The Coming Darkness

The tone Harley took was almost amusing. This was the Harley she'd first met so long ago.. David would have to get used to it for the duration of their lunch. Or was it dinner. "The group that started that whole ruckus yesterday. There was a man injured, so I went with to try and help. Apparently whatever it was that wanted to off them came back. Offed one of them and stuff happened, I guess." Kira blinked, glancing back quickly to see what Harley was talking about. She couldn't really catch it as whomever Harley saw was long gone, thus turned her eyes back on the road. "What happened?" She asked. A couple streets later, she slowed down to enter the parking structure of the buffet.

"I was hoping you knew..." He took a moment to rub his hands together. The air was getting colder and colder, or, at least it felt like it. He wanted to know what her deal was, but didn't want to ask, either. It felt personal. Though he did feel a great power coming off from her. Without noticing, words slipped out of his mouth. "Your ring..."

Silver looked down, about to respond when he mentioned her ring. She looked up at him with a bit of surprise in her face, then looked back down to her ring. She frowned even more, biting her lip at the thoughts returning to her head again. "I, um.. I'll explain that later... I have to see if I can find Volitaire's bo-" She stopped herself mid-word. She doubted he knew about Maya or Volitaire, and she didn't really want to be the one to tell him. She glanced up at him again. "..body..."

David nodded, listening to Kira's explanation of the recent events. When Harley noted Enzo trying to catch up with the car, he turned to see him giving up and stopping. He sighed and looked back forward. "A crazy person, perhaps?"

Enzo blinked. He was going to reassure her that Voli was alive and kicking, but Kenji did that before he could get a word out. "He-" "Volitaire is fine. His ring is still active." "H-how do you know?!" "Look at the colors in your ring, dumbass. The red color is still lit." Enzo looked at his Sky ring, which contained all of the 7 colors. All were lit but Suns. Enzo's eyelids lowered at the thought of Maya being gone. They would have to hold a funeral soon.

"Anyway, we're getting out of here. Is JD with you? Because we're going tonight."

"He's okay?!" Silver leaned against the tall building next to them and sighed a huge sigh of relief. "He lied to me again.." Her fists clenched up a bit, but relaxed when Kenji mentioned JD. "..He's upstairs in one of our rooms. He's hurt." Going? As in, going back home?

"I see.." Silver didn't really seem like she was in the mood to talk to anyone. "Well, we're supposed to be rounding people up, so.." For Enzo, finding Silver and JD was good enough for him. Volitaire and Eos could find their way back, right?


"..I'm going back inside to wait for the others." He nodded to Silver, and walked back into the hotel, where he ended up in the elevator heading to the top floor.

Reaching the Hotel as stealthily as his shadows coukd allow him he saw Enzo, Kenji, and what looked liked, Silver? Standing together looking as if they were conversing. "Aah..they're all alright.." Making his final shift through a shadow and more into the public he let Eos down and took her hand in case she was still feeling a bit weak. "They're all out already and it looks as if the battle may be over... We should go see what happened." Walking out of the alley ways and into the open again he zipped his jacket to not have his cut shirt reveal his bare upper body. With a relieved smile he waved over to the small group. "Silver! Enzo! You all okay? Especially you, Silver. What happened to you?"

Silver nodded at Enzo looked back to see Volitaire approaching them. He looked to be alright, which was a great relief to her. "V-Volitaire!" She ran over to him and hugged him tight. "I.. He told me he killed you, and Maya too.." She let go and looked back at him with a distressed look on her face, her head beginning to hurt again.

He wrapped his free arm around her and pulled her in to tighten the hug. "Maya..? I din't know about her, but thank Eos she found me in time. If she hadn't I would have died... But what happened to you? Did your foster father attack? And... You look different. What's up with that?"

"I, uh, well..."

Come on, you're going to have to tell someone sooner or later. Silver was hesitant. She didn't want others to know she's capable of killing, considering that wasn't the first time she's killed someone. It just so happened that this time it was justified. "..I killed him." She began to fidget with her hands and looked down at her feet. What would he think?

She had almost declared Jacen dead. After all, he'd been knocked out for a while, and Sasha honestly didn't really care about him. She knew that Enzo did, though, which was pretty much the only reason why the girl didn't walk away.

Sasha looked down at the male, slumping against the wall, "They all went to find people while I was stuck babysitting you," she replied, folding her arms.

---------

"Ah-" Ines reached out to stop Silver from leaving, but she was already gone. The woman sighed. Teenagers these days.

Enzo reached the top floor after almost 2 minutes of waiting. The building was very tall, so it would have taken some time to reach the top. He walked out, and immediately saw Jacen, alive and well, along with Sasha. A wave of relief washed over him, seeing his old neighbor hadn't become a victim as well.

"I'm back~" Enzo said happily as he approached the two. He looked over to Jacen and see that he didn't have many external wounds to show.

"Good. People like him deserve to die. I've killed a number of times, but this was right." He let go of her and frowned at her wounds. "You should go get patched up. I still want to know what the new form is."

"Well thanks...it means a lot."
Jacen pulled the amulet from around his neck and inspected it.
"Still intact...god damn, what is this thing made of...Oh, Sasha could you do me a favor? I think we're leaving soon, so if you could help me to my room so I can get my stuff...that'd be great."

Enzo had entered the room, and Sasha looked up, "Welcome back," she muttered, "Glad to see you're not dead." Sasha gave him a joking grin, then turned back to Jacen, offering him a hand up, "Sure, I don't have anything better to do anyways."

Silver frowned at his comment. Killing's never right, she thought to herself. "I'm fine, this is nothing. Especially compared to JD.." She began to wonder if he was getting better. She sighed and turned back to the hotel entrance. "You should probably go check in with the others. They are up in one of our rooms." She leaned against the building next to them and crossed her arms, an almost frustrated expression on her face. "..I need some alone time anyways."

He peered over to Eos and gripped her hand tighter. "If that's so then I'll go take Eos to JD. I'll see you later." He lead Eos inside and went to go rejoin the others. "E, I'm sure your brother is fine. Don't worry.."

Enzo chuckled at Sasha's comment, though seeing all the chaos that followed him, dying would be very likely. He was going to follow the two, but Kenji pulled him back on his leg. "You have to pack, remember?" Kenji pointed to his room, which was right beside them. "That's right.." After all that's happened, Enzo hasn't had a very good sleep here, or anyone, for that matter. It was a vacation for most, but not for team Valor.

Enzo huffed and went inside the room to pack their things.

Silver watched as Volitaire led Eos inside to see JD, and turned away towards the street. She stood there for a moment before taking a deep breath and walking down the street away from the hotel. She felt like there were a million voices arguing inside her head, and it was making her head hurt more. She kept getting more and more tense, and before she knew it she was being pulled into a slim alleyway and thrown on the ground. She laid there and felt a foot on her back, hearing a slimy sounding voice speak. "Well well well, where's your purse, miss? Shouldn't someone like you be carrying one around?" Unfortunately, they were speaking English and she spoke hardly any English. All David taught her to say was I don't speak English, so she sighed, clearly frustrated, and said it.
"..I.. Don't speak.. English.." She was having a bit of difficulties remembering the whole phrase, and she wondered if she said it right, knowing she had a rather thick Japanese accent. "Oh? You don't? Well, that's good news for us." She glanced up to see three men above her, and she rolled her eyes. Seriously? I have to deal with these idiots now?

One of them kneeled down next to her and spoke again. "Don't roll your eyes, it's disrespectful. Show some manners, why don't you?" At this point, Silver was wondering whether she should kill them or just beat the crap out of them. She rested her head on her hand and tapped her fingers on the ground, staring at him. Does he need me to say it again? I have no idea what they are saying. Growing very tired of this, she pushed herself up, knocking the dude who had his foot on her back a bit. She stood up, brushing herself off and looking back at the three. She crossed her arms and gave them all a dirty look. "This bitch has got an attitude problem. Should we teach her a lesson?" The other two nodded and charged at her. She stepped to the side and rolled her eyes again, noting they didn't seem to be very skilled in hand to hand combat. The third brought out a knife, holding it in a weird position and attempted to slash her, but she grabbed his hand, broke his elbow, and twisted his arm around, forcing him to kneel on the ground. She spat on him and kicked him over as he held his arm, screaming in pain. She looked back to the other two, who were a bit surprised. "Is she some sort of ninja? What's up with her?" They glanced at each other and looked back to their buddy on the ground before charging at her again. She huffed and punched them both in the stomach perhaps a bit too hard, and they stumbled back. Her head began hurting again and she tried to maintain her sanity, but her patience was wearing thin. One of them pulled out a gun. "Okay, look, I didn't want to have to do this, but you've left us no choice." He hesitated as he pulled the trigger, leaving enough time for Silver to get to him and point the gun straight up when he fired. She pinched a nerve in his arm, which led to him dropping the gun. She stepped on it, turning and elbowing him in the stomach, twisting his arm and hearing a snap followed by a muffled scream. She let go of his arm and heard him drop to the ground, glaring at the last one. He stared at her for a moment and then ran right out of the alley. She glanced back to the two on the ground. "You pathetic idiots are lucky I don't have my swords.." She brushed herself off again and walked out of the alley.

She glanced around, wondering if this sort of thing was common for everyone to ignore the screaming like they did. Silver shrugged and kept walking.

Hours passed as the students from Japan rounded up and packed. Team Valor was the first to be ready, of course. They had enough of America as it was. Once everyone was ready, they moved to the airport, which had no midnight flights available. Just as everyone thought they were going to have to stay overnight, the man from the Magic Council, Captain Azure, gave them a private jet to use in order to get home.

During the flight on the smaller, private jet, there was a small rumor of a 'mix-up', that two Americans had been taken along with the students.

Enzo and Kenji had been talking to the captain about his visit at the hotel earlier, and why he came. They sat in the back of the jet, which was more secluded the other areas. So in short, the ring holders will be harbored at one of our bases just off the coast of Whiterun. There, you'll prepare for your fight in the Gaze."

Azure had explained it over and over, just to make sure Enzo knew what was going on. "Do you understand now?" Enzo nodded slowly. He was against involving Silver and the others, but the possibilities of what Darkness could do was too much of a risk. His goals weren't totally clear, but they were sinister. "We, the magic council, will support you six the most we can." "Just make sure to provide a big enough training room that can sustain a beating." Kenji's request was met with a chuckle from the captain. "Very well."

It was a hassle, but everyone got to the plane soundly, injuries withstanding. Deep down, Marcus felt terrible about snapping and barking orders at the kids, it's not as if they didn't already have enough on their plate, but it was all for their own safety. Crazily enough, however in his haste to round up those he could, he accidentally brought two others aboard. David was apparently hanging out with two girls earlier in the evening, one of whom helped Marcus recover, and he arrived back at the hotel with them. And of course being a new teacher, he naturally assumed the other two girls were students, a fact disproved about half-way across the ocean. He wasn't happy about his snafu and neither were his superiors, but when he looked over at Kira and Harley, sitting on either side of David on the jet, laughing, talking and seeming to have an eating contest, they looked happy, which is more than what can be said for the others.
Marcus grazed the missing area of his ear while looking down at the stub where his pinky used to be. Although he was very thankful for Eos healing him and the others, he just wish that he was able to keep the missing parts. But everyone has their limitations, and that girl must be exhausted after helping out with everyone's injuries. From what he heard, she was to receive a reward for her efforts upon returning to the school. It wouldn't be something that spectacular, but enough to say 'Thank You' at least. Though, he wasn't positive how enthusiastic she'll be, with the recent death and all. He looked over to where she was sitting, next to JD, Silver, and Volitaire, they were all sort of huddled together as if they were sleeping, but he wasn't quite sure. In lieu of current circumstances, if they were asleep, they were hopefully at peace.
"These kids have been through far too much within the past couple of days, I guess the holiday turned more into a horror movie..."
Trying to disregard the air of melancholy he looked to Ines, who was sitting next to him reclined a bit and pretty sleepy looking, the jet lag was probably killer to her. "Quite the crazy day, huh?" He asked, nudging her softly and giving her a smile.

He peered out the window drowsily. He was still worried about JD and his wounds, Silver and that new form, and what was yet to come when they got home. He sighed and reclined his chair and fell asleep. He knew it would be a little while till they got home.

Sasha was located in the middle of the jet, half asleep. It wasn't her fault though; the poor girl was exhausted. First she watched over Enzo, then was attacked by some crazed man in a (bath?) robe, and then-

And then she was kissed by Enzo. Sasha's whole expression changed from that of tired, to that of embarrassed to bits, her cheeks reddening. The caramel haired female ran a hand through her rather messy locks, muttering something about, "...why'd I even fall in love with that idiot...?"

Sasha sighed; there was nothing to be done about her abundance of emotion directed towards Enzo now. She would just have to simply...express them. And to Sasha, that was quite a hard thing to do.

The girl looked outside the window of the jet, her head in her palm. Her breathing was slowly evening out, and Sasha felt her eyelids drooping again...

I wonder what'll happen next...

And thus, the teenager's eyes fluttered closed.

Silly little sister, did you think you could get rid of me so easily? I'm back, and I will find you..."

A cackling into thin air, a chilly breeze that nearly suffocated her, and the voice, so stained with bloody past memories, was gone once more.

Her eyes snapped open.
"Josef!" the name flew from her lips as Sasha jolted upwards, clearly disturbed by the odd...vision she'd seen.

Sasha's hand immediately shot up to her left eye, where a newer eyepatch replaced the old and tattered one she'd left back in The Gaze.

"Shit..."

Sasha tried to shake the unsettling feeling off. It was just a dream, she told herself. Just a dream.

A small nudge to her side softly woke the strawberry haired woman up. "Nn...Morning...already?" she murmered, rubbing an eye and shifting a little to look at who was nudging her.

Ines's eyes widened in surprise as she now became fully awake, "Oh! Y-yes, it has been quite eventful," she managed to say, a tad embarrassed at almost falling asleep in front of Marcus. She was a teacher, and was expected to be proper at all times. And to let her fellow companion see her in this state was just embarrassing!

A slight blush crept up to her cheeks as she mulled over this, attempting more than once to shoo the thoughts away.

So that was it. The agreement was done. Team Valor had allied with the council that had almost locked Enzo away forever. And now, he was to arrive at the captain's personal base off of the coast of Whiterun, where he would prepare for his fight with the dark itself. "So is that it? Is that all we have to do?" "That's basically everything, Enzo."

After saying their farewells for now, Enzo and Kenji made their way back to the passenger area, which was in the middle of the plane. The first thing he noticed was Sasha's shout, and the dread that followed. Hearing Josef's name reminded him of her dead brother, and how she'd have problems going back into the Gaze. She wants to help, but.. I can't force her into that again. He glanced back at the memories of the boy attacking them. Enzo sighed at the thought of seeing him again.

He walked up to the row which Sasha was at. "Are you alright?" Enzo asked, his concern for her clearly showing.

Silver and David both slept in separate areas on the plane. Silver was next to JD, while David was next to the two girls he had met before. Both were dreaming, though their dreams were quite different.

David was dreaming that he had bought a Batman-themed motorcycle, and he had on a black cape with a giant "N" on the back in orange for "Ninja-Man". He was riding through a highly populated and busy city, though it seemed to be rather generic, no specific place. He heard a scream and looked over to see a man running away with a young woman's purse, but he knew what to do. He set his bike to autopilot, then rode up next to the man, hopping onto him and tying him up with a rope he carried on his belt. Several cop cars arrived, ready to take the man away. "Don't worry, fellas. I got it covered. Here, you can take him straight to jail." He picked up the purse and watched as the officers took the robber away, then turned back to the woman. "I believe this is yours," he said with a charming smile. The woman smiled as she took the purse back, thanking him and then gave him a hug, followed by a rather long smooch. David returned the gratuitous lip-lock, causing the woman to blush. After they were done, he flipped his hair out of the way and put his arm at his side as if he were striking a super-hero pose. "All in a days work, ma'am."
In reality, David was sitting there next to the girls with his arms behind his head, smiling and mumbling along with his dream.

Silver's dream, however, was a bit more serious. As she slept, she ended up leaning on JD and holding his arm. In her dream, she was in a wide open field; the sun was shining and the wind was blowing calmly. The grass swayed softly with the wind just as her hair did when a gust went by. Off in the distance there was an ocean, and she could smell the salty water from this far away. She took a deep breath and smiled. It was comforting to her, but strange. She figured this was the first time she'd had a dream that wasn't simply her in complete darkness. Suddenly, she heard a voice. She couldn't tell what the voice was saying, but she could tell it was talking to her. She started walking towards the ocean and once she got there, the voice got louder, though it was still a whisper. It was a woman's voice, saying "Malinda". She scrunched up her nose once she realized what the voice was saying. Noticing a change in the water, she looked down to see it was red instead of the bright blue it was before. She stepped back, hearing something behind her and turning to see a taller woman with long wavy black hair, deep red lips, and bright but tired eyes. Her eyes were a pale redish purple color and they stared at Silver. Silver stared at the woman before her, and watched her fall to her knees and sit down on the ground. Silver knelt next to her and continued to look at her. She felt familiar, but it wasn't the usual sort of familiarity that had a cold feeling to it. No, this was much warmer, much more welcoming. The woman spoke, this time not in a whisper. "Malinda." She looked to Silver who was next to her and smiled. Silver glanced down and frowned. "..My name is Silver." The woman looked a bit surprised, but she was still smiling. "Silver? Alright. Do you know who I am, Silver?" Silver shook her head and offered the woman an apologetic look. The woman closed her eyes and tilted her head down. "That's alright, you will soon." Before Silver could respond, the woman faded away like mist being blown away. Silver reached out to her, but she was gone.
She woke up to find herself gripping JD's arm a bit tighter than she normally would have. Silver glanced up at him to see if he had noticed.

"Are you alright?"

Sasha looked up, still a tad disoriented from her dream that'd happened just a few seconds ago. She sighed in relief when Enzo's face came into view, as the girl had half expected Josef to be there when she laid eyes on the face of the speaker.

Her face immediately brightened up at the sight of Enzo, then flushed red when she realized what her instinctive reaction to seeing him was: Sasha really wanted to hug him at that point. It wasn't just some random reaction either. It was more similar to the fact that some wall holding her back before they'd 'gotten together' had disappeared, and Sasha was free to think what she wanted to think from now on.

Wow, I was...really in denial.

The caramel haired female chuckled to herself before looking up at Enzo again, "No, nothing's wrong," she began, giving the male a small smile to show her sincerity, "...Thanks for worrying, though."

What the hell was with Sasha today, giving out these...feminine phrases? She herself didn't know, but what she did know was that she found herself becoming more and more embarrassed every passing minute of feeling like her stomach was filled with butterflies.

Being accepted by the tsundere in general was elating for Enzo. He sat down in the empty seat next to her while Kenji explored the rest of the jet. The seats were terribly comfy, which explained why most of his friends were sleeping. He had been talking with the captain for the most part, so he didn't have a chance to sleep until now.

It was about 30 minutes until the plane landed back in Japan, and the sun was rising. Enzo had to get some sleep, and before he knew it, he was out of it.

Spoiler

Again, Enzo found himself in a open space. But it was a large room, with small craters and cracks in the walls. It was a room used for intense training of some kind. The lighting was dim, and from the looks of it, Enzo was the only one in there. Then, a figure formed infront of him. It gave off a familiar, but eerie feel.

"Darkness." Enzo clenched his fists. Darkness returned his hostility with a smile. "Is that how you treat someone who has your friends lives in their grasps?" Enzo didn't answer. There was no way he was going to get the rest of them on his watch. "You're truly ignorant. Ignorant of your roots, of what you are, and who your real enemy is." He laughed at the thought. My real enemy? What is he on about? "Ah, and now it seems you're coming to attack me..." Darkness added in another creepy chuckle before continung. "The next time we meet, one of us will fall." The dream world started to shake violently. The walls were breaking apart and the ceiling gave away. Just as it nearly hit Enzo, he awoke.

Enzo opened his eyes again. it was daytime, and they had landed in Japan. Looking out the window, past Sasha, he saw some lettering that was familiar to him. He sat up straight, fixed his hair, and was ready to move.

This whole weekend had been a whirlwind of random shit happening. Instead of being home in her comfortable bed sleeping the night away, Kira was in a private jet heading to Japan with the other people in David's group. With Harley. It was almost too much to process. Too much change, which would only get worse when they landed. Change stressed her out. The only thing that comforted her was the fact that her best friend was coming with her. The moment they'd settled down in those cushioned seats and the jet took off, the blue eyed girl had fallen asleep. Head on Harley's shoulder, whom was on her left, Kira spent the rest of the flight in a dreamless sleep.

Hours later, she awoke to find that the jet had arrived at the, airport? She had no clue. She glanced over at the window on Harley's side, blinking the sleep away. Yawning, Kira stretched as her eyes closed once again in order to try and wake up. One of her arms found a target on accident. She felt it collide with something to the right of her. Startled, she quickly glanced over, finding that the unfortunate object was David's head. She'd forgotten about him sitting with them Oh shit.

David was still fast asleep and dreaming of being an awesome superhero with hoards of fangirls following him wherever he went. It was going nicely, until suddenly one of the girls smacked him on the head. He turned and looked at her, only to see that it was Kira. "Why are you in with my hoard of fangirls?.." he mumbled, still half asleep and not realizing he was actually talking to Kira. His words were slurred, his eyes were half-closed, and he looked exhausted. He yawned and put his finger up to her mouth, stopping her from answering. "Shh, don't speak, you don't have to admit your love for me, it's okay." He removed his finger and wrapped his arms around her, leaning his head on her shoulder and falling asleep again. David got very cuddly when he was sleepy, but no one ever knew about it until now.