A/N: Wow, been a while since I updated this, so I gotta work quick.

The problem being I don't actually know yet what to do in this one XD

I usually use the previews as a memo, but back then I didn't write one, soooo….

This may be half assed.

Welp, anyways, let's get right to it, I feel it coming.

Really late EDIT:

Man, the title sucks.

Welp, so here's the thing. I swear I had an idea when I started writing this, though it fled from me at an amazing rate. So, for a while I've been dawdling on how to write this, and came up with nothing over and over again, so I've just done the basic layout (A/N notes above and the chapter name) and hoped for the best.

Then I realized, there were a huge amount of questions I've left out for you guys. Like for example, "Why was Yoshiki's Soul look as if he were dying back in the 10th chapter? How are Rin, Tachiko and Yoshiki involved in all this? And does the name of the last chapter have anything to do with that?" and countless more I can think of. The answers to ones I listed are "Will be explained in this one, again will be explained in this one (partially?) and yes." Ask questions in reviews, I cannot stress enough how much I like reading those.

Also, I'm gonna stop with that date thingy, it's kinda tedious to do. I'm just gonna do it sometimes, not necessarily always. Though, time and location will still be at their respective places. As of now, we pick up off the same day the last chapter ended; Saturday, October 10th.

I'm probably going to take a while to explain the connection between the three main characters and this cult chapter by chapter, and this one's assigned mostly to Yoshiki. Next up is Rin, and as a Final Tachiko. Things are getting pretty tense, and are as always likely going to leave my characters with PTSD. Welp, then what are we waiting for?

Chapter 18:

Origins

? - ?

"Ugh…" A silent groan escaped Yoshiki's mouth as he woke up to a pulsing headache; he'd wanted to go back to sleep, but the rising pain in his limbs and back had only done the opposite

He opened his eyes; his eyelids felt like they weighed a ton. His vision was a little blurred at first, but it didn't really matter, The sight was the same either way; grey stone ceiling.

"Brother"

"Five more minutes…" The brown haired weapon slurred exhaustedly, closing his eyes and trying to roll to his side; his body felt like it was made entirely out of lead

"Brother we have family business to tend to."

He opened his eyes again, vision still blurry and refusing to focus like in a nearsighted person. Still, he could vaguely make out the image of the man bent over him. Though he could not make out the expression, he recognized him.

"Come on, mom and dad are waiting." Seiyu spoke

"… Is this some kind of a joke, or am I really dead?" Yoshiki replied distractedly

"Neither. Tell me, what do you remember of last night?"

"Not much…" The younger sibling spoke, rubbing his eyes and sitting up with a lot of effort and his brother's help, "But I feel like I'd been hit by a bus.. And what's this mom and dad stuff? We're not supposed to go to the graveyard until… Friday…"

Suddenly his eyes widened

"It's coming back to you, isn't it?"

Suddenly a loud thud echoed throughout the room; Yoshiki had fell off the bed in an attempt to back away.

"Yoshiki-"

"Keep away!" Yoshiki kept backing up with a panicked expression until he hit the stone wall on the other end of the room, soon his vision cleared out completely; He was in a small, clean room with a bed, a window with metal bars, a light bulb hanging off ceiling, a table and heavy wooden doors with weird Rune Writing on them and a bed with a metal frame. Seiyu was still sitting on it, glaring over to him coldly, clearly not surprised even a bit by his brother's reaction, but even a bit displeased by it.

"I want answers!" Yoshiki demanded, fingers on his right hand transforming into full length katana blades, "Where in the world did you bring me!? What's this 'mom and dad are alive' story!? What in the hell did you do and just what the heck were you thinking last night!?"

"I will explain later."

"You will explain NOW!" The young weapon yelled as he raised his right arm at him in offense

Seiyu got up and walked closer; he still had that ominous look in his eyes

"D-don't come any closer!" Yoshiki let out another panicked yell, "I-I'm warning you!"

Seiyu's lips bent into a weird smile as a cold chuckle escaped them

"You're bluffing." He mused, "We both know you can't hurt me."

Yoshiki closed his eyes shut and swung his hand at him, but it came to a stop with a loud clang. He opened his eyes.

His brother had pulled a sword seemingly out of nowhere; he held a silver handle with a long black blade made out of iron that radiated strange coldness prolonging from it. His smile had darkened, but his eyes looked mad with dark pleasure, two little green dots of light growing from the pupils.

"You continue to disappoint me brother… I thought you'd know better than to fight again…"

Yoshiki let out a scream of pain out; Seiyu's sword had let out something like static electricity, but at least ten times stronger, Which had forced his fingers to go back to normal. He gripped it with his other hand and shut his eyes.

Not even a second later Yoshiki felt light tugging in his ribcage. He opened one of his eyes a little; he was floating in the air through a hallway behind Seiyu, both his hand and Yoshiki's whole body radiating green glow. Yoshiki recognized it far too well, and started to squirm, but to no avail; Unlike the last time he'd saw that, the tugging sensation in his chest wasn't hurting him.

"Last time you were easier to deal with.." Seiyu spoke calmly

"Where are you taking me?" Yoshiki said with an almost unnoticeable quiver in his voice; he wasn't calm, but at least he wasn't as frantic anymore, "What is this place to begin with…?"

"It's a facility.. You see, last time you were brought to a much smaller, but still similar one."

"A facility…" Yoshiki's look trailed around the hallway. He vaguely recognized them, but the memories were lingering somewhere in the back of his mind, shrouded in fog

"… I don't remember any of this.."

Seiyu let out a small laugh, as if he was humored by how innocent his brother's response was.

"Of course you don't.. I can't say you didn't have any reason to forget it.." he glanced back to his brother with a sneer, "Last time you jumped alongside your friend, during the last year's Soul Festival… While you were there, I thought that maybe we should test your abilities.."

"Abilities?"

"Why, yes." Seiyu replied leisurely, "It's in our blood. Of course, some had always been so-so aware of that, and some needed a helping hand.."

His voice had quivered slightly at the last words, even though almost impossible to hear, Yoshiki had heard it. What was this feeling bursting out by fear and anger? Sympathy?

Suddenly it dawned on him; all those trips his father and Seiyu took while he was just a little kid, that troubled look he had every time. Those weird wounds. The sound and sight of his brother waking up after reoccurring nightmares more and more frequently, until, one day…

It all just stopped.

He was more or less back to his old self, but a bit colder. Though he could mask it very well, Yoshiki could see it. At first he was worried, but his brother seemed to grow out of it. He flashed more honest hearty smiles more and more often. Everything had once again been happy.

Yet, yesterday, he could see that look… That same look he had when he got deep in thought out of nowhere. That scary and unsettling expression.

They broke him.

"Last time, they ran some tests on you…" Seiyu continued after a small pause, catching his sibling's attention again, "And the DNA test turned out positive, which means you have the same abilities. It's going to be easier with you, counting Weapons adapt easier to magic, and you've been showing early stages lately too. Advanced healing, manipulating small things like rolling the dice to some extent- I presume unintentionally."

"You don't mean.. Witchcraft? THAT'S what that was!?"

"Well, of course. Do you really think that somebody that's been followed by so much bad luck throughout his life could suddenly get lucky naturally? We're offering you an opportunity to turn your luck for the better, and there's no declining on this one."

Yoshiki stared at his brother's scalp in shock and horror; He could almost feel his sneer. It was too much for him to take in so suddenly.

"Unfortunately, the testing had weakened your Soul greatly… And the pesky Reaper was on our tail, so we had to move out of the facility. You and your charming little friend were left there for the DWMA to find."

"… So let me get this straight;" Yoshiki began, voice raising with anger slowly again, "You've joined a cult, apparently brought mom and dad back from the dead, almost killed my Meister, me and who knows HOW many people…!"

Seiyu's steps came to a halt.

"… Are there any more things you've kept from me that I should know?" He finished, voice filled with hopeless bitterness.

"Well, now that you ask." Seiyu spoke after a few moments, not missing a beat, "Those reoccurring Nightmares your Meister and Rin had, they were also a part of my plan. You see…" He beamed, stopping to catch his breath as a proud grin stretched across his face. For some reason he'd always avoided addressing Tachiko by name, but spoke Rin's with a voice full of sick glee.

"Their families! They all agreed! They are all on the same pathway as us! As you! But you see, dear brother…" he smirked, pointing his index finger up, aiming it lightly at him, "You've been spared of the torture of nightmares, chronic pains, anxiety and panic attacks! Up Until now! Now, now, don't look so grim, I'll explain!"

Yoshiki felt his grip on chest get slightly painful as his brother spoke, enjoying himself in a way that he hadn't felt in years.

"Rin's just a little pest in the way. A moody thorn in my side, whom I've helped long, long ago, and when I needed him, he fully turned his back on his whole family. He was stubborn and used to suffering in silence. Now, he was catching up to our plans, I hate to say, was becoming a real pain. He will suffer. He will either give in to the temptation to rest easy while we use him, or die in awful pain! Knowing that little brat, it will be the second one." He clenched his fist and turned towards his brother again with a triumphant expression, "A sharp thorn, but not sharp enough! Though, your meister on the other hand…. Well…"

He stopped, exhaled and gave a bloodcurdling chuckle, "Well… Mistress will soon join us too, and won't her parents be happy to see her too?"

Yoshiki was caught off guard, the tugging sensation in his ribcage growing more and more painful.

"Of my, how much time I'd lost rambling… I think the Yakari fellows are better suited to deal with you now" he finished, sending him forward into a room, dropping him just by the metal doors and slamming them right after he did so.

Yoshiki didn't have a lot of time to look around, because a woman and a man, crept towards him; They were both dressed in lab coats, wore glasses that seemed to be opaque from his angle, had pale white skin and raven black hair.

"My… What do we have here?"

"Oh, we were hoping you'd be back!"

"Now, we'd better start, we don't want to leave Master waiting!"

03:05 PM - Maka's Apartment

"They aren't picking up." Maka sighed

"Have you tried dialing the house?" Soul asked from the living room

"Of course I had. The maids are saying that his parents are on a vacation and avoid subject of Rin, he isn't picking up his phone, and his parents' are shut off." Maka said, frustration slipping into her voice, "How could've he just ran away? He was out cold one moment, I went to the bathroom and he was gone!"

"By what you've told me he's probably heading for Lord Death's Mansion. Sure, he was upset but you seem more out of it than you should be."

"He could get hurt out there! Tachiko brought him here and said he literally collapsed in middle of the street, same happened a little after he woke up and freaked out!"

"… I guess you're right, but he couldn't just disappear. I mean, you'd hear the doors."

"That's what's worrying me.. Something suspicious is going on.."

Rin was running down the empty streets of Death City, his jacket unzipped and more flailing behind him than being on him; he took quick breaths with almost every step, except he hadn't been heading for the Gallows Mansion, but instead his parents'.

He ran through the double doors and hurried upstairs, taking the locked box with the things he rummaged out of the facility debris a few days prior, and darting straight out the same way; he'd wished the Gallows Mansion was closer, even though it was clear now why his parents' motive to do the exact opposite.

He ran through the streets, slipping and stumbling and here and there, and by the time he'd made it to the black and white building on the West of the city he'd been having serious trouble breathing, his forehead had been littered with sweat and his hands ice cold. Still, his one free shaky hand reached up, curling up into a fist, and slammed itself against the doors three times, just to make sure they'd hear him.

His fist slid from the doors to his knees as he hunched over; His legs were pulsing in protesting pain, arms shaking now more than ever. His breathing was rapid, almost as if he was hyperventilating; The cold air pierced his lungs.

To his relief, the doors soon opened up, revealing a boy with black hair and golden eyes, wearing a white shirt, black pants and a grim expression, like he was stressed out. He looked like was going to yell, but when he recognized the guest his glare softened a bit, but was filling up with confusion and slight worry by moments passing.

"Rin?"

"Wh…. We…." Rin breathed, voice as hoarse as ever, "We… Have…. A… A serious… Problem…"

After a few moments the silence was broken by Tachiko's voice from the living room, nearing at immense speed.

"Brother! What's taking you so long? Come on, this is serious, and the cold is going to-" She stopped when she saw the black haired weapon; Her hair was all down and messy, she was still in the outfit she'd been when she saw him that morning, a short sleeved black turtleneck sweater with a violet shirt underneath and black pants.

"Rin?" She stuttered, obviously upset and confused "How are you..? What are you..? Y-you shouldn't be here, what happened?"

Her look slid over to the small chest under his arm,

"… And.. What's that?"

Rin was struggling to control his own breathing and heartbeat; he was going to pass out again. He could feel his vision blurry and his legs giving away. He felt pathetic. He felt weak. He felt needy. He felt… He felt…

So tired

"Rin!" a dim, concerned voice echoed throughout his skull as everything went black.

Reliving the same old scene, the same old coldness.

The same old scenario that he'd seen so many times, but each time was like it was the first.

The same old feeling of body falling heavier and heavier.

He was running out of time

He almost gave in.

He woke up with a start as it's been for at least a few weeks now. His hands fled to his torso, gripping the fabric of his shirt. His heart was pounding like crazy, beating as if it was its last time doing so and causing small pain every few beats. Though, when he felt it, when he felt his dim body head warm his palms up he let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding.

"Good.." he thought, "I've still got time.."

He looked around the room; he was on the couch in the living room, his chest lying on the coffee table. Footsteps approached form the hallway

"What could've- oh!" Tachiko stopped talking to her brother abruptly and exclaimed when she saw Rin was up and calmer, "Thank god, you're awake…"

She walked over to him, sitting on the other end of the couch. Rin's eyesight was pretty bad, yet he never wore glasses, but he could see clearly that Tachiko was worried and as deprived of sleep as he was.

"What were you thinking? You could've died out there!" she said, returning Rin's still surprised but as always a bit dull look

"I… I.." Rin stuttered; he'd had so much on his mind, trying to make up a way to tell all the information he'd gathered looked pointless as he couldn't even start.

"Tachiko, calm down." The young Reaper said, sitting down onto an armchair opposite of them, "He'd been sleeping pretty deeply, and obviously had a nightmare. I'd be surprised if he was able to think straight."

Rin shook his head, "No, no, I'll.. I'll be fine.. But I didn't run through the city just to say hi, that much I can guarantee.." He finished, reaching for the chest on the coffee table

"What is in that anyways?" Tachiko poked around with questions curiously, "We almost couldn't get it out of your hands when you passed out."

"Remember.. R-remember the time you got kidnapped?" Rin sighed, turning to the black haired girl, and after he got a strained nod he proceeded

"Well, uh… I've been digging around the fact why that happened, and also the subject of my nightmares and chest pains… After a long time I decided I'd go back there, search for some more clues, as dumb as that sounds, it could've worked." he rubbed the back of his head nervously, "But you see, the thing is uh.. Even though I managed to find it again, it was in ruins now even more than before… So I had no other way than to just dig through it for hours to find anything remotely helpful. The thing about that small fraction of universe is that it wouldn't matter if it were hours or days, only like a few minutes would pass.. So I used that to my advantage and found quite a lot of stuff."

He reached into his shirt and pulled out a small key attached to a sting; and even thought he'd rather rip it off (but couldn't, counting his body was practically half drained of life), he took it off over his head and unlocked the chest

It had been a bit rumbled up, but otherwise just as he'd left it; messily scattered so it barely fit. Notebooks, pieces of stone, papers, random weird jewelry, and countless pieces of glass and mirrors.

"Now, I know how you're looking at me," Rin said, not looking up the slightest, "Like I've gone mad. Like this lack of sleep had finally made me crack, but I assure you I'm still not that far off the rails. Each of those things holds some kind of information. By what I caught by now… Well, I can't put it any nicer than bluntly, Yoshiki had been kidnapped about as same as you were."

He flipped through the pages of a torn diary, "Apparently this cult was formed about a decade and a half ago, right about the time that reaper clan disappeared.. And by the time passing it only grew. It appears not only my worst enemy has joined, but my and Yoshiki's parents as well."

"Impossible." Tachiko suddenly spoke up, "Yoshiki's parents passed away when he was still a little kid."

"…. I'm sorry to tell you, but that was probably a lie made up by his brother." He said after a moment of silence, blinking away her objection, "You see, his brother is the furthest in than anyone else- And don't even start," Rin growled as if he knew what she's going to say, like he was getting annoyed, "I maybe don't remember my early childhood life that well, but a kid never forgets a face like that…"

"What do you mean?" The Young Shinigami suddenly joined in again

"I remember him. I was only about 7 at the time, but I remember. My only friend had died in a hit-and-run. I'd been feeling awful for weeks because of that, and one night I ran away from home to pay his grave a visit. Of course, I got lost. I'd sat in the woods, crying for hours, until he showed up." his fingernails dug into the notebook, "He sat down by me and we started talking. His voice and expression looked so heartfelt the whole time, like we'd been long time friends. And after I told him what happened, he offered me a solution. A way to rewind the clock, to get revenge at the people who ran over my friend and didn't have enough guts to turn themselves in for killing a freaking kid. A way to prevent from anything like that ever happening again." His lips bent into a bitter smile; it was more as if he has been talking to himself, "But if I knew what chaos my decision would cost me, I'd run away. But no, my younger self became obsessed with the shady teenager's words and greed for power grew in me. When I'd asked him how to achieve it, he just said 'Just sleep tight, I'll take care of that', and touched my forehead. I felt dizzy, sleepy, coldness was growing in my chest. A horrible, yet kind of relaxing feeling. I fell asleep and woke up back in my room."

"Wait a minute…" Kidd said after Rin was done explaining "You'd told me something like this before."

"That's true. But I'd changed the story a little bit;" The black haired weapon returned the Meister's glare, his bitter smile still traced out on his face "I thought it wouldn't get this far, and that I'd be executed instantly. My soul was half corrupted after all. And it's getting worse."

"Worse?" Tachiko asked once again, breaking the tense silence between the two boys.

"They are in a hurry it seems." he continued, "My lack of sleep was firstly just because of nightmares, but now they've shifted. He knows that I grew tired of this. Of this life. Of everything. That I just want some rest. To receive some affection I never got. To get rid of this coldness surrounding me, but is radiating from my soul. And he's trying to use it against me, to gain control. But that last part of my soul, the one that's still somehow in charge is fighting, but barely. If I let myself go easy, if I let it slip for only a moment, it'll all be over. And he's counting on it"

There was a longer silence.

"… Wait." Kidd suddenly spoke, "Tachiko, you said something about nightmares, didn't you?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah, I'd been having some nightmares lately, but they aren't really-"

"For how long?" Rin cut her off

"Uh… A month or two now, I guess?"

"What were the nightmares about?"

"Some random scares… Creepy environment, limbs starting to get heavy, my shadow being off and sometimes getting its head severed or just flat out attacking me. … Strange, now that I think about it, that's what I thought would happen when I was little."

"Huh?"

"I'd always think that either my shadow was someone following me, and hid every night when there was no light, waiting to jump out at me. Yet, I was afraid and protected it, because I thought that if something harms my shadow would also harm me.. It's a bit silly now."

"… We might have a problem." Rin said, his face expression sinking into a grim one again, "A huge problem."

? -?

Seiyu stood in the hallway, arms crossed on his chest. He could hear distant screaming of his younger sibling; it'd make him grimace slightly, but not in the way that he was annoyed or disgusted, but… Sympathetic, maybe?

"Hey, Seiyu!" a voice from down the hallway spoke, his trail of thoughts was broken off. He turned his head only to see a lazily postured tall man walking towards him,

"Oh, hello." Seiyu breathed out and fixed his usual small smile on, "It's been a while, hasn't it, Giriko?"

"Yep." the weapon grinned, "What was with that weird face back just a sec ago?"

Just as he was about to reply another scream echoed throughout the empty hallways.

"Man, that brat's noisy." Giriko said in an annoyed tone, even though his eyes glinted with dark pleasure. Seiyu gripped the fabric of his sleeve.

"Wait a minute, could you be feeling sorry for the kid?" Giriko's look loomed over Seiyu's a bit distressed face carefully, but instead of an answer got another question in response

"Don't you have something else to do?"

"Ha ha, so I was right!" Giriko sneered, but seeing the annoyed and angry look on the other's face decided it'd be better if he stopped; He knew well it wasn't wise to throw Seiyu around on the subject of the procedure he'd endured, and his brother was currently going through.

"Uhm, I'm waiting to see the boss too."

"I see."

After a while of waiting in silence, the doors to their right had opened;

They both walked in; The room wasn't much. There was only a body-sized mirror in the center.

"Greetings, Master." Seiyu spoke, bowing a little when the mirror glowed and a silhouette of a man came to life on the other side of the mirror. Giriko never understood why he was sucking up to their boss so much; But he figured, it's better safe than sorry.

There was only silence, but if you listened closely, you could hear it; a distant voice as if someone had been scraping a knife across metal.

"… Yes sir, he's been captured.."

".. He's asking if you'd done your scouting." Seiyu spoke again after a few seconds, turning to Giriko.

"Huh? Uh, right, scouting." Giriko cleared his throat, "It looks to me like That little Yakari kid is onto us, but he's really close to giving in himself."

Just at that moment two people dressed in lab coats walked in; Mr. and Mrs. Yakari. Seiyu squinted his eyes at them slightly in disgust.

"Good day to you, boss." The woman said light heartedly to the figure in the mirror

"We carry good news." The man continued, taking off his rubber gloves.

"Even though the boy's body reacted violently to the magic at first, it's forcing itself to adapt to it. Unfortunately, he is unconscious as we speak." they finished in union

The two aren't really that unusual at the first sight. Mrs. Yakari had long black hair that stuck out at a few places, but was still combed as neatly as possible. She wore rectangular glasses over her dark grey eyes, a light blue turtleneck shirt and a pair of black pants over her buttoned up lab coat. She had pale skin, whereas only a birthmark stood out on her collarbone; The Yakari family sign

The man had black hair combed neatly backwards. He had pale skin and wore a black shirt and pants, with a dark blue tie. As his wife, he wore a lab coat, had pale skin with only the birthmark tainting it, and wore rectangular glasses over his grey eyes. The only difference between the two's was that the woman's eyes were nearly black, while his were stormy grey.

They were almost like two halves of a whole person. They both were, despite their differences, apparently very amused by the whole operation they were running.

"Oh my, is our little boy being troublesome?" The woman spoke

"Not good, not good. We have to tend to his manners as soon as he joins us." The man shook his head.

Their lack of moral response to harming their own child always sent chills down Seiyu's back; Despite the horrible things he'd done, he never wanted to actually harm his brother. He would admit, his destructive behavior sometimes got out of hand, but in spite of that he still had some humanity left in him; Whereas Yakari fellows seemed to lack any of it.

"Though, though!"

"We have some great news!"

"We'd stabilized the Machine to strengthen the vessel once she gets here!"

"And nearly all threats are out of our way!"

"We recommend that we engage in the operation soon!" After speaking in turns, they both finished in union once again.

They all waited, until a voice as cold as ice and as stern as steel spoke from the mirror;

"There's no need to rush. They'll come marching in here with time. Meanwhile…" the silhouette turned to the Yakari couple, "Make sure the boy is ready to fight."

"But, Master-" Seiyu started in a slightly protesting voice

"No buts." the voice sounded angry even, "Yakari Duo, get back to your work. You two get back to your posts."

After a few seconds in silence, Seiyu clenched his fist and said in a defeated voice;

"Yes, Master."

A/N: Welp, big surprise, I'm uploading even though I said I'd be on Hiatus. Luckily, the school hasn't kicked me up yet, so I have some spare time. Whee, my throat's back to normal and I can sing in the choir again.

But BOY ain't this a long one?

Also, I think I'm gonna start to throw in some random facts about my characters here and there, after every update. Today's fact is:

Even though Rin carves some affection, he's haphephobic (Fear of touch or being touched; in his case, just the fear of being touched by another person). It's not really that strong, but he gets really nervous and uncomfortable when it's anything more than a handshake.

Yep, so that's that.

Also, Just to throw this out here, Q&A for the characters are open; For whichever of my fanfiction stories you're following and have a question to ask about, this is your artist: art/Helena-crtez017-Edited-584802915

Whoopsie.. Forgot to edit the title… Well, you get the point.

And as always, I'm finishing this very late, so I'll fix things up in the morning.

And don't forget!

"Reviews = Happy Admin = Quicker Updates!"

So, Keep 'Em Coming!

See ya folks next time!