Final Stage

Chapter 11: Flesh and Bones

"Papa!" Black Mist called as he hung up his cloak. He eagerly looked around, but there was no sign of the elder Number.

No matter. He was probably in the kitchen. It was almost time to eat, and preparing food was always a big event because of how many children there were. No doubt he was extremely busy. Black Mist simply concluded that he would go to the kitchen to see if he was there.

Just as expected, Hope was busy in the kitchen. Without missing a beat, Black Mist was there beside him, helping him make a meal he knew exactly how to make.

"Papa, I have something I want to tell you," Black Mist began as he worked. 

Hope looked over and immediately turned his gaze back to his task. "What would that be? Did you find something during your walk?"

The Dark Number grinned. "Yep! There's this town not too far from here. It's like a paradise. Numbers of all types live there in peace. Really the only separation is touching, but that would be normal."

"That's good! Hopefully we can take some of the children there."

"I was getting to that. See, at this town, they have a race. They call it their Flying Race. I just came back from watching it, and it's the most exciting thing I've seen that doesn't involve others getting hurt. Everyone there loves it, and I'm sure the kids will too."

Hope smiled, finishing chopping up some vegetables. "Well, when's the next race? I'm sure they'll be delighted to see it."

"Next month."

The 39 nodded with a smile, and they once again worked in silence. Throughout it all, Black Mist wondered if it would be a good idea to tell Hope about the "curse." He didn't want to believe it, though. He wanted to keep believing that the old hag was just crazy, thinking she could curse people.

Yes, that had to be it. So he exited the kitchen to bring the children to eat without telling Hope Numerronius's suspicions. 

The day passed pleasantly. He played with the little ones, took care of the orphan infants (who were the most tragic cases, in his opinion), and trained those old enough to fight. After all, a Number needed to know how to fight for his or her life if he or she was to live in this world. It was almost too pleasant, though. The ghost children's voices were nowhere to be heard. It would have been relieving if he wasn't paranoid.

When the day was done and the children were asleep, Black Mist went out into the cool night air to enjoy the darkness, the stars, and the moon. Tonight was a full moon; he was certain the same design appeared on Yoru's forehead.

Sitting on the steps, resting his elbows on his knees, the Dark Number simply stared out into the darkness when he sensed a scuffle happening within his Shadow Territory. There was no cause for alarm, he believed; Triclops always handled scuffles. That was his job, after all. But when the fighting went on a little too long, unease began to bloom in his chest.

He had to deal with this.

As usual, without any effort needed, he was transported to the Shadow Realm, a world within the shadows where unreal creatures resided. He'd come to learn that the Creatures were mainly Dark Numbers who wished to stay living for many more years, either for their own gain or to be with the person they cared about most. Some, he'd heard, were made by the creators of Dark Numbers, which most did in order to give their creations at least one companion for their life. After all, Dark Numbers weren't exactly popular.

What he saw in his Shadow Territory was a blockage of Creatures, all trying to attack some kind of intruder while Triclops tried to diffuse the fighting. Black Mist simply watched, knowing his lead Shadow Creature would handle this situation.

Finally, after a few short minutes, the blockage of Creatures cleared, leaving two startlingly and stark white beings in the middle, huddled back to back with fangs bared, aggressive yet unwilling to attack. What looked like their hair was long and shaggy, identical to one another. They were the same height, had the same build, and were identical in every way except the eyes. Like their white skin, their eyes were odd. One of them had red eyes, and the other's were bone gray.

"Are you quite done?" Black Mist called as soon as the scuffle was over. His Shadow Creatures didn't even flinch when he spoke up, but the intruders winced and looked down guiltily. "What are you doing in my Territory? Didn't your Master teach you to never stray?"

The two beings, which Black Mist could only assume were Shadow Creatures, shared a glance. The red-eyed one spoke up. "We have no Master. We were hungry."

Suddenly, the other Creatures hissed loudly and in protest. The Dark Number winced as the volume grew the angrier they got; he couldn't even make out what they were protesting about.

"Enough!!" Triclops exclaimed, throwing his hands up. Miraculously, the Creatures stopped hissing. Then, he turned to the Dark Number. "They are cannibals, Master. They came in, weak and without a Master. They said they were hungry, so we tried to give them food." His expression darkened. Black Mist couldn't help but notice that his hands clenched. "They tried to eat us."

Black Mist simply nodded with the same passiveness as usual as when he was disciplining his Creatures. He turned his attention to the intruders. "You don't look like any beings I've seen. Are you Shadow Creatures?"

Once again, the two shared a glance before nodding.

"I've never seen one in your color."

"We don't know why we look different. But we are Shadow Creatures."

The gray eyed one started twitching a bit, his eyes darting to each Creature in the area as though it were a feast. Black Mist caught this and raised a brow. "Cannibals? Well, I can't very well leave you without a Master. I'll take you in on the condition that you leave my Creatures out of your diet."

The red eyed one tensed. "How will we eat?"

The answer was fairly simple.  "You hunt outside of the Territory. That should fill your need." Though why a Shadow Creature needed to eat was beyond him.

The cannibals clearly didn't like their hunting freedom being taken from them. However, they looked desperate. Mist took this as a reluctant agreement, so he slit a small crack into his gems, wincing from the slight pain. Chaos seeped out in controlled amounts.

"From this day forth, you're mine," he uttered, bathing them in Chaos. Immediately, they were bound. "Do you have names?"

The one with the red eyes spoke for the both of them. "I am Flesh. My brother is Bone."

Dead brothers then. From the looks of it, they were most likely Light Numbers. He was about to comment on it when a commotion started in the areas of the orphanage the Shadow Creatures were stationed. Alarmed, he quickly resurfaced.