Kyoya pauses and digs through his pocket.

"What is it Kyoya?" Benkei asks and his companion shrugs, pulling out his phone.

"It's Nile. That's odd." He says, muttering the second half more to himself. "I don't usually get calls from him... or anyone apart from you..." He clicks and answers with a cautious "Hello?", ignoring Benkei's indignant cries of, "You mean you got those?! And you never answered?! Bu-bull!" and so on.

"Kyoya! Have they told you already?!"

"Uh, told me what exactly?"

"It's Demure! He's at a hospital in really bad condition!"

"Huh?!" Kyoya blinks, shocked and confused. Why would Demure be in bad condition? He wonders silently as Nile continues.

"He was found half-dead on some street! Kyoya, you have to come to Africa as soon as possible!"

"Sure..." Kyoya assures him, not bothering to mention that as team Wildfang was disbanded, there was no real reason for him to go, nor the fact that he hadn't mentioned Benkei.

Of course, they both knew Benkei would probably follow Kyoya off a cliff.

"Kyoya-pal what was that about?" Said companion asks, already made uneasy by Kyoya's reactions.

Kyoya pauses and answers, "... Just a trip to see old allies. I'll tell you the rest on the way."

-.-

He was still.

It was the first thing that Nile had noticed while watching his friend from behind the glass.

Demure was completely still. It wasn't a normal thing to see. Perhaps he wasn't as high-strung and energetic as Benkei, but there was always movement with him, whether it was pacing, wringing his hands, or sliding his bey through his fingers, Nile had noticed he was never still for more than a second or two.

But he was utterly still.

He was also very flushed and pale, at least for him. His skin was still a total contrast to the hospital's clean white. But despite how nice this hospital was for Africa, Nile couldn't help feeling nervous.

And why not? His bloodied lips and bruised eyes were nothing to be laughed at. There was a large gash running horizontally across his thin cheekbones and nose that was likely to scar a permanent milky white, and this was just looking at his face. His lean body was littered with other bruises, slashes and burns and the bandage wrapped over a headwound was beginning to shift to scarlet. His broken right arm had already been set and wrapped in stiff material.

Nile sighs. How could this have happened?

He hears the doors open, and two familiar teens walk in. Nile can't help feeling comforted by the sight of his former team leader as he strides in confidently, like the cat he was compared to. Nile wouldn't admit it, but Kyoya was a lot calmer than he had been for this past while.

Still, that didn't hide the concern and suspicion riding his expression.

His larger companion acted as his polar opposite, immediately dashing to the glass window and gasping loudly in shock. Masked- no, Benkei was furious, and began ranting angrily about death-threats to whoever hurt his friend.

Both were like water in the Sahara to the unnatural, tense silence that had lingered over the room like a vulture.

"How is he?" Kyoya asks.

"He hasn't woken up at all since he got here." Nile answers him.

Benkei turns to him and demands, "Do you know who did it?! If you do, you've gotta tell us now!"

Nile shakes his head. "His attackers weren't even there when he was discovered. The herder who found him said it looked like it had been a lot of people ganging up, what with the footprints and how badly he was hurt." Kyoya's eyes narrow at this, and Beneki continues shouting angrily. Then, to his surprise, Kyoya shushes Beneki.

Benkei complies, but shock is evident on his face.

Kyoya scowls with closed eyes. "I need to think about this."

For a while that tense silence, though not as strong with Nile's new company, returns and leaves them to their own grim thoughts.

Suddenly the doors are thrown open.

They all turn to see a dark-skinned teen stride through dragging a girl a few years younger along with a frantic nurse fluttering around them nervously.

"I want to go in! I don't give a crud about your 'rules and regulations'!"

"But sir-!"

She cuts off when he suddenly freezes, staring at Wildfang suspiciously. "Who the heck are you?"

"We're friends of Demure's." Nile replies.

"Who the heck are you?" Kyoya snaps back.

The stranger glares at them.

"I'm his brother."

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