Forgiving Light

Chapter 37

~Dark Astral~ The minions all close in on me. I keep the tendrils up and ready in case one of them attacks. I look around, tensing my muscles.

"You can't keep that defensive position for long, Dark," Miza taunts. "At some point, you'll have to die."

Yuma, who stands beside Miza, smirks. His eyes glow red. "Shall I do it myself?"

"Nah. Let the others do it."

One of them attacks me with an energy attack. I bring up the tendrils to reflect it back at her. She dodges, and the rest attack me. I have no time to block as one of them unleashes red, glowing tendrils. They hold me tight, and the rest close in.

Miza floats up to me. Yuma follows. "Well, well, looks like this'll be easy."

My response is struggling to get somewhat loose and opening my mouth, revealing my fangs. When I get close enough, I clamp down hard on Miza's neck. She shrieks and tries to pry me off, but I only bite down harder, injecting some of my blood into her blood.

Yeah, my blood is also venom when I bite someone. Like a snake!

In her pain rage, she slices off the restraints, causing the one who made them to cry out in pain. I grip her shoulders to keep on. My fangs draw more blood. I almost gag. She tries with all her might to get me off, and she succeeds. As usual, I get up and just keep going.

~Black Mist~ I can see that Astral's coming back to his own wits. I suppose he's afraid of punishment if he doesn't do as he's told. How cowardly.

Before he can do anything, I grab Astral's arms and twist them behind his back, my claws digging into the gems at his elbows. He gives a small cry of pain, bringing a smirk to my face. I chuckle as he tries to free himself. It's very amusing.

It starts to rain. First a drizzle, then a downpour. I feel it beating down on my head.

I chuckle darkly. "This is the wrath of your onii-chan, Astral," I purr. "This is what happens when you anger a Number!" I harshly twist his arms further in their sockets.

I grin. "Do you remember that time on the roof when you were mad at Yuma?"

Astral doesn't answer, earning another twist and my claws deeper into the gems.

"Y-yes," he chokes out painfully.

"Do you remember that I would tell you why that black wound was beautiful? Why that gift was so important?"

A nod.

"Well, guess what? I'm gonna tell you."

~Astral~ My eyes widen. After all this time, he is finally going to tell me what made the black wound beautiful.

"Sure, people can buy you things, but it really has no meaning. If they make you something, even better! However, if that someone is your sibling, that gives deeper meaning to the gift." Black Mist twists my arms further, causing the pain in my shoulder blades to intensify. His claws also dig deeper, and I stifle a cry of pain. I feel the gems begin to break. "That gift, that imperfection, was beautiful because your own brother gave it to you," he growls in my ear. "Your brother gave you that scar, and by doing so, I've revealed that another side of you, Dark, still cares. In reality, you don't want this at all!"

So that's it. I understand now.

"Most of his soul is right here in the palm of my hand," he continues. "I could easily put you both in an immense amount of pain right now. I wouldn't hesitate, and I wouldn't let up until you beg. However, that would break what's left of my black heart to put Dark in that kind of pain, so I won't do it yet."

Yet. The key word is yet. Who knows if he will do it or not? After all, he has plenty of hatred toward me.

~Black Mist~ I taste something I haven't tasted from Astral in a while. Fear. Fear and anger. Probably anger toward the Light Forces, fear toward me. Darkness. Lots of darkness. I feed on that. Sweet as usual.

"So that's it..." Astral whispers. His body goes limp. "I did not understand before, but now I do."

"Astral did Dark give you your memories back yet?" I ask, releasing him.

Before he can answer, he screams in pain.

"Agent 12, fight him! Send him back like you were told!"

"Y-yes," Astral whimpers. He gets up, but he still hesitates.

He doesn't want to. He knows he doesn't. I grin.

"Do it!" the Light Forces demand. "Use your abilities that you were taught! It does not matter that he is your brother; kill him!"

~Dark Astral~ "Kill him!"

I freeze. The words echo inmy head.

Miza, too, stops.

Everyone stops. Time seems to freeze. The only sounds are the rain pounding down and Cat walking toward us. She seems shocked to hear that, too.

Kill Nii-chan? The mission was only to capture him, not kill him.

"Kill him?" Astral echoes. "B-but the mission was to-"

"Forget the riginal mission! This Number is the descendent of the Dark Number who died all those years ago! That is why his evil was prominent in the Early Years!"