Chapter 13

(:3= This is my pet walrus, Rupert. He does not own DN Angel.

AN: I know I don't do this nearly often enough, but I'd like to give everyone who has reviewed, followed, or even just read this story a HUGE thank-you, a platter of cookies, and a hug. Seriously, thank you all so much; I feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing there are people out there in the world that are reading and enjoying what I write. Anyway, I'll shut up now and let you read now. Bye!

Dark's POV

As I followed Krad, I began to realize just how far away from Azumano we really were. There were absolutely no familiar landmarks around, with the exception of the large mountain behind us. There were hundreds of fields below us, but Ryoushi quickly went over the clouds and hid us from the view of those on the ground.

Lumi flew up to me, and yelled, "Where are we?" The wind was blowing her hair everywhere, and it nearly swept her voice away.

"I'm not sure," I called back. "But what did you mean when you said something about heaven?" I hadn't clearly heard what Lumi had said before she'd taken off to go see the lake, but I was curious.

"It was a dream I had once," she replied. "Gray visited. It was that exact place! I didn't know it was real!" I paused, remembering the dream I had had about Gray. It had been much less peaceful, and I shuddered to think the icy wasteland I had seen actually existed in this world. We continued to fly in silence.

Ten minutes passed; then thirty, and then an hour. Still, I couldn't find a single familiar building tree or landmark of any kind. Ryoushi did know where he was going, didn't he? I was worried, but I didn't dare voice this concern out loud. Krad would kill me for sure if I doubted that dog. But Lumi had told me that Dai would be hidden under our noses, and I assumed that meant somewhere in Azumano. But she had been wrong before…

No. I couldn't doubt her. Lumi was one of the few people I could trust, and trust unconditionally. If she had told me Daisuke was in a hidden cave in the Gulf of Mexico, I would have believed her.

Satoshi flew past me, dodged around Lumi, and slowed next to Krad. "Where are we going?" He gasped. I could barely hear him, and it looked like he'd begun to bleed where his wings pierced his back. Krad glanced over at him, and immediately whistled to Ryoushi, angling his wings for a dive. Lumi and I followed, and Satoshi seemed to fall slightly ahead of us. Lumi cast a concerned look my way, and I shot a troubled one back. I had no idea at the time what was wrong with Creepy, but I'd learn soon enough.

We landed on a grass covered hill, and Satoshi almost immediately collapsed to his hands and knees, breathing raggedly. "You… didn't… have to… land," he coughed. Krad stared at him contemptuously. (Had to look that one up. Good, huh?)

"Of course I had to land," he snapped. "You're bleeding, and I don't doubt you'll be coughing up blood in the next five minutes." He sighed, and sat down on the boy's right. Ryoushi walked up to him and curled up by his leg. Lumi sat to Satoshi's left, and put a hand on his shoulder. She shivered, and a few sparks of dark blue and bright silver danced around her skin before retreating.

"That's odd," she murmured. "Krad, what's wrong with him?" She looked concerned, and her pale violet eyes glittered in the sunlight. Krad shook his head and said nothing. "Krad, I can't heal him and he looks like he's dying. What's wrong with him?" Still, my other half said nothing.

"Krad, c'mon," I snapped, "tell us!" Krad shot an ugly look my way, and then sighed.

"Candra, you have no power left to heal. It will be at least a day until you are fully restored, despite the power in the cave." Well, I could have told her that. I just hadn't gotten to it yet, and she hadn't asked.

"But what about Satoshi?" Lumi asked again. The boy in question shook his head weakly, as though protesting against something. I was beginning to worry about him, which worried me. Krad shook his head as well, and stood up. Ryoushi followed his lead.

"I'm going back to the cave," he said. "Ryoushi, stay with these three. Protect them, get them to the Niwa boy, and then bring them back." He reached down to scratch the dog's ears, and then took wing. In a few minutes, he was out of sight.

"Well," Lumi snapped, "what's his damage?" She folded her arms across her chest and lay down in the grass, staring blankly at the clouds.

"More than you know," Satoshi whispered. A moment later, his arms gave out and he fell to the ground. Lumi only sighed, and I didn't know what to do. Ryoushi sat down next to him and growled, warning everyone and everything to keep away. I sat down next to Lumi and tried to think of anything we could do but wait. Daisuke, wherever he was, was in danger. Knowing my tamer, he'd probably be fine, but Dai was only a kid. I mean, sure, fifteen: whoop-dee-doo, but when you're four hundred and counting, fifteen years of experience is nothing.

"Just hang on Dai," I muttered to a passing cloud. "We're coming…" I glanced over at Satoshi, who was still bleeding (and true to Krad's prediction, coughing slightly) and Lumi, who appeared to be asleep. "Well, we'll get there eventually."

Krad's POV

It took me only twenty minutes to get back to the cave, thanks mostly to an air current that happened to be going the way I was headed. It felt as though my lungs were filled with needles, and I wanted nothing but to lie down and sleep. Forever. I fought with my mind to stay in the air, certain the magic and untamed power in the cavern would help both Satoshi-sama and myself through this. As the familiar mountain rose to greet me, the current of air veered right. I fought my way out of it and continued forward.

I landed roughly on the ledge that led to the cave, and stumbled in. I was leaning heavily against the walls by this point; I was beginning to suffer the same pains my tamer was going through. The needles in my lungs were sharp, and long, and I was sure I was bleeding. Halfway down the long tunnel, I began to feel the cave's aura, and found just enough strength to keep moving.

Candra's familiar, that hare she called Murasaki, was there to greet me. She hopped up to my feet, twitched her nose, and leapt nimbly back to where The Silver Rose and the Crystal of the Yin and Yang were resting. Back to where what looked like a long black shadow was sprawled on the ground. I felt my breath catch in my throat.

"Gray?" I gasped. Murasaki shook her head, and her ears swayed with the movement. I stumbled over to the shadow, and what I saw made my heart nearly stop. What I had mistaken first for a shadow, and then for Gray, was Fenga.

She was nearly dead.

Lumi's POV

I was really worried about Satoshi. He had, true to Krad's prediction, begun to cough up blood a few minutes after the white wings had left. However, he now seemed to be getting a little better. His back, I was sure, had stopped bleeding, and he was breathing more easily. After about thirty minutes of rest, I saw him push himself up from the ground and stand shakily.

"Feeling better?" I asked quietly. He sat down and shook his head.

"Not really," he replied, and his voice was still unnaturally soft. "It's… painful." Whatever 'it' was, the blunette wasn't saying, so I began to cast about for feelings. If there was anyone within a ten mile radius, I could find them, but nothing jumped out at me. About two miles away on a distant hill, there was a small flock of birds, which only caught my attention because I loved feeling the sort of 'hive mind' that they had.

Dark leapt up, flew a circle around the area, and landed again. "I'm getting nervous," he said. "There's a village off to the west; if I remember the way Ryoushi was leading us, we're going to have to pass right over it. The clouds are nearly gone."

"It's empty," I replied. "Probably some old ghost town." Satoshi stood, stretched his wings, and winced but didn't move. The wind ruffled the blood flecked feathers, and for the first time, I realized that the spots weren't blood, but what I could only call freckles. Dark red freckles that looked exactly like dried blood, but weren't. I wondered why they were there, but didn't want to ask.

"Well," Dark said after a few minutes, "when'll you be ready to fly again?" The question was directed to Satoshi, who simply shrugged.

"Ryoushi," the boy asked the dog, "how much longer would we be traveling?" The dog growled, and I suppose this meant something to him, because he sighed tiredly. "Krad should have sent me back," he said. "I'm taking this much worse than he is."

"What's 'this'?" Dark demanded. Ryoushi snarled at him, but Satoshi waved him off.

"I suppose I ought to tell them," he said to the dog. "Krad and I are separating. Again."

"Permanently?" Dark asked. I glanced up at the sky, and was shocked to see a crescent moon rising. The pale silver color reminded me yet again of Gray, and I wished she were here.

"I'm sure that's why he's so concerned about it," Satoshi replied. "He also said he thought Gray could figure out some way to stop it happening if we could release her soon enough."

"How long did Ryoushi say it would take to fly the rest of the way?" I asked, hoping it wouldn't be very long. Satoshi looked at me for a moment, and his eyes seemed to be settling back somewhat in his head. It gave him a very unsettling, haunted look.

"He said about two more hours." I gritted my teeth in frustration, and wanted to scream at the sky. This wasn't going to work! It wouldn't work, and I didn't know what to do, and Daisuke was still locked up somewhere we couldn't get to him!

"This is hopeless," I whispered. "Absolutely everything is against us now…" I wanted to cry. Fenga was telling me that something was wrong with Gray, Ryoushi was trying to take us to Daisuke, and Satoshi looked like he was going to pass out any second now, therefore preventing us from finding the aforementioned redhead.

"No," Dark said, "It's not. If everything were against us, we'd all be dead by now. Get up." I looked at Dark, surprised by the harshness in his tone. He was gazing back at me, and a fierce flame of determination lit his eyes in a way I had never seen before. I stood up, and stretched my wings before letting them settle against my back.

"Satoshi," I asked, "will you be able to fly?" He took a moment to consider my words, and then slowly nodded, and stretched his wings out, as if to be sure. He winced, and quickly drew them back. Dark's eyes lit up again.

"Wiz!" He called. "Satoshi, I'll have you use him as your wings. I think he'll be alright with that…" The little familiar hopped up to his master and 'kyuued' sweetly before leaping onto his shoulder. Dark whispered his plan to Wiz, who didn't look particularly happy. Dark said one more thing, and the little rabbit perked up immediately.

"We've got a deal," the violet haired kaitou grinned. "Lumi, can you tell Emiko to buy about five pounds of strawberries?" I sighed.

"She's out of range," I explained for the hundredth time. It was as though Dark honestly couldn't remember the nearly infinite times I'd told him I could only find people in a ten mile radius. "But, I'll pass the message on as soon as I can." Wiz 'kyuued' again, and leapt into the air, landing on Satoshi's back as the black wings that were his second form.

"Let's go then," Dark said, "Creepy, you'd better set the pace so you don't fall out of the sky again." Satoshi grimaced (I think he was actually trying to smile), and leapt into the air. Ryoushi followed him, leading only half a wingbeat ahead. I looked at Dark, who smiled gravely back at me and together, we leapt into the air to follow the boy and dog.

…

AN: *sigh* This story does not seem to be moving along, does it? Oh well, I promise you all that I'll have something exciting happen in the next chapter. In the meantime, reviews are welcome!