Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Shall I compare thee to the owner of DN Angel?

… No, because I do not own DN Angel.

…

It took me longer than I had anticipated to find Krad. He was still quite near Azumano, but he was flying quickly and I got the sense that he was trying to block me; to evade us all. Krad!

There was no answer, but I could tell I was in his mind. There was this sudden sort of connection that really can't be explained without feeling it. If I was forced to try, I would say it was like putting a puzzle piece into your brain, with that odd little 'click' you sometimes feel in the back of your head when you plug earbuds into a music player that had been turned on beforehand. But it was much stronger. I knew Krad was there, and I knew that he knew I was there, but he ignored me. I called again. Krad! I felt like I was falling to pieces. When had calling Krad begun to hurt me like this?

"S-satoshi," I heard Lumi whispering, "your… your eye…" I ignored her. I had to talk to Krad. Ryoushi said this all would end. I wanted it to end. I wanted things to go back to normal again. Beautiful normality; the beauty of the plain blue sky not filled with artworks and crazy girls with wings. To be free of Krad and the curse of the Hikari, to maybe go on a date with Risa without Krad whispering dating advice in my ear the whole time. That would be nice. KRAD! Please Krad…

Well, the 'please' makes it so much better, Satoshi-sama. Krad's sarcastic remark sounded oddly distracted.

You found her, didn't you, I asked quietly. There was silence. Krad, you have to come back here.

Where else would I go, Satoshi-sama? Krad's question didn't seem to hold the truth. He sounded distracted, forlorn, caught.

Krad, I order you to come back here! I wondered what Lumi had said about my eye. It felt strange, but I had no idea what could have happened to it. My head ached, as though my brain had sent hundreds of tiny spikes into my skull. I felt something in my mind snap again, and I almost forgot where I was. Was Krad trying to fight me? Krad, come here now!

Satoshi, you don't understand. I closed my eyes. Everything became black, and the pain in my head dulled slightly.

What don't I understand?

That artwork wasn't made for her, she's fighting to stay alive.

What artwork?

The Silver Rose. You made it, did you not?

Gray's in The Silver Rose? I knew she had given it life, but putting herself in the artwork was almost unthinkable to me.

Gray can't get out, because the being trapped within it is trying to get rid of her. She can't speak and I can barely sense her.

So where do you want to go?

Where you are. There is a strong magical presence in that cave. It could help her. I wondered briefly how he knew where I was, but dismissed it. We were still connected, after all.

You sound ill.

I am. Go away Satoshi-sama, I will be there shortly. With those words, he broke the connection between us. I hadn't seen my curse in over six months, yet here he was, flying toward us as we sat here, helpless. He'd found Gray.

But he was ill? What did he mean by that? "Lumi," I said, "what's wrong with my eye?" I kept my eyes shut, but could almost see the look on her face as she spoke.

"The right one… it's red." I opened my eyes. Carefully. I felt like my lungs had just been crushed.

"What do you…?" I stopped, wondering if I really wanted to know. Deciding I did, I finished the question. "What do you mean?" She closed her eyes, and an imaged passed from her mind to mine. The white of my right eye was the color of blood. I sighed, both in frustration and relief. It was only a burst blood vessel –or a few. It would be gone in a several days. Though it looked awful, there would be no lasting damage.

Lumi walked up to me carefully; cautiously. She acted as though one of us might break. Very slowly, she raised her left arm, and gently brushed the fingers of her left hand near my eye. Several feathers fell off of her wings as a burst of navy blue obscured half of my vision. She gazed at me solemnly –no, solemnity wasn't what filled her gaze. Her eyes glittered with sadness.

"That really was it," she whispered. "I'm so tired… Krad will be here soon." She sat down slowly on the floor, and closed her eyes. Then she lowered herself onto her back. She crossed her stick-thin arms over her chest, and soon was completely dead to the world. Dark knelt next to her and gently brushed her hair out of her eyes. He sighed.

"Why she ever did that…" he muttered. "She just about killed herself." For a moment I wondered what he'd done with the Crystal, but I saw it sitting on a crystal outcropping several feet away. "But she's right, Krad's just about here. I can even feel him now." Wiz hopped up to him and 'kyuued' quietly. Dark absentmindedly stroked his fur.

"Why can't I?" I asked. I couldn't feel Krad; I had no way of telling whether he was nearby or not. It had hurt awfully to try to just talk to him, and that was a feat I had been able to accomplish only yesterday. But he had said he was ill… with what? How could he be ill, when he still sounded so strong?

I'd contacted Krad for answers, but now I felt like I had more questions than I had begun with.

Lumi's POV

Gray was sitting at a kitchen table. Her hair was silver, long, and hung around her like a curtain. Her eyes were glowing with so many colors they looked white. She obviously didn't know that I was there; her eyes stared straight ahead, completely blank as she sat ramrod straight in front of the table. Her hands were folded in front of her, and I saw that there were hundreds of tiny white scars forming an elaborate, spider-web-like design on her skin.

"Lumi." Her voice was harsh, but I could tell she was pleading. She did not look at me, and her lips barely moved as she continued. "Lumi, I will be back soon, I think. But I do not know who I am any longer. I… there is something else here with me. It is stealing me, piece by piece and I can hardly remember…" She stopped, shuddered, and continued. Her eyes never moved; she never blinked. "I can't remember how to play the guitar Lumi. I'm forgetting the old world." I stared at her in disbelief. This couldn't be Gray. This half-hypnotized victim of who-knows-what just couldn't be Gray!

"Gray…" I began, but she cut me off.

"Did you edit the document?" Her hands tensed slightly, and the scars stood out more against her skin.

"Gray," I replied, "I read it, but there's nothing to edit; nothing to change." I raised my hands, hoping she could see how hopeless it was.

"The letters," Gray replied. "One at a time. Watch them." Then she blinked. Her eyes stopped glowing. Slowly, the white color drained from them and a strange blue took its place. Gray's long silver hair shortened, and she stood suddenly.

"I hate these clothes," she snapped impatiently. "You'd think that she could wear something just a bit more colorful, but noooo… Black on black on black on black, that's all there is!" She stomped her foot and twirled angrily back to the chair. "By the way, I'm Sasha. Gray, whatever kind of name that is, is sorta stuck with me for now, but I think she'll be leaving soon. Good riddance, that's all I can say." She pulled her hair over one shoulder and began braiding it.

"You… your hair," I whispered in shock. Whenever Sasha's hair hit her hands, blood sprung from her skin like it had been summoned. That was why Gray had those strange scars. Or were those Sasha's? "Do you and Gray share a body?"

Sasha pulled a face. "Eww, no! Why would I ever want to let a Goth punk like that be my host?" She rolled her eyes. "I'm only taking this form because we're stuck together. Once she's gone, I'll be able to be myself." She sighed, tied off the braid in her hair, and began to wipe the blood off of her hands with a bright white cloth she seemed to have conjured up from midair. It was a rather messy process, and very odd to watch.

"Um," I murmured, "why aren't you just letting Gray go? Who are you, for that matter?" Sasha rolled her eyes and spoke again. Her voice reminded me of a stereotypical 'Valley Girl', and I wondered how Gray had kept her sanity, being trapped with such a being.

"I've already told you, I'm Sasha! I keep hearing people use the title 'Silver Rose' when they're around me though, so I guess that could be it…" she paused, pursed her lips, and turned her eyes up toward the ceiling. "And as to why I'm not letting her go, well…" She grinned an evil, crocodilian grin. "I'm not on your side."

"What do you mean, not on our side?" I asked. "Satoshi made the Silver Rose!" Sasha tensed when I mentioned Satoshi's name. Her left hand clenched the bloody rag until it began dripping onto the floor, which I only now realized was white. So were the walls. So was the air around me, like I was in a thick fog.

Sasha lunged at me, and as her hair cut through the white air I heard a sound like a thousand daggers unsheathing, a horrible, awful 'fsssh' of metal on metal, and then–

Krad's POV

When I arrived at the old cave, Lumi was passed out on the floor, Satoshi was sitting against a wall apparently half-dead, and Dark was staring at an artwork that he'd undoubtedly stolen. All was normal. Or rather, things were as normal as they ever got here now. But now the Silver Rose, Gray, was resting in my arms, and I knew things would manage to work out. Once Gray was back in this world; once her feathers again danced in the wind, everything would work out. We could be together, and everything would be alright.

But Satoshi's eyes were bloodshot and ragged-looking, and I knew it hurt him to talk to me. I had told him I was ill, but it wasn't quite that simple. The bonds between the two of us were slowly fading. If Satoshi did not release me soon, I would vanish and truly be unable to return. But I knew I could not be released from the lines of the Hikari family without a blessing, which I knew Satoshi still could not give.

"Satoshi-sama," I said quietly, stepping into sight. Ryoushi immediately flew toward me, happily barking. Dark jumped out of his stupor, but Lumidid not even twitch. I wondered if she could have died while I flew over, and decided that it would be surprising, but not improbable. However, just as I was about to ask about her, she twitched. A shuddering breath escaped her lungs, and her eyes flickered open. She sat up abruptly. Instantly, Satoshi and Dark turned, and Mura was sitting on her head.

"Krad," she gasped, "Find Daisuke." Her eyes were wide, and she seemed to be unable to catch her breath. "Hurry… Syerdtsye's back and Sasha's coming…" Then her eyes fell on the artwork I held in my arms, and a look of horror slid across her features. "Sasha's here," she corrected breathlessly. "Krad, I know that's Gray but if we let her out we're dooming us all right now. We have to get rid of Syerdtsye first." I stared at her coldly.

"What do you mean?" I snapped, pushing Ryoushi away with a gentle shove. "Gray is here now, and she is the only being who stop…" I trailed off, Lumi's words finally sinking in. "Syerdtsye is back?" The girl nodded helplessly.

"I don't know how, but she is," she whispered quickly. "She's the one who had wounded me when you brought me here." I blinked, remembering the gory, bloody wound the girl had had in her side when I had brought her here and almost killed myself.

"What did she hit you with?" I questioned. I had been curious about this for some time, but this was the first opportunity I'd had to ask her about it.

Lumi paused, trying, I assumed, to conjure an accurate description of the weapon to her mind. "Close your eyes," she said. "I'll send you a picture." The girl's telepathy had improved tremendously, almost without her trying. I closed my eyes and let the image display itself on the backs of my eyelids.

The weapon was a dull, curved knitting needle. That was all it resembled, and I had no other name for it. I had never seen such a thing before, but I could guess quite readily at its purpose. "Lumi," I said gently, "when Syerdtsye stabbed you with that thing, she was hoping that it would curve up and puncture your heart." The image dissolved from my mind, and when I opened my eyes again I saw that Lumi's face had settled into a mask of steel.

"Kill me," she asked quietly, "me, the Shining Violet? Who wears Gray's necklace even now?" She leaned gently back against the wall, and smiled. Courage bordering on insanity glittered in her eyes. "Well, we'll just have to see about that, Syerdtsye, now won't we?" She laughed gently, and Dark sent a concerned look my way. I shrugged, setting the Silver Rose over by the Crystal of Yin and Yang.

"Call her crazy," I said, "It never did me any harm." Then I looked over at my tamer. Satoshi was gazing at me as though I'd spoken in some foreign language. A blue haze still flickered faintly against his injured eye, but it was nearly invisible now.

"Did you just…" Satoshi stopped, seemed to think about how to continue, and finished, "Tell a… joke?" I laughed briefly, but found the humor (pathetic as it was) had been lost on me.

"Yes Satoshi-sama," I replied, a sudden dread swooping down on my shoulders. "Come outside for a while. I must talk with you about something." I had to tell him what was happening. He had to know… but his eyes were already haunted enough. Even though the Hikari's thought I was heartless, I did want to protect them. I always had. But now that I had the chance to, I could not.

The legend on the Dragon Vase was slowly unfolding.

…

AN: Haha! I bet you forgot about that old piece, didn't you? Well, please review! A cover will be coming soon!