Thanatos's Curse

Seven: Questions

Yukio held Kaida until she cried herself to sleep. Strangely, he hadn't held her so close since they were little kids.

He felt horrible. He made Kaida cry, and her words were true. Maybe if he went with Kaida, their family could have been alive. It wasn't just her fault, it was his too. He should have been there to protect them. It was his responsibility as the oldest to take care of everyone.

Yukio sighed to himself. He didn't even know what happened to Izumi, why she had that knife, why she stabbed herself...

He clenched his eyes shut. He couldn't seem to get Izumi out of his head. Why had she gone mad?

Almost everyone he cared about was dead. All he had left was Kaida, and he almost took her for granted. He wouldn't let her go out of his sight.

He closed his heavy lids, his breathing slowing. Tomorrow, they would head out with Tatsuya. That was what they needed to focus on.
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"Yukio? Yukio, wake up. Please..."

He felt a hand shaking his shoulder. Yawning loudly, he stretched his arms. "What is it, Kaida?"

"Tatsuya is gone."

"What?" He suddenly shot up from the ground, narrowing his brows. "But he couldn't be. I didn't hear anything last night."

She shook her head in worry. "I checked everywhere. But I couldn't find him. He's not outside, not in the sky, and no where else." She hung her head. "I tried summoning him with the scroll, but it's still not working. I don't know what else to do."

"Well then, how come he was with us before? Something must have happened." He ran a hand through his messy hair. He felt a surge of panic rush through himself. Without Tatsuya, they wouldn't be able to travel fast enough to escape those monsters. He was a fire-type like Kaida, so he couldn't dig large tunnels like an earth-type warrior could. There wasn't much they could do without Tatsuya at all. They needed him, and now he was gone.

"I have an idea." She paused. "But you'll think I'm crazy." She sighed.

"Well, spit it out. I've got nothing." He sat up, straightening his back.

"I think we should head to the village and investigate."

"What?! Are you insane? Do you want to get yourself killed?" He fell back to the floor. "How's that even beneficial to us? That wouldn't help us at all."

Kaida clenched her lids, scowling. "See? I knew you would say that."

"You know I'm right."

"Just hear me out, will you?" She took a deep breath. "Don't you ever wonder why those monsters invaded Anwei? Why it happened after we left? When we were flying in the sky with Tatsuya, I saw the other surrounding villages in flames. And you saw the river, didn't you? It can't be a coincidence. It had to be a planned invasion." She stood up, looking out to the trees. "I need to know why they attacked us."

Yukio sat back up, crossing his arms. "Kaida, those monsters have no brains. They're just blood-thirsty, savage things that only want to eat our rotten corpses. There's no way it was planned."

"No, Yukio." She exhaled loudly, hesitating. "Do you remember that monster I was telling you about last night? The one that wanted to 'see' me again?"

He stood up, leaning against the damp stone wall. "It was just messing with your head. It meant nothing, Kaida."

"I have a feeling he's the leader of everything that's caused this. Thanatos." She rubbed her arms, as if she were cold.

"Thanatos? You mean, the one who started it all? The 'king' of all those monsters?" He walked over to the bags and grabbed a handful of cold buns. "Have you been reading those newspaper scrolls? You know you aren't suppose-"