Disclaimer: I own a twisted mind, the need for blood and gore and bishounen in my stories, but I own nothing else!

Chapter 31

The eyes of the dragon

"Don't move he's got a gun!"

That was the second thing I had heard since the explosion. Simple yet entirely effective words, straight to the point and conducive in their effect; they made me stop dead where I was, hardly even moving my eyes to see exactly who had the gun and precisely what they planning on doing with it. My ears were still ringing as the words penetrated my mind, making me finally look around in confusion and barely disguised panic. I knew that voice.

Yoji's voice, panicked, strained and angry. I couldn't see anything through the still settling dust, my eyes itching, my side bruised and my head thumping with the adrenaline and heat. I coughed harshly and tried to pinpoint the location of his voice through the smog. Yet I stayed where I was, I obeyed his command because, even though I couldn't gauge our situation, when Yoji takes that tone of voice it generally means that we're in very serious trouble. I wasn't going to take the risk, considering what we'd been through lately, that things weren't as bad as I thought they were. I stayed still for that reason, yet also because…

…because that other voice, the one I had heard first after the wall had suddenly exploded, so clear and ringing in its warped quality, was Ran's. My heart had jumped when I first recognised it, clenching painfully in fear and from something else more indefinable. I ignored it as best I could, adopting my business manner. There was no room for emotions here, not after last time, definitely not after he'd shown what he was capable of. Flashes of Yoji being thrown into the wall, Ken's head smashing from the banister, my arrow splattering blood over Ran's shoulder as it pierced his flesh…it wasn't going to happen again, not like that. I would take control of this; no one was going to die, I wouldn't let it happen!

"Yoji," I said slowly yet loudly, hoping not to set anyone off, trying to take this as slowly as possible, "where are you?"

The dust was finally settling, having held in the thick air for unnaturally long, slowly, teasingly revealing my surroundings. I kept crouched where I was, down beside a broken piece of wall which I had barely avoided. The window and frame, jagged and dangerous still held fast amidst the ruined mortar, the heat of the stone radiating against my back.

"Omi?" his voice was steady but low, making me look to my right and squint, scratching my hand across my dusty face and scrubbing at my eyes.

I could see dark shapes appearing, like wraiths in the shadow, until they were finally visible. A long dark trench coat facing away from me, arm extended, a small submissive figure kneeling at their feet, head bowed; it was him. I swallowed as I quickly realised that Ran was the one holding the gun, that it was definitely Ken who was his captive, kneeling before him, Yoji kneeling in front of them both, eyes hard and staring. I quickly scanned our enemy, taking in the fact that he was holding Ken's bugnuks in his left hand, their soft leather crumpled and torn, the mechanisms broken and twisted. My eyes darted around, trying not to panic, and found Crawford's white figure with Nagi at his side over to the left. There was no sign of Farferello, Schuldich or the strangers, yet in my alarm I didn't let this occupy me. There were more important matters at hand.

"Yes, it's me," I said dumbly, not sure exactly what to say.

"I have to warn you all now that I consider speaking close enough to moving," Ran's cold humour filled voice was enough to stop me once more, "so I would watch what you do from now on. I want everyone quiet, understand?"

Resounding silence. I swallowed; my heart was beating too fast, I couldn't calm myself down. I could feel fear rising in me and I couldn't stop it, it was making me shake. I was beginning to break, I could feel it, the memories of his destruction flicking through my mind double quick, I felt my eyes close and scrunch together; that was, however, until that voice rang out through the silence.

"I think you're the one who doesn't understand here," his childlike voice was mature beyond its years, laced with hurt and rage.

"Nagi," Crawford's warning tone was ignored and I opened my eyes purely out of shock at his lack of fear.

"Tell me what you've done with Schuldich!" he shouted, his eyes blazing deep ocean blue, his hands clenched, his countenance murderous, "tell me or I swear…"

"You-swear-what?" Ran's voice was wholly patronising and devil-may-care as he turned to look at the young boy, affording me a glimpse of his face.

No- that was all I could think as I absorbed those eyes, that face; no that wasn't Ran, that wasn't our Aya. His smile was wicked, cruel; Aya never smiled like that. His eyes glittered a deep, deep purple, almost black. I had never seen his face look so vindictive, so twisted, not even when mentioning Takatori. This was surreal, almost like someone else was inside of Ran's body, making him act like this, controlling him…

Perhaps…-

"Stop playing with us," Nagi was growling now, breaking my tenuous chain of thought, taking a few brave steps forwards, "you monster!"

"Monster, ha ha ha," Ran stared at Nagi in mock shock before laughing loudly as if he'd just been told the worlds funniest joke, bending forwards as he did, pushing the gun harder into Ken's head and forcing his head closer to the ground, "yes, monster, very apt."

"What do you want?" Yoji interrupted, his tone was a little calmer now yet still held its edge.

"Want?" Ran turned to look at him, hiding his face from me once more, "Me? Want? Ha, you lot really are too much!"

"You must want something," Yoji demanded, shifting on his knees, his hands partially raised in both supplication and defence, "or you wouldn't be here at all. So what is it? What do you want?"

"Oh, I'm afraid that if you're looking for a bargaining chip, which I know you are," Ran leaned over Ken to talk right into Yoji's face, giving me time to crawl forwards while he was distracted, "you've already lost it. It's gone, she took it, not that you've noticed it seems."

"Don't talk about him like that! He's not some inanimate object you can just break and then throw away!" Nagi lifted his hand, thrusting it to the side in a harsh dismissive gesture, "That's all we are to you isn't it? Isn't it!"

Ran was shaking his head now, making me stop instinctively, poised in a time stopped motion. What was I so scared of, treading as if one egg shells, hoping against all hope that I wasn't spotted? That cruel smile was moving in and out of my vision as his head shook back and forth, moving like some twisted marionette with its strings tangled.

"Why..?" the voice was small yet not timid, more broken and defeated in its hollowness, "…why are you doing this?"

"Why?" Ran had stopped shaking his head, looking down at Ken, his expression unknown to me although I wished I could see his face, "for her of course, it's all for her. I thought you knew that Ken, it's always all been for her. This is justice; you of all people should recognise justice, shouldn't you?"

"Justice?" Crawford's voice was low as he stepped up beside Nagi once more, somehow giving me the strength to push awkwardly to my own feet, "This is no justice, this is destruction, mindless destruction."

"Oh but you're not thinking enough about this Crawford-san," Ran chided, bending down to roughly pull Ken up into a standing position, treating him like nothing but a doll, "you're not thinking about what this justice really is. It's what she deserves to receive and what you all deserve to live within. You're crimes are beyond your own reckoning it seems, if you can't even comprehend your own punishment."

"That's not true!" Ken shouted out, his voice an astonishing contrast to the tone he had taken moments before, although he didn't resist physically to his treatment, "We only ever helped you, looked out for you! That's all we did, all we could do; what more do you want from us? You speak of crimes as if we killed your sister ourselves!"

"Ah now you're getting it," Ran pulled Ken back against him hard, making Yoji flinch forwards instinctively, hugging him to his body and speaking right into his ear, "now you're starting to understand."

"This is madness," Yoji warned, very slowly climbing to his feet, knocking rubble away from his feet, "don't do this; whatever's happened, we can help you. It doesn't have to happen like this…"

"No, no you're losing it again," Ran shook his head in aggravation, making Ken squirm in his grasp, shoving his head away from the gun still pressed into his temple, "it seems that you need more educating, still, that's not such a bad thing. You need to understand what this is for, what this is all for."

"It's for nothing," Yoji spat, snarling, "all this for nothing! You're sister is dead Ran, she's dead!"

"Aha, ha, you don't get it," Ran laughed again, "do you? You think I'm that stupid, that absurd? I don't fight causes for the dead! And I won't fight yours once I kill you!"

"Not if I kill you first!" Nagi yelled, his hands seeming to raise instinctually, the energy surging around him before Crawford could react; odd I thought, although it was a fleeting one.

I think I remember crying out as Nagi let his power surge out towards Ran's calm form, the smile on his cruel lips turning to the hiss of a laugh. All I could think was, what if he missed? What if he hit Ken or Yoji in his anger? What if Ran killed Ken before the blast hit? What if..?

"No wait!" I hardly recognised my own voice as I leapt forwards, blindly racing towards Nagi even though I knew it was all too late.

The sound of energy thrashing against energy sent me to the ground once more. White blazed through my closed eyelids, sparking and roaring above my head like some trapped beast. I could feel the heat of it, far from my body yet seeming to surround me also. I had no idea where I was, where the others were in relation to myself, I was blind and alone and frightened. My fear was becoming overriding, my panic raising my heartbeat, quickening my breathing. I couldn't control it, it was wild and thumping through my veins like a drug. I wasn't sure what to do, my mind was racing, even as the sound of fizzling and crackling died away, even as the silence returned I couldn't calm myself. I lay on the floor, my hands over my head, curled up and shaking. What was happening to me?

Then it stopped; no more light, no more screeching, no more confliction.

"Really Nagi," the voice was simply brutal in its condescending tone, the laughter still lacing it, making me peer up and look at Ran once more in disbelief, "tut, tut, tut."

"H-how..?" Nagi seemed to stutter in his rage, staring wide eyed at the assassin in front of him who had failed to move even an inch from his assault.

It was hard to believe, even though I had seen his seemingly new found power displayed before, that this was really the Ran I had lived with before. He was still standing, the rubble around him having been blown away by the blast of Nagi's energy, and yet he hadn't moved at al. It was as if he had simply reflected it, cast it off like an oncoming wind. It was a terrifying thought to me, right there and then, that he could cast off a power such as Nagi's with seeming ease.

"Stop this!" Crawford's voice was commanding, yet it only sufficed to make Ran laugh again.

"Oh, no Crawford-san, you definitely don't understand do you?" Ran said as he threw Ken's ruined weapons to the ground, "I guess I shall have to make you, all of you. But how, how…yes how..?"

"You fucking bastard!" Nagi screamed as Ran simply stood and fingered his chin in thought, as I slowly rose from my crouch, "Where is Schuldich, what have you done with him! Where have you..!"

I flinched visibly at the resounding sound of the slap. There was silence for another eerie moment, but then that was once again broken by sudden maniacal laughter. Ran was practically howling in mirth once more, doubling over in his amusement as he simply stared at Nagi, the young boy's face turned away from Crawford's hand, his eyes wide with simple bemusement and shock. His cheek was turning slowly red, his eyes slowly narrowing.

"I told you to calm down!" Crawford hissed, "Do you think your hysterics are helping the situation?"

"Crawford…" it was all Nagi managed to say, his voice oddly calm as he turned his face round to look right into Crawford's own.

I felt the distinct need to cry out for him to stop again, but nothing would come out. I felt so weak, so very weak and scared that I couldn't even make my voice work. I was trembling and trying to think but failing and the world was falling away. Even as I heard Nagi throw Crawford off his feet, hurtling him to the other end of the room and into the overturned couch there, I felt tears leaking out of my eyes.

"You're all to easy," Ran was shouting now, not even moving as Nagi turned and started to run towards him, his eyes blazing with a light too maniacal to be his own, "so easily manipulated, like puppets; helpless and crude. I don't even have to do anything; you're destroying yourselves for me!"

Then he turned to face me at last, as if I slow motion I watched him turn away from Nagi's ferocious figure and look right into my eyes. The hairs rose on the back of my neck, I froze as something akin to fear petrified my nerves and made it impossible for me to look away.

Flash! A picture of Aya-chan, her white dress flowing in the wind and a cruel smile on her delicate lips.

Flash! A picture of a huge temple, its walls creeping with ivy and stabbed with streaks of dust filled light.

Flash! A picture of Schuldich, draped over a chair, showered in blood.

I felt myself gasping harshly, sucking in the air and dust around my mouth, my eyes going wide as the images continued to flash into my mind. I couldn't take this, where was this coming from, it was too much! Stop it, stop it!

-How are you enjoying The Fear Omi-kun?- said the voice in my mind as I absently watched Nagi attack Ran vainly as if I were watching a child throw paper arrows at a stone pillar, -I made it especially for you.-

My eyes began to blur as I watched Ran simply throw Ken hard into Yoji, sending them both stumbling into the pile of waiting rubble. I could feel my arms wrapping around my inert frame, trapping myself to the ground, trying to hold myself together as I feared I would shake myself apart. Was he doing this, making me feel like this? It seemed, as I blearily watched Ran grab hold of Nagi by the hair, yanking him into his tight grasp, that it was something that had been sleeping within me all this time. Yet could he not engineer that too, was he not capable of anything? This man who once been my family, now seeming like a god in my eyes; how could all this have happened? It wasn't meant to happen like this!

"Really Nagi," Ran chided scornfully as Nagi thrashed within his grasp, snarling like a wild animal, "that's no way to behave. Although I can see you're enjoying your Rage, yes definitely enjoying it. But then, where are my manners? I shouldn't be leaving any loose ends now should I?"

His gaze fixed me to the ground as it settled on me once more, I tried to shake my head but my nerves were going cold, a feeling as if my very veins were closing up. I saw him lift his free arm and point it towards me, his eyes becoming hard in concentration, before a terrible surging sound began to reverberate between myself and him. I could see the energy building up inside his palm, but I could do nothing to save myself; nothing. In the end I could only simply watch as it flashed out towards me, jagged like lightening, hot and searing, and imagine what it would do to me when it hit. It looked fierce enough to blast me into a million pieces, hot enough to char me into non existence.

But then I never did find out exactly what it would do.

I hardly even noticed the small red ball drop before my eyes. It was about the size of a marble, polished and shining, and it seemed to glow from within. At the moment that it fell I couldn't help but ignore it, still preoccupied with the thought of my own inevitable death; but then when the energy didn't connect with my body, when it seemed to crash into some invisible barrier not inches from my face, then I took notice of it. And it wasn't only my fortunate escape that made me sit up and take notice; my fear was also suddenly, inexplicably, gone.

"Ah, so that's where you've got to!" Ran shouted, his strangely exuberant face looking up to something above me, "You certainly took your time in showing up."

"This is not the place or the time," a deep voice said menacingly from somewhere behind me, sounding oddly like Yami's yet much older, "you know that."

"Yes, I know that," Ran closed his eyes and smirked, the picture of arrogance, Nagi still squirming madly in his grasp, "and much more than either of you do as well."

"Empty threats will get you nowhere," Tatsuha's voice, although I couldn't see them even when I looked up, a large section of wall blocking my view, "let the boy go."

"Oh you mean this?" Ran smiled appealingly down at Nagi, his sincere expression making his face seem all the more malignant, "but he started it. I suppose I'll just have to show you just how much more powerful I am instead of persuading you."

"What have you done with him you bastard? Tell me where he is, take me to him, anything, just give him back!" Nagi was ranting, raving like he'd lost his mind; it seemed as if his mania was letting him completely ignore the conversation between Ran and the strangers.

"Careful what you ask for…" Ran looked directly into my eyes as he spoke these words, the sound of them seeming to reverberate inside my skull; a warning, "…you might just…"

"No wait!" Yami shouted, his voice once more childlike and worried.

And then they were gone. Just empty space where Nagi and Ran had once stood.

-…regret it.-

AN: Hello again! Just realised that I haven't thanked my reviewers for ages! Argh, sorry about that, but just to let you know that their all very much appreciated!

To the Invisible Fan: Yami reminds you of you? Cool! He's actually based on my friend Cat but don't tell her! Sorry to be confusing, but I'm glad you like it!

To Kissos: Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it, it's good to know! I will try and update as soon as I can, just don't impale me on anything sharp if I don't, please?

If anyone does have any criticism feel free to tell me, although please be constructive or I'll just cry and you don't want that now do you?

Okay, this chapter is trying to further everything along a little and if it seems confusing don't worry because I'm going to start explaining things soon! Wow, shock! He he, okay so please R&R it is much appreciated!

Ps: To HeatherR: Sorry, I forgot to say that I hoped you were feeling better, sorry! Hope your sinuses have given up tormenting you and I'm glad you're still enjoying!

Okay gonna stop writing notes now! See you next chapter!