What is she doing?" Riku slid to a halt beside Daisuke, her eyes staring, wide-eyed, as Towa leaned farther into the wind, her body tilted at an almost forty-five degree angle. "She's going to slip into the water! Niwa, do something!"

"No!"

Both Daisuke and Riku looked back as Kosuke came jogging up to them, sweat dotting his brow. He slowed down and stopped, leaning forward and resting his hands on his knees so he could breathe. "You mustn't disturb her. She's finding something."

Riku frowned. "Finding something?"

"But finding what?" Daisuke asked. "There's nothing out there but the sea. The only place that could even hold art is the underwater temple and that was flooded in months ago."

"It's not in the temple," Dark said. Daisuke blinked.

"What did you say?" he asked. Riku and Kosuke looked at each other.

"We didn't say anything."

"I can feel it, the presence of Hikari creation. It's like The Mystic's Dream…but different. Very different. Towa can feel it too, and she's reaching out for it. She's trying to find it..."

"There's nothing here but water. Are you saying that the art is at the bottom of the ocean?"

Riku furrowed her brow. "Niwa, who are you talking to?"

"No, Daisuke. The art is from the ocean. Look."

Daisuke turned to Towa once again. She was still leaning out far over the sea, but her eyes had closed to their vision now and she was reaching for something, her arms stretched far out in front of her and her fingers grasping for something far beyond her touch. She whispered only one word, but Dai could hear it loud and clear.

"Silence."

"Niwa, look!" Riku pointed past his shoulder and he whirled around to see what she was looking at. Out in the middle of sea, about thirty meters away, the moonlight had gathered to only one part of the surface of the water. Everywhere else the sea remained dark. And hovering just above the splash of moonlight was something made from silver, flashing in the light and winking to them on the shore. It was curved and small, but it just waited there, floating and turning.

"Dark," Towa whispered. "Steal it, Dark."

"What is that?" Riku asked, leaning over the rail. "How is it floating there above the water? Niwa, what's going on?"

But Daisuke wasn't listening to her. He knew what he had to do, and his face had deepened to a garnet blush. "I'm sorry, Riku-san." He reached forward and embraced her close, burying her face into his shoulder, his heart pounding and his blood rushing. She gasped, but didn't pull away.

"Niwa…!"

There was a rush of wind, Riku was thrown backward and the sky was suddenly filled with a rain of black feathers, obscuring her vision. Daisuke tried to keep from crying out, but a whimper escaped him as he transformed, his red hair darkening, his wide eyes narrowing, and his lithe frame growing taller. Riku screamed.

"Niwa!"

"Kosuke!"

"I got it, Dark." Kosuke had caught Riku before she fell on her back and pressed a hand over her eyes, shielding her vision. "I'm sorry, Harada-chan."

"Wh—what's happening…?" she cried, flailing, but Dark quickly pressed his fingers to her temples and she instantly went limp.

"Dark, what did you do to her?"

The Phantom Thief stepped away and allowed Kosuke to lift Riku up in his arms, her head falling backward in a deep sleep. "Don't worry, Daisuke. She'll be fine. I just put her to sleep; you wouldn't want her to see us like this, would you?"

Daisuke didn't answer.

"Dark." Dark looked up to face Kosuke. "Be careful. Whatever that…art…may be, it's twisting up Towa's powers, and it could twist yours as well. Watch yourself."

Dark smirked. "Don't worry. I always do." He leapt and landed on the rail, staring out at the sea and his target, bathed in light. "Wiz! To me!" He pushed off the rail and sailed through the air, his agile framed cutting through the summer breeze. In a flash of darkness black wings appeared on his back and he was lifted into flight, his chest barely grazing over the water's surface. Behind him Towa continued to reach, her eyes still closed.

"Hear it, Dark. Listen. Listen to the sound of Silence."

------------------------------

The crescent moon blazed with light, illuminating the entire room. Risa grabbed onto Satoshi and held on as a gust of wind emitted from the glass and sent her hair flying about her face, tearing away the scream from her lips. But it lasted only a split second before all light and wind was sucked back into the glass moon and everything around them was silent and dark once more.

Satoshi readjusted his glasses and push the hair out of his face. Risa opened her eyes, her hands clinging to his shirt and her face buried into his chest. "Was it supposed to do that?" she asked. Satoshi nodded.

"Yes. The magic is sealed." Risa stepped away from him and he walked over to the dormant piece, picking it up from the floor. The intricate diagram he had drawn had disappeared, having been pulled into the glass itself to lock away the Mystic's magic. "We should be safe, now." He pocketed the piece and turned back to Risa. She was messing with her hair, the band snapping free in the wind and letting her long tresses twist about her face. She was smoothing it down, staring at him with wide eyes.

"You know, Hiwatari," she began, speaking evenly and with as little humor as she could muster, "most boys in our class don't mutter spells and seal magic as a hobby."

Satoshi stared at her and nodded. He knew that this would come next, the questions. She had taken his mysterious tendencies well thus far, but sooner or later the strangeness of who he was would surface and her patience would wane thin.

"Harada-san, I'm--," He stopped, his eyes widening as he stared out the door towards the stairs. Risa frowned.

"What's wrong now?"

He shook his head, pulling out the glass moon and glaring at it in disbelief. "No, it should be over now. The ceremony worked; the magic is sealed."

In front of him Risa had caught sight of something on Daisuke's desk and she walked over to it, tilting her head. "Hiwatari, what is that?" she asked. Satoshi turned around and hurried over to her, peering over her shoulder at whatever it was that had caught her attention.

The blood in his veins froze.

From the top drawer of the desk, Satoshi could see the bright, blue glow of light breaking through the seams.

-----------------------------

One stair, two stairs, three stairs. She took step after measured step, rising slowly as she followed the pull of her light. On the fourth step there was a waver in the pull and she hesitated.

Her magic. It was gone. It had flickered out like a flame in the wind. Nothing was left of it.

But the other two still pulsed strong and true, calling her to them.

She parted her lips.

"I seek the spirit, the soul and the heart,

Love of my life, I'll tear your dreams apart…"

---------------------------

Dark flew forward, his eyes fixed directly onto his target. Far behind him he could still hear the faint whisper of Towa; the sound of her still searching.

"Don't worry, Guide. I got it." Dark flapped his wings and gave himself a burst of speed. The glinting object was coming closer, its shine almost blinding him as it slowly rotated. Dark stretched out his arm as he came closer, the shine was in front of his eyes now, his fingers were closing around it, smooth and cold…

He pulled up and away from the water, rising high above his own distorted reflection. "Hey, Daisuke," he said, grinning. "I got it."

"What is it?" he asked. Dark looked down at his prize and turned it over, the smile dropping from his face. "Dark?"

"Daisuke. It's a horn."

---------------------------

Satoshi didn't wait to explain. He grabbed Risa's arm and dragged her to the window leading out to Daisuke's small balcony.

"Hiwatari!"

He covered her mouth with his hand. "Don't talk." She watched, quietly, as he kicked the window open and ushered her onto the terrace, reaching up and quickly lowering the window back into place. He pressed his back against the wall and pushed Risa back as well, his face titled towards the closed window, his chest heaving.

"Hiwatari--,"

He spun around in an instant and pulled her close, his face near her own and his breath in her ear. "Harada, I will say this once more. I need you to be very, very quiet. Can you do that?" His voice was low and commanding; scary even. Risa could only purse her lips and nod. He pulled away and bowed his head to her, but she wasn't looking at him anymore. She was staring at their feet, where a heavy mist was seeping onto the balcony from inside the room.

---------------------------------

The Mystic's Dream stood, tall and beautiful, at the center of Daisuke's room, a fine mist spilling from her swirling gown. She looked around, warping eyes scanning the space before her. No one was to be seen.

But she had felt it, felt him. She had felt the presence of the Hikari blood, knew that he was near. That was the only reason her glass pieces were glowing. His singular presence was the trigger; he alone brought out the magic within her.

She lowered herself to the floor, her hands caressing the smooth carpet. She spread her fingers wide, feeling the remnants of the Lunar Crest, the magic spell made to seal her and her magic. He had been here. No one else could use the Lunar Crest save for him.

"My precious one," she whispered, laying her cheek against the soft floor. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

She looked up. Through the window and standing on its throne in the heavens, the moon shone, full and true. She closed her eyes, soaking in its beams, feeding up its ghostly enchantment. She drew her life force from the moon, and she used its light to send her song upward.

"Dreams of the wistful, lone young eyes,

Hangs upon your treacherous lies,

Come from the darkness, angel of light

Rescue me from the shadows of this night.

Blood of Hikari calls to me

Rise upon the rolling sea

I seek this spirit, this soul and this heart

Not Time nor Death can tear my love apart…"

---------------------------------

Risa closed her eyes, her body suddenly feeling very weak. The music…it was soothing and calming, entering inside of her and making her feel so real and alive. The music was in her ears and the mist was crawling along her skin, cooling her. The smell of freshly fallen rain filled the air and the moon suddenly shone brighter.

Satoshi glanced over his shoulder just in time to catch Risa as she went limp and nearly fell to the floor. He caught her around the waist, his other hand supporting her head. "Harada," he whispered, his voice barely audible. She didn't answer, but her eyes were wide and staring up at the heavens. "Harada, snap out of it."

"The…song…" She reached up past his face, grabbing at something that wasn't there. "It's…so…beautiful…"

Satoshi knelt on the ground and tried to cover her ears and stifle her voice. The Mystic's plan was to use her song to lure them out, and he could not have her plan succeed. Until he knew exactly what the creature wanted he could not risk being seen by her. She would know his face and know everything about him and then, after that, she would no longer need a piece of glass to find him. She would be able to pick him out easily amid an entire town of people.

Risa suddenly shifted her gaze and bore his eyes into him. He pulled away a little, startled. But her deep, brown eyes glinted momentarily with a shade of blue, and he knew that The Mystic's magic had already begun its work on her.

"Damnit." He lifted Risa up and set her gently on the floor, her back supported by the balcony wall. Her bent down and lifted her face to look at his. When he spoke he did so with urgency, trying his hardest to keep his voice down. "Don't listen to her, Harada. Block her out. The music you hear isn't real; it's just your imagination. Think of something else, something that can take your mind off of her music--," He hesitated a moment before he spoke next. "Think of Dark."

Risa blinked but continued to stare at him with shifting blue eyes. She inhaled deeply and, by the look on her face, the sweet fragrance of the mist was seeping into her mind. "Dark…" she muttered, but even though she said his name her mind was far from him. From within the Mystic continued to sing and Risa was surrendering completely to her song.

Satoshi could hear it too, could feel it calling to--…

But he ignored it. He had been trained to ignore any of his family's artistic lures. Where people had been manipulated by The Second Hand of Time and the World of the Mirrors, Satoshi had remained immune to them. After all, his was the blood that had fueled the hands that made those works of art. Their wonders were nothing to new to him and the many stories, legends and myths he had found through his years of research.

But, apart from all that, one lone fact stood strong in his will that had helped him defeat their temptations time after time: everything that the artworks stood for, everything they promised and everything they appeared to be, would always be nothing but a lie. Art had evolved from an expression of the human soul to mere duplicates and replicas of fantasy and dreams. Empty shells with empty hearts.

None of them were real.

And so, too, was the song of the Mystic. Its melodious words and entrancing lyrics were nothing but blinks and breaths wound taut over the sound of air; unsubstantial. Untrue. Unreal. But only he knew this truth and, if he didn't snap her out of it soon, Risa would be susceptible to the hypnotizing magic of The Mystic and her sinister desires.

"Harada." He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her straight so that she was giving him her utmost attention. "The song is not real. Dark…Dark is real. Think of him and all of the wonderful things he's stolen." Satoshi turned around and checked on the window, grimacing. He couldn't help the bitterness in his voice. He just couldn't believe there would be a day when he would be singing Dark's praises. The Phantom Thief would have found this moment supremely amusing. "Think of him running amid all those police officers, slipping past them, flying away on his black wings."

"White wings."

"Yes, his--," He stopped and turned around to stare at her, confusion replacing his disgust. "What did you say?"

She lifted her eyes to look at him. "I…remember…white wings…" And she lifted a hand towards him, her fingers brushing across his face as she caressed his cheek. Satoshi, eyes wide and surprised, grabbed her wrist to stop her, his heart pounding.

"Risa, stop…!"

"Well, well, well, tamer. You've called on me at last. Now it's my turn to come out and play."

Satoshi fell backward and clutched his chest, trying to calm his pounding heart and rushing blood. "K-Krad…no…!" But it was too late. The fire within him ignited and a familiar, tearing pain had begun its agonizing course.

---------------------

The Mystic suddenly stopped singing, catching herself in the middle of her song and staring out the window. She sat up, floated back to her feet and stepped forward, her eyes opening in happy surprise and a smile crossing her beautiful face.

She laughed, sweet and hollow, and ran a hand over her eyes, joy spreading entirely through her.

She had felt it…the wings and the wind. The pain and the power.

Both of white and of black.

-----------------------

White wings expanded up towards the sky and Krad stood, tall and imposing, donning the green shirt and black trouser that had, moments before, clothed Satoshi Hiwatari. His long, blonde hair curled about his shoulder, the cross that was forever his greatest façade lying on the floor next to Risa's feet. He stretched his wings and turned his head, remembering what it felt like to be free once again. It had been such a long time since he'd been out.

Satoshi's control had become stronger in suppressing him. He smiled and looked down at the dazed Risa Harada, her state somewhere in between being awake and asleep.

Stronger, perhaps, but not strong enough to resist against a pretty girl's touch.

"So, tamer," Krad said. "You've finally called upon me the proper way." He knelt down next to Risa and inspected her, head titled to one side and his eyes scrutinizing. "But such a plain girl. Why, I wonder, have you chosen her?"

"My Hikari. You came."

Krad whipped around and stood up, his eyes glaring towards the window. The mist seeping from it thickening. "You," he said, stepping back. "Who let you out of your cage?"

"I have come. I have sung my song for you." The window began to rise, slowly, opening a doorway for the Mystic. Krad lifted his chin, his wings already spreading and preparing for flight. He glanced down momentarily at Risa, thought about it a moment, and then bent down to lift her in his arms, her tiny frame hardly a change in his stance. She was so light.

"Thanks," he said, "but I do not care so much for music." His great wings beat against the night air and he was lifted a foot from the ground, the displaced air sending the Mystic's mist careening upward. The window continued to rise.

"No," she suddenly said, her sweetness dropping away. A hand reached out from the room, grasping onto the window frame. "No. Do not take my Hikari away!"

"Goodbye. I'm sure we'll meet again. I don't doubt you'll find him once more." Krad turned in the air and rose higher and higher, aiming straight for the moon.

Behind him the Mystic stepped out onto the balcony, her eyes locking onto the retreating, white figure of the sinister angel. Her smile had fallen now and she stared at Krad, eyes brimming with silver tears. Her elegant hands curled themselves into fists and she frowned, eyes narrowing.

She lifted her fist to her face and blew, opening her fingers and sending a rain of glittering glass up from her palm after Krad. She let them ride the air before setting free a single, piercing note from her lips, her hair snapping about as if in a strong wind.

"Hikari. You will not escape me next time."

Krad glanced backward in time to see the shards of glass melt away into a trail of silver fire, climbing up after him and slicing through the air, dancing through it, spiraling through it. Krad twisted around in the air and shifted Risa to one side, extending his hand out towards the fire, palm exposed. With a smile he sent a gold flash of light careening from his hand, blasting the wavering flames right out of the air. The task took little effort, but inside of him Satoshi cried out all the same. Krad ignored him and turned towards the moon once again, beating his wings and launching through the air.

Below the Mystic watched her fire dissipate and cocked her head to the side, curiosity on her face, as she backed away from the balcony wall and stepped up onto the air and after Krad.

-------------------------

Dark lowered himself back onto the sidewalk where Kosuke had laid Riku carefully under a tree and was now trying to comfort a breathless Towa. She was bent over on her hands and knees, breathing heavily. When Dark touched ground next to them they looked up. Towa screamed in surprise.

"Dark!" There was a pop and where Towa had once been there was now a frantically, flapping little bird, struggling madly to remain airborne. Dark couldn't help but laugh as Kosuke held out his hands to catch her.

"You're drained, Towa. You shouldn't over do it," he said, carefully setting her on his shoulder. He looked up at the Phantom Thief. "Did you get it?"

"Yeah." He pulled the object from his belt and held it up. "But I have to admit, it's a large disappointment for such a big fuss." He tossed Kosuke the artwork. He caught it and stood up, inspecting it.

"It's just a--,"

"Yeah. A horn; a trumpet; a plain, silver instrument that is unremarkable in every, single way."

He was right. Kosuke now held a plain, curved horn, much like that resembling the Horn of Plenty. It was made of smooth silver and, apart from that, was very much as unremarkable as Dark said it was. He turned it over in his hands, inspecting it inside and out. But whichever way he looked at it, it revealed nothing to indicate that it was art at all.

"Strange." Kosuke muttered. Dark, however, was much more disappointed.

"Not strange, pointless! I wasted my thieving skills on a piece of scrap metal!" He leaned heavily against the rail and crossed his arms, scowling. "That was a big waste of a chase." Kosuke stood up and shrugged, trying to grin good-naturedly.

"Well, as long as it's Hikari made, Emiko should be happy to add it to her collection, despite its plainness." He looked up at Dark. "Don't be so haughty."

"I am not! I just don't like to waste my time, that's all. I didn't get the name Phantom Thief by stealing trinkets from a school band room."

Kosuke just smiled easily at him, but at his shoulder Towa was jumping up and down madly.

"Wait, Dark! This isn't over! You must blow the horn, now!"

Dark stared at her. "Why?" he asked, monotonously. Towa flapped her wings.

"Quickly, Dark! I promise you, the artwork of this trumpet will be revealed once you blow on it!"

Normally Dark wouldn't have given in to such a juvenile request, but the hysterical manner of which Towa was displaying made him feel guilty were he to ignore her.

"Fine," he grumbled, holding out his hand. "Give it here." Kosuke tossed him the horn and Dark caught it easily. "Do you want me to play you a song on this thing?" he mocked, but Towa was not in the mood.

"Just play it, Dark!"

"All right!" He held up the horn to his lips and frowned at it. "Here goes nothing." He pulled in a deep breath and blew.

The deep, bellowing sound of thousands of horns filled the air. From the sea waves began to rise, slowly, and the stars twinkled brightly up above. And the moon…. The moonbeams that had gathered together now blew apart, rushing over the surface of the water and gathered around at Dark's feet. They spiraled up his legs, his body, his arms, centering themselves around the horn. They spread from his lips to the rest of the smooth silver, and as they did they carved into it the most intricate designs. Each moonbeam burned its way this way and that, swirling about, curving around, creating a beautiful mosaic onto what had once been a plain trumpet. Two suns and a moon…a chain with eight links…a seven point star. When they had finished they set the trumpet ablaze with a white glow, blinding Dark, Kosuke and Towa alike.

"Towa! What the hell is happening!" Dark cried out, holding the trumpet away at arm's length and trying to shield his eyes at the same time.

Towa squeaked, burying her own face into Kosuke's hair. "Listen to it, Dark," she cried out joyfully. "It's the sound of Silence!"

-----------------------------

The moon flickered and then went out.

Shadowed over.

Darkness.

There was no light in the sky, save for the distant twinkles of the stars.

There was nothing.

"NO!"

The Mystic cried out in agony, falling from her height in the air, falling from where she had been following Krad in his escape. Falling all the way to the ground below, onto the cold grass of the Niwas' backyard.

Fell into a glittering, silver heap.

She lifted her head slowly and looked up, gasping for breath that she could not find. Above her the moon had abandoned her.

"No," she said again, struggling to sit up. "It is not time yet! I still have time! Please, please…don't let me die…" She tried to rise to her feet but fell back down, her body growing weak. She was no longer graceful; no longer fluid in her movements. She was just a tired, little girl, hurt beyond physical pain and dying inside. "Where is my moon!"

She tried to move her feet but they would not respond. The Mystic looked down and pulled her skirt up. She whimpered. Her legs were no longer legs but glass replicas of them, frozen already in their shimmering prison. She cried out and reached a hand to touch them, but her hands, too, had hardened and gone cold.

"No," she said again, staring at her fingers. "Not now; not again. This is…this is…" She tried to sing but her throat had seized up. She choked on her words, her movable arm lifting up to where the moon had last stood in the sky. "This is…my prison…of Silence…"

---------------------------

Krad lowered himself downward onto the ground, his feet touching lightly back to earth. He glanced over his shoulder suspiciously but knew that the Mystic was no where to be found. He was much too far away.

"She'll come again," he said to himself. "She won't ever stop."

He immediately pushed the Mystic's Dream from his mind and instead directed his focus to the girl in his arms. She was asleep but only barely, and her mutterings spoke of the lingering effects of the glass creature's magic. Krad grimaced and laid her down on the grass.

For some strange, obscure reason, he did so with great care and gentleness.

"What are you doing!"

Krad smiled and straightened up, titling his head upward. "Why, Satoshi-dono, do you sound so very concerned? Usually, this late in the game, you've barely enough strength to even stay awake." He was chuckling now, feeling Satoshi struggle inside of him.

"I'm stronger than you think, you monster. What the hell are you doing!"

"Why, whatever do you mean?" Krad mocked.

"Enough games! What are you doing with Risa Harada!"

Krad laughed, full and loud, his wings shaking with the effort. "So much concern," he exclaimed, taking a step forward. He began to circle Risa's body, his eyes glaring down at her like a hawk ready to kill its prey. "But you needn't worry, Satoshi-dono. I won't hurt this small, pathetic girl. I wouldn't dream of it. She's much too special."

Inside of him Satoshi continued to fight for control. "What are you trying to play at? You don't care about anything unless it's of benefit to you. Why would you suddenly care about a girl you don't even know?"

"Ah, but that's just it, tamer." He stopped pacing and knelt down next to Risa's head, his fingers grazing lightly over her hair, barely touching her. "She is of benefit to me." He laughed, deep and low, as he felt Satoshi shake with rage within him. "You see, tamer, I'm not blind. I know full well that you've grown stronger on this hold you have on me and, after your little episode in the vault, I've come to realize that you've got quite a fighting spirit. Weakening you to the brink of exhaustion won't due anymore." He stood up again, slipping his hands into his pockets. "So what do you suppose I am left with? Waiting patiently within in you and praying for a chance that you'll momentarily weaken? No; that's not my way. I don't like to wait."

Satoshi huffed. "Krad--,"

"Which is why this little girl is so special to me," the angel continued, ignoring Satoshi's anger. "She will be my handy savior. My own, golden key. My ticket to daily freedom."

"What are you talking about?"

Krad smiled, viciously and with much malice. "Come now, tamer. Don't act dim." He pulled out the crescent from his pocket and held it up to his face, titling his head to the side and pretending to inspect it. "You like her."

The silence that came in response only made him happier. He laughed, cold and cruel.

"This is wonderful, Satoshi-dono! Who would have ever thought that the isolated, friendless Hikari would ever have a crush. And on such a boring girl too." Krad tossed the glass moon up and down in his hands a few times. "On a girl who is so absolute obsessed with…Dark. It really is quite remarkable."

"Shut up!"

He caught the moon and held fast. "Ah…so there you are. For a moment there I was afraid that you'd left me." He pocketed the object once more. "I suppose it was only wishful thinking."

"You're the pathetic creature. You're the one who has to rely on a girl to be free. You boast proudly, but yours is an ego fed by arrogance. You are nothing but a parasite Krad; inferior to me. Lower and mediocre. You're nothing."

"Yes, tamer, by all means, release your anger on me! I enjoy it. But either way, it doesn't change the fact that your little crush will always help me live--,"

"Risa Harada means nothing to me!"

"Don't think you can lie to me, Hikari," Krad suddenly bellowed, all humor instantly gone. "I feed on your emotions; I live by them. I will always know the truth of what you feel and I will exist by it. You cannot hide who you are because I am you. And whether you deny it in voice or in action the truth will always remain." He flexed his wings and breathed deeply, his body already feeling the growing weakness in Satoshi. The boy was struggling so much and it was making Krad's hold on him difficult to maintain. "All right then, tamer. I shall prove it to you. I will give you the rest of this night, but I do so in the full knowledge that I will return very, very soon." He looked down to Risa again. "As long as she's around, I will always return."

"Krad…!"

The sinister angel threw his head back and laughed as the wind began to swirl, his white wings began to dissolve and blue light glowed from his very skin. With the final rings of his laughter Satoshi Hiwatari reappeared, collapsing onto all fours and gasping for breath, his shirt torn open in the back where the wings had cut through his flesh.

"Run, run as fast as you wish…" Krad whispered into his ear. "I'll always catch you…I never miss…"

Satoshi squeezed his eyes shut and shook the voice from his head. He tried to sit up properly but fell face down into the grass, the prickling blades tickling his face. He blinked several times. Damn monster; during the transformation his glasses had fallen off, again.

What a nuisance.

He coughed a few times and inwardly debated with himself about whether he really wanted to move or not. In truth he really didn't want to. He would have been perfectly content lying in a meadow in the middle of nowhere spending the night under the stars with a blanket of cool wind on his back. It wasn't as if he had to leave. No one was waiting for him to come home. No one would have been worried if he didn't return.

But there would be people waiting for Risa. She had a home to go to. She had a family who would worry. She was cared about.

He placed his hands on the ground and pushed himself up, the muscles in his arms flexing with a new soreness. He struggled to his knees and sat back on his feet, breathing in deeply. This same ordeal was becoming tedious.

There was a groan and he looked to his side. Risa still lay in the grass, her brown hair splayed about her face. She was moving, but only just. The groan made her wince in her dreams and she turned onto her side, uncomfortable. A dream…or a nightmare, most likely. Triggered from the Mystic's song.

He needed to get her home.

Satoshi crawled over to her and linked one of her arms around his neck, slipping his own beneath her slim frame and, for the second time that day, lifted her easily in his arms. He rose to his feet and swayed a little at the sudden blood rush, but he steadied himself quickly. Risa moaned again and grabbed at his shirt with her free hand. He looked down at her, solemn faced and blank mask on.

"He's wrong," he said, knowing she couldn't hear him and not really caring. "He's wrong about you and he's wrong about me."

Risa only gripped on tighter.

------------------------

Satoshi walked along the sidewalk, the street lamps lighting his way in the dark night. A cloud must have moved in front of the moon, for he could not see it in the sky and the town had become darker and colder in its absence.

They hadn't been as far out in the middle of nowhere as he thought. Krad had actually touched down in the courtyard of their school, depositing them amid the green grass of the cherry blossom orchard. Satoshi knew that there was a pay phone nearby, and he needed to call a ride right away. It was already so late.

He found the booth he was looking for and, with acute care and gentleness, shifted Risa's weight so that she was standing but all her weight was supported by Satoshi. He held on tightly to her waist and dialed in the appropriate number.

"Hello?"

"Bring the car to Azumano Middle School. You have seven minutes."

"Right away, sir."

The phone clicked and the dial tone returned. Satoshi hung up the phone and swept Risa back up in his arms. If there was one perk about being Commander of Police and the son of a millionaire, it was the immediate catering to his personal needs. He never even had to say his name anymore.

Exactly seven minutes later two headlights appeared down the street and Satoshi's signature black car rolled up next to him on the sidewalk. A gray-haired, respectable man stepped out of the driver's seat and hurried to open the door for Satoshi. If he noticed the sleeping Risa and thought it odd, he didn't say so. He knew better than to question anything involved with the Commander.

The door was opened and the young, tired boy carefully slipped Risa into the car, climbing in after her and gently resting her head against the headrest. He looked back at the driver and reached for the door handle.

"Harada Mansion. At the top of the cliff."

"Yes, sir." The man bowed and slipped back into the driver's seat. Satoshi slammed the car door closed and they were off, the mild vibration of the engine already lulling him to sleep. From the driver's seat the grey-haired man glanced at his master in the rearview mirror, noting his deep fatigue and, noticing from earlier, that his shirt was torn in the back.

"Hiwatari-dono, would you like me to inform your father when you return home? He would probably like to know that you--,"

"No." Satoshi slipped forward and kicked at the control panel above the separation window, an undignified action but he really couldn't care less. The black divider began to rise, closing off the driver from the passengers. He sighed heavily and leaned his forehead against the cold glass of the window, the buildings and mailboxes whizzing past outside.

Like his father would ever really care. He hadn't given a thought to Satoshi's well-being since he was five years old.

Satoshi let himself be hypnotized by the passing scenery, his eyes beginning to close, giving in to the sleep that called to him. He crossed his arms and finally let his body relax, trying to forget about the Mystic and Krad and everything else that had happened that night. He'd only take a quick nap and when he awoke he'd be dropping Risa home and then rushing to remedy the mistakes of the night.

But, until then, he'd sleep, because sleep seemed so welcoming at the moment.

His blue eyes continued to stare out the window until they finally gave in and closed.

---------------------

Risa blinked, lifting her head the slightest bit. She wasn't really awake but she was aware enough to notice that she was suddenly in a car, the familiar vibration of the engine a soothing comfort to her. She had been having a nightmare of suns and moons and black and white feathers. The last thing she remembered was a quiet voice, constantly singing in her ear when she realized she shouldn't have been listening to it at all and woke up.

She looked around. This was a foreign car. She'd never been in it before. But there was Satoshi, sleeping again, his head leaning on the window. Well, she guessed, if he was here than everything couldn't be so bad.

She had found that, if she stuck close to him she was bound to stay safe. It had been proven so countless times before.

She squinted at him in the darkness. Where had his glasses gone?

Risa yawned and felt the motion of the car rocking her to sleep again. But the headrest was so hard…

She scooted over and, because she was tired, didn't really much care, and had realized her newfound philosophy of safety, laid her head on Satoshi's shoulder. His shirt was cold from the night air and she breathed in his scent, a mixture of fresh cotton and night air. A scent she found comforting. A scent she found familiar. She grabbed onto his sleeve habitually with her hand, holding on tight, and fell asleep once again, her breathing falling into synchronization with his own.