Forgiving Light

Chapter 2

For some reason, the first I consult is Dark. Probably because he is still half of me. Whatever the reason, I go to the highest gear, which Dark has claimed for himself. Seriously. He is like a wolf. If anyone gets on it, he will attack. There will be blood. This is exactly where he is sitting right now.

Dark looks over to me. "So, Nii-chan's beast had some interesting things to say," he says randomly. "Can't really tell you what he said since the language is hard to translate accurately."

"While that is interesting, Dark, that is not why I am here," I retort. "You know the exact reason."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's the girl, isn't it?"

"Yes. Since you have full access to our memories, you can see if she is at least familiar."

Dark sighs. "Okay, fine. I'll see if she's the least bit familiar." He closes his eyes, and our mind expands. Her energy is found, and Dark opens his eyes. "There's something very familiar about her."

"I see..."

The other three come up when they see we are talking. Justice looks at me seriously.

"What happened?" he asks.

"Another evil being," Dark and I say together. I say it in a pensive way, and Dark says it in a matter-of-fact way.

"Another one?" Nebula asks in disbelief. "How many are we dealing with?"

"Really familiar, by the way," Dark adds. "Like, we've met her before. Of course, I'm saying that only Astral and I have met her. I don't know about the rest of you."

"Really? How?" Asterite asks. "If she's another evil one, how is it that you've met her?"

I growl. "He's already taking root! He's spreading his darkness to the purest ones! After that, everyone else." I get up and start pacing, spilling anything that is on my mind. I find that it helps me think. "She is a familiar one, so there is a chance that she is one of Yuma's small group of friends. Of those friends, there is Tetsuo, Cathy, Kotori, Takashi, and Flip. Narrowing it down further, Cathy and Kotori are the purest; I've sensed them all before. Since there is a chance that Kotori is housing and protecting Black Mist, she might be a prime suspect. However, if it turns out that she is not hiding him, we are back to fifty-fifty between the two girls. If that is the case, we need to find his host and see if they are infected." I stop suddenly. "We cannot assume anything without proper evidence. We must consult Cathy since she is the one who said that she thinks that Kotori is hiding Black Mist."

"I'll go with you," Justice says.

I nod. "As soon as we go outside, we will morph into our human forms. That way, we do not attract attention."

"Okay, fine."

We exit the Key, and Yuma looks over to us. It is after dinner.

"So, what did you find out?" he asks. "You spent to much time in there, you must have figured out something."

"Yuma, we are going to Cathy's house to confirm something. Do you wish to accompany us?"

Yuma shrugs. "Sure."

Justice and I touch the ground and morph into our human forms. Justice's human form is simple: semi-long golden hair, blue eyes, moderate pale skin, a blue shirt, jeans, and sneakers. I look like Kasai, except with blue hair instead of black. We both hide our markings from humans so as to not attract unwanted attention.

We walk to Cathy's house in silence. To be honest, walking seems to be getting easier every time I turn human. To keep myself busy, I make sure that Dark doesn't get into any trouble. He complains that I never leave him alone, and I counter by saying that we share one mind, so we never leave each other alone. Satisfaction settles when he has nothing to counter.

Yuma knocks on Cathy's door, and she opens it. "Hi, guys," she says.

"Cathy, we need to ask you something," I state, cutting right to the chase while Shiro jumps off to go play with the other cats.

"How do you know that Black Mist went to 'Kotori's'?" Justice asks, walking in. Yuma and I follow.

"I saw it," Cathy replies, closing the door when we enter. "I couldn't sleep one night, and I went on a walk. I passed by Kotori's place and saw him fly through the window. That's when I guessed that he might be there. Either that, or he went to target her."

I probe Cathy's mind, and she instinctively raises the barriers. I wait until she calms down and lets me keep going. I search her memories for that night. When I find it, I confirm that she is indeed telling the truth. Just as I knew she would. I just needed to make sure. I withdraw immediately before Dark realizes that we are in an almost defenseless mind. He might do some permanent damage, and that would be devastating to everyone.

"She is telling the truth," I state. "Thank you, Cathy. That narrows down the suspects." I look for Shiro, and I see him pouncing and tackling with the other kittens. He looks like he's having fun. I'd hate to ruin that. "Shiro, do you want to leave now, or do you want to stay a little longer?"

"I want to keep playing!" the white kitten exclaims happily. "Please let's stay!"

"Well, I suppose we will stay for a while. Shiro is having too much fun. Justice, why don't you look around some. I suppose this is your first time being human."

Justice nods, and Cathy takes his hand.

"I'll show you around!" she says, and she pulls Justice up the stairs.

Yuma goes to where Shiro is. "I'll take care of him, Astral."

I nod.

"Hey. Hey. Hey. Astral, hey!" Dark says excitedly. "Hey, guess what? Hey. Hey. Guess what!"

"What?" I ask irritatedly.

"No, guess first!"

"I really do not feel like playing guessing games."

"Fine," he huffs. "Take the fun outta everything, why don't ya? Anyways, I found out why that memory was hard for you to unlock. It's not one of our memories; it's one of Brother's. Since he has a mind of evil, it took an evil mind to unlock it. Mind you, it was still difficult. I still have a headache! Anyways, I haven't started it, as you well know."

I sit down on the bottom step and rest my head against the rail. I close my eyes and say, "Play it."