Souls In Hiding

Will It Be Love?

The dark woods towered over the trio as they wondered amongst the trees, the cold night air whistling through the leaves. Rantaro and Kokichi joked around like the old friends they were, laughing and giggling right besides the contrastingly depressed Shuichi sulking with his blanket hugged to his chest. The two boys had been trying to cheer the vampire up with silly jokes and banter, although nothing worked as he continues to trudge along and walking into the odd tree.

"Okay Shuichi. Time to spill." Kokichi declared, fed up with the vampire's pessimism. Having received no response the boy playfully nudged Shuichi with his elbow. "C'mon you've been down in the dumps this whole trip!"

"Trip? That's what you call this? We've been banished Kokichi don't you understand how bad that is?!" Shuichi shouted, his voice echoing throughout the trees. 

"Hey cut it out!" Rantaro shouted back. Shuichi opened his mouth to retort but resisted, pausing his stride and staring at the leaves at his feet.

"King Monokuma..."

"Hm? What about that panda bear looking twink?" Kokichi laughed.

"You shouldn't disrespect the king like that Ko-Ko, you never know who's listening." 

"Shut up Rantaro Shuichi was talking!" The two also stopped in their tracks, backing up to where the vampire was still sulking.

"Just before we were taken to the gates, the king told me not to sneak back into town... that he wouldn't be so lenient next time..."

"And? He's simply warning you not to break the banishment." Rantaro sighed, picking up a dead leaf from the ground and crunching it in his fist.

"No... he said 'next time'... implying there was a 'last time'." Kokichi's eyes furrowed in concern as he stared into dull, golden orbs.

"Right... but-"

"But if he knew, why did he let you go for so long?" Kokichi continued Shuichi's sentence for him.

"Well that's what I'm fucking asking isn't it?!" Shuichi blurted out, his voice raised yet again.

Before either Rantaro or Kokichi could continue their conversation a weak voice mumbled from the shadows. "Identify yourselves." The three felt the anxiety of sharp, cold metal on their backs as they stood tall, terrified to turn and face their attackers. Kokichi faded invisible to disappear from sight before breaking out in laughter.

"Oh my God, Kaede?" 

"How do you know my name?" The girl swished her hand towards the boy kneeling on the ground laughing, the knives following in her path.

"We saw your banishment..." Shuichi piped up, shooting the phantom a death glare of a thousand reapers for possibly endangering the three boys. 

"So you're townsfolk. Why are you here? To taunt me?" The witch snapped her fingers, the knives crumbling to nothing but dust as it drifted away in the cool night breeze.

"Correction, we were townsfolk. We've suffered the same punishment as you have, although admittedly ours may have been worse." Kokichi shook away the crawling feeling riding up his back from being at knifepoint.

"What could possibly be worse than being banished after watching your sister burned at the stake?!" The blonde shouted, tears dripping down her solemn face.

"Almost being burned at the stake yourself." Shuichi looked at the leaves on the ground, the fear of the only moment in his life where he felt mortal.

"Shuichi... you of all people should know the pain of watching a loved one die." Rantaro warned.

"Right... sorry..."

"It's okay, I'm sure you three are suffering as I am. I understand how you must feel, and for that I offer my condolences." Kaede curtseyed to the boys, acting peculiarly proper.

"Kaede, why do you talk like a noblewoman?" Rantaro questioned.

"Why do you think Ran-Ran? She was Princess Monophanie's maidservant." Kokichi rolled his eyes as if the information were known to the world. Kaede turned to him, fear radiating from her eyes. 

"How do you know that?" 

"Because, I know many things." Kokichi grinned, standing to his feet. "After all, you've seen what I am."

"Right, you're a phantom correct?" Kaede's eyes softened as she moronically filled herself with trust towards her (hopefully) new companions. Kokichi nodded in response to her question. "You never told me your names."

"Ah right, my apologies. I'm Shuichi and this is Rantaro, and Kokichi." Shuichi extended an accepting hand.

"Kaede, though you already knew that." She shook the boys' hands, starting their introductions anew. 

The four stood in a comfortable silence as each team surveyed the other, the only sounds around them a whistling in the trees from the continuous nightly breeze. Everything in this moment seemed peaceful for the first time in a few days since the fate of all supernatural beings arose. The woods where the children now resided surrounded the town of Mors, the town whom banished innocent people for being nothing but themselves, the town whom hated anyone who was not considered normal, the town whom despised and murdered infants for taking their first breath in this cruel world.

A horrible, loud whizzing and thud startled the no longer peaceful children as they whisked around to survey their surrounding, all spotting the arrow buried deep into tree besides Shuichi's head. "Hide. Now." 

Kokichi turned invisible on command, using his chance to climb up into a tree to remain unseen and out of reach from any passers by. The trees warped and bent a mould of bark and wood around Rantaro and Kaede as she chanted a spell bound to the wooden barrier. Shuichi took charge, using his speed to his advantage he ran the way that the arrow came from, using it's angle embedded in the tree as a guide. He knew the arrow must've come from a crossbow, no bow could achieve that much power, and for a crossbow to work there must be a clear, straight path from the attacker to the victim.

Speeding through the trees, Shuichi came across a crossbow on the ground, clearly abandoned as soon as the shot was fired, giving the attacker time to run and collect his bounty when it were safe to do so. Leaves sliced his face as he effortlessly ran through the woods at an inhumane speed, using the blanket to protect his body from the branches as anything at his speed could mortally wound him. Weaving amongst the fauna, Shuichi saw a movement in the distance and instantly bolted towards it, grabbing a small, long twig from his feet and hiding behind a tree nearby to survey the attacker, watching the lanky bandit skulking amongst bushes nearby his friends.

Watching his friend. Trying to murder his friends.

Anger surged through his veins at the thought of losing more loved ones, he sped faster than he ever had before towards the unidentified man, plunging the twig deep into his chest. The man coughed as blood drooled from his mouth, the speed of the twig entering his chest destroyed the bandit's heart instantly as he fell to the ground. Dead. The twig sticking out of his back as a reminder to anyone who may come across the body in future.

"Wow... didn't take you to be a murderer Shuichi." Rantaro slowly clapped as he, along with Kaede and Kokichi, cautiously approached the vampire.

"Nor did I, I'll admit it's quite the attractive trait to protect your friends like that." Kaede grinned, winking at Shuichi as he hit his face under the blanket from embarrassment. 

"Thank you Shuichi, you saved us. Although we could've saved ourselves I'm sure!" Kokichi grinned.

Although he was grinning, although he was doing well to hide his feelings he couldn't hide them well enough, as Shuichi could see a glimpse of the burdens of despair hiding being cold, purple eyes.