Chapter 15

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Author's note: If you're the type who likes to read to a 'soundtrack', I'd recommend "Coming Undone" by Korn for this part.

Dark clenched his fists as he broke through the crowd, almost to the relative openness at the base of the steps leading to the school. Krad was standing at the top of the stairway, scanning the crowd while the boy stood beside him looking confused. Those gold eyes drifted down and narrowed fiercely as they finally spotted their target.

Dark's senses whirled with a dark intuition and he knew he'd been spotted. Krad's attack came too quickly to dodge, a ball of light shooting straight into the crowd to nail him in the chest. Dark doubled over, but made a run toward the stairs as screams and shouts of confusion erupted in the crowd around him. "Not here, you idiot," Dark breathed thickly, trying to pull the air back into his lungs from the blow. He pulled a feather from his coat and channeled it into an arc of black lightning that flew straight at the blonde.

Krad made a sharp cry as the power surrounded him in a paralyzing shell. He collapsed to his knees, too much power flowing through him to move. Jirou stared at him in shock, then reached forward and tried to grab at the energy that seemed to be hurting the angel. "Who is that?" he asked, his voice shaking.

"My enemy, Krad hissed, his voice crackling with electricity.

"You said he was dead," Jirou said, pushing through the spell to grab onto Krad's arm, as if he could pull the angel free with his small power.

The white angel frowned, still confused about that himself. The smear of blood and feathers on the cliff side had been enough to convince him Dark was gone forever. Now he stood before him, apparently in good health. Where was the evidence of that fall? Believing Dark dead had given him a strange, empty feeling, but discovering his survival caused a fiery anger to well up in place of the emptiness. He'd been deluded, confused for nothing. "He should be dead," Krad strained in response to Jirou's question as Dark made it up the stairs to stand in front of them. As hard as he tried, he could barely move under the crushing weight of Dark's spell. "You can not hold this binding forever. When it runs its course, I will destroy you," he sneered up at Dark.

Dark stood tall over his counterpart, his violet eyes alive with power as he focused to hold Krad still. He turned a dark glare on the boy who was clinging to the other angel, blocking Dark from attacking further. "Is this your new strategy? Manipulating human children to do your dirty work?" Dark snarled, his voice warped slightly by the power running through him.

Krad scowled. "Release me and I'll show you my dirty work."

"As much as I'd love to, I'm not fighting you here. It's too crowded," Dark growled.

"Ah, that's right, always worried about your precious humans. An inferior race that's never done a single thing for you. Unfortunately, I'm not going anywhere. I rather like the idea of taking you down in this crowd. I can kill two birds with one stone," Krad sneered.

"Is revenge still the one and only thing you ever think about?" Dark hissed in frustration, feeling his spell faltering. He could only hold Krad's power for so long.

"And what about yourself, Dark? Constantly thinking about nothing but your useless wing host. Which of us is more obsessive, I wonder?" the white angel smirked. The magic surrounding him flickered, Dark's spell nearly exhausted.

"I'll say this once. If you give a crap about that kid, get him away now," Dark threatened, a ball of black energy forming between his hands. If Krad insisted on a fight here, he was going to get one. "Don't think I'll hold my fire. Get lost, kid," he snarled furiously.

Krad blinked at the other angel. He'd never seen Dark pissed enough to involve humans in a fight. Of course, it made sense for him to be up for a battle, but something about the black angel's bitter glare made him wonder if he'd missed something. Would Dark actually shoot the boy in front of him? He felt the spell's heavy pressure loosen around him, free enough to move again. "Get in the building," he said, barely loud enough for Jirou's ears.

The boy glanced back at him in protest. "What about you?"

Krad grimaced, risking a glance away from his opponent to glare at Jirou in stupefaction. The boy was refusing to leave without him. This particular predicament was one he'd never encountered in his life. He didn't have time to coax the boy into getting lost. Instead, he grabbed Jirou by the back of his collar and tossed him sideways with effortless strength.

Jirou screamed reflexively before tumbling across the cement. When he managed to make the world stop spinning, he looked up at the angel from his hands and knees, shoulders hunched like another hit might be coming. Krad wasn't even looking at him. He was throwing balls of explosive white energy at this strange new enemy. The attacks whizzed past the violet-haired stranger, who broke into a rapid strafe to the left while returning attacks of his own. The shots that missed flew into the fleeing crowd or up against the school building, leaving shallow craters of crumbled brick in their wake.

Jirou stared at the two as they fought. He could actually feel the power rising off them both like monstrous twin spirits. But he couldn't help noticing that while the violet-haired man was doing significant damage to the school building, Krad was the only one whose attacks were hitting the crowd. "H-hold on! People are getting hurt!" he screamed to Krad.

The white angel flung a glare at him, a hesitation that cost him a blast to the shoulder. He staggered, and the brief moment was all Dark needed to close the remaining distance between them. In a blur of clothing and hair, Dark's two-handed strike connected with Krad's chest and sent him flying soundly into the glass doors behind him. The reinforced glass splintered into a shower of glittering chunks that clattered across the cement. Snarling, Krad caught the jagged edges of the doorframe and used them to propel himself back onto his feet. He formed a wall of blinding white magic and hurled it toward the dark angel's chest.

Dark brought his arms up to protect his face as the light scattered around him, pounding at his skin and clothes. When the barrage ended, he slumped forward with a dizzy gasp, looking for his opponent. His coat was frayed by the blast, torn roughly open on one side. He spotted Krad coming down at him from above and jumped sideways, narrowly escaping the attack. The white angel threw a wide punch at his counterpart while he was recovering, but Dark caught his fist, twisted, and threw Krad over his shoulder to land on his back. Krad's impact with the earth sent faults across the cement, chunks of stone that had already blown loose rattling eerily.

Jirou stared at both angels, frozen in place. These two were causing real damage… The crowd in the schoolyard was panicked and pressing toward the school's narrow gateway, sifting out into the safety of the street like sand from an enormous hourglass. He realized that Krad had been right; he had to get out of the way. "Inside," he'd said before. Looking at the school's ruined front door, he ran for it, nearly falling as he slid on the shattered glass. Jumping through the broken doorframe, he ran in and around a corner until he felt he could duck safely out of way of flying glass if needed, but still close enough that he could see what was going on. He pressed himself to the wall and fought the urge to run deeper into the school, worried about the fight going on outside.

Krad lay breathless from his impact with the cement, his body not quite willing to move. He shook his head dizzily as Dark's face appeared above him. "Revenge, murder, I'm so tired of your stupid games," the black-winged angel snarled, throwing a burst of energy down into Krad's chest to punctuate his words.

"If you think it's a game, then obviously I am not playing hard enough," Krad grunted, raising his hand to fire up at Dark. Instead, three more bolts of black-violet energy shot into him, and the spell fizzled in his hand. His chest felt like it was hit by a jack-hammer, and he had the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. He drew a tight breath, glaring. "How is your little wing host? Did you have your happy little reunion, or maybe he moved on without you?" he rasped. Dark's eyes narrowed, like a wasp had stung him and he was trying not to flinch.

It wasn't much, but Krad used the opening to fire a decoy shot up at Dark and regain his feet. He tore off his coat, giving his wings room to maneuver, and began beating them for a takeoff. "No you don't," Dark shouted, jumping forward just in time to catch onto Krad's ankle. With a fierce twist of his hands, he managed to send Krad stumbling back to the ground.

"Why stop me? I thought you'd be glad for a change of location," Krad demanded, truly baffled by Dark's actions. Truth be told, he didn't want to be stuck here with his wings hanging out when the cameras showed up.

"The crowd's already gone, we're settling this now," Dark said, throwing a punch at Krad's face.

Krad just snarled and spun around to Dark's back to throw another ball of power at the angel. The light exploded like a grenade at Dark's back, and it was all he had time for just to throw a shield up around his skin. His coat and shirt shredded apart beneath the impact, leaving one of his wings hanging loose from the fabric. Krad blinked and studied it, perplexed. Something about it was wrong…it didn't hang right. A cold feeling settled in Krad's gut, and he wasn't sure why. "Why not fight in the air?" he demanded, quietly.

"Because I said we're settling this here!" Dark roared, whirling on Krad with a hook punch that sent him flying sideways. The white angel desperately grabbed the front of Dark's shirt and dragged him down with him, and they tumbled across the ruined pavement.

Krad was always slightly stronger where magic was concerned, while Dark had more in the way of brawn, so it wasn't a huge shock to him that Dark was able to come out on top in their grappling session. What surprised him was how fierce Dark's movements were. The black-winged angel tugged Krad sideways and pinned him harshly on his back to the cement with his head hanging off the edge of the staircase. Dark's free wing still hung oddly behind him, and Krad frowned at it. "What's wrong with your wings?" he demanded.

"Nothing, you nosy bastard," Dark glared.

"You're hiding them. What is it?" Krad set his gaze stubbornly.

"You…" Dark's rage was thick enough to taste like gas in the air. One spark, and boom. "…Keep your damned mouth shut."

Krad raised his eyebrows. "Oh, my, you're being awfully scary," he mocked, throwing his weight to the side and working to break free of Dark's grip. The two angels locked on their sides, neither gaining a real upper hand. Krad's gaze grew more serious, even impatient. "It's obviously not normal, so talk."

"You know exactly what's wrong with it," Dark growled, pulling his fist back and using the short proximity he had to throw a punch into Krad's stomach.

Krad coughed and narrowed his eyes, unable to get his hands free to strike back. "Enlighten me," he grunted through the effort of keeping Dark's wrist from getting enough room for a second punch.

"Why did you ditch in the middle of the spell," Dark demanded, pressing his face close to Krad's. He hurled his weight and came back on top of the gold-haired angel. Krad didn't offer much resistance; he seemed to have suddenly gone still for some reason.

The black angel drew his hand back and punched the white angel across the cheekbone. Dark was trembling with hopeless anger, glaring down at Krad. "Two years, two years taught you nothing! You selfish, arrogant, sadistic bastard!" he shouted, throwing blow after blow into Krad's jaw until Krad finally caught his wrists in each hand and their arms locked between them.

"You intended to keep me there, in that hell for eternity!" Krad shot back, but he looked stunned.

"Yes! Because you'reevil, Krad. The only thing you know how to do is hurt people!" Dark's free wing arched upward, echoing his anger.

"You can't fly?" Krad finally said it like a question, but there was more than curiosity in his voice.

Dark's nails dug in against Krad's arms. The white angel looked the worse for wear, his shirt torn to shreds and his face bleeding. "I loathe you, Krad," he hissed, "But I've never once shot for your wings." He threw each word out like a curse, as if he regretted his sportsmanship.

"You-," Krad's sentence chopped off as the ground began vibrating under his back. It was a small, distinct movement. "What the…" Dark had stopped wrestling his arms, which was good because he'd forgotten to push back. Then everything happened at once. A fierce shudder ran through the cement into them both, like the earth was trying to break itself apart.

"Are you doing that?" Dark asked.

"No," Krad said, glancing over his shoulder at the ground suspiciously. Another shudder ran through them, stronger this time. The pavement cracked under them and a portion of the staircase shifted downward half a foot, sending the angels off balance. They tumbled sideways down the stairs, both catching their grip about half way down. The vibrating was a constant tremor now, a drumbeat for the larger shakes. A terrible rumbling sound was in the air, and it was difficult to tell if it was coming from the earth or from all around them. A water main burst on the street outside the school, adding gushing water to the chorus.

A sharp scream came from the air above them. Dark and Krad both looked up. The voice was near the upper level of the school. "Dark!" the voice screamed again.

The angel narrowed his eyes and spotted Risa standing at the railing in the bell tower. He started to wonder what the heck she was doing up there, then remembered telling her to find someplace safe. "Get out of there!" he shouted up at her as the earth lurched again. Visible cracks spread up the brick walls of the school.

"The door's stuck!" she screamed back, clutching onto the railing to keep from falling over.

Dark straightened up, alarm cutting into his anger from before. The building wasn't looking good. If it collapsed with her up there… He scrambled to his feet, sore all over from fighting Krad. He cast a look back at his counterpart, as if warning him not to try anything, and made a run for the building. This didn't seem real, but it was a constant possibility in this particular area's geography. Japan and its stupid earthquakes… Dark jumped through the broken door and skidded on glass on the other side, skating into the opposite wall. The angel caught the wall with his hands and pushed himself sideways, his sneakers finally finding traction on the tile floor.

He ran for the sign that read 'stairs' and burst into the stairwell. Another tremor staggered him against the wall. He kept his footing and continued running upward, using his arms as bumpers to keep from smashing into the sides of the stairwell. A deafening moan of twisting steel echoed through the walls. The school's framework was threatening to collapse. All Dark could think about was Risa trapped at the top of the building. He forced his legs faster, his heart leaping in his throat. Bursting out at the top of the stairwell, he panicked for a moment when he didn't see how to get up to the bell tower. Then he spotted the smaller doorway to his right and turned the knob. It was stuck. He had to slam his full weight into the door to open it. It seemed the building had affected the doorframe when it shifted, but at least it still worked.

He ran up the extremely narrow staircase that wound up to the bell tower, needing both hands on the walls of the corridor to stay balanced, and found a door at the top, presumably the one Risa couldn't open. Dark tried turning it first, rattling the knob forcefully as he shouted "Risa!" through the door. He faintly heard an answering cry from the other side. "Get away from the door!" he yelled, drawing back and kicking it with all his strength. The wooden door crackled under the impact, but there was no rattling, no shifting of hinges. The doorframe was thoroughly pinned by the brick around it, too tight to give.

Dark threw kick after kick into the door, until his hair clung to his skin, damp with effort. The tower lurched, throwing Dark back against the wall across from the door. Clusters of stone and rubble were showering down from the ceiling, annoying his eyes and throat. "No..no no, not her too!" he could have screamed, but instead he threw all his focus into a ball of blazing violet energy and launched it into the door at point-blank range. He crossed his arms over his face against she spray of debris and splinters of wood, then finally looked up to see a few patches of sunlight drifting through the battered door.

More hopeful now, the angel held on to the wall for balance and kicked firmly at the edges of the hole, pounding away clumps of ruined wood to widen it until he could get through. The roof was collapsing behind him as he broke through the door into the blinding sunlight. Even if the world wasn't already clearly lopsided, the angle the large school bell was hanging at screamed that that the tower was tilted at least by a 20 degree angle. Risa was holding tight to the higher end of the tower, as far from the door as she could get. She looked up at him, relieved, trusting, like she was certain they'd be okay now.

Dark wasn't so sure. There was no way they'd make it back the way he'd come, and the tower was about to fall. They were three stories up; it was no joke.

His doubt must have shown on his face, because Risa held her hand out toward him. "Let's go! Don't give up!" she screamed to him over the noise, gripping the railing as the ground lurched another foot to the side. Her eyes found his and held them, nervous and hopeful. "Use them!" she pleaded.

Dark grimaced, not seeing much choice other than to try. He ran towards her, ripping off what remained of his coat in the same movement, and arched his wings at his sides. He could feel the air tingle through his wings, every feather alive with the memory of flight. He pulled Risa up into his arms in a swift, powerful movement, jumped up to the railing, and launched off the falling tower, thrusting his wings outward like an eagle grasping for the currents of the sky. The wind filled out under them, hooking them upward in an exhilarating, victorious lift.

Dark's eyes glittered with hope and agony. Pain laced through his wings and back, but he was fighting it, he was flying, winning. He drew a tight, fierce breath and struggled to stay above the sensation, stay focused. But then a paralyzing numbness spread through him, like a limb that's fallen asleep, and suddenly his body was deaf to his instructions. His wings jerked upward like a broken kite, and a moment later they were in freefall, still twenty five feet above the ground.

"Dark! DARK!" Risa's worried voice sounded miles away as Dark struggled to move, to hold the wind again like he had a moment ago.

"I can't," he gasped, and wasn't sure if the words made it to his lips. It was all he could do to twist backwards so that he was between Risa and the ground and spread his wings as much as he could bear to slow their descent. Branches blew past them as they neared the ground. In a last ditch effort, Dark gripped Risa tightly and 'threw' her upward as hard as he could, slowing her fall in the only minor way possible. Her choked scream was the last thing Dark heard before he blacked out.

Krad took more time than he wanted to in getting back to his feet after Dark ran off. Those last few shots to his chest and face left him feeling breathless and disoriented. He held one arm across his ribs, touching what remained of the railing with his other hand. The ground lurched again beneath his feet, and he cast it a furtive glare like that might stop it from moving. A wild groan of twisting metal drew his gaze to the school. The building wasn't faring well. It would probably collapse. A loud crash sounded from just inside, sending rubble rolling out into the hallway behind the shattered front doors.

Definitely going to collapse, he updated his assessment, turning to survey the area around them. The street was abandoned now, with no one remaining in the schoolyard. Other buildings were showing signs of damage, but most were newer structures and residences with more modern architecture behind them. The water main was spewing forth water some twenty or thirty feet into the air, flooding out a portion of the street's cracked pavement. Sirens sounded in the distance. Somehow Krad doubted the police would prioritize "birdman sightings" over earthquake damage, so there was little threat anyone would be coming anytime soon.

A faint shout of pain reached his ears, and the angel scoured the area to find it's source, taking a few steps down the ruined front path. He'd thought there was no one in the yard. It wasn't until he heard the voice again that he realized it was coming from the collapsing building. On top of that, he abruptly recognized the voice. He spun his attention back towards the building, gold eyes flashing over what he could see of the inside. That stupid kid was still in there…

He jogged toward it, waiting to hear the sound again and judge where the kid was. And then do what? He grimaced, pausing mid-step. Diving into collapsing buildings to save scrawny wingless necks was Dark's area of absurdity. And there was no doubt, the school was coming down. No sooner had he thought it than the ceiling above the front doors began to crumble, ready collapse in on itself.

"…aster!" the voice screamed again, and this time Krad was close enough to pinpoint it. Against his better judgment, he walked forward, nearly under the collapsing foyer, and peered down the hallway. Jirou's arm was the only thing visible in the dusty light of the semi-collapsed hall. From the angle of the hand, it looked like the boy had been pinned down on his stomach. There was no way to tell from Krad's vantage point how much of his body was trapped, but evidently his head was still free, since he was doing a good enough job yelling. Yelling for him…there was an odd concept. The angel's mouth twitched up into a grin, but it didn't stick. Another cry echoed from the end of the hall, but it wasn't intelligible, sounding more like a sob than a coherent cry for help.

The roof chose that moment to give way, collapsing downward in two huge segments. Krad's mind had enough time to think that it would be impossible to retrieve the boy once the passage was blocked. It started as a passive thought, but faltered and picked up a different momentum with a flare of unexplained panic.

"The only thing you know how to do is hurt people!"

Suddenly he was lunging forward. He didn't know why, didn't even entirely want to, but he was still doing it with a fervent urgency he didn't understand. He centered himself under the falling structure and threw his hands up, catching its sinking weight. His spine bowed under the enormous mass, sending warnings through his body that it wasn't designed for this. He sucked in breath and groaned with the effort, shuddering. "Kid!" he snarled, feeling like he might snap in half if he let too much air out of his lungs. If there was a response, he couldn't hear it through the blood rushing in his ears.

Crap, if the boy couldn't get out, he'd need to get in. How was he supposed to hold this thing up and reach the other end of the hallway? With a careful effort, he walked his hands in quick, sliding movements a few inches at a time until he'd made it about four feet to the left. He faltered as his left hand slid to an uneven surface and he nearly dropped the whole thing down on himself. With a sharp groan of effort, he lost his overhead grip and dropped the weight to rest just above his shoulders, shuddering under the pressure. "Damn it, Jirou!" he screamed down the corridor, sucking in quick, tight breaths. It was the first time he'd used the kid's name, but hey, who was counting.

-oOoOo-

Satoshi cursed under his breath as he ran down the ruined sidewalk like his life depended on it. His lungs felt ready to burst, and what was worse, he was already too late. The tremors seemed to have stopped, though that was never a sure thing with earthquakes. His elbow still stung through his black collared shirt where he'd fallen and skinned it after one particularly rough tremor. He'd hoped he could warn Dark and Risa in time, but it seemed everything had already happened. That didn't stop his adrenaline from surging as his shoes pounded the cement. He finally saw the school gates up ahead. One of the brick pillars had cracked up the middle, but they both still stood. The building, however, wasn't so lucky. He could tell that much even before he'd reached the gates and looked in at the destruction.

He paused there between the pillars, regaining his breath and trying to make sense of the scene. So much dust was in the air that it was difficult to see any detail, but he did hear someone shouting up near the building itself. Someone was alive up there.

Covering his mouth and nose with his sleeve, he ran towards the front of the school, where he'd heard the sound. As he grew closer, he made out the silhouette of the person, and his breath caught. "Dark?" he called out, running up the broken stairs. The male figure was trembling under some enormous strain, wings arched backward and down, but it turned its head to look at him as he approached.

Satoshi stopped short. He was three yards away now, and from here he could tell that the wings weren't black, but white. What really paralyzed him, however, were the glowing gold eyes that glared at him over the figure's shoulder. No…this wasn't possible…

Krad was distracted by the sight of the wing host as well, almost losing his focus on the enormous weight above him. "Sssatoshi-ssama," he strained, snapping his neck forward again. He couldn't afford to spare any attention from his current task, but it was impossible not to react to the boy.

Frowning warily at his former angel, Satoshi edged closer to see exactly what Krad was doing. His mind was whirling with too many thoughts to process, but somehow curiosity came out on top. He heard a distant cry come from inside the ruined building. He stopped just outside the roof Krad was holding up and eyed the angel warily. People were trapped inside. And Krad was trying to save them? He didn't believe it, not for a second. "Someone's crying," he said to the angel testingly.

"I can't hear-…" Krad snapped, wincing in concentration.

Satoshi crossed in front of the angel, stepping under the roof Krad was holding in order to do so. He moved slowly, ready to jump out again if this turned out to be a trap. He looked over the angel's scratched skin and torn clothing, his gold-blonde hair hanging in weary strands across his shoulders. It was really him. "How are you here?" he demanded, fighting to keep his voice from shaking.

"Ho? Did Dark…forget…to tell you?" Krad rasped, accusation making it into his tense voice. He'd heard what Satoshi called him when he first approached. So the kid was in league with Dark now. The weight above him felt suddenly heavier, if that was possible. His eyes drifted to the dirt and scrapes on Satoshi's clothes. "Clumsy brat, like always," he hissed.

"You don't look terrific either," Satoshi returned angrily. "Drop this roof on me, and I will not forgive you," he warned, taking a cautious step further into the ruins.

"My heart….grows cold…" Krad snarled between ragged gasps. He couldn't afford any more energy for arguing with him. But he believed the Hiwatari would do as he promised, and like it or not, Krad needed help. "Hurry up," he winced.

Satoshi couldn't believe he was trusting Krad to keep a building from collapsing over his head. He had to use both hands to navigate the wreckage and make his way over the piles of rubble, until Krad was just a blurry form behind him, silhouetted against the brightness outside.

Every good instinct he had screamed to get out now, but for some reason he continued forward. "Hello?" he called out.

"Here!" a small voice called from just beyond the rubble he was standing on.

Satoshi scrambled over the pile to find a young boy, maybe ten years old, pinned to the ground by a chunk of brick wall. He looked up at Satoshi in confusion, as if he didn't expect him there, but then seemed to accept it. "I can't feel my legs," he said tightly, all his composure wound like an overstretched rubber band that could snap at the slightest pressure. It was clear he was trying very hard not to cry.

Satoshi frowned at his words. That didn't sound good. He crouched next to the boy and saw blood leaking under the brick, which pinned his lower back and legs. Grabbing the edge of the stone slab, he heaved upward on it. It was incredibly heavy, but it did budge. Unfortunately, there was no way Satoshi was going to get it completely out of the way and be able to set it down. "I need you to drag yourself out. Use your arms if you have to," he told the boy.

Jirou used his elbows and shimmied out of the pile. His right leg did move to help a little bit, which Satoshi took as a good sign that he wasn't paralyzed, but there was a deep gash across the back of both legs that was bleeding heavily. As soon as he was clear, Satoshi dropped the slab with a heavy thud and turned to the child. The older boy pulled him up by the shoulders and cradled him as gently as possible against his chest, but there was no way to avoid hurting him as his other arm supported him under the knees of his torn legs. The boy groaned, squeezing tears from his eyes. Definitely not paralyzed. "Is the white one okay?" he asked, gripping Satoshi's arm.

"What?" Satoshi blinked.

"The two fighting, a black one and a white one, did the white one win?" he said earnestly. The older boy frowned. The kid was assuming he'd seen the fight, which meant everyone else had, too. The publicity was not a good thing. It would change everything, but he wasn't ready to think about it yet.

"He's fine," Satoshi said without enthusiasm, wondering what could possibly be deluding the boy to make him worry about Krad. He decided to focus on getting them out, climbing with the boy back towards the exit. Getting over the rubble was a little more difficult with the child in his arms than it had been going in, but a handful of seconds later they were back within sight of Krad and the exit.

Satoshi was stepping around a pile of rubble when he stumbled over something too soft to be stone. He glanced down and felt his stomach twist. He'd just stepped on a human arm, and a child's at that. Satoshi stared down, fighting back a wave of nausea. A young girl lay at his feet; one more step and he'd have crushed her head. She was lying very still, covered in so much dust that he hadn't even noticed her on his way in.

Satoshi's legs had turned to lead, which made it easy to kneel down next to the young girl's body. A soft sound drew his eyes down to Jirou, who was also staring at the body.

"Hitomi…that's Hitomi. Is she dead?" he nearly whispered, his hands balling in the front of Satoshi's shirt.

The older boy frowned and reached to her neck for a pulse. It thrummed healthily under his fingertips. Satoshi felt like he'd been stuck underwater and suddenly burst to the surface. "She's just passed out," he said, not liking how detached his voice came out. His gaze then dropped to the probable cause of her condition – a steel beam that had collapsed on her arm. This presented a new problem. The end of the beam was pinned under the heap of rubble he'd just climbed over.

"What are you stopping for?" Krad demanded.

"There's another child here," Satoshi snapped, his nerves shot.

"Leave her!" Krad yelled.

"It'll only take a second, Krad," Satoshi shot back, shifting Jirou's weight into his left arm and pulling at a loose chunk of stone that tumbled easily off to the side. The beam visibly eased, flexing up slightly from the girl's hand. One or two more, and he'd be able to pull her out.

"Get out!" Krad howled impatiently, his voice thick with anger.

"She's almost out," Satoshi snapped, throwing another boulder out of the way. The steel beam shifted with a groan. Yes, he thought as the girl's arm shifted, meaning he'd be able to move her.

"For once in your life, do as I say!" Krad snarled, shifting the roof downward threateningly. "Away from her now, or I drop the roof."

Satoshi froze, glancing up at the ceiling as it lurched about a foot and stopped in a rain of dust and debris. Krad would do it. He always meant what he said. He would really drop the roof on them. Why he hadn't done so already was beyond Satoshi's comprehension.

"Ten seconds!" Krad roared. "Nine! Eight!"

Warily, Satoshi leaned away from the girl and stood up. Adrenaline rushed through him, telling him to get out. Before the angel could count down any further, he burst into a scrambling run for the exit. They were about four feet away when Krad let go without warning and threw himself out of the way. With a loud grinding sound, the roof collapsed downward. Satoshi dug his feet in and literally dove for the ground outside the school, escaping the cave-in by a fraction of an inch.

He pushed himself up on bruised elbows to take his weight off Jirou, who was unconscious. There hadn't been much choice except to land on top of the kid.

Satoshi pushed up to his knees and glanced at his surroundings only to be jolted sideways by a hook to his jaw. Krad was standing over him, looking ready to take another shot. "Stupid brat, you never listen," the angel scowled.

The Hiwatari flushed, overcome with anger. He thrust up to his feet, drew back and slugged Krad's jaw with everything he had. The hit connected and sent the angel staggering sideways. Satoshi grabbed his shoulders and threw him along with the movement, slamming him up against a slab of wall that still stood beside them. Surprisingly, Krad's body moved easily where Satoshi guided it, his head even smacking backwards into the stone before the angel managed to raise it up again and glare at Satoshi. Satoshi just glared back. "That little girl is dead! I could have saved her! But you had to threaten me, and then drop the building on us anyway! You're right, I will never listen to you, because you're a lying, two-timing bastard!" Satoshi seethed, throwing a punch at the center of the angel's chest.

"You're a greater fool than I estimated if you'd think for a second I'd risk destruction waiting for you," Krad hissed. His right hand shot up and caught Satoshi's punch, while he used his other hand to shove the boy away from him.

The angel's wrists trembled wildly with the relatively weak effort, making Satoshi back off and study him. No matter how much adrenaline he had, roughing up Krad was not something Satoshi had enough manpower to accomplish, and yet he was fighting the angel almost blow for blow. It didn't inspire any hesitation in the boy; he couldn't think of anything at the moment that could make him forgive Krad for shafting them, nor for the hundred prior grudges he'd had the last two years to dwell upon.

"Where did Dark go? I assume you didn't kill him," Satoshi said harshly, the memory of his original purpose for being there competing with his desire to go at it with Krad until one of them stopped twitching.

Krad's expression twisted with disgust. Satoshi really was siding with Dark. "You dare take his side… Again!" he growled.

"I don't give a shit about Hikari blood and Niwa blood. I want Daisuke and my girlfriend back, and then I want nothing more than for both of you to go back to whatever holes you crawled out from and stay there. Now which way did he go?"

"I couldn't possibly care less about how you reunite with the allies you've chosen," Krad hissed, his arms tensing as if to strike, but his wings hung at his sides without enthusiasm. Every muscle in his body felt like it was about to collapse, burning like his heart was pumping acid instead of blood. He wanted Satoshi to get lost before his expression started showing it. Satoshi was the last person he wanted to see how weak he was.

He'd overestimated his strength holding up the cave-in, and it forced him to back out earlier than he thought to keep his body from snapping in half. Satoshi thought it was an intentional trap, and that was probably for the best. Satoshi was a logical person. He'd only push a fight if he knew Krad was weak. Krad didn't want to move, let alone fight again today. "Guess you'd better start looking," he said coldly.

Satoshi shook his head in disdain, taking a wide path around the angel on his way to Jirou's side. He was going to have to start looking for them at the hospital, because the kid didn't have much time. Scooping the boy up in his arms, he cast a watchful look at Krad to be sure he hadn't moved. The angel's eyes followed him with a dark glare. Sighing in disgust, Satoshi turned his back on him and descended the steps at a jog, rushing toward the hospital.

Krad winced and staggered back a step, dropping to a seat against the ruined wall. His body throbbed mercilessly, inflaming the dozen uneasy thoughts that were racing through his head. He'd leave as soon as he could, but for now he hunched forward and held his breath to keep from yelling.

TBC…

-oOoOo-

These things keep getting longer and longer! I'm on page 13 here. Oh well, this one was slow going because of the fight scenes and a lot of difficult emotional bits. Also, just thought I'd say that my creative 'soundtrack' for writing this part was "Coming Undone" by Korn. It's so perfect for this particular fight and the earthquake scene. I'd love to hear how people reacted to this chapter!

Coming up, the whole game changes after the public - and the enemy - learn of Dark and Krad's return.

Shout outs:

Dianna rose – Glad you like it! Hm, Krad with a cute girl, eh? Depending on your definition of cute, you may be seeing that very soon (wink).

CelloSolo2007 – You write such wonderful, detailed reviews! Thank you for all your feedback!

Jade Taylor – Thanks for giving it a try! I'll try to update fairly regularly, but rest assured that the story is definitely planned through, and I don't plan on dropping it : ) Thanks for your review!

Peppymint – Thanks for reviewing! I think you're right about losing his wings being a traumatic experience for Dark, and I'll probably do just what you suggested in the next chapter.

Bansheegrrl – Haha, sorry about all the cliffhangers. I have trouble finding good stopping points lol. I guess this one's a cliffhanger too in some respects….oops X) Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!

Stormshadow13 – Cool! I'm thrilled the chapter brightened your day, that's such a cool thing to hear as a writer! Unfortunately Jirou did sort of get hurt, oh well. You're right, Dark's in for it when Krad finds him. I keep laughing every time I read your Risa comment, because it's so true lol. Albeit I have been trying to make her a functional character, but I can't change the fact she's so melodramatic P. There are some good sides to that kind of personality, like being idealistic or optimistic when everyone else is jaded and practical, but she can also be very hard to make likeable at times. Your earthquake question is a very good point, but I'm gonna say this one's unrelated to Dark and Krad. Just Japan being Japan. Thank you for your awesomely thorough reviews! They always help me think of the next part!