Forgiving Light

Chapter 23

Grandma's making lunch by the time Astral and I get back. We ll help her and sit down when lunch is ready. Again, we hear Dark singing, but we pay no mind. After all, it's not like they can understand what he's saying. What would be dangerous is if he came down here at random.

He's probably so intoxicated, he'll do it anyways.

The singing stops.

A small choking sound.

"O-Onii...sama...?" A small whimper. "Anata wa nani o shite iru no desuka...?"

A loud scream of pure agony follows.

Akari, Astral, and I get up quickly in alarm and bolt up to the source of the sound. When we reach my room, an alarming sight awaits.

Black Mist has Dark pinned against the wall, choking him, while the other hand extracts some kind of purple substance from Dark's mouth. His scream has been reduced to a choked whimper, and tears stream down his face.

"What the hell is that?" Akari mutter.

Black Mist looks over our way, mildly amused. He grins.

Astral darts forward with a fist of light and punches Black Mist dead in the jaw. Black Mist gets knocked back, releasing Dark in the process.

"Astral, what a surprise," he purrs, protecting the gas-looking substance in his hands. "I didn't know that you would be willing to save your dark side."

Akari and I rush to Dark's aide while Astral deals with Black Mist. Nebula, Asterite, Justice, and Leviathan come out of the Key, wondering what's happening.

Akari grimaces. "Hey, Nebula, since you're the healer, do you think you can see what's wrong with this guy?"

Nebula nods, and he and Asterite come over while the other two help out Astral in attempting to capture Black Mist.

Nebula puts two fingers against Dark's neck, feeling for a pulse. He frowns. "It's a light pulse, but at least it's there." He then reaches into his cloak and pulls out a simple mirror. He puts it up to Dark's mouth, and it fogs. "At least he's breathing, too."

Asterite takes Dark's hand. I guess she's feeling for his temperature. "He's ice cold. Way below normal temperature." She frowns. "He's super close to death, guys."

"What's that mean?" I ask. "Anything you can heal, Nebula?"

Nebula sighs. "Unfortunately, no. You see, that purple substance that Number 96 has is part of Dark's soul. I say part because he didn't take all of Dark's soul. The bad part about this is that he might die of the cold if he isn't heated up soon."

Black Mist finally goes away, evading the Agents' capture attempt once more. He looks to Dark one last time, smirks, and takes off.

Astral comes over and crouches by Dark. "Dark, if you can hear me, make the 'Close in' signal," he commands.

Dark opens his eyes slightly. His right hand taps three times, pause, taps three more, pause, taps two more.

"Okay, I'm going to need you to go into your trance so that you do not waste what's left of your energy staying awake."

Dark closes his eyes, and his breathing gets dangerously slower. Oh, well. It's normal. Astral once went into his trance in my room, and I didn't even see his chest moving.

"I'll go see if there's something we can use to keep him warm," Akari states, rushing down the stairs and all over the house for anything.

Astral starts examining Dark closer, whispering reassuring things. I'm not sure who those words are directed to, though.

"His vocal cords are severely damages; he will not be speaking or singing for a while," Astral mutters. "He has lost his ability to sense evil and feed off of it, and he has lost all of his evil intentions..."

Akari comes back with a thick blanket and wraps it around Dark's slender frame. "Okay, this might help, but I'm not totally sure," she mumbles. "He's still shivering, though."

"Fire," Leviathan says, snapping. "That's it! Fire is the only thing in other worlds that we can feel temperature-wise. Take him to some fire, and he should be okay."

"Yuma, do you know anyone who has a good fireplace?" Astral asks.

"I think Cat has one, but I dunno." I shrug.

"Let us go see first."

Astral and I go outside, leaving Asterite, Leviathan, Nebula, Justice, Akari, and Grandma to take care of Dark. We don't take our time, and we're at Cat's house before long.

I knock on the door, and Cathy answers.

"Cat, do you have a fireplace somewhere?" I ask, getting straight to the point.

Cat nods. "Somewhere in the back of the house. Why?"

"A friend of ours needs warmth to stay alive right now," Astral explains. "Do you think you can house him for a while until we get what he needs? Or at least try..." A pause. "He will not cause any trouble, I can guarantee that."

She nods. "Of course."

"Awesome." I smile. "You're the best, Cat! So, when do you want us to bring him?"

"Any time is fine."

"Yuma, we need to bring him now," Astral urges. "He may not survive another day without fire."

I nod. We say goodbye to Cathy and go back.

On the way home, I ask Astral, "By the way, why do you want Dark to live? Won't it be a relief not dealing with him?"

"While I agree with your point there, Dark is part of me. If he dies, you do not want to know what happens. I had a colleague who had that happen to her, and it was not pretty."

I nods in understanding.

A/N: Rest in peace, Dark's soul, as Dark rests by the fire all lonely and sad. Q~Q