Gone And Back Again

I. We Never Cared For School Anyway

 The darkness of the hours past midnight cloaked the Niwa household, with no one awake. No one except for a teenage boy who related to the dark night in multiple ways.

Dark purple eyes studied the stars and drew constellations, regardless of whether they existed or not. He liked stars, but he wasn’t interested in memorizing every constellation possible. The teen looked at the half moon, shining high in the night. Looking at the moon, he tried guessing the time. It had to be around 1 or 2 AM. Not too bad, he thought. After all, he was a night owl. He loathed the mornings, playfully hissed when light was shined at him, cloaked himself in black, and jokingly claimed to be the night. He lived up to his name.

The door to the balcony opened below him, and he positioned himself so that he could see the ‘intruder’, but so that he wouldn’t be seen. He was, in fact, incredibly sneaky, and proud of it.

“Dark? Are you here?” A familiar and tired voice asked.

“Dark! Where are you?” A trembling, younger voice asked.

The person in question lowered his upper body to look at his younger siblings, although they did seem upside down to him. “What are you two doing out here? It’s gotta be around 1:30. Go back to bed, tomorrow’s a school day.”

“Dark! You’re the one who’s been up all this time! You don’t have any room to lecture us!” Daisuke protested. “Besides, I was only helping Wiz.”

Wiz nodded, puppy dog eyeing his purple haired older brother. “I had a nightmare.” He explained through slightly held back tears.

Hearing this, Dark’s expression softened, and he rearranged himself to leap off of the roof and onto the balcony. “Well then, I guess duty calls. C’mon Wiz.” He said, smiling at the albino five year old after dropping to the balcony gracefully. He then ruffled Daisuke’s red hair, watching the tired fourteen year old look at him, as if begging to be allowed to go back to bed. Dark scooped up Wiz, and gestured to the door. “Off to bed then, right?”

“Good, any longer and I would’ve forced you.” Came an angry voice. It was more of a hiss than anything though, and Dark rolled his eyes upon hearing it. The younger two had different reactions, Daisuke nearly jumping out of his skin as he was suddenly more alert, and Wiz clinged to Dark’s shirt while glaring at the blond.

“Krad? Why did you come over here?” Daisuke asked nervously. It was common knowledge amongst those who knew Krad that he despised staying up late, and hated being woken up before he dubbed it properly morning. It was also common knowledge amongst anyone who knew him that if threatened to do something, the chances of doing it were high. In fact, everyone was sure that if he could get away with murder, he’d do that too.

“I came here because he was going through the halls calling for Dark.” Krad responded, ice in his voice as he glared at the child in his twin’s arms. The child in question immediately pulled himself closer to Dark, trying to hide himself.

“If you’re just trying to find a way to go to bed faster, go back to your room. This doesn’t concern you. At all.” The night owl responded, holding Wiz closer.

The early bird glared at his brothers, It was only a warning glare, not a ‘I will kill you in your sleep’ glare. It scared the younger two nonetheless and earned a glare back from his twin, followed by said twin rolling his eyes once the yellow eyed one turned around.

The next morning was just as all the others were. Everyone woke up before Dark, Wiz was forced to wake him up, Dark whined all through breakfast, he and Krad nearly got in a fight, Dark and Krad raced for the keys although it was Dark’s turn to drive, and soon they were off to school. Krad snagged the keys first, but before he made it to the car, he noticed his twin twirling the keys with a smirk, and racing to the driver’s seat. “You dirty thief!” Was the start of the new argument once the said thief settled himself in the car.

Daisuke and Wiz started a tradition of playing games on handheld systems where they could compete when they were riding to school. Both of them hated hearing their older brothers fight, and to keep themselves from going insane, Daisuke decided they need a distraction. On this particular day, however, Daisuke wished he never started it. Daisuke didn’t notice what his older brothers were doing, and he certainly didn’t hear Krad actually panicking, yelling at Dark to look at where he was going. By the time Daisuke realized today wasn’t as average as it seemed it would be, he was being slammed against the seat in front of him, and being crushed by multiple things.

The world seemed fake suddenly, and he couldn’t comprehend what was happening. He thought he heard Wiz’s scream, and the panicked voices of his older brothers, although those soon stopped. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he might’ve screamed too. Blackness overtook his vision, and any noise was a mere echo as he soon fell unconscious.