Riku waited impatiently while the phone rang, spinning one of her crutches on its axis as she
Part 17:
Time to Choose
oOoO-0-OoOo
Hello all!I'm so sorry about how long this chapter took to come out. I've gotten settled down into a good, permanent job now and moved to a new apartment, so I think I'm good to update this much more regularly. For those poor, wonderful people who have been waiting coughfourmonthscough for this chapter, here is a tiny recap:
While waiting to see if he could recover the use of his wings, Dark agreed to go with Risa to a local high school festival. Incidentally, this was also the high school of Krad's human acquaintance, Jiro, who managed to talk Krad into making an appearance at the event. It didn't take long for Dark and Krad to notice each other's presence, and soon they were battling in the center of a fleeing crowd. Matters went from bad to worse when an earthquake brought the fight to a necessary halt.
Driven by unexpected sympathy for Jiro, who had become trapped under debris, Krad made an effort to extract the boy, only to be discovered mid-task by Satoshi. The two formed an uneasy alliance to perform the rescue and appeared to be working together, but Krad dropped the structure without warning, nearly killing Satoshi and the boy and leaving another dying child trapped. The resulting argument ended in a draw as Krad stood down and Satoshi left to bring the injured Jiro to a hospital.
Meanwhile, Dark discovered that the missing Risa was trapped on the bell tower at the top of the collapsing school building. Though he managed to reach her in time, his wings were unable to fly them both to the ground safely, and they took the fall for the last two stories. After surviving their fall, they now wait for Riku to arrive at the park to retrive them.
-o-o-O-o-O-O-o-O-o-o-
Dark drew a slow, deep breath and let it out. The sun had fallen below the horizon now, and the air was slowly acquiring a chill. Muted sirens rang in the distance as the city dealt with the aftermath of the earthquake. Risa was sitting very still next to him, huddled under his arm. Her breathing had finally calmed to a soft, shallow rhythm, and her tears were trying in salty tracks on her cheeks.
She looked exhausted, and he felt the same way. After all, she'd been crying for his sake, and he still didn't know if that made him mad, depressed, or relieved. He didn't feel pitiful, and he didn't want to be pitied. On the other hand, he didn't want to be alone either. But he wasn't ready yet to panic. It was just a matter of getting his wing host back, if he was still alive. And getting his wings to fly again…then figuring out what to do with himself in a mortal body, and making sure Krad didn't cause any more trouble.
The problems ran up like a to-do list in his mind, surrounded by scrambled webs of rational solutions and probably outcomes. He'd been able to approach it all like some kind of machine repair, reducing his life to simple terms of cogs and gears,
Until a few minutes ago.
A few minutes ago, Risa had started crying, for him, and as he'd awkwardly held her, wishing she would stop, his logical world had stopped making sense. Like an air conditioner in January, it had simply ceased to apply.
"What are you thinking about?" Risa's voice, a little raw from her tears, drifted up from next to him.
Dark looked down at the top of her head. She was looking straight forward, possibly at the ruined school building. He tried to think of what he was thinking about. "This might not make any sense to you, but I think my thoughts made more sense when they were jumbled with someone else's."
Risa paused, apparently thinking that one over in her head. "You know…Dark, with people, we don't have any wing hosts or soulmates to magically bind to our minds and understand us," she said very tentatively. She even looked up and met his eyes, monitoring his expression. "I can't imagine what it's like to lose something like that…but with normal people, we just…We have to tell each other what we're thinking." She had begun talking with her eyes closed without realizing it. She cracked one lid open to see what Dark thought of her words.
The angel had his head cocked slightly to the side, expression blank. "Risa, I, uh, knew that," he carefully stated the obvious, wondering what in the world she was getting at but being careful not to embarrass her.
"No, I know you know that," Risa floundered. "But what I'm trying to say is that you, when you feel things, and you don't have a wing host, you have to tell people about them."
Dark blinked. "What? Why should I do that?"
"So that they know!"
"How is that necessary?"
Risa stared at him in disbelief. "If no one else knows how you're feeling, that's when people go crazy, that's why," she half-scolded him.
The angel spent a few moments to attempt understanding. "Risa, I'm not human. I'm not even sure it's possible for me to go crazy."
Risa threw up her hands, giving up. "I had no idea how sociopathic you were. No wonder we didn't work."
Dark registered what she meant by 'we' and emptied his face of expression. "It was more complicated than that."
She immediately wished she hadn't brought it up. The heat radiating from his mortal body beside her abruptly came to the fore of her senses, and her stomach tightened. "Sorry," she murmured.
"Just rest," Dark sighed. "If your sister's not here in two minutes, we'll make our own way."
-o-o-O-o-O-O-o-O-o-o-
Riku combed her fingers through her bangs tensely while the phone rang, spinning one of her crutches on its axis on the white kitchen tile. She sat on a barstool next to the counter, her good foot perched on the top rung of the stool while her cast-bound leg hung unsupported. She ground her teeth while the phone rang again. Her nerves showed on her face, and in this setting, they seemed out of place. Her house was spacious and neat, brightly lit by wide picture windows, the same as always. There was a lingering smell of a chicken roast that had been made the night before. Finally, a click sounded on the other end of the line. "Satoshi, are you there?" she prodded.
"Hey. I'm here. Did you find them?" his voice came across after a moment's pause. A bit tense on his end also, she noticed, though she didn't particularly care at the moment. Then again, it could have been his normal voice.
"They're with me. We're waiting for you back at my place."
"Thanks for going all that way," Satoshi's voice said tiredly.
"On foot, with crutches, yeah, no problem. These two are scraped up pretty badly, too. Not like it would make more sense to walk them the quarter mile to your apartment, or anything." Riku's voice picked up. Her sarcasm seemed to lend her some energy.
"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important," Satoshi said, knowing he'd asked a large favor of her to make the trip to the school while injured. "I can't be positive, but probably, that whole crowd at the school has seen Krad's fight with Dark. As soon as the city's power is back up, Gorudo is going to hear about it, and it's going to raise a lot of questions. If he sends someone looking for me, I don't feel like explaining why Dark Mousy is sipping tea in my living room."
"You can explain it to me later. Just tell me when you'll be here. Please say you're not still at the hospital."
"I had to pick someone up. I should be there in five minutes. How are those two?"
Riku sighed impatiently. She turned in her chair and held the phone out into the room.
"Ouch! Be gentle, I'm wounded, jeez!" Risa's shrill voice came over the line.
"Stop whining and hold still. It's just antiseptic," Dark's stiff voice snapped.
"Well it hurts! Aaugh, aren't thieves supposed to have steady hands?"
"Not after falling off a building, no!"
"We'd be fine if you hadn't given up mid-flight!"
"I tried, but you're just so heavy," Dark groaned.
"Haah? I can't believe I cried for you, you butterfingered thief!"
"Who asked you to cry, idiot! …Hey, put that down, I'm not finished cleaning your—Gah!"
"How do you like the sting, eh?"
The receiver pulled away from the zoolike commotion and Riku's voice came back on. "That's the situation, so hurry up and get over here!" she snapped, and hung up.
Looks like we're on our own for a while," Riku said to her two feuding wards as she returned her phone to her purse. "Risa, stop wasting the peroxide," she said, swiping the bottle from her sister, who had used the substance to terrorize her opponent to the ground.
"Riku, he started it!" she protested, backing off a rather defeated-looking dark angel.
"Just…don't touch him. Dark, you should be lying down."
"I am," the angel groaned from his place on the floor.
"Could you please stop fooling around?" Riku huffed. The slowly rising whistle of a tea kettle on the stove cut off the cross remark she was about to issue to the smug thief that had apparently dropped her sister from a bell tower. She rolled her eyes and turned away from them both. Setting the peroxide down on the counter, she hopped to the stove and took the kettle off the flame, pouring it into the three tea mugs lined up on the counter. It was confusing even to her that she could act so calm around other people when her boyfriend had been missing, possibly dead, for the better part of a week. Now, here she was with Dark Mousy in her house, and it was all she could do to be civil. No matter how she looked at it, this situation was all because of him. Risa had to know that too…how could they both stand there bickering so casually?
"You guys are going to have to come over here if you want this. I'm not hopping across the room with hot tea."
Dark groaned as he stretched his sore muscles and got back to his feet. Hot tea sounded pretty good to him at the moment. "Thanks," he said charmingly as he crossed to the counter and picked up a cup.
He still smelled like grass and dirt, and his skin was smudged with debris from the fall. For all his cuts and scrapes, he didn't seem all that hurt. Riku was glad; it made it easier to distance him. The last time she'd seen him had been that night at the park, after Daisuke had been taken. Their parting had been awkward, and though neither of them had discussed it, the uncomfortable atmosphere had picked up where it left off when she'd found him and Risa at the park. To make matters stranger, Dark and her sister had been acting strangely since she found them. What the heck happened before she came?
"It's good," Dark said, watching her thoughtfully as he studied her expression.
Riku twitched, like she was surprised he'd spoken. She turned her look to him and couldn't quite remember what he'd said.
"The tea," Dark clarified, holding up the cup.
"Right. Yeah, of course," she improvised, staring at him like he had three heads. She tried to figure out what was going on behind those eyes, but his expression was as proud and confusing as ever.
"Dark, you do have a plan to get Daisuke back, right?"
The angel took note of the anxious stare Riku was suddenly giving him. The question was sudden, but he'd been expecting it. "Sure I do," he said with a composed grin.
"This isn't a game," Riku said.
"No, it's not," Dark agreed evenly. "I know what I'm doing."
It was pretty obvious that Riku's next question was going to be a frustrated "How?", but at that moment, the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it," Risa said, seeming grateful for an excuse to get away from the awkward conversation.
Dark turned his head and could hear the muffled voices of Risa and Satoshi meeting in the front hall, followed by the telltale silence of what was probably a kiss. He held back a grimace as the pair re-entered the room with their hands interlocked. There was something distinctly uncomfortable about the way the two touched, like it took careful tact on both their parts to keep their fingers woven between them. Why did that irk him so much? Satoshi made eye contact with him briefly, giving him a dull salute with his free hand. Dark nodded his acknowledgment and held to a safe, blank expression.
"Oh, please hold your applause till the end," another voice called the angel's attention back to the doorway. Hattori was strolling into the room, his thumbs hooked casually into the pockets of tan slacks. From the long, wet brown hair that was hanging untied around the man's shoulders and soaking dark tracks into his green shirt, he'd shown up on some rather short notice. Dark returned the veterinarian's sarcastic smile with a scowl that he was rather grateful to have an excuse to release. Hattori's grin widened slightly. "Oh dear, the birdman's in a bad mood. What is it? You need some sunflower seeds?" he urged sharply, cupping his hand to his ear.
Dark rewarded the comment with a flat stare and silence. Hattori walked up to the angel with his hand still glued to the side of his head and leaned exaggeratedly toward him. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me. Chirp once for yes, twice for no."
"Why exactly are you here?" Dark broke in with a stiff smile.
"Well, let's see…It could be that I just wanted to light up your day. But probably it's because Mr. Positive over here insisted I was needed. Goodness only knows why; you seem to be as nauseatingly healthy as ever," Hattori mused, rubbing his chin.
Dark's sardonic grin drifted without warning into something almost grim. "I see." The angel's odd change of tone left the veterinarian without any witty response and won attentive stares from Risa and Riku. If Satoshi had a reaction, it was hard to make out through his flatline expression.
Risa released Satoshi's hand and crossed over to where the Angel stood. "I don't know what your problem is," she said, turning on Hattori with her hands set on her hips, "but if you haven't heard, we've just had a very hard day. Would it kill you to show a little tact?"
"Yes, probably," the man concurred, but it was clear from the disappearance of his ever-present smirk that he'd noticed something was up.
"That's not funny," Risa said stubbornly. "You should understand better than anyone what he's lost, so stop being mean." The words had made it out of her mouth already when she realized that Dark might not want his emotions to become a matter of public discussion. She glanced back over her shoulder at him just in time to actually see the color drain from his face. Great…why was she always doing the wrong thing with him?
Hattori didn't miss the odd exchange between them. "Fine," he sighed. "I'll play nice with your boyfriend here."
"He's not my boyfriend. Satoshi is," Risa flared up, unfortunately sounding a little too defensive.
Hattori gave her a hard look, and both Dark and Satoshi noticed her expression falter. "Alright," Hattori said in a new tone, to change the subject. Suddenly he seemed to be actually attempting to defuse the situation.
"It's alright, Hattori," Satoshi said flatly. "The idea has already been explored," his eyes flicked to Dark, "and proven infeasible."
"Satoshi, that's unnecessary," Risa hissed, embarrassed and annoyed.
"If it is, then why are you over there defending him like a mother hen? In case you didn't notice, he doesn't need it," Satoshi returned.
"Hiwatari, we need to speak," Dark interjected firmly. "In private."
The room fell silent as the two men's eyes locked. Satoshi gave the faintest of nods. "In here, then," he gestured into an adjoining room that was generally used as a den. Without another word, Dark followed Satoshi through the doorway and closed it behind them, leaving the girls and the veterinarian in stunned silence.
"What in the...?" Risa murmured. She stared at the closed door and thought.
"They aren't fighting over you...Dark's got to know better than that, right?" Riku asked quietly, hobbling forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her sister.
"I really couldn't see that happening. From either of them," Risa responded. The faint ache in her voice didn't match the calm-set expression she wore as she said it.
"No, Satoshi definitely got jealous just now," Riku asserted, suddenly feeling protective of her sister. "And that perverted thief just doesn't like to lose, so he followed suit."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Hattori butted in, speaking in a low voice. He'd dropped into one of the kitchen chairs and was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and fingers clasped casually between his legs. His wet hair dripped irreverently on the kitchen tile.
"Can I get you a hair dryer or something?" Riku snapped at him.
"As a man, I believe my perception of the situation bears some weight," the vet shrugged. "And that looked like good ol' male rivalry. Can't say I really blame him, with the way you just cuddled up to birdboy."
"What? I was not cuddling!"
"Close enough. That true about you and him being a former item?"
Risa set her gaze sternly. "A long time ago, there was…something, but we were never together."
"Meaning what? You never kissed?"
"It was one-sided," Risa returned sourly.
"And if it hadn't been one-sided, then what?" Hattori crossed his arms expectantly.
"What do you mean, 'Then what'?" she shot back.
The vet leaned forward on his elbows and looked her in the eye. "I mean, if it wasn't one-sided, what would have happened?"
Risa blushed and did her best to look indignant rather than embarrassed. As obvious as the answer was, not only was that an awkward question to answer for a near-stranger, but it was hard to say in front of her sister and even harder to admit to herself.
"That would make it two-sided, then, idiot. Don't ask the obvious," Riku broke in on behalf of her flustered sister.
Hattori nodded as if he'd made a point, which left both girls giving him annoyed stares. "Since it's that obvious, I trust it's not a shock to you that Hiwatari would be able to draw the same logical deduction. So quit acting so damn confused that it shows up on his radar when you get bent out of shape protecting Dark.
"Dark's always protected us!" Risa growled as fiercely as she could without being heard in the next room.
"Oh really? One in enemy custody, possibly dead, your sister's ankle is broken, and you're like a bruised banana. If you ask me, his track record these past few days doesn't look so hot."
Silence filled the room. Risa felt a distinct urge to launch her teacup at the veterinarian's head, though she knew that wouldn't help. She exercised what she considered admirable restraint and decided not to respond.
But then Hattori followed up in a surprisingly sober tone. "You'd be best off not viewing people as heroes. Not Dark, not Satoshi, and not your friend Daisuke. It's too much to ask a real person to pull off.
The vet's words sounded so rooted in personal experience that Risa had to forget her anger for the moment. She stared at Hattori and tried to guess why he would say something like that so seriously. The stone-faced look in his eyes told her she wasn't getting a voluntary answer any time soon, and she wasn't feeling fond enough of him to try anyway.
There was still no sound making it to them from the next room. Risa wished she knew what was going on there. She and Riku took seats on the stools next to Hattori at the island counter, sitting idly in a manner more appropriate to a hazy bar than the Harada kitchen. Risa set her mind to exploring the pattern on the window drapes, waiting uneasily.
It wasn't until ten minutes later that the door swung open. Dark emerged, followed by Satoshi, their footsteps breaking the long silence. Satoshi looked tense; Dark was hard to read.
"Is everything alright?" Riku ventured as the two men stopped in front of them.
"The Gorudo corporation is sending an escort here any minute now," Dark said.
Risa's eyes grew large. "What? Why?" Her stomach was making a valiant effort to climb toward her feet.
Hattori blinked. "Check me if I'm wrong, but Gorudo's the one who abducted Daisuke. He's the bad guy here. And you just…gave them our location and invited them for tea?"
"Gorudo's building is extremely secure and I'm not familiar with the layout. If I want to find Daisuke, the first step is to get inside," Dark said confidently. If he was feeling uncomfortable with this plan, it wasn't showing.
"But if you're in custody, how can you help Daisuke?" Risa stammered, horrified by how calm he seemed about this.
"Thief, remember? Have some faith," the angel smirked.
"Satoshi, you can't actually be serious about this?" Risa turned to her boyfriend desperately. "What if they kill him?"
Satoshi shook his head. "I can think of a lot of reasons for them to want Dark, but I don't see killing him as one of them." Unlike Dark, thin stress lines were there around Satoshi's eyes. Jealous or not, he knew this was a gamble.
"You're not going there alone," Risa said firmly, looking back at Dark. "We should all go."
"No," Dark ordered calmly, but with clear authority. "I might not be able to keep the rest of you safe without my wings, and our agreement was to go alone." He looked at Risa's panic-stricken expression and tried to calm her with a reassuring grin. "I need the rest of you to support me from outside. Okay?"
Hattori frowned. "Not to be blunt, but how could we send you in, when we don't even know if Daisuke is alive? Shouldn't we be asking them to return him to us first?"
Dark shook his head, fighting the thought that Daisuke really might be dead. "Hostage exchanges are too messy and almost always unstable. I'm sure you've seen enough movies to know that. We can't afford that level of unpredictability, especially with the rest of you nearby. And since I don't intend to stick around there, unless I take care of this from inside the company, they'll just come after Daisuke again when I leave."
Riku tilted her head, a little impressed. "That actually made…a lot of sense," she murmured, winning a sour "thanks-so-much" glance from the angel. "So if we're really doing this, what do you need from us?"
Dark looked around at all of them approvingly. He reached into the pocket of his torn pants and produced a black, slightly flattened ovular stone about the size of two quarters. "This stone belonged to the Hikaris. I stole it once, a long while back. It was intended to be a kind of superior mood stone that could convey the thoughts of its owner, but it can be used as a communicator. If I give it information about myself," he said, pulling a feather from near his shoulder, "The person holding it should be able to hear everything I hear."
He held the stone flat in the palm of his left hand and touched the tip of the feather to the stone. The feather immediately floated from his hand, surrounded by a soft glow, and oriented itself vertically above the stone. Dark murmured a few quiet words that didn't sound quite like standard Japanese, and the feather "sank" into the stone, leaving the whole object with a faint, pulsing aura.
Looking up from his work, he turned to Risa and extended the stone to her. "I need you, Riku, and Hattori to stay near the Gorudo building with this. Stay on the street, and listen for instructions from me when it's time to break out."
"Whoah, whoah," Hattori interrupted. "Exactly how long do you expect me to sit in some van waiting for you to attempt to escape? Days? Weeks? The Gorudo corporation is ruthless, and it's taken a lot of luck for me to stay off their books. Frankly, I'll admit you hold a lot of scientific interest for me, but if you're this likely to be killed or kept, I hardly see the motivation to close my practice for god knows how long."
Dark rolled his eyes. "Fine, but if I leave injured, I'm seeking the services of a new vet."
Hattori ground his teeth and stared at his prize specimen. After a pause, he conceded, "I've got a van with tinted windows that should be secure. The three of us will stake out in that."
"Three? What about Satoshi?" Riku asked Dark.
"Satoshi will stay out of the area. He can provide you with information and help remotely." He took note of the girls' confused expressions and looked to Satoshi.
The young Hiwatari explained. "The Gorudo group knows me personally, and after the incident at the school, it's very probable that they'll be seeking me out. So far, we're fairly sure they don't know of any connection between me and Daisuke. That means I'm the only one of us who stands a chance of obtaining information from Gorudo. To operate diplomatically in these circumstances, I need to have the safety and maneuverability of distance." He met Risa's worried eyes. "I'll be in regular contact with you by phone," he said.
"Dark, you said that stone will tell us what's going on, but what if we need to talk to you?" Riku said, trying to wrap her head around the big picture.
"Hopefully you won't. If you do, you'll have to be creative," Dark said. "The stone only works one-way. I'm sure Satoshi could borrow a bug from the police department, but I wouldn't get past the front door without them removing it, and the equipment could be tracked back to its source, which would compromise Satoshi's safet—."
Everything fell silent as five sharp, rapid knocks sounded on the front door. Apparently, doorbells weren't aggressive enough for the Gorudo group. The unexpected noise made everyone in the room flinch slightly. Satoshi quickly collected himself, gave Dark a nod, and left the room, making his way to a private location on the second floor.
No one made a move for the door, so Dark walked down the hall, gesturing for the others to stay back in the kitchen. The knock resumed in the form of a vigorous pounding just as he reached the door. He turned the lock and threw it open, crossing his arms. The knocker, a tall, bald-headed man wearing a suit with the Gorudo emblem, arrested his hand in mid-motion and stared in mild shock.
"Dark Mousy?" he asked with a voice that could drill through glass, though it was blatant that the lean, winged figure standing calmly in front of him was the target he'd come to pick up. Two more similarly-dressed men stood behind him with equally uncertain expressions. "I heard you were turning yourself in, but I'll admit I didn't quite expect you to open the front door," he noted coldly.
"I was a bit surprised I opened it myself. Usually people ring the bell," the angel observed crassly.
"Fair enough," the man noted, his hand going to his hip. Too fast to see, he grabbed something at his side and drew it up toward Dark's neck. A squeak of fear came from the other end of the hallway as Risa watched. In the same instant, there was a flurry of motion, and then Dark was standing with one hand clenched around the pistol barrel, which had been safely directed upward. A dart, presumably drugged, stuck obscenely from the top of the doorframe. Riku pulled her sister, who seemed ready to scream, back from the hallway entrance, holding a hand over her mouth.
"What part of "willing to go" didn't you understand?" Dark hissed in irritation.
"We've studied your methods, Mr. Mousy," the suit said. "We each carry ID clearance for the Gorudo Corporation building. You will not have the opportunity to take them, you will not overhear our conversation, and you will not be conscious to map out the building while we bring you into custody. Now, we could do this the easy way, or the hard way," he said. On cue, the two men behind him each produced a pair of Berettas and pointed them squarely at Dark's head.
"I think you've got this wrong. I'm not pulling anything, I'm turning myself in to my proper owners," he noted.
The head man leaned in close to Dark's face and spoke in slow, fierce syllables. "If you want to do this, get your hand off of my gun."
Dark narrowed his amethyst eyes. If they were going to be that way, he didn't have much choice. Slowly, he lowered the gun back toward his neck, and his fingers unwound from the barrel. He'd been drugged once. It was not fun, and this time there was no wing host to retreat into while he recovered. Oh well, no point in griping. "Don't expect me to be talkative if you give me the hangover of my life," he disclaimed, lowering his open hands to his sides.
The dart was like of bolt of lightning, followed by what felt like having a sunspot across his entire field of vision. Dark was aware of falling and then being caught, though he didn't really feel the men's hands supporting him. In a matter of seconds, the only thing he was conscious of was the odd sensation that his windpipe was jammed with wool socks. He attempted to cough, but couldn't hear if he was successful or not. He hoped the idiots hadn't overdosed him. A moment later, he sank into blackness.
-o-o-O-o-O-O-o-O-o-o-
To be continued very soon! Some time in the next 10 days or so. I promise! Next chapter: Krad. Dark's not the only one getting himself into deep shit. For those of you who take interest in fan art, I did attempt to photoshop a drawing of the fight from chapter 15 (Dark and Krad). It's up on devart ID: Maiysokat, or you can find the link on my profile here.
Shout Outs!
Whateveri'mcalled, Peppymint, Iheartcandy, and cherryt – Thanks for reviewing! Your comments made me so motivated!
Stormshadow13 – Sorry for skimping on the Krad this chapter, but assuming you're still putting up with me after my protracted absence, I think the next chapter will be to your approval. It might also shed some light on your question about why Krad's the way he is (I liked your take on it, by the way!)
Dark Rose at Twilight – I'm so glad you reviewed, although unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I didn't succeed in updating faster than you (haha). I'm glad you like what's going on with Krad. "Disoriented with life" was an awesome way to describe it.
Relena – My earthquake expert! Thanks so much for your comments. The shit is definitely about to hit the proverbial fan here.
X lost fairytale – Awesome, thanks! I'm glad you found me, and it's really great to have feedback about who's in character, who's interesting, etc. I definitely use it when deciding what happens next.
Polish – Haha, yeah, Daisuke is going to have to reconfigure his head a bit when he realizes Dark's in the realm of the living.
Your reviews are what keep me going! Thank you so much for your comments! Those with strong opinions about what you want to see next, this is the time to say it!