Mood: dizzy and random
Music Mizerable –-- Gackt

Rae: I return yet again with more weirdness from my insane fried brain. Dude. This part is like eighty pages. No kidding... And... Like nothing freaking happens... I so can’t write. *falls over* Why do I bother? T.T

Whoa. I’ve been officially death threatened. Six times. Twice by my mother, and four times by my brother. Yesh. I’ve been told that if I let Druu die, I die. And if I let something bad happen to Yuki? I die. XD

Well. Uh... I don’t really have much to say... Um... Ah, just read. Oh and pictures! Pictures of a bunch of the characters will be at the end of this part, mmkay? ^_^

Yep... Okay.

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enter the lion’s den; part a
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You know, Rae was really not having a good day.

At all.

Somehow I knew I had a bad feeling about this section of town... she couldn’t help but think as she was dragged into the dark alley by her unknown assailant. The pink haired girl struggled against those lean, strong arms but quickly discovered it to be completely useless. Damn, he’s too strong... Assuming it is a guy, that is.

Oh and of course she couldn’t call out or yell for help because the guy had his left hand pressed firmly over her mouth. Not that she really thought anyone would exactly be eager to run to her assistance anyway...

Hm, well, it always works in the movies... she thought as a sudden idea popped into her mind. Without warning she bit down on her attacker’s hand, though her germaphobic mind was squicked by the thought...
Desperate times call for desperate measures...

“Ow! God damn it!” her assailant snapped, jerking his hand away, his voice filled with anger. “You idiot!”

Wait a minute...That voice... Bitchy and...Oops.

“You fucking stupid human!” he went on to say, swinging her forcefully around to meet her eyes with his angry gaze.

Rae’s eyes widened as she focused on her attacker’s face. “Oh my God, am I glad to see you!” she exclaimed with a deep shaky sigh. “You jerk! You shouldn’t have grabbed me like that! I thought you were a mugger or a serial killer or something!”

“What the FUCKING hell are you doing here, you idiot?!” Malba snapped, crossing his black-clad arms angrily, his midnight blue eyes flashing with irritation. “And I grabbed you so you wouldn’t get killed! Do you realize what part of Laineka you’re in? Stupid! Be glad I saw you!”

She took a slow deep breath, trying to keep her thoughts in order and to calm her racing heart, but...

For reasons unknown to the girl, her eyes grew a little watery and a shuddering sigh escaped her lips. Keep it together. You found Malba...Or well he found you and now things are...Um...Going to be... Fine....

Without even thinking about it she moved forward a little and leaned her forehead against the lean darkness elemental’s shoulder, closing her eyes for a moment. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you. I was seriously starting to think I was going to fuck this up and...” she trailed off, suddenly realizing that it probably hadn’t been such a great idea to touch the irritable sprite. Oops, now he’s gonna get pissed...Er, more pissed?

“Hey! What are you d--Wait. You’ve got blood all over you. And uh, you look like hell. What happened?” the anger quickly faded from his voice and he pushed the girl back a bit, looking over her damp bloody clothes and red-stained hands with a flash of concern in his eyes.

“I...Um... It’s Druu...” she replied shakily, looking away from the pale elemental. “He...” the girl trailed off, unable to finish. Druu...

“He... Fuck,” Malba responded slowly, his dark eyes widening a bit. “Fuck!” he snapped again as he turned away from the girl, a deep quaking sigh escaping his lips. “Is... Is he alive? He’s still.. Still alive, right?”

“Um, he was when I left. Kopaka told me to jump here and um hurry and find you and um you can get the meds he needs from his apartment?” she responded unsteadily, reaching a trembling hand into her blue jeans pocket, pulling out the folded list of drugs. He better still be alive, damn it!

“...Damn it Druu. You idiot,” Malba mumbled, his voice low. “Okay. Give it to me,” he muttered, turning back around to face the girl, holding out his left hand.

She nodded, handing over the folded paper. “Here.”

“I knew he... I just didn’t think that...” the dark haired elemental once again turned away, his words trailing off. “And Kopaka’s an idiot.... Asikea is too far away. That’ll take too long. But I can’t really jump that close to it either. Asikea’s way too big... It’d still take too long to get to his apartment... Damn it...” Malba once again trailed off, obviously slipping into thought. “Someone would definitely notice if I jumped us directly outside of the city, but...”

Oh yeah! Sano!

“Oh and um, Sanosuke! He came with me but, um, um Veenom showed up and he’s fighting her right now and we have to go help him or he’s gonna get killed,” Rae suddenly exclaimed, her thoughts flashing over that furious look that had passed through the poison demon’s green eyes...

“Yeah well, that’ll have to wait. We’re getting the medicine first,” Malba stated with a distracted shrug, unfolding the piece of paper in his hand, looking over the list.

“Uh, hello, could you show a little concern here? Veenom’s a freaking demon! I know Sano’s tough but--” she started but was cut off as Malba turned angrily and shoved her against the alley-wall, his eyes taking on that unnatural red hue...

Oh shit...

“Look. We’re getting the medicine first. Understand?” he stated coldly, his voice dripping ice. “Now shut up or I’ll make you shut up.”

“Um... Malba? Don't get mad at me, I'm sorry, okay? Just, calm down,” she responded, giving the man a pleading look. Again with the red eyes? Come on Malba... You look scary like that... "You're um, kinda hurting me..." Okay more than kind of... His grip on her shoulder was pretty damn tight actually...

The black haired sprite blinked at her words, his eyes quickly returning to their usual dark blue coloring. Malba hastily let go of the girl as a quick flash of guilt momentarily passed through his eyes. “...Sorry,” he muttered, moving away from Rae.

“Um, it’s okay. Just try not to kill me, neh? I know it’s tempting and all, but try not to anyway,” she replied lightly, giving the sprite a small smile. Wow, this makes the second time in two days he's went all weird and glowy eyed, she thought, a small shiver crawling up her spine at the brief appearance of those red eyes. It... I still don't think it's his fault.. Just like when he went all red eyes over the karaoke thing... I have no clue why he goes all weird like that, but I feel sorry for him. It’s not like he wants to act like that. He just... Kind of snaps or something, she went on to think, watching the darkness sprite while rubbing her shoulder a bit. Man. He has a killer grip...

“Look... the rooster will be okay. Veenom may be a demon, but she also happens to be a fucking idiot. As long as he avoids her stupid poisons, he’ll be fine,” Malba stated quietly, clenching his right fist tightly at his side. “We’ll come back for him after we get the medicine... Kainitif forest is a good place to jump anyway. The screwed up energy of the forest kind of hides the Jump and all...”

“Um, okay. If you say so.” She’d just have to take the sprite’s word for it. Besides, Sanosuke had seemed so confident and... You can do it Sano. We’ll be back for ya and you’ll be fine... Yeah.

Rae glanced down at the sprite’s tightened fist, noting that his hand was still swollen, his knuckles busted and bruised. Though somehow she hadn’t figured one day would fix the damage the sprite had done to himself.... I can’t believe he punched a wall... Or... Well actually I can, but still... “Will you stop doing that? You’re making it worse.”

“Huh?”

“Your hand.”

“Oh... Whatever.”

“Also... Um... I’m sorry I bit you...”

“Don’t worry about it. You didn’t break the skin or anything.”

Rae nodded and then fell silent, watching the sprite as he read over the list in his left hand. “Your handwriting sucks. And you can’t spell worth a damn,” he stated, a small smirk forming on his lips.

“Well excuse me. I wasn’t exactly worried about my handwriting or spelling at that point. Plus I’m left-handed, so, yeah my stupid handwriting sucks, what do you expect?” she replied, crossing her arms. “Give me a break.”

“Whatever. Stupid.”

“Oi! Hey! Where are ya? Where’d you go human-girl? I told you I wanna play!” a gruff voice interrupted the two’s conversation as a tall white haired man stepped into the entrance of the alley, a sneer on his large chapped lips. “Oh, there you are! I found ya!”

Rae let out a sigh, shaking her head a bit. Great... she thought sarcastically as she glanced over the burly looking man. The very same man that had been basically stalking her before Malba had yanked her into the alley... Why the hell does he want to ‘play’ with me? Geez... What do I look like?

“Get lost,” the darkness sprite stated distractedly, still looking over the list. “Idiot.”

“Wha’ you say, pretty boy? I wanna play with the human. Human blood tastes really good you know,” the large man replied, stepping closer, crossing his muscular arms.

“Wh-What?!” Oh, so he wants to EAT ME?! What the fuck is up with this damn town? Bunch of freaks! Oh... And man, he so shouldn’t have called Mals a pretty boy... she thought as she watched the dark-haired sprite twitch, his eyes focusing angrily on the man.

“What did you call me?” he snapped irately, his voice raising.

“What, ya deaf? I called you a pretty boy, pretty boy.”

Oh man....

“You know what? You REALLY just picked the wrong person to fuck with,” Malba replied with a deadly look flashing in his dark eyes.

“Oh, so the short, pretty little girly man wants to play too?” the man laughed as he stepped forward, his grin widening as he taunted the elemental sprite. “Well, come play.”

Hey! Malba isn’t short. Well, he’s not really that tall but... He’s average! Stupid giant guy, Rae thought defensively, glancing over Malba’s lean frame. And yeah he’s pretty! So what? Stupid ugly human eater...

“Well girly ma--” the man started but was abruptly cut off as his large body suddenly lifted from the ground, swiftly levitating head first into the alley wall. Malba motioned his hand—still holding the paper—a bit and the man rose from his crumpled position, once again flying through the air to smash into the wall...

Owww... That had to hurt, Rae thought with a small smirk. Malba may be bitchy... But he’s still pretty damn cool... And apparently really likes slamming people into walls, she thought, her mind running over the previous day’s events and the whole fake mugging thing at the club... Though Mals also caught that guy on fire...

“Idiot,” he muttered, once again focusing his attention to the paper held in his hand. “Okay... I have an idea.”

“Huh?” Rae responded, glancing over the unconscious white haired man lying on the dirty ground before turning her attention back to the sprite. “Idea?”

“Yeah... Asikea will take too long to get too. Even if I jumped both us and my motorcycle right outside of Asikea... The place is so huge, that would still be over a two hour ride on my bike... So...” he trailed off, his brow furrowing a bit in thought.

“So?” she questioned, raising an eyebrow. What could the sprite be planning? “What do we do?”

“I know a place that has high grade meds, all of these. So, all we have to do is break in and get it,” Malba responded, a small smirk forming on his lips. “It should only take a few minutes.”

“Uh, okay. A quick little robbery? Sounds good,” she replied with a blink. Hey, as long as it helps Druu, at this point I really don’t care.

“Yeah well... Just, uh. Do me a favor.”

“Huh?”

“Let’s... Let’s not tell Kits or Kopaka about this, okay?” he responded, a small cocky grin still on his lips. “Hopefully Kopaka won’t notice that it’s not the meds from his apartment... Heh...”

Wait a minute... she thought, glancing at the sprite’s smirk... “Why can’t I tell Kopaka or Kitsune?” Rae questioned, suspicion in her voice as she met the elemental’s eyes. “What is this place?”

“Don’t worry about it. I just need to lay low while we’re there, that’s all. Kits worries too much, it’s no big deal,” the sprite replied with a shrug, shoving the list into a pocket of his dark denim jeans. “Let’s go. My bike’s out by the front entrance.”

Rae bit her lip but nodded, not really buying the whole ‘Kits worries too much’ thing... Kitsune might worry, but she usually has good reason to worry... Hm... But the alternative was to ride over two hours away to get the medicines... Druu could die by that time, right? I guess I’ll just have to trust ya Mals, hopefully wherever we’re going isn’t going to get us killed...

“Wait, the front entrance? What, you mean I came through the back?”

“Yeah.”

“Um, okay, let’s go then, right?” Rae replied, glancing over the sprite, actually consciously taking in his appearance for the first time since she’d been in the little back-alley. The lean man was wearing faded dark jeans and worn black boots, along with a long sleeved black shirt and that coat of his... Yeah the one that magically keeps passing back and forth between him and Kitsune... Hah... And...Hey!

“Hey! You have your hair pulled up,” she suddenly stated with surprise, not believing that she had JUST noticed it. The sprite’s long black hair was not loose, but instead pulled away from his face, up into a cool little bun-knot thing... “That looks so cute,” she couldn’t help but comment, despite the worry and tension running through her mind. Because... Well. The sprite looked really cute. How brain fried am I? I can’t believe I just now noticed.

“What? Cute? What the fuck are you talking about?” he snapped, a small reddish tint quickly flashing over his pale cheeks. “I’ve got it pulled up in case I need to fight, stupid. You ever tried to kick somebody’s ass with your hair hanging in your eyes? Plus... You know, some idiot with a sword could chop it all off when he’s aiming for your head or something,” Malba explained, an annoyed expression on his lean, attractive face.

A small smile formed on the girl’s lips as she noticed the blush appearing on the sprite’s face. “Um, or you know. You could accidentally cut your own hair off when you’re swinging YOUR swords or whatever.”

“What?! I would never be that stupid!” he snapped in response, but his cheeks flushed a bit redder and Rae grinned, letting out a small laugh.

“Oh man, you’ve really cut your own hair off before?”

“NO!”

“You sure about that?”

“Shut up you idiot! It wasn’t my fault! It... Just shut up!” Malba shouted with an irritated growl. “Stupid human!”

Rae shook her head, erasing the smile from her face before the sprite decided to catch her hair on fire or something. Hah... I can’t believe he’s accidentally cut his own hair...What a baka. She then frowned, worry once again washing over her other thoughts. Now wasn’t the time to be joking around, right? Druu... Hang on Druu-chan.

“Come on, let’s go. That is if you’re finished making fun of me,” Malba commented with irritation, turning and walking away from the girl, his long black coat flying out behind him a bit as he moved.

I love that coat...Looks good on Mals and Kits both...

Rae nodded, quickly moving to walk beside the dark haired elemental. “So how long will it take to get to this place we’re gonna break into?” she questioned as they walked through the slummish section of Laineka, her eyes traveling nervously about.

“Around twenty minutes if I go fast enough,” he replied, distractedly tucking a small lock of hair that had fallen from his pulled back style behind his pointed ear. “You ever been on a motorcycle?”

“Um... No...”

“Great...” he muttered, rolling his dark blue eyes.

“Sorry,” she replied with a frown, rolling her own eyes a bit. Geez, it’s not my fault I’ve never really been on a motorcycle... Except for when I was a little kid maybe... But I can’t remember...

Malba shrugged, quickening his pace. “So... Druu... He uh, was he bleeding a lot I guess?” the dark haired elemental questioned quietly, his gaze focused straight ahead, not meeting the girl’s eyes.

“Yeah... He... Um. He was acting like everything was fine one minute and then he started coughing and... He coughed up so much blood, Malba. His nose started bleeding too... He was so sick and um... He passed out, and... I don’t know,” she replied softly, a bit of a shake entering her voice. “He... What’s wrong with him?”

“Kopaka didn’t say anything?”

“He was a little busy injecting stuff into Druu’s heart and um giving him energy and stuff... He did say he’s a doctor though. Which uh, well I wasn’t exactly expecting, but ya know,” she responded with a small sigh. “Kopaka said it’s complicated. He said you’d explain...”

“Yeah, well. Complicated I guess, but really I think Kopaka just has a hard time admitting it,” Malba stated flatly, his right fist clenched by his side.

“Admitting... Admitting what?” she questioned nervously, eyebrow rising. She didn’t like the sound of that... Hard time admitting what? the girl thought with a small tremor running up her spine.

“That he doesn’t have a fucking clue. He doesn’t know what’s wrong with Druu,” the sprite bit out, a dark expression overtaking his features. “Not one god damn clue...”

“What? How can he not know? I mean he has medicine and stuff so...” the girl trailed off, her eyes widening. That can’t be right. He must know something or, um...

“It just started with this cough. He’d get it sometimes. Weird coughing spells... Then he would get headaches and nosebleeds. Well, aside from the ones caused by his fucking visions I mean. Like his visions weren’t bad enough... But for awhile, it didn’t seem that bad...” Malba trailed off, a small sigh escaping his lips as he once again quickened his pace, turning down a side-street, to another dim back alley. “This way’s faster...”

Rae moved to catch up with the elemental, following closely at his side. “Okay, so then what? When did it get worse?”

“The first time I started to realize how bad it actually was... Druu and I were doing a job... Easy one. Had to just kill this old crooked General guy, no big deal. So we did that, and just as we’re getting ready to leave, I turn around and there’s Druu lying on the floor in a puddle of blood. Hell I thought he’d gotten shot or something... ‘Til I noticed it was all coming from his mouth...” Malba once again trailed off, shaking his head a bit.

Rae bit her lip, a shiver running through her. Poor Druu...

“So I got him the hell out of there and... He woke up a little while later. Tells me that he’s fine and ‘not to worry’. Fucking idiot,” the darkness elemental bit out. As he continued his fast paced walk, the sprite dug around in his coat pocket for a moment before pulling out a box of cigarettes and his old flip-top lighter. He quickly lit a cigarette, then handed the pack and lighter to the girl. “Here.”

“Thanks,” she responded gratefully, hastily lighting a cigarette as well. Man I so needed this, she thought as she deeply inhaled the nicotine filled smoke. She glanced down at the large scratched up lighter. Metal and old... Faded letters carved into the worn surface...-Jinya-

“Here,” she commented quietly, handing back the pack and lighter.

“Anyway. Kopaka was working at this big medical research hospital place or whatever back then, so he started doing tests and stuff or whatever it is nerdy doctors do. Whatever. It was useless though,” the sprite stated flatly, drawing in a deep breath of nicotine laced smoke.

“Useless?” Rae questioned, biting at her lip.

“Kopaka did test after test, trying to find something. Anything. Fast forward to now and he still hasn’t found a damn thing,” the sprite replied with a small humorless laugh, his dark-blue eyes focusing on the dirty street.

Rae fell into silence, taking in the sprite’s words as she anxiously smoked her cigarette. Nothing? Nothing at all? But... “But... What about the medicines?” she questioned softly. “It helps, right?”

“Kopaka may act like a fucking idiot most of the time, but really, he’s smart. As in very smart. Well, when it comes to stuff like this anyway. He’s still a complete idiot but you know what I mean. Anyway, he’s figured out some different drug combinations to help treat the symptoms, but still... All it really does is keep Druu half alive during the attacks. They’ve gotten a lot worse over the years. More and more drugs... But nothing stops it. It keeps happening, regardless. All we can do it try to keep him alive.” With that said Malba took one last draw off of his cigarette before tossing it aside, a deep sigh escaping his lips.

Rae frowned, a shiver running up her spine. Nothing stops it? She shuddered again, also tossing her cigarette to the dirty stone street. The girl crossed her arms, glancing about the part of Laineka the two were now walking through. This section seemed a little less dilapidated, with more people milling about. Quite a few little buildings lined the street-way, markets and trinket shops...

The two remained silent for a few minutes as they continued their fast paced walk through the streets of Laineka, the slim dark haired elemental leading the way, shoving people out of the way when necessary.

But... There has to be something to it... You don’t just mysteriously get sick with no way to even figure out what it is, right?

“So... What... What all are the symptoms and what causes them? Like the bleeding? People don’t just randomly start coughing up blood for no reason, right?” she questioned, breaking the silence.

“The more minor things are stuff like headaches and nosebleeds... Which sucks, because his visions already cause that anyway. So it just makes it even worse,” Malba replied, a frown on his lips.

“Yeah...His visions are bad enough as it is... But... God, I had no idea he was sick... This...” the girl trailed off, shaking her head. Maybe if I had paid more attention I would have noticed something... Or something... I don’t know...

“He gets so pale sometimes. Even compared to Kits, who looks like she just crawled off the fucking Titanic. And as you’ve already seen, he hacks up blood... Then during the actual attacks he starts bleeding a lot...And his visions go insane. While he’s knocked out, it’s hard to tell what all he sees... I don’t really even want to think about it. But what’s weird is... His lungs or chest or whatever? There’s nothing wrong with them, supposedly. No infections, no... Anything. Yet he hacks up blood all the damn time. It makes no fucking sense at all,” the sprite shook his head, clenching his fists as he spoke. “Supposedly he just starts bleeding for basically no real reason.”

Okay... That... That really doesn’t make any sense... Why would his lungs get all fucked up and bleed or whatever with no cause or reason? That doesn’t make any sense at all... Wait, did he say the Titanic? Hah... Malba really spends too much time in my world...

“Um... What about his eyes? They were blue like when he’s having visions... But... They started... Um. His eyes turned this freaky white color,” she commented softly, picturing those pain filled eyes... Yet he had smiled... Druu had kept a smile on his face even as... She shuddered once again, wrapping her arms tighter around her chest.

“Oh yeah. Nice huh? Temporary blindness for one thing. Kopaka says he’s never seen anything like it before. He doesn’t know what the fuck it is. It screws his eyes up though, whatever it is,” Malba answered, shoving a large man out of their path as they walked. “Move, idiot,” he snapped, giving the overweight man an angry glare.

Blind? He... Druu was losing his eyesight? Oh...Oh man... Rae thought, her eyes widening at this information. Poor Druu...

“So um... What... The ‘attacks’... What all happens?” She dreaded the answer but asked anyway, watching Malba closely.

“He... Starts bleeding a lot, his heart fucks up, his breathing fucks up, his whole body just... Starts shutting down. His visions go crazy, his head hurts like hell and he goes blind... Oh, and he gets weird seizure like things sometimes. It just... I don’t know. It’s ridiculous. It doesn’t make any god damn sense. Supposedly there’s nothing wrong with him, according to all those stupid tests,” the darkness elemental replied bitterly, his frown deepening.

“Could it be magick related? His magick or uh... Some kind of curse or something?” she questioned, forcing herself not to dwell on those bloody lips and that deathly pale face...

“Yeah I thought about that myself back when it first started. So I paid Hanneke a little visit. Bitch might be a fucking psychopath, but if you can get her to be serious, she’s damn good at tracing magick and all that crap,” he stated with a shrug of his lean shoulders.

“Hanneke? How’d you get her to, you know, not ramble on about chickens and doom or whatever?” Rae asked with an eyebrow raised, thinking back on the demon’s... Eccentric ways.

“When all else fails, holding a knife to someone’s throat usually works pretty well,” he replied darkly, a bitter smirk briefly appearing on his lips.

“You sure you didn’t just make out with her or something?”

“Geh. No. God no. Death threats work pretty well on her, believe it or not. Though she did randomly grab me and kiss me that one time...” the sprite trailed off with a shudder, rolling his dark eyes.

“Old form or young form?”

“What do you think?”

“Grah... Sorry man.”

“Yeah...”

“So, Hanneke couldn’t find anything wrong with his magick or um any kind of magick related anything?”

“Nothing. Not a damn thing.”

“And you really trust her, right? Even if she is crazy, you take her word for it?” she questioned, her thoughts running over the odd demon.

“Yeah. She’s insane, but she’s one of the best psychics you can find. Period,” the darkness elemental responded flatly. “If she says it’s not magick... It’s not magick.”

“Oh...”

The two once again fell into silence as they continued their quick paced trek through the large town. Rae shivered a bit, slipping into thought.

If it isn’t magick... What the hell kind of disease is it? A mystery disease that has all these weird symptoms with no real definite cause and... It just keeps getting worse... The medicines only help keep him stable during the attack but... her thoughts trailed off as her heartbeat quickened, fear entering her mind. Druu-chan... But... Why would he have some weird disease that’s completely unknown? I mean... If it was a normal disease or something, shouldn’t... There be... I don’t know...

“So... How often does it happen?” she finally broke the silence, once again glancing at the tense darkness elemental.

“The actual attacks? Pretty often. But he has a lot of the stuff basically all the time,” he replied with a small shrug. “Like the coughing up blood thing and the paleness and all that...”

“All the time?! Really? Uhh, I’ve never noticed him looking pale or coughing up blood before,” she commented, a bit of surprise in her voice. Why the hell didn’t I notice anything then? All the time? Is he exaggerating? Oh Druu, man... Now I feel even guiltier... Some intuitive empath I am...

“Of course you haven’t noticed. Druu’s been sick for a really long time now. He’s gotten damn good at hiding it,” Malba replied matter-of-factly, his tone flat, his eyes focused on the street. “When he’s too sick to hide it, he just stays away. He didn’t want you to know.”

Rae bit her lip, a surge of anger suddenly rising up within her. She uncrossed her arms, letting them fall to her sides as she tightly clenched her fists. “Why? Why the hell didn’t he want me to know? Why didn’t anyone tell me? I mean Druu’s like fucking deadly sick and no one even bothers to tell me? Why?!” Rae really hated being left out of the loop. Especially... Especially with something like this.

“He didn’t want you to worry I guess. Druu’s bad about that... Really bad about that. He never tells anybody anything. And what was I supposed to do? He didn’t want you to know, so I kept my mouth shut,” he replied, glancing at the girl for a moment before once again focusing on the street.

“I... Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. I just... I’m scared. I don’t want Druu to die,” she whispered, her anger fading as quickly as it had arisen. “He looked so bad...”

Malba let out a sigh, a small shake to that deep breath. “Yeah. I know. Let’s just get the meds and try to keep him stable until the attack stops...”

“So... Even with the medicine, he can still die?”

“...Yeah. He can.”

Rae bit her lip, her eyes growing watery. She didn’t want to think of the possibility that... That Druuvbin could... And even if he does live this time... What about the next time? It never stops, that’s what Malba said? So... He’s going to die, right? Isn’t that what it means? I.... her thoughts trailed off and she ran a shaking hand through her damp hair, shoving it away from her moist eyes. This sucks.

The girl glanced about her surroundings, taking in the rather active section of the city they were now walking through. People and shops, demons and humans... In the distance she could make out a large gate, only this one was much more elegant, with intricate carvings in the thick, dark wood... The front gate I guess. About fucking time. I didn’t realize how big this place actually is...

Now the two could get on their way to steal the medicines...

Just hang on Druu... Just...Um...Um...

“Kouji said Druu’s color is death,” Rae suddenly stated, thinking back to the boy’s teary ice-colored eyes, his blank face... It had been bothering her. She had tried to keep the thought shoved away but... It had finally surfaced and the girl couldn’t quite push the memory away. If Kouji really is psychic...

“I had a feeling the kid must have seen something bad back at the club,” Malba replied, no surprise in his voice or eyes. “I was hoping that we were wrong but Kits and I figured it was getting closer...” the sprite stopped for a moment, long enough to shove an elderly man and woman out of the way, giving them an angry glare. “Move, stupid humans!”

Rae raised an eyebrow as the human couple hurried away from the angry sprite. Geez Malba, try to kill random old people now...

“Kouji saying that Druu had a weird color... We figured that was definitely a bad sign. Plus he was drinking a lot... Probably trying to block out the pain... I talked to Kitsune on the phone earlier today. She said she had a ‘discussion’ with Druu after the Tokyo thing. Which actually means she probably spent a few hours yelling at him but whatever. Druu told her he still had it under control. Guess he was wrong, huh?” the sprite questioned with a sigh. He then cleared his throat, rubbing a bit at his neck, a tense expression in his eyes.

So... That’s why he was drinking so much... Damn it... Wait, did Malba say phone? “...Phone?”

“Yes, phone. What, you think we don’t have phones here? Just because Laineka sucks doesn’t mean the whole planet is technology deprived. Idiot,” the elemental responded with a roll of his eyes.

“Uh, duh. I know that, baka! Geez. I was just going to ask if you think you can get a hold of her now. Let her know what’s going on,” Rae replied, raising an eyebrow at the temperamental sprite. Sheesh, bite my head off.

“...Oh. Yeah I already thought of that. As soon as we get out of this hellhole I’ll try to get her on her cell, if she has it on,” he stated, walking on towards the large main Laineka Gate.

“Okay.”

The two swiftly approached the main gateway and Malba walked over to the gate’s attendant, a frown on his lips. “Open it,” he ordered, his voice taking on that trademark bitchy tone.

“Eh? In a minute,” the gatekeeper responded, brushing off the darkness elemental. “I’ll be with ya in a minute,” the man went on to say, not taking his attention away from the book held in his hands. The slender man sat casually on a large stool, leaning back, his long orange-red hair framing his thin face. “Just, eh, hold on. This part’s good...” the man muttered, frowning a bit at the novel.

Rae glanced at the book, however could not decipher the text, deciding it was definitely not English. “Come on, we need out!” she stated impatiently, crossing her arms.

“Look, maybe you didn’t hear clearly. Open the fucking gate. Now,” Malba snapped, grabbing the man’s book and tossing it over his shoulder. “Just open it, Xzai.”

“Hey!” the man Malba had addressed as ‘Xzai’ protested and then turned his dark orange eyes up to meet Malba’s gaze. “Oh, it’s you. Okay, okay. Geez, what’s the rush, Malba?” the man questioned with a small smirk, raising an eyebrow at the sprite. “First you make me let you in, even though you know I’m not supposed to let YOU in, and then you want out. Make up your mind,” he stated teasingly, amusement in his eyes.

“Something came up,” the sprite replied with a sigh, glancing at the immense gate. “That’s designed so fucking stupid. Why don’t they just have a freaking door in the thing so you don’t have to open that big ass gate every time someone wants in or out,” the darkness elemental commented with an eye-roll, once again focusing his attention to Xzai.

“Hey don’t blame me. They just pay me to keep it shut. I guess they figure the bigger it is, the safer Laineka is. Though we all know any demon or elemental with even a little power could just bust the thing down,” the man responded with a wry grin, turning a bit to throw a big switch on the wall of the gatekeep’s booth. “So basically I guess it’s just for looks, heh.”

A large clicking noise could be heard and the man grinned, turning back to wink at Malba. “There. Now get out before I have you arrested. And uh... Your human friend is looking kind of funky,” he commented, finally noticing the damp, blood covered girl standing beside the darkness sprite.

“Gee, thanks,” Rae replied, raising an eyebrow at the man.

“Haha! Don’t take it the wrong way. I didn’t mean that in a bad way. Just you know, be careful. Don’t want to attract too much attention around here,” Xzai replied, holding up his hands in mock surrender, amusement flashing in his orange colored eyes.

“Later Xzai,” Malba stated, nodding his head a bit at the ember-haired man. “...Now you can get back to your lame trashy romance novel.”

“Yeah yeah. You’re gonna get me fired one of these days ya know,” the man replied with a melodramatic sigh. “Later. Don’t go gettin’ killed now.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

The large gate slowly opened with a loud creak and Malba quickly walked through the now open path. Rae waved a bit at Xzai, giving him a small smile before following after the darkness elemental.

“Later Mals and human girl.”

“That’s Rae, not human girl,” she called over her shoulder, rolling her eyes a bit.

“Ah, okay. Mals and ‘Rae, not human girl’,” the man replied, mischief in his pleasant voice. “Hahaha.”

Rae rolled her eyes again but smirked a bit, watching as the large gate slowly swung shut. “Well. He was interesting...”

“He’s an idiot, but he’s not really that bad of a guy,” Malba replied distractedly, once again digging around in his coat pockets. Only this time he did not retrieve a cigarette, but instead a small portable phone like device.

The girl looked over the device in his hands, noticing the thick black antenna and odd knob on the side. “Er... That’s a phone?”

“Kind of... Not really. It’s actually a piece of shit, but it’s the only thing I can get to work out here. Like I said, Laineka sucks,” the sprite responded, messing around a bit with the knob, watching the screen. “Oh come on. Find the damn signal...” he muttered irritably, eyebrow twitching as he continued to fiddle with the device.

“So uh, you can’t just send her a telepathic message?”

“No. She’s too far away.”

“Oh.”

“There! Finally,” he mumbled, a small agitated growl escaping his lips as he punched in a few numbers and pushed the button to activate the call. The sprite didn’t hold the device to his ear, but instead held it out a bit. The device looked to be a little more like a walkie-talkie than an actual cell phone, Rae noted.

Man, wonder how Kitsune’s gonna react? she thought as she watched Malba impatiently glare at the device in his uninjured hand. It’s not ringing or anything...Guess it doesn’t ring? Come on Kitsune. Please have your phone on...

“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me when I’m working, you stupid fairy?” a cold voice suddenly crackled through the device and a small smile played on Rae’s lips. That’s Kitsune, always right to the point... Working, huh? Oh yeah, she said earlier that she had gotten a ‘job’...

“Fuck you, mutt. You’re the one who has your damn phone on anyway. Plus I’m not calling to chat you up, moron,” Malba snapped in response, his dark eyes glaring angrily at the speaker of the device.

“What do you want?” the ice demon inquired sharply, irritation obvious in her cool voice. “Make it quick.”

“Jump to the other world. Now,” Malba stated firmly, his midnight-blue eyes still locked on the device, a frown on his lips. “As in right now.”

“What? Why?” Kitsune questioned, her voice losing a bit of that cold edge. “What happened?”

“Druu,” Malba stated, a sigh escaping his lips.

“...Damn it,” Kitsune bit out, the device crackling a bit. “How bad?”

“Apparently pretty fucking bad, judging by all the drugs Kopaka wants me to get. Plus he must have thought it’s pretty bad if he sent this idiot here to get me,” the darkness elemental commented, twisting the knob on the device a bit, causing the odd crackling noise to diminish.

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?” Rae spoke up, giving the sprite an annoyed glare. “Jerk.”

“What?! You’re there? Kopaka sent you? You jumped?” Kitsune responded quickly, her tone rising just a bit. “To Laineka?”

“Um yeah... It’s no big deal, I’m fine...” Rae commented, her blue-green eyes focusing on the black device. Sano may be dead by now but I’m just fine... the girl thought, a frown on her lips.

“Look Kits, get back there and help keep him alive. There’s no way Kopaka is going to have enough energy. So go. I’m taking Rae and getting the meds. I’ll jump us back there as soon as I can,” Malba interrupted, an impatient tone entering his voice.

“...Fuck. I’m in the middle of Teaja. I can’t jump here. It’s going to take me awhile to get far enough away,” the ice demon muttered. “I... That idiot... I knew it. Why won’t he ever listen to anything I say? Why won’t he take care of himself? Does he want to die? He keeps pushing himself and... He’s killing himself in the process,” she went on to say, her voice angry and edgy.

Rae bit her lip at the fox demon’s words, a shudder running up her spine... So now I suddenly understand why Kitsune and Malba are always acting so over-protective like over Druu... It’s... I never really got it before, why they would get all pissed with him and... But now it makes sense...

“Yeah, well. Hurry up and get out of there,” Malba snapped, rolling his eyes a bit, an annoyed look on his face. “Turn into that stupid fox form of yours or something.”

“Oh yes, because a blue fox running through the crowded streets of Teaja would be far less noticeable. Fucking idiot,” Kitsune responded irritably, and though Rae couldn’t see the woman, she was sure the demon’s eye had to be twitching by this point... She could so picture it.

“Whatever! Just hurry up,” Malba shot back, a frustrated tone in his sharp voice. “Stupid bitch...”

“I’m going. I just need to clear the security checkpoint and I’ll jump outside of the Ganea District, so shut up. Idiot,” the icy woman snapped, her voice dripping irritation.

“Isn’t that a little close? Someone could still notice,” Malba responded, raising an eyebrow.

“Just shut up and go get the fucking medicine, fairy,” Kitsune quickly retorted with a small angry growl. Afterwards a sharp click could be heard from the device, then nothing but static.

“...That stupid bitch just hung up on me! God I hate her!” the darkness elemental exclaimed irately, death glaring the phone device.

“Sure you do,” Rae replied, a small smirk forming on her lips despite the horrible apprehension floating through her mind. It never ceased to amuse her. Kitsune and Malba could bicker like such... Children. ...I bet their sex life is scary as hell... Okay, she really didn’t even want to think about that. The girl quickly shook her head, clearing the weird thoughts that had entered her mind.

“Let’s go. My bike is behind those bushes over there,” the darkness elemental completely ignored Rae’s previous comment, instead walking away from the girl, shoving the phone back into a coat pocket.

Rae looked around a bit, actually taking in her surroundings. Before, she had been too engrossed in the conversation with Kitsune to really take in the area. No forest could be seen from this side of Laineka. The landscape was flat and ruddy, with a few bushes and sparse patches of grass, but for the most part... Wow... Kind of desolate looking... The girl then noticed the uneven dirt road leading away from the town, stretching out beyond the horizon.

“This place is kind of...”

“Boring? Ugly?” Malba quipped dryly, striding over to a patch of thick thorn covered bushes near the immense stone wall of Laineka. The lean elemental quickly reached into the odd hedge, dragging out a small black motorcycle. Beat up and dirty; it wasn’t exactly a striking machine. “Here. It’s not much, but it runs.”

Rae nodded, looking over the black bike, moving closer to inspect it. “I think it’s kind of cool looking. I mean it’s not fancy but, yeah,” she commented, running a finger along the handlebar.

“It’ll do.”

“Yeah, definitely.”

Rae took in a deep breath as a cool gust of wind brushed against her. The girl glanced up, her eyes taking in the sky. Dark clouds had slowly settled over the town and surrounding area, the sun hidden away within the bleak greys... Another gust of wind swept over her and she shivered, the air cold against her skin.

“Looks like it’s going to storm,” Malba stated, glancing at the darkening sky. He then shrugged, turning his attention back to the motorcycle.

“Yeah... I guess I get to get wet again. It was storming in my world too...” she replied, her aqua-eyes focusing on those dark clouds. Somehow... Her uneasiness only grew, looking at those ominous grey clouds... You’re being paranoid, stupid, she reprimanded herself, biting her lip a bit.

“Get on,” Malba ordered, breaking into her thoughts.

She turned her attention to the sprite, who was now straddling the bike, leaning his arm casually against a handlebar. Rae nodded a bit, glancing over the motorcycle with an uneasy expression. “What if I make us crash or something?”

“Don’t worry about it,” he muttered with a roll of his dark eyes. He then moved to start up the motorcycle, which quickly roared to life with a loud rumble. “Just hurry up and get on.”

The girl nodded again and then carefully climbed onto the machine, wrapping her arms around the sprite’s waist. “Like this?”

“No, sit on the handlebars. Idiot,” he replied sarcastically, raising his voice to be heard over the loud hum of the bike.

“Oh shut up.”

“Stupid.”

“So uh... No helmets?”

“Helmets? Who needs helmets?”

Rae raised an eyebrow at his reply. Who needs helmets? Well gee Malba, I don’t know. How about anyone with half a brain? she thought, but kept her mouth shut, figuring it’d probably be best not to piss off the already irritated sprite. “Okay...”

With that the elemental revved the engine a bit and kicked off, quickly speeding away from the Main Laineka Gate, leaving a puff of exhaust smoke in their wake.

Rae clung to the sprite, trying her best not to think about what would happen if she fell off and smashed her helmetless head against the bumpy stone strewn dirt road... Splattered brains.... Meep... Well. At least its kind of fun going dangerously fast and all... How fast is this thing going anyway?

The darkness elemental sped swiftly down the winding rocky dirt road, taking the bike to break-neck speeds as he directed the machine further away from the city.

--Just lean when I say to, okay?—

Neh? Rae jumped a bit, but quickly realized the voice echoing in her head was just Malba using telepathy. Yeah, okay... she thought in response, glancing over the sprite’s shoulder to take in the seemingly endless dirt road stretching out before them.

If she wasn’t so worried about Druuvbin and Sanosuke, Rae probably would have really enjoyed the fast speed and the cold wind blasting her in the face, however... She couldn’t help but frown, glancing up to the dark sky. A raindrop hit her face and her frown deepened. Don’t die...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kopaka turned his eyes away from the teenage boy, lowering his gaze to the unconscious psychic held in his arms... “Yeah, so that’s about it...”

“That doesn’t make any sense. How can there be nothing? I mean, it has to be something!” Jiro stated, his eyes locked on the grey-haired sprite, his voice filled with confusion.

Kopaka wearily closed his eyes, a frown on his lips. No it doesn’t make any sense... Not at all, the wind sprite thought with a tired sigh. The shaggy haired elemental kept his eyes closed, focusing his fatigued body on the task at hand.

He had moved Druuvbin into Rae’s room in hopes of making the psychic more comfortable on the large full sized bed. He had covered him with the heavy black and grey comforter, and tried, well... To make the sprite as comfortable as possible. However... Druu’s energy was quickly depleting, his breathing once again growing shallow and unsteady, his pulse weakening...

Kopaka sat on the bed cross-legged, Druu’s prone, limp body held in his arms. Come on Druu. Just keep breathing for me...

...He had told Jiro the truth. As hard as it was to admit, he’d explained to the human boy that... There simply was no explanation. No... No known way to stop it and...

Kopaka bit his lip, concentrating on the psychic in his arms, forcing his energy into the unconscious man. He took a deep breath, doing his best to keep the energy flow steady... Yet... Damn it... He was running a little low himself.

“But... There has to be something causing it! People don’t just get randomly sick for no reason at all,” Jiro broke into the wind sprite’s thoughts, his voice shaky.

“I know, man. I know,” Kopaka responded softly, his eyes remaining closed. Keep breathing... Come on Druu...

“It... Um... I don’t know what to even say,” Yuki added unsurely, his gentle voice wavering. “Druu-chan...”

Yuki... Kopaka wasn’t quite sure what to make of the little guy. He knew he wasn’t a ghost. That was pretty obvious. No one else had ever really seemed to notice, but the wind sprite had figured that one out a long time ago. But hey, if Yuki wanted to run around pretending to be a ghost, why not, right? After all, Kopaka spent half of his time pretending to be a bunny so... Yeah.

Kopaka opened his eyes, glancing about the room full of blacks and greys. Rae really needs to get some color in here... he thought, taking in the room’s somewhat moody atmosphere. He had quickly taken the pink illusion plastered on the room earlier down when Druu had collapsed, so yeah... The room was back to its grey boringness...

He cast his blue eyes over to the small couch in the corner. Yuki and Jiro both were sitting on the black furniture piece, their eyes resting on Druuvbin. The human boy was busy gnawing on what was left of his nails and Yuki... Yuki was simply sitting still, tears in his bright grey eyes.

Yuki... There was a lot of weirdness going on with that guy... Kopaka pushed the thought away. Right now was so not the time to be thinking about that...

The sprite then moved his attention to the silent Kouji sitting on the other side of the bed, his ice-eyes locked on the psychic’s pale face. The boy still had that blank expression on his icy face... Kopaka let out a sigh, once again closing his eyes. Keep breathing.

It really sucked. Because well... It just somehow didn’t seem fair. He had spent years working in research dedicated to finding new treatments and drugs... He had seen so many people live through terrible diseases thanks to various new medicines and treatments... However... Why can I never fix anyone that I actually care about? It really just plain sucked.

Kopaka’s motto was basically to get the best out of life, laugh, never give up and to not sweat the small stuff... But you know, it was pretty hard to follow that when one of his best friends was literally dying in his arms. Again. Optimism had always been in his disposition, but still. At this point? The situation held little to be optimistic over.

I can’t believe I sent Rae and Sano to Laineka... What other choice had there been though? Yet, Laineka could be a pretty bad place... He just hoped... Just be careful guys... If they couldn’t get to Malba...

He frowned, shaking off the emotions. Now was not the time to be worrying. He needed to concentrate. The wind/ice elemental took another deep breath, working to fill the pallid psychic with his energy. Using the energy to keep his weak heart beating and... Man... I don’t know how much longer I can do this... It was taking massive amounts of energy just to keep the water sprite breathing. Come on Druu... Hang on man.

All those years of looking for something, ANYTHING... Still, after all this time... He had found nothing... It wasn’t logical. To simply not find anything. It would make more sense to him if he had at least found some kind of trace sign of a new strain of disease or a virus or something, hell, anything. But there was nothing. Not even any weirdness in his magick. Nothing. It was frustrating to say the least. It was basically as if the water elemental was dying for no real reason, just simply shutting down. Bleeding and... Fading... There HAD to be a reason. But what? Why did this keep happening?

I can never help the ones I actually give a damn about... Ironic...

Druu... Not to mention Jinya. Boy had that turned out beyond bad... And... Malba... Kopaka pushed the thought away, trying not to think of... Come on, just focus.

...Oh, and let’s not forget I basically got Akiona killed... And Nevara has to spend her life in hiding, all thanks to her druggie idiot brother... The sprite frowned, once again forcing himself to concentrate. Stop thinking about stuff like that... The elemental strained to keep the energy flow steady, but... Man I wish Kits was here or something... He realized he didn’t have enough energy to sustain the psychic for much longer. Which... Was seriously not cool. At all.

He needed that medicine. Not that it was a cure all by any means but still... The drug cocktail was about the only thing that could help keep Druu alive at this point. It definitely was no guarantee. He could still die but...

Kopaka really hated injecting that crap into the psychic too. He knew what it had to do to him. So many different strong meds, all of them so... It had to feel like something burning away his veins, had to cause even more pain, but...

You know, there’s a few drugs I can think of that I’d like to inject in myself right about now... he thought halfheartedly, but somehow the elemental figured shooting up was, uh yeah, probably not such a great idea... He needed to be Kopaka the half sane, semi-burnt out doctor, not Kopaka the crazed pink bunny-man... Not that the drugs were really what made him crazy, because well. He just liked being the crazed pink bunny-man. Yeah, but the drugs were still fun too...

Druuvbin’s body twitched, a small spasm and a gasp for air... Kopaka’s eyes shot open, focusing on the psychic. “Come on Druu, stay with me man. Rae and Sano will be back soon with Malba and... Just hang on, okay?” he whispered, watching the steadily deteriorating water elemental. “Come on...”

“He’s getting worse, isn’t he?” Jiro spoke up, his steel-blue eyes wide, fear in his voice. “Um, he’s...”

“He’s going to be fine,” Kopaka replied forcefully, trying to make himself believe his own words. He closed his blue eyes, once again concentrating on giving his energy to the blue-haired elemental. Kopaka’s body was growing weak, a shaky feeling slowly enveloping him, yet he pushed on, drawing up more energy... I just... Have to keep him alive...

“Druu isn’t going to be fine,” Kouji commented quietly, his voice flat, his eyes locked on the psychic. “His color...”

“Kouji-dude, look. Colors don’t mean everything okay? Druu’s a lot stronger than you think. He’s going to make it. He always does,” the wind elemental stated, trying to convince both the boy and himself. Kouji is kinda out of it... It’s not really shock. He’s going into one of his depressive moods, multiplied by all the stress... he thought, briefly opening his eyes to glance at the icy half demon.

The kid... Well, as much as he liked Kouji, mentally-balanced wasn’t exactly a word that Kopaka would use to describe him. Though he was a sweet, nice kid... Well okay so technically not a kid, but, yeah. Sometimes his mood swings could send him into such dark, black moods. Dismal moods which would take hold of the boy... Sometimes, it was hard to pull him from the darkness within his own mind. Though this time? He’s right to be depressed...

He was fighting his own little war with overwhelming pessimistic thoughts himself. So many years... Yet nothing he could do. It just... Druu kept getting worse and worse.

Years and years spent in a top class, first rate research hospital facility, and not a damn thing... Of course then the place had gotten blown to hell along with the rest of the city, so... He’d kinda lost his job that day. Not to mention the majority of his coworkers...

Ngh, damn... The shaking feeling was getting worse... I can’t do this much longer... Whoa. Not to mention the dizziness. Kind of like taking too much Diao-K... Though Diao-K was a lot more fun...

Kopaka pushed the sensation away, ignoring the buzzing noise in his ears and the dizzy, nauseating feeling enveloping him. He was probably giving way too much, but... I’m not going to let you die. I’m really totally tired of watching people I care about die, man.

He shut his eyes tighter, fighting away the lightheaded sensation, generating more energy. A cool gust of his wind magick breezed gently through the room as he bit his lip in concentration.

Kopaka...Why is it I—wonder. Why-- is it that... you--fight so hard...to keep a monster alive? Y-you and the others insist on keeping me—alive...Why is that? Druuvbin’s halting last words before slipping into his unconscious state slowly drifted through Kopaka’s mind and his grip on the psychic tightened a bit as he continued to pour energy into the fading man.

I guess you’ve heard it so much you actually believe it... You actually believe that, don’t you Druu? He hated that. Kopaka hated that a lot. Sure Druu might have some issues and all, but a monster? Hardly.

He pushed away another wave of dizzying nausea, forcing more energy from his shaking body. Why would we want to keep you alive? Because we care about you, you idiot... Why can’t you see that you are really not near as bad as what you think you are? You’re... You’re the one that basically keeps this weird little group together. We’re all crazy, but you’re the one who... You’re the rational calm one, the informal leader of this screwed up group of ours... Kopaka let out a small pained groan as yet another wave of stomach-churning, dizzying sensations wracked his aching body. Okay, that hurts...

“Kopaka, you... Uh, you’re not looking that great yourself... Are you okay?” he heard the young human teen question nervously and he let a small smile form on his lips. “I’m cool. No problem, dude.” Okay, so that was kind of a lie, but yeah.

Damn--it... It wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. He had never been that good at the whole natural healing ‘I’ll give you my energy and cure you’ thing... Basically he was just good at making drugs... So... This was bad. He struggled to keep hold, yet his grip on the energy was slowly but steadily slipping... If I stop, he’ll die. I can’t stop. He bit his lip harder, taking a quaking breath. That... Damn it...

The sprite was startled when a cool hand gently touched his shoulder and a gentle stream of warm energy radiated into his being, somewhat replenishing his lost strength... A warm, odd energy... The nausea and dizzying feelings slightly fading... He opened his eyes, meeting Yuki’s grey eyes. Yuki? The smaller man had moved to stand beside him next to the bed, a thin hand gently resting on the wind sprite’s shoulder... Warm energy flowing from that outstretched hand into his body... How?

“Um... Kopaka-san... You need this, right?” the silver haired man questioned softly, his teary eyes uncertain and nervous. Yet warmth could be seen in those eyes... Again Kopaka felt that strange sensation...

Like so many times before, looking into Yuki’s eyes... What is it? It’s... Like I should know something... But... A strange nostalgic deja vu? Probably just too many drugs... But maybe not... Weirdness. That weird feeling...

Admittedly, when the small framed man claiming to be a ‘ghost’ had fled earlier, as Druu... It had kind of pissed Kopaka off actually. He wasn’t sure why Yuki had taken off, but... Well. It had made him mad. Yet, looking into his eyes now... It was hard to stay angry at the little guy.

“Yeah... Thanks, man,” Kopaka finally replied, giving the silver-haired man a small smile. He wasn’t really sure what to think of the odd energy flowing from Yuki into himself, but it definitely wasn’t human. Not that he wasn’t grateful, he didn’t care what the hell kind of energy it was at this point. As long as he could use it to keep Druuvbin alive, Kopaka was satisfied. I don’t know how the hell he knew, or what this even is exactly, but dude... I so needed this energy...

“Kopaka-san... I’m sorry,” the ‘spirit’ whispered softly, his grey eyes looking away, down at the unconscious water elemental. “Really...”

Kopaka watched the man for a moment, taking in his feminine, youthful face, his sad grey eyes... “Uh, no problem, dude.” The wind sprite wasn’t even entirely sure what the guy was apologizing for, but regardless. Whether it be for the whole running off thing or some other unknown transgression, it didn’t really matter right now. He moved a hand to briefly touch Yuki’s pale hand resting on his shoulder, giving him another smile.

He really couldn’t stay mad at him. Even if he was a weird secretive guy who liked to pretend to be a ghost... Yeah, Yuki was definitely keeping some secrets and uh... Weirdness, but... Somehow Kopaka still trusted him, regardless. Something about his eyes...

Funny... Being around Yuki... It always made him feel... Kind of weird. Why do I get this feeling... This... Like I should know something about you? It’s...

From the first time he had met him, it... Had been strange. Weird little flashes of something... Nostalgic and... Man, I need to concentrate...

The wind sprite closed his eyes once again, focusing on the borrowed energy, focusing on giving it to the deathly pale psychic in his arms. Yuki’s warm, strange energy... Drawing the energy from the little guy, transferring it to Druu... Warm flowing energy...

I’ll think about the whole Yuki weirdness later. Right now, I just have to keep Druu alive.... Rae, Sano, I hope you two are okay...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
end part a
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rae: We're not finished yet. XD
Part B, coming right up...
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