S-CRY-ed Fan Fiction ❯ The Spectre's Seven ❯ Chapter Ten--With Flag Unfurled ( Chapter 11 )

Disclaimer: Awww! Give me a break already!

A/N: Ya know, after re-reading this chapter, I’d have to say that there’s slight implications of yaoi in it…which is odd cuz’ I never write yaoi. But anyway…just a little warning on that ^^’ This chapter has fighting and dialogue…so…well, I have to write the boring chapters ONCE in a while…     Chapter Ten--With Flag Unfurled    

“Woah!” Kazuma felt the ground beneath him start to give way, so he braced himself against the tremor. “What the heck was that!?” He glanced ahead where a huge plume of smoke trailed upwards to the sky.

“It looks like it came from the entrance of HOLY!” Asuka announced from behind the Master of Shell Bullet. He, too, was on bended knee, balancing himself. “Wasn’t Ryuho over there?”

“If he was, he ain’t no more.” Gray turned to eye Sydney, who had stopped for the moment to brush his blue hair from his eyes and stare at the explosion. “I don’t see anything of what used to be the front gate there now.”

“Son of a…” Kazuma bit his tongue and lowered his head. “Can’t do anything by himself! I should’ve known this was gonna happen.”

“We should probably abandon plan and go back to help him.” Tachibana suggested.

“NO!” Kazuma whirled around, his angry eyes burning into Asuka’s. It made the violet haired man want to turn away desperately. “We are NOT backing out of the plan! Ryuho got his sorry butt into this mess, and now he can find another way out.” Then, pointing a stern finger to HOLY, “Kanami is in there and I’m not leaving until I get her!”

Asuka sighed, shoulders slumped. Once Kazuma’s mind was made up, there was no changing it. He should’ve known that by now.

“Then why don’t you continue on with the plan and we’ll go back for Ryuho?” Sydney spoke after quite some time.

Kazuma frowned. “So now you’re giving up too?”

“That’s not it,” the thin man explained, “We just trust you to get the job done. But if Ryuho is captured, then that puts a damper on the plan in general. Don’t you think so, Kazuma?”

The Master of Shell Bullet did not cease his growling, but turned his head and waved the trio away. “Bah! Fine! If you want to go back, then go ahead! See if I care!”

“Kazuma,” Asuka began, “we’re only doing this for the sake of--”

“Save it!” Kazuma spat. “Just get going!”

Tachibana watched as the angry Alter User stormed down the hill behind HOLY. Being so irate, Asuka thought it odd that smoke wasn’t already pouring out of Kazuma’s ears.

“Right,” Gray began, ignoring Kazuma’s performance. “Let’s get back. I’m sure that Kazuma can take care of himself.” At least, Gray wanted to hope so. But if what Raviel said about Kazuma was true, then…

“Okay,” Asuka broke Gray’s thoughts and brushed past him, walking upwards to the top of the hill.

Kazuma could be so stubborn.

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“Stupid Ryuho…daisy…stupid cowards abandoning…” Kazuma’s voice continued to escalate and descend with every step and every grunt. His eyes darted back towards the surface of the hill, where all of his ‘comrades’ were retreating back to. How could they be more concerned with Ryuho than with the plan!? If things didn’t go smoothly from this point on, no one would win…except maybe Crane.

Crane…he was another individual, no…more like ‘monster’ in Kazuma’s eyes. A man who kidnapped innocent children for his own pleasure and purpose! If he wasn’t stopped now…today! If he wasn’t stopped today, then who knows who would suffer…or end up dead next.

“He picked the wrong person to mess with,” Kazuma growled, thoughts of Kanami being tortured and ridiculed running through his mind. It sickened him and his pace increased inattentively. “I’m coming Kanami. Don’t worry.”

He was nearing the rear of HOLY, which remained unattended to and unguarded by Crane’s lackeys. This was almost too easy.

Leaving the hill, Kazuma stepped down upon the pavement, his eyes leisurely moving upwards to the silhouette of the colossal building. The last time he had been at HOLY…actually been at HOLY…it wasn’t even half this size. Now that he had stopped to actually see it, it was enormous. Why hadn’t he seen this before?

“Crane’s gotta have some authority to be able to have the manpower for all of this. That Commander whoever-he-was from before didn’t even have stories that ran this high.” No. These were higher. If Crane had not only concerned himself with the reconstruction of HOLY and more, then God only knew what was inside of them.

Leaving the hill entirely, he walked across the blacktop to the back entrance of HOLY, fists balled, and he stopped short at the doors. There, standing arms crossed, was a man dressed in a HOLY uniform. Wait…was it? This one was black and silver. Kazuma had never seen a black HOLY uniform before. The man’s head was tilted forward, secured by some large military hat. When the Shell Bullet Master glanced closely at the man guarded by shadow, a glint from under the awning sparkled against his eyes. Then, one word struck him like a blow to the side of his head as he looked upon it: ELITE. Well, it was not so much the word, but perhaps the boldness and glitter of it. It came at him like a sore thumb, but this was much more intimidating.

“You’re alone? How foolish.” The man glanced up, a visor covering his eyes.

“Hey, speak for yourself, buddy!” Kazuma pointed a strict finger in his direction. “I don’t see anyone coming to your aid.”

“I need not the security of companionship,” he answered, keeping his position by the door. “The ordeal can be resolved with a moment’s worth.”

A knife struck Kazuma in the middle of his spine. He stiffened, the pain intensifying and moving through both ends until his entire back was paralyzed.

‘Do I…know this man?’

But he stood there, looking back at Kazuma with no hint of expression between his nose and chin. If Kazuma didn’t know any better, this man was more like an android than a real human.

Still, the Shell Bullet Alter User would not give into this man. Forcing the ends of his lips to tug upwards in a satisfied smirk, he cocked his head back and said, “You seem familiar. Have I assaulted you somewhere before?”

“Perhaps somewhere in your desperate dreams, where failure chooses not to define itself as clearly as your ego.”

With that, Kazuma’s grin faded and his eyes narrowed in anger.

“What’s your name!?” Kazuma called out.

“That is none of your concern.”

“Are you one of Crane’s lackeys!?”

“My answers do not fall to the weak.”

Still, Kazuma persisted, his interest building with the HOLY member.

“What is the ‘ELITE’ anyway!?”

“You’re shouting at me. You won’t get any information that way.”

His face glowering, the Native Alter punched his gloved fist into the palm of the other. “And if I beat it out of you?”

“It would be a sight.”

Kazuma paused momentarily. He wasn’t scared of this guy, but it was just that the nonchalance from him was something that Kazuma just couldn’t handle. The only other person he had met that had been so indifferent towards the Master of Shell Bullet was no one else but Ryuho.

But this man wasn’t Ryuho.

“Sight is something you’re not gonna have after we rumble. If you’re not going to stand aside, then put up your fists and quit talking!”

Tilting his head back, the man stood erect, removing himself from the backdoors, and stepped into the sunlight. “The only one talking is you. I’ve been ready for this moment from the time you left the hillside.”

Grunting, Kazuma darted his eyes back and forth. He wasn’t serious, was he? It wasn’t like HOLY to fight fair. But hey, Kazuma wasn’t complaining.

“That’s more like it.” He adjusted to the weight of his Alter as it encompassed his arm obediently, the three fins protruding from his back and the armor encasing his right cheek and eye. “You’re gonna regret this, you know.”

“Kazuma, you’ve said that to more than one of my allies and have still lost. For once, perhaps it’s best to keep your head above water.”

‘Someone said something like that once to me before…But wh--Ah who cares!? What does this fool know? But…he knows my name. Wait…maybe that’s from the reputation I’ve got. Duh. Should’ve known that…’

“Stop your hesitance and fight me.” The ELITE member’s words broke Kazuma’s inward conflict, pulling him back to the surface of reality. How had he known? “Or have you finally come to your senses and realized that this is entirely futile?”

“You wish.” Kazuma snorted and reared his arm backwards. “You know my name, but not my reputation. We’ll see how that changes.”

“Your reputation betrays you,” the HOLY man whispered, bracing himself against the forthcoming attack.

“Shocking First Bullet!” Springing himself from the ground and into the air, Kazuma’s body hung for just a moment before spiraling with great celerity towards his opponent.

“Let me see your true power this time, Kazuma!” the man called into the open wind, his arms spread apart from his body.

The whirling body of the Native Alter became a massive blur as he struck the ground below, the HOLY ELITE member, who occupied the area he was descending upon, welcoming the attack. The core of the blow shattered the earth in several directions, splitting apart and creating gaps between the land several feet wide. But the HOLY building remained untouched due to the surfacing power of Kazuma’s opponent, who had only just begun to respond to the Master of Shell Bullet’s whirling attack.

Halted in midair, Kazuma stared into the blinding light of a rotating white barrier, protecting both its user and the base from which he had come from.

‘But…with such velocity, how could he remain unaffected? Even in such a short amount of time, he was able to withdraw his Alter as though he had all the time in the world.’ Thousands of split second thoughts flooded Kazuma’s mind, all the while his face becoming shaken and unhinged from its normal arrogance.

“Surprised, Kazuma? You’re not the only one who can dodge a blow.” Then, releasing the barrier before him, the ELITE member lunged forward, knee protruded, and caught Kazuma in the side, hurling him to the ground violently as broken remains of the concrete was tossed up around him.

The HOLY man towered over Kazuma’s form, legs apart slightly, showing that there was no rush in this. Not even excitement. The Native Alter looked up at him, face contorted in pain, until he began to feel the ends of his lips twitch.

“You think this is fun?” Kazuma snarled.

“It’s just a job.”

Swinging his legs over his head with momentum, Kazuma rocked himself forward to his feet, arm cocked backwards as yet another fin disappeared from his back.

“Annihilating Second Bullet!”

Flinging himself into the body of his opponent, the Master of the Shell Bullet released his fist, connecting into the torso of the HOLY member. On such impact, the ELITE member was tossed backwards into the air and Kazuma was almost certain that the blow had indeed injured him. But seconds later, the man had curled, the tip of his hat touching the tops of his knees, and circled backwards into a somersault until his body fully extended and he was hovering in the air, as though some mystical force held him there.

“There we go,” he said after a moment, looking down upon the Native Alter. “I knew there was still some fight left in you, Kazuma. I knew you weren’t completely broken.”

‘What the heck is he talking about?’ Kazuma, standing somewhat awkwardly, slowly dropped his Altered arm, returning this man’s gaze. If he had hurt him at all, the ELITE member wasn’t showing it. ‘All I did was knock him into the sky. What does he think this is anyway?’

“Now let’s have some real fun,” the HOLY member said, his voice still as monotone as when Kazuma had first met him. “I’ll show you why you’re no good.”

“No good!? Why I outta…”

“Gravity Press.” Before the Native Alter could finish his sentence, he was welcomed all too quickly by the ground, his front pulled by such an immense force that he was almost certain he would be sucked into the earth itself.

Struggling to turn his face, Kazuma slowly clawed his arm forward, but was halted by the brutal pain of gravity.

“Resistance is unforgiving,” the Master of Shell Bullet heard him say, “We are bound by gravity and it alone. When you attempt to defy it, the result is always painful.”

“S-Sh…ut…u…p…” Tired by his own words, Kazuma ceased speaking, even his tongue growing heavy along with the throbbing weight of his own body.

“‘Up’ you say? Very well then.” Lifting his arm higher, the ELITE member changed the course of gravity to better suit his opponent. “Gravity Secedence.”

Feeling relief for only a moment, Kazuma was instantly hurled into the sky and suddenly wished for his spot back on the ground.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Limbs flailing as his form was taken higher, the Master of Shell Bullet caught the oncoming form of his adversary soaring in closely behind him.

“You won’t survive if you hit space,” the wind of his words caught Kazuma’s ears before fluttering by, fleeting and soon becoming unimportant as he realized exactly what it was that this man could do.

‘Gravity? That’s why speed doesn’t work agai--AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!’

His back arched in sharp pain as the brute force of a kick caught him from behind. Kazuma howled and was knocked from the sky, spinning in slapdash circles downwards.

“Don’t tell me you’re giving up now, Kazuma!” Coming down after him, the HOLY member had more control of where he was going, unlike the Master of Shell Bullet. “Can the unruly force of gravity really stop you?”

‘Not a chance.’ Compelling himself to regain his composure, Kazuma twisted so that he was staring the ELITE member in the face. “Exterminating Last Bullet!” The pressure was enough to send him upwards, colliding into the other man and tackling him in the sky.

The two were heaved higher, the starlit trail of Alter following behind Kazuma’s dissipating final fin. Again they climbed past the clouds where the atmosphere became thin.

‘At my speed and his hold on gravity, neither of us is going anywhere,’ Kazuma thought sourly to himself. ‘And one wrong move means a plummet to our deaths.’ his eyes turned heavenwards, ‘Or a quick suffocation in space.’ The Master of Shell Bullet wrapped his right ankle around the back of the HOLY man’s knee and used his left arm to clutch the black fabric near his opponent’s shoulder. Kazuma knew that as long as he had hold of this man, he wouldn’t have to worry about crashing anytime soon.

“You want to wrestle in the sky?” The ELITE member suddenly gripped Kazuma’s sides with both his hands, his fingers digging into skin and ribs. “How careless.”

“I’ll knock you back down to the ground in pieces!” Kazuma threatened and pushed himself against his opponent, flipping both bodies so that the HOLY man was now beneath Kazuma, now clawing at his face.

“Not if I tear you apart first!”

‘Emotion?’ Kazuma’s teeth clenched against each other as he used the palm of his right hand to push his opponent’s chin back, hoping to successfully distract him for the moment. ‘That’s the first time I’ve seen…’

“Gravity Press!” The words were faint against the fall, the rippling of clothes beating against the sky, and Kazuma suddenly knew what he was in for. As his hand left the jaw line of the other man, the HOLY member glanced up at Kazuma, his own arms pressed against the Native Alter’s shoulders. “I’ll take you down with me!”

Faster and faster they crashed down and Kazuma was sure that his stomach had already hit the foundation of his throat. Instead of pushing the Native Alter from him, the man pulled him closer violently and tilted back, bringing all of his weight down. The Master of Shell Bullet, taken aback by the sudden increase of rapidity, was jerked along for the ride. Now facing the ground headfirst, Kazuma could see nothing else but the spiraling ground approaching, his eyelids more than separated from each other.

He suddenly forced himself away from the man’s grasp, but the abrupt strengthening of weight kept him bound to this man. Either way, it was all over.

‘What!? Over!? Stupid! Don’t EVER think that way! That monster has Kanami--remember that!’

“This is your last breath,” Kazuma heard the other man say, seconds before immediate impact. “Are you ready?”

“You son of a--”

Bringing a knee higher, the ELITE member thrust it into Kazuma’s chest, tearing himself away from him and remained in heights as the Master of Shell Bullet reached out, screaming.

The earth was torn into two, the crevasses deepening and widening as the body crashed heavily against it. Still in the sky, the ELITE member watched, arms crossed, as the plumes of smoke rose high into the stratosphere, hurling rock and debris in all different directions around him. The thunder of the land turned into a deafening roar and all of Kazuma’s screams were drowned out, becoming nothing at all. Even the HOLY building began to sway against the terrain, teetering back and forth, while the ground cracked around it, dust swirling up and tracing the branching lines like dominos.

The sun reflected against his dark visor and the excellent soldier of HOLY stared down, his eyes wandering against the disturbance in the land. Several minutes after the great upheaval, the smoke began to clear away, leaving a faint silhouette crashed in the middle of a colossal cavity within the planet. The fight was far from over.

“At least, for me anyway,” he whispered to himself, the unconscious form of his opponent in view. “Kazuma!” He knew that the man below could not hear him, but talked to him as though he could anyway. “Your spirit and determination is admirable. But until you find out what makes the ELITE tick, you will never defeat me!”

Uncrossing his arms, the HOLY man lowered his right hand, his fingers clutching an invisible tool. Then his hand radiated with the color of Alter, matter taking form and materializing into that of a large golden blade. “Arbitrary Defeat,” came the words from his lips and he rose the sword above his head. “Your life is mine!” Rocketing down to the center of the cavity, the man grasped the sword firmly, and swiftly brought it down. A shockwave too fervent to be escaped released itself from the blade and smashed against the form of the planet until nothing was left of the cavity.

A roaring crash assaulted the planet from above, deepening the wounds of the terrain and landing yet another terrible blow that bulleted into the sky. Creating a wall of smoke, the HOLY member cut his way through it with his golden blade, looking for any remains of what would be left of Kazuma the Shell Bullet. Several minutes passed after the dust settled again, giving the ELITE man a moment to observe the destruction. He cautiously stepped over the smaller cracks in the road while avoiding larger fissures altogether. Stone, debris, and mounds of dirt covered the street leading to HOLY and the air was thick and clouded from the aftermath. Still, the man saw no sign of his opponent. He could not even sense the faintest trace of an Alter User in the premise.

He frowned.

“Was he buried in the landslide?” No. That was not it.

Kazuma was gone. Vanished. Escaped.

“How is that possible?” His eyes spun in different directions, his mind taking a turn momentarily before returning to a normal status. His lips did not crease or part in despair. Actually, this was most exciting. “Perhaps I misjudged him. It has been quite some time after all.”

He pivoted, his blade disappearing into the Other Side, and walked away.

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His eyes opened and closed before finally deciding to return to his distant slumber. He hadn’t remembered when the last time was that he was this comfortable. And sleep was good. He snuggled further into the covers, bringing a hand up to pull the blankets higher.

Or at least…

…he tried.

His hand was tied to something, making it immovable, and the feeling of relaxation suddenly turned sour. Blue eyes shot open for a final time and he struggled to sit up in bed until a stern hand pushed him back.

“Settle down,” the voice said, deep and almost commanding. “You’ve only now just regained consciousness.”

The figure, whoever he was, seated himself on the side of the bed, just next to the bruised man’s face and stared down upon his battered form.

“Where am I?” he asked the figure above him.

“My place. That was a nasty fight you went through. It’s amazing that you’re alive.” Then, shifting his weight on the bed, the figure looked up. “I know it’s probably not the right time to be asking you, so we’ll start slow. Can you remember your name?”

“Yeah, but I’m not really keen on giving out my name to strangers.”

With that, the man laughed. It was almost rumbling, hollow, and it seemed like this man hadn’t laughed in ages. “You’re a little old to be worrying about big guys trying to kidnap you. You should be more worried about who’s out there to try and kill you.”

“Same difference. All the more reason for me not to give out my name.”

Again, the man laughed. “Would it make a change in your thoughts if I told you that I already know your name and who you really are?” When the man in the bed cocked an eyebrow, the figure continued. “Raviel?”

At the own mentioning of his name, Raviel’s mind seemed to open and he was able to focus better, as though he had just remembered something very important. The figure sitting above him was a man about in his mid-forties somewhere with dark hair and a strong, mature face. Lines creased his forehead and the bottoms of his eyes. His appearance was tall with wide shoulders and a thick, stern looking chest. Of course, that could’ve just been the dark forest green uniform he was wearing that gave that impression. The coat was lined with dull gold buttons, as though he wore the uniform often, and a single patch was sewn onto his right arm which clearly read two letters: “JR.”

“That your name?” Raviel pointed to the badge with his free hand, though it was still tied with bandages. “Junior?”

“This?” The man looked to the badge, tugging on the fabric slightly. “No. These are the initials for the Rebellion.”

“The Rebellion? You sure it doesn’t stand for Junior? Because I can completely understand if you don’t like your own name. I get called names all the time. They expect me to respond to them but, you know, with names like thos--”

“Quick and witty, just like your mother.” The man closed his eyes and shook his head. The thought brought a smile to his face.

“You…you knew my mother?” Raviel struggled to sit up against the tightness of the bandages, his curiosity rising.

“And father,” the man nodded. “It’s quite a long story. Perhaps for another time.” And he began to leave the bed.

“No, wait!” Raviel grabbed his arm with his good hand. “That’s not fair! You drag me unwillingly to your home, you…” Raviel looked down at his muscular bare chest which was now decorated in layers of bandages. “…steal my shirt and probably sold it to the flea market for fifty-two cents, and you dangle information like a piece of cheesecake above me, then decide to leave me hanging! No fair!”

“You already said that that wasn’t fair.”

“Well I mean it! It’s not fair!”

The man stared at Raviel’s pouting face for a while longer. “Your cheeks are beginning to puff out like a child’s. Stop it.”

“NO!”

“Okay, fine. Have it your way.”

“Assuming you didn’t give my pants away to charity too…” Raviel peeked under the covers and then nodded. “Okay, I still have my pants. But I’m going to get out of bed, tear this splint off my arm, and whack you with it!”

“After I spent eight hours piecing you back together? That’s how you repay me?”

“Well, all right. Maybe I’ll give you a good swift kick too. Will that satisfy you?”

The man stopped to turn his back to Raviel, his thick, broad shoulders slumped. “You are definitely a hard one to please. I suppose that’s why you grew up to be a thief.”

Raviel’s quick tongue left him as his back straightened and an icy chill ran down his spine. “You…uh…aren’t going to turn me into the police, right? Because even though I may be confined to this bed right now, I DO know how to belly flop. It just takes a little weight and…”

“Raviel,” the man cut him off, pivoting back to the blonde. “My name is Reiji Ikeda, and I know your mother and father because I was involved in many projects with them.” Much to his amazement, the thief snapped his mouth shut and patiently listened. Again, Reiji sat down on the bedside, folded his hands in his lap, and sorted out his thoughts. “You see, your father and I knew Isaac Crane from long ago. In fact, we were his subordinates.”

“You WHA--”

“It’s not what it seems. You see, twenty-six years ago, just before you were born, there was something called the Japanese Rebellion. Your father and I were associated with it and went undercover to serve Crane and later spoil his plans. The Rebellion was a semi-large sized organization made to undermine the power of wrongful authority. Crane was one of our biggest targets and he had no idea what was coming when we came to join him.”

“And his plans?”

“I’m getting there.” Reiji sat back, rubbing the tops of his thighs, and breathed heavily. “Project M.”

“Project M?”

“Project Mother. Twenty-six years ago, Isaac Crane took seven women into custody. Kidnapping them would be more appropriate, however. They were his guinea pigs and based on DNA structures, they were all injected with his own DNA cells that would result in seven Alter Users from the women when and if they ever had children.”

“Wait, wait,” Raviel waved a hand in front of his face and cleared his throat. “Isaac Crane used his own DNA, but how was that going to produce Alter Users? Wasn’t this before the Great Uprising?”

“Somehow, Isaac Crane had received a taste of the Other Side before it even came into our known existence.”

“The Other Side?”

“I’m getting there,” Reiji said again, giving a stern look to Raviel. “Just give me a moment. I can only explain one thing at a time without overlooking important details.”

“Okay! Okay! Geez…”

“Anyway, Crane had called these soon-to-be offspring of his the ‘Spectre’ of the Other Side, where their father roams. Who their father is that he speaks of, however, is a mystery.” Reiji could see the hint of a question appear at Raviel’s lips, so he quickly pressed on, “Alter Users, as he defined, were humans who could recreate matter, yet were not really human at all. They were separate personalities born onto a person from the Other Side, where all Alter abilities lay. From where your Alter ability to Kazuma and Ryuho’s, it will be there somewhere on the Other Side. That is your Alter.”

“So the Other Side is another dimension then?”

“In so many words.”

“Another dimension that has access to all Alter abilities or anything related to an Alter?”

“Yes.”

“But if the Great Uprising hadn’t even occurred yet, how could Crane have known?”

The extra weight from the bed was released when Reiji removed himself and turned to glance out the window next to Raviel’s bed. “I don’t know how he first knew about it. Perhaps an experiment? But it really doesn’t matter now. All that matters is the fact that he did know about it. All those years he had been affiliated with the Japanese Government on the Mainland was just a way to gain easy access here, where he undoubtedly knew of the Other Side’s existence on the Lost Ground. Well…it was actually even before you could call this place the Lost Ground. It was still the Kanagawa Prefecture at that time.” Then he pulled his gaze from the window and looked to the thief laying in the bed. “You do know about the increasing Alter population over the years, right?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“It all has to do with the Other Side slowly opening. Look at it this way. Suppose you’re standing in front of a faucet and you slowly turn it on. Nothing much comes out at first, right? But the more you turn the knob, the more water that comes out. It’s the same thing here. The more that that faucet is being turned, the more children there are who are becoming Alter Users.”

The thief, though expected to say something witty, was surprisingly silent and his face was most serious. Reiji continued.

“But anyway, back to Crane. There were some people involved in the Government who knew that Crane was up to no good. But he had such an amazing pull in society that there was nothing we could do about it. That’s where the Japanese Rebellion came in--along with your father and myself.”

“So, you’re saying that my father is a good man?”

“Was a good man.” Reiji swallowed the lump in his throat, uncertain of how to approach the topic at hand. “We devised a plan to rescue those involved in Project M, and it worked successfully. But…your father didn’t make it out alive.”

“Oh…” Raviel said, his voice dull and full of disappointment, though he tried to act like it was nothing surprising to him. “I see.” Then he stared up, all light in his eyes gone. “Can I at least know my father’s name?”

“Masakatsu Ueda,” he answered after a moment. “A man worthy of great pride.” At Raviel’s distraught face, Reiji added, “I think we’re done for today. That battle between you and the ELITE must’ve made you weary. Those battle scars aren’t just from playing tag, you know.”

“You don’t need to tell me,” Raviel said, almost bitterly. “I was there.” Reiji nodded and turned to leave the room. “You know more than this, don’t you?”

Blue eyes gazed up to the man in uniform who stood motionlessly in the doorframe. He seemed distant, Raviel observed, and was obviously guarding pieces of himself that needed to be unfurled.

“I’ll talk to you when you’re better.”

“No, see, that’s not good enough,” the thief argued, his voice stern and directing. “I’m not going to be here for much longer, so either you tell me what you know, or I’ll have to resort to the code of thieves and take you as my hostage.”

“There’s such a code?”

“If there isn’t, then I’m adding it.”

“Raviel,” Reiji’s eyes drifted along the wood of his floor and stopped at the foot of the bed. He couldn’t look the blonde in the eye. “You know what awaits you if you fight. You’re an intelligent young man; I don’t need to remind you of how cold the world is.”

“See, the thing is,” Raviel broke out into a wide smile and shrugged. “I don’t even KNOW you. So you’re really not coaching me on anything that means too much.” He leaned back in the bed, laying his head against the pillow. “Look. I’m staying put in this bed, just because it’s so darn comfortable, for no longer than the crack of dawn tomorrow. Either you come with me and tell me what you know, or you spend the rest of your days here regretting whatever it is you old guys regret. Maybe in your case it’s the fact that your house is too small, or that your mother left the crust on your sandwiches and cut them vertically instead of diagonally when you were younger. Who knows? All I’m saying is that you went as far as to save a guy like me. What more of a difference can you make?”

Reiji’s mouth opened to say something more, but Raviel had already turned onto his side, giving his back to the elder. Snapping it shut, he removed his eyes from the recumbent form of the thief and turned away.

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The breeze awoke him from his slumber, yet he could not remember dreaming. It brushed gently against his face as though it had actually been the hand of someone soft and gentle. He brought his own hand up to his cheek to push the feeling away until he realized that it was only his imagination.

Kazuma opened his good eye and stared into the wakening of the night. Stars cluttered in the darkness of the sky, some that seemed closer and some that seemed farther away. He shifted from his position on his back and then immediately gritted his teeth against the sharp pain in his spine and neck. Falling flat against the cool surface of the dirt and stone, he lay his arms out to the sides of him, and continued to stare heavenwards, breathing deeply.

“That was quite a stunt you pulled back there.” Kazuma’s eyes rolled backwards as he arched his head to stare at the upside-down figure behind him. The Shell Bullet Alter User frowned, and grunted as he flipped over onto his front. “It’s amazing that you’re conscious even now. But, of course, we’re talking about you here.”

Kazuma pushed himself on all fours before he attempted to stand, swaying a bit, and he nearly had to catch himself to keep his numb body from collapsing again. “And you would be?”

“How about the person you’re indebted to? It wasn’t easy carrying your sorry butt off the battlefield.”

The Native Alter slowly brought his head back up to see the man before him. He was leaning against the cliffside, arms folded across his thick trunk of a chest, with a serious look. The Master of the Shell Bullet had to cock his head slightly, focusing, before he realized that the dark figure before him looked just like the man he had encountered earlier that day.

“HOLY?” Kazuma asked, the word passing over his dry and chapped lips like a bad taste.

“More than that,” the man responded and gestured to the military hat on his head. “ELITE.”

The very sound of the name was enough to send Kazuma into a cold and unforgiving nature. “Did you just say the ‘ELITE’ of HOLY?”

The man before him shrugged, imperturbable to any of Kazuma’s emitting iciness. “And if I did?”

“Then you and I are gonna duke it out right here and now!”

“Don’t be so foolhardy,” the man told him before looking away. “That’s the reason you got your butt kicked in the first place.”

Kazuma tried to stand straight, but his back ached too badly for him to even try. Hunched over as he was, however, he did not want that minor thing to make him look any less intimidating.

“Don’t stand in my way! I won’t let Crane get away with kidnapping Kanami!”

“Why don’t you go on home for a while, eh? At the moment you should be grateful that you’re even alive.”

“What did you say!?”

The man leaned forward and brought a hand to his visor, as though he had meant to take it off. But he only tapped it twice and crossed his arms again. “All I’m saying is that you need to cut this out. Learn your limits. This isn’t the way it was before.”

“I’ll do what I please!”

“Can you possibly stand up against the power of Crane and his ELITE? Can you learn their secrets in time?”

The Shell Bullet Alter User turned his body away from the HOLY man to keep his anger from getting the best of him. “Who gives you the right to boss me around!?”

“If you decide to continue to fight, then you need to be more careful. You’re playing in the big leagues now. This isn’t Knoji Mulo you’re fighting.”

Kazuma slapped his thighs with the flats of his hands and whirled around, seething. “It’s Kyoji Mu…” The man was gone and the spot that he had once occupied now lay vacant and abandoned. Almost…empty. And Kazuma was truly alone. “…jo. Huh?” ‘What on earth was that? He just disappeared like a ghost!’ The Master of the Shell Bullet turned his gaze to the ground below him, as though asking it for answers. ‘The only person that…’ “Nah! What am I thinking!?”

He banished the thought as quickly as it had come and walked away.

---------------------------------

“We have to hurry!” Asuka was the first to push himself through the screen door and into the open ends of his living room, pulling up the cushions to his couch and tugging drawers out from the dressers. “There’s no time! Kazuma and Ryuho still may be alive around HOLY!”

Gray and Sydney followed in next while Urizane helped Elian inside, looking ahead.

“I have some spare lanterns in the closet,” Tachibana directed to Gray, who nodded and proceeded down the hall.

“Asuka,” Cammy peeked her head out through their bedroom door and glanced at her husband, who was rummaging through the house for anything useful. “What on earth are you doing? What’s wrong?” It was as this time that Cammy had fully stepped through the doorframe and into the open, clad in her long lilac colored nightgown.

“No time, Cammy,” her husband responded, not even looking up. “Kazuma and Ryuho were caught in two separate collisions. We have to go back and find them.”

“Ryuho?” another voice entered the conversation, filled with worry and anxiety, “What do you mean?”

The eyes of the Master of the Eternity Eight rose upwards to meet the chestnut colored ones belonging to the young Kiryu heiress. Sets of eyes belonging to the other men followed, and could do nothing more than gasp lowly.

Mimori stood in the hall next to Cammy, half asleep in a long red t-shirt and relaxed, grey sweatpants. Then, at the mentioning of Ryuho’s name, her drowsiness disappeared from her face and Mimori’s eyes became wide awake as she clutched her chest, as though to still her own racing heartbeat.

“Asuka,” she asked again. “What do you mean that you can’t find Ryuho?”

“Miss…Kiryu…?” Tachibana breathed, staggering to his feet in utter shock. “H-How did you…? Crane had you and…and Kanami…”

“Kanami is asleep in my room,” Mimori broke in and pointed to the door leading to the room that she had just exited from. “A man from HOLY rescued us…” She stalled, and then shook her head. “Never mind, Asuka, that’s not important right now. I want you to tell me what happened today with Ryuho.”

“We went to HOLY with Ryuho and Kazuma to find you,” Elian, who normally was so silent, could not keep still any longer. His usual calm and unwavering face was now reddened at his cheeks, and he was breathing heavily. Urizane placed an arm around his thin and frail shoulders to balance him, gripping the boy’s old and baggy HOLY uniform to keep Elian from shaking. “There were several explosions and when we went to find them, they were both gone. I couldn’t detect Kazuma at all, but…but I think…I think Ryuho’s inside HOLY…”

“Inside!?” Mimori shrieked, her hand moving higher to her gaping mouth. “You mean…captured!?” At Elian’s nod, Mimori turned and fell against the wall, her face buried within the flats of her hands. “No…no this can’t…”

“We have to go back and find them, and fast!” Asuka took over, resuming his hurried pace, stuffing several lanterns under his arm. Then he stood up, wiping the dust from his own HOLY uniform. “Come on guys.”

“Wait,” Urizane stopped the younger man in his tracks, his slanted eyes turning towards the open screen door leading out into the pitch darkness that they had emerged from. “There’s footsteps outside.”

Everyone gathered at the door, looking out futilely, when Asuka pushed himself to the front of the crowd and turned on the front porch light. There, standing in the middle of the clearing was none other than the battered and bruised Master of Shell Bullet himself.

“Well, Kazuma,” they heard him speak from outside. “You’ve done it again. You’ve let them knock you down again.”

Urizane turned sharply to Asuka and hissed, “What’s he talking about?” At Tachibana’s shrug, the watermelon man went back to watching Kazuma.

“Especially that thief. Took everything from me from my pride to Kanami.”

“That’s right,” Gray whispered and looked to the third accomplice in his and Raviel’s schemes. “Where’s Rav at?”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Sydney assured. “But Kazuma doesn’t look too hot.”

“By the time I’m through with HOLY,” Kazuma rambled aimlessly on, stumbling to Asuka’s front door, “they’ll wish they never saw the likes of me.” Then he stopped and began to sway a bit. “Right after I take this nap.” Then, becoming more unbalanced as he vacillated to and fro, the Shell Bullet Alter User teetered forward and collapsed to the ground below.

“KAZUMA!”

---------------------------------

For several minutes he gazed under the lonely willow tree which stood the tallest amongst anything he had ever seen on the steepest hill with the longest blades of the greenest grass. Yes, it all seemed perfect to him--too perfect to be the tallest or biggest or best of anything. He wasn’t sure when he had found it, but when Ryuho had accumulated enough strength to sit up, he did, and looked out beyond the shade offered by the willow.

The first thing his crimson orbs caught were the cloudless skies that rained down on him with the brightest of blue and the warmest of the sun’s rays. He noted that there was no wind to chill him; all was perfectly calm. The grass, as he saw before, was thicker than any he had ever seen before, lush and abundant with life. He ran his long fingers through the blades, taking excessive attention to the softness and neatly trimmed edges.

When he turned back to the willow, he spied the thick truck, tracing the deep crevasses of the texture with his eyes. Branches, too many to be counted, were so full of wide and shapely leaves, that he could not even see the outer limits of the sky through any gaps. And the shade guarded him well from the sun, which hung overhead.

But then Ryuho looked over the steep hill and what lie below his small kingdom of goodness. The hill was in the middle of a larger clearing, surrounded by more grass, until a thick border of trees lined the clearing, moving as far back as he could see. When he looked around completely, Ryuho realized that it was like that all the way around for miles.

It was indeed a beautiful place, however, “Where am I?” could not help but to escape his lips.

Pushing himself to his feet, using the trunk of the tree for support, Ryuho was able to gain a bird’s eye view of the entire vicinity, and it was then that he took notice of the many strings of white marbled markers, which came out to hundreds.

“A…graveyard?” he whispered, looking all around. Yes, hundreds of markers, the rhythm being in perfect rows, tracing the circle of the clearing.

Ryuho’s body began to advance forward before he could even realize what he was doing. His long legs started to trudge down the hill, though achy at first, and his mind retreated back to thoughts of the earlier day with the fight that he and the ELITE member had endured.

“How on earth could I be here now?” Ryuho continued to advance down the hill, though careful not to trip, and when the first line of markers came closer to him, his steps became slow and sluggish.

It was a graveyard.

“The names of these people…” Ryuho’s eyes absorbed the lettering carved into each stone and he ran each surname over in his mind. “They seem familiar to me somehow.”

In no particular pattern, he began to interweave through the rows, touching the tops of all the headstones that he passed, still reading the names. His eyes darted back and forth until he realized that he had come to the very foot of the hill. Turning right and wandering through the next aisle of graves, Ryuho stopped short at the sight of one name in particular.

Martin Zigmarl

He could’ve sworn that his heart had stopped right there in the middle of his chest, and inwardly, he wished it had. For when he turned to the grave beside it, the name was just as familiar.

So Kigetsuki

“These people,” he whispered. “People I knew and were my colleagues…”

And as his head turned even further to stare down at the rows, he could see a large hole in front of a marker where, it seemed, something had been dug up. He jogged briskly down the line, passing other graves, until he stopped at the one which had caught his eye. He glanced at the name.

Scheris Adjani

---------------------------------

Biff

Ayase Terada

And hundreds more that he knew! But then Kazuma realized that all these people had one thing in common: they were all Alter Users.

“What the heck is this place!?” the Shell Bullet Master screamed into the sky, falling forwards and clutching the tomb of another Alter User he had known and been friends with. “Who thinks they have the right to torment me with the ones who have died!?”

“Kazuma?”

For a moment, Kazuma’s anger was quelled until he looked up to see the emerald haired man he knew and detested so well. But reason led Kazuma to believe that this could not be Ryuho’s doing. ‘He’s not THAT special.’

“You were…sent here too?” the younger whispered, his voice cracking, though he tried well to hide it.

“Wherever ‘here’ is, yes, I was.” Ryuho’s eyes moved to the grave that Kazuma so desperately clutched, and he could not be fooled by the Shell Bullet Master’s façade. At any moment he was sure that his rival was going to break. “Do you want any help up?” he asked the younger man, offering a hand for support.

“I’m fine,” Kazuma insisted, but did not stand up.

“Kazuma,” Ryuho began with a hint of sternness in his voice. He still left his hand out.

“I said I’m fine!” And with that, Kazuma pushed himself off of the grave, only to succeed in staggering backwards, tripping over his feet.

Ryuho caught the stubborn man from behind, using his own body to balance the Shell Bullet Alter User. Kazuma inattentively grasped Ryuho’s shoulder for support, before turning his head a moment later and saying, “Do you mind?”

“Kazuma, you’re in no condition to push yourself around like that. At least wait until after we get out of here before picking a fight.”

The younger man tore himself away from Ryuho and began to limp forward, favoring his leg. “Speak for yourself,” Kazuma spat back. “It looks like you took a beating of your own.”

It was true. Ryuho had not recovered as well has he had insinuated after his own battle with the ELITE. His HOLY coat had been torn in several places and bruises lined his jaw and face. The creases that already disfigured the lower lids of his eyes and forehead were accompanied by minor scratches and some still were reddened by the dried blood that had been left there. Even he was having trouble walking from time to time, but refused to let the pain get the best of him.

Ryuho’s thoughts were brought back to the present as he eyed Kazuma standing in front of a particular grave just several markers from his own position in the graveyard.

“Kyoji Mujo,” Ryuho heard the younger say. “That piece of swamp scum doesn’t even deserve a marker to honor him by.” Just as fast as the words had left his mouth, Kazuma drew his leg back, preparing to swing at the grave.

“Kazuma!” The emerald haired man dashed forward just as the blow came against the marker and then reared back for a second strike.

Kazuma, his teeth gritted together, like a wild beast’s, snarled at the dead man’s tomb below him. For all the suffering he had caused…for the deaths of Ayase, Biff, and the kidnapping of Kanami…

…Sometimes, beating a dead horse wasn’t so bad.

“Let it go, Kazuma!” Ryuho seized the Master of the Shell Bullet’s shoulders, and twisted so that their bodies were no longer facing the grave of what used to be a madman. “He’s dead now, let it go!”

“Yeah, and now we’ve got another monster just like him roaming the halls of HOLY!” Kazuma dodged Ryuho’s headlock and hurled himself at the grave again, fists balled. “And because of this lunatic, several people I cared about are dead!”

“And what about me, Kazuma!?” Ryuho retorted, watching the younger man continue to desecrate Mujo’s grave. “Do you think that his existence didn’t affect me!?” Grabbing Kazuma by the collar of his jacket, Ryuho forced the man to glance ahead to the large pit in front of a grave--the same grave that the emerald haired man had come from earlier.

“Do you have any idea what that grave reads, Kazuma?” he hissed, “Do you!?” At Kazuma’s silence, he continued, “It reads the name of one of my colleagues and closest friends! A girl who gave her LIFE for MINE four years ago! I come to this place only to find her grave dug up in the same desecration that you gave to Mujo! How can you, for one minute, believe that the only one suffering here is you?”

Kazuma was silent, and bowed his head. A moment later, he jerked his shoulders out of Ryuho’s grasp and walked away from Mujo’s grave. As he plodded on further, he couldn’t help but look at the erected tomb from out of the corner of his eye. Even from far away, the name was not mistaken to him.

Scheris Adjani

“That girl,” Kazuma muttered, and he realized that he had stopped in the middle of two other graves to stare at the young girl’s whom he remembered was always hanging around Ryuho obediently. “So that’s who he’s talking about.” Then his eyes drifted to the left, far down, where he noticed two other markers, cattycorner of each other, in the same state as the girl’s burial ground.

Curious, Kazuma wandered down the line of tombs, and he heard Ryuho’s footsteps directly behind.

“Kazuma, what do you see?” the emerald haired man called out.

Kazuma did not answer right away, his concentration far too great to be interfered with, but he still seemed to have heard Ryuho nonetheless. “Same thing you did.”

“Huh? What’s that supposed to--”

Then he, too, saw the two graves, dug up at the foundation of its markers, and left empty.

“Who are they?” Ryuho asked to no one in particular, although Kazuma took the hint that he was directing the question to him.

Kneeling down, the Shell Bullet Alter User leaned forward, catching the name of the grave closest to him.

Straight Cougar

“Who the heck do they think they are!?” the younger roared, grabbing the side of his brother’s grave. “What gives them the right to play their deaths like this!? I swear, if I ever find them, I’ll--”

“Cougar,” Ryuho’s eyes narrowed, the query intriguing him. “I was not aware that he had died.”

“Of COURSE he died!” Kazuma turned sharply, his eyes ablaze and Ryuho was the target of his rage. “Where do you think he’s been for the past four years!?”

Strangely enough, Ryuho remained calm. “Well, Cougar never was a man who liked to be stationary for very long. I never could be sure of what became of him.” Then, another question tugged at the Master of Zetsuei. “Kazuma, how did…you know that he was dead?”

Much to the emerald haired man’s surprise, Kazuma managed to calm himself, and began to trace his finger along the outline of the Speedster’s name.

“He was my brother, like I told you before all those years ago. I knew a lot about him, and then again, knew nothing at all. Afterwards, you and I took off, remember? I went wandering and found him sometime later that day.” Kazuma fell back onto his rear and began to chuckle. “Jerk died on me without ever giving me a reason why he took off all those years ago. Guess it was just like him to abandon me in every aspect.”

“But…but it seems you really admired him,” Ryuho pointed out.

“Yeah, I did.” Kazuma stood up and brushed the grass stains off of his pants. “That is…I still do.”

“Kazuma, I’m so sorry…”

“Hey,” the younger held a hand out and turned to Ryuho. “Save it. I don’t want your apologies. You and I both lost people important to us, so we’re squared.”

‘He’s right.’ the emerald haired man’s eyes fell to the grass below and to the outer edges of where the hole was in Cougar’s grave. Then he slowly nodded his head back to the third marker that was dug up. “What about that person? Who’s that?”

“Let’s see…” Kazuma stepped around him and leaned over, reading the name of the tomb in his mind. And then he jumped backwards.

“Sonofa--!”

“Kazuma!” Ryuho jerked towards the third grave, staring at it as though a monster had just bounded from out of the hole. “What is it!?”

“Oh that’s REAL cute!” Kazuma looked heavenwards, screaming into the sky. “Use the name of MY best friend against me! If these really WERE all Alter Users then why would his name be here!? You Sonofabit--”

“Kazuma!” Ryuho snapped, causing the raging man to cease shouting. “Stop acting like a lunatic!”

“Lunatic? LUNATIC!?” The Master of Shell Bullet stepped forward, pushing his face into Ryuho’s, angrily. “Did you NOT see the name of that tomb!?” With that, he thrust his hand out towards the grave, shaking. “That’s my best friend they’ve got written on that marker and you know what? He was NOT an Alter User! This has got to be a trap somehow, Ryuho! Don’t you see what’s going on here!?”

“A trap? No, I assure you, Sir, that what you see there is precise and without question.”

Kazuma and Ryuho turned their heads at the sound of the oncoming voice. There before them, leaning over the grave that had caused Kazuma such fury, was none other than Isaac Crane. He was smiling beneath his top hat, tapping his cane against the white marble of the marker.

After a moment of registering this man into his thoughts, Kazuma lunged forward, nearly falling into the hole himself, and accosted Crane from the front. “YOU!”

“I assure you, Kazuma, that I’m not here to fight,” the older man held a hand up to his face, but did not step backwards from Kazuma. “However, if you choose to provoke me, I will bite back.”

Kazuma halted, but his anger did not lessen. “Then you’ll care to explain why my best friend’s name is on that grave?”

Ryuho took the time to follow Kazuma’s hand and see the name that was clearly engraved upon the stone.

Kunihiko Kimishima

“This is a graveyard specifically for Alter Users, is it not?” the Master of Shell Bullet demanded to know. “I noticed it because more than half of the people buried here were ones that I knew! And my best friend was NOT an Alter User, I can promise. So why is he buried here!? And then why is his grave dug up!? Cougar’s too!”

“Kazuma,” Crane placed his hand at his side and nodded. “Not so many questions at once, please. I only have one tongue.”

“Yeah, and you’re lucky that I haven’t decided to rip it out yet!”

“Kazuma!” Ryuho stepped in from behind. “Isaac Crane, give us one good reason that we should not do battle with you right here and now.”

“Actually,” Crane rubbed the end of his chin with his forefinger and thumb. “I can give you two. Well, maybe three. Number one, did you ever think as to where you are? Well, yes, a graveyard, which is perfect for my second reason in which we should not defile the dead and quarrel upon their tombs, but did you ever think as to where you are?”

“This isn’t somewhere in the Lost Ground…is it?” Ryuho answered after a moment of silence.

“Bright boy, Ryuho!” Crane clapped once and then motioned the two to follow him through the aisle of graves. “You two are, in fact, not on the Lost Ground at all. Not even on earth, I’m afraid. No.” Then he whirled around, a smile on his face. “You are on the Other Side.”

“What!?” Both men exclaimed, the disbelief rising. It was too much to be true.

“I am not lying,” the elder man continued, “your powers will not work on the Other Side because that is where they come from in the first place. Well, if you tried anyway, you would not get the greatest of results. Both sides of you would collide and you could quite possibly end up shattering into thousands of pieces. Simply because you are ON that dimensional plane. Do you see what I mean?”

“That doesn’t mean that we can’t rip you apart with our bare hands!” Kazuma reached out, his fingers tight and tense.

“Yes, but that brings me to my third point,” Isaac then gestured beyond the graveyard to where the line of trees began. In the middle was a path, dark and dreary, awaiting them. Beyond that point, with the cobblestone somewhat overgrown by vines, there was no sun and nothing that was truly alive--at least, that’s what Ryuho thought. The fog beyond those trees looked as though it would truly consume them if they dared to set foot into that place. “Let’s…take a walk, shall we?” Crane asked.

“What’s in there?” the Master of Zetsuei questioned, his body chilling just at the very sight of the forest path.

“Your destiny,” Isaac looked to Ryuho now, the smile still on his face, though it had grown somewhat soft.

‘Don’t be fooled by him, Ryuho! Nothing good could ever emit from this man!’

“You are…uncertain?” Crane cocked his head to one side, and the smile slowly faded.

“I won’t go in there,” Ryuho told him bluntly.

“I’m afraid I have to agree with the prep,” Kazuma said immediately afterwards. “There’s no way I’d ever follow you. Not when I want to strangle you with my two bare hands.”

“I see…” Crane smiled again. “Another time then…when you want to know the truth.”

“I think we deserve to know the truth now,” Kazuma interfered, stepping up to Crane. “You owe use that much. You kidnapped the raven haired woman and Kanami! And then you send your lackeys to do your dirty work. To top it off,” Kazuma brought a hand around to gesture to the graveyard. “you try to intimidate us with the names of our dead friends and close ones. Don’t you think that it’s fair?”

Isaac laughed gently, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

“What’s so funny?” Ryuho questioned, his tone firm and angry.

“This place is no joke, like I’ve said before, Kazuma. This is the place of all the deceased who have nowhere else to go. However, I do not lie.” He leaned in closer, his eyes gleaming, “The graveyard does not lie about who rests in their burial grounds here. That is the truth you seek.”

Kazuma glanced up at the older man, his eyebrows furrowed together. He seemed as though he wanted to ask something more, but his mouth was still. Clutching his cane in both hands and rubbing them up and down the burnish of the wood, Crane began again, “Well then, shall we be off?”

“Where now?” Ryuho asked the question he knew both he and Kazuma desired to have answered.

“Home,” Isaac responded. “I’ll take a rain check on our walk.” Then, turning his back on the two men, he began a peregrination for the trail he had offered to Kazuma and Ryuho earlier.

“W-Wait a second…!” Kazuma reached out to seize Crane by the arm, but the Master of Shell Bullet was distracted by a crash behind him. He whirled around to see Ryuho collapsed on the ground. “Ryuho?” Then, his mind began to rotate in circles until all went black.

---------------------------------

His body jolted forward from what seemed to be a terrible nightmare. Ryuho’s eyes wandered in the darkness for any form of light until he caught a small shine from under a thick door. The Master of Zetsuei placed a hand upon his racing heart, mouth agape as he panted heavily. Then, bringing the back of his hand across his forehead, Ryuho wiped the sweat from under his emerald bangs.

“What…was that?” he breathed, his eyes glued to the small light escaping from under the door. “A dream?”

‘No,’ he thought, ‘That was far too real to be any sort of dream…’

Then he caught the coldness of the room and his body suddenly turned to ice. Wrapping his arms around himself, Ryuho sat up and leaned back until he felt the bareness of the wall touch his neck. It was a partition of concrete, similar to prison cells.

Then he remembered.

“That woman…the fight…and the Graveyard!” Suddenly pulling his arms away, the Alter User buried his face within his hands. “It…it was real…”

---------------------------------

“Tell the others to stand by in case we receive another welcoming from Kazuma and Ryuho’s other friends.” Crane turned back to the open window hanging in his office, smiling, the communicator on his desk disconnecting.

With Ryuho in his possession, losing Mimori and his little Spectre wouldn’t be so much of a worry. In time, Ryuho would come to love and serve HOLY just as he did in his old days. Isaac turned his head upwards, staring into the light built into the ceiling.

“There’s only one left now,” he murmured. “There’s no doubt about it. Kazuma and Ryuho are both Spectre of the Other Side.”

---------------------------------

GEEEEEZ this was a LONG chapter! I had to fit so much in with just a small amount of space ^^’ so I’m sorry if it seemed rushed…And I’m sorry for beating up Kazuma and Ryuho…like…multiple times. They’ll get back on their feet though, otherwise it wouldn’t be much of s.CRY.ed now, would it? Anywho, things are (hopefully) going to start picking up now since we’re on our TENTH chapter. Review if you liked and if you didn’t, please be a little constructive if you decide to all out FLAME me, though flames are generally never nice.

Kat