Hey Everyone, finished my exams (hope I did well, feeling confident though ^_^)
Anyway here's the update as promised by the end of the month and guess what...IT's MY BIRTHDAY xxx.
So since I can't give you cake, here's the next chapter.
Enjoy! :D ^_^

Chapter 4

"We want him"...

..."Yes, he belongs to us"

"But you can't have him" she cried.

"Neither can you" they sneered.

Sooner or later you'll understand that he belongs with us!

Their laughs filling her with fear. She could see it engulf her into darkness. She could see him.

"Dan, what are you doing here, what's going on?"

He smirked, "I belong here"

"That felt so weird, what a weird dream." Runo woke up in her room that Marucho assigned to her. She sat up and started pondering on what she had heard Dan say in her dream. It felt so real but oddly enough, she hadn't felt afraid. She felt she needed to tell her dream and decided to tell the rest of the brawlers in the morning. She lay back down to sleep and was about to close her eyes when she noticed a figure at the edge of the room. She sprang out of bed afraid that it could be one of the shadow figures but it turned out to be Dan. She calmed down a bit and walked to him.

"Dan, what are you doing here" She blushed realising that he was in her room.

"I need to talk to you..."

She sat him down on her bed and waited for him to proceed. "I feel very strange, like I'm not myself anymore" He clutched his head in angst "I knew what was happening to Shun, I'm sure I had something to do with it but I didn't do anything to help him. It was like I wanted to torture him; I don't know what's happening to me, I..."

Runo hugged him; she could feel that he was in some pain, even if it was not physical. He calmed down. "Dan, I had a dream" I better tell him she thought. "You were with those figures and they claimed you, I told them you didn't but then you came and ..." She hesitated.

"I told you I belong with them" She looked at time, his gaze focused on the floor.

"How did you know?"

"I've had a similar dream and when Shun was being attacked, I felt someone repeatedly telling me that I'm one of them, I need to go, I'm sorry for disturbing you, bye Runo" He said standing up, about to leave the room. Runo jumped up and blocked his way. "This is not like you Dan, why do I feel like you're telling me half the truth." He stopped but stared at her, shocked at her actions.

"If I ever hurt one of you on purpose, what would you think of me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Runo" his voice was getting slightly louder, "that a time will come when I'll do something to harm one of you because I wanted to and couldn't help it. My will power and emotions will be tainted." He held his chest in hurt, "but I don't want to hurt anyone. I don't want to be the cause of someone's..." He hadn't finished. She didn't let him. She held on to him as tightly as she could, sobbing into his clothes. He felt her warmth; he had been so cold to her for the past few minutes when all she was doing was looking out for him. What happened to the optimistic Dan he used to be? He fell to his knees with Runo still holding on him tightly like an injured bird trying to escape. He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his head into her neck. Her sobs making him feel guiltier for making her feel this way. "Runo, I'm sorry"

Her grip on him became tighter until she could hear his heartbeat and he could hear hers. "Idiot" he could hear the smile in her insult and he smiled too. He rested his back on the wall for support. It seemed like neither one of them wanted to let the other one go. Runo sighed as she drifted to sleep in Dan's embrace. The thought pounding in her heart, "now I understand why I blush around him. I'm falling in love with him."

He closed his eyes in her warmth embrace. He blushed but he didn't care. He knew it, there was no doubt about it, and why else would he have come to her instead of Shun...He was falling in love with her. They fell asleep, their bakugan silently watching them.

"Dan, wake up" Drago said. Dan stirred, he opened his eyes and realised that he was still in Runo's room. The latter still peacefully sleeping in Dan's arms. He gently carried her to her bed and covered her with the quilt. It was the break of dawn and so everyone was supposedly still sound asleep. He made his way to the door, opened it quietly so as not to stir Runo from her sleep. He left the room and closed the door gently behind him. He walked down the corridor on his way back to his room. Drago jumped on to his shoulder.

"Dan, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just afraid that's all"

"You need to trust that, together- you, I, the rest of the brawlers and their bakugan, will prevail in these weird occurrences. You care about her, don't you?"

Dan blushed, "Yeah, I mean she's my friend and as a friend, I wouldn't want anything to harm her, that's all"

"You know you belong with us"

Their voices echoing in his head. Dan held his head in terror,

"Dan's what's wrong?" He couldn't answer, the pain intensified and he crouched beside the wall, his head still pounding. "Dan, hang on, I'll try to find the others" Drago said. The latter still being unable to respond. The voice becoming more and more intimidating. He felt the floor tremble until he could feel nothing underneath him. He and Drago fell into a darkness surrounded by commands and voices telling them to obey.

At the same time, Runo screamed.

"Runo, what's wrong?" Tigrerra asked.

She was holding her chest in pain, "Something's wrong, I can feel it"

Julie and Alice woke up in fright. Their bakugan also showing some concern. They had just experienced the same feeling. They got up from their beds, almost simultaneously and rushed out in to the corridor, making their way towards the source of the earlier screaming – Runo's Room.

The rest of the brawlers had woken up and rushed to Runo's room at the sound of her screaming. Alice and Julie tried to comfort her but she was still in angst. "Where's Dan, We need to find him"

"I'll go and check the cameras to see which way he had gone" Marucho said. As he was about to step out of the door, there was a deafening sound as all the windows in the house shattered and the shards flew haphazardly in the house. Shun rescued Marucho, just in time as a shard flew towards him. They took cover as the waited for the turmoil to cease.

There was a loud chime but there were no analogue clocks around Marucho's area, everything was digital more or less. The chimes got louder and louder until they were unbearable to hear; at the same time, it felt like the ground was shaking until it finally gave way. The guest wing of Marucho's house completely demolished. Shun, Alice, Julie, Runo and Marucho falling into an unseen abyss, their screams unheard but one thing was for sure, their screams were being overshadowed by a constant satisfied laugh, no three.

"We want him,

We need him,

He belongs to us..."

The figures grinned as three small balls flew from behind them and landed their respective shoulders.

The brawlers have no idea what they have.